The Sand Pebbles (band)
Encyclopedia
Sand Pebbles is a psychedelic rock
band from Melbourne
, Australia
.
, 2001 on the set of Neighbours
by three of the show’s screenwriter
's Christopher Hollow (bass), Ben Michael (guitar) and Piet Collins (drums). Singer-guitarist Andrew Tanner (ex-Seven Stories
) joined shortly after.
In 2003, Murray Ono (born Murray Jamieson) was drafted in on keyboards. He left in 2005 and was replaced by Tor Larsen (The Sun Blindness) on guitar.
Following the sessions for Ceduna in 2008, Piet Collins left and was replaced by Cliff Booth (ex-Harem Scarem). In 2009, Wes Holland (also of The Sun Blindness) took over as drummer. Holland’s inclusion meant there is a band member born in each decade from the 50s to the 90s.
– Eastern Terrace (2002), Ghost Transmissions (2004), Atlantis Regrets Nothing (2006), Ceduna (2008) and Dark Magic (2011) plus an international compilation, A Thousand Wild Flowers (2009).
They have played with Arthur Lee
& Love
, Sonic Boom’s Spectrum
, Dean & Britta, Midlake
, M. Ward
, The Models
, The Drones
, Tame Impala
, The Moodists
, and The Church
.
They have played only three times outside of Victoria
. They were reputedly banned from the Meredith Music Festival
for allegedly invading the stage during Rose Tattoo
’s set in 2006.
Their songs have been featured on a variety of Australian television shows including The Secret Life of Us
, Last Man Standing, and Neighbours
.
Released on the Dot Dash Recordings/Remote Control Records
label in August 2011, 'Dark Magic' was produced by Malcolm McDowell and featured mixes and cameos by Tim Holmes (Death in Vegas
), Will Carruthers (Spacemen 3
, Spiritualized
) and Britta Phillips
(Luna
).
A Thousand Wild Flowers (2009)
An international release on Dean Wareham
and Britta Phillips
’ label, Double Feature Records, produced by Malcolm McDowell, James Dean, and Murray Jamieson. It combines tracks from three of their Australia-only albums, rare live cuts (“Nathalie”, “Short Term Memory Loss”) plus a cover of The 13th Floor Elevators
song “I Don’t Ever Want to Come Down”.
Mojo magazine
noted the album's "snaking guitar licks and latter day Velvets rhythmic churn." It was also favourably reviewed by The Times
.
Ceduna (2008)
The band’s second release on the Sensory Projects label, produced by James Dean was written and partially recorded at Cactus, a surf beach on the Great Australian Bight
. It featured songs such as "Wild Season", "Future Proofed (both with videos by Australian director, Adam White) and "Red, Orange, Purple and Blue". David Nichols, writing for Mess + Noise, wrote: "I listened to it in a car wash and would recommend that."
Atlantis Regrets Nothing (2006)
The debut release on the Sensory Projects label, produced by Murray Jamieson. It features a track co-written with Dave Graney
("Natalie"), another featuring Luna
's Dean Wareham
("Howard's End") and saw the band expand their sound to include brass and strings. The ABC
's Jarrod Watt called it "psychedelic rock that doesn't disappear up its own tambourine."
Ghost Transmissions (2004)
A Raoul Records release, produced by Murray Jamieson. It includes a cover of the Skip Spence
song, “All My Life (I Love You), "The Day Summer Fell" and the 12-minute epic "Black Sun Ensemble", which UK critic Stewart Lee
noted in The Sunday Times
"is one of those unforgettable, hypnotic, slow-burning, snake-charming epics that comes along once in a generation.
Eastern Terrace (2002)
A Camera Obscura
release and the band's full length debut. It contained songs like "My Sensation", "Moving Too Fast" and a cover of Julian Cope
’s “Out of My Mind on Dope and Speed”. Francois Couture, writing for Allmusic, announced: "The presence of a (very fine) cover version of Julian Cope
's "Out of My Mind on Dope and Speed" is not an innocent move. This group has clear Krautrock influences (listen to "The Sundowner" for a one-chord extended jam) and an appetite for catchy melodies — two defining characteristics of Cope's songs."
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band from Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
History
Formed on Bastille DayBastille Day
Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on 14 July of each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale and commonly le quatorze juillet...
