Severed Heads were an Australian electronic music group founded in 1979 as Mr and Mrs No Smoking Sign. The original members were Richard Fielding and Andrew Wright, who were soon joined by Tom Ellard. Fielding and Wright had both left the band by mid-1981 with Ellard remaining the sole consistent member for the rest of the band's existence. Throughout the next decade, several musicians joined Severed Heads' ranks, including Garry Bradbury, Simon Knuckey, Stephen Jones and Paul Deering.
Thomas Temple Ellard is an Australian electronic musician best known as the founding member of the electronic and industrial music group Severed Heads.
Itch-E and Scratch-E are an Australian electronic music group formed in 1991 by Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen, both playing keyboards and samples. The duo recorded as Boo Boo & Mace! during the late 1990s. At times they have included a third member, Sheriff Lindo, recording under the name Boo-Boo, Mace 'n' Nutcase. In 2001 they disbanded as Mac pursued his solo career. In 2010 the duo reunited as Itch-E and Scratch-E to release new material.
Frente! were an Australian folk-pop and indie pop group which originally formed in 1989. The original line-up consisted of Simon Austin on guitar and backing vocals, Angie Hart on lead vocals, Tim O'Connor on bass guitar, and Mark Picton on drums. In August 1991, they issued their debut extended play, Whirled, which included the track, "Labour of Love". In March 1992, they released a second EP, Clunk, with its featured track, "Ordinary Angels", which peaked at No. 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart. It was followed in October by "Accidently Kelly Street" which reached No. 4. Their debut album, Marvin the Album, issued in November, peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart. "Labour of Love" was released as an EP outside of Australasia in 1994 as a CD single with a cover version of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" included. The Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane felt that the group's "quirky, irreverent, acoustic-based sound was at odds with the usual guitar-heavy, grunge trends of the day. The band's presentation had a tweeness about it that could have been off-putting if not for its genuine freshness and honesty".
Boxcar were an Australian electronic dance pop group formed in Brisbane in 1986. Their founding mainstay was David Smith on vocals, guitar and keyboards. Three of their singles appeared on the Billboard dance chart top 20, "Freemason ", "Insect" and "Gas Stop ". They released two albums on Volition Records/Sony Music Australia, Vertigo (1990) and Algorhythm (1994), before disbanding in 1997. They briefly reformed in 2010 and in 2014.
Robert Racic was an Australian DJ and record producer. He was influential within the local electronic and house music circles, but was less well known internationally. Racic produced several top 10 Billboard dance hits including Volition Records' artists Severed Heads' "Greater Reward" and Boxcar's "Freemason", "Insect" and "Gas Stop". He died in 1996, aged 32, of a brain virus, JC virus, which caused progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.
"I Touch Myself" is a song written and recorded by the Australian rock band Divinyls. It was released in November 1990 as the lead single from their fourth album, diVINYLS, and is a paean to eroticism, orgasm and female masturbation.
This is a discography of releases from the Australian experimental band Severed Heads. Since their creation in 1979, the group has released 23 studio albums, 1 split album, 14 compilation albums, 1 soundtrack, 3 extended plays, 14 singles, and 8 home video releases. The group's 1984 single "Dead Eyes Opened" peaked at #16 on the Australian ARIA Charts when remixed and re-issued in 1994, and singles from their 1989 album Rotund For Success, "Greater Reward" and "All Saints Day", both charted on Billboard's Top Dance Tracks charts at #19 and #25, respectively.
Vertigo is the debut album by Australian electronic-synthpop group Boxcar released in 1990 by Volition Records in Australia (voltcd24) and by Arista Records (ARCD8610) in the United States. The single "Freemason " in 1988 hit number 8 in the United States Billboard dance music chart. "Insect" and "Gas Stop " both charted in the US but had little local impact – "Gas Stop" peaked at #82 on the ARIA singles chart.
Since the Accident is the fourth studio album released by Australian electronic dance music group Severed Heads, first released in 1983. Released through Ink Records, it was the first major label release by the group. The album's lead single "Dead Eyes Opened" received critical and commercial success, peaking at #16 on the ARIA Charts. Throughout the years following the album's initial release in 1983, the recording has been reissued many times on multiple different formats through a variety of record labels.
