Lo-Tel was a pop rock band based in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. They achieved commercial success and are best known for their single " Teenager of the Year" released 2000. They no longer perform as Lo-Tel; however, two past members continue to produce music.

History

In 1998, Lo-Tel were initially a trio of Luke Hanigan (singer and guitarist), Dave Lumsdaine (bass), and Darren Brollo (drums), recording tracks in Hanigan's home studio. This led to their first shows, and, with the help of John O'Donnell, they were signed to Epic Records in 1999. Hanigan said, "It was almost like we tripped and wound up with a record contract; it was so ridiculously speedy." In April 1999, Lo-Tel recorded their debut album ''

Planet of the Stereos ''Planet of the Stereos'' is the debut studio album released by Australian band Lo-Tel. The album was released in October 2000 and peaked at number 41 on the ARIA Charts. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2001, the album was nominated for the ARIA Aw ...

''. Hanigan said, "We spent five weeks making it, and then six months getting it remixed by various Americans." Their first single, "Genre Casting", was released in early 2000 on vinyl only. " Teenager of the Year" was released in May 2000 and became a Top 40 hit on the back of its appearance in the popular Australian film '' Looking for Alibrandi''. Marty Hailey joined the band in May 2000 on 2nd guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals. ''

'' was eventually released in October 2000 and achieved moderate commercial success. Two further singles from the album, "

A Pop Song Saved My Life "A Pop Song Saved My Life" is a song by Australian band Lo-Tel. It was released in September 2000 as the third single from the band's debut studio album ''Planet of the Stereos ''Planet of the Stereos'' is the debut studio album released by Aus ...

" and "Crucifix", enjoyed a similar amount of airplay and publicity but were less successful. In March 2001, Luke Hanigan married his longtime partner, Australian actor

Pia Miranda Pia Miranda (born 15 June 1973) is an Australian actress whose career was launched with her role in the 2000 feature film '' Looking for Alibrandi'', an Australian film based on the novel of the same name by Melina Marchetta. She is also know ...

, in Las Vegas. After a two-year break, Lo-Tel regrouped in 2002 (with Paul Wheeler replacing Brollo) and released their second album, ''The Lost Thing'', in August 2003, with artwork by Shaun Tan. Although the album track, " Angel", received widespread commercial airplay, ''The Lost Thing'' failed to make the Top 100. The band split in 2003. Luke Hanigan continues to write music under a solo title. David Lumsdaine has had commercial success as a production music composer. Darren Brollo is the drummer of State of Grace.

Discography

Albums

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 an annual series presented by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) since 1987, which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. , - ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, "Teenager of the Year" , ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist – Single , , - ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, ''Planet of the Stereos'' ,

ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist – Album The ARIA Music Award for Breakthrough ArtistAlbum 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 Recordin ...

, , -

References

External links

Band profile on Australian Music Online
Australian pop rock groups Australian alternative metal musical groups Australian post-grunge groups Musical groups established in 1998 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 {{Australia-band-stub