Dappled Cities (formerly "Dappled Cities Fly") are an
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
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 ...
,
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 ...
.
History
1997–2003
The band came together as teenagers in the northern suburbs of Sydney in 1997.
Dave Rennick and original drummer Hugh Boyce were joined by Alex Moore on bass and Tim Derricourt on guitar. Keyboards were added occasionally by Mark Bradshaw, and after 2006 more regularly by Ned Cooke.
The band started out playing at all-ages shows and charity benefits before they reached legal age to play in the licensed venues in the Sydney CBD. They performed 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 ...
(now defunct), the Excelsior and The Bat and Ball. The band members moved to the inner suburbs of Sydney and after various name changes settled on Dappled Cities Fly.
The band made several tours of Australia and also toured
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
in 2004. In 2006 Dappled Cities Fly performed in London, England and at shows in the United States, including
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...
, where they played again in 2009 and 2010. From 2006 to 2009, the band did a number of tours of America and Canada, including performances at the Crocodile Club in Seattle, Mercury Lounge in New York and the Troubadour in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
2004–present: Recording career
Dappled Cities Fly's first album, ''
A Smile'', was released in late 2004
and was featured as album of the week on radio stations FBi and Triple J. and reviewed favourably in ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
''.
In 2006, Dappled Cities released their second album, ''
Granddance
''Granddance'' is the second album by Australian band Dappled Cities Fly, released in 2006. The album was recorded at Sunset Sound, Sanora Recorders and New Monkey Studios in Los Angeles in July 2006 and produced by Jim Fairchild (Grandaddy) and P ...
'', recorded at Sunset Sounds and Senora Studios in Los Angeles.
The album's cover artwork has the band's name as Dappled Cities, without the word "Fly"; while this was done for artistic reasons at the time, by 2009 the band were calling themselves simply Dappled Cities. In 2007 the band toured with Sydney band
Red Riders
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...
, and later recorded and released a cover version of "
November Rain
"November Rain" is a song by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Written by the band's lead vocalist Axl Rose, it was released as a single in 1992 from their third studio album, ''Use Your Illusion I'' (1991).
"November Rain" peaked ...
" with them. In February 2008 Boyce left the band, and was replaced later that year by drummer Allan Kumpulainen.
Dappled Cities' third album, ''
Zounds
Zounds are an England, English anarcho punk/post-punk band from Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Berkshire, England, formed in 1977. Originally they were part of the cassette culture movement, releasing material on the Fuck Off Records label, and ...
'', was released in Australia in 2009 and in the United States in early 2010. The album received many positive reviews. Pitchfork gave the band 7.8 and noted that "Dappled Cities haven't quite acquired a big reputation outside their homeland yet, but it seems likely they will". The band toured during this period in New York and London while also doing a number of tours around Australia to positive reviews.
The band recorded their fourth album, ''
Lake Air'', throughout September 2011 at Megaphon Studios in St Peters, following recording sessions in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The recording was done with the assistance of
Jarrad Kritzstein
Jarrad Kritzstein, (born September 9, 1987) also known as Jarrad K, is an American record producer, songwriter, filmmaker and actor. He is known for co-writing/producing Ruston Kelly’s debut LP “Dying Star” and Elohim’s self-titled album, ...
and the album released in July 2012.
"Dappled Cities launch ‘Lake Air’ – with a little help from their friends
''Vox Magazine'', 29 June 2012
In 2013, the band collaborated with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra (ABO) is an Australian period instrument orchestra specialising in the performance of baroque and classical music.
Founders
The orchestra's founder and artistic director is Paul Dyer.
In 2013 Dyer was a ...
and members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra
The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) was founded by cellist John Painter in 1975.Verghis, Sharon"Bach with more bite pays off" ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 2 September 2005. Richard Tognetti was appointed Lead Violin in 1989 and subsequently appo ...
for "The Future is Baroque", a Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney that runs for three weeks every January, since it was established in 1977. The festival program features in excess of 100 events from local and international artists an ...
exclusive event pairing Dappled Cities' music with Baroque instrumentation. The band played as the supporting act at Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (keyboar ...
's "Codes and Keys" tour at the Palace Theatre in Melbourne, Australia.
The band returned from hibernation to play a sold-out show at Sydney's Newtown Social Club on 5 February 2016. The show featured a number of new songs from the band's upcoming fifth album, '', , , , , '' (pronounced "five"). In May that year they released a new single, "That Sound". In early 2017 the second single, "Stone Men", was released along with an accompanying music video. '', , , , , '' itself was released on 5 May 2017, the date intentionally mirroring the album title. The title was chosen to reflect the fact that the band had made five albums, had five members and had not put out an album in five years.
'', , , , , '' was properly launched with a show at the City Recital Hall in Sydney. At the show, it was announced that bassist Alex Moore would be leaving the band. He was later replaced by Mark Harding.
Members
;Current members
* Dave Rennick – 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 ...
, 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 ...
(1997–present)
* Tim Derricourt – guitar, lead vocals (1997–present)
* Ned Cooke – 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 ...
, sampler, backing vocals (2006–present)
* Allan Kumpulainen – 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 ...
(2008–present)
* Mark Harding – bass, backing vocals (2017–present), keyboards (2017, touring)
;Past members
* Hugh Boyce – drums (1997–2008)
* Alex Moore – bass (1997–2017)
* Mark Bradshaw – keyboards (2004–2006)
Discography
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Extended plays
Awards
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.
, -
! scope="row" rowspan="2", 2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
, ''Zounds''
, Best Independent Album
,
, -
, themselves
, Independent Artist of the Year
,
, -
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 ...
are annual awards, which 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 ...
. They commenced in 1987.
!
, -
! scope="row", 2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
, ''Zounds''
, ARIA Award for Best Independent Release
The ARIA Music Award for Best Independent Release, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording ...
,
,
, -
! scope="row", 2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
, ''Lake Air''
, Best Independent Release
,
,
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Australian post-rock groups
New South Wales musical groups
Australian indie rock groups
Dangerbird Records artists