Charlotte's Web (band)

Last updated

Charlotte's Web
Also known asCatherine Wheels
Origin Perth, Western Australia
Genres Indie pop, rock
Years active1986 (1986)1991
LabelsEaster
CW
Mighty Boy
MDS
Dada
Past members see Members list

Charlotte's Web were an Australian indie pop band, formed in Perth, Western Australia, briefly as Catherine Wheels, in 1986 with mainstay Jeffery Lowe on vocals and guitar. [1] [2] The band released Flies in the Face of... on cassette in January 1988 and Short Time Strait as an EP in February 1991 before disbanding later that year. [1]

Contents

Biography

Catherine Wheels was originally formed by Jeff Lowe (vocals, guitar) and Tim Underwood (guitar) in 1986 in Perth, Western Australia. [2] Lowe and Underwood had played in The Russians (19841986), with Darryl Edwards (drums) and Richard Galli (bass guitar, keyboards). [3] Catherine Wheels performed as a drummerless two piece, [2] before adding Greta Little and Chad Hedley as their rhythm section (bass guitar and drums respectively), under the name Catherine Wheels, in 1986. [1] [4] The band performed infrequently around Perth for about a year, releasing a single, "Big Letdown" in February 1987, before they relocated to Sydney, where Underwood, Little and Hedley left to form a new band, Northern Lights. [2] Lowe returned to Perth and conscripted Will Akers (The Triffids) on bass guitar [1] and Felicity 'Flick' Dear (Holy Rollers) on drums and Craig Chisholm (Holy Rollers) on lead/rhythm guitar [1] [2] [4] to form a new version of Charlotte's Web in February 1987. [5] This lineup lasted until Akers felt that he could no longer physically cope with playing in the band [2] and was replaced by Mandy Haines. [1] [4] The band toured the northwest of the state at the end of 1987 and earned enough money to record Flies in the Face of..., at Poon's Head studios in Perth, which was released in January 1988 as a cassette. [1]

In September 1988 Haines joined The Pallisades and moved to Sydney, at the same time Chisholm decided to travel to Europe. [2] As a result Michal Zampogna (Circle of Confusion) took over on bass guitar, and Laurie Mansell (I Hear an Army), who originally auditioned as a bass player, replaced Chisolm on lead/rhythm duties. [1] [2] [4] The band then expanded with the addition of John Bannister on trumpet and Kym Skipworth on cello. [2] [4] The band released a second single, "Heart Trouble", on local independent label, Mighty Boy, in 1989. The single receiving airplay on Triple J. [2] In August 1990 Mark Rettig joined the band and with the line-up of Lowe, Mansell, Zampogna, Skipworth and Dear released an EP, Short Time Strait. The EP was produced by Dom Mariani (ex-The Stems, The Someloves, DM3). [6]

Post Charlotte

After the Northern Lights, Underwood went on to form The Rosemary Beads, with Little (bass) and Cam Munachen (drums). [7] [8]

Dear went on to play drums with Wooden Fische, Box and Butternut. [9] As from 2006, Dear was the principal of Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School in Bunbury [10] and played in a Noongar band called Warangka.

Lowe, Skipworth together with drummer Nathan Jarvis (ex-Bob's Lovechild) formed The Indian Givers, following the disbanding of Charlotte's Web. Skipworth stopped performing after she and Lowe were involved in a car accident in May, 1992. She went on to work for ABC Television as a designer [11] and is now a Registered Vet Nurse.

Zampogna worked at RTRFM, Community Television and as the President of Animal Liberation (WA) Inc. [12]

Members

Discography

Albums/EPs

Singles

Compilations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Divinyls</span> Australian rock band

Divinyls were an Australian rock band that were formed in Sydney in 1980. The band primarily consisted of vocalist Chrissy Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee. Amphlett garnered widespread attention for performing on stage in a school uniform and fishnet stockings, and she often used an illuminated neon tube as a prop for displaying aggression towards both band members and the audience. Originally a five-piece, the band underwent numerous line-up changes, with Amphlett and McEntee remaining as core members, before its dissolution in 1996.

