HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN MUSIC FROM 1960 UNTIL 2000: CHARLOTTE'S WEB

Wednesday, 5 August 2015

CHARLOTTE'S WEB

Catherine Wheels was originally formed by Jeff Lowe (vocals, guitar) and Tim Underwood (guitar) in 1986 in Perth, Western Australia. Lowe and Underwood had played in The Russians (1984–1986), with Darryl Edwards (drums) and Richard Galli (bass guitar, keyboards). Catherine Wheels performed as a drummerless two piece, before adding Greta Little and Chad Hedley as their rhythm section (bass guitar and drums respectively), under the name Catherine Wheels in 1986. The band changed its name to Charlotte's Web performing infrequently around Perth for about a year. The lineup of Tim Underwood, Greta Little, Jeff Low and Chad Hedley released a three-track single, "Big Letdown / Dance Of The Chimney Sweeps / Delicious Pain" in February 1987 on Easter Records, before they relocated to Sydney where Underwood, Little and Hedley left to form a new band, Northern Lights.

Lowe returned to Perth and conscripted Will Akers (ex The Triffids) on bass guitar and Felicity 'Flick' Dear (ex-Holy Rollers) on drums and Craig Chisholm (ex-Holy Rollers) on lead/rhythm guitar to form a new version of Charlotte's Web in February 1987. This lineup lasted until Akers felt that he could no longer physically cope with playing in the band and was replaced by Mandy Haines. The band toured the northwest of the state at the end of 1987 and earned enough money to record 'Flies in the Face of...', at Poon's Head studios in Perth, which was released in January 1988 as a cassette.

In September 1988 Haines joined The Pallisades and moved to Sydney, at the same time Chisholm decided to travel to Europe. As a result, Michal Zampogna (ex-Circle of Confusion) took over on bass guitar, and Laurie Mansell (ex- I Hear an Army), who originally auditioned as a bass player, replaced Chisolm on lead/rhythm duties. The band then expanded with the addition of John Bannister on trumpet and Kym Skipworth on cello. The band released a second single, "Heart Trouble / Alice's Wings", on local independent label, Mighty Boy, in 1989. The single received airplay on Triple J. In August 1990 Mark Rettig joined the band and with the line-up of Lowe, Mansell, Zampogna, Skipworth and Dear released a mini album, 'Short Time Strait'. The mini album of seven songs was produced by Dom Mariani (The Stems, The Someloves, DM3). The band broke up in 1991.

Members

Will Akers (bass), John Bannister (trumpet), Craig Chisolm (guitar), Felicity Dear (drums), Mandy Haines (bass), Chad Hedley (drums), Greta Little (bass), Jeffery Lowe (vocals, guitar), Laurie Mansell (guitar), Mark Rettig (trumpet), Kym Skipworth (cello), Cathi Smith (viola), Tim Underwood (guitar), Michael Wilenski (bass), Michael Zampogna (bass)