Little Birdy

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Little Birdy
Big Day Out, Perth, 2007
Big Day Out, Perth, 2007
Background information
Origin Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Genre(s) Indie Rock
Years active 2002–present
Label(s) Eleven/EMI Records
Associated acts The Sleepy Jackson, End of Fashion, Jebediah, The Fergusons
Website Little Birdy official website
Members
Katy Steele
Simon Leach
Scott ('Barney') O'Donoghue
Matt Chequer
Fergus Deasy
For information about the Ween song, see Little Birdy (song).

Little Birdy is a four piece rock band from Perth, Western Australia.

Contents

[edit] Early history

The band formed in 2002 when songwriter, singer and guitarist Katy Steele left her former band 'the Plastik Scene'. Simon Leach began as the drummer with Katy Steele as vocalist and guitarist. Leach is a friend of Katy's brother, Luke Steele, and it was at Luke's 21st birthday party that he first heard Katy's distinctive vocals.

"Katy was always there," Leach says of his friendship with the other Steele. "She was around 15 when I saw her sing. Three years later, Katy and I were playing together." [1]

After several gigs the duo, Leach on drums and Steele handling vocals and guitars, were approached by Scott ('Barney') O'Donoghue, who offered to play bass guitar. Leach soon tired of percussion, began playing guitar and hired Matt Chequer on drums.[1] Originally named after the Ween song of the same name, Little Birdy was born.

A demo was leaked to radio and was played on alternative stations. Then a friend of the band dropped a copy at prominent manager Phil Stevens' home (manager of The Waifs, John Butler Trio and The Flairz). On the same day, the band received a phone call from Stevens, who offered them his services.[2]

The band soon worked a strong live reputation supporting Placebo, Morcheeba and the Superjesus in Perth concerts. Soon after they formed, a home recording of one of their songs won a WAMi Award for 'Indie/Alternative Song of the Year'. Triple J started playing an early version of "Relapse" and Perth Radio Station Nova 93.7 started playing a demo of "Baby Blue".

As a result of good press from the Australian independent media and their demos receiving good radio play, a bidding war took place as local labels sought to sign the band. The band decided to sign with an indie label Eleven with distribution through Virgin Records/EMI. Eleven Records, is home of Silverchair and Missy Higgins. Tellingly, Eleven product is distributed by EMI, which also distributes the work of Katy Steele's brother's band and her previous boyfriend's band. Katy Steele's brother, Luke Steele, plays in the Sleepy Jackson and her previous boyfriend, Justin Burford, plays in End of Fashion.

Little Birdy swiftly became a full-time operation. Steele, along with Leach, who was a well-paid graphic designer at the time, quit their jobs.

[edit] Recording career

The self-titled debut EP Little Birdy was released on October 6, 2003 and reached a peak of number 27 on the ARIA Singles Charts. "Relapse" reached 16 on the Triple J Hottest 100 while "Baby Blue" reached number 25. The follow up EP This Is a Love Song was released on March 1 and debuted at number 22 on the ARIA Singles Charts on March 8.

Katy Steele stated in an interview with Whammo.com.au that much of the first album had already been written.

"I think we've already written a lot of the first album already. A lot of songs we play live would be awesome if they were recorded."

The band played gigs in London and New York in late 2003 due to interest from international record companies.

Katy Steele won the inaugural Jessica Michalik Contemporary Music Award, presented by The Big Day Out on 8 March, 2004.

In 2004 the band was also nominated for an ARIA Award, 'Breakthrough Artist - Single', for "Relapse".

On 1 October 2004 the band released their highly anticipated debut album, BigBigLove, which includes new versions of "Beautiful" (now renamed "Beautiful to Me") and "Relapse". It also includes "I Should've Known" with its original title of "Andy Warhol". It met with generally good critical reaction. Two tracks from the album reached the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2004, being "Beautiful to Me" at number 8 and "Tonight's the Night" at number 78, together with the song, "This Is a Love Song", taken from the EP This Is a Love Song which reached number 40.

In 2005 Katy Steele was nominated for 'Best Female Vocalist' and Simon Leach for 'Best Guitarist', the band nominated for 'Best Popular Act', 'Most Popular Commercial Pop Act' and 'Best Indie/Pop Act', BigBigLove as "Most Popular Album, and "Beautiful to Me" as 'Most Popular Music Video" at the WAMi Awards with Katy winning 'Best Female Vocalist' and the band 'Most Popular Music Video'.

At the 2005 ARIA Awards, BigBigLove was nominated for four awards: 'Breakthrough Artist - Album', 'Best Rock Album', 'Producer of the Year" (Paul McKercher) and 'Engineer of the Year' (Paul McKercher).

In 2005 Little Birdy's version of "Six Months In a Leaky Boat" from the compilation album, She Will Have Her Way, of Neil and Tim Finn songs performed by female Australian and New Zealand musicians reached number 96 on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2005

During 2006 the band wrote and recorded songs for their new album titled Hollywood. The first single released of the album is "Come on Come on", released on September 16, 2006. "Come on Come on" has become Little Birdy's highest ARIA singles chart entry to date, debuting at #18, also netting 11th on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2006.

Katy Steele was once dating Justin Burford of End of Fashion. The two were engaged,[3] until some time recently when it was broken off.

Earlier this year (2008) Steele and the band announced they are currently recording a new album.

[edit] Touring

Little Birdy supported R.E.M. during the Australian leg of their world tour in 2005. They have also performed several of their own concerts throughout Australia in 2004 and 2005. Little Birdy have performed at a number of national festivals in 2007, including the Falls Festival in Lorne Victoria and in Marion Bay Tasmania, the Big Day Out concerts across Australia in early 2007, the Sonic Bloom Festival, Southbound in Busselton, Western Australia, the Great Escape Festival in Sydney. Little Birdy also performed at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne and were the support act for Eskimo Joe's national tour in May 2007. They played but were unlisted at the 18th East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival.

[edit] Members

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums/EPs

[edit] Singles

From BigBigLove:

From Hollywood:

[edit] Compilation Albums

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Murfett, Andrew (2004-01-14). Little Birdy learns to fly. The Age. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
  2. ^ Murfett, Andrew (2006-11-03). Chirpy songbird seeks high times. The Age. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
  3. ^ Rogers, Carlisle. End of Fashion. Groove Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
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[edit] External links

v • d • e
Little Birdy
Katy Steele · Simon Leach · Scott "Barney" O'Donoghue · Matt Chequer
Studio albums
EPs
Singles