Steve Parkin is an Australian musician and singer-songwriter. Born in

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and raised in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. He is a founder member of 1990s Perth garage pop three-piece, Autopilot, who released two EPs, ''Pure Gold Baby'' in 1998 and ''Out of the Sun'' in 2001. He was also a band member of Basement Birds. He co-wrote material for

Eskimo Joe Eskimo Joe are an Australian alternative rock band that was formed in 1997 by Stuart MacLeod, on lead guitar, Joel Quartermain, on drums and guitar, and Kavyen Temperley, on bass guitar and vocals, in East Fremantle, Western Australia, Austral ...

's 2009 album '' Inshalla'', which peaked at number one on the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...

(ARIA)

Albums Chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

. One of the tracks, " Foreign Land", won 'Most Played Australian Work' at the APRA Awards of 2010.

Early life

Born in

and raised in

. Steve’s father, Pete Parkin is also a musician of note.

Music career

Vinyl

Parkin began his professional music career with short-lived Perth grunge-pop 3 piece, Vinyl, who released only one EP, ''Lazeryouthanasia'', in 1996. It was produced by

Ben Glatzer Ben-Zion "Ben" Glatzer (born 8 October 1959, Perth) is an Australian sound engineer and producer. He worked on Ammonia's debut album, ''Mint 400'' (1995), The Chevelles' ''At Second Glance'' (1995), Cartman's debut '' Go!'' (2002), The Stems ...

at Revolver Sound in Perth. Mastering was done with Wayne Bartley at Studio 301. Vinyl were briefly signed to a distribution deal with

Polygram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

imprint d/Mercurybut not long after signing, the distribution agreement failed to enter the development stage when Polygram and all of its subsidiary labels were bought by

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

resulting in Vinyl only releasing the one EP.

Autopilot

In 1998 Parkin formed another Perth indie-rock 3-piece, Autopilot, with Hugh Jennings and Jayde Smith, both previously members of Burnside. A debut 1999 seven-track release ''Pure Gold Baby'' received favourable reviews, including a four star review in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' and high rotation on national radio networks including

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 ...

. Autopilot has been cited as an influence by later Perth bands including

. They released a second EP, ''Out of the Sun'', in 2001, which was followed by an extensive run of shows including a large national tour supporting

Pollyanna ''Pollyanna'' is a 1913 novel by American author Eleanor H. Porter, considered a classic of children's literature. The book's success led to Porter's soon writing a sequel, ''Pollyanna Grows Up'' (1915). Eleven more ''Pollyanna'' sequels, know ...

. Neither of the two Autopilot "mini-albums" are currently available in a physical format, but they were re-mastered in 2013 and available digitally.

Solo performer

In 2005, touring as Steve Parkin and the Foreign Films his debut solo album, ''Sandytown'', was released through Shock to favourable national reviews and reception. The album was produced by Debaser Studios, a production trio consisting of Joel Quartermain of

, Rodney Aravena then a member of

End of Fashion End of Fashion are an Australian pop rock band from Perth, Western Australia. The group gained mainstream attention with its 2005 single, " O Yeah", that was voted into eighth position of the "Hottest 100" poll, compiled by Australian youth rad ...

and Andy Lawson who is still a successful Perth music producer under the

Debaser "Debaser" is a song by American alternative rock band Pixies, and is the first song on their 1989 album '' Doolittle''. The song was written and sung by frontman Black Francis and was produced by Gil Norton during ''Doolittles recording sess ...

name. A second solo album, ''Mighty Big Light'', was released in 2011 on

Warner Music Australia Warner Music Australia Pty Limited (WMA) is the Australian division of the Warner Music Group. WMA also distributes in New Zealand. History In 1969, Warner Bros. Records branched out and WEA was born. The first country in which it was estab ...

imprint label Dirt Diamonds. Since 2012 there have been five home-recorded indie releases of original songs released through

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

Session musician

Bob Evans

From 2006 to early 2008 Parkin played keys and guitar for Kevin Mitchell (

Jebediah Jebediah are an Australian alternative rock band formed in 1994 in Perth, Western Australia. They were formed by Chris Daymond on lead guitar, Kevin Mitchell (aka Bob Evans) on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, and Vanessa Thornton on bass guita ...

Co-writing

Signed to

Universal Music Publishing Group Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a North American music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group. It was formerly known as MCA Music Publishing until it merged with PolyGram. Universal Music Publishing is the worl ...

as a songwriter in 2013, Parkin has co-written songs with a number of other artists including

Gossling Helen Elizabeth Croome (born 1983), better known by her stage-name Gossling, is an Australian folk/pop singer-songwriter. Gossling formed after Croome put Psychology/Sociology studies on hold to concentrate on a Bachelor of Music (Composition) ...

, Lewis Watson,

Ruby Boots Rebecca Louise "Bex" Chilcott, known professionally as Ruby Boots, (born October 20, 1981) is an Australian singer-songwriter who sings country and americana music. Early life and education Boots was born in Perth, Western Australia, and lived ...

Shihad Shihad are a rock band formed in Wellington, New Zealand in 1988. The band consists of founders Tom Larkin (drums, backing vocals, samplers), Phil Knight (lead guitar, synthesiser, backing vocals) and Jon Toogood (lead vocals, rhythm guitar ...

, sharing in ARIA and APRA awards for single releases from

's 2009 ARIA number one album '' Inshalla''. " Foreign Land" from the album won 'Most Played Australian Work' at the APRA Awards of 2010.

Basement Birds

Parkin is a member of Basement Birds, a side project he shares with Kevin Mitchell,

Josh Pyke Joshua Jon Pyke (born 18 December 1977) is an Australian singer-songwriter, producer, musician and children's book author. Biography Josh Pyke is a prolific songwriter, with a successful and critically acclaimed career both domestically and ove ...

and

Kavyen Temperley Satyam Kavyen "Kav" Temperley (born Finlay Beaton; 3 July 1978) is the lead singer, songwriter, bassist and occasional keyboard player of the Australian band Eskimo Joe. Biography Early life and education Temperley was born in Mosman Park, We ...

of Eskimo Joe. They released their eponymous album in 2010 independently, which reached No. 12 in August 2010 and received an ARIA nomination in the Adult Alternative category. Described in the press as a collaborative folk-pop "supergroup", Basement Birds toured Australia.

Awards

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwr ...

(APRA). , - , rowspan="3",

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, , rowspan="3", " Foreign Land" (Stuart MacLeod, Joel Quartermain, Steve Parkin, Kavyen Temperley) – Eskimo Joe , , Most Played Australian Work , , , - , Rock Work of the Year , , , - , Song of the Year , , , - ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, , "Love Is a Drug" (Stuart MacLeod, Joel Quartermain, Kav Temperley) , , Rock Work of the Year , ,

References

External links

*
Basement Birds official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkin, Steve Living people Australian male singers Australian male songwriters British emigrants to Australia Musicians from Perth, Western Australia Year of birth missing (living people) Basement Birds members