Kisschasy are an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band that formed in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...

in 2002. Their line-up consists of lead vocalist Darren Cordeux, bassist Joel Vanderuit, guitarist Sean Thomas and drummer Karl Ammitzboll. The band released two gold certified

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 ...

s, two

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

s, a documentary

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

in their initial 10-year career, selling in excess of 90,000 records.

Band history

Formation and early releases

Kisschasy formed in 2002. Three of the four members of the band grew up near the small country town of

Balnarring Balnarring is a town in the south-eastern extremity of the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, approximately south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local gove ...

in the

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geogra ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. Darren Cordeux, the lead singer and guitarist, grew up in

Cranbourne, Victoria Cranbourne () is a city in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 43 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Casey local government area. Cranbourne recorded a population of 21,281 at the 2021 census. ...

, a large town north of the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. Joel Vanderuit, Sean Thomas and Karl Ammitzboll played in a local band called Tenpin, who achieved a little local success. The formation of Kisschasy happened when Tenpin met Cordeux's band at the Arthouse in Melbourne in early 2002. The band name ended up being a "toss-up between Kisschasy and "Other Stuff". In 2004, Kisschasy released two EPs on indie label

Below Par Records Below Par Records is an Australian independent record label established in 2000 by three sixteen-year-old Sydney high-school students, Jai Al-Attas, Mark Catanzariti and Steven Chalker. In 2001, Matt Hawkes replaced Steven Chalker as the third ...

, the first titled ''

Darkside / Stay Awake The discography of Kisschasy, an Australian Rock music, rock band from Melbourne formed in 2002, consists of three studio albums, two compilation albums, three extended plays, one video album and eleven Single (music), singles. After forming in ...

'', the second ''Cara Sposa''. The band toured in support of these EP's right up to the point of recording their first album ''

United Paper People ''United Paper People'' is the debut album by the Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the ...

''.

''United Paper People'' (2005)

Kisschasy's debut album ''

'' was recorded and produced by Phillip McKellar (

Silverchair Silverchair were an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Ben Gillies on drums, Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

Grinspoon Grinspoon are an Australian Rock music, rock band from Lismore, New South Wales, formed in 1995 and fronted by Phil Jamieson on vocals and guitar with Pat Davern on guitar, Joe Hansen on bass guitar and Kristian Hopes on drums. Also in 1995, G ...

) in Sydney during February 2005. The band then flew to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in March of the same year to mix ''United Paper People'' with Barrett Jones who had worked with the likes of

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

and the

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

. The first single from the album was "

Do-Do's & Whoa-Oh's "Do-Do's & Whoa-Oh's" is the first single taken from Australian rock band Kisschasy's debut album, ''United Paper People'' (2005). It was released on 4 July 2005 and peaked at number 25 on the Australian Singles Chart. The single was nominated ...

", which gained heavy rotation on both commercial and alternative radio. The band received an

ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist - Single 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 ...

at the

ARIA Music Awards of 2005 The 19th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) were held on 23 October 2005 at the Sydney Superdome at the Sydney Olympic Park complex, thus continuing the pre ...

nomination for "

", as well as a

Channel V Oz Artist of the Year The Channel V Oz Artist of the Year was an annual award presented by Channel V Australia and is voted by the Australian public, and is awarded to the artist on the same day as the annual ARIA Music Awards presentation events. Since its inauguratio ...

nomination in 2005. Kisschasy were also nominated for the "Spankin' New Aussie Artist" award at the

MTV Australia Video Music Awards 2006 The second annual AVMA's aired live in the Acer Arena in Sydney on 12 April 2006 on the Foxtel, Austar and Optus platforms and was hosted by Ashlee Simpson. The 2006 show left out the VH1 Music First Award (which was awarded to Cher at the 2005 ...

''Hymns for the Nonbeliever'' (2007–2008)

In late 2006, Kisschasy went into pre-production for their follow up to ''

'', titled ''

Hymns for the Nonbeliever ''Hymns for the Nonbeliever'' is the second studio album by the Australian band Kisschasy, released on 21 July 2007. On 29 July, ''Hymns for the Nonbeliever'' debuted in the ARIA Albums Chart at number five, staying on the chart for nine weeks, ...

''. They recruited British producer

Chris Sheldon Chris Sheldon (born 25 September 1962) is an English record producer, particularly of rock music based in London, England. He has produced or mixed records for the Foo Fighters, Garbage, Big Country, Feeder, Therapy?, Biffy Clyro, Oceansize, Pix ...

, who had previously worked with acts such as Feeder,

Pixies A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas arou ...

Biffy Clyro Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band that formed in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, composed of Simon Neil (guitar, lead vocals), James Johnston (bass, vocals), and Ben Johnston (drums, vocals). Currently signed to 14th Floor Records, they have r ...

Therapy? Therapy? are a Northern Irish rock band from Larne, formed in 1989 by guitarist-vocalist Andy Cairns and drummer-vocalist Fyfe Ewing. Therapy? recorded their first demo with Cairns filling in on bass guitar. To complete the lineup, the band r ...

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

and

, to produce, engineer, and mix. The album was recorded at The Grove Studios in the Central Coast of NSW and Rockinghorse Studios just outside

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah)'' is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia on Bundjalung Country. It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a hea ...

throughout December 2006 and January 2007. The album's first two singles, "

Opinions Won't Keep You Warm at Night "Opinions Won't Keep You Warm at Night" is the first single from Kisschasy's second studio album ''Hymns for the Nonbeliever''. The song was released via digital download and single CD in 2007. Kisschasy songwriter Darren Cordeux said in press r ...

