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Powderfinger

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Powderfinger
Powderfinger
L to R: Darren Middleton, John Collins, Bernard Fanning, Ian Haug, Jon Coghill
Background information
OriginBrisbane, Australia
Years active1989–present
MembersBernard Fanning
John Collins
Ian Haug
Darren Middleton
Jon Coghill

Powderfinger is an Australian rock band. The band formed in 1989 in Brisbane, with the present lineup of Bernard Fanning (Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Harmonica), John Collins (Bass Guitar), Ian Haug (Guitar, Backing Vocals), Darren Middleton (Guitar, Keyboards, Backing Vocals) and Jon Coghill (Drums, Percussion) settling in 1992.

Formation and local success

Powderfinger formed in 1989 as a high school band, the original members of which were Ian Haug (Vocals, Guitar), John Collins (Bass) and Steven Bishop (Drums). The band began looking for another guitarist and recruited Bernard Fanning whom Haug met in his university economics class. Eventually, Haug passed the vocal duties onto him. Bishop later left the band, to be replaced with Jon Coghill.The final line-up was almost complete, but they decided to seek out another guitarist to replace Fanning. Darren Middleton, guitarist from the band 'Pirate', filled the position in 1992.

Powderfinger initially performed covers of other artists, gradually developing their own material.

After two independent EPs released in 1993, they were signed to Polydor and in 1994 released their first album, Parables for Wooden Ears, which charted poorly and failed to launch the band. Following this, the band released several singles and EPs and launched a national tour, appearing in Livid and Homebake music festivals

In September 1996, the band released the album Double Allergic, which was a huge success, going Australian double platinum (selling over 70,000 copies in Australia), with two singles, "Pick You Up" and "DAF" receiving widespread radio airplay. "Double Allergic" debuted at no. 7 on the Australian charts and remained in the Top 10 for over two months.

Rise to prominence

In 1998 and 2000 the band released the albums Internationalist, and Odyssey Number 5 respectively. These albums propelled the band to a prominent position on the Australian music scene, both reaching #1 album, with Internationalist selling over 330,000 copies, over 5 times platinum domestically and reaching European and British audiences for the first time.

Both albums featured mainly melodic rock, with vocals often compared to the band's declared inspiration, Neil Young. The name Powderfinger is from the title of a Neil Young song.

2003's Vulture Street (named after the Brisbane street where Powderfinger's band room was) headed off in a more aggressive direction, though remaining ballad oriented and melodic in style. It debuted at #1 and has sold over 350,000 copies to date.

Powderfinger have won many Australian pop music industry's awards, including ARIAs for their albums and singles. The tracks "These Days" and "My Happiness" were voted #1 in the Triple J Hottest 100 poll in 1999 and 2000 respectively. They are the only group to have topped the poll twice. In 2003 five Powderfinger tracks featured in the top 100, and three in the top ten. Most notably, in 2003 they won an ARIA for Best Band of 2003.

Powderfinger have had some international success in the UK and Europe, but like many successful Australian acts have not captured the imagination of the United States.

In 2004, they released 2 albums, a live album called These Days - Live In Concert, and also a best of album, Fingerprints: Best Of 1994 - 2000. Both of these reached #2 in the charts.

In 2004 Fanning was also a guest vocalist on part two of supergroup The Wrights' cover of Stevie Wright's (lead singer of The Easybeats) "Evie" (now a trilogy). The first part was first performed at the 2004 ARIA awards. The supergroup features members of many other Australian rock bands.

2005 - The year of side projects

The band decided to take a break in 2005. Since then, members Darren Middleton and Bernard Fanning pursued side projects

Darren Middleton and his side project Drag released their debut album, a follow-up to their 2002 EP Gas Food Lodging. The debut album is called The Way Out and was released on July the 10th.

Following the Boxing Day Tsunami, Powderfinger appeared at the Wave Aid fundraising concert in Sydney, to raise funds for aid organisations working in disaster affected areas. Bernard also sang for The Wrights when the group performed Evie at Wave Aid and released it as a single, with the proceeds from the sale also going to tsunami related fundraising.

