Drag | |
---|---|
Origin | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
Genres | Alternative rock, new wave |
Years active | 2000–present |
Labels | Dew Process |
Associated acts | Powderfinger |
Website | Official website |
Members | Darren Middleton Sean Hartman Matt Murphy Mark McElligott |
Past members | John Collins |
Drag are an Australian rock band led by Darren Middleton, most known as the lead guitarist from rock group Powderfinger.
Middleton started the band with drummer Mark McElligott, who is also the live engineer for Powderfinger, in 2000 as a side project. In 2002, the duo recorded the EP Gas Food Lodging , a small collection of original songs written specifically for Drag. For these recordings, they brought in local Brisbane musicians, bass player Sean Hartman and pianist Matt Murphy as session musicians to play on the EP. The band was given the chance to record a full-length studio album when Powderfinger took a few years off between albums. In this hiatus, Middleton and McElligott re-enlisted Hartman and Murphy and began playing live around Australia. The band signed with the record label Dew Process, the same label that co-Powderfinger member Bernard Fanning signed with and released his solo album. The band recorded their debut album in early 2005 in Byron Bay. [1] The band named the album The Way Out and released it on 10 July 2005 in Australia and 8 August 2005 internationally. Following the album release, the band toured Australia again with UK band Athlete, then undertook a more extensive headlining tour in October.
Powderfinger were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane in 1989. From 1992 until their break-up in 2010, the line-up consisted of vocalist Bernard Fanning, guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug, bass guitarist John Collins and drummer Jon Coghill. The group's third studio album Internationalist peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in September 1998. They followed with four more number-one studio albums in a row: Odyssey Number Five, Vulture Street, Dream Days at the Hotel Existence and Golden Rule. Their Top Ten hit singles are "My Happiness" (2000), "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" (2003) and "Lost and Running" (2007). Powderfinger earned a total of eighteen ARIA Awards, making them the second-most awarded band behind Silverchair. Ten Powderfinger albums and DVDs certified multiple-platinum, with Odyssey Number Five – their most successful album – achieving eightfold platinum certification for shipment of over 560,000 units.
Parables for Wooden Ears was the first studio album released by the Australian band Powderfinger. It was released on 18 July 1994 by Polydor Records, after recording at the Metropolis Studios in Melbourne during February 1994.
Internationalist is the third studio album by Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger. The album was released on 7 September 1998 and was often labelled Powderfinger's most adventurous work, with greater experimentation than in previous works.
Bernard Fanning is an Australian musician and singer-songwriter. He is the lead vocalist of Queensland alternative rock band Powderfinger from its formation in 1989.
Darren Middleton is an Australian musician, best known as lead guitarist and songwriter for alternative rock band Powderfinger. He was also lead singer/songwriter for Drag; his current solo tour is 'Splinters', a follow-up to his 2013 solo tour 'Translations.' The 'Splinters' tour is Middleton's tour of Western Australia and Victoria in August and November 2016, respectively.
Ian Haug is an Australian musician and the lead guitarist, songwriter, and backing vocalist in the rock band Powderfinger from its formation in 1989 until its breakup in 2010. He is presently a member of The Church.
Tea & Sympathy is the debut solo album by Australian musician Bernard Fanning. It was released on 31 October 2005, by Dew Process records while Powderfinger—Fanning's main band—were on hiatus. Contrary to Powderfinger's usual alternative style, the album blends alternative and country-folk music. Most of the record was written after the cancer related death of his brother in 2002. His brother's death coincided with the end of Fanning's twelve-year relationship with his partner and both events were instrumental in his move away from his typically political and socially lyrical subject matter.
Dream Days at the Hotel Existence is the sixth studio album by Australian rock band Powderfinger, released by Universal Music on 2 June 2007 in Australia, 19 November 2007 in the United Kingdom, and 11 November 2008 in the United States on the Dew Process label. It was released in Australia with a limited edition bonus DVD, titled Powderfinger's First XI, featuring eleven music videos spanning the band's career, from the first single, "Tail" to "Bless My Soul", the band's latest single before the release of the album. A collector's edition, including a CD and DVD, was released on 18 April 2008.
