The Bamboos second release was a remix for a side project of UK artist, Quantic called "The Limp Twins". It was released as a 7" B-side on the Brighton-based UK label Tru Thoughts in 2003. By this point, Scott Lambie and Stuart Speed had left the band to be replaced by drummer Jamie Jones and current bassist Yuri Pavlinov. A horn section consisting of Ross Irwin (The Cat Empire) on Trumpet and Bruce Sandell on Tenor Sax & Flute expanded the line up to a six-piece.
In 2004, the Bamboos released the single, "Tighten Up"/"Voodoo Doll". Both Jamie Jones and Bruce Sandell left the band in 2004 to be replaced by Daniel Farrugia and Tenor Saxophonist Anton Delecca.[citation needed]
In November 2004 the band toured Australia and New Zealand with U.K artists Quantic and Alice Russell, performing as a substitute backing band for Will Holland's regular The Quantic Soul Orchestra line up.
A chance meeting between Lance Ferguson and label A&R Rob Luis in a Brighton club (where Ferguson was able to hand Luis a demo of new material) led to The Bamboos being signed to his Tru Thoughts label full-time in 2005.[citation needed]
In late 2005 the band embarked on a second tour of Aus/NZ with (now label mates) The Quantic Soul Orchestra, Alice Russell. Russell would record two vocal tunes during this time for the bands upcoming full-length debut album.
2006–2009: Step It Up, Rawville and Side-Stepper
Kylie Auldist performing with The Bamboos at Manning Bar, Sydney, Australia
The Bamboos debut studio album, Step It Up, was released by Tru Thoughts in 2006. The 11-track album included 9 instrumentals and two vocal tracks featuring Alice Russell. Step it Up received positive reviews within the Funk/Soul scene and enabled the band to embark upon their first headline Australian, U.K and European tour that year.[citation needed]
In 2007, The Bamboos released their second studio album Rawville, which marked a stylistic move towards more vocal-based material and featured vocalists Kylie Auldist, Tyra Hammond, Fallon Williams and Ohmega Watts. Rawville was described by UK-based IDJ Magazine as "arguably the best funk album of the modern era".[citation needed] The band embarked on another tour that encompassed Australia and Europe.
In 2008, The Bamboos released their third studio album, Side-Stepper. The album included contributions from guest vocalists Megan Washington, Paul Macinnes and TY. Side-Stepper featured the singles "King of the Rodeo" and "I Can't Help Myself", which was nominated in the Blues & Roots Work of the Year category in the APRA Music Awards of 2010. Original band member keyboardist Ben Grayson left the band at this point and was replaced by Dustin Mclean.
Later in 2008, The Bamboos released a live album, Listen! Hear! The Bamboos Live!, compiled from shows during a week-long residency with The Cat Empire at The Metro Theatre in Sydney.[citation needed]
2010–2014: 4, Medicine Man and Fever in the Road
In 2010, The Bamboos released their fourth studio album, 4. Kano Hollamby produced the album cover artwork which depicts the band looking out of framed boxes, and two video clips were produced for the album's opening singles. The British Blues & Soul magazine called it "Simply Stunning" and "an instant classic".[citation needed] Once again, the band supported the album with an Australian and European tour. The song "On the Sly" was later used in a scene of the American film Crazy, Stupid, Love. "You Ain't No Good" featured on the US TV show Hellcats.[citation needed]
