Def FX was an Australian band created by Sean Lowry (keyboards) in 1990 and included

Fiona Horne Fiona Horne (born 1966 in Sydney) is the former lead singer of 1990s Australian electro-rock band, Def FX, before continuing on to author several best-selling books on Modern Witchcraft. She is a popular radio and television personality, appe ...

on lead vocals, Blake Gardiner on guitar and Martyn Basha on bass - the band had no drummer. They released four albums, ''Light Speed Collision'' (December 1992), ''Baptism'' (compilation, November 1993), ''Ritual Eternal'' (May 1995), ''Majick'' (July 1996) before disbanding in April 1997. For United States releases and touring they used Definition FX as their band name to avoid confusion with similarly named groups. Top 50

ARIA In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

hit "Psychoactive Summer" is one example of Def FX's music, combining elements of

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

and heavy-metal instrumentations and

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

vocals and pop. Their music throughout their career can be described as a fusion of elements of

psychedelia Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic ...

, and heavy metal, and commercial pop and in their early days, even

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

. Basha and Horne resurrected Def FX for touring in 2012 and 2013.

History

Def FX were formed in 1990 in Sydney with the line-up of Martyn Basha on bass guitar, Blake Gardner on lead guitar (both ex-Bezerk),

on lead vocals (ex-Mothers) and Sean Lowry on record player with a padlock on it, sequencers and samples (ex-King Prawn). According to Australian musicologist,

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the '' Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

, their "intention from the outset was to mix energetic dance beats with hardcore grungy rock." & electronic dance music."

Larry Van Kriedt Larry Van Kriedt (born July 4, 1954) is an American-born Australian jazz musician. He is best known for being the original bassist for the rock band AC/DC around November 1973, joining Malcolm Young (rhythm guitar), Angus Young (lead guitar), D ...

was a "hidden fifth member" on saxophone and sequencers (ex-AC/DC, Non Stop Dancers); he "also co-wrote much of the band's early material." Def FX's debut release was a four-track extended play, ''Water'', in June 1991 via

Phantom Records Phantom Records was an Australian record store and independent record label established in 1978 by Dare Jennings and Jules R.B. Normington. Phantom Records was one of Australia's first indie labels, and the store was known for its guerilla m ...

. It featured the song, "Surfers of the Mind", which Joanna Palmer of ''

Tharunka ''Tharunka'' is a student magazine published at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Established in 1953 at the then New South Wales University of Technology, ''Tharunka'' has been published in a variety of forms by various s ...

'' described as "a violent whirlpool of high-voltage house metal where

orne Orne (; nrf, Ôrne or ) is a département in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne. It had a population of 279,942 in 2019.owrys 21st century gospel raps around her." The track appeared on national radio station, Triple J's listeners' poll for

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

. They toured Australia, and promoted it with the band's first

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

. ''Water'' was produced by Nick Mainsbridge. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1992 the EP was nominated for Best Independent Release and

Producer of the Year The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non- classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors i ...

. Note: User may be required to access archived information by selecting 'The History', then 'By Award', 'Producer of the Year' and 'Option Show Nominations'. They followed with a second EP, ''Surge'', in November, which included the track, "Under the Blue". A third EP, ''Blink'' (June 1992), included the track, "Sex/Game/Sucker". Gardner was replaced on guitar by Dave Stein late in 1992. Lowry summarised the group's attitude to signing with a major label, "It was always important to stay independent long enough to set the parameters of the band, so that anyone who came on board would be clear what the band was like and how it should be marketed." Their first album, ''Light Speed Collision'', was released in November 1992 in a vinyl-only format via

; it appeared in CD format through

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

in the following February. The album included guest vocals by

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 ...

pop singer,

Margaret Urlich Margaret Mary Urlich (24 January 1965 – 22 August 2022) was a New Zealand singer who lived in Australia for most of her career. Urlich's 1989 debut solo album, ''Safety in Numbers'', won " Breakthrough Artist – Album" at the 1991 ARIA Awa ...

. For its United States version, on RCA/BMG in June 1993, the band used the name, Definition FX, to avoid confusion with a US band,

Das EFX Das EFX is an American hip hop duo. It consists of emcees Dray (also known as Krazy Drayz, born Andre Weston, September 9, 1970) and Skoob (also known as Books and Boogie Bang, born William "Willie" Hines, November 27, 1970). They named the ...

. They reordered the tracks and added material from two of their EPs. Lowry explained to Nic Haygarth of ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

'' that "People get the misconception that because we're a technology-based band we do a lot of our work and development of songs in the studio, but I suppose what we do there is attempt to transfer the live show to record, and we might put up a very rough mock-up of a song and start playing it." The second album, ''Baptism'', released in 1993, is a compilation of three Australian-released EPs ''Water'', ''Surge'' and ''Blink'' as well as a 12-inch single, "Surfers of the Mind". ''Baptism'' featured the track, "Make Your Stash", which is apparently so rare that Horne had no idea of its existence when presented it for autographing by a dedicated Def FX fan. The single was rather atypical of Def FX, in that it had no cover art and no

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

s, which had characterised their EPs. The band usually preferred to make each release, be it album or EP, a conceptual work that made full use of the

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

format that had recently come into commercial prominence. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 1993 The Seventh Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) was held on 14 April 1993 at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney. Note: User may be required to access archived i ...

