Gareth Liddiard

Gareth Liddiard
Gareth Liddiard by Daniel Campbell
Background information
Origin	Port Hedland, Western Australia, Australia[1][2]
Associated acts	The Drones, The Gutterville Splendour Six, Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males, Spencer P. Jones

Gareth Liddiard is an Australian musician and founding member of The Drones. Liddiard has released one album as a solo artist and five studio albums with the Drones.

Early life

Liddiard was born in Port Hedland, Western Australia and then lived in London until he returned to Western Australia to start school in Perth.^{[citation needed]} Initially his musical interest lay in jazz, but he eventually found his way to rock and roll music and started playing in bands during his high school years in the city's northern beach suburbs.^{[citation needed]} As a teenager, Liddiard listened to the music of artists such as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane.^[3]

At the age of 18 years, Liddiard gained employment with a concert lighting firm in Perth and remained in this role for seven years, working with festivals such as the Big Day Out and bands such as Kim Salmon and the Surrealists. In regard to his development as a musician during this time, Liddiard explained in 2013: "Everything came together slowly and organically. It was only when Rui [Pereira (high school friend)] and I moved to Melbourne in 2000 that we thought of trying to make some money out of music. Before that I'd never considered the idea of being an entertainer."^[4]

Music

Liddiard formed The Drones with Pereira in 1997^[5] and then relocated with the band to Victoria in 2000.^[6] The Drones have released five studio albums since 2002 and have toured throughout the world, including music festivals.^[7][8]

Liddiard released his debut solo album in 2010^[9] and completed corresponding tours with support from artists such as Sydney, Australia musician Loene Carmen.^[10] The album earned him a nomination for a 2011 ARIA Award for Best Male Artist.^[11] In response to the nomination, Liddiard stated: "It's just for wankers, snorting coke and getting drunk. It's just not on my radar and I'm just not interested. The ARIAs don't really mean anything to me."^[12]

Together with Pereira, who left the Drones line-up, Liddiard contributed to the production of a self-titled album by Perth band Gutterville Splendour Six. Liddiard played guitar on five songs, in addition to undertaking mixing and recording duties, and also co-designed the album artwork. All of the album's songs were recorded on an eight-track machine and the album was released as a vinyl record on Spanish record label Bang! Records.^[13]

In 2013 Liddiard cited Dimitri Shostakovich, The Stooges, North African music and Olivier Messiaen as musical influences. In terms of writers, Liddiard provided Carl Sagan and Kurt Vonnegut as examples.^[3] Regarding his own lyrics, Liddiard stated in 2013: "I read but I'm not that widely read. I don't know. They're just words for songs. That's all they are. Yeah, they're sometimes funny. You've got to be funny; life's funny."^[8][4]

Personal life

As of September 2013, Liddiard is a vegetarian and resides in the rural town of Nagambie, Victoria, Australia with Drones bassist Fiona Kitschin. Prior to Nagambie, the pair lives in the rural Victorian town of Myrtleford. The Nagambie property, 10 kilometres (10,000 m) from the Goulburn River, was the recording location for the 2013 Drones album I See Seaweed and Liddiard explained its attributes in a media interview: "It's as good as anywhere for writing, but the main thing is it's cheap, Liddiard says. There's a huge amount of room. We have a billabong, there's a swampland, a creek, we're on the river. It's nice."^[8]

Liddiard was living in the same area as the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 and subsequently attained a 70 series Landcruiser Troop Carrier vehicle in the event of such an incident in the future. Liddiard explained in 2013 that "it's basically our ticket out of the next bushfire. In the last fires we had a 1990 Ford Falcon which wouldn't have been much use once a tree fell across the only road out of our valley."^[3]

Discography

• The Gutterville Splendour Six (EP) (1998) (Guitar)
• The Drones: The Drones EP (2001)
• The Drones: "Here Come the Lies" - Spooky Records (2002)
• The Drones: "Mean Streak"/"Cockeyed Lowlife of the Highlands" - Sonico Records (2002) 7" vinyl
• The Drones: "Bird in a Church"/"Slamming on the Brakes" - In-Fidelity Records (2003) 7" vinyl
• Spencer P. Jones: Fait Accompli - Spooky Records (2003) (Keys)
• Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males: Sing the Tabloid Blues - In-Fidelity Records (2004) (Bass, guitar and keys)
• The Drones: Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By - In-Fidelity/ATP Recordings (2005)
• The Drones: The Miller's Daughter - Bang! Records (2005)
• The Drones: "Shark Fin Blues" (radio edit)/"You Really Don't Care" - ATP Recordings (2006) 7" vinyl
• Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males: Pirate Radio EP - In-Fidelity Records (2005) (Saxophone)
• The Drones: Gala Mill - ATP Recordings (2006)
• The Drones: Spaceland Presents: The Drones 15 November 2006 (Spaceland Recordings)
• The Drones: Live in Spaceland - Spaceland Recordings (2007)
• The Drones: "Custom Made" - ATP Recordings (2007) 2 x 7" vinyl
• The Drones: Live in Madrid DVD - Munster Records (2007)
• The Meanies/The Drones/ Dan Kelly And The Alpha Males – "If I Say Uncle" (2008) Limited Edition 7" vinyl
• The Drones: Havilah - ATP Recordings (2008)
• The Drones: The Minotaur EP - ATP Recordings (2008) 12" vinyl
• The Drones: Live at the Annandale Hotel 18, 19 October 2007 (2008) Limited Edition vinyl
• The Drones: Live At The Hi-Fi - ATP Recordings (2009)
• Magic Dirt: White Boy EP (2009) (Guitar and vocals)
• Gareth Liddiard: Strange Tourist Shock Records/ATP Recordings (2010)^[14]
• The Gutterville Splendour Six: The Gutterville Splendour Six - Bang! Records (2011) (Guitar and production duties)
• The Drones: A Thousand Mistakes - Bang! Records (2011) Limited Edition (500 copies) 2 x vinyl LP
• The Drones: A Thousand Mistakes DVD - Shock Records (2011) 2 x DVD
• Spencer P. Jones and the Nothing Butts - Shock Records (2012) (Guitar)
• The Drones: "How To See Through Fog" (2013) Digital
• The Drones: I See Seaweed - MGM (2013)^[7]

References