Tripod are an Australian

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

trio founded by Scod (Scott Edgar), Yon (Simon Hall) and Gatesy (Steven Gates) in 1996. They provide original songs and harmonies, strung together by comic banter.

History

Live shows

Tripod began as buskers in Melbourne malls, performing a far-fetched prop act of which no record exists. They emerged as a musical act from the thriving Melbourne live music pub scene of the mid nineties, supporting popular local cover bands in such places as the Station Hotel, The Esplanade, the Central Club, the New Orleans Tavern and the Ritz, St Kilda. They were very much a cover band at first, performing three part harmony versions on hits by the likes of

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in 2020, and has twice been nom ...

, Bowie,

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

and

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

. They garnered a local following via regular residencies at the Commercial Hotel, Yarraville, just after it stopped being a biker bar. They soon became regulars at the Prince Patrick Hotel in

Collingwood Collingwood, meaning "wood of disputed ownership", may refer to: Educational institutions * Collingwood College, Victoria, an Australian state Prep to Year 12 school * Collingwood College, Durham, college of Durham University, England * Collingw ...

, a Melbourne comedy venue, where they honed their skills in residencies and appearances from 1998 through to its demise in 2003. Tripod are stalwarts of their home festival, the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typical ...

, where they often performed since 1997, when they took their pub act and jammed it into a one-hour festival format at

St Martins Youth Arts Centre St Martins Youth Arts Centre is a youth-focused performing arts centre in South Yarra in inner Melbourne. It is a non-profit organisation that makes contemporary theatre works for adult audiences and runs weekly drama workshops for young pe ...

, in a show entitled ''Welcome to My Wonderwall''. They have appeared on music festival stages including the

Falls Festival Falls Music & Arts Festival (commonly known as Falls) is a multi-day music festival held annually in Lorne ( Victoria), Marion Bay (Tasmania), Byron Bay (New South Wales) and Fremantle (Western Australia), Australia over the New Year's Eve ...

, the

Port Fairy Folk Festival The Port Fairy Folk Festival is an annual four-day music festival based in the historic fishing village of Port Fairy in Victoria, Australia. History The festival began on 2 December 1977 under the theme of "Australian and Irish Traditional M ...

, the

Queenscliff Music Festival Queenscliff Music Festival is a live music festival held in the town of Queenscliff, located on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria, Australia. The festival began in 1997 and is held annually on the last weekend of November. According to its w ...

and the

Woodford Folk Festival The Woodford Folk Festival is an annual music and cultural festival held near the semi-rural town of Woodford, north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the biggest annual cultural events of its type in Australia. Every year ap ...

. Tripod have appeared internationally, including the Montreal Just For Laughs festival and the

Upright Citizens Brigade theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. Prior t ...

in New York and Los Angeles. They have played the

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

numerous times. They have also toured the Australian rural countryside including long stints with the MICF Roadshow. Tripod alternate the form of their shows between the song-and-sketch cabaret gig format (such as ''Self Saucing'' and ''Men of Substance'') and narrative musicals. Their first "story" show was ''Tripod Tells the Tale of the Adventures of Tosswinkle the Pirate (not very well)'', which premiered at the MICF before touring nationally. Their narrative show, ''Lady Robots'', was first previewed at the 2002 Adelaide Fringe Festival before it was performed at the

MICF The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typica ...

later that year. The show was a musical comedy telling the story of three men who are hurled into space where they come across a planet populated only by Lady Robots. Tripod performed a re-jigged version of the show, ''Lady Robots v1.1'' at the Athenaeum Theatre at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2005, before a national tour culminating in a hit season at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century archit ...

. No recordings are known to exist. On 30 January 2010, Tripod held the world premiere of their comedic musical ''Tripod versus the Dragon'' at the

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is a museum in a converted Arnold Print Works factory building complex located in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is one of the largest centers for contemporary visual art and performing ...

in North Adams, Massachusetts, United States. Elana Stone co-starred in the production in the role of "The Dungeon Master"/"Dragon" after

Megan Washington Megan Alexanda Washington (born 7 January 1986) is an Australian musician and songwriter who has worked mononymously as Washington. Originally performing jazz music, her style shifted to indie pop and alternative rock. She has released three s ...

, who had been co-writing songs for the production, declined the role due to scheduling conflicts. The production is based on the

Dungeons and Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

. Tripod went on to perform this show at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the Sydney Opera House, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2010, as well as subsequent seasons in Perth, Brisbane, regional Victoria and the Przeglad Piosenki Aktorskiej festival in Wroclaw, Poland. In January 2013, Tripod joined forces with Australian performer

Eddie Perfect Eddie Perfect (born 17 December 1977) is an Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, comedian, writer and actor. Widely known for his role as Mick Holland in Channel Ten's TV series ''Offspring'' in which he performs his own music, he has record ...

to create ''Perfect Tripod'', a show of classic Australian songs arranged in four-part harmony, inspired by their cover of ''Meet Me in the Middle of the Air'' performed on '' The Sideshow'' on 13 October 2007. Perfect Tripod toured concert halls throughout the nation and have collaborated with such Australian pop music greats as

Gotye Wouter André "Wally" De Backer (born 21 May 1980), better known by his stage name Gotye ( ), is a Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter. The name "Gotye" is a pronunciation respelling of "Gauthier", the French cognat ...

and

Missy Higgins Melissa Morrison Higgins (born 19 August 1983), known professionally as Missy Higgins, is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. Her Australian number-one albums are ''The Sound of White'' (2004), ''On a Clear Night'' (2007) and ''The Ol ...

