The Apartments

The Apartments was an Australian indie band that first formed in 1978 in Brisbane, broke up in 1979, and reformed several times since.

History

The constant in the band was songwriter and frontman Peter Milton Walsh (vocals, guitar). The original line-up also included Michael O'Connor (guitar, vocals), Peter Whitby (bass, vocals), and Peter Martin (drums).^[1] While in The Apartments, Walsh briefly joined the Go-Betweens. The Go-Betweens commemorated Walsh's time with them on their track "Don't Let Him Come Back".^{[citation needed]} The Apartments' first release was the "Help" single on the Able Label (also home to the Go-Betweens) in 1979.^[1] The band then split up, with Walsh relocating to New York City, and forming a new band The Colours. After breaking up, The Apartments released their debut EP "Return of the Hypnotist" in 1979.^{[citation needed]} He moved on to the Laughing Clowns, playing alongside Ed Kuepper. After spending some time in London, he then reformed the Apartments, with a new supporting line-up of Graeme Beavis (guitar), Gary Warner (piano), Joe Borkowski (bass), and Bruce Carrick (drums). This line-up recorded the "All You Wanted" single in 1985, before a new line-up was formed, now with former Triffids guitarist Graham Lee. On the band's first album, The Evening Visits...and Stays For Years (1985, Rough Trade), Walsh and Lee were joined by guest musicians Clare Kenny (formerly of Orange Juice, bass), and Ben Watt of Everything But the Girl.^[1] The album became a cult hit in France.^[2] After a further single, things went quiet until Walsh returned with a new line-up in 1988 with "The Shyest Time". The band split up again, but reformed for a 1992 album, Drift, released on the French New Rose label, going on to record three further albums, A Life Full Of Farewells (1995), Apart (1997), and Fête Foraine (1998), the latter an acoustic album.^[1][2] Rolling Stone praised A Life Full of Farewells, saying "for the most part, Walsh's songs enable listeners to enjoy time spent in places we would usually rather not be".^[3]. Walsh reformed The Apartments for a few gigs in 2007.^[4]

The Apartments appeared in July 2007 at the Pig City^[5] event at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, along with The Saints, Regurgitator, Kev Carmody and many others. A series of concerts by The Apartments are scheduled for France in November 2009 [1]

Covers

The song "Mr Somewhere" was covered by This Mortal Coil in their 1991 album Blood.

Discography

Singles

• "Help" (1979) Able
• "All You Wanted" (1984) Hot
• "All I Wanted" (1986) Rough Trade
• "The Shyest Time" (1988) Glass
• Life EP (1995) Hot

Albums

• The Evening Visits...and Stays For Years (1985) Rough Trade
• Drift (1992) New Rose
• A Life Full of Farewells (1995) Hot
• Apart (1997) Hot
• Fête Foraine (1998) Hot

References

External links

• MySpace page