In 2012, The Bamboos released their fifth studio album, Medicine Man. The album consisted of 12 vocal tracks, featuring Kylie Auldist and guests including Aloe Blacc, Daniel Merriweather, Tim Rogers, Megan Washington, Bobby Flynn and Ella Thompson (the latter who would join the band as a full-time member in the same year). Current drummer Graeme Pogson replaced Daniel Farrugia in 2011. Medicine Man peaked at number 28 on the ARIA Charts. The album's lead single "I Got Burned" was the band's most commercially successful single to date, gaining crossover success with airplay on commercial stations such as Triple M and Nova and featured in the opening scene of successful Australian TV show House Husbands. The song would later rank at No. 54 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2012. Medicine Man would go on to receive three ARIA Music Awards nominations at the ARIA Music Awards of 2012. They recorded a cover version of the Rolling Stones' "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" for Mojo Magazine (U.K) and released the free four-track EP Live at the Metro through their Facebook page in November 2012.[2]
In late 2012, Ferguson rented a studio in the inner Western Melbourne suburb of Yarraville, where he co-wrote a new record with Thompson and Auldist. The album was co-produced with longtime Bamboos studio and live engineer John Castle, and had a dense, layered and 'darker' sound. Ferguson cited influences including the music of Stereolab, Beck and Tame Impala. Keyboardist Simon Mavin performed on the album, but would leave the band shortly after due to the burgeoning success of his group Hiatus Kaiyote.[3] Luke Saunders joined on keyboards in mid-2013.[citation needed]
In November 2013, The Bamboos released their sixth studio album, Fever in the Road on Lance Ferguson's own label Pacific Theatre. The album peaked at number 41 on the ARIA Charts. Upon released, Ferguson stated in the press "The last record was so guest heavy that I felt compelled to make a record like this...I'm certainly not ruling out collaborating with other people in the future, but I just felt that the right thing to do now was to make the musical statement that this is the sound of The Bamboos."[citation needed][1]
Between recording Fever in the Road and its release, the band embarked upon a national Australian tour with vocalist Tim Rogers called The Rock 'n Soul Medicine Show. The tour capitalised upon the success of the "I Got Burned" single and also included re-arrangements of some You Am I (Rogers' band) songs alongside several new originals penned by Ferguson and Rogers. The two would continue their musical partnership in 2013 working on the Foxtel Studio Channel TV show Studio at the Memo, a music-oriented variety show with Rogers hosting and Ferguson acting as Musical Director.[citation needed]
In mid-2014, Ella Thompson left the band to pursue her solo career and other projects. "Avenger" was nominated at the APRA Music Awards of 2014 in the Blues & Roots Work of the Year category. Fever in the Road was nominated for Best Blues & Roots Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2014.
2015–2016: The Rules of Attraction and The Best of the Tru Thoughts Years
A full collaborative album with Tim Rogers entitled The Rules of Attraction was released on Atlantic Records on 22 May 2015. Recorded at both at The Shed Studios and Lance Ferguson's home studio, the album featured twelve songs co-written by Rogers and Ferguson.[citation needed] The album peaked at number 26 on the ARIA Charts. The album received 4-star reviews from Rolling Stone Magazine, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.[citation needed]
The Bamboos followed on from an Australian national tour in June with performances as house band on the ABC TV 'Saturday Night Crack Up TV Special hosted by Eddie Perfect, and the AFL Grand Final Eve Special Broadcast for Triple M.[citation needed] Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the band, an official birthday show happened on 18 September 2015 to coincide with The Northcote Social Club's 10th anniversary. Guests on stage on the night included Remi, Bobby Flynn and previous Bamboos drummer Daniel Farrugia.[citation needed]
In November 2015, the compilation album The Best of the Tru Thoughts Years was released to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the band. The Rules of Attraction was nominated in the "Best Blues & Roots Album" category of ARIA Music Awards of 2015. "Easy" was nominated for Blues & Roots Work of the Year category at the APRA Music Awards of 2016.