Toys Went Berserk were an Australian post-punk outfit that formed in late 1985. They released two studio albums, The Smiler with a Knife (1989) and Sensory (1990), before disbanding in early 1992. They subsequently reformed in 1998, 2005 and 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pop Will Eat Itself</span> Alternative rock band

Pop Will Eat Itself are an English alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Stourbridge in the West Midlands of England with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a grebo act, they changed style to incorporate sample-driven indie and industrial rock. Graham Crabb describes their sound as "electronic, punk, alternative hip-hop, hybrid music for fucking, fighting & smoking cigars". Their highest-charting single was the 1993 top-ten hit "Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!". After initially disbanding in 1996, and having a brief reformation in 2005, they issued their first release in more than five years in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Souls (band)</span> Bangladeshi rock band

Souls is a Bangladeshi rock band formed in Chittagong in 1972.

The Triffids were an Australian alternative rock and pop band, formed in Perth in Western Australia in May 1978 with David McComb as singer-songwriter, guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboardist. They achieved some success in Australia, but greater success in the UK and Scandinavia in the 1980s before disbanding in 1989. Their best-known songs include "Wide Open Road" and "Bury Me Deep in Love". SBS television featured their 1986 album, Born Sandy Devotional, on the Great Australian Albums series in 2007, and in 2010 it ranked 5th in the book The 100 Best Australian Albums by Toby Creswell, Craig Mathieson and John O'Donnell.

Boys were a hard rock band originally from Perth, Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brett Ford</span> Australian rock musician (1959–2007)

Brett Taylor Ford was an Australian rock music drummer and songwriter.

The Dubrovniks were an Australian rock band which formed in August 1986 as The Adorable Ones. Early in 1987 they changed their name to The Dubrovniks in acknowledgement to the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia, which was the birthplace of two founding members, Roddy Radalj, and Boris Sujdovic. Both Radalj and fellow founder James Baker had previously founded Hoodoo Gurus in 1981. All three had earlier associations in the Perth punk scene of the late 1970s. The group issued four albums, before disbanding in 1995.

Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Kryptonics were a melodic pop punk band that were active between 1985 and 1992. Kryptonics were contemporaries of notable Perth bands The Stems, The Triffids & The Bamboos, and released a series of 7" singles and 12" vinyl EPs on a number of Australian independent record labels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Baker (musician)</span> Australian musician

James Lawrence Baker is an Australian musician, best known as the drummer of various rock and punk rock groups, including the Victims, the Scientists, Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, and the Dubrovniks. In 2006 Baker was inducted into the West Australian Music Industry Hall of Fame. The following year, Hoodoo Gurus were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Maddison</span> Australian musician

Guy Bernard Maddison is an Australian punk and grunge musician. From 1986 to 1989 he worked as a member of noise rock group Lubricated Goat and appeared on their album Paddock of Love. He was a member of Bloodloss (1993–1997), a blues-punk band, alongside Mark Arm on vocals. From 2001 Maddison is the bass guitarist of the United States–based grunge band, Mudhoney, and has worked on their studio albums, Since We've Become Translucent (2002), Under a Billion Suns (2006), The Lucky Ones (2008), Vanishing Point (2013), Digital Garbage (2018) and Plastic Eternity (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V Capri</span> Australian band

V Capri are a new wave/power pop band formed in Perth, Western Australia in 1984, fronted by lead vocalist Tod Johnston, with Lance Karapetcoff on keyboards, Michael O'Brien on bass guitar, Alan Simpson on drums and Damian Ward on guitar. The band was popular locally but were unable to transfer this to the eastern states despite having signed with Mushroom Records. They released six top 100 singles in the Australian charts between April 1985 and June 1987.

Innocent Bystanders were a Perth based band formed in 1983 featuring vocalist/songwriter Brett Keyser and guitarist Diesel.

