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Sunday 6 March 2016

GREG DEAR AND THE BEAUTIFUL LOSERS / THE BEAUTIFUL LOSERS


The Beautiful Losers was formed by Greg Dear in 1987 after the demise of his band The Holy Rollers (1984-1986) and several other attempts to form bands with Kate Bent, Andrew Watt and others. The original lineup featured Greg (guitar, vocals, songwriting), Errol Tout (lead guitar), Cliff Kent (bass) and Russell Wilson (drums). This lineup recorded a single ''Ten Lies / Deadly Game'' in 1987 and an album 'Lover/Saint' in 1988 released by Hot Records in 1989. After Errol and Russell departed in late 89, Tony Connor joined on lead guitar and a series of short-stay drummers came and went before Evan Briers joined in 1990 and stayed until mid 91. 

The lineup with Tony and Evan recorded a song for an ABC Records compilation celebrating the arrival of Radio Station JJJ in Perth in 1990. That lineup also played the first ever JJJ Live-At-The-Wireless to be broadcast nationally from Perth. When Evan left, the band continued to have difficulty finding a suitable drummer and Greg formed a new band (The Butterfly Collection) that played a strange hybrid of indie rock and hip hop (e.g., Velvet Underground and Johnny Cash covers with hip hop beats and samples under the guitars and vocals) thereby providing some sort of solution to, or solace from, the problems with drummers. 

After a long vacation from performing and recording (other than occasional guest appearances and solo acoustic performances) Greg has linked up with Cliff and formed a new lineup of the Beautiful Losers featuring Shaun Hoffman on drums (where was he when we needed him in 1990?) and Hurb Jephasun on piano/organ/vibes. This new 2014 lineup played selected songs from the original Beautiful Losers catalogue, selected songs from the Holy Rollers catalogue, some songs that Greg had previously released as a solo artist, and several new songs of Greg’s.

They have played successful gigs in both Perth and Melbourne and had several festival appearances booked for 2016.Greg’s songs offer simple structures and beguiling lyrics that blend dark humour with tenderness to tell stories in images and suggestive disjointed scenes. A new album was recorded in August 2015 titled 'Fade Out' that was launched in Melbourne late August and Perth in early October. Another album 'Owl' has since been recorded.

Members

Greg Dear (vocals, guitar), Errol H Tout (guitar), Tony O'Connor (guitar) Evan Briers (drums), Cliff Kent (bass), Russell Wilson (drums) Shaun Hoffmann (drums) Hurb Jephasum (keyboards)




SINGLES
''Ten Lies / Deadly Game'' 1988 Monkey 

ALBUMS
'Lover / Saint' 1989 Hot
'Fade Out' 2015






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