Dappled Cities Fly
Encyclopedia
Dappled Cities are a five-piece indie rock
band from Sydney
, Australia
.
The band played at various all-ages shows and charity benefits before they reached legal age to play in the licensed venues in the Sydney CBD. This period saw the band play at (now deceased) venues such as the Hopetoun, the Excelsior and The Bat and Ball. The band members moved to the inner suburbs of Sydney and after various name changes settled on Dappled Cities Fly, chosen because its inappropriateness as a band name made them laugh at the time although the band "have regretted it ever since".[3]
Dappled Cities have been part of the Sydney music scene revival since 2000. The band have made several extensive tours of Australia and also toured New Zealand in 2004. In 2006 the band performed in London and at various shows in the United States, including SXSW, where they played again in 2009 and 2010. Throughout 2009, the band did a number of extensive tours of America and Canada. This included shows at venues such as the Crocodile Club in Seattle, Mercury Lounge in New York and the Troubadour in Los Angeles.
Dappled Cities regularly headline their own shows in Australia. Their frequent live shows draw a regular following of fans and the band became popular supporting international acts touring eastern Australia.
The band's early single and EP releases were critically well received and played Australia-wide on various radio stations. Their first album, A Smile, after several years in the making, was released in late 2004 and was featured as album of the week on radio stations FBi and Triple J, in most of the Sydney street press and in various other media. The Sydney Morning Herald reviewer Bernard Zuel wrote of A Smile that it "weaves between lo-fi indie rock, oddly bent pop and a kind of big-emotion, big-gesture music that seems refracted through a vaguely hallucinogenic mirror".
In 2006 their second album Granddance, which was recorded at Sunset Sounds and Senora Studios in Los Angeles, was released. The album's cover artwork has the band's name as Dappled Cities, without the word "Fly"; however as Tim Derricourt explained to The Drum Media magazine, this was done mainly for artistic reasons, and does not amount to a formal name change for the band.[4] Although this was accurate at the time, they have officially dropped the Fly from their moniker as of 2009, simply calling themselves Dappled Cities. In late 2007 the band recorded and released a cover version of "November Rain", played with local Sydney band Red Riders, with whom they had toured earlier in the year.
On 27 February 2008, a bulletin was posted on the band's MySpace announcing that Hugh Boyce had left the band. In the following months, the band announced the arrival of their new drummer, Allan Kumpulainen.
Dappled Cities' third album, Zounds, was released in Australia on the 15th of August 2009. An American release followed in early 2010. The album received many positive reviews. Pitchfork gave the band 7.8 and noted that “Dappled Cities haven't quite acquired a big reputation outside their homeland yet, but it seems likely they will”. The band spent time throughout this period in New York and London while also doing a number of tours around Australia. Dappled Cities continued to work on their live show during this period and received a number of glowing reviews. One reviewer noted that “every element of the Dappled Cities performance was well thought out, with the visual aesthetics on stage complementing the music to perfection”.
The band recorded their fourth album throughout September, 2011 at Megaphon Studios in St Peters. The recording was done with the assistance of Jarrad Kritzstein with a release date lined up for early 2012.
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band from Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
History
The band, originally called Periwinkle, first came together in the leafy, northern Sydney suburb of Pymble in 1997. Dave Rennick and original drummer Hugh Boyce were soon joined by Alex Moore on bass and Tim Derricourt on guitar. Throughout the band’s existence, keyboards have been gradually introduced both on record and in a live setting. The keyboards are played by Ned Cooke, who replaced temporary member Mark Bradshaw in 2006.The band played at various all-ages shows and charity benefits before they reached legal age to play in the licensed venues in the Sydney CBD. This period saw the band play at (now deceased) venues such as the Hopetoun, the Excelsior and The Bat and Ball. The band members moved to the inner suburbs of Sydney and after various name changes settled on Dappled Cities Fly, chosen because its inappropriateness as a band name made them laugh at the time although the band "have regretted it ever since".[3]
Dappled Cities have been part of the Sydney music scene revival since 2000. The band have made several extensive tours of Australia and also toured New Zealand in 2004. In 2006 the band performed in London and at various shows in the United States, including SXSW, where they played again in 2009 and 2010. Throughout 2009, the band did a number of extensive tours of America and Canada. This included shows at venues such as the Crocodile Club in Seattle, Mercury Lounge in New York and the Troubadour in Los Angeles.
Dappled Cities regularly headline their own shows in Australia. Their frequent live shows draw a regular following of fans and the band became popular supporting international acts touring eastern Australia.