Bernard Fanning released his solo album, Tea and Sympathy, on October 30 2005, reaching the top of the Australian charts. The lead single from Tea and Sympathy, "Wish You Well", was voted number one in the 2005 Triple J Hottest 100. The second single from the album, Songbird, also appeared in the list.

Powderfinger's song catalogue -- including Fanning's solo hits -- is with BMG Music Publishing.

Powderfinger is now also a sponsor of Flipside Circus in Brisbane's Powerhouse.

During several TV interviews Bernard Fanning has stated that Powderfinger are currently working on a new album to be released late 2006/ early 2007.

Discography

Studio albums

File:Parables for Wooden Ears.jpg 1. Parables for Wooden Ears (Polydor 522570-2, 18 July 1994)

2. Double Allergic (Polydor 533153-2, 2 September 1996) AUS #4

3. Internationalist (Polydor 559201-2, 7 September 1998) AUS #1

4. Odyssey Number Five (Grudge/Universal 549092-2, 4 September 2000) AUS #1

5. Vulture Street (Grudge/Universal 038353-2, 2003) AUS #1

Live albums

File:Live powderfinger.jpg These Days - Live In Concert AUS #2

Greatest Hits albums

Fingerprints: Best Of 1994 - 2000 AUS #2

Singles

From Parables for Wooden Ears:

  • "Tail" (1993)
  • "Grave Concern" (1994)
  • "Save Your Skin" (1994)

From Double Allergic:

  • "Pick You Up" (1996) AUS #23
  • "d.a.f. (Cascading Down)" (1996) AUS #39
  • "Living Type" (1997) AUS #42
  • "Take Me In" (1997)

From Internationalist:

  • "The Day You Come" (1998) AUS #25
  • "Already Gone" (1998)
  • "Don't Wanna Be Left Out / Good-Day Ray" (1998)
  • "Passenger" (1999) AUS #30

From Odyssey Number Five:

  • "My Happiness" (2000) AUS #4
  • "Like A Dog" (2000) AUS #40
  • "The Metre" (2001); AUS #31

From Vulture Street:

  • "On My Mind" (2003); AUS #9
  • "Love Your Way" (2003); AUS #37
  • "Sunsets" (2004); AUS #11, NZ #38
  • "Since You've Been Gone" (2004)
  • "Stumblin'" (2004)

From Fingerprints: Best Of 1994 - 2000:

  • "Bless My Soul" (2004)

Other songs

EPs

  • "Powderfinger" (Blue EP) (MDS FINGER1, 1st April 1993) — Take a Light/Sacrifice (Blackjack)/Freedom/If I Tried/Save Your Skin/Lighten My Load/It's No Crime
  • "Transfusion" (Polydor 859727-2, 1993) — Reap What You Sow/Change the Tide/Blind To Reason/Mama Harry/Rise Up
  • "Mr Kneebone" (Polydor 579679-2, 24th July 1995) — Swollen Tongue/Stitches/Drongo/My Urn/I'm Splittin' Terry
  • "Passenger" (Grudge/Universal 563939-2, 9th August 1999) — Passenger (Album Version)/These Days/Passenger (Live)/Pick You Up (Live)/Maxwells' Great Mistake/That Ol' Track

DVDs

-Includes "Sunsets" film clip, "Sunsets" acoustic studio performance, "Rita" audio/video, "On My Mind" film clip, "Love Your Way" film clip

ARIA Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

  • Powderfinger - Lyrics Analysis of Neil Young song
  • [1] - Hindley Site, A Powderfinger Fansite
  • [2] - Powderfinger Central, A Powderfinger Fansite
  • [3] - Dragtheband.com, The Official Site of Middleton's side project, Drag
  • [4] - The Official Site of Bernard Fanning
  • Powderfinger at Naked Dwarf
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