Philadelphia Grand Jury (The Philly Jays) are an Australian trio from Sydney. The band's current line-up consists of Joel "MC Bad Genius" Beeson on bass, keyboard and guitar, Simon "Berkfinger" Berckelman on vocals and guitar and Dan "Dan W. Sweat" Williams on drums. They play a mix of indie, punk and soul.

Biography

2001-2009: ''Hope Is for Hopers''

Beeson originally formed a band called Johnson in 2001 with his friend Berckelman, before creating the indie band label Motherlovin' Records in 2004. Subsequent bands included Malcolm X & the Black Auditorium and Berkfinger and The Sweats, the latter combining to form Philadelphia Grand Jury in early 2008. In May 2009, the band signed a joint venture deal with

Boomtown Records Boomtown Records was an independent record label founded by Jaddan Comerford in October 2002 and based in Melbourne, Australia. In 2011 the label was rebranded with Staple Management to new company, UNFD. History The label was established by J ...

. In June 2009, the band released "Going to the Casino (Tomorrow Night)" where it received significant play on

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

and featured on the television mini-series '' Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities'', also appearing on the soundtrack album. The band's debut album, ''Hope Is for Hopers'', was released on 25 September 2009, reaching No. 34 on the

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. Williams departed from the group in September 2009. Williams' position was temporarily filled by Ivan Lisyak, aka 'Emergency Ivan,' before a permanent replacement – American session musician, Calvin Welch (

Earth, Wind and Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million reco ...

, Sonny Stitt) – joined the band. At the fourth annual

AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. History The inaugural 2006 awards were held at ...

, held on 22 November 2009, Philadelphia Grand Jury won an award for "Best Independent Single or EP" with their single "Going to the Casino".

2010-2011: Break up

In October 2010, the band announced that Welch had left the band, as the 'rigours of the road have proved too arduous for the 55-year-old drummer.' Welch's replacement was Berlin-based/Brisbane-born Sullivan "Susie Dreamboat" Patten (of I Heart Hiroshima), who performed with the band on their tour of the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. Patten finished touring with the band in January 2011. In March 2011, news surfaced that the band had abandoned work on the follow up to ''Hope is for Hopers''. When FasterLouder sought a follow-up, they were met with the following statement in regards to the band's current status. "Philadelphia Grand Jury are on something of a hiatus. No need to make it a bigger deal than it is. Creative individuals tend to have more than one project and Philadelphia Grand Jury is just one of Berkfinger's musical personas. Berkfinger is currently focusing on other projects, including moving his recording gear to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

to finish the recordings that he has been working on in the various incarnations of studios that he has built over the years." On 2 November 2011 the band posted on their Facebook page that the band had broken up.

2013-present:''Summer of Doom''

After the split, Beeson moved onto production and remix work under the moniker of Boyhood, while Berckelman relocated to Berlin and began working on a solo project entitled Feelings. Feelings released their debut album, ''Be Kind Unwind'' in October 2013. In 2013, Berckelman assembled Beeson and Williams to join him on tour in Australia under the Feelings moniker. The three playing together for the first time in nearly four years immediately sparked rumours of a Philadelphia Grand Jury reunion, which were confirmed with a midnight performance by the band at the 2013 BIGSOUND Festival in Brisbane. The band then announced a tour for December 2013, incorporating songs for both Feelings and Philadelphia Grand Jury across two sets. In late 2014, it was revealed the band would be heading to Berlin in 2015 to record new material. The sessions resulted in the band's second studio album, which had the working title of ''Ulterior Motif''. A new single, "Crashing and Burning, Pt. II," was released in August 2015. The album, now titled ''Summer of Doom'', was released in October 2015.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as

) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. , - ,

AIR Awards of 2009 The AIR Awards of 2009 is the fourth annual Australian Independent Record Labels Association Music Awards (generally known as the AIR Awards and Jagermeister AIR Awards) and was an award ceremony at The Forum Theatre, in Melbourne, Australia ...

, "Going to the Casino" , Best Independent Single/EP , , - , rowspan="3" ,

AIR Awards of 2010 The AIR Awards of 2010 (or Jägermeister Independent Awards of 2010) is the fifth annual Australian Independent Record Labels Association Music Awards (generally known as the AIR Awards) and was an award ceremony at The Forum Theatre, in Melbo ...

, "The Good News" , Best Independent Single/EP , , - , rowspan="2" , Philadelphia Grand Jury , Breakthrough Independent Artist , , - , Most Popular Independent Artist , , -

J Award

The

J Awards The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J and which are judged by the music and on-air teams from radio stations Triple J, ...

are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

's youth-focused radio station

. They commenced in 2005. , - ,

J Awards of 2009 The J Award of 2009 is the fifth annual J Awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station i ...

, ''Hope is for Hopers'' , Australian Album of the Year ,

References

External links

{{Authority control Australian indie rock groups New South Wales musical groups Musical groups established in 2008 Musical groups disestablished in 2011 Musical groups reestablished in 2013