The Panda Band are an

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band originating from

Perth, Western Australia 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 ...

. They have a reputation for combining numerous musical genres. They have toured nationally as support acts for bands such as

The Sleepy Jackson The Sleepy Jackson are an Australian alternative rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia. The band's name was inspired by a former drummer who was narcoleptic. The band revolves around the distinctive vocal style of multi-instrumentalist ...

Little Birdy Little Birdy were an Australian alternative rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia, in 2002 by singer and guitarist Katy Steele, drummer Matt Chequer, guitarist and keyboardist Simon Leach, and bass guitarist Scott O'Donoghue. They gaine ...

The Grates The Grates were an Australian indie rock band that formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 2002. They were brought to national attention in 2004 when a demo of their single "Trampoline" received airplay on radio station Triple J. Their first two albu ...

and Evermore.

Biography

The band originally existed in the late nineties as ''Philius Phog'' until Crosbie went travelling Europe. They reformed and played their first gig as ''Generic Boy Band'' (with Crosbie, Namour, Nicotra and Chris Callan in the band) in an opening heat of the Australian National Campus Band Competition in the latter half of 2003, where they failed to make it past the first round. At the WAMi Weekender in June 2004, they played their first gig as The Panda Band, with late addition Steve Callan on keys 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 ...

. Their first single "Eyelashes", was playlisted on national (

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 ...

) & interstate radio (

FBi Radio FBi (call sign: 2FBI) station is an independent, not-for-profit community radio in Sydney, Australia. FBi places a heavy emphasis on local emerging music: it has a policy that at least 50 per cent of its music content is to be Australian, of wh ...

RTRFM RTRFM (call sign: 6RTR) is a not-for-profit, community radio station based in Perth, the state capital of Western Australia. It is self-funded, largely through listener subscription and fund-raising events. However, it does carry some "advertis ...

) and given single of the week in two Australian street press magazines in April 2004. The band undertook its first tour of regional and metropolitan

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

with

in July 2004, followed by their first interstate dates in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

playing with

Hope of the States Hope of the States were an English post rock-influenced indie band from Chichester. History The band formed in 2000, naming themselves after ''The Shame of the States'', Albert Deutsch's 1948 book on the state of mental healthcare in the Uni ...

in August 2004. Their second single "Sleepy Little Deathtoll Town" (taken from the EP of the same name) was released in September 2004, and was playlisted on national & interstate radio, this was followed in October by an eleven date Australian tour with

. The band were selected for Triple J's Fresh Crop artist for Australian Music Month (November 2004) profiling the song "Mohawk". The Panda Band were listed by Rolling Stone Magazine as number 1 band to watch in 2005

"A surreal, swirling and eclectic mix of instrumentation and melodies.
Flaming Lips Flaming may refer to: * Anything set aflame or on fire * Flaming (Internet), the act of posting deliberately hostile messages on the Internet * Flame maple, the striped figures in maple woodwork prized for their beauty * Fläming, a region in G ...
and
Modest Mouse Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influenced ...
eccentricity blended with the classic harmonies and quirk of Sgt Peppers-era Beatles."
(Bronwyn Thompson – Rolling Stone Magazine January 2005).

Sleepy Little Deathtoll Town ''Sleepy Little Deathtoll Town'' is the first EP from The Panda Band, released in 2005. The name of the title track is a reference to their home town. "Sleepy Little Deathtoll Town" reached #73 on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2004 and also won th ...

" entered the

Triple J Hottest 100 The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music listener poll hosted by the publicly-funded, national Australian youth radio station, Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Australian and alternative music of the ...

of 2004, at number 73 and the band were awarded 'Most Promising New Act at the 2005

Western Australian Music Industry Awards The Western Australian Music Industry Awards (commonly known as WAMis) are annual awards presented to the local contemporary music industry, put on by the Western Australian Music Industry Association Inc (WAM). The WAMi Awards are Western Aust ...

(WAMi's) in February 2005. The Panda Band performed at the inaugural

Southbound Festival Southbound was an arts, camping and music festival. A variety of Australian and international artists performed at this event. The festival occurred annually around New Years, at the Sir Stewart Bovell Park in Busselton, Western Australia. His ...

(January 2005) and played at

The Big Day Out The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of eac ...

in Perth (February 2005). February 2005 also saw the release of their debut EP, ''

''. The band's next single, "Then you Appear" was released in March 2005 and again playlisted on national & interstate radio. March also saw the band performing at The Knitting Factory in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

Festival, Rothkos and The Mercury Lounge in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and The Marquee Club in

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 ...

. The band then returned to Australia and toured with Evermore in April, June and July. September and October saw the band perform shows at Manchester's in the city, Liverpool, Leeds, Wrexham (touring with

Proud Mary "Proud Mary" is a song written by John Fogerty and first recorded by his band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was released by Fantasy Records as a single from the band's second studio album, ''Bayou Country'', which was issued by the same rec ...

) and three gigs in London (one with

The Spinto Band The Spinto Band is an American indie rock band from Wilmington, Delaware. Formed in 1996, the band comprises singer and guitarist Nick Krill, singer and bassist Thomas Hughes, drummer Jeffrey Hobson, keyboardist Sam Hughes, and guitarist Joey Hobs ...

