The Dearhunters were an

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

and

alternative country Alternative country (commonly abbreviated to alt-country; also known as alternative country rock, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative) is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that diffe ...

band from

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

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 ...

History

In 1998, Greg Hitchcock, Tim Oxley, Jodi Phillis and Raphael Whittingham, who were successful artists solo or in various other acts, formed The Dearhunters in a pub in Sydney. They first performed several times under the name "Lunar Tunes" in April 1998. The group released a single album, ''" Red Wine and Blue"'' which was recorded in roughly three weeks, and released under

Candle Records Candle Records was an independent record label that operated from 1994 to 2007. Candle Records was originally based in Melbourne, Australia and founded in September 1994 by Chris Crouch. The label concentrated only on local bands with an "emp ...

in 1999; it was launched at the

Hopetoun Hotel The Hopetoun Hotel, colloquially referred to as The Hoey, is a historic Sydney hotel and live music venue in Surry Hills. It was built somewhere between 1836 and 1839, originally under the name of the Cookatoo Inn and then in 1901 revamped and n ...

Surry Hills Surry Hills is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), inner-east suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local gover ...

. On working on the album, Phillis said in an interview that "in this group I feel free to explore any territory and I’m not afraid to get too introspective or sentimental". She went on further to say that The Dearhunters was a side project for her. They also appeared on a compilation featuring artists or groups under Candle Records, as well as releasing a split EP shared with Hired Guns, which was released on vinyl. ''"Red wine and blue"'' features dual vocals between Oxley and Phillis, and as a group, they have produced favorable reviews. Following the release of their split EP in 1999 and full length album in the same year, Whittingham left the group and was replaced by Ashton. Then, after a small subsequent tour following their album release, the group disbanded and returned to prior musical projects or engaged in new ones.

Discography

*''Split 7"'' (1999) *'' Red Wine and Blue'' (1999)

Compilations

*Banter' Candle Compilation'' (2000)

Members

*Dave Ashton - drums (1999–2000) *Greg Hitchcock - guitars (1998–2000) *Tim Oxley - vocals, bass (1998–2000) *

Jodi Phillis Jodi Christine Phillis (born 11 April 1965 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist and founding member of the band The Clouds. Phillis is best known for her vocal ability in many of her songs, such as "Hieronymus", ...

- vocals, guitar (1998–2000)

Former Members

*Raphael Whittingham - drums (1998–1999) :''Information on band members.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dearhunters New South Wales musical groups