Louis Tillett | |
---|---|
Birth name | Louis Rohan Tillett |
Born | 13 March 1959 |
Origin | Sydney, Australia |
Died | 6 August 2023 64) Sydney, Australia | (aged
Genres | Acoustic, psychedelic rock, garage rock |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician |
Instrument(s) | Keyboard, vocals, saxophone |
Years active | 1977–2023 |
Labels | Hot, Citadel, Blue Mosque/Festival, Return to Sender/Normal, Red Eye/Polydor, Timberyard |
Website | louistillett |
Louis Rohan Tillett (13 March 1959 – 6 August 2023) was an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, keyboardist and saxophonist. Tillett was the front man in Australian bands The Wet Taxis, Paris Green and The Aspersion Caste. He also worked as a backing musician with Catfish, Laughing Clowns, New Christs and Tex Perkins. As a solo artist, he issued seven albums, Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell (1987), A Cast of Aspersions (1990), Letters to a Dream (1992), Cry Against the Faith (1998), Learning to Die (2001), The Hanged Man (2005) and Soliloquy (2006). He often worked with Charlie Owen, releasing two albums, The Ugly Truth (1994) and Midnight Rain (October 1995). The latter album won the Rolling Stone Critics Award for Best Album of 1996.
Louis Rohan Tillett was born on 13 March 1959, and grew up in Sydney. [1] [2] In 1977 his first band, The Wet Taxis, began as a group "based around experiments with 'industrial noise'". [3] In 1980 they issued a cassette, Taxidermy, on the Terse Tapes label – owned by fellow Sydney band, Severed Heads. [1] For the album Tillett provided synthesiser (micromoog) and The Wet Taxis line up was Garry Bradbury on drum machine, Simon Knuckey on guitar, and his brother Tim Knuckey on bass guitar. [1] [4] In October that year Terse Tapes released an extended play, Terse Sample, by Various Artists with tracks by Wet Taxis and label mates: Mindless Delta Children, Agent Orange and Rhoborhythmaticons. [1] [5]
By 1981, with Tillett on piano and lead vocals, [4] the group were moving into a "tougher 1960s-influenced direction". [1] In 1982 Bradbury left to join Severed Heads and was replaced by Nick Fisher on drums. [1] [4] Peter Watt also joined on rhythm guitar but was replaced in the next year by Penny Ikinger. [1] [4] In February 1984 The Wet Taxis first toured Melbourne, they were hailed as sporting an American garage-style psychedelic sound, they covered bands such as MC5, Moving Sidewalks and Unrelated Segments. [6] In Melbourne they supported Kids in the Kitchen at one gig and Chris Bailey at another. [6] They followed with a live broadcast from the Prince of Wales Hotel, St.Kilda, on 3PBS FM radio. [6]
The group signed with the Hot Records label and recorded a single, "C'mon", which was a cover version of The Atlantics 1967 track, "Come On". [1] It was produced by David Connor and Kent Steedman, [4] and was released in May 1984. [1] Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, noted it provided "an authentic 1960s garage/R&B sound". [1] Late that year they issued an album, From the Archives, and by February 1985 went into hiatus. [1] [4] In July 1986 Pollyanna Sutton of The Canberra Times described the album as "a mix of studio and live recordings over three years". [7] In 2002 the band, alongside Laughing Clowns, The Lighthouse Keepers and Gondwanaland Project, were described by The Sydney Morning Herald 's Matt Buchanan as one "of the most popular bands in the Australia's indie scene" in an article reminiscing about Hot Records. [8]
