Sea Scouts (band)

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Sea Scouts were a noise rock band, based in Hobart, Tasmania.

Following the split of his former band Mouth in 1994, Tim Evans began jamming with U.F.O (Unlimited Friendly Objective) frontman Zach von Bamburger. Fusing the elements of thick, rough analogue guitar noise and hidden melodies, also aided by a drum machine, the duo recorded the $100,000 Dollar Mamal (sic) EP. Vocal and instrumental duties were shared on the polycarbonate-only pressing as were the live shows which had a tendency to resemble hysteria and consequently the occasional song would hold together as an elongated, threadbare jam. Shortly after the release, Monica Fikerle became the band's drummer. Idiosyncratic of the band's minimal yet full sound, Fikerle played her kit with a complete absence of snare drum. Following a short tour of the mainland, and numerous drummers playing briefly, the band folded six months later.

A year after parting company with von Bamburger, Evans started the band again with new bassist Alex Pope and they jammed many old songs along with newer ones. They began performing (once again) with a drum machine. After several months of gigging ex-U.F.O bassist Andy Hazel joined on drums, introducing snare and hi-hat to the previously more stripped-back sound. Several months later Sara May Libero replaced Hazel and continued the (Mo Tucker style) of standing to play, minus snare. On the last day of Spring 1996 in a kitchen in West Hobart, the trio recorded the band's first full length (vinyl only version) LP, Pattern Recognition. It was released on Chapter Music in 1997, causing big stirrings amongst a small, but growing flock. Early the following year the band toured Melbourne and Sydney, supporting Pavement and Archers Of Loaf before Libero departed and was replaced by Fikerle who re-joined later that year, the group jamming a newer set of songs.

In 1998, they recorded a more coarse, further darker and nihilistic Beacon of Hope. In the same sessions, re-recording an intentionally cleaner, "less scabby" version of the Pattern Recognition album for CD only. Interestingly, Fickerle had begun consistently reintroducing a sparing amount of snare. Touring during the year, they added Adelaide as a new destination. The following year a re-recording of two early early songs from the band's first incarnation were recorded and the Word as a Weapon/Destroy Your Local McDonalds 7" was released on the small, Californian based label Zum. Further recordings were also made of a combination of old and new songs, which to this date have never been released. The band embarked on a tour of North America, crossing the Atlantic into Europe, joining Ninetynine and unlike many peers, playing in numerous Eastern Bloc countries. Returning later in the year, it was decided that the band would play its final shows ever in Hobart, followed by a show at the Corner Hotel Melbourne, on January 18th 2000.

Evans who made a number of cameos with Ninetynine, recorded with that band whilst on tour. Shortly after the Sea Scouts disbanded, he formed Bird Blobs in Melbourne, and to this date they have released an ep and two albums on Unstable Ape Records. von Bamburger who founded Mongoose, Monster Monster Monster and Ditchboss, now plays in Go Genre Everything, Fikerle now plays drums with Love of Diagrams and bass with Baseball, both bands being based in Melbourne. Pope plays in a black metal outfit in Hobart, Ruins.