The Beautiful Few  -A (Long) History

1993 and in a cramped flat in Clifton Hill, Melbourne, we begin: a bass player, some lyrics, a violin, keyboards. Then guitars enter: three of them, more lyrics, some concrete ideas. Ramona Barry (keyboards and vocals) departs. April and a gig: three guitars, bass, violin, keyboards, spoken and sung vocals, no drummer, a wall builds and my brown Cortina konks out for the last time on the West Gate bridge. Arch Law (ex-Huxton Creepers) joins and were swinging. Charles Barnett (ex-This Happy Greed) departs after the first gig. We rehearse at Quincy McLeans Bakehouse, make a demo in a day, do a few gigs and by early 1994 both Law and guitarist/vocalist Craig Nenke have left the ranks. Described by Untitled Red vocalist Greg Day as a magnificient accident, this version dies quickly.

Easter 1994 - Drummerless again, we play two gigs on the west coast of Victoria and team up with drummer/producer Andy Stewart (ex-Untitled Red). He gets us recording at Stable Sound. He then gets his own home studio. The 5 song recording takes up most of the year. I cant remember if we were gigging. By 1995, vocalist Mary Doyle (The Late Mail) has joined and we launch Dancing Under The Lights to a good sized crowd in May 95 at the Punters Club. All our gigs are on the north side. We go to St.Kilda once. The EP, beautifully recorded by Andy was full of chiming lush guitars but came with the query, Why doesn\'t he sing those lyrics!? Onwards we gigged, before falling apart again in late \'95 and deciding to call it a day. But when is the end the end of the mad rock dream?

I phone James Lee, emaciated in-demand guitarist during the idle winter of \'96. Its time to get The Few back together. Chris Grierson (bass) and Corinna Maule (violin) are back into it and we start again with new drummer Lenny Hyatt (Dead Salesmen). All the old material is abandoned and by September, were playing loose but much rowdier gigs than we\'ve ever played. A residency at the Punters with Sandro and The Stream in Jan \'97 is a highlight. Continuing the writing and sporadically gigging we record what is to be The October Lovers album in a Clifton Hill warehouse over the weekend that Lady Di died. 15 songs and initiated by the stirring guitar work of James, Chris driving bass, Lennys intense drumming, Corinnas wild violin and an improvement in my vocals, the album takes shape. The money problems start now. We play New Years Eve in Ballarat. Tom from Adelaide band The Moonies calls and we head to Adelaide meeting people for the first time who liked the same records we did! A gig with Sweet William and The Moonies at the Mad Love Bar is a highlight. James Lee commented: Its like being in Bristol!

More gigs through the year of \'98. After five years of great bass playing Chris Grierson decides to call it a day and Pete Stone (ex-Lamia) joins. The October Lovers is still sitting there without the cash for mixing so we sensibly record again before Pete moves back to Perth! Nine songs hurriedly done in a day overlooking Port Phillip Bay, rhythm section heavy, some pop and the odd ridiculous moment, i.e an attempted rap. The lost sessions, surely?

As a precursor to the album, we release a spilt seven inch single with Tasmanian popsters Droplet. The single, The Little Truths, a road map song is the obvious choice. After Pete leaves, its finally time to mix the record! Up to Matt Hills place in Preston. The October Lovers is released in November \'99 on Karl Melvins Adelaide indie Hip To Hate. Chris Richards (ex Dust/Kali) joins on bass and The Empress Launch is extremely well attended. Were feeling good as Sunday morning hits us crashed out at the after-party listening to Tactics and Belle & Sebastian. Typically, after feeling good, some shocking gigs follow to break our spirits but as alway

Winter 2000. We meet up in Corinnas bungalow and start writing: slow songs about sleeping, drinking, country towns, ocean voyages and not being in love. We eventually piece an album together and Dan Hawkins (ex-Moll Flanders) takes up the production reins as well as the piano. Lenny Hyatt is replaced by Nick Treweek (Gaslight Radio) and many warm, overnight sessions begin. I get a call from another Adelaide label BigRig Records saying they\'re interested. We gig again as a sixpiece, Chris Richards moves from bass to guitar and we forget the bass. Something To Do, Somone To Love, Something To Look Forward Too is released in December 2001. The title comes from an Indian proverb quoted by Australian surf legend Mark Occhilupo. We launch in Adelaide and Melbourne, make a video for Summer Dresses, support Augie March, get more good reviews, lose Dan Hawkins as a live member, trek to Adelaide a couple more times, and finish up in April where we begin some new recording with Augie March\'s Adam Donovan before Nick Treweek goes O.S.

Another recording begins. Its Preston again. My ageing car gets EPA warnings along Plenty Rd. Joining a band is a great way to make a car worthless! We record five songs we\'ve been playing live and some new never played ones. Lots of people help and large pizzas are only $6. Were calling this one Metal For Melbourne & other stories after a song James has written about a metal shop by Flinders St station. Three months later, we\'re mixed, mastered with our most eclectic album yet. Nine and a half years on, were ready to start again! There\'s even an Andrew Coates dance remix of new single One Month In Every Twelve coming your way. Were gearing up for our 10th anniversary with gigs in Feb 03. Its nice to know theres still more ahead.