Tall Tales and True were an Australian rock band formed in 1983 by Matthew de la Hunty on lead vocals and guitar and Paul Miskin on bass guitar, backing vocals and guitar. They released three studio albums, Shiver (1989), Revenge! and Tilt (1995). They disbanded in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bands and accompanying musicians of Paul Kelly</span>

Paul Kelly is an Australian rock musician. He started his career in 1974 in Hobart, Tasmania, and has performed as a solo artist, in bands as a member or has led bands named after himself. Some backing bands recorded their own material under alternate names, Professor Ratbaggy and Stardust Five, with Kelly as an individual member. As of September 2017, Paul Kelly's current band members are Cameron Bruce on keyboards and piano, Vika and Linda Bull on backing vocals and lead vocals, his nephew Dan Kelly on lead guitar and backing vocals, Peter Luscombe on drums and Bill McDonald on bass guitar.

Cinema Prague are an Australian funk metal band, formed in Perth in 1986.

Chain are an Australian blues band formed as The Chain in late 1968 with a line-up including guitarist and vocalist Phil Manning and lead vocalist Wendy Saddington. Saddington left in May 1969 and in September 1970 Matt Taylor joined on lead vocals and harmonica. During the 1990s they were referred to as Matt Taylor's Chain. Their single, "Black and Blue", is their only top twenty hit. It was written and recorded by the line-up of Manning, Taylor, Barry Harvey on drums and Barry Sullivan on bass guitar. The related album, Toward the Blues, followed in September and peaked in the top ten. Manfred Mann's Earth Band covered "Black and Blue" on their 1973 album Messin'.

Love Pump was an Australian rock band popular in Perth, Western Australia in the 1980s. They were part of a renaissance of Western Australian performing acts that developed during this period, in the wake of the international punk rock and new wave movements – in isolation from the mainstream rock industry in Australia. This unique local musical culture has not been well documented or fully appreciated by histories of Australian popular music, tending to emphasise the culture of the 'Eastern States' – a cultural dichotomy that still exists in Australia today.

Kings of the Sun are an Australian hard rock band, which were formed by brothers Clifford and Jeffrey Hoad in 1986. They released three studio albums, Kings of the Sun (1988), Full Frontal Attack (1990) and Resurrection (1993), before disbanding in 2001. The Hoad brothers formed a related hard rock band, the Rich and Famous, in 2002. This group also issued three studio albums, The Rich and Famous (2004), Like a Superstar (2006) and Stand Back... Prepare to Be Amazed! (2007), and broke up in 2009. Thereafter the brothers were estranged and no longer worked together. In 2010 elder brother Clifford formed Clifford Hoad's Kings of the Sun, which has issued three albums, Rock Til Ya Die (2013), Razed on Rock (2016) and Playin' to the Heavens (2017). Jeffrey resumed the Rich and Famous band in the mid-2010s, which became inactive by the end of that decade.

Bloodloss was an Australian post-punk, grunge band formed in 1982. The original line-up was Martin Bland on drums, Renestair E.J. on guitar and saxophone, Jim Selene on bass guitar, and Sharron Weatherill on lead vocals and guitar. They issued five albums: Human Skin Suit, The Truth Is Marching In (1990), In-a-Gadda-Da-Change (1993), Live My Way and Misty (1996).

References

General
Specific
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Spencer, et al. Charlottes Web [ permanent dead link ][ sic ] entry
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Gerard, David (March 1991). "Charlotte's Web" (PDF). Party Fears No. 12. David Gerard. pp. 10–11, 13. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  3. Spencer, et al. Russians [ permanent dead link ] entry
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Holmgren, Magnus. "Charlotte's Web". Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  5. Gerard, David (October 1987). "Party Fears No. 7" (PDF). Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  6. Gerard, David (December 1990). "Party Fears No. 11" (PDF). Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  7. "The Rosemary Beads". Something in the Water . Retrieved 23 November 2009.
  8. Spencer, Chris (2007). "Tim Underwood". The Who's Who of Australian Rock. Moonlight Publishing. Retrieved 26 November 2009.[ permanent dead link ]
  9. Spencer, Chris (2007). "Felicity Dear". The Who's Who of Australian Rock. Moonlight Publishing. Retrieved 26 November 2009.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. "Bunbury Principal wins top Aboriginal Education award" (PDF). Department of Education and Training. 13 June 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
  11. "20 years on". Mt Lawley Senior High School. Archived from the original on 18 October 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
  12. "Animal liberationist fined". Department of Consumer Affairs and Employment Protection. 4 May 2006. Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2009.