2017–2019: Night Time People and By Special Arrangement
In 2017, Lance Ferguson released his debut solo album Raw Material, while several band line-up changes occurred, with tenor saxophonist Damon Grant joining after Anton Delecca moved to New York. Keyboardist Luke Saunders also left and was replaced by Daniel Mougerman. Percussionist Phil Binotto joined in 2017 to expand the group to a 9-piece lineup.[citation needed]
In November 2017, the band released a cover version of The Easybeats hit "I'll Make You Happy", featuring vocalist Montaigne, as part of various artists' Easybeats tribute Rebeat.[4]
On 20 February 2018, The Bamboos released their first new original music in nearly three years with the single "Lit Up", which was accompanied by a video clip directed by Chris Nelius. The song was mixed by the legendary recording engineer Bob Clearmountain. The band secured the opening support slot for Robbie Williams' Heavy Entertainment Show Australian Tour, performing to their largest audiences ever in arena concerts in the countries capital cities.[citation needed] On 6 July 2018, The Bamboos released their eighth studio album Night Time People, which received a 5-star reviews from the UK's Daily Mirror and Blues & Soul magazine. The Age called it "instantly addictive" and Rolling Stone proclaimed its "undeniable Soul charms".[citation needed]
The Bamboos spent the beginning of 2019 in the studio recording their 9th studio album. The first single from the new album was an orchestral ballad take on the song "I Never" featuring Dan Sultan on vocals (originally performed by Daniel Merriweather on the Medicine Man album). It was premiered on Double J. The next singles "Stop" and "I Got Burned" were accompanied by live performance video clips filmed in a church hall in Carlton. By Special Arrangement was released on 2 August 2019. It featured eight newly recorded orchestral re-works of previously released songs, along with two new cover versions. Long-time band member Ross Irwin (trumpet) arranged the material. It was launched with a live performance at Melbourne Recital Centre with the band accompanied by a 10-piece string section. Beat Magazine in their review of the show proclaimed that "The Bamboos are quickly becoming national treasures of the Australian music industry".
2020–2022: Hard Up and Live at Hamer Hall
In October 2019 the band had set up recording equipment in a country house in the Victorian town of Lancefield, spending seven days recording the bulk of the material that would become their tenth studio album Hard Up. Long-time Bamboos recording engineer John Castle was enlisted to track the sessions, which ran through night and day across the week. On recording the album, Ferguson said: "We converted the lounge room into the rhythm section’s room, the horns were in the dining room, the control room was in one of the bedrooms…And we took the MO of going song by song. Everyone was in there working together, and we just threw everything we could at a song until we got it to a point that we felt we all liked. It was a much nicer way to do it."[5] The album was slated for release in mid-2020 to coincide with The Bamboos' 20th Anniversary, but the COVID-19 pandemic halted all touring opportunities throughout the year and the album release was subsequently pushed back to 2021. Between the ensuing two extended Melbourne lockdowns the group recorded additional material for the record. The band released three singles during 2020, including the album's title track "Hard Up", which featured a video clip shot during lockdown at each separate band members home.
To celebrate their 20th anniversary a special 2×7" gatefold vinyl single featuring four back catalogue songs was released on 29 August as an official Record Store Day 2020 release.
11 March 2021 marked a return to the stage with two performances alongside The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Hamer Hall in Melbourne. The group played songs from across their two decade-long career, arranged by band member trumpeter/arranger Ross Irwin and featuring the full 50-piece orchestra. Tim Rogers performed "I Got Burned" on the second night. The concerts were recorded and performances compiled from the two nights would go on to make up the Live at Hamer Hall live album, released in December 2022. The band broadcast a live-streamed show from the Corner Hotel, with a limited venue capacity on 25 April 2021.
In August 2021 an official deluxe edition of the Hard Up album was announced, which featured 6 previously-unreleased songs recorded during the 2019 "Lancefield Sessions". The band rounded out the year with a performance at Out of the Woods Festival and a New Years Eve show in Byron Bay.
2022 saw the Bamboos finally complete the official 'Hard Up' Australian national tour, which had been postponed several times due to pandemic lockdowns and venue capacity restrictions over the previous two years. The band played headline shows in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. As the live music scene gained momentum again, they performed extensively in 2022 at venues, events and festivals including Byron Bay Bluesfest, Queenscliff Music Festival, Melbourne Jazz Festival, Esplanade Hotel, Melbourne, The Big Bonanza, St Kilda Festival, Vine Hop Festival and the Tasmanian Wine Festival.
