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Gerling

 
Artist: Gerling
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists

Group Members:

Darren Cross, Paul "Presser" Towner, Brad Herdson, Burke Reid

Similar Artists:

Beck, The Strokes

Influenced By:

Kraftwerk, Pavement, Trumans Water, Sonic Youth

Formal Connection With:

Ben Lee, Kylie Minogue, Solex, Sonic Emotion Explosion, Kool Keith
  • Formed: 1992, Sydney, Australia
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "Head2Cleaner", "Bad Blood!!!

Biography

Gerling were an Australian band who spent their career swinging between the poles of garage rock and electronic pop. Their early stage and television appearances as youths wearing backpacks and school uniforms earned them a reputation as playful pop pranksters. Formed in Sydney in 1992, Gerling consisted of Darren Cross and Brad Herdson, both on guitar and vocals, and Paul "Presser" Towner on drums. They began with a strong foundation of guitar pop, recording the single "Sedatives for Dead Radars" and the mini-album A Day of Research, released in 1996 on Fellaheen Records. In 1997 Herdson left to form Sonic Emotion Explosion and his gap was filled at Gerling's performance at the Big Day Out festival by Australia's so-called "pop hobbit," Ben Lee. A permanent replacement arrived in the form of Canadian Burke Reid. Signing to Festival's indie sublabel, Reliant Records, Gerling released their first full-length album, Children of Telepathic Experiences, in 1998. It marked their first excursion into electronic music and the single "Enter Space Capsule" earned airplay in Britain, where it was heard by expatriate pop star Kylie Minogue. She was enamored enough by the song that she agreed to perform vocals on a song they recorded while touring the U.K. That song, "G-House Project," made its way onto their second album, When Young Terrorists Chase the Sun. The album, released in 2001, was delayed when the September 11 attack made its choice of title controversial. In Australia it was released in some stores with a blank cover so that the title would not be visible in the CD racks; overseas it was retitled Head2Cleaner. Other guests included Solex and experimental rapper Kool Keith. Their third album, Bad Blood!!!, released in 2003, was recorded in their own studios, called GERLOG. It marked a turn toward a rockier sound, which saw some tracks being frequently compared to the Strokes by critics. For their fourth full-length album in 2006 -- titled Gerling 4 in a reference to Led Zeppelin's album-naming convention -- they appropriately enough continued their return to guitars for a garage rock sound. After touring in support of Gerling 4, they announced that they were putting the band on indefinite hiatus. However, Darren Cross also announced that he would be beginning his solo DJ/experimental hip-hop project, the E.L.F. ~ Jody Macgregor, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Gerling
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Gerling
Origin Sydney, Australia
Genre(s) Electronic
Alternative rock
Years active 1993 - 2007 (on hiatus)
Label(s) Trifekta
Reliant
Festival Mushroom Records
Associated acts The E.L.F.
Website Official website
Members
Darren Cross
Paul "Presser" Towner
Burke Reid

Gerling are an alternative guitar and electronic act from Australia. They formed in 1993, and are based in Sydney.

Contents

History

The band formed in 1993 with the line-up of Darren Cross (guitar, vocals), Presser (real name Paul Towner, drums) and Brad Herdson (guitar, vocals). With an instrumentation of only two guitars and drums, the group initially focussed on creating experimental guitar pop, with their debut release, Sedatives For Dead Radars, being released in 1995 on Steve Pavlovic's Fellaheen label. This was followed by the mini-album, A Day of Research, in 1996.

Early 1997 saw the departure of guitarist Brad Herdson, who would go onto form Sonic Emotion Explosion with Liz Payne from Spdfgh. He was temporarily replaced by Ben Lee for their show at the Sydney Big Day Out, before a permanent replacement came in the way of Canadian Burke Reid.

February 1998 saw the band emerge from the studio with the 7" single "Bachelor Pad" on the Trifekta label. November of that year, saw the release of the album, Children of Telepathic Experiences, on Festival's in-house indie label Reliant - setup by former Au Go Go Records head, Bruce Milne. The album saw the band for the first time incorporate electronica in their music, as well as the emergence of the electronic offshoot of the band, Gerlog.

The following album, When Young Terrorists Chase the Sun, released in 2001 after delays in the light of the 9-11 attacks in the USA that year, saw the band becoming increasingly electronic, and even having success in the dance scene with single "Dust Me Selecta". The 2003 long player, Bad Blood!!!, marked a return to form as guitars returned to the mix, whilst still retaining an electronic edge.

Their latest album, entitled 4, was released on 20 March 2006. The original recording of this album was carried out in the function room of the Annandale Hotel in Sydney, before being re-recorded and mastered in Los Angeles. The album was produced by Ethan Johns, who also worked on Aha Shake Heartbreak with Kings of Leon.Turning the Screws was the iTunes featured download of the week in February 2006.

The band are currently on an indefinite hiatus [1].

Front man Darren Cross has started touring with his new one-man indie laptop project "The E.L.F." He describes his latest release as "dance music with a cheeky indie aesthetic".

Always a fan of the do-it-yourself approach, Darren taught himself how to use a video editing program so he could make his first E.L.F. video clip. The result is the clip for the song "Cockroaches". Produced on a budget of $12, the video was featured on Youtube and has had over 238,000 hits.

Date of Release Title Label Charted Country Catalog Number
Albums
1998 Children of Telepathic Experiences Reliant Records Australia
2001 When Young Terrorists Chase the Sun Festival Mushroom Records Australia
2003 Bad Blood!!! Festival Mushroom Records Australia
2006 4 Warner music Australia
EPs
1996 A Day of Research Fellaheen Records Australia

Singles

Year Single Album Triple J Hottest 100
Chart Position		 Certification
1995 "Sedatives for Dead Radars" - -
1997 "Mother Mary"
(split 7" with Gapespeed)		 - -
1998 "Bachelor Pad" Children of Telepathic Experiences - -
1998 "Death to the Apple Gerls" Children of Telepathic Experiences - -
1999 "Enter, Space Capsule" Children of Telepathic Experiences #45 (1999) -
1999 "Ghost Patrol" Children of Telepathic Experiences - -
2000 "Enter, Space Capsule"
(remix)		 Children of Telepathic Experiences - -
2000 "Children of Telepathic Experiences"
(UK only)		 Children of Telepathic Experiences - -
2000 "Suburban Jungle Sleeping Bag"
(UK only 7" & 10" vinyl)		 Children of Telepathic Experiences - -
2000 "The Deer in You" When Young Terrorists Chase the Sun - -
2001 "Dust Me Selecta" When Young Terrorists Chase the Sun #24 (2001) -
2001 "Hot Computer" When Young Terrorists Chase the Sun - -
2003 "Who's Ya Daddy?" Bad Blood!!! #78 (2003) -
2003 "Get Activated" Bad Blood!!! - -
2006 "Turning the Screws"
(US promo only)		 4 - -

References

  • Ian McFarlane (1999). Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86448-768-2. 

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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