Gareth Liddiard

Gareth Liddiard
Born 20 November 1975
Origin Port Hedland, Western Australia, Australia[1][2]
Associated acts The Drones
The Gutterville Splendour Six
Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males
Spencer P. Jones and the Nothin' Butts
Tropical Fuck Storm[3]

Gareth Liddiard is an Australian musician and founding member of The Drones. Liddiard has released one album as a solo artist and seven studio albums with the Drones. In 2018 he released the debut album of his new band Tropical Fuck Storm.

Early life

Liddiard was born in Port Hedland, Western Australia and then lived in London until he returned to Western Australia to start school in Perth. Initially his musical interest lay in jazz, but he eventually found his way to rock and roll music and started playing in bands during his high school years in the city's northern beach suburbs, around Sorrento. Nearby to his High School, Duncraig Senior High School. As a teenager, Liddiard listened to the music of artists such as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Black Flag and John Coltrane.[4]

At the age of 18 years, Liddiard gained employment with a concert lighting firm in Perth and remained in this role for seven years, working with festivals such as the Big Day Out and bands such as Kim Salmon and the Surrealists. In regard to his development as a musician during this time, Liddiard explained in 2013: "Everything came together slowly and organically. It was only when Rui Pereira (high school friend) and I moved to Melbourne in 2000 that we thought of trying to make some money out of music. Before that I'd never considered the idea of being an entertainer."[5]

Music

Liddiard formed The Drones with Pereira in 1997[6] and then relocated with the band to Victoria in 2000.[7] The Drones have released six studio albums since 2002 and have toured throughout the world, including music festivals.[8][9]

Liddiard released his debut solo album in 2010[10] and completed corresponding tours with support from artists such as Sydney, Australia musician Loene Carmen.[11] The album earned him a nomination for a 2011 ARIA Award for Best Male Artist.[12] In response to the nomination, Liddiard stated: "It's just for wankers, snorting coke and getting drunk. It's just not on my radar and I'm just not interested. The ARIAs don't really mean anything to me."[13]

Together with Pereira, who left the Drones line-up, Liddiard contributed to the production of a self-titled album by Perth band Gutterville Splendour Six. Liddiard played guitar on fourteen songs, in addition to undertaking mixing and recording duties. All of the album's songs were recorded on an ADAT eight-track machine and the album was released as a vinyl record on Spanish record label Bang! Records.[14]

In 2013 Liddiard cited Dimitri Shostakovich, The Stooges, North African music and Olivier Messiaen as musical influences. In terms of writers, Liddiard provided Carl Sagan and Kurt Vonnegut as examples.[4] Regarding his own lyrics, Liddiard stated in 2013: "I read but I'm not that widely read. I don't know. They're just words for songs. That's all they are. Yeah, they're sometimes funny. You've got to be funny; life's funny."[9][5]

Personal life

As of September 2013, Liddiard is a vegetarian and resides in the rural town of Nagambie, Victoria, Australia with Drones bassist Fiona Kitschin. Prior to Nagambie, the pair lived in the rural Victorian town of Myrtleford. The Nagambie property, next to the Goulburn River, was the recording location for the 2013 Drones album I See Seaweed and Liddiard explained its attributes in a media interview: "It's as good as anywhere for writing, but the main thing is it's cheap, Liddiard says. There's a huge amount of room. We have a billabong, there's a swampland, a creek, we're on the river. It's nice."[9]

Liddiard was living in the same area as the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 and subsequently attained a 75 series Landcruiser Troop Carrier vehicle in the event of such an incident in the future. Liddiard explained in 2013 that "it's basically our ticket out of the next bushfire. In the last fires we had a 1990 Ford Falcon which wouldn't have been much use once a tree fell across the only road out of our valley."[4]