Back in late 1983, Tillett worked with Damien Lovelock of The Celibate Rifles and Brett Myers of Died Pretty in a side project, No Dance. [1] The trio issued a three-track EP, Carnival of Souls, in March 1984; which featured lead vocals by each member: Tillett's "Swimming in the Mirror", Lovelock's "You Say", and Myers' "Just Skin". [2] [9] McFarlane described No Dance's style, "[they] eschewed the electric rock framework of the musicians' respective bands for a more acoustic and melodic approach". [1] In mid-year Tillett provided piano for Laughing Clowns' album, Ghosts of an Ideal Wife (August 1985). [10]
By late 1984 Tillett was working with another side project, Paris Green, with a core of himself, Raoul Hawkins on bass guitar, and Jeffrey Wegener on drums (ex-Laughing Clowns) joined by "a loose aggregation of musicians". [1] Other musicians included Louis Burdett on drums (ex-Benders) and Charlie Owen on lead guitar (ex-Tango Bravo). [1] According to McFarlane Paris Green "covered material ranging from Mose Allison to John Coltrane, Ray Charles to Nina Simone, and on any given night there was as many as nine or ten musicians on stage". [1] Tillett (on piano) and Fisher worked on Ed Kuepper's debut solo album, Electrical Storm (June 1985). [10]
In January 1986 Tillett, Fisher and Ikinger revived The Wet Taxis with Rod Howard on bass guitar, Jason Kain on lead guitar (ex-Relatives), and Bronstantine Karlarka on keyboards. [1] [4] By May they were joined by a brass section of Dianne Spence on saxophone, Kathy Wemyss on trumpet (both ex-Laughing Clowns), and Gladys Reed on trombone. [1] [4] [11] Reed had backed No Dance on Carnival of Souls. [4] In July Tillett described his three newest members to Sutton, "[t]here are so many hot female musicians in Sydney and none seem to be getting a go. It is not just a gimmick". [7] The Wet Taxis supported a tour by Nico and undertook other tours. [1] They issued a single, "Sailor's Dream" in May 1987, which was produced by Rob Younger (of Radio Birdman, New Christs) at Paradise Studios for Citadel Records. [1] [4] [11] The band broke up by mid-year. [1]
Tillett recorded his debut solo album, Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell, with bandmates Ikinger and Spence; Burdett and Owen (both now ex-New Christs); and with Lenny Bastiaans on bass guitar. [1] [10] Tillett co-produced with Bruce Callaway, it was issued on Citadel Records during November 1987. [1] [10] McFarlane felt its style was a mix of "jazz, blues, R&B, pop and rock, making for fascinating and engrossing listening". [1] Tillett told Stuart Coupe of The Canberra Times his motivation, "[it] was to play songs within a wide spectrum, everything from a full band through to a duet. It gets away from the expectations that people have with me of it always sounding like Wet Taxis". [3] To promote his album, Tillett assembled a backing band, The Ego Trippers from Hell, and toured Australia. [1] [10]
In 1989 Tillett briefly joined Catfish, Don Walker's side-project, on vocals. [10] Also in that year Tillett fronted The Aspersion Caste, aka Louis Tillett and His Cast of Aspersions, with Bastiaans, Burdett, Ikinger (by then ex-Kings of the World) and Owen; they were joined by Miroslav Bukovsky on trumpet, James Greening on trombone, and Jason Morphett on saxophone. [1] [10] The group released a single, "Condemned to Live", in January 1990 on the Blue Mosque label, which was distributed by Festival Records. McFarlane felt it displayed "astonishing gut-bucket blues that packed a considerable punch". [1] In 1989, Tillett also contributed piano to the debut single from Sydney band Bughouse.
