Neon were a three-piece Australian

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

from Melbourne. Founders were Josh Bitmead on guitar and vocals, Britt Spooner on bass guitar and Jamie Gurney on drums. Their four-track extended play, ''A Man'' (October 2004) reached the top 50 of the

Australian 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 ...

. It received critical acclaim in the British music media. Their debut album, ''Neon'', appeared in July 2005.

History

Two Neon members, Josh Bitmead and Jamie Gurney, were originally from

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

, New South Wales. The pair had played in a band, Porcelein, which won a

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

Unearthed contest in the mid-to-late 1990s. After finishing year 12 they moved to Melbourne in 1996, Bitmead recalled "I had to start life in a new town, looking to play in bands whilst holding down a boring job." Neon were formed in 2001 in that city to work on songs written by Bitmead (guitar, vocals), which included Gurney on drums and Britt Spooner on bass guitar. Spooner moved from

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area had ...

in 1999 and is the sister of Bitmead's friend; Bitmead and Spooner became a domestic couple before forming the trio. In the early years of Neon, Gurney also worked as a University admissions officer. Their first performance was in July 2001. The band started recording demos and supported shows by

Dallas Crane Dallas Crane are a triple ARIA Award nominated Australian alternative rock band from Melbourne. Their self-titled third album was released on 10 July 2004, and peaked in the ARIA Albums Chart top 50. Its lead single, "Dirty Hearts" (June ...

Magic Dirt Magic Dirt are an Australian rock band, which formed in 1991 in Geelong, Victoria, with Daniel Herring on guitar, Adam Robertson on drums, Adalita Srsen on vocals and guitar, and Dean Turner (musician), Dean Turner on bass guitar. Initially for ...

, Rocket Science and

You Am I You Am I are an Australian alternative rock band, fronted by its lead singer-songwriter and guitarist, Tim Rogers. They formed in December 1989 and are the first Australian band to have released three successive albums that have each debuted ...

. Neon signed a record deal with

Ivy League Records Ivy League Records is a record label based in Sydney, Australia. History Ivy League Records is an Australian-based record label established in 1997 by three ex-musician friends: Pete Lusty (John Reed Club) (RIP), Andy Cassell (Youth Group) and ...

in 2001. Rocket Science's lead guitarist Roman Tucker had passed on their demos to Ivy League's Pete Lusty in October. Early in 2002 the trio signed with talent management company Winterman & Goldstein, owned by Lusty and Andy Cassell (also co-owners of Ivy League). A demo tape was also sent to Steve McDonald of United States group

Redd Kross Redd Kross is an American rock band from Hawthorne, California, who had their roots in 1978 in a punk rock band called the Tourists, which was started by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald while Steve was still in middle school. With the additio ...

who offered to produce a record for them in Los Angeles. In November 2002 Neon performed in LA, New York and London. A year late they took up McDonald's offer and recorded an album's worth of tracks. Recordings included contributions from

Pat Smear Georg Albert Ruthenberg (born August 5, 1959), better known by his stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead guitarist and co-founder of Los Angeles-based punk band The Germs and for being a rhythm guitar ...

and Dale Crover (

Melvins Melvins (sometimes The Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Initially, they performed as a trio but later also sometimes appeare ...

drummer). Former Blur guitarist

Graham Coxon Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter who came to prominence as a founding member of the rock band Blur. As the group's lead guitarist and secondary vocalist, Cox ...

had also heard their demo tape and released their extended play, ''A Man'', on his

Transcopic Records Transcopic was a British record label created in 1998 by Blur (band), Blur guitarist Graham Coxon for his solo releases, as well as those of other left field artists. Along with Coxon's music, the label issued records by acts such as Ooberman, T ...

in April 2004. They followed with another EP, ''Hit Me Again'' in August, which Johnny Loftus of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

rated at three-out-of-five, describing how their "spry, sugary harmonies lock into guitars that rev like muscle cars racing over California viaducts" while "drums are pretty loud throughout" which prevent this work from becoming "contemporary power pop". Note: review of Five-track V2 Records version released in February 2005 Their four-track EP ''A Man'' was released in Australia on 29 October 2004, which included the title track and re-recordings of three demo tracks – it was produced by McDonald and issued by Ivy League/

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. The EP received good reviews from the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' and

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. ''Oz Music Project''s Andrew Tuttle praised the title track, "power pop of a high calibre" and the "excellent" track, "Hit Me Again". The EP reached No. 48 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 ...

. Neon also supported Jet, the Vines and

the Living End The Living End are an Australian punk rockabilly band from Melbourne, formed in 1994. Since 2002, the line-up consists of Chris Cheney (vocals, guitar), Scott Owen (double bass, vocals), and Andy Strachan (drums). The band rose to fame in 199 ...

on their Aussie Invasion tour of the US. The band signed a record deal in November 2004 with

V2 Records V2 Records (or V2 Music; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007 and sold to IASin 2013. In the Benelux, V2 operates separately from PIAS, as the label bought itself out from ...

for international distribution. The trio's four-track EP ''Dizziness'' was issued on 27 May 2005, which reached the ARIA singles chart top 100. Their debut self-titled album followed on 8 July 2005 through Ivy League/Warner. It peaked at No. 13 on the ARIA Hitseekers albums chart. Gareth Bowles of ''Hybrid Magazine'' was disappointed by ''Neon'', " thas some appealing tunes, but they tend to be subsumed by the trite lyrics and over-eagerness of the players". Anthony Troiano replaced Gurney on drums in early 2009. This lineup spent three months in a studio recording two new songs, "Hello" and "Never Again". Troiano later worked as a jeweler after being tutored by a relative. From 2013 to 2016 he was the drummer for Palace of the King.

Band members

* Josh Bitmead – guitar, vocals * Britt Spooner – bass guitar * Jamie Gurney – drums * Anthony Troiano – drums

History

Band members

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

References