...Kieran Carroll, Nov \'02

Metal For Melbourne

After two huge 10th anniversary Empress nights with The October Lovers line-up reforming for it and drummer Brett Polliness (Silver Ray) filling the shoes of the overseas traveling Nick Treweek in the new line-up, the band played ..ing in Sydney in July. Finally playing in Sydney after all this time was exciting, Beautiful Few bill posters lining King St, all of us cramped up at the Formule 1 on the Princess Highway. As a teenager the Sydney music scene loomed large in my mind and though our two gigs were quietly attended, the band put in great performances especially the second night at the Bat and Ball supporting 80s urban and western legend John Kennedy.

Silence. What do we do next? Changes were upon us again. Chris Richards who had stopped playing live after the 10th anniversary shows decided to retire for family life in the country and home recording while the ever loyal James Lee after ten years of faithful and inspired service also decided to retire and head overseas with Registered Nurse. Drummer Brett Polliness was also going back to Silver Ray duties leaving Corinna, myself and Edmond to work out the new plan. Chuck it in. The thought had crossed my mind but then again it had occurred to me a few times over the years only to be stamped .. a good gig or some other smidgin of hope for the group. Hair loss makes these decisions formidable occurrences!

August 2003 and sitting one Saturday night in a Lebanese bakery, Edmond and I decide to start afresh. Shepparton bad-boy Troy Parker is recruited on drums and Corinna moves from violin to keyboards while Edmond gives the bass away for keyboards and guitar. The songs start to arrive quickly and miraculously by September, were off to Sydney again with a whole new line-up and new set. We meet Vic from Sydney band Box Freezer Romance and start organizing gigs and talking about recording. After a few of these gigs, my only other original member Corinna Maule decides to depart the band and she is replaced by demure early Models fan Karen Anson. Until Christmas, we play everywhere we can including Frankston where Skyhooks posters still adorn the walls. We add songs quickly and over Christmas go back to Sydney and even take on Brisbane. Recording with Vic in his studio in Marrickville begins in January.

This line-up is keen and flexible and we spend the first half of 2004 working on the album when possible and playing the occasional gig in Melbourne. Edmond and Vic do a long and sterling job mixing the album and after I\'ve been to Oxford St. for a wig to use as a front cover shot, the new album If You Change Your City, You\'re Sure To Change Your Style is released in December \'04.

Large amounts of airplay follow and Bronius Zumeris in Beat describes it as a pearl playing hopscotch with irony, angst and realism. We then undertake our largest tour over the summer taking in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Byron Bay, Mullumbimby, Brisbane, Victor Harbor, Adelaide and Ballarat. Lots of bodysurfing, days merging into nights, 6000km in Rickys station-wagon (on loan from The Pollen Choir, he filled in for working man Troy), some empty regionals and some redeeming cities.

Now its 2005 and Metal For Melbourne has been bought by Channel 7 for a prime-time TV series called Last Man Standing due to screen mid-year.

The new album is about be distributed in New Zealand and a tour is planned for June/July. Who knows where we go from here? Stay tuned.

...Kieran Carroll, Mar \'05

 Shepparton to Sydney, Sydney to Shepparton with the band spread across 900kms, Troy J Parker takes up the reins and sends new stuff up to me. I put the lyrics over the top and we get together in Shepparton to record a new album. Edmond is busy with Augie March duties and Karen and Ricky get Actor/Model happening, so momentarily, The Few is down to a duo. This time all the songs are thematic, from fiction to autobiography: love found and lost and found again and lost again and short-lived and long-term. We play one show in Sydney in September and feel pretty good and by February this year we\'ve mastered it with Paul Fox down at The Bakehouse in Melbourne.

DIY Heartbreak (Girlfriends \'88-05) is the bands fifth album since The October Lovers in \'99. Not bad for a broke and tiny group. Only four gigs have followed since but the album is now due within the week and some more regular live appearances will follow. Already new songs beyond this album are creeping into the live set inspired by bayside nights and Died Pretty and chicken shops called The Best Legs In Town! Troy has fleshed out the songs with the additions of some of Shepparton\'s finest. Some people thought crossing town was a hassle to rehearse but I revel now in trips out of Melbourne, a beer to greet to me in the rehearsal room above a snazzy hairdresser. So onwards The Beautiful Few march, a little band that just wants to keep things vivid, bright and new.

... Kieran Carroll, September \'06.

 After the release of DIY Heartbreak, writing continued with very sporadic gigging. Back in 2003, during the recording of Metal For Melbourne, I posed the question to the band about other people singing the songs. I didn\'t follow through that time, but during \'07, I wanted to hand over the vocal reins to people whose work I admired, who I had listened to constantly and who I thought would be able to impressively embellish my lyrics.

Beginning with a weekend in Shepparton in August \'07, we laid down sixteen songs and then moved to Tony Cornish\'s place in Doreen. For the next year, there were countless trips up Plenty Rd. recording the vocalists, bringing in guest musicians, adding new material ourselves and finally mixing.

The result is The Nights You Did Your Hair, twelve mostly autumnal pop songs with a touch of winter and a touch of summer thrown in. Happily, Melbourne label Popboomerang liked what they heard and will release the album in the New Year with a promo single Stars Above The Sea\' to get things rolling. Touring will follow to all the capitals and some regionals.

After fifteen years, one EP, five albums, nine trips to Adelaide serving our old label BigRig, many, many great collaborators, a hell of a lot of writing and recording and a gutful of Fitzroy beers, The Beautiful Few rise again with a scarf and silk shirt close by and bus tickets heading your way.

... Kieran Carroll, Dec \'08.

 

 

 

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