"My Happiness" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
Powderfinger is the first studio recording by the Australian rock group Powderfinger. It is commonly referred to by fans as The Blue EP. The EP launch was at the Orient Hotel, Brisbane, on Friday 21 August 1992; the band was supported by the local act Lolita Carbine. The disk attracted the attention of some rock fans and the attention of Polydor record executives who, through this EP, signed the band. By the time the band was signed, they had just finished recording the follow-up EP Transfusion, which was the first work released on the Polydor label. Powderfinger contains the first version of "Save Your Skin", a song that was re-recorded the following year for their first album and released as the third and final single accompanying it.
Mr Kneebone is the third EP by the Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released after their first full-length studio album, Parables for Wooden Ears, and before the album, Double Allergic. It contains five songs, none of which were included on either album. The EP peaked at #83 on the Australian singles chart, and is considered to be "the turning point in Powderfinger's song writing career".
Transfusion is the second EP by the Australian rock group Powderfinger. It was released on 27 September 1993 by Polydor. The album was the group's first recording with Polydor, as the group had signed with the label due to the success of the previous EP by the band, Powderfinger.
The Way Out is the debut album by Australian rock band Drag released 10 July 2005. Drag recorded and toured for the album while lead singer and guitarist Darren Middleton was on a break from his other band Powderfinger.
Drag or Gas Food Lodging is the debut extended play by Australian rock band, Drag, which was released in June 2002 via Dew Process/Universal Music Australia. The track, "Take Me with You", received airplay on Triple J radio after the EP was released.
The Predators are an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 2005. The band comprises three of the original members of successful rock group Powderfinger, Steven Bishop, Ian Haug and John Collins and Haug's fellow member of Far Out Corporation, Ross McLennan.
Pick Up the Pace is the debut EP by Australian alternative rock band The Predators. It was released on 1 July 2006 through Dew Process and Universal Music Australia. The EP was produced after Powderfinger entered a hiatus, and several of its band members sought work with side projects. Following the release of Pick Up the Pace, The Predators embarked on a minor tour around Australia, including a performance at Splendour in the Grass, before officially going on hiatus, around the time Powderfinger reformed.
Paul Piticco is an Australian music and hospitality entrepreneur. He is notable for managing Australian band Powderfinger and organising Splendour In The Grass. He is also Managing Director of Dew Process, Create-Control and Secret Service Music Company.
"Nobody Sees" is a song by Powderfinger from their sixth album Dream Days at the Hotel Existence. It is the third single from the album and was released in Australia on 1 December 2007. The announcement that it would be released as a single came at the same time as releasing the music video to the internet on the official Universal Records website.
Yves Klein Blue was an Australian indie rock band from Brisbane, which formed in 2005 and disbanded in 2010. The line-up included Chris Banham on drums and percussion, Sean Cook on bass guitar, Charles Sale on lead guitar and keyboards and Michael Tomlinson on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. Their name is from the colour, International Klein Blue, by Yves Klein.
Waax are an Australian rock band from Brisbane, formed in 2012. The band consists of guitarists James Gatling and Ewan Birtwell, drummer Tom Bloomfield, and vocalist Marie 'Maz' DeVita. Waax have released two independent EPs: Holy Sick (2015) and Wild & Weak (2017). Their debut album, Big Grief, was released in 2019. They also won the Triple J Unearthed BIGSOUND competition in 2014. Their single "Labrador" won the No. 1 spot on the independent Brisbane radio station 4ZZZ's Top 100 in 2018. In 2019, the single was voted into Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2018 at No. 88. In 2022 they again won the No.1 spot on 4ZZZ's Top 100 with their single Most Hated Girl.