Purple Avengers was an

Australian indie rock Australian indie rock is part of the overall flow of Australian rock history but has a distinct history somewhat separate from mainstream rock in Australia, largely from the end of the punk rock era onwards. History Beginnings Rock and roll in A ...

band from

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

formed in 1990.

Overview

Purple Avengers first formed at the beginning of the 1990s having been four school friends from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The band released two albums, with the first album "Starlights Journey Home" being re-released when the band was signed by Sydney-based label

Phantom Records Phantom Records was an Australian record store and independent record label established in 1978 on Pitt Street in Sydney. Phantom Records was one of Australia's first indie labels, and the store was known for its guerilla marketing strategies. ...

.Phantom Records Discography
/ref>Abbey Road Art
/ref>
That Striped Sunlight Sound The band released two more EPs through Phantom Records through the 1990s (Emma Peel Sessions, Dragonfly). Prior to these recordings the Purple Avengers also released an independently recorded and pressed 7" single ("When Will the World Stop Spinning Blues"). The first EP, Emma Peel Sessions, got its name from an amalgam of the 1960s TV icon

Emma Peel Emma Peel is a fictional character played by Diana Rigg in the British 1960s adventure television series '' The Avengers'', and by Uma Thurman in the 1998 film version. She was born Emma Knight, the daughter of an industrialist, Sir John Knight. ...

from The Avengers and influential British music broadcaster

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

and his long running ''John Peel Sessions'' radio show. The line up consisted of

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

electronic organ An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the pump organ, harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has si ...

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

and

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

. The band was strongly influenced by

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 ...

and heavy rock sounds, being known for playing long and complex songs in their early performing days in Brisbane.Last FM
/ref> This was balanced by grunge influenced songs of more conventional length as the band developed through the 1990s as it gigged and toured Australia. The band's song "Another World" was featured on the compilation album, Behind the Banana Curtain by radio station

4ZZZ 4ZZZ (pronounced "Four Triple Zed" or simply "Triple Zed") is an independent community radio station operating in Brisbane, Australia at the frequency 102.1 FM. As a community radio station, 4ZZZ is a member of the Community Broadcasting Associa ...

.Pig City: From the Saints to Savage Garden
by Andrew Stafford. Excerpt from the book printed in 2006 by University of Queensland Press The band reformed in 2010 to play at a one-off show to celebrate BUMS (Brisbane Underground Music Scene) 20 Year Anniversary gig. BUMS (Brisbane Underground Music Scene) Website
/ref>

Discography

Albums

*''Starlights Journey Home'' (1992) - independent release by the band *''Starlights Journey Home'' (1995) - Phantom Records reissue *''Kool Ray'' (1998)

EPs

*''Emma Peel Sessions'' (1993) *''Dragonfly'' (1995)

Singles

*"When Will the World Stop Spinning Blues" " vinyl(1991)

References

{{reflist

External links

*Purple Avengers Website ("Purple Avengers H.Q.". http://purpleavengers.com/) - features detailed overview of the career of the band. Australian indie rock groups Musical groups from Brisbane Australian psychedelic rock music groups