''Blink'' was nominated for Best Independent Release. Three more EPs followed ''No Time for Nowhere'' (March 1993), ''Space Time Disco'' (June) and ''Post Moronic'' (September 1994). At the end of 1993 Basha had departed and his duties on bass guitar were taken up by Van Kriedt. ''Post Moronic'' appeared on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

in the top 50. One of its tracks, "Masses Like Asses", was listed on the

Triple J Hottest 100, 1994 The 1994 Triple J Hottest 100, counted down in January 1995, was a countdown of the most popular songs of the year, according to listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J. A CD featuring 32 of the songs was released. A countdown of the ...

. ''Ritual Eternal'' (1995), their third album, is more experimental: including tracks without standard guitars and others with Charlie McMahon on

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

(ex- Gondwanaland Project), who also joined Def FX on tour. It was recorded and produced almost entirely by Lowry, following the cancellation of their contract with EMI, and was issued via independent label Cicada Music and distributed by MDS. McFarlane felt the CD was "over-ambitious". ''Ritual Eternal'' introduced their new bass guitarist, Peter Tasker, who was forced out of the band months later and replaced by Sean Fonti (ex-

Massappeal Massappeal were an Australian hardcore punk band founded in early 1985 by mainstays, Brett Curotta (guitar), and Randy Reimann (vocals). Massapeal released four studio albums, ''Nobody Likes a Thinker'' (1986), ''Jazz'' (1989), ''The Mechanic'' ...

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...

). At the

ARIA Music Awards of 1995 The Ninth Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) was held on 20 October 1995 at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. There had been a 18-month gap since the ...

they were nominated for Best Independent Release for their third album. In October 1995 they issued the EP, ''Psychoactive Summer'', which also reached the top 50 on the ARIA Charts. It was followed by their fourth album, ''Majick'', in mid-year, which peaked at No. 21 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It provided four singles. The band dissolved in May of that year with the split announced by Horne on ABC-TV's Saturday morning youth variety show, ''

Recovery Recovery or Recover may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Recovery'' (novel), a Star Wars e-book * Recovery Version, a translation of the Bible with footnotes published by Living Stream Ministry Film and television * ''Recovery'' (fil ...

''.

Post break up and reunions

Fiona Horne followed her stint with Def FX with musical releases 'Shut Up and Kiss Me' with

Paul McDermott Paul Anthony Michael McDermott (born 13 May 1962) is an Australian entertainer, best known both for ''Good News Week'' and for his role as a member of the musical comedy group the Doug Anthony All Stars. He has frequently appeared at the Melb ...

and a solo single "Let's Go Out Tonight" (both achieving chart success) before subsequently become a writer, with 11 books, including two autobiographies and guides to her practising of

Wicca Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was ...

n rituals. She is an actor, as well as a performer in reality television as both host and contestant; she used to appear on the ''

Hamish and Andy Hamish & Andy are an Australian comedy duo formed in 2003 by Hamish Blake and Andy Lee. Best known for their various drive time radio programmes on the Hit Network, which aired in multiple formats until 2017, their shows gained consistently ...

'' radio programme. In March 2007 Horne released her first solo CD, ''Witch Web'', based on her spiritual practice. Sean Lowry completed his

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in 2003 at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. Lowry is now an academic, writer and visual artist. Sean Fonti formed

Primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

with brother Jamie Fonti also from Caligula and vocalist,

Connie Mitchell Connie Thembi Mitchell (born ), also known as Miss Connie, is a South African-born Australian singer-songwriter. In 1995 she was a founding member of Primary. Briefly, in 2004, she was vocalist for Machine Gun Fellatio under the pseudonym Feyo ...

. With Horne and Basha as the sole original members, Def FX reunited and embarked on a national tour in May–June 2012, performing in east coast state capitals. Joining the pair were electronic musician Ant Banister (Clan Analogue) on keyboard and vocals and Wiley Cochrane on guitar, as well as an appearance by Jesse Basha (son of bassist Martyn Basha). From October to November 2013 they reformed again to play shows in Adelaide, Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney and Brisbane.

Discography

Albums

Extended Plays

Singles

Awards and nominations

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 a set of annual ceremonies presented by

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...

(ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the

music of Australia 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. ! , - ,

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, ''Water'' ,

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 ...

, ,

References

External links

Fiona Horne's official websiteFiona Horne interview at WickedInfo.com
{{Authority control Australian electronic musicians New South Wales musical groups Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 1997