Oblivia were an Australian rock band formed in 1999 by mainstays Peter Banicevic ( Pete Banner) on bass guitar and Tony Jukic ( Tony Juke) on guitar and synthesisers. They were joined in the following year by Irish-born vocalist, Gordon Bourke ( Josh Orange). Their debut single, " My Friend" (May 2000), peaked at No. 35 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 2000 The 14th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) was held on 24 October 2000 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Presenters distributed 28 awards with the big winne ...

, "My Friend" received two trophies for

Producer of the Year The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non-classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in ...

and Engineer of the Year for the work by Steve James. Oblivia released a sole album, ''The Careless Ones'' (July 2001) before disbanding in the following year.

History

Oblivia were an Australian rock band formed in Sydney by Peter Banicevic ( Pete Banner) on bass guitar and Tony Jukic ( Tony Juke) on guitar and synthesisers in 1999. Banicevic and Jukic were schoolmates from the western suburbs. Irish-born Gordon Burke ( Josh Orange) joined on lead vocals in the following year. They were signed to

Albert Music Albert Group Services Pty Ltd, known as Alberts, formerly Albert Music and J Albert and Son, is an Australian music company. The company has major interests in music publishing and production and it earns significant royalties through its subsi ...

Harry Vanda Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg (born 22 March 1946), better known as Harry Vanda, is a Dutch-Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as lead guitarist of the 1960s Australian rock band the Easybeats who wi ...

for a publishing contract, which led to being taken on-board by

BMG BMG may refer to: Organizations Music publishing companies * Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 ** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that was pur ...

. Their debut single " My Friend" was released in May 2000, which peaked at No. 35 on the

.Peaks in Australia: * "My Friend": * "Mind Bomb": It was produced by Steve James (

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

Mental as Anything Mental As Anything was an Australian new wave and pop rock band that formed in Sydney in 1976. Its most popular line-up (which lasted from 1977 to 1999, and recorded all of its charting singles and albums) was Martin Plaza (birth name Martin ...

Screaming Jets The Screaming Jets are an Australian hard rock band formed in Newcastle, New South Wales from the band Aspect formed in high school by Grant, Dave, Frank Manitta and Grant Wiltshire (deceased) in 1984 which Paul Woseen was also a later member o ...

). The single was supported by national youth radio station,

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 ...

. At the

, "My Friend" received two trophies for

and Engineer of the Year for the work by James.Newcastle Herald, 25 October 2000, "Just Don't Call Them Babies" A second single, "Mindbomb", appeared in October 2000. By December of that year the line-up was Banicevic, Bourke, Jukic, Johnny Sans on guitar and Owen Thompson on drums. Oblivia issued a sole album, ''The Careless Ones'' (July 2001), which was also produced by James. At the end of that month, Australian music journalist,

Ed Nimmervoll Edward Charles Nimmervoll Eduard Nimmervoll (21 September 194710 October 2014) was an Australian music journalist, author and historian. He worked on rock and pop magazines ''Go-Set'' (1966–1974) and ''Juke Magazine'' (1975–92) both as ...

, rated it as his album of the week and described how the group deliver, "power pop with an edge" and they "have a lot to offer; strong melodies, interesting words, powerful performances." One of the album's tracks, "Shiver", was used on the soundtrack for the comedy-drama film, '' Bootmen'' (October 2000). By August 2001 both Sans and Thompson had left while Adam Church had joined as their drummer. They released two more singles from the album, "Collapse on Me" and "Stupid" / "Apparition", before disbanding in 2002. In 2007 Jukic, on guitar, joined the reformed line-up of a hard rock band,

the Hitmen The Hitmen are an Australian hard rock band formed in November 1977 by long-term members, Johnny Kannis on lead vocals and Chris Masuak on lead guitar as Johnny and the Hitmen. The group went through numerous line up changes in its first ru ...

, alongside earlier members Johnny Kannis on lead vocals,

Chris Masuak Christopher William Masuak (born 1959) is a Canadian-born Australian musician, guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He joined the punk rock group Radio Birdman (1976–1978, 1995–1996, 1997, 2005–2007), then the hard rockers, the Hit ...

on lead guitar and Tony Robertson on bass guitar, as well as Murray Shepherd on drums.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

{{Authority control ARIA Award winners Australian rock music groups Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups disestablished in 2002 New South Wales musical groups 1999 establishments in Australia