THE EARTHMEN

The Earthmen was formed by Scott Stevens and Aaron Goldberg in 1991 as a jamming band in Melbourne and were influenced by 1960s pop music and late '80s American and UK indie noise-pop. After winning JJJ-FM's national 'J-Sessions' competition they recorded their debut single, "Stacey's Cupboard / Roll" late that year with the line-up of Aaron Goldberg on guitar, Stephen Nash on guitar, Glenn Peters on drums, Eric Prentice on bass guitar and Scott Stevens on vocals. Nash left in December and was replaced by Nick Batterham (ex-Blindside) as The Earthmen made their first live performances.

The single was released in April 1992 on the indie label, Summershine, as well as on the JJJ-FM compilation album the 'J sessions'. Aside from Sydney band Glide, the Earthmen were the only band to make any industry impact from a pool of nearly 15 bands. Their second single, "Flyby / Too Far Down" in August was followed by an EP, 'Flyby' and a third single "Cool Chick #59 / Elephant" in October. They released another EP, 'Teen Sensations', in May 1993 on Summershine. For United States (US) and European markets, Atlantic Records subsidiary Seed released an expanded LP album, 'Teen Sensations' in July with earlier singles added to the Australian EP version.

In April 1994 they released, "Figure 8 / Tell The Women We're Going" and by May, Peters was replaced by Ben Bleechmore and Prentice by Robert Cooper, The Earthmen had their last Summershine release, 'The Fall and Rise of My Favourite Sixties Girl' EP. Following their tour of the US and United Kingdom in July, Goldberg quit the band, and was replaced by Stephen Moffatt at the behest of the 'Black Pig' Publishing Group. The band signed a contract with Warner's Australian label East West Records by early 1996. In Australia they released, "Scene Stealer" in April and "Hug Me Tighter" in August, then they entered the recording studio with Batterham and Stevens joined by Matt Sigley on bass guitar and keyboards, and they used session drummer, Derek Yuen (Underground Lovers).

By year's end they had recruited Craig Mitchell on drums and Nick Murray on guitar. "Whoever's Been Using This Bed" was released as a single in January 1997 with the album 'Love Walked In' following in April. The album was nominated for 'Breakthrough Artist - Album' at the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Music Awards for 1997. It spawned two more singles, "Coloured In" (June) and "Love Walked In" (November). The Earthmen covered Hal David and Burt Bacharach's "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" for a tribute album, 'To Hal and Bacharach' in April 1998. 'The War Against Rock and Roll' EP, appeared in January 1999 with their final gig following on 12 February.

In 2014 the band announced plans to release a retrospective compilation album on the Popboomerang Records label. At the time of the band's demise, they had been writing songs towards their second album for Warners. The band broke up during the first recording session and many of the songs never got past the demo stage. In looking back through all their material for this retrospective, these demos were uncovered and judged to be worth inclusion. The band got together in late 2014 and recorded four new tracks for the compilation album 'College Heart' that was released in September 2016. In 2021 the Sound As Ever label released the album 'Periscope'. It contains tracks recorded in 1995.

Members

Craig Mitchell (drums), Matthew Sigley (guitar, bass, organ, cello), Nick Batterham (guitar),
Scott Stevens (vocals), Nick Murray (guitar, bass), Aaron Goldberg (guitar), Glenn Peters (drums), Eric Prentice (bass), Ben Bleechmore (drums), Robert Cooper (bass), Steve Nash (guitar), Stephen Moffatt (guitar),

SINGLES

Whoever's Been Using This Bed

16 FEB '97

#85

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Earthmen

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/