, 2001 on the set of Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
by three of the show’s screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
's Christopher Hollow (bass), Ben Michael (guitar) and Piet Collins (drums). Singer-guitarist Andrew Tanner (ex-Seven Stories
Seven Stories (band)
Seven Stories was an Australian rock group formed in Adelaide, initially as Tall Stories, in 1986. The band was nominated as 'Best New Talent' at the 1991 Australian Record Industry Association Awards and signed to Sony , but disbanded in 1994 after its second full-length album release, Everything...
) joined shortly after.
In 2003, Murray Ono (born Murray Jamieson) was drafted in on keyboards. He left in 2005 and was replaced by Tor Larsen (The Sun Blindness) on guitar.
Following the sessions for Ceduna in 2008, Piet Collins left and was replaced by Cliff Booth (ex-Harem Scarem). In 2009, Wes Holland (also of The Sun Blindness) took over as drummer. Holland’s inclusion meant there is a band member born in each decade from the 50s to the 90s.
Music
Sand Pebbles have released five albums in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
– Eastern Terrace (2002), Ghost Transmissions (2004), Atlantis Regrets Nothing (2006), Ceduna (2008) and Dark Magic (2011) plus an international compilation, A Thousand Wild Flowers (2009).
They have played with Arthur Lee
Arthur Lee (musician)
Arthur Lee was the frontman, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of the Los Angeles rock band Love, best known for the critically acclaimed 1967 album, Forever Changes.-Early years:...
& Love
Love (band)
Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...
, Sonic Boom’s Spectrum
Peter Kember
Peter Kember is a British musician and producer, more usually known as Sonic Boom, and was a founding member of alternative rock band Spacemen 3....
, Dean & Britta, Midlake
Midlake
Midlake is an American rock band from Denton, Texas. The band first gained popularity in Europe, signing to Bella Union Records and playing at festivals such as Les Inrockuptibles, Wintercase, End Of The Road Festival and South by Southwest.-History:...
, M. Ward
M. Ward
Matthew Stephen Ward, known by his stage name M. Ward, is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who rose to prominence in the Portland, Oregon music scene. In addition to his solo work he is known as a member of She & Him and Monsters of Folk.-Career:...
, The Models
Models (band)
Models were an alternative rock group formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1978 and went into hiatus in 1988. They are often incorrectly referred to as The Models. They re-formed in 2000, 2006 and 2008 to perform reunion concerts. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", their only No. 1 hit,...
, The Drones
The Drones
The Drones are an Australian rock group who rose to prominence during the early 2000s. They are influenced by a variety of bands and soloists including Neil Young, The Velvet Underground, Bad Brains, Suicide, Green on Red, The Birthday Party, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Nina Simone.- The Sound...
, Tame Impala
Tame Impala
Tame Impala are a psychedelic rock band from Perth, Australia. They are signed to Modular Records. The band came to prominence in 2010 with the release of their first debut album, Innerspeaker. Their name refers to the impala, a medium sized antelope...
, The Moodists
The Moodists
The Moodists were an Australian post-punk band that formed in 1980, when Dave Graney, Clare Moore and Steve Miller of punk group The Sputniks moved from Adelaide to Melbourne. They added bass player Chris Walsh and later added guitarist Mick Turner....
, and The Church
The Church (band)
The Church is an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave and the neo-psychedelic sound of the mid 1980s, their music later became more reminiscent of progressive rock, featuring long instrumental jams and complex guitar interplay...
.
They have played only three times outside of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. They were reputedly banned from the Meredith Music Festival
Meredith Music Festival
The Meredith Music Festival is a three-day outdoor music festival held every December at the Supernatural Amphitheatre, a natural amphitheatre located on private farmland near the town of Meredith in Victoria, Australia...
for allegedly invading the stage during Rose Tattoo
Rose Tattoo
Rose Tattoo is an Australian rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, that was formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw", "Nice Boys", "We Can't Be Beaten" and "Scarred for Life"...
’s set in 2006.
Their songs have been featured on a variety of Australian television shows including The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us was a television drama series set in the beachside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. The series was produced by Southern Star Entertainment and screened in Australia from 2001 to 2005 on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK...
, Last Man Standing, and Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
.
Discography
Dark Magic (2011)Released on the Dot Dash Recordings/Remote Control Records
Remote Control Records
Remote Control Records was established by Harvey Saward and Steve Cross in early 2001, with the intention of supporting under-represented music...
label in August 2011, 'Dark Magic' was produced by Malcolm McDowell and featured mixes and cameos by Tim Holmes (Death in Vegas
Death in Vegas
Death in Vegas are a psychedelic rock and electronic rock band from the United Kingdom, comprising two permanent members: Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes...