Blubberknife is the third studio album released by the Australian experimental group Severed Heads, originally as a C90 cassette tape. The first approximately 200 copies were packaged inside cassette cases that were spray-painted silver, stuffed with loose cassette tape and had parts from the insides of television sets glued to the front of the case. Five copies were specially packaged inside fully operational calculators. It's the first album by the group to feature contributions by Stephen Jones, and it is also the first recording by the group to catch the attention of UK label Ink Records, who helped release Since the Accident a year later and reissued Blubberknife in a standard cassette case with new artwork in 1984. As with most of their discography, Blubberknife has been reissued several times.
"Don't Believe Anymore" is a single by Australian band Icehouse. It is the second single from their third album, Sidewalk. It was released on 2 July 1984, and peaked at No. 31 on the Australian singles chart.
Single Gun Theory was an Australian electronic dance music band formed in 1986. Founding mainstay members were Jacqui Hunt on lead vocals; Kath Power on vocal melodies and synthesiser; and Peter Rivett-Carnac on guitar, synthesiser and sampling. They released three studio albums, Exorcise This Wasteland (1987), Millions, Like Stars in My Hands, Daggers in My Heart, Wage War (1991) and Flow, River of My Soul (1994) for Canadian label, Nettwerk, and Australia's Volition Records. Their music combined elements of downtempo electronic music with introspective, ethereal vocals and samples of dialogue. They also released a soundtrack album for Samantha Lang's film The Monkey's Mask in 2000.
City Slab Horror is the fifth studio album by the Australian experimental pop music group Severed Heads. First released in 1985 through Ink Records, it is the second major label album the group has ever released, following the 1983 album Since the Accident. The track "Goodbye Tonsils" was released as a single to promote the album, which met favorable reviews from some critics and no reviews at all from the vast majority of the remaining critics.
Come Visit the Big Bigot is the sixth full length studio album by Australian experimental group Severed Heads, released in 1986. The tracks "Twenty Deadly Diseases" and "Propellor" were both released as singles to help promote the album. The title is a reference to the Big Merino statue in New South Wales; the 1998 Sevcom CD-R release has a photo of it on the cover.
Bad Mood Guy is the seventh studio album by the Australian experimental group Severed Heads, first released in 1987. Upon its initial release, the album met positive reviews with critics, one in particular referring to it as "punishing pop with crunching rhythms". The album's lead single "Hot With Fleas" did well on independent radio stations, peaking at #4 on Rockpool's dance charts during the week of 31 December 1987. In 2002, after an attempt at making a version 2 of the album which was aborted due to the master DAT tape being irreparably damaged, Tom Ellard made a new version available on CD-R on his SevCom label, which substituted demo and live versions of some tracks and added extra material. This version is what Tom made available on the official Severed Heads Bandcamp page.
Cuisine is the ninth studio album released by Australian electronic music group Severed Heads, issued in 1991. The album's lead single, "Twister", was released a year later.
Gigapus is the tenth studio album by the Australian electronic music group Severed Heads. Recorded between 1992 and 1994, the album was first released in 1994 with a bonus CD-ROM disc titled Metapus that had additional multi-media content on it. Because of this, it is the first album released in Australia to include a CD-ROM disc. Due to the extra disc, the album was initially priced at $40 when it first came out. As with most of the Severed Heads discography, the album has been reissued multiple times.
Haul Ass is the eleventh studio album by Australian electronic music group Severed Heads. After Tom Ellard's relationship soured with Nettwerk and Volition Records, he decided to release Haul Ass independently through his then newly formed Sevcom imprint, making Haul Ass the first independently released Severed Heads album since 1982's Blubberknife. The album was burned on CD-R discs, while the artwork for the jewel cases were home printed with the use of a computer printer. Two editions were made, the "standard edition", which had prominently red and grey artwork, and the "special edition", which included two extra tracks not included on the standard edition. The special edition was limited to only 1000 copies. Tom Ellard has described the album as "dark". The entire album was recorded with software called Session 8, the precursor of Pro Tools.
Under Gail Succubus is the twentieth studio album by Severed Heads, twelfth if you don't count the Op and Music Server series of albums. Released in 2006, the double disc recording was released in two editions: The standard edition, packaged in a DVD case with transparent artwork, and the metal box edition, which was packaged in a tin box. Ellard later expressed regret for the metal box edition, for it would usually come in damaged in some way during mail order delivery. The album itself is a double disc set, the second disc, sometimes referred to as Over Barbara Island, would later be issued as its own separate album on iTunes.
