Pluto is a

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 ...

rock band from

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. Their album '' Pipeline Under The Ocean'', released in 2005 went double platinum on the

RIANZ Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...

albums chart. Pluto's nascent trajectory has covered the spectrum of the New Zealand musical stratosphere, bursting brightly onto the scene in 2001, but they broke up in 2009 when they were recording their fourth album. In 2015, sparked by the discovery of a back-up session of the unfinished album, the group decided to reform. The album was set to be released in September 2019 under their own company, 5 Moon Entertainment. The first single produced by Nick Abbott �
Oh My Lonely
�� was released in July 2019 with their album release ‘IV’ following in September 2019.

Band members

*Milan Borich (

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

) *Tim Arnold (guitar,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

) *Michael Franklin-Browne (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

) *Mike Hall (

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, vocals) *Matthias Jordan (

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, vocals)

Band overview

Pluto mastered the art of the multi-layered rock sound – sometimes indie, moody and restrained, at other times hook-laden hand-clap pop, often angular, full-energy, anthemic rock. Through the mid-2000s, Pluto was at their zenith, consistently writing rock songs that traversed the musical landscape combining thoughtful, intelligent lyrics with sonic pop melodies to create evocative, memorable and seductive songs. Pluto has produced three albums. Their first album, '' Redlight Syndrome'', has a range of song types, starting with acoustic

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and ending with heavily distorted

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

. Between that and their next album, the band enjoyed minor highs and a few lows, but they found a collective voice on '' Pipeline Under The Ocean''. The second album was released after much complication from touring and changing record companies. The album's name is derived from the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Pipe-lines Under The Ocean – acronym PLUTO – which supplied fuel to Allied forces after D-Day. The songs are mostly rock and roll. Hits include "Long White Cross", "Dance Stamina" and "Baby Cruel". The album went double platinum and Pluto enjoyed successes at the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

New Zealand Music Awards, winning Single of the Year with "Long White Cross", as well as reaching the finals for the People's Choice Award, losing out to Fat Freddy's Drop.New Zealand Music Awards Announcement
/ref> In 2007, the band's lead singer, Milan Borich's version of the Alphaville song " Forever Young" was used in the Gregor Nicholas-directed TV commercials, part of

Tourism New Zealand Tourism New Zealand is the marketing agency responsible for promoting New Zealand as a tourism destination internationally. It is the trading name of the New Zealand Tourism Board, a Crown entity established under the New Zealand Tourism Board Ac ...

's "100% Pure New Zealand" campaign, which market New Zealand as "the youngest country on earth". The band was looking at releasing another album in 2019 but this did not eventuate, although in July 2019, the single 'Oh My Lonely' was released as an EP, with a music video directed by Milan Borich and edited by Nick Abbott (who also produced the song). Milan also produced and directed their 'Hey Little' (2001) and 'Snake Charmer' (2010) videos.

Discography

Albums

Featured appearances

The group's songs have appeared on the following compilations: *(2000) – ''If Licks Could Kill'' (Antenna Music) – "Moscow Snow'" and "Field 11 Cows" *(2001) – ''Live at Helen's'' (

Festival Mushroom Records A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...

) – "Hey Little" *(2004) – ''State of the Nation'' (

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 ...

) – "Perfectly Evil" *(2006) – ''

Broken Dreams II Broken may refer to: Literature * ''Broken'' (Armstrong novel), a 2006 novel by Kelley Armstrong in the ''Women of the Otherworld'' series * ''Broken'' (Slaughter novel), a 2010 novel by Karin Slaughter Music Albums * ''Broken (And Oth ...

'' (

Warner Music 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 ...

) – "Long White Cross" *(2006) – ''Rippon 06'' (Loop Recordings) – "Dance Stamina" "

Long White Cross Pluto is a New Zealand rock band from Auckland. Their album '' Pipeline Under The Ocean'', released in 2005 went double platinum on the RIANZ albums chart. Pluto's nascent trajectory has covered the spectrum of the New Zealand musical stratosphe ...

" from ''Pipeline Under the Ocean'' was used in the EA Sports computer game, ''

Cricket 07 ''Cricket 07'' is a 2006 cricket simulation computer game developed by EA Canada and HB Studios and published by EA Sports. It is available for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2. The game was released on 26 November 2006 in Europe and in Austral ...

''.

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pluto New Zealand alternative rock groups