You Am I
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| You Am I | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Genre(s) | Rock Alternative rock |
| Years active | 1989 β present |
| Label(s) | rooArt Records/ Ra Records Virgin/ EMI Restless |
| Associated acts | The Pictures Tim Rogers and the Temperance Union |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Tim Rogers (vocals/guitar) Davey Lane (guitar, 1999-present) Andy Kent (bass, ca. 1991-present) Rusty Hopkinson (drums, ca. 1994-present) |
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| Former members | |
| Jaimme Rogers (drums, ca. 1989-1990) Nick Tischler (bass, ca. 1989-1991) Mark Tunaley (drums, ca. 1991-93) Greg Hitchcock (guitar/keyboard, ca. 1995-1998) |
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You Am I is an Australian alternative rock band, fronted by vocalist/guitarist and main songwriter Tim Rogers. They were the first Australian band to have three albums successively debut at #1 on the ARIA Charts, and are renowned for their live performances.
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[edit] History
Tim Rogers formed the first version of the band with his school friend Nick Tischler and his older brother Jaimme in December 1989. The band's name was derived from late-night sessions under the influence of alcohol. This initial line-up was short-lived and by the end of 1990 both Nick and Jaimme had left the band. (In the band's 1993 song "Jaimme's Got A Gal," Tim explains why his brother left.) They were replaced by the group's one-time sound mixer Andy Kent (bass) and Mark Tunaley on drums.
The band released several EPs and singles in the early 90s, though the real breakthrough came when Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth caught the band performing at the 1993's Big Day Out festival. Ranaldo also produced their debut album, Sound As Ever. The album went on to win the 1993 ARIA Award for Best Alternative Release. The band was signed to Ra Records, an alternative rock oriented sub-branch of rooArt Records, with U.S. distribution by Restless Records.
After the release of their first album, Tunaley and the band parted ways. He was replaced by Russell Hopkinson (formerly of the band Nursery Crimes), creating the core line-up of the band to the present day. Since then, the line-up has been augmented by Davey Lane of The Pictures on second guitar. Lane is said to have come to the band's attention via his own work with The Pictures, and by transcribing, with extreme accuracy, the band's guitar tabs on a You Am I web website. Lane has also said (on the Cream & The Crock documentary) that he almost decided not to be a part of the band, saying he was "fucking up his favourite band by playing in it" after playing his first show with them and stuffing up a bunch of solos.
You Am I had toured the United States beginning in the mid-'90s, including playing with Soundgarden on the Lollapalooza festival, Redd Kross, The Strokes, and Smoking Popes. (Soundgarden first came across them at the 1994 Big Day Out festival[1].) Despite little success in The States, the band became well known throughout Australia.
Further success came with the albums Hi Fi Way and Hourly, Daily, with both picking up ARIA Awards. Hourly, Daily was the first album released on the Shock label to go to number one in the ARIA charts upon launch. These albums were marked by retro-inspired '60s bop and folky 12 string melodies, a departure from the band's earlier hard rock/ grunge sound.
Subtle country influences were apparent on their 1998 #4 Record, that included "Heavy Heart." A heart-rending, borderline- karaoke inspired ballad... about being dumped by one's girlfriend.
In 1999, front man Tim Rogers released his first solo album What Rhymes With Cars And Girls.
After an album absence prolonged by touring and record label interference, Dress Me Slowly was released April 2001. Dress Me Slowly was guitarist Davey Lane's first bona fide appearance on a studio record.
Deliverance was released in 2002, but did not enjoy the kind of critical and commercial success that the band's earlier work had enjoyed. The band released "Who Put The Devil In You?" as a download-only internet single that year.
In September 2003, the band parted ways with its record label BMG, with whom it had been signed in 1998 after BMG acquired rooArt Records.
In the four years between Deliverance and You Am I's next album, Convicts, both Davey Lane and Tim Rogers kept busy with their own solo projects. Lane performed at the 2004 ARIA Music Awards as part of the supergroup The Wrights, featuring members of many other Australian rock bands, and in 2005 released an LP with The Pictures, Pieces of Eight. Rogers released two albums with The Temperance Union in this period, Spit Polish in 2004 and the Dirty Ron/Ghost Songs double album in 2005.