The Live at Hamer Hall album was released in December 2022. It featured ten songs compiled from the two performances with The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2020. Blues & Soul called it "a bold, brassy and extremely ambitious affair".[6] Ferguson said of the performance: "It truly felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Melbournians had just emerged from the city's first major lockdown, the gift of seeing and playing live music again seemed to carry extra weight for everyone in the room. All of the raw emotion in the room...galvanised the band and the audience to make these shows count”.[7]
2023: This Is How You Do It
The Bamboos began 2023 with performances in the Caribbean on the ocean-going Jam Cruise festival, alongside George Porter Jr., Cymande, John Medeski and others. Rita Satch and Kate Ferguson were added to the live line up as a backing vocal section. The single "Ex-Files" was released on 4 August, with a new full-length studio album This Is How You Do It (the band's 11th studio album) announced for release on 3 November. The Bamboos also announced a European/UK tour to accompany the release of the new album in November.
The Music Victoria Awards (previously known as The Age EG Awards and The Age Music Victoria Awards) are an annual awards night celebrating Victorian music.
The National Live Music Awards (NLMAs) are a broad recognition of Australia's diverse live industry, celebrating the success of the Australian live scene. The awards commenced in 2016.
The John Butler Trio are an Australian roots/rock band led by guitarist and vocalist John Butler, an APRA and ARIA-award-winning musician. They formed in Fremantle in 1998 with Jason McGann on drums, Gavin Shoesmith on bass and John Butler on vocals. By 2009, the trio consisted of Butler with Byron Luiters on bass and Nicky Bomba on drums and percussion, the latter being replaced by Grant Gerathy in 2013. After both Luiters and Gerathy exited the trio in early 2019, bassist OJ Newcomb and drummer Terepai Richmond joined the band, accompanied by touring musician Elana Stone on keyboards, percussion and backing vocals.
The Cat Empire are an Australian jazz/funk band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1999. For most of the band's duration, the core members were Felix Riebl, Harry James Angus, Will Hull-Brown (drums), Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala, Ollie McGill and Ryan Monro. Monro retired from the band in March 2021, while Angus, Hull-Brown and Khadiwhala all left in April 2022. They are often supplemented by The Empire Horns, a brass duo composed of Ross Irwin (trumpet) and Kieran Conrau (trombone), among others. Their sound is a fusion of jazz, funk, ska, and rock with heavy Latin influences.
The Waifs are an Australian folk rock band formed in 1992 by sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson as well as Josh Cunningham. Their tour and recording band includes Ben Franz (bass), David Ross Macdonald (drums) and Tony Bourke.
John Charles Wiltshire-Butler, professionally known as John Butler, is an American-Australian singer, songwriter, and music producer. He is the front man for the John Butler Trio, a roots and jam band that formed in Fremantle, Western Australia, in 1998.
James Dixon Barnes is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best-selling Australian music artists of all time.
The Presets are an Australian electronic music duo of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes. Formed in 2003 and signed to Modular Records, The Presets released two EPs in advance of their debut album, Beams, released in 2005 to positive critical response. After two years of touring, including as the Australian support for Daft Punk, the band's 2008 release, Apocalypso, debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart, and went on to win six awards at ARIA Awards 2008, including Album of the Year.
Joshua Jon Pyke is an Australian singer-songwriter, producer, musician and children's book author.
Gareth Liddiard is an Australian musician, best known as a founding member of both The Drones and Tropical Fuck Storm. Musically active since 1997, he has also released a solo album titled Strange Tourist in 2010. In 2021, Liddiard recorded and performed live with Jim White of the Dirty Three and Chris Abrahams of The Necks as Springtime.
Daniel Leo Sultan is an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, actor and author. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 he won Best Male Artist and Best Blues & Roots Album for his second album, Get Out While You Can. At the 2014 ceremony he won Best Rock Album for Blackbird, which had reached number four on the ARIA Albums Chart. In 2017, Sultan's record Killer was nominated for three ARIA awards: Best Male Artist, Best Rock Album, and Best Independent Release. Sultan's debut children's music album Nali & Friends was named Best Children's Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2019.
Courtney Melba Barnett is an Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. Known for her deadpan singing style and witty, rambling lyrics, she attracted attention with the release of her debut EP I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris in 2012. International interest came with the release of her EP The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas in 2013.
