Tambalane were an Australian

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

band formed as a side-project late in 2003 by

Ben Gillies Benjamin David Gillies (born 24 October 1979) is an Australian musician, best known as the drummer of Australian rock band Silverchair from 1992 until the band went on hiatus in 2011. In 2003, Gillies formed Tambalane with Wes Carr, initially a ...

(

Silverchair Silverchair were an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Ben Gillies on drums, Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

) on drums and backing vocals, and

Wes Carr Wesley Dean "Wes" Carr (born 14 September 1982), also recording as Buffalo Tales, is an Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for winning the sixth season of ''Australian Idol'' in 2008. He released his first studi ...

on lead vocals and lead guitar. During 2004 they were joined by Greg Royal on bass guitar and Gerard Masters on keyboards. In August 2005 they released their debut self-titled album which provided the singles, "Little Miss Liar" (June) and "Free" (August). They disbanded late that year as Silverchair prepared to record their next album, ''

Young Modern ''Young Modern'' is the fifth and final studio album by Australian alternative rock band Silverchair, released on 31 March 2007 and co-produced by Daniel Johns and Nick Launay. The title comes from a nickname given to Daniel Johns by composer ...

''. In November 2008 Carr won the sixth season of ''

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program ''Pop Idol' ...

''.

History

Tambalane were formed late in 2003 in Sydney by

(

) on drums and backing vocals, and

on lead vocals and lead guitar. In June that year Silverchair had announced an extended hiatus after touring in support the previous year's album, ''

Diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...

''. The pair met in a local pub where Carr was performing solo after being introduced by Silverchair's manager, John Watson. They started as a songwriting project for Gillies, aside from his work with Silverchair, and Carr, who issued a solo

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

extended play, ''Rhythm to Fly'', in November. In 2005 Gillies remembered "Wes and I wrote a couple of tracks that first day to test the water ... Next thing you know we went into overdrive – it wasn't long before we had 30 or 40 songs". In 2004 Tambalane began performing as a band, Carr and Gillies were soon joined by Greg Royal on bass guitar and Gerard Masters on keyboards. They signed with Watson's label Eleven: A Music Company. Their sound was influenced by The Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Early in 2005 they issued their debut single, "Little Miss Liar" and toured Australia supporting

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 ...

. In June they released an EP, ''Free'', which had been recorded at Megaphon Studio, Sydney with

Phil McKellar Phillip Jeffrey McKellar is an Australian record producer and audio engineer. At the ARIA Music Awards McKellar has received nine nominations in the categories of either Producer of the Year or Engineer of the Year. These include You Am I's "Goo ...

(Silverchair) producing. It was followed, on 21 August 2005, by their debut self-titled album, co-produced by McKellar and Gillies. For the studio sessions additional guitars were supplied by Steve Edmonds and Ben Nightingale. Mess+Noise website's Ben Gook warned Silverchair fans that " ose hoping for a Silverchair Jr would be disappointed ... Over produced, under written and deceptively bland ... manages to fall in some awkward place between half-arsed and over-reaching". Faster Louder's reviewer observed it was "so sugar-coated, you feel the cavities appearing track by track ... lyrics on the album, seemingly peeled straight from a motivational poster, those annoying sayings that are plastered over high school classroom walls". In September Tambalane undertook a national tour to promote the album. Gillies told The Dwarf website that he looked forward to " aying with Tambalane in small venues and really getting back to my grass roots is extremely fun". Faster Louder's Yasmin Wilding reviewed their mid-September gig at The

Yallah Yallah is a western suburb in the City of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, located on the western shore of Lake Illawarra. It contains a mixture of rural, commercial and light industrial areas. Etymology ''Yallah'' is an Australian Abo ...

Roadhouse, " arrs got one of the best live rock voices I've heard in a long time ... Gillies ... is an exceptional drummer ... bleto keep ... the crowd bopping ... I've never seen a keyboardist groove as much as

asters ''Aster'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Its circumscription has been narrowed, and it now encompasses around 170 species, all but one of which are restricted to Eurasia; many species formerly in ''Aster'' are ...

... He and bass player oyalgave us impressive solos during the set, proving the worth and versatility of their instruments ... Together, Tambalane were an unstoppable force of entertainment, bustin' out massive tunes". By November 2005 Tambalane had disbanded with Gillies returning to Silverchair and preparing for their next album, ''

''. Carr resumed his solo career. Gillies stated that "It became an unpleasant power struggle" within Tambalane. In November 2008 Carr won the sixth season of ''

''. In May 2011 Silverchair announced an "indefinite hibernation", in the following month Gillies was working on a new album but denied that any new project would be similar to Tambalane.

Discography

Albums

* ''Tambalane'' (21 August 2005)

Extended plays

* ''Free'' (20 June 2005)

Singles

* "Little Miss Liar" (2005) * "Free" (2005)

References

External links

* archive
here
on 13 October 2007, retrieved 9 July 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tambalane Australian pop rock groups Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups disestablished in 2005 Musical groups from Sydney