CACTUS CHILD

Cactus Child was formed in 1993 in Sydney as a folk, pop band by Gemma Deacon on lead vocals, Angus Diggs on drums, Chris Miller on bass guitar and Ian Housten-Shadwell on guitar. In January 1994 Deacon and Housten-Shadwell were joined by Joe Guiseppe-Accaria on drums, percussion and marimba; and Jan Sebastian on percussion. This line-up recorded a six-track extended play, 'On', for Regular Records, which was issued in September of that year.

During 1996 Cactus Child were the support act for Lisa Loeb, Ronnie Jordan, Jeff Buckley and Luka Bloom. In February 1996 they released their debut album, 'Diaphones', on Focus Records/Shock Records with Craig Porteils as producer. By October of that year the line-up of Deacon, Housten-Shadwell, Miller, Accaria and Sebastian were periodically supplemented by Maria Pavela on backing vocals and Natasha Ramirez on violin.

The group were signed to Grudge/Universal/BMG, to reissue 'Diaphones' in 1997. Nathan of Channel [V] described the title track, "a slow finger-picking ballad with no drums at all – instead a cello and piano providing ample backing to a beautiful song." A track, "Fall", was re-recorded as "Fall '97", which was released as the album's lead single in March. Nathan observed, "you can tell that they've put a bit of thought into production and added bits here and there to make it more accessible for radio; and in doing so I'd tip this one to be the next song for them to push. A beautiful ballad complete with strings, percussion and of course Gemma Deacon's remarkable voice." By that time Carolyn Shine had joined on keyboards and vocals.

In June 1998 the group issued another single, "On the Money", ahead of their second album, 'Earthgirl' (July 1998). Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt "it featured pristine folksy pop, with lush arrangements, strings, piano, harmonies and acoustic guitar." Christie Eliezer of Australian Musician observed, "it has some interesting guitar work, not just in its use of open tunings but the acoustic sounds in general. For example Ian spent hours on layering 'Juliette' which uses multi-tracks for an exciting effect." They followed with another single, "Long Way" (September), but broke up in November 1998.

Members

Gemma Deacon (vocals), Angus Diggs (drums), Christopher Paul Miller (bass),
Ian Housten-Shadwell (guitar), Carolyn Shine (keyboards), Joe Guiseppe-Accaria (drums, marimba),

Jan Sebastian  (percussion), Maria Pavela (backing vocals), Natasha Ramirez (violin)

References

Cactus Child - Wikipedia