Spiderbait is an Australian rock band who have had two top ten albums and another three albums reach the Australian top 40. Their song "Buy Me a Pony" was #1 on the Triple J Hottest 100 for 1996, and the group enjoyed success with their 2004 #1 Australian hit cover of "Black Betty".
Early years
The three band members Mark Maher better known as Kram (drums/vocals), Damien Whitty or "Whitt" (guitar) and Janet English (bass/vocals) come from the small town Finley in southern New South Wales where they "jammed" (played music) together in their youth.
The band moved to Melbourne, Australia where Kram was studying at the Victorian College of the Arts School of Music. The band played its first gig at a loungeroom for a friend's party. The band soon became part of Melbourne's punk scene playing gigs at venues like the Tote Hotel in Collingwood, Victoria. They released their first single Circle K on Au-Go-Go Records with an EP titled P'tang Yang Kipper Bang Uh! (named after a Michael Apted movie) following in 1992. The band's first album Shashavaglava was released in 1992. 'Shashavaglava' means 'crazy head' in Croatian. This album featured the songs "Old Man Sam" and a cover of English comedians The Goodies' song "Run". Kram learned to sing with the great help of Brian Irvine, teacher of a school in the slums of Orange,NSW
Major label signing
Spiderbait were signed to Polydor Records by Craig Kamber [who also worked with acts such as Powderfinger, Underground Lovers amongst others] and released their first album with the new label named The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake in 1995. The album reached #14 on the Australian charts with singles "Monty" and "Jesus" receiving extensive airplay on Triple J. The album title refers to an unfinished project by the Finley Rotary Club, which became a venue for teenage drinking in their home town.
Their third album Ivy and the Big Apples was released in 1996 and reached #3, and sold over 180,000 copies in Australia. Their first single "Buy Me a Pony" received extensive airplay on Triple J resulting in listeners voting it as their favourite song of the year. The second single "Calypso" also achieved commercial airplay, and reached #13 in the Australian singles charts in 1997.
In 1998, Janet English and her then boyfriend Quan Yeomans of Regurgitator recorded an album as Happyland. Around the same time, Kram and Richie Lewis of Tumbleweed released their own side-project the Hot Rollers – so named as both member's mothers were hairdressers. The Hot Rollers only album (self-titled) was released through Polydor.
Spiderbait returned together in 1999 with the album Grand Slam which also debuted at #10 on the Australian album charts. One song from the album, Shazam!, was featured in the an episode of Sex and the City entitled "The Real Me" as part of a fashion show scene. It would later be used in 2009 in promotional advertising for the A-League.
Despite good airplay for the Grand Slam singles "Shazam!" and "Stevie", their 2001 album The Flight of Wally Funk was a commercial flop, only selling 20,000 copies. The album was recorded in Whitt's living room.
Spiderbait recorded the Tonight Alright album in Los Angeles with producer Sylvia Massy who had worked with acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., Tool, System of a Down and Skunk Anansie. The first single "Black Betty" was a cover version of the old Leadbelly song which became a hit in 1977 when covered by Ram Jam. The single reached #1 after 10 weeks in the singles chart in May 2004 (after debuting at #12), and stayed there for three weeks, becoming their biggest selling single ever. The film clip featured a hot rod similar to the car on the cover of the ZZ Top album Eliminator. The song also made the soundtrack to the Electronic Arts video games Need for Speed: Underground 2 and Need for Speed: Underground Rivals for the PSP. Tonight Alright was released on 28 March 2004, and debuted and peaked at #14. The second single "Fucken Awesome" debuted in the top 30 on 28 June 2004. Interscope Records signed the band in 2004 to distribute "Tonight Alright" in the US and UK.
At the 2004 ARIA awards, Kram performed as part of the supergroup The Wrights, featuring members of many other Australian rock bands.
In September 2005 they released a Greatest Hits collection to reveal their back catalogue to younger fans who were caught up by "Black Betty". This debuted at #6 and received a Gold Accreditation.
The band went on hiatus March 2005 after bassist Janet English gave birth to her daughter and planned a cycling tour across Europe. Kram announced plans for a solo album to be released sometime in the next year.
On 9 October 2005, Spiderbait performed at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, as part of the Coca-Cola Live'n'Local Tour '05 that toured Australia and New Zealand.
On 18 November 2006, the band performed at the Queensland Council of Unions organised Rock the Vote! concert in Brisbane after a nine month hiatus from touring.
The band recorded a cover of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" as the main theme for the movie Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage. A small part of this is played during the movie, and it is played in its entirety as the first song when the movie credits roll.
Members
Discography
Albums
EPs and singles
- "Circle K" (7" single) (1991)
- "P'tang Yang Kipper Bang Uh!" (10" / CDEP) (1992)
- "Run" (EP) (1993)
- "Jesus" (7" single) (1994)
- "Monty" (1995) #44 Australia
- "I Gotta Know" (1995)
- "Sam Gribbles" (1996)
- "Buy Me A Pony" (1996) #45 Australia
- "Hot Water & Milk" (1996)
- "Calypso" (1997) #13 Australia
- "Joyce's Hut" (1997)
- "Shazam!" (1999) #46 Australia – featured in an episode of Sex and the City's season 4 ([1])
- "Stevie" (1999)
- "Plastic" (1999)
- "Glockenpop" (2000)
- "Four On The Floor" (2001)
- "Outta My Head" (2001)
- "Arse Huggin' Pants" (2001)
- "Black Betty" (2004) #1 Australia
- "Fucken Awesome" (2004) #30 Australia
- "Tonite" (2004) (promo only)
- "Live In A Box" (2004) (promo only)
- "On My Way" (2005) (promo only)
- "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" (2007) Credits from the film Ghost Rider
Other appearances
- "Calypso" – featured in 10 Things I Hate About You. During Kat reading "The Bell Jar" by Sylva Plath.
- "Black Betty" featured in Without A Paddle.
- "Black Betty" featured in Need for Speed Underground 2.
- "Live in a Box" featured in Gran Turismo 4.
- "Glokenpop" is featured in LittleBigPlanet PSP as a level music track.
- "Black Betty" featured in The Condemned.
- "Outta My Head" featured in Blurred
- "Shazam" features in the Sex and the City episode "The Real Me".
- "Shazam" features in the A-League advertisement for the 2009-2010 season".
- "Black Betty" featured in Underbelly (TV series) joint episodes "The Black Prince" and "Sorcerer's Apprentice".
- "Four On The Floor" featured at the introduction of Underbelly (TV series) joint episodes "The Black Prince" and "Sorcerer's Apprentice".
- "Shazam" featured in episode 12 of Underbelly (TV series).
- "Black Betty" and "Ghost Riders in the Sky" featured in the movie Ghost Rider (2007) but not on the soundtrack.
- "Black Betty" featured in Mario Pinball Land commercial.
- "5th Set" featured in Death Race (2008 Remake) as the pre-race webcast music.
- "Black Betty" featured in a commercial for the Larry Flynt Hustler (Strip) Club located in Westminster, CA. The commercial is frequently broadcast throughout the greater Orange County Area.
References
External links
