Wild Pumpkins at Midnight was an Australian

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

/ roots rock band which formed in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

in 1984, with Debra Manskey on vocals and guitar,

Dan Tuffy Dan Tuffy is an Australian-born musician, he was bass guitarist and vocalist for Tasmanian band, Wild Pumpkins At Midnight from 1984. Note: n-lineversion established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from th ...

on bass guitar and vocals and Michael Turner on guitar and vocals. Note: n-lineversion established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition. The band relocated to

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 ...

in 1987, Manskey left before they moved on to London in 1990 and Ashley Davies joined on drums. They subsequently shifted to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, in 1993 Davies returned to Australia and was replaced by Greg Hynes and

Nick Larkins Nick Larkins is an Australian rock musician who has played with various Australian acts, and solo. Nick was born in London but raised in Hobart, Tasmania. Larkins has been highly nomadic for much of his career. He has usually been based in th ...

joined on guitar. The band returned to Australia for touring and recording in late 1995 and again in 1997, but spent the majority of their time in Europe. They toured extensively in both Europe and Australia, including a spot on the 1996 Big Day Out and released nine albums under various labels before disbanding in 1998. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 1990 The Fourth Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) was held on 26 March 1990 at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney. Australian host Glenn Shorrock of L ...

they won the ARIA Award for Best Independent Release.

History

Formation and early years

In 1984,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

ns, Debra Manskey on vocals and guitar and Michael Turner on vocals and guitar joined with

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

-born Dan Tuffy on bass guitar and vocals to form Wild Pumpkins at Midnight. They played

/ roots rock and their debut single, "Birth of a Nation" was released early in 1987 on WPAM, it was followed in March by 10-track

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

, ''Scenesville'' on Dex. They relocated to

and signed with Major Records in 1987 and released, ''Wild Pumpkins at Midnight'', a five-track EP in 1988. After signing with

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 ...

label, Mighty Boy, they released "Watermelon Patch" as a single in March 1989 followed by albums ''Living'' in April 1989 and ''This Machine Is Made of People'' in August. In

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, at 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)

Music Awards Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

, they won 'Best Independent Release' for their album ''This Machine Is Made of People''. ''Little Victories'' was released in 1990, Manskey left prior to the band relocating to London in June with new drummer, Ashley Davies.

London and Amsterdam

Wild Pumpkins at Midnight had relocated to London by June 1990, they subsequently moved to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and then were based in the village of

Wageningen Wageningen () is a municipality and a historic city in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specialises in life sciences. The municipality had a population of in , of which many t ...

. Their first European release was a four-track CD EP, ''Sending a Vampire'' on MDS in October 1992 and was followed by albums, ''Strangeways'' (Current/MDS, April 1993) and ''Going Sick'' (Current/MDS, April 1994). In 1993, Davies had returned to Australia and was replaced by Greg Hynes and guitarist

had joined. From their base in Wageningen they toured a dozen European countries, including several tours to former Eastern Bloc states including Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Hungary and Poland. They also performed in Former Yugoslavia during the war.

Later years

The group returned to Melbourne in 1995 and released, ''Low-Fi Lucy's Mobile Temple'' in November on Way Over There. They toured Australia including Big Day Out in 1996, ''Sad Trees'' followed in July which had both studio and live tracks. In February 1997, Hot Records released a

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products *Compilation thesis M ...

, ''The Secret of the Sad Tree'' ahead of their European tour from June. At the conclusion of the tour, in 1998, Wild Pumpkins at Midnight disbanded.

Members

*Debra Manskey –

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 ...

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 ...

(1984–1990) *

–

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 (1984–1998) *Michael Turner – vocals, guitar (1984–1998) *Ashley Davies –

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 ...

(1990–1993) *Greg Hynes – drums (1993–1998) *

– guitar (1993–1998)

Discography

Albums

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

are a set of annual ceremonies presented by

(ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the

music of Australia The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

, ''This Machine Is Made of People'' , ARIA Award for Best Independent Release , ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild Pumpkins At Midnight ARIA Award winners Musical groups disestablished in 1998 Musical groups established in 1984 Tasmanian musical groups