In April 1990 the parent album, A Cast of Aspersions, followed on Blue Mosque/Festival Records which was co-produced by Tillett and Owen. [1] [10] It was "another eclectic set of material driven by Tillett's booming baritone voice and smouldering organ, Owen's jagged guitar lines and the swinging brass arrangements" according to McFarlane. [1] The Canberra Times' Penelope Layland was "let down by the lyrics" while his "musicianship is impeccable, his melding of jazz and rock is imaginative and perfectly executed", however "[c]annibals and witches populate Tillett's songs, and these characters indulge in an array of unspeakable pagan rites ... the lyrics seem to be aimed at kids at a slumber party, trying to outscare each other with horror stories". [12] Tillett and The Aspersion Caste toured Australian and then Europe. [1]
By 1991 The Aspersion Caste line-up was Fisher and Spence with Jackie Orszaczky on bass guitar (ex-Syrius) and Colin Watson on guitar. [1] [10] Orszaczky was soon replaced by Damian Kennedy on bass guitar. [1] [10] The backing group were disbanded in the next year as Tillett worked on his solo album, Letters to a Dream (October 1992), which he co-produced with Barry Wolfison. [1] [10] Bevan Hannan writing for The Canberra Times finds "[t]he instrumentals are infatuating, perhaps long-winded at times, but to Tillett's credit he sustains the mood, mainly due to the absence of electronics and a rhythm section. His bold operatic voice is engaging and he works an interesting interplay with backing singer Mary-Ellen Stringer". [13]
In June 1993 Tillett (on piano, Hammond organ, vocals and percussion) and Owen (on guitar and percussion) recorded an album, The Ugly Truth, with Owen producing. [10] It was released in 1994 on Return to Sender/Normal Records. The pair released a second album together, Midnight Rain, in October 1995, which was produced by Tony Cohen. [1] [10] For that album Tillett provided lead vocals, piano, Hammond organ, Roland synthesiser and soprano saxophone. The pair toured in support of the album. [1] Midnight Rain won the Rolling Stone Critics Award for Best Album of 1996. [14] Later that year Tillett and Owen joined Tex Perkins' backing band on a promotional tour for the latter's debut solo album, Far Be It from Me (August 1996). [1]
Louis Tillett died on 6 August 2023, at the age of 64. [15]
Title | Details |
---|---|
Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell |
|
A Cast of Aspersions |
|
Letters to a Dream |
|
The Ugly Truth (with Charlie Owen) |
|
Midnight Rain (with Charlie Owen) |
|
Cry Against the Faith |
|
Learning to Die |
|
Live @ The Basement |
|
The Hanged Man |
|
Soliloquy |
|
To Ride a Dead Pony |
|
The Saints were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 1973. Founded by singer-songwriter Chris Bailey, drummer Ivor Hay, and guitarist-songwriter Ed Kuepper, they originally employed fast tempos, raucous vocals and a "buzzsaw" guitar sound that helped initiate punk rock in Australia and identified them with the greater international movement.
Christopher Robert Lionel Abrahams is a New Zealand-born, Australian-based musician. He is a founding mainstay member of experimental, jazz trio the Necks (1987–present), collaborated with Melanie Oxley as a soul pop duo (1989–2003), and has issued ten solo albums.
Edmund "Ed" Kuepper is a German-born Australian guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded the punk band The Saints in 1973, the experimental post-punk group Laughing Clowns and the grunge-like The Aints!. He has also recorded over a dozen albums as a solo artist using a variety of backing bands. His highest charting solo album, Honey Steel's Gold, appeared in November 1991 and reached No. 28 on the ARIA Albums Chart. His other top 50 albums are Black Ticket Day, Serene Machine and Character Assassination. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1993 he won Best Independent Release for Black Ticket Day and won the same category in 1994 for Serene Machine.
The Lighthouse Keepers, initially the Light-Housekeepers, were an Australian country and indie pop band formed in 1981 in Canberra. In November 1984 the group issued their debut studio album, Tales of the Unexpected, and a single, "Ocean Liner". In 1985 the band toured the United Kingdom supporting Hot label mates, The Triffids. The Lighthouse Keepers combined a "loosely rehearsed, casual ethos" with humour, punk attitudes and pure pop song craft. The ensemble disbanded in 1986, releasing a compilation album, Imploding, in November that year. According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, their "tasteful, jangly brand of country-tinged folk rock was at odds with prevailing trends on Sydney's early 1980s, Detroit-besotted independent scene. The band nevertheless issued a number of albums and singles, and always lived up to audience expectations".
The New Christs are an Australian garage rock band formed in 1980 by founding mainstay, Rob Younger, on lead vocals. Younger was the lead singer for punk rockers, Radio Birdman, and in other hard rock groups, New Race, Bad Music, the Other Side, Nanker Phelge, and Deep Reduction. The New Christs line-up since 2011 is Younger with Jim Dickson on bass guitar, Dave Kettley on guitar, Paul Larsen on drums and Brent Williams on guitar and keyboards. Over their career the group have issued five studio albums, Distemper (1989), Lower Yourself (1997), We Got This! (2002), Gloria (2009) and Incantations (2014). Three former members have died: Stevie Plunder in January 1996, Mark Wilkinson in December 2012 and Christian Houllemare in June 2014.