In late 2005, You Am I recorded their seventh studio album entitled Convicts with producer Greg Wales. The title is believed to be a tongue in cheek dig of English people referring to Australians as convicts because of their First Fleet origins. It may also refer to the alternate name used by the band to perform secret gigs during the Hi Fi Wayβ#4 Record era. The album was released on May 13, 2006 on the band's new record label, Virgin. The Convicts album was also released in the USA on Yep Roc Records. The band toured America in the fall and summer of 2007 to promote the record.
[edit] Former members
Jaimme Rogers and Nick Tischler were in an early incarnation of the band, lasting December 1989 to the end of 1990. This lineup is not known to have recorded any music.
Mark Tunaley was the band's first "official" drummer, and is You Am I's only drummer to date to employ heavy metal style of drumming, which included double bass drum parts. Despite being a virtuoso drummer, Tunaley wasn't a 'ponce and thuggery' type, and the split was inevitable.
Greg Hitchcock played guitar and electric piano live with the band for some time up until #4 Record. He was never formally a member of the band. But any second guitarist seen on stage, before Davey Lane joined circa 1999, may well have been him. Rogers complained that he was never quite comfortable with the electric piano on stage because he felt the band lost its spontaneous feel.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Sound As Ever (rooArt Records, November, 1993)
- Hi Fi Way (rooArt Records, February, 1995)
- Hourly, Daily (rooArt Records, July, 1996)
- #4 Record (rooArt Records, April, 1998)
- ...Saturday Night, 'Round Ten (rooArt Records, November, 1999)
- Dress Me Slowly (BMG Australia, April, 2001)
- Deliverance (BMG Australia,September, 2002)
- No After You Sir...: An Introduction to You Am I (Transcopic Records, May, 2003)
- The Cream & The Crock - The Best Of You Am I (BMG Australia, September 15, 2003)
- Convicts (Virgin/EMI, May 13, 2006/ Yep Roc Records, January 23, 2007)
[edit] EPs
- Snake Tide (Independent, May, 1991)
- Goddamn (Timberyard Records, May, 1992)
- Can't Get Started (RooArt Records, October, 1992)
- Coprolalia (rooArt Records, April, 1993)
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | ARIA Chart | Triple J Hottest 100 | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | "Adam's Ribs" | - | 50 | Sound As Ever |
| 1994 | "Berlin Chair" | - | 23 | Sound As Ever |
| 1994 | "Jaimme's Got A Gal" (see Aerosmith's Jaime's got a gun) | - | 77 | Sound As Ever |
| 1994 | "When You Got Dry"/"How Much Is Enough" | - | - | Hi Fi Way |
| 1995 | "Cathy's Clown" | 36 | 84 | Hi Fi Way |
| 1995 | "Jewels and Bullets" | - | 93 | Hi Fi Way |
| 1995 | "Purple Sneakers" | - | 24 | Hi Fi Way |
| 1995 | "Mr. Milk" | 50 | - | Hourly, Daily |
| 1996 | "Soldiers" | 33 | 80 | Hourly, Daily |
| 1996 | "Good Mornin'" | 44 | 84 | Hourly, Daily |
| 1997 | "Tuesday" | 29 | - | Hourly, Daily |
| 1997 | "Trike" | - | - | Hourly, Daily (international version) |
| 1998 | "What I Don't Know About You" | 23 | - | #4 Record |
| 1998 | "Rumble" | - | 65 | #4 Record |
| 1998 | "Heavy Heart" | 49 | 9 | #4 Record |
| 2000 | "Damage" | 37 | 23 | Dress Me Slowly |
| 2000 | "Get Up" | 44 | 57 | Dress Me Slowly |
| 2001 | "Kick a Hole in the Sky" | - | 56 | Dress Me Slowly |
| 2002 | "Who Put the Devil in You" | - | 79 | Deliverance |
| 2003 | "Deliverance" | - | - | Deliverance |
| 2006 | "It Ain't Funny How We Don't Talk Anymore" | - | - | Convicts |
| 2006 | "Friends Like You" | - | - | Convicts |
[edit] References
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