Bughouse were an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
band from
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, who toured the East Coast of Australia from 1989–1994.
History
1989–1991: Formation and early period
Formed by drummer Peter Brookes in 1989 as a recording project, the original line-up was completed by Lea Cameron (vocals), Steve Campbell (guitar) and Genevieve Maynard (bass). Their first show was on Saturday 27 May 1989 at the
Hopetoun Hotel
The Hopetoun Hotel, colloquially referred to as The Hoey, is a historic Sydney hotel and music venue in Surry Hills, New South Wales. It was built somewhere between 1836 and 1839, originally under the name of the Cookatoo Inn and then in 1901 re ...
,
Surry Hills
Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surroun ...
. In their first six months Bughouse played around Sydney, predominantly at the Hopetoun, Annandale, Lansdowne and
Sandringham Sandringham can refer to:
Places
* Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia
* Sandringham, Queensland, Australia
* Sandringham, Victoria, Australia
**Sandringham railway line
**Sandringham railway station
**Electoral district of Sandringham
* Sand ...
hotels, and at various university campuses.
Their debut single "V for Vendetta"/"Burn it Back" was produced by
Damien Lovelock
Damien Richard Lovelock (21 May 1954 – 3 August 2019), known familiarly as Damo, was an Australian musician, sports broadcaster and writer. He fronted the hard rock band The Celibate Rifles from 1980 as their lead singer-songwriter and later ...
, lead singer of
The Celibate Rifles
The Celibate Rifles were an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1979 with a line-up that included mainstays Dave Morris on rhythm guitar and Kent Steedman on lead guitar, within a year they were joined by Damien Lovelock on lead vocals. T ...
and featured
Louis Tillett
Louis Rohan Tillett (13 March 1959 – 6 August 2023) was an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, keyboardist and saxophonist. Tillett was the front man in Australian bands The Wet Taxis, Paris Green and The Aspersion Caste. He also worked ...
of the Wet Taxis on piano. "V for Vendetta" was released on the band's own Ursula label, receiving high rotation on radio station
2JJJ
Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...
and reaching number six on the Australian Independent Charts.
ABC TV made a video of the song for an "undiscovered" section on weekly music show
RAGE. The band recorded their first
Live at the Wireless
''Live at the Wireless'' is a radio show, and now a long-standing tradition, of Triple J, an Australian radio station. Live music is one of the central philosophies of the station.
The live broadcasts take a number of forms. Some broadcasts are fr ...
for JJJ at ABC Studio 1 in Darlinghurst.
Bughouse returned to the studio some months later to record the ''Bughouse'' EP with engineer John Hresc at Powerhouse Studios. The EP included four tracks – "Tax Stamp", "Bruce's Song", "Salad Days" and "One More Thing". The EP reached number four on the Australian Independent Charts These two first records showcased the band's assured and eclectic sound.
After this early success, the band were courted by several major labels eventually signing a record deal with
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival Mu ...
' White Label.
The band's debut album, ''Every Fool in Town'' was recorded over ten days again with Lovelock producing and Tony Espie engineering. It included guest performances by
Amanda Brown of the
Go-Betweens and
James Cruickshank
James George Watson, who performed as James Cruickshank (1962 – 8 October 2015), was an Australian musician. He was the long-term guitarist and keyboardist for indie rock group, the Cruel Sea. As a solo artist he released three albums, ''Hym ...
of the
Cruel Sea. The album received positive reviews, and reached number 1 on the Australian Independent Charts. A video was made for the single "Hell for Leather".
1992–1994 Bardo and Fink Tank
For the rest of their career, Bughouse toured extensively around Australia, playing shows with many notable local and international bands, including
Crowded House
Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Later ban ...
, the
Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner (songwriter, lead singer and guitarist) and later joined by Richard Grossman (bass), Mark Kingsmill (drums), and Brad Shepherd (guitar, vocals, ha ...
,
Hunters and Collectors
Hunters & Collectors are an Australian rock band formed in 1981. Fronted by founding mainstay, singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, they developed a blend of pub rock and art-funk. Other mainstays are John Archer on bass guitar, Do ...
,
Yothu Yindi
Yothu Yindi (Yolŋu Matha, Yolngu for "child and mother", pronounced ) are an Australian musical group with Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal and ''List of English words of Malay origin#B, balanda'' (non-Aboriginal) members, formed in 1986 as ...
,
Concrete Blonde
Concrete Blonde was an American alternative rock band from Hollywood, California. They were initially active from 1982 to 1995, and reunited twice: first from 2001 to 2004, and again from 2010 to 2012. They were best known for their album ''Bloo ...
and
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
.
During the period between ''Every Fool in Town'' and ''Bardo'', Peter Brookes left the band and was replaced by Nick Fisher (Wet Taxis,
New Christs
The New Christs are an Australian garage rock band formed in 1980 by founding mainstay, Rob Younger, on lead vocals. Younger was the lead singer for punk rockers, Radio Birdman, and in other hard rock groups, New Race, Bad Music, the Other Side, ...
).
Bughouse recorded the EP ''Bardo'' in 1992. The name of the EP came from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and referred to the limbo the band had been in as a result of record company indecision in moving their recording schedule ahead. The EP contained five tracks, and a video was made for the song "Brightest Firework".
After parting ways with Mushroom Records, a final album ''Fink Tank'' was released through Mushroom Distribution Services in 1994 to strong reviews, including by ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine who described it as a "screaming surprise packet". The album was recorded by
Tim Powles
Timothy Guy Gerard Powles (born 21 December 1959) is a New Zealand music producer and artist. Also known as "timEbandit" Powles, his main instrument and first love was the drums and percussion in general, though over time he's become a dab han ...
, and mixed by
Paul McKercher
Paul McKercher is an Australian record producer, audio engineer, sound mixer and multi-instrumentalist. He has received five ARIA Artisan Awards and has produced over 50 albums. McKercher has worked with Australian artists Josh Pyke, Ber ...
. The band released a video for the album's second track "Fathom" and also appeared on ABC TV's ''
Live and Sweaty
''Live and Sweaty'' was an Australian sports television program, broadcast on the ABC from 1991 until 1994. Hosted by Andrew Denton (and later Elle McFeast), the show was part panel-based, part talk show and part comedy, and predated '' The Footy ...
''.
Their final performance was on 4 October 1994 at the Annandale Hotel, Sydney.
Discography
Albums and EPs
Singles
References
{{reflist, 30em
Musical groups from Sydney
Australian indie rock groups
Musical groups established in 1989