), they also record a live recording at XFM Radio in London for broadcast on John Kennedy's nightly new music program. The Panda Band were then invited to perform at Canadian Music Week 2006 and The Great Escape Festival 2006 in Brighton, UK. The next single, "Alana" (October 2005) was playlisted on national and interstate radio. The band received three song awards including mixed category, pop category and Song of the Year at the WA Music Industry Association's Songwriting Awards in October 2005. The band then undertook a headline tour to Sydney and Melbourne including the Bathurst Village Fair and were again invited to perform at

in 2006. In February 2006 The Panda Band were awarded 'Best Indie Rock Act' and 'Best Drummer' at the 2006

. The band commenced recording their debut album at Blackbird Studios In March 2006 Damian Crosbie was awarded the Australasian Performing Rights Society Professional Development Award for the Contemporary Music category for his song "Eyelashes", which was followed by a national tour of Australia as the main support act for

. They signed to Filter US Recordings in March 2006 to release their album in North America. Their first full-length album ''

This Vital Chapter ''This Vital Chapter'' is the first album from The Panda Band, released in Australia on 8 May 2006 and in the United States on 12 September 2006 - subtitled 'We're Almost Not Even Here'. The album features new recordings of radio favourites "Sle ...

'' was independently released in Australia on 5 August 2006 and in the United States by Filter US Recordings and Fontana Distribution on 18 September 2006, with a special iTunes pre-release on 25 July. A national tour followed which saw band take New Rules For Boats around Australia with them. They were also joined at various points by

Jump 2 Light Speed Jump 2 Light Speed is an Australian band from Brisbane, Queensland fronted by Ben Ely. Members *Ben Ely bass & vocals (Regurgitator, Pangaea, Broken Head, The Stalkers) *Stella Mozgawa drums 2005-2006 (Holidays on Ice) * Tim Browning drums 20 ...

and Jeff Strong. Immediately following the album tour, they went on

Personality - One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird Personality is the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that are formed from biological and environmental factors, and which change over time. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality, m ...

Australian tour. They followed this up in November with an east coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

tour with The Exploders from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and Perth band

The Dirty Secrets ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

. The tour was called "Way of the Exploding Panda". The Panda Band performed at the "Escape to the Park" concert on 25 November at King's Park,

, alongside

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 ...

Tex Perkins Gregory Stephen Perkins (born 28 December 1964), better known by his stage name Tex Perkins, is an Australian singer-songwriter who fronted the Australian rock band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, James B ...

Sarah Blasko Sarah Elizabeth Blaskow (born 23 September 1976), known professionally as Sarah Blasko, is an Australian singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. From April 2002, Blasko developed her solo career after fronting Sydney-based band, Acqui ...

Augie March Augie (sometimes spelled Auggie) is a nickname for variations of the name August, which derives from the Latin name Augustus. It may refer to: People *Augie Auer (1940–2007), meteorologist *Augie Galan (1912–1993), Major League Baseball play ...

. They also performed at the Southbound at Bussleton in January 2007. In 2007 they performed a third time at the

Music Festival in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. Following the festival they then undertook an eleven date USA tour covering Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Chicago, & New York to promote the album release in North America. The Panda Band then toured nationally, supporting Gomez at some shows. The band's latest single, "The Fix", was released as a free download in April 2011, ahead of the release of their second studio album, ''Charisma Weapon''. The album was scheduled to be released on 15 July on the band's own label, Bam*Boo.

Band members

*David Namour – bass *Stephen Callan – keyboards/samples/Lead Song Writer *Chris Callan – guitar/backing vocals *Scott Lee Howard – drums/percussion *Damian Crosbie – lead vocals/guitar

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Awards

WAM Song of the Year

The

WAM Song of the Year WAM was originally formed as the Western Australian Rock Music Industry Association Inc. (WARMIA) in 1985, with its main aim to develop and run annual awards recognising achievements within the music industry in Western Australia. WAM first receiv ...

was formed by the Western Australian Rock Music Industry Association Inc. (WARMIA) in 1985, with its main aim to develop and run annual awards recognising achievements within the music industry in Western Australia. (wins only) , - , rowspan="2", 2005 , "Then You Appear" (written by Damian Crosbie) , Mixed Bag Song of the Year , , - , "Sleepy Little Death Toll Town" (written by Damian Crosbie) , Pop Song of the Year , , - , 2011 , "51 Swimsuits" (written by Damian Crosbie) , Pop Song of the Year , , -

West Australian Music Industry Awards

The

West Australian Music Industry Awards The Western Australian Music Industry Awards (commonly known as WAMis) are annual awards presented to the local contemporary music industry, put on by the Western Australian Music Industry Association Inc (WAM). The WAMi Awards are Western Aust ...

(WAMIs) are annual awards presented to the local contemporary music industry, put on annually by the Western Australian Music Industry Association Inc (WAM). The Panda Band won three awards. (wins only) , - , 2005 , The Panda Band , Most Promising New Act , , - , rowspan="2", 2006 , The Panda Band , Best Indie/Pop Act , , - , Gabriel Nicotra (The Panda Band) , Best Drummer , , -

References

External links

Official SiteMyspace SiteReverbnation SiteBandcamp Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Panda Band, The Australian indie rock groups Western Australian musical groups Musical groups established in 2003