Gareth Liddiard

Gareth Liddiard (born 20 November 1975) is an Australian musician, best known as a founding member of both The Drones and Tropical Fuck Storm.[4][5][6] Musically active since 1997, he has also released a solo album titled Strange Tourist in 2010.[7]

Gareth Liddiard
Liddiard performing live with The Drones at A Day on the Green, Hunter Valley, March 2013
Background information
Born (1975-11-20) 20 November 1975
Port Hedland, Western Australia, Australia[1][2]
Associated actsThe Drones, The Gutterville Splendour Six, Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males, Spencer P. Jones and the Nothin' Butts, Tropical Fuck Storm[3]

Liddiard has often been called one of Australia's greatest songwriters[8][9][10][11] and The Drones song "Shark Fin Blues", penned by Liddiard and Rui Pereira, was voted by the band's contemporaries as the greatest Australian song of all time in 2009.[12][13][14]

Early life

Liddiard was born in Port Hedland, Western Australia and then his family lived in South West London until they returned to Western Australia where he started school in Perth. Initially his musical interest lay in jazz and he began playing the saxophone 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, at Duncraig High School. As a teenager, Liddiard listened to the music of artists such as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Black Flag and John Coltrane.[15]

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."[16]

Music

Liddiard formed The Drones with Pereira in 1997[17] and then relocated with the band to Victoria in 2000.[18] The Drones have released six studio albums since 2002 and have toured throughout the world, including music festivals.[19]

Liddiard released his debut solo album in 2010[20] and completed corresponding tours with support from artists such as Sydney, Australia musician Loene Carmen.[21] The album earned him a nomination for a 2011 ARIA Award for Best Male Artist.[22] 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."[23]

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.[24]

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.[15] 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."[19][16]

Personal life

As of May 2019, Liddiard is a vegan and resides in the rural town of Nagambie, Victoria, Australia with Drones bassist Fiona Kitschin and two fox terriers. 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. Liddiard explained the locations attributes in a media interview: "It's as good as anywhere for writing, but the main thing is it's cheap, [...] 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."[19]

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."[15]

Discography

Studio albums
List of studio albums, with selected details
Title Album details
Strange Tourist
Bong Odyssey: Recordings 1993-98
(with Rui Pereira)
  • Released: 2018[26]
  • Label: Bang! Records (BANG!-LP115)
  • Formats: 2x LP, |digital download

See also: The Drones discography and Tropical Fuck Storm discography.

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music.

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2011 Strange Tourist Best Male Artist Nominated

Australian Music Prize

The Australian Music Prize (the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The commenced in 2005.

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2010[27] Strange Tourist Australian Music Prize Nominated

National Live Music Awards

The National Live Music Awards (NLMAs) are a broad recognition of Australia's diverse live industry, celebrating the success of the Australian live scene. The awards commenced in 2016.

Year Nominee / work Award Result
National Live Music Awards of 2016[28] Gareth Liddiard Live Guitarist of the Year Won
National Live Music Awards of 2018[29][30] Gareth Liddiard Live Guitarist of the Year Won

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.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Over, Jessica, Meet Tropical Fuck Storm: The supergroup featuring members of The Drones, High Tension and Harmony, Beat Magazine
  4. Krakow, Steve. "Dystopian Australian scuzz-rockers Tropical Fuck Storm sharpen their slow burn on Braindrops". Chicago Reader.
  5. "A Conversation With … Tropical Fuck Storm". Backyard Opera Magazine.
  6. "Members Of The Drones & High Tension Form New Band Tropical Fuck Storm". Music Feeds. 29 May 2017.
  7. Zuel, Bernard (14 October 2011), "Review of the week.", The Sydney Morning Herald
  8. "An exploration into Gareth Liddiard, Australian music's oddball revolutionary". 21 August 2018.
  9. Carter, Jeremy Story (29 January 2018). "The Drones' Gareth Liddiard on why it's not the time to write political music". ABC News.
  10. "Gareth Liddiard – Strange Tourist". 6 October 2010.
  11. Mathieson, Craig. "Not just made in a Minotaur so". Sydney Morning Herald.
  12. Sadler, Denham (29 December 2014). "Shark Fin Blues by the Drones – a brutally honest account of depression" – via www.theguardian.com.
  13. Bodenner, Chris. "Track of the Day: 'Shark Fin Blues' - The Atlantic". www.theatlantic.com.
  14. "A Canary, Singing Through the Gas: Gareth Liddiard's Strange Tourist". Kill Your Darlings.
  15. Adam Fulton (22 September 2013). "How I unwind: Gareth Liddiard". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  16. Craig Mathieson (1 March 2013). "Renaissance of the Drones". The Age. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  17. "Mushroom Publishing Gareth Liddiard Biography". Mushroommusic.com. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  18. MCMILLEN, ANDREW. "The Drones: "I'm not addicted to love"". The Vine. Archived from the original on 11 February 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  19. "Lunch with Gareth Liddiard". Sydney Morning Herald. 31 August 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  20. Madigan, Damien (16 March 2011), "Gareth Liddiard's solo album Strange", Blue Mountains Gazette
  21. 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.
  22. "And the ARIA nominees are ...", The Daily Mercury, 14 October 2011
  23. Jonathon Moran; Zoe Nauman (16 October 2011). "Liddiard: Arias a cocaine-filled joke". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  24. "Gutterville Splendour Six – Gutterville Splendour Six". Gutterville Splendour Six at Discogs. Discogs. 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  25. "Strange Tourist (DD)". Apple Music. 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  26. "BONG ODYSSEY : Gareth Liddiard & Rui Pereira - Recordings 1993-98 - 2LP - BANG! RECORDS - Forced Exposure". www.forcedexposure.com.
  27. "Winners & Shortlists". australian music prize. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  28. "Nominees 2016". NLMA. 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  29. "NLMA announce 2018 nominees and Live legend". NLMA. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  30. "Winners of the 2018 NLMA". NLMA. December 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
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