Dash & Will are an Australian

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

duo formed in 2005, from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Career history

Dash (Charlotte "Charlie" Thorpe) and Will (Josie De Sousa-Reay) first met in early 1999, at age nine. The pair both started grade four on the same day at the same new school, Preshil: The Margaret Lyttle Memorial School. Their original relationship was bitter, as Josie recalls the two had "hated each other for quite a few years". At age twelve, they began performing together and in year nine (age fourteen), Charlie and Josie were awarded a small financial grant to record a professional demo of their original songs.http://videohits.ten.com.au/artists-dash-and-will.htm The following year, in 2005, Josie's dad was talking to the father of one of the girl's classmates, Barry Palmer a Melbourne-based producer and former guitarist with Hunters & Collectors and Deadstar. Not long after, Palmer contacted the girls and asked if they would come into the studio for a chat and live performance. He then signed the duo to his music production company, Gigantically Small, and they would eventually sign to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

through Universal Music Australia. Dash and Will headlined the 2008 Rock the Schools tour across

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in May, as well as supporting

Ben Lee Benjamin Michael Lee (born 11 September 1978) is an Australian musician and actor. Lee began his career as a musician at the age of 14 with the Sydney band Noise Addict, but he focused on his solo career when the band broke up in 1995. He appe ...

Matt Costa Matthew Albert Costa (born June 16, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter from Huntington Beach, California, United States. He has 13 independent releases: 7 self-recorded EPs, 6 complete LPs, 4 of which are released via Brushfire Records. ...

and Faker's Nathan Hudson. Their first single, "

Pick You Up "Pick You Up" is the first single released from Powderfinger's second album ''Double Allergic''. The single was released on 13 April 1996, and was Powderfinger's first moderate success both on commercial and Indie radio stations, and the most s ...

", was released in May 2008, and second single " Fighting Over Nothing" was released in October 2008. Dash and Will supported British indie rockers

The Kooks The Kooks () are an English pop-rock band formed in 2004 in Brighton. The band consists of Luke Pritchard (vocals/rhythm guitar), Hugh Harris (lead guitar/synthesizer/bass) and Alexis Nunez (drums). Their music is primarily influenced by th ...

on their Australian tour in August and September 2008 as well as

The Futureheads The Futureheads are an English post-punk band from Sunderland, formed in 2000. The band consists of Ross Millard (vocals and guitar), David "Jaff" Craig (vocals and bass guitar) and brothers Barry Hyde (vocals and guitar) and Dave Hyde (drums ...

End of Fashion End of Fashion are an Australian pop rock band from Perth, Western Australia. The group gained mainstream attention with its 2005 single, " O Yeah", that was voted into eighth position of the "Hottest 100" poll, compiled by Australian youth rad ...

and

Van She Van She are an electropop band formed in 2002 in Sydney, Australia, with Matt Van Schie (pronounced Van Ski) on bass guitar/vocals, Tomek Archer on drums/sequencer, Michael Di Francesco on synth/guitar and Nicholas Routledge on vocals/guitar. ...

. They were also on the bill to play the long-running summer festivals Homebake and

Falls Festival Falls Music & Arts Festival (commonly known as Falls) is a multi-day music festival held annually in Lorne (Victoria), Marion Bay (Tasmania), Byron Bay (New South Wales) and Fremantle (Western Australia), Australia over the New Year's Eve ...

, also playing on The Other Stage at Southbound in 2009. In September 2008, the duo's version of

The Easybeats The Easybeats were an Australian rock band that formed in Sydney in late 1964. They enjoyed a level of success that in Australia rivalled The Beatles. They became the first Australian rock act to score an international hit, with the 1966 sing ...

' "Somethin' Wrong" was released on ''Easy Fever'', a compilation of The Easybeats' classic songs performed by Australian and New Zealand artists. Dash & Will once again supported

on their second tour of Australia in January 2009, as well as supporting another UK band

The Ting Tings The Ting Tings are an English indie pop duo from Salford, Greater Manchester formed in 2007. The band consists of Katie White (vocals, guitar, bass drums, bass guitar, cowbells) and Jules De Martino (drums, lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboards ...

. The duo found exposure through appearances on numerous Australian television programs, including children show ''

Saturday Disney ''Saturday Disney'' is a long running Australian children's television program which aired on the Seven Network in Australia for over 26 years, with the first episode going to air on 27 January 1990. The show was a television block which aired ...

'' and music quiz shows '' RocKwiz'' and ' Spicks and Specks'. They also hosted four episodes of a music based show for kids, ''The Go Show'', on the Foxtel channel

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

. They released their debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, '' Up in Something'', in August 2009. In May 2011, Dash and Will also supported

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

on his 'My World' tour in

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 ...

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Charted singles

References

External links

Dash & Will Official WebsiteDash & Will Myspace Bellaboo Interview Rave Magazine Review The Scene Interview Mercury Records website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dash And Will Australian pop music groups Australian musical duos Musical groups established in 2005 Rock music duos Musical groups disestablished in 2011 2005 establishments in Australia 2011 disestablishments in Australia