" and "

Spray on Pants "Spray on Pants" is the second single from Kisschasy's second studio album ''Hymns for the Nonbeliever''. It was released on 10 November 2007. The song is a take on the perceived emo subculture in Australia, alluding to the very tight black je ...

", were mixed by

Jerry Finn Jermone Gregory Finn (March 31, 1969 – August 21, 2008), sometimes credited as "Huckle" Jerry Finn, was an American record producer and mix engineer. He worked with numerous punk rock and pop-punk artists such as Blink-182, AFI, Sum 41, Alkal ...

. ''

'' was released on 21 July 2007. ''

'' was Kisschasy's second album to be certified gold in Australia. The third single off the album was "

Strings and Drums String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

". In May 2008,

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 ...

released a 16 track Kisschasy

, titled '' Too B or Not Too B''. The album includes acoustic tracks and

b-sides 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 company ...

, with a bonus DVD of all their music videos from ''

'' and ''

'' (excluding "Ugly Birds in a Beautiful Cage" as it was released just after the DVD).

''Seizures'' and split (2009–2015)

Kisschasy's third studio album, ''

Seizures An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or neural oscillation, synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much o ...

'', was released in August 2009 and recorded in Los Angeles with producer

Rob Schnapf Rob Schnapf is an American record producer and musician. He was the co-producer (along with Tom Rothrock) of Elliott Smith's albums ''Either/Or'', '' XO'' (on which he also played guitar on the song " Baby Britain"), '' Figure 8'' and ''From a ...

(

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

Powderfinger Powderfinger were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane in 1989. From 1992 until their break-up in 2010, the line-up consisted of vocalist Bernard Fanning, guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug, bass guitarist John Collins and drummer ...

, The Vines) In June 2009 they launched a new website in conjunction with the album's theme. The album's first single, " Generation Why", was released to radio airplay and as a digital download on 7 July 2009. The song's music video was released onto

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

prior to the single on 24 June 2009. It was released as a CD single on 24 July 2009. The song is about "armchair philosophers who love to complain," according to songwriter Darren Cordeux, who also said, "The title kind of came after the song was written so its not exactly specific to 'my generation' but I do spend the most time with people around my own age so I guess it could be taken that way". The album's second single, "Turnaround", was released in September 2009 and the video was shot at the Darlinghurst Community Centre, Sydney. In mid-January 2010 it was announced that the band's third single of the album would be 'Dinosaur'. The music video was created by a university student and featured two animated dinosaurs. Kisschasy undertook the Seizures tour around Australia in late 2009, and in the same year the band was voted the

. Kisschasy were part of the first announcement lineup for the 2010 Big Day Out. After their 2009 national tour, they also performed at Southbound, MS Fest, Pushover and

Groovin' The Moo Groovin the Moo is an annual music festival that is held in six regional centres across Australia. The festival is held during autumn, typically in May of each year. Groovin the Moo was established by Cattleyard Promotions and their first fe ...

. On 17 July 2015, the band announced on their Facebook page that they were disbanding, following the 10-year anniversary of their debut album. They simultaneously announced a farewell tour, which would see their debut album played in its entirety, alongside other crowd favourites. This tour ran throughout the month of October 2015.

Reunion (2022–present)

On 15 June 2022, Kisschasy were announced as one of the acts for Good Things Festival, with the band playing ''United Paper People'' in full on the tour. Following the completion of the run, the band announced a national Australian tour for May 2023.

Personnel

*Darren Cordeux – lead vocals, rhythm guitar *Joel Vanderuit – bass, backing vocals *Sean Thomas – lead guitar, backing vocals *Karl Ammitzboll – drums, backing vocals

Discography

Studio albums

*2005: ''

'' *2007: ''

'' *2009: ''

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 ...

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 ...

. They commenced in 1987. Kisschasy were named for three awards. ! , - , rowspan="2",

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, "Do-Do's & Whoa-Oh's" ,

, , rowspan="2", , - , David Homer & Aaron Hayward, Debaser for Kisschasy ''United Paper People'' ,

ARIA Award for Best Cover Art The ARIA Music Award for Best Cover Art, is an award presented within the Artisan Awards at the annual ARIA Music Awards. The ARIA Awards recognise "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", and have been given by the Aus ...

, , - , rowspan="1",

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, Kisschasy: The Movie ,

ARIA Award for Best Music DVD The ARIA Music Award for Best Music DVD, was an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It was handed out by the Australian Recording Indus ...

, , rowspan="1", , -

Channel V Oz Artist of the Year

The

was an annual award presented by

Channel V Australia Channel Australia was an Australian subscription television music channel that was available on Foxtel, Optus TV and Austar satellite and cable services. It was also previously available in New Zealand on TelstraSaturn's cable TV service in W ...

and is voted by the Australian public. It ran from 1997 to 2014. Kisschasey won one award from four nominations. , - , 2005 , Kisschasy , Channel V Oz Artist of the Year , , - , 2007 , Kisschasy , Channel V Oz Artist of the Year , , - , 2008 , Kisschasy , Channel V Oz Artist of the Year , , - , 2009 , Kisschasy , Channel V Oz Artist of the Year , , -

References

External links

Kisschasy.com
Official website {{Authority control Australian pop punk groups Musical groups disestablished in 2015 Musical groups established in 2002 Australian alternative rock groups Musical groups from Melbourne 2002 establishments in Australia 2015 disestablishments in Australia Musical quartets Musical groups reestablished in 2022