The Screaming Tribesmen were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 1981 by mainstay Mick Medew on lead vocals and lead guitar. With various line-ups they released three studio albums, Bones and Flowers, Blood Lust (1990) and Formaldehyde (1993), before disbanding in 1998. They reformed in 2011 for performances until June 2012. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described how they, "fashioned a memorable brand of 1960s-inspired pop rock that combined equal parts existential lyric angst, melodic inventiveness and strident guitar riffs."
Crime & the City Solution are an Australian rock band formed in late 1977 by singer-songwriter and mainstay Simon Bonney. They disbanded in 1979 leaving only bootleg recordings and demos. In late 1983, Bonney travelled to London and in 1985 he formed a new version of the group in the U.K. which included members of the recently disbanded The Birthday Party; later they transferred to Berlin, where they issued four albums – Room of Lights (1986), Shine (1988), The Bride Ship (1989) and Paradise Discotheque (1990) – before disbanding again in 1991. In 2012, Bonney reformed the band in Detroit with two veterans of its Berlin era and a handful of new members.
The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, also known as Soapbox Circus or Matchbox, were an Australian jug band formed in 1969. It centred on Mic Conway on lead vocals, washboard and ukulele; and his brother, Jim Conway, on harmonica, kazoo and vocals. They issued four studio albums, Smoke Dreams, Wangaratta Wahine, Australia and Slightly Troppo (1978), before they disbanded in September 1980. The Conway brothers reformed the group in 2010 as Captain Matchbox Reignited and disbanded again two years later.
Laughing Clowns, sometimes written as The Laughing Clowns, were a post-punk band formed in Sydney in 1979. In five years, the band released three LPs, three EPs, and various singles and compilations. Laughing Clowns' sound is free jazz, bluegrass and krautrock influenced. The band formed to accommodate Ed Kuepper's growing interest in expanding brass-driven elements he had brought to The Saints' third album, Prehistoric Sounds, and by adopting flattened fifth notes in a rock and roll setting while using a modern jazz styled band line-up.
Sacred Cowboys were an Australian post-punk and rock band formed by mainstay Garry Gray, as a lead singer-songwriter, and Mark Ferrie in 1982. The line-up has changed as the group splintered and reformed several times, being active from 1982 to 1985, 1987 to 1991, 1994 to 1997 and 2006 to 2008. The August 2006 line-up was Gray with Stephan Fidock on drums; Penny Ikinger on guitar; Spencer P. Jones on guitar; Nick Rischbieth on bass guitar; and Ash Wednesday on keyboards. Past members include: Johnny Crash on drums and Mark Ferrie on bass guitar, who were both ex-Models; Terry Doolan on guitar; Andrew Picouleau on bass guitar; and Ian Forrest on keyboards.
The Celibate Rifles were an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1979 with a line-up that included mainstays Dave Morris on rhythm guitar and Kent Steedman on lead guitar; within a year they were joined by Damien Lovelock on lead vocals. They released their first album, Sideroxylon, in April 1983 on the Hot Records label. The band has toured both America and Europe extensively, and released their ninth studio album, Beyond Respect on 19 July 2004. In 1985 the group's style was described as post-Radio Birdman sound which is "a combination of fast, guitar-driven, hard rock and power pop". In November 1987 Sounds magazine's Roger Holland described their album, Roman Beach Party as showing the group's "sawn off rock potential all the way down to the bleached white of the bone, the lyrics reveal all the anger, insight and humour that makes [them] one of the most powerful rock bands in the world today". In April 1994 The Celibate Rifles issued Spaceman in a Satin Suit which according to Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane "was [their] best studio album since Blind Ear". Lovelock undertook a solo career and issued two albums as well as becoming a TV sports presenter prior to his death in 2019.