The band's early single and EP releases were critically well received and played Australia-wide on various radio stations. Their first album, A Smile, after several years in the making, was released in late 2004 and was featured as album of the week on radio stations FBi and Triple J, in most of the Sydney street press and in various other media. The Sydney Morning Herald reviewer Bernard Zuel wrote of A Smile that it "weaves between lo-fi indie rock, oddly bent pop and a kind of big-emotion, big-gesture music that seems refracted through a vaguely hallucinogenic mirror".
In 2006 their second album Granddance, which was recorded at Sunset Sounds and Senora Studios in Los Angeles, was released. The album's cover artwork has the band's name as Dappled Cities, without the word "Fly"; however as Tim Derricourt explained to The Drum Media magazine, this was done mainly for artistic reasons, and does not amount to a formal name change for the band.[4] Although this was accurate at the time, they have officially dropped the Fly from their moniker as of 2009, simply calling themselves Dappled Cities. In late 2007 the band recorded and released a cover version of "November Rain", played with local Sydney band Red Riders, with whom they had toured earlier in the year.
On 27 February 2008, a bulletin was posted on the band's MySpace announcing that Hugh Boyce had left the band. In the following months, the band announced the arrival of their new drummer, Allan Kumpulainen.
Dappled Cities' third album, Zounds, was released in Australia on the 15th of August 2009. An American release followed in early 2010. The album received many positive reviews. Pitchfork gave the band 7.8 and noted that “Dappled Cities haven't quite acquired a big reputation outside their homeland yet, but it seems likely they will”. The band spent time throughout this period in New York and London while also doing a number of tours around Australia. Dappled Cities continued to work on their live show during this period and received a number of glowing reviews. One reviewer noted that “every element of the Dappled Cities performance was well thought out, with the visual aesthetics on stage complementing the music to perfection”.
The band recorded their fourth album throughout September, 2011 at Megaphon Studios in St Peters. The recording was done with the assistance of Jarrad Kritzstein with a release date lined up for early 2012.
Members
- Dave Rennick – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Tim Derricourt – guitar, vocals
- Ned Cooke – keyboardElectronic keyboardAn electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
, samplerSampler (musical instrument)A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or... - Allan Kumpulainen – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Alex Moore – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Albums
- A SmileA SmileA Smile is the first album by Dappled Cities Fly, released in 2004.-Track listing:# "Peach" – 3:34# "Blame It on the Boys" – 3:12# "League of German Girls" – 3:13# "Corpus Kinaethesia" – 2:36# "Make You Happy" – 2:15...
, released 18 October 2004, reissueReissueA reissue is the repeated issue of a published work. In common usage, it refers to an album which has been released at least once before and is released again, sometimes with alterations or additions....
released 11 November 2006 - GranddanceGranddanceGranddance is the second album by Dappled Cities Fly, released in 2006. The album was recorded at Sunset Sound, Sanora Recorders and New Monkey Studios - Los Angeles in July 2006 and produced by Jim Fairchild and Peter Walker...
, released 11 November 2006 - ZoundsZounds (album)Zounds is the third album by Dappled Cities, released in 2009.-Track listing:# "Hold Your Back" – 4:46# "Answer Is Zero" – 3:54# "The Price" – 4:33# "Wooden Ships" – 4:59# "Slow for Me, My Island" – 4:44# "The Night Is Young at Heart" – 5:24...
(#48 Australia), released 15 August 2009
EPs and singles
- "Be Engine/Sputnik" (2002) - double A-side
- "Chameleon Girl" (2003) - with 6 B-sides
- "Dead Bodies Where Their Mouths Were" (2003) - live studio recording EP with handmade covers
- "Peach" (2004) - 200 copies only with pencil coloured covers
- "Wimbo Park" (2004) - New Zealand EP release with selected tracks from earlier releases
- "Cream" (2004)
- "Die In Your Eyes" (2005) - Very limited split EP with the Tucker B'sTucker B'sTucker B's are an Australian band originally from Perth but have been based in Sydney since 2005.-History:The Tucker B’s were formed at the end of 1994 by Matt Rudas and Andrew Houston, performing their first gig together at the Harbourside in Fremantle. In 1995, with the addition of Sean Pezzali,...
- "A Crooked Smile" (2006) - EP of remixes by guest "friends and countrymen" of songs from the album "A Smile"
- "Fire Fire Fire" (2006)
- "Vision Bell" (2007)
- "Work It Out" (2007)
- "The Price" (2009)