. In October 2014, Tripod performed live at the international gaming convention, PAX (Penny Arcade Expo), in Melbourne at the

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, colloquially referred to as "Jeff's Shed," is a group of three adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The venues ar ...

. There they performed a short preview of ''This Gaming Life'', an original collaboration between Tripod, Grammy nominated composer

Austin Wintory Austin Wintory (born September 9, 1984) is an American composer for film and video games. He is known for scoring the video games ''Flow'' and '' Journey'', which made history as the only video game soundtrack to be nominated for the Grammy Awar ...

and the

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on f ...

. In 2015 ''This Gaming Life'' played to rapturous houses at Hamer Hall, Victorian Arts Centre, with a 55 piece orchestra conducted and arranged by Wintory. The show was a full scale two-act orchestral love letter to the culture and relationships of passionate video gamers, and has been described as the "Stand By Me of the gamer generation."

TV

The band got their first break appearing on ''

Hey Hey It's Saturday ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' was 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 ...

'''s " Red Faces" contest, where they performed a parodic medley of

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment In Melbourne Tonight ''In Melbourne Tonight'', also known as ''IMT'', was a highly popular nightly Logie award-winning Australian variety television show produced at GTV-9 Melbourne from 6 May 1957 to 1970. Overview Graham Kennedy was the show's main host and s ...

'' (IMT) with Frankie J Holden. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s they also showed up regularly on such live TV stalwarts as '' Good Morning Australia'' with

Bert Newton Albert Watson Newton (23 July 1938 – 30 October 2021) was an Australian media personality. He was a Logie Hall of Fame inductee, quadruple Gold Logie award-winning entertainer and radio, theatre and television personality and presenter. Ne ...

, '' Denise with Denise Drysdale'' and popular Saturday morning live rock show '' Recovery''. Tripod were a feature act in

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

's 2003/2004

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

skitHOUSE ''Skithouse'' (styled ''skitHOUSE'') was an Australian sketch comedy television series that ran on Network Ten from 9 February 2003 to 28 July 2004. The series was produced by Roving Enterprises. It featured many well-known Australian comedians, ...

'', writing and performing sketches and songs as part of the core cast. They performed on '' Rove/Rove Live'' in 1999, 2003, and 2004, and were guest programmers of ''

Rage Rage may refer to: * Rage (emotion), an intense form of anger Games * Rage (collectible card game), a collectible card game * Rage (trick-taking card game), a commercial variant of the card game Oh Hell * ''Rage'' (video game), a 2011 first-per ...

'' in 2004. Tripod were also core cast performers on the 2007

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

weekly variety program ''The Sideshow.'' The group made frequent musical appearances on Network Ten's ''

Good News Week ''Good News Week'' is an Australian satirical panel game show hosted by Paul McDermott that aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and 11 February 2008 to 28 April 2012. The show's initial run aired on ABC until being bought by Network Ten ...

'' from 2009 to 2011, and have appeared on various

ABC1 ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of the ABC TV channel a ...

programs, including '' Spicks and Specks'' (May 2011), and ''

Adam Hills Tonight ''Adam Hills Tonight'', formerly known as ''Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight'', is a comedic Australian television interview show that ran from February 2011 to July 2013 on ABC1. It was hosted by comedian Adam Hills and co-starred Hannah Gads ...

'' (May 2013). They have appeared yearly for almost two decades on the Oxfam Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala.

Radio

Tripod have appeared as guests throughout their career on popular Australian radio stations. Their ''Song-in-an-Hour Challenge (2001–2004)'' was a popular segment on Triple J's drive-time show with

Merrick and Rosso Merrick and Rosso were an Australian comedy duo, composed of Merrick Watts (Merrick) and Tim Ross (Rosso). The duo began in stand up comedy, and first came together when they teamed up for what was intended to be a one-off comedy show in 1996. T ...

, and later on the Triple J ''Breakfast'' show with

Wil Anderson William James Anderson (born 31 January 1974) is an Australian comedian, writer, presenter, and podcaster. Early life William James Anderson was born on 31 January 1974 in Sale, Victoria, and grew up on a dairy farm near Heyfield, Victoria.< ...

and Adam Spencer. In it they had one hour to write and arrange a coherent song based on incoherent listener suggestions and then perform said song to an eager national audience. Tripod often refer to this experience as their songwriting boot camp. Two CDs containing some of the finest examples of these sessions have been released, each also including recordings taken from live ''Song-In-An-Hour'' challenges featured in Tripod's ''Pod August Nights'' concerts. In late 2005, they moved to Fox FM where they could be heard on

Peter Helliar Peter Jason Matthew Helliar (born 16 June 1975) is an Australian comedian, actor, television, radio presenter, writer, producer and director. He is best known for his work on television as a former regular co-host of '' The Project'' on Networ ...

