Crawlspace are an Australian rock band from
Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
which formed in 1998.
History
In the early 1990s guitarist and vocalist, Russell Smith, met drummer, Chris Webber, the two sharing a musical background in Grunge-rock. They were then joined by bassist and vocalist Daniel Bowles, who had experience in a techno-style band in the UK. The trio forming, Crawlspace, has been likened to
Matchbox 20,
Live
Live may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film
* ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film
* ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film
*'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...
, and
Tonic.
In mid-1998 Crawlspace released their debut single "Afraid", which was the first release to gain national attention for the fledgling WA Label Embryo Records (then called Rocket Records/Phantom Music WA).
The EP was co-produced by
Ben Glatzer
Ben-Zion "Ben" Glatzer (born 8 October 1959, Perth) is an Australian sound engineer and producer. He worked on Ammonia's debut album, ''Mint 400'' (1995), The Chevelles' ''At Second Glance'' (1995), Cartman's debut '' Go!'' (2002), The Stem ...
, who also produced their debut album. It received rave reviews from music critics and the title track was added on high rotation to
Triple J
Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...
, 96.1FM, HotFM, 2UNE and
RTRFM, and 30 other stations nationwide.
The single "Away", followed in early 1999
and picked up a swag of national airplay culminating in the band being the
Triple M
Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 45 radio stations with flagship stations broadcasting a mainstream/classic rock music format in Sydney, Melbourne, and B ...
'Adopt a Band' for May 1999.
"Away" became the 9th most played rock song in Australia and reached number 17 on the
ARIA national alternative charts.
Crawlspace secured a publishing deal with Warner/Chappel and released their first album ''Motion'' in November, 1999.
TV appearances included
Channel V
Channel '' ("V" as in the letter, not the Roman numeral "5") is a Chinese and former Asian pay television musical network originally launched by Star TV Hong Kong (now Disney Networks Group Asia Pacific). It was part of the unit of Disney In ...
(live and interviews), ''
Hey Hey It's Saturday
''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' is a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 28 years on the Nine Network from 9 October 1971 to 20 November 1999, with a recess in 1978. Its host throughout its entire ...
''
(performing "Away" live) and
Telethon
A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other cause.
Most telethons feature heavy solicitatio ...
. On the live front, Crawlspace promoted the album with ten trips to the east coast including tours with
Grinspoon
Grinspoon are an Australian rock band from Lismore, New South Wales, which formed in 1995 by Pat Davern on guitar, Joe Hansen on bass guitar, Kristian Hopes on drums and frontman Phil Jamieson on vocals and guitar. Also in that year, Grinspoon ...
,
Pacifier,
Taxiride and
The Whitlams
The Whitlams are an Australian Indie rock band formed in late 1992. The original line-up was Tim Freedman on keyboards and lead vocals, Andy Lewis on double bass and Stevie Plunder on guitar and lead vocals. Other than mainstay Freedman, the ...
,
Matchbox 20,
Deadstar,
Primary
Primary or primaries may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Primary (band), from Australia
* Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea
* Primary Music, Israeli record label
Work ...
,
Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel are an Australian Pub rock (Australia), pub rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1973 by mainstay members Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums, Les Kaczmarek on bass and Don Walker (musician), Don Walker on pia ...
(in front of 18,000 at the
Burswood Dome) and at
The Big Day Out (Perth).
Crawlspace were nominated for the
ARIA Award for Best Independent Release
The ARIA Music Award for Best Independent Release, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recordin ...
.
In 2000 the band re-structured with Bowles shifting to guitars and keyboards and a new bassist, Travis Franklin, joining. Shortly after Webber decided to leave (subsequently joining Sleeping Giant and Full Scale Revolution) and was replaced with Travis' brother, Matt Franklin, this was followed by the departure of Bowles (later to form electronic rock act Ura and The Rube Goldberg Machine, as well as perform in
David O'List
David O'List (born 13 December 1948) is an English rock guitarist, vocalist and trumpeter.
He has played with The Attack, The Nice, Roxy Music (before being replaced by Phil Manzanera), and Jet (replaced by Ian Macleod). He also briefly dep ...
's backing band) leaving Smith as the only original member remaining.
The band then went into a hiatus for a year
following which they started writing material for their follow-up album. Crawlspace then began pre-production on the new album ''From Now On'' in mid-2001 and the band began recording with long term collaborator Ben Glatzer (
Ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...
,
Cartman,
The Sleepy Jackson) in early 2002. It was during this time the band contributed a song for an
INXS
INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as the Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney. The founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, gu ...
tribute album, ''INXS Hometown Tribute'', on the Goh International label.
In late 2002 the band engaged a new guitarist, Joe Sivak. Pre-released tracks from the album received airplay on South West regional stations, which was supported by a number of regional tours.
In September, 2004 Crawlspace released the EP, ''Gone to My Head'',
with the songs "Gone to My Head" and "Alright" receiving airplay on
Triple J
Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...
.
2005 saw the band second appearance on the
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typi ...
tour and a publishing deal with RipTide Music
in the USA, with the inclusion of the song "Away" on the Warner Bros. Syndicated TV show '
Reunion'. "Burn My Eyes" appearing in an episode of the 2006 season of ''
CSI: NY'' and a third song featured in the
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, producer and screenwriter. Primarily a comedic leading actor in films, List of awards and nominations received by Adam Sandler, his accolades include an Independent Sp ...
movie '
Click'.
Members
Current members:
* Matt Franklin – drums (2000 to present)
* Travis Franklin – bass (2000 to present)
* Joe Sivak – guitar (2002 to present)
* Russell Smith – guitars, vocals (1997 to present)
Former members:
* Chris Webber – drums (1997 to 2000)
* Daniel Bowles – bass, keys, guitar, vocals (1997 to 2000)
Discography
Albums
EPs
Singles
Awards and nominations
ARIA Music Awards
The
ARIA Music Awards
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...
are a set of annual ceremonies presented by
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...
(ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the
music of Australia
The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...
. They commenced in 1987.
!
, -
,
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
, "Away"
,
Best Independent Release
,
,
, -
References
{{Authority control
Australian indie rock groups
Western Australian musical groups
Musical groups established in 1998