Cloud Control was an Australian

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band, originating from the Blue Mountains near

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 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The band was signed to the Australian record label

Ivy League Records Ivy League Records is a record label based in Sydney, Australia. History Ivy League Records is an Australian-based record label established in 1997 by three ex-musician friends: Pete Lusty (John Reed Club) (RIP), Andy Cassell (Youth Group) an ...

, on which they released their first album, '' Bliss Release''. They were also signed to Infectious Music in the UK and Europe, Humming Records in Germany, and to Votiv in North America. The band supported a number of local and international acts, including

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...

Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson, ...

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and

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing v ...

. The band were nominated for awards in Australia, including two

ARIA Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music The music of Australia has ...

. The band won the

Australian Music Prize The Australian Music Prize (often shortened to the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The award was made by Australian Music Pri ...

on 3 March 2011 for ''Bliss Release''.

History

Growing up in the Blue Mountains, the four members of Cloud Control met at the rehearsals for ''

The Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 ...

''. They entered their first "Battle of the Bands", which they subsequently won. They recorded and released their debut EP, ''Cloud Control'', in November 2007. The single "Death Cloud", was picked up by the Australian youth radio station

Triple J 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 received strong airplay. After a string of festival appearances and tours with a variety of Australian bands, the band released its first album, ''Bliss Release'', in 2010. They recorded the album in the house of their producer, Liam Judson. Two singles were released from the album, "Gold Canary" and "There's Nothing in the Water We Can't Fight". The latter appeared at number 18 in the

Triple J Hottest 100 The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music listener poll hosted by the publicly-funded, national Australian youth radio station, Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Australian and alternative music of the ...

of 2010. The single "Gold Canary" was voted as Single of the Week in the Rebel Playlist on the UK's BBC Radio 6 Music 2010. The band supported

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along with

You Am I You Am I are an Australian alternative rock band, fronted by its lead singer-songwriter and guitarist, Tim Rogers. They formed in December 1989 and are the first Australian band to have released three successive albums that have each debuted ...

at their 2011 concert for flood relief in Brisbane, Queensland. Their song "Just for Now" was used in the 2012 movie ''

Magic Mike ''Magic Mike'' is a 2012 American comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, and Matthew McConaughey. The plot revolves around Adam, a 19-year-old who enters the wor ...

''. Their second album, ''Dream Cave'', was released on 9 August 2013. On 3 January 2015, the bass guitarist, Jeremy Kelshaw, announced his departure from the group on the band's Facebook page. The band's fourth studio album, ''Zone'' was released on 1 September 2017. Their label said the album was written in a small beach house near the NSW regional centre of Forster and has been described as "profound, but also flippant, euphoric, but conceptual". The album peaked at number 53 on the ARIA Charts. The band has been largely inactive since 2018. Alister Wright has begun a new project, Vlossom, while Heidi Lenffer has pursued entrepreneurial work as the leader of FEAT.

Band members

;Final line-up * Alister ("Al") Wright –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(2005–2018) * Heidi Lenffer –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(2005–2018) * Ulrich Lenffer –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion, backing vocals (2005–2018) * Doug Wright –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(2017–2018) ;Past members * Jeremy Kelshaw – bass guitar, backing vocals, percussion (2005–2015)

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards and nominations

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as

AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. History The inaugural 2006 awards were held at ...

) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. , - , rowspan="3",

AIR Awards of 2010 The AIR Awards of 2010 (or Jägermeister Independent Awards of 2010) is the fifth annual Australian Independent Record Labels Association Music Awards (generally known as the AIR Awards) and was an award ceremony at The Forum Theatre, in Melbo ...

, rowspan="2" , themselves , Best Independent Artist , , - , Breakthrough Independent Artist , , - , ''Bliss Release'' , Best Independent Album , , -

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of ...

. Cloud Control were nominated for two awards. , - , rowspan="2",

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, rowspan="2", ''Bliss Release'' , Breakthrough Artist , , - ,

Best Rock Album The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre. Honors in sev ...

, , -

Australian Music Prize

The

(the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. , - , 2010 , ''Bliss Release'' , Australian Music Prize , , - , 2013 , ''Dream Cave'' , Australian Music Prize , , -

J Awards

The

J Awards The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J and which are judged by the music and on-air teams from radio stations Triple J, ...

are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station

. , - ,

J Awards of 2010 The J Award of 2010 is the sixth annual J Awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station ...

, ''Bliss Release'' , Australian Album of the Year , , - , J Awards of 2013 , ''Dream Cave'' , Australian Album of the Year , , -

References

{{Authority control Australian indie rock groups Musical groups established in 2007 Musical groups disestablished in 2018 Infectious Music artists