Finch was an Australian hard and pub rock band, initially forming as Stillwater in 1972. In 1973, they changed to Finch and in 1978 they changed their name to Contraband. The band disbanded in 1979.
Charles Lothian Lloyd "Charlie" Owen is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and producer. He has been a member of The New Christs (1987–90), Louis Tillett and His Cast of Aspersions (1990), Tex, Don and Charlie, Tendrils (1994–99) and Beasts of Bourbon. His solo album, Vertigo and Other Phobias, was released in 1994 on Red Eye/Polydor.
Spencer Patrick Jones was a New Zealand guitar player and singer-songwriter from Te Awamutu. From 1976 he worked in Australia and was a member of various groups including The Johnnys, Beasts of Bourbon, Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls, Chris Bailey and The General Dog, Maurice Frawley and The Working Class Ringos, and Sacred Cowboys. He also issued ten albums as a solo artist. In May 2012 Australian Guitar magazine rated Jones as one of Australia's Top 40 best guitarists.
The Jackson Code were an Australian rock, country and folk band, which formed in Perth in 1988. The original line-up was Kenny Davis Jr on accordion and keyboards; Jason Kain on guitar, Mark Snarski on guitar and vocals and Kathy Wemyss on vocals and trumpet. The group released four studio albums Del Musical Del Mismo Nombre (1989), Strange Cargo (1992), Draggin' the River (1993) and The Things You Need (1995) before disbanding in 1996.
Russell James Dunlop was an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer-engineer. From the late 1970s he collaborated with Bruce Brown in a production company for albums and singles by Australian performers including Mental As Anything, The Reels and Machinations. As a musician he was a member of various groups such as Aesop's Fables (1968–70), Levi Smith's Clefs (1971), Southern Contemporary Rock Assembly (SCRA) (1971–72) and Ayers Rock (1976).
Christopher Mark Bailey was an Australian bass guitarist and vocalist. He was a member of various rock groups including Headband (1971–1974), The Angels, Gang Gajang (1984–2013), and The Stetsons. Bailey died of throat cancer, aged 62.
Kevin Gullifer Hopkins-Smith, who performed as Little Gulliver and Gulliver Smith, was an Australian singer and songwriter from the early 1960s to mid-2000s. He was the front man and founding mainstay vocalist of Company Caine. In 1976 he and Ross Wilson co-wrote "A Touch of Paradise" for Wilson's group, Mondo Rock, which appeared on their third album, Nuovo Mondo. It was covered by John Farnham on his album, Whispering Jack, and was issued as its third single in February 1987, which reached the top 30 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart.
The Wreckery are an Australian rock and blues group which formed in January 1985 by Robin Casinader on drums, piano, Hammond organ, guitar and violin; Edward Clayton-Jones on guitar, organ and vocals; Tadeusz O'Biegly on bass guitar; Hugo Race on vocals and guitar; Charles Todd on saxophone and organ. By December of that year Nick Barker had replaced O'Biegly on bass guitar. They issued two studio albums, Here at Pain's Insistence and Laying Down Law (1988), before disbanding in mid-1989. In 2008, they briefly reunited in support of a compilation album, Past Imperfect.
Bachelors from Prague were an Australian band formed in 1985. Original members were Russell Cook on drums, George Friml on bass guitar, Bruce Haymes on keyboards, Henry Maas on vocals, Chris Minko on trumpet, Andrew Philipp on saxophone, Jeff Raglus on trumpet, Tom Roberts on guitar, and Justin Stanford on percussion. Their music is described by Ian McFarlane as a mix of "1940s jazz, 1950s R&B;, 1970s funk and salsa" and by Maas as, "jazz meets dance." In 1991 Friml was replaced on bass guitar by Thiery Fossemalle. The group broke up in 1993 but reunited in 2016 and in the following year. They released five albums including, Live at Sing Sing (1986), The Energetic Cool, Birth of the Fool and The Essentials (1990). Their 1989 single, "Get Smart", was later covered by Melbourne Ska Orchestra, which issued it as a single in 2014.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link){{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |url=
(help){{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)