| The Fauves | |
|---|---|
The Fauves at Asian Australian Football Championships |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Melbourne, Australia |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Labels | Polydor, Shock Records, Festival Records |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Andrew Cox Philip "Doctor" Leonard Adam "Doug" Newey Timothy "Ted" Cleaver |
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| Past members | |
| Andrew 'Jack' Dyer |
|
The Fauves are an Australian rock band.[1] Their album Future Spa was nominated for Best Alternative Album in the 1997 ARIA awards but lost to Spiderbait's Ivy and the Big Apples.[2]
In 2007 they played their 1000th gig [3] and in 2008 they played their 20th anniversary gig at The Espy in Melbourne. They have played at the Big Day Out in both 1993 and 1997.
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The band was formed in 1988 by four school friends from Mt Eliza High School on the Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne, Victoria. The initial line-up consisted of: Andrew Cox (guitar, vocals), Philip Leonard (guitar, vocals, brass), Andrew 'Jack' Dyer (bass), Adam Newey (drums). The band took its name from the art movement Fauvism, which was characterised by both its intensity and infatuation with colour.
In 1990, the band released a 5 track 12" vinyl only EP This Mood Has Passed, as well as a 7" vinyl only single Fireman 451 / Daughter Abroad. In 1992 the band released 2 six-track CD EP's on Shock Records, The Scissors Within and Tight White Ballhugger.
In 1992 The Fauves featured on a CD called 'Dress Ups' (Shock Records) with other Melbourne bands The Glory Box and Pray TV (2), with each band performing a track from the others repertoire, as well as contributing one original track.
The band came to wider attention when they appeared on the bill of the first Big Day Out national tour in early 1993. In October of that year they signed to Polydor Records, and released their debut long player Drive Through Charisma.
The original release of Drive Through Charisma included a 22 track bonus disc, featuring early demos and some live songs. The bonus disc was accompanied by a separate booklet titled "22 reasons why a band shouldn't put an album out in its first few years." The booklet was written by the band and provided critical analysis for each track.
The computer game Quarantine released in 1994 featured The Fauves' song "The Driver Is You" on the soundtrack. In 1995 the band released a non-album single ”Everybody’s Getting a 3 Piece Together”, a satirical assessment of the emergence of 3 member rock bands during that period.
The band released several more albums on Polydor, including The Young Need Discipline and 1996's successful Future Spa. It yielded considerable Triple J Hottest 100 success, with "Dogs Are The Best People" at #20 and "Self Abuser" at #30 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 1996. However by the end of 1999, the band was dropped from Polydor after the label's merger with Universal.
In 1999, following their departure from Polydor, they wrote two songs, "Bigger Than Tina" and "Bigger Than Tina II" for an Australian movie Bigger Than Tina, which were released on Festival. Since then the group has released several albums independently and had success on Triple J with "Bigger Than Tina" at #50 in 1999, and "Give Up Your Day Job" at #58 in 2000.
The band also appeared in Vanessa Stuart's one-hour documentary, The Fauves: 15 Minutes to Rock, a behind the scenes look at the music industry and band dynamics which aired on SBS during September, and also screened at the Document Film Festival in 2004.
The Fauves released their eighth studio album, with Future Spa/Lazy Highways producer Wayne Connolly, Nervous Flashlights, on July 10, 2006. Around this time Andrew Cox also contributed a humorous agony aunt segment each Tuesday on Jay and the Doctor's Triple J breakfast show from 2005 until the show ended in 2009.
After an 18-month break, The Fauves released their ninth studio album, When Good Times Go Good, on September 6, 2008. It was recorded with long time collaborator Wayne Connolly, who has worked on five of the band’s nine albums, and co-produced by Jim Moginie from Midnight Oil. A video-clip was made of the "Underwhelmed".
The band debuted tracks from their tenth album Japanese Engines live on November 10, 2011 in Geelong followed by a set at Northcote Social Club the following night. Over three years since their last studio release, the album is to be followed shortly by German Engines. Andrew Cox announced on stage: "Japanese Engines - it’s kind of the poppier record. German Engines has a much darker soul, it’s a bit heavier, it’s a bit rougher."
The Fauves had a track entitled "Get Fucked" on the Rock Against Howard compilation in 2004.