Tom Ellard

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Thomas (Tom) Ellard (born 1962), is an Australian electronic musician most well known as the founding member of the electronic and industrial music group Severed Heads. Ellard's first music contributions began in the late 1970s as a teenager, he was influenced by groups that emerged from the early United Kingdom and Australian punk movement, such as Throbbing Gristle, SPK, Wire and other like artists^{[citation needed]}.

Predating music technology such as MIDI and personal computers, Ellard's early work was performed tape machines, tape loops and basic analogue equipment^{[citation needed]}. Through the 1980s Ellard began to take advantage of technological developments such as the music sequencer in combination with looping sounds before sampling. Severed Heads were probably most well known in Australia for chart success with a 1994 remix of the track "Dead Eyes Open" (initially released in the early 1980s) which made the Australian top 40. Ellard is also noted for his early contributions to the electronic and industrial music movements in Australia and overseas. In 2005 Ellard received the Australian Record Industry Association's ARIA Music Award for the best original soundtrack/cast/show for the soundtrack to the Australian film The Illustrated Family Doctor ^[1].

As of 2006 Ellard resides in Surry Hills, New South Wales and continues to record music and soundtracks and also lectures at a variety of educational facilities on music production in Australia. He is the creator and director of sevcom.com, a website for alternative methods of music distribution and creation.