Died Pretty
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Died Pretty (sometimes The Died Pretty) was an Australian indie rock band centred around singer Ron Peno and guitarist Brett Myers. The band formed in Sydney in early 1984 and played their last shows in 2002.
Their music started from a base of early electric Bob Dylan with psychedelic influences. They were also notably influenced by The Velvet Underground and Television.
They were managed their whole career by Jon Needham of Citadel Records, their label, and were to some degree the Citadel house band.
History
The band formed in early 1984 after Ron Peno's previous band, The 31st, had split. Music journalist and keyboardist Frank Brunetti had formed a band with Brett Myers, formerly of The End, and suggested Peno join as singer. After various temporary rhythm sections, Jonathan Lickliter and Colin Barwick from The End joined a month later on bass and drums respectively.
The band came quickly to the attention of the Australian independent music scene, with the first two singles "Out Of The Unknown" and the 12-minute psychedelic epic "Mirror Blues" (released split over a 7" in Australia and intact on 12" in the UK) and then the EP Next To Nothing starting their career with tremendous critical attention and three alternative chart #1 hits in a row. All three records also achieved "Single Of The Week" in UK music weekly Melody Maker, though the band never achieved any popularity or notice in the UK.
The first album Free Dirt and single "Stoneage Cinderella/Yesterday's Letters" followed in 1986. By this time, Mark Lock of the Phantom Agents was on bass and Chris Welsh of The 31st and The Screaming Tribesman was on drums. The band spent the next few years touring Australia, Europe and the US.
The second album, Lost, was released in 1988 on the Blue Mosque label, a major-distributed offshoot of Citadel, and outside Australia through Beggars Banquet. This album achieved great chart success in Italy. Frank Brunetti left in April 1988 (his last recording with the band being the single "Everybody Moves" in 1989) and was replaced with John Hoey, of the Thought Criminals and the New Christs. Mark Lock was replaced on bass by Steve Clark. The third album, Every Brilliant Eye, was released on Blue Mosque in 1990.
They achieved Australian chart success in the early 1990s with their fourth album Doughboy Hollow and its singles "Godbless", "D.C." and "Sweetheart." This album was notable for its strong pop melodicism. After the recording of the album, Robert Warren replaced Clark on bass.
After the success of Doughboy Hollow, their next two albums, Trace (1993) and Sold (1995), were released worldwide by Sony Music. Although Trace had been their biggest-selling record to date (debuting at #11 on the Australian mainstream chart), sales were insufficient for Sony and the band were dropped by the label.
Their last two albums, Using My Gills As A Roadmap (1998) and Everyday Dream (2000) were released by Citadel. These albums show the band moving away from basic guitar rock and making greater use of electronics.
They also released a best-of, Out Of The Unknown (1999), on Citadel.
External links
- The Died Pretty Official Home Page (http://www.diedpretty.com/)
- Discography (http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/d/diedpretty.html) (Australian Rock Database)
- Died Pretty (http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=278) (Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop by Ian McFarlane)