Phillip Calvert (born 11 January 1958) is an Australian

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 ...

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

and producer best known for his playing in the

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band The Birthday Party with

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...

History

At the private boys school

Caulfield Grammar Caulfield Grammar School is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day school, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as ...

in the early 1970s Calvert met

vocalist 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 ...

and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

Mick Harvey Michael John Harvey (born 29 August 1958) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his long-term collaborations with Nick Cave, with whom he formed The ...

and formed a rock band with other students, playing parties and school functions. The band picked up Cave's friend

Tracy Pew Tracy Franklin Pew (19 December 1957 – 7 November 1986) was an Australian musician, and bassist for The Birthday Party. He was later a member of The Saints, and worked with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. As a member of the Birthday Party, Pe ...

on bass, and after they finished secondary school they named themselves The Boys Next Door in 1977. After making recordings for local independent labels Suicide (a subsidiary of

Mushroom Records Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival Mu ...

) and Missing Link, and playing hundreds of live shows, the band left for

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1980 and renamed themselves The Birthday Party, signing first to

4AD Records 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD af ...

and then to

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...

. After his split with The Birthday Party in 1982, Calvert joined the UK group

The Psychedelic Furs The Psychedelic Furs are a post-punk band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk scene ...

, touring the U.S., but never recorded with them. He left before they recorded ''

Mirror Moves ''Mirror Moves'' is the fourth studio album by English rock band the Psychedelic Furs, released in May 1984 by Columbia Records, two years after their previous studio album, '' Forever Now'' (1982). The album includes the dance hit "Heartbeat" ...

'' in 1984. He returned to Melbourne and in 1985 became a founding member of the rock group

Blue Ruin ''Blue Ruin'' is a 2013 American thriller film written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier and starring Macon Blair. Saulnier funded production on the film through a successful Kickstarter campaign, which MTV called "the perfect example of what c ...

. They recorded five LPs with Calvert and travelled to the UK. Calvert split with Blue Ruin in the late '80s. Blue Ruin reformed with Calvert for some shows in 2006. Guitarist Ben Ling and Calvert have also co-produced the Melbourne band

Witch Hats Witch Hats are a rock music, rock band based in Melbourne, Australia. History Formation & ''Wound of a Little Horse'' (2005 - 2007) The band was formed in late 2005 by guitarist and vocalist Kris Buscombe with drummer Duncan Blachford, who move ...

on releases '' Wound of a Little Horse'' (2006), '' Cellulite Soul'' (2008) and '' Solarium Down the Causeway'' (2009). In 2015 Calvert launched the label Behind the Beat Records with associate Ben Ling. The first artist on the label is Seri Vida. As of 2020 Calvert makes assemblage sculpture in collaboration with his wife Julia under the name "Kitty Calvert".

Selected discography

Albums

*The Boys Next Door - ''

Door, Door ''Door, Door'' is the debut album by Australian rock band The Boys Next Door. The album was recorded before the band left Australia for London in 1980, at which point they changed their name to The Birthday Party and created the body of work ...

'' (1979) *The Birthday Party - ''

Hee Haw (EP) ''Hee Haw'' is the second release and first EP by the Australian post-punk band the Boys Next Door (later renamed the Birthday Party). The ''Hee Haw'' EP was released in 1979 by the independent label, Missing Link Records. Background By 197 ...

'' (1980) *The Birthday Party - ''

Prayers On Fire ''Prayers on Fire'' is the debut studio album by Australian rock group The Birthday Party, which was released on 6 April 1981 on the Missing Link label in Australia, later licensed to the 4AD label. This was the band's first full-length releas ...

'' (1981) *The Birthday Party - '' Junkyard'' (1982) *The Birthday Party - '' It's Still Living'' *The Birthday Party - ''Live'' *The Birthday Party - ''John Peel Sessions'' *Blue Ruin - ''Such Sweet Thunder'' (1986) *Blue Ruin - ''Flame'' (1987) *Blue Ruin - ''Strange Things In The Corner'' (1988) *Blue Ruin - ''Lighthouse Girl'' (1989) *Blue Ruin - ''I'm Gonna Smile'' (1990) *The Sunday Kind - ''The Sunday Kind'' (1993) *Sugarhips - ''Sugarhips'' (1999) *Bulletproof - ''Exciting Real Life Drama'' (2002) *The Enthusiasts - ''I Hate Everybody'' (2006)

DVD

*The Birthday Party - ''

Pleasure Heads Must Burn The discography of The Birthday Party (band), The Birthday Party, an Australian post-punk band, consists of four studio albums, two live albums, six compilation albums, six extended plays and nine Single (music), singles. The group began under va ...

As Producer

*The Enthusiasts - ''I Hate Everybody'' (2006) *Witch Hats - ''Wound of a Little Horse'' (2006) *Witch Hats - ''Cellulite Soul'' (2008) *Witch Hats - ''Solarium Down the Causeway'' (2009) *Seri Vida - ''To be Free'' (2012) *Masses - ''Horde Mentality'' EP (2014) *Seri Vida - ''The Wait'' (2015) *Masses - ''Moloch'' (2016) *Astrid Munday - ''Beauty in the Ordinary'' (2020)

References

External links

Birthday Party Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calvert, Phill 1958 births Living people Musicians from Melbourne Australian rock drummers Male drummers Noise rock musicians People educated at Caulfield Grammar School Australian punk rock musicians The Birthday Party (band) members