Their music started from a base of early electric Bob Dylan with psychedelic influences. They were also notably influenced by The Velvet Underground and Television. They were managed their whole career by John Needham of Citadel Records, their label, and were to some degree the Citadel house band.The band formed in early 1984 after vocalist Ron Peno’s previous band, The 31st, had split. Music journalist and keyboardist Frank Brunetti had formed a band with Brett Myers, formerly of The End, and suggested Peno join as singer. After various temporary rhythm sections, Jonathan Lickliter and Colin Barwick from The End joined a month later on bass and drums respectively. The band came quickly to the attention of the Australian independent music scene, with the first two singles Out of the Unknown and the 12-minute psychedelic epic Mirror Blues (released split over a 7” in Australia and intact on 12” in the UK) and then the EP Next To Nothing starting their career with tremendous critical attention and three alternative chart #1 hits in a row. All three records also achieved “Single Of The Week” in UK music weekly Melody Maker, though the band never achieved any popularity or notice in the UK. The first album Free Dirt and single “Stoneage Cinderella/Yesterday’s Letters” followed in 1986. By this time, Mark Lock of The Phantom Agents was on bass and Chris Welsh of The 31st and The Screaming Tribesmen was on drums. The band spent the next few years touring Australia, Europe and the US. The second album, Lost, was released in 1988 on the Blue Mosque label, a major-distributed offshoot of Citadel, and outside Australia through Beggars Banquet. This album achieved great chart success in Italy. Frank Brunetti left in April 1988 (his last recording with the band being the single “Everybody Moves” in 1989) and was replaced with John Hoey , of the Thought Criminals and the new christs. Mark Lock was replaced on bass by Steve Clark. The third album, Every Brilliant Eye, was released in 1990 on Blue Mosque in Australia and outside Australia through Beggars Banquet. Recorded overseas in California, it featured a more polished production from Jeff Eyrich, who was pinned down by the band after they heard his work with The Gun Club and The Plimsouls. They achieved Australian chart success in the early 1990s with their fourth album Doughboy Hollow and its singles “Godbless”, “D.C.” and “Sweetheart.” and was produced by Englishman Hugh Jones famous for working with Simple Minds, Echo and the Bunnymen. This album was notable for its strong pop melodicism. Doughboy Hollow has consistently been voted in many critics top 100 albums of all time. After the recording of the album, Robert Warren replaced Steve Clark on bass. After the success of Doughboy Hollow, their next two albums, TRACE (1993) and Sold (1995), were released worldwide by Sony Music. Although Trace had been their biggest-selling record to date (debuting at #11 on the Australian mainstream chart), sales were insufficient for Sony and the band were dropped by the label. Soon after the release of Trace, long-time drummer Chris Welsh left the band, and Sold was recorded with two guest drummers - Shane Melder of Sidewinder and Nick Kennedy of Big Heavy Stuff, before Simon Cox signed on as full-time drummer. Their last two albums, Using My Gills as a Roadmap (1998) and EveryDayDream (2000) were released by Citadel. These albums show the band moving away from basic guitar rock and making greater use of electronics. They also released a best-of, Out of the Unknown (1999), on Citadel. Long-time bassist Robert Warren departed the band in December 2001 due to tinnitus and other health problems. Myers and Peno (the band’s songwriting duo) began demoing songs for a new album, this was a difficult time as Peno had moved to Melbourne. In May 2002, it was announced they would be disbanding after embarking on a final farewell tour around Australia. Their release for this tour was a three-track “farewell” single, “My Generation Landslide.” The shows were verry well attended, however this closed a chapter for a very popular and original Australian alternate rock band and a prolific songwriting partnership. [edit] Post-“breakup”|Ron and Brett played the occasional “songs of Died Pretty Unplugged” shows in Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne including the Queenscliff music festival, which was a sold out show. Their most recent live performance was at the Orient Hotel, Brisbane, on November 7 2009. Andrew Erzetich appreciated the boys coming up from Sydney to play especially for his 40th birthday. Ron Peno joined forces with Kim Salmon in 2005 under the name Darling Downs. They have recorded two albums together, How Can I Forget This Heart Of Mine? (2005) and From One To Another (2007). Also in 2007, Ron and Brett came together to record an independently-released and recorded album under the name NOISES And Other VOICES. It comprises material that was originally slated for Died Pretty’s unrecorded final album, along with some newly-written songs. [edit] The Reformation|Died Pretty were invited to perform Doughboy Hollow in its entirety as part of the inaugural All Tomorrow’s Parties-curated Don’t Look Back series in Australia in February 2008, with the original lineup requested who had recorded the album - Myers, Peno, Steve Clark (bass), Chris Welsh (drums) and long time member John Hoey (keyboards) - They played together for the first time in sixteen years. Out of print for the past few years, Doughboy Hollow was remastered, expanded and reissued through Citadel Records in February 2008. The tour was very successful, with critical reviews and sold out shows in all major capital cities. This line up has since continued with appearances at Homebake festival Sydney 2008 and as “Hall of fame” inductee’s at the EG Awards, December 2008 in Melbourne; They also appeared on the nationwide Big Day Out tour in January 2009, having played the original BDO back in 1992. A 2CD deluxe reissue of their debut album Free Dirt was released through Aztec Music in late 2008. Ron Peno also revealed in an interview with the I94 Bar website that a documentary about the band is pending - featuring interviews with some key band members, along with rehearsal and concert footage recorded by the band’s long time sound engineer Trevor Cronin from the Melbourne “Don’t Look Back” shows. No release date is currently known. |
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