Nicholas Allbrook (born 23 November 1987) is an Australian

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the frontman of

Pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

, and a member of musical duo Allbrook/Avery. He was a touring member of

Tame Impala Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker (musician), Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring a ...

before leaving the group in 2013.

Biography

Early life

Born in Perth, Western Australia, Allbrook grew up in

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

for the first 4 years of his life. He then moved with his parents to

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

, a town in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

region of Western Australia, where he lived until the age of 12. After spending eight years moving around the

, Allbrook moved back to Perth where he spent the majority of his teenage life. Whilst living in Derby he attended Derby District High School. Allbrook also attended

Christ Church Grammar School Christ Church Grammar School is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Single-sex school, single-sex Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primary and Secondary school#Australia, se ...

in Perth, graduating in 2004. Allbrook has a brother and sister, both "quite a bit older." During the main part his life in high school, music never came up as an interest for Allbrook. He was focused on

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...

from year 8 to year 11, then became invested in

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

. Towards the end of year 12 he made friends with another student and started listening to music. At about the same time, his parents bought him a guitar, and he began to attend lessons with a local Perth teacher, though he has stated that he was "awful" at the time. Whilst beginning to play in a school band with his friends, Allbrook was interested in and listened to a lot of

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

and

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

. It was around this time that he started to write his own songs, but he did not begin to record his own music until a couple of years later when he had a

tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...

. In 2007 he bought a

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

off

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

, and figured out how to play using the internet.

Career

2005–2010 Electric Blue Acid Dogs and Mink Mussel Creek

In 2005 Allbrook's first serious band, Electric Blue Acid Dogs, formed out of his and his friends' interest in

alternative music Alternative music may refer to the following types of music: *Independent music *Alternative rock *Alternative pop *Alternative R&B *Neo soul, sometimes known as alternative soul *Alternative reggaeton *Alternative hip hop *Alternative dance *Alter ...

. To begin, the lineup was Allbrook, and his two friends Steve and Nathan. They performed

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

covers and recorded songs on tape recorders. Later, the band were forced to change their name to Mink Mussel Creek enter in band competitions due to the drug reference ("Acid"). At the same time, they recruited Sam Devenport to be their drummer. It was through one of these competitions in 2007 that Allbrook first met Kevin Parker, when Mink Mussel Creek battled the Dee Dee Dums (which would later become the basis of

). Parker drummed for the band whilst they waited for Devenport to arrive, and the band decided that Parker should permanently become the drummer, allowing Devenport to pursue his acting career. From 2007, Mink Mussel Creek, which finally settled as Nick Allbrook on vocals,

Shiny Joe Ryan Joseph Michael "Shiny Joe" Ryan (born 23 August 1987) is an Irish-Australian psychedelic rock musician, singer and songwriter. He is the founding mainstay multi-instrumentalist and guitarist of Pond, which have released nine albums. Ryan has i ...

on guitar, Steve Summerlin on bass, Richard Ingham on synths and Kevin Parker on drums, slowly began gaining popularity in the Perth music scene. In 2008, after receiving an AUS$10,000 government grant, Mink Mussel Creek recorded its first album. However, due to circumstances out of the band's control, primarily concerning a problematic producer and dysfunctional recording process, the album was never released. The album was eventually leaked on the internet under the title ''Kingdom Tapes'', and the band members went their separate ways with other musical projects. 2011 saw Mink Mussel Creek reform and re-record their much awaited album, ''Mink Mussel Manticore''. The album was recorded live at local Fremantle venue, the Norfolk Basement, and released on USB wristband. As of 2014, the album has also been reissued online and on vinyl.

2008–2013: Tame Impala

After supporting Parker as a live member of

for five years (2008–2013), Allbrook departed the group to "screw his head back on" and focus on his other projects. His place as bassist was replaced by long time friend and fellow musician Cam Avery.

2008–present: Pond

In 2008 Nick Allbrook,

Jay Watson Jay Wesley Watson is an Australian multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer and songwriter. He is best known as a touring member of the psychedelic band Tame Impala and as a co-founder of the psychedelic rock/pop band Pond, with whom he's record ...

and Shiny Joe Ryan had the idea of an "ego-free project where they were able to get anyone they wanted to play whatever they wanted." That project was to be known as

. To date, Pond have released nine studio albums: '' Psychedelic Mango'' (2009), '' Corridors of Blissterday'' (2009), ''

Frond A frond is a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group. Other botanists allow the term frond to also apply to the lar ...

'' (2010), '' Beard, Wives, Denim'' (2012), '' Hobo Rocket'' (2013), '' Man It Feels Like Space Again'' (2015), '' The Weather'' (2017), ''

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

'' (2019), '' 9'' (2021), and '' Stung!'' (2024).

2011: Allbrook/Avery

''Allbrook/Avery'' is a musical project between Nicholas Allbrook and Cam Avery, formed in 2011. It began when Allbrook, homeless at the time, moved into the back room of Avery's house. They discovered a mutual love of

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

music and began writing together. He has stated that, "Allbrook/Avery’s just a lot more of a relaxed… gradual process of me and Cam writing songs and sharing them with each other and recording them with whatever people we see fit." To date, the duo has released one album released, ''Big 'Art (2011).'' Another album, recorded with four members of

The Horrors The Horrors are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea in 2005 by lead vocalist Faris Badwan, guitarist Joshua Hayward, keyboardist and synthesizer player Tom Furse, bassist Rhys Webb, and drummer and percussionist Joe Spurg ...

in one week in 2013, has been "filed away" with "no release date as of yet". Allbrook has said that he "doesn't know where it is", while Avery has said that it is in "post-production". A third album has also been mentioned.

2014–present: Solo work

In 2014, Allbrook released his first solo album with Spinning Top Records titled ''Ganough, Wallis & Fatuna''. In 2016, Allbrook released a second solo album titled ''Pure Gardiya''. In 2019, he released his third solo album titled ''Wabi Sabi Bruto Bruta.'' In February 2023, Allbrook announced the forthcoming release of his fourth studio album, ''Manganese'', released June 2023. In an album review, Alex Gallagher from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' said "While Nicholas Allbrook can seem larger than life when fronting kaleidoscopic psych-pop band Pond, his fourth album trades aplomb for honesty. Slow burners like closer 'The Night Before You Flew' are starkly intimate, beautiful while feeling like they may break at any moment."

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

With Pond

*'' Psychedelic Mango'' (2009) *'' Corridors of Blissterday'' (2009) *''

'' (2010) (credited as Paisley Adams) *'' Beard, Wives, Denim'' (2012) *'' Hobo Rocket'' (2013) *'' Man It Feels Like Space Again'' (2015) *'' The Weather'' (2017) * ''

'' (2019) *''Sessions'' (2019) *'' 9'' (2021) *'' Stung!'' (2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allbrook, Nick 1987 births 21st-century Australian male singers Australian alternative rock singers Australian indie rock musicians Australian multi-instrumentalists Australian rock drummers Australian male drummers Australian rock guitarists Australian rock singers Australian lead guitarists Living people Musicians from Perth, Western Australia Psychedelic rock musicians Tame Impala members Pond (Australian band) members 21st-century Australian drummers Australian male guitarists Australian male singer-songwriters 21st-century Australian singer-songwriters