Discography

  • The Gutterville Splendour Six (EP) (1998) (Guitar)
  • The Drones: The Drones EP (2001)
  • The Drones: "Here Come the Lies" – Spooky Records (2002)
  • The Drones: "Mean Streak"/"Cockeyed Lowlife of the Highlands" – Sonico Records (2002) 7" vinyl
  • The Drones: "Bird in a Church"/"Slamming on the Brakes" – In-Fidelity Records (2003) 7" vinyl
  • Spencer P. Jones: Fait Accompli – Spooky Records (2003) (Keys)
  • Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males: Sing the Tabloid Blues – In-Fidelity Records (2004) (Bass, guitar and keys)
  • The Drones: Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By – In-Fidelity/ATP Recordings (2005)
  • The Drones: The Miller's Daughter – Bang! Records (2005)
  • The Drones: "Shark Fin Blues" (radio edit)/"You Really Don't Care" – ATP Recordings (2006) 7" vinyl
  • Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males: Pirate Radio EP – In-Fidelity Records (2005) (Saxophone)
  • The Drones: Gala Mill – ATP Recordings (2006)
  • The Drones: Spaceland Presents: The Drones 15 November 2006 (Spaceland Recordings)
  • The Drones: Live in Spaceland – Spaceland Recordings (2007)
  • The Drones: "Custom Made" – ATP Recordings (2007) 2 x 7" vinyl
  • The Drones: Live in Madrid DVD – Munster Records (2007)
  • The Meanies/The Drones/ Dan Kelly And The Alpha Males – "If I Say Uncle" (2008) Limited Edition 7" vinyl
  • The Drones: Havilah – ATP Recordings (2008)
  • The Drones: The Minotaur EP – ATP Recordings (2008) 12" vinyl
  • The Drones: Live at the Annandale Hotel 18, 19 October 2007 (2008) Limited Edition vinyl
  • The Drones: Live At The Hi-Fi – ATP Recordings (2009)
  • Magic Dirt: White Boy EP (2009) (Guitar and vocals)
  • Gareth Liddiard: Strange Tourist Shock Records/ATP Recordings (2010)[15]
  • The Gutterville Splendour Six: The Gutterville Splendour Six – Bang! Records (2011) (Guitar and production duties)
  • The Drones: A Thousand Mistakes – Bang! Records (2011) Limited Edition (500 copies) 2 x vinyl LP
  • The Drones: A Thousand Mistakes DVD – Shock Records (2011) 2 x DVD
  • Spencer P. Jones and the Nothing Butts – Shock Records (2012) (Guitar)
  • The Drones: "How To See Through Fog" (2013) Digital
  • The Drones: I See Seaweed – MGM (2013)
  • The Drones: "Feelin' Kind of Free" (2016) Tropical Fuck Storm Records[8]
  • Tropical Fuck Storm: "A Laughing Death in Meatspace" (2018) Mistletone

References

  1. ↑ Mathieson, Craig (2009). Playlisted: Everything You Need to Know About Australian Music Right Now. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74223-017-7.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  3. ↑ Over, Jessica, Meet Tropical Fuck Storm: The supergroup featuring members of The Drones, High Tension and Harmony, Beat Magazine
  4. 1 2 3 Adam Fulton (22 September 2013). "How I unwind: Gareth Liddiard". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  5. 1 2 Craig Mathieson (1 March 2013). "Renaissance of the Drones". The Age. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  6. ↑ "Mushroom Publishing Gareth Liddiard Biography". Mushroommusic.com. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  7. ↑ MCMILLEN, ANDREW. "The Drones: "I'm not addicted to love"". The Vine. Archived from the original on 11 February 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  8. 1 2 "Drones, The (2)". Drones, The (2) at Discogs. Discogs. 2013. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 "Lunch with Gareth Liddiard". Sydney Morning Herald. 31 August 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  10. ↑ Madigan, Damien (16 March 2011), "Gareth Liddiard's solo album Strange", Blue Mountains Gazette
  11. ↑ Aaron Diaz (23 November 2010). "GARETH LIDDIARD + LOENE CARMEN – OXFORD ART FACTORY (20.11.10)". AU. Heath Media & the AU review. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  12. ↑ "And the ARIA nominees are ...", The Daily Mercury, 14 October 2011
  13. ↑ Jonathon Moran; Zoe Nauman (16 October 2011). "Liddiard: Arias a cocaine-filled joke". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  14. ↑ "Gutterville Splendour Six – Gutterville Splendour Six". Gutterville Splendour Six at Discogs. Discogs. 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  15. ↑ Zuel, Bernard (14 October 2011), "Review of the week.", The Sydney Morning Herald
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