Tracy Pew

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Tracy Pew (born in New Zealand in 1958 died November 7, 1986) was an Australian musician, best known as the bass guitarist for The Birthday Party.

Emigrating with his family to Australia in 1972, Pew attended Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne, where he joined a band called The Boys Next Door, along with schoolfriends Nick Cave, Mick Harvey and Phill Calvert. After achieving some success in Australia, and with the addition of guitarist Rowland S. Howard, the band relocated to London and renamed themselves The Birthday Party.

On 16 February 1982, Pew was arrested in Melbourne for drink driving. For this and a series of other accumulated fines and offences, he was sentenced to ten weeks in HM Prison Pentridge in Coburg, Victoria.^[1] During Pew's stretch in prison, he was temporarily replaced in the band by Chris Walsh (of The Moodists) for the band's subsequent Melbourne shows, and Barry Adamson (of Magazine) and Harry Howard (Rowland S. Howard's brother) for their UK shows. Pew returned to the band after his release from Pentridge with a gig in Hammersmith on 26 May 1982.^[2]

The Birthday Party split in 1984, and Pew returned to Melbourne to study literature and philosophy at university. He contributed to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' cover LP Kicking Against the Pricks, and also performed on Lydia Lunch's concept album Honeymoon In Red. He passed away due to an epileptic seizure on November 7, 1986.