Happyland (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Happyland (disambiguation).
Happyland
Origin Australia
Genre(s) Art pop
Punk
Metal
Years active 1998–1999
Label(s) Polydor
Associated acts Spiderbait
Regurgitator
Former members
Janet English
Quan Yeomans

Happyland was an Australian band, whose music is best described as "pop but a little punky". They were composed of Spiderbait's bassist/vocalist Janet English and her boyfriend of the time, Quan Yeomans from Regurgitator and were originally intended to be named "The Shits", but decided on Happyland.

Their only album, Welcome to Happyland, was released August 25, 1998, on the Polydor Australia label. They also released the track "Tintarella di Luna" on the Looking for Alibrandi soundtrack in 2000.

"Don't You Know Who I Am?", the single from Welcome to Happyland, came in at #28 in Triple J's 1998 Hottest 100 music poll, while "Hello!" also made it in at #71. "Hello!" was originally going to be released on Regurgitator's album Unit but apparently did not fit with the rest of the album's content.

Happyland toured Australia as part of the 1999 Big Day Out music festival, performing at shows on the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide [1]. In their live shows, the band members dressed in fluffy animal costumes.

Quan mentioned in a 2001 interview in the Daily Telegraph that Happyland were working on another release (backed up by a comment made by Quan on Live.com.au). However, they have both since stated that this is unlikely, as they have since split up, but remain good friends; with Janet saying in 2004, "A Happyland comeback? (laughs) Is it was just the one off thing, just a bit of fun when we had time off from our respective bands."

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Track listing:

  1. "Chicken?" – 2:55
  2. "Hello!" – 2:59
  3. "Hunk O' Man" – 4:10
  4. "Don't You Know Who I Am?" – 2:20
  5. "Tale of Two Sea Monkeys" – 4:11
  6. "The Ballad of Mike Katz" – 2:55
  7. "Life in a Loop" – 4:44
  8. "Softly Contemporary" – 3:54
  9. "The Plot Thins" – 3:27
  10. "Theme from Happyland..." – 4:38

[edit] Singles

  • "Don't You Know Who I Am?"