), Will Carruthers (Spacemen 3
Spacemen 3
Spacemen 3 were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce. Their music was "colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the '60s; instead, the band developed its own minimalistic psychedelia"...
, Spiritualized
Spiritualized
Spiritualized are an English space rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3...
) and Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips is an American musician, songwriter, actress and voice actor. She is best known as the singing voice of the title character of Jem and as one half of the duo Dean and Britta, with her husband Dean Wareham...
(Luna
Luna (band)
Luna was a dream pop/indie pop band formed in 1991 by Dean Wareham after the breakup of Galaxie 500, with Stanley Demeski and Justin Harwood...
).
A Thousand Wild Flowers (2009)
An international release on Dean Wareham
Dean Wareham
Dean Wareham is an American musician, who formed the band Galaxie 500 in 1987. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Wareham moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia, before settling in New York City in 1977. Wareham attended high school at Dalton School in New York, and then attended Harvard...
and Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips is an American musician, songwriter, actress and voice actor. She is best known as the singing voice of the title character of Jem and as one half of the duo Dean and Britta, with her husband Dean Wareham...
’ label, Double Feature Records, produced by Malcolm McDowell, James Dean, and Murray Jamieson. It combines tracks from three of their Australia-only albums, rare live cuts (“Nathalie”, “Short Term Memory Loss”) plus a cover of The 13th Floor Elevators
13th Floor Elevators
The 13th Floor Elevators were an American rock band from Austin, Texas formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland, which existed from 1965 to 1969...
song “I Don’t Ever Want to Come Down”.
Mojo magazine
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
noted the album's "snaking guitar licks and latter day Velvets rhythmic churn." It was also favourably reviewed by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
.
Ceduna (2008)
The band’s second release on the Sensory Projects label, produced by James Dean was written and partially recorded at Cactus, a surf beach on the Great Australian Bight
Great Australian Bight
The Great Australian Bight is a large bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.-Extent:...
. It featured songs such as "Wild Season", "Future Proofed (both with videos by Australian director, Adam White) and "Red, Orange, Purple and Blue". David Nichols, writing for Mess + Noise, wrote: "I listened to it in a car wash and would recommend that."
Atlantis Regrets Nothing (2006)
The debut release on the Sensory Projects label, produced by Murray Jamieson. It features a track co-written with Dave Graney
Dave Graney
David John "Dave" Graney is an Australian rock musician and singer-songwriter from Mount Gambier, South Australia. Since 1979, Graney is generally accompanied by drummer, Clare Moore...
("Natalie"), another featuring Luna
Luna (band)
Luna was a dream pop/indie pop band formed in 1991 by Dean Wareham after the breakup of Galaxie 500, with Stanley Demeski and Justin Harwood...
's Dean Wareham
Dean Wareham
Dean Wareham is an American musician, who formed the band Galaxie 500 in 1987. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Wareham moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia, before settling in New York City in 1977. Wareham attended high school at Dalton School in New York, and then attended Harvard...
("Howard's End") and saw the band expand their sound to include brass and strings. The ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
's Jarrod Watt called it "psychedelic rock that doesn't disappear up its own tambourine."
Ghost Transmissions (2004)
A Raoul Records release, produced by Murray Jamieson. It includes a cover of the Skip Spence
Skip Spence
Alexander Lee "Skip" Spence was a Canadian-born musician and singer-songwriter. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. He released one solo album, 1969's Oar, and then largely withdrew from the music industry...
song, “All My Life (I Love You), "The Day Summer Fell" and the 12-minute epic "Black Sun Ensemble", which UK critic Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera...
noted in The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
"is one of those unforgettable, hypnotic, slow-burning, snake-charming epics that comes along once in a generation.
Eastern Terrace (2002)
A Camera Obscura
Camera Obscura (record label)
Camera Obscura was a record label founded by Australian music journalist Tony Dale in 1996. Described by Dale as 'a conduit for the release of contemporary acid-folk, psych-pop and space-rock,' the label put out almost ninety releases over fourteen years, the vast majority of which were...
release and the band's full length debut. It contained songs like "My Sensation", "Moving Too Fast" and a cover of Julian Cope
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
’s “Out of My Mind on Dope and Speed”. Francois Couture, writing for Allmusic, announced: "The presence of a (very fine) cover version of Julian Cope
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
's "Out of My Mind on Dope and Speed" is not an innocent move. This group has clear Krautrock influences (listen to "The Sundowner" for a one-chord extended jam) and an appetite for catchy melodies — two defining characteristics of Cope's songs."