's weekly Friday morning show, ''Pete's Show''.

Podcast

On December 24, 2015 Tripod along with host Andrew Pogson started a regular podcast title
Perfectly Good Podcast.
Initially started to promote their upcomin
101 Tripod Hits
tour, the ongoing series shifted its focus covering any number of topic including current themes or stories from Tripod's 20+ years together. Each podcast centers around a theme in which host Andrew Pogson attempts to keep the members of Tripod to. Tripod also play live or play recordings of their songs which loosely relate to the episode's theme. Suggested i
Episode 27
and making its first appearance i
Episode 28
with Andrew Pogson's submission Tripod asked listeners to submit alternate lyrics for the song Aquaman, and Tripod then played each submission on varies episodes.

Recordings

Tripod's very first record ''Box Set'' was released in 1997. It was funded by their winnings from live TV segment ''Red Faces'' on ''

'' Their album ''Middleborough Rd'', made up of studio recordings of songs they wrote for the sketch TV series ''SkitHouse,'' won the

ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release The ARIA Music Award for Best Comedy 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 Recording Indu ...

at the

ARIA Music Awards of 2005 The 19th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) were held on 23 October 2005 at the Sydney Superdome at the Sydney Olympic Park complex, thus continuing the pr ...

. Tripod toured with the show ''Tripod are Self Saucing'' in 2004, and again at the 2006 MICF. They recorded a live album of the show in April 2006 entitled ''

Songs from Self Saucing ''Songs from Self Saucing'' is the seventh album from Australian comedy trio, Tripod, and their third live album. It was recorded in April 2006, during the last "Tripod Are: Self Saucing" show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, in ...

'', recorded and mixed by regular collaborator Nao Anzai, which was nominated for Best Comedy Release at the 2007

ARIA In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

awards. Tripod's first DVD was also released in 2006: a live recording of their 2005 show " POD August Nights". The DVD includes numerous special features including a music video for their song "Gonna Make You Happy Tonight" from their 2004 album, ''Middleborough Rd''. Tripod's 2001 show, ''Tripod tells the tale of the Adventures of Tosswinkle the Pirate (Not Very Well)'' was also released on DVD in 2006, following the original 2001 VHS release. In 2009, Tripod released a DVD of a live performance at the

. This DVD featured never-before-seen bonus footage consisting of a bootleg recording of their 2007 show ''How to Train an Attack Dog from Scratch'', a show whose narrative was loosely based around an examination of the fictional history of musical comedy. Tripod released a Christmas album in 2009, from their Christmas shows, entitled ''For the Love of God''. A toured nationally with the songs, performing in the

that year. They released a CD of songs from ''Tripod versus the Dragon'', including extended versions of the songs from an early version of the show, as well as a DVD with numerous easter eggs and special features on 2 March 2011. ''Men of Substance'', their first full scale studio project since ''For the Love of God'', was produced by longtime friend and collaborator John Castle (

, Vance Joy, the Bamboos)

Composition

Tripod composed the theme song for

SBS One SBS is a national public television network in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally. In 2018, SBS had a 7.7% audience share. As of 2022, SBS is the lowe ...

's Australian television comedy history show '' ADbc'' in 2009.

Albums

Members

*Scott "Scod" Edgar – vocals, guitar, keyboard (1996–present) *Steven "Gatesy" Gates – vocals, guitar (1996–present) *Simon "Yon" Hall – vocals, trumpet, kazoo, occasional percussion (1996–present)

Awards

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music 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 ...

. Tripod has won one award from six nominations, all in the category of

. , - ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

, ''About an Hour of Song in an Hour'' , rowspan="6", Best Comedy Release , , - , rowspan="2",

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, ''About an Hour of Song in an Hour...Again'' , , - , ''Live – Fegh Maha'' , , - ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

, ''Middleborough Rd'' , , - ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, ''Songs from Self Saucing'' , , - ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, ''For the Love of God!'' , , -

Other Awards

* 2003 ''Australian Comedy Awards'': People's Choice Award; Award for Outstanding Comedy Recording (''Songs in an Hour'') * 2007 Edinburgh ''Spirit of the Fringe'' award. * 2008 ''Green Room Award'': Best Original Songs in a Cabaret Performance (''How to Train an Attack Dog from Scratch''). 2009 * 2015 ''ASTRA Award'': Most Outstanding Children's Program (''Monster Beach'')

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tripod (Band) Australian comedy musical groups Australian radio comedy ARIA Award winners Musical groups established in 1997 Australian musical trios Australian rock music groups Musical groups from Melbourne