Kylie Auldist is an Australian singer, best known as the singer of the Bamboos and Cookin' on 3 Burners. She has also released five solo albums.
Ngaire Laun Joseph, known by her stage name Ngaiire, is a Papua New Guinea-born Australian-based R&B and future soul singer-songwriter. Her musical career commenced in 2003 with an enrollment in a bachelor of Jazz Studies at the Central Queensland University (CQU). In 2004, she competed in the second season of Australian Idol, where she competed as a semi-finalist but did not make it to the final 12 singers. She then worked with Blue King Brown and Paul Mac as a session vocalist before re-focusing on her solo career in 2008.
Mojo Ruiz de Luzuriaga, known professionally as Mo'Ju and previously as Mojo Juju, is an Australian musician, best known for their 2018 album Native Tongue and the lead single of the same title. The single won the Best Independent Single category in the 2019 AIR Awards. They play guitar and piano, write songs and sing, and have created music in a number of genres.
Gang of Youths are an Australian alternative rock band from Sydney, now based in London, that formed in 2011. The group consists of David Le'aupepe, Max Dunn, Jung Kim, Donnie Borzestowski and Tom Hobden.
Cookin' on 3 Burners are an Australian funk trio from Melbourne, consisting of Jake Mason, Dan West and Ivan Khatchoyan. Their 2009 song "This Girl" was remixed by French DJ and record producer Kungs and released in February 2016. It became a massive hit, peaking at number one in France, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Latvia, Scotland and number 2 on the UK Singles Chart.
Julia Jacklin is an Australian singer-songwriter from the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales. Jacklin's musical style has been described as indie pop, indie folk, and alternative country. She has released three studio albums, Don't Let the Kids Win (2016), Crushing (2019) and Pre Pleasure (2022). Jacklin has also performed with the band Phantastic Ferniture, with whom she released the debut single "Fuckin 'n' Rollin" and a self-titled album in 2018, followed by subsequent singles.
Tash Sultana is an Australian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music producer, described as a "one-person band". Sultana rose to international prominence with their 2016 single "Jungle", which was voted into third place in Triple J's Hottest 100 countdown of 2016. The following year, Sultana had three songs voted into Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2017; "Mystik" placing at number 28, "Murder to the Mind" at number 43, and their Like a Version cover of MGMT's "Electric Feel" at number 78.
Grace Kathleen Elizabeth Shaw, known professionally as Mallrat, is an Australian musician, singer, and rapper from Brisbane. Mallrat has released three EPs: Uninvited (2016), In the Sky (2018) and Driving Music (2019). She also released her full-length debut studio album titled Butterfly Blue (2022) in May 2022 to critical acclaim. In 2019, her tracks "Groceries" and "UFO" placed at number 7 and 70, respectively, in the 2018 Triple J Hottest 100, in 2020, "Charlie" and "Nobody's Home" placed at number 3 and 59, respectively, in the 2019 Triple J Hottest 100 and in 2021, "Rockstar" placed 13 in the 2020 Triple J Hottest 100.
Stella Donnelly is a Welsh-Australian indie rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. After the success of her debut EP Thrush Metal in 2017, she signed with Secretly Canadian in 2018. She released her debut studio album Beware of the Dogs to critical acclaim in March 2019, peaking at number 15 on the ARIA Album Charts, and winning Independent Album of the Year at the AIR Awards. Her second studio album, Flood, was released in August 2022, debuting at number 29 on the ARIA Charts.
Sampa Tembo, known professionally as Sampa the Great, is a Zambian singer, rapper and songwriter. Between 2014 and 2020, she was based in Australia. Her debut solo album, The Return, peaked at No. 12 on the ARIA Albums Chart. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2019 she won Best Hip Hop Release for her second single, "Final Form". In the following year she won the same category for The Return, as well as Best Female Artist and Best Independent Release. In March 2020 Sampa became the first artist to win the Australian Music Prize twice: for Birds and the Bee9 and The Return. The artist was based back in Zambia from late 2020, where she issued her second studio album, As Above, So Below.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
