Crowded House Back On The Scene

Crowded House Back On The Scene

Summary: One of New Zealands finest musical exports, Crowded House, formed when new wave pioneers Split Enz called it quits mid-way through the s. Singer/guitarist Neil Finn (his brother Tim was the founding member of Split Enz) brought Split Enz drummer Paul Hestor together with bassist Nick Seymour, and guitarist Craig Hooper, as The Mullanes, after the split in .

A year later, with a band name change, the loss of Hooper, a signing to Capitol Records and accompanying mo...

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Article Body: One of New Zealands finest musical exports, Crowded House, formed when new wave pioneers Split Enz called it quits mid-way through the s. Singer/guitarist Neil Finn (his brother Tim was the founding member of Split Enz) brought Split Enz drummer Paul Hestor together with bassist Nick Seymour, and guitarist Craig Hooper, as The Mullanes, after the split in .

A year later, with a band name change, the loss of Hooper, a signing to Capitol Records and accompanying move to Los Angeles, Crowded House had gelled and recorded their debut, self-titled album. The disc had several strong singles including World Where You Live, Something So Strong, and the bonafide hit, Dont Dream Its Over.

Suffering from a lack of strong record label promotion, Crowded House languished for a time before a concerted effort that included a tour of small venues and record shops, along with numerous media appearances including regular gigs on music video channels such as MTV and MuchMusic. The bands hard work paid off, and in Crowded House hit the US Top with Dont Dream Its Over.

The follow up came a year later in the form of Temple of Low Men, which shed the pop veneer the band had crafted, and delved into much darker material. It yielded the singles Into Temptation and Better Be Home Soon, but the band never matched the commercial success of that initial release and their fortunes began to spiral downward.

There were a few tumultuous years that included the firing and rehiring of Seymour in , then Neil Finns brother Tim joined up, contributing to the Woodface album in . Tim left (or was asked to leave) during the tour to support that release. In the meantime, several supporting musicians came and went; Paul Hestor quit, and in Neil Finn officially pulled the plug on Crowded House.

Tragedy struck in when drummer Paul Nestor committed aged only . His death was tragic, but what made it especially eerie are some of the coincidences throughout the bands career: Paul was always the outgoing and wacky one during the early interviews, the cover of the debut album featured Paul decked out in angel wings and hovering above the other band members, then there was the CD put out with the unfortunate (in retrospect) title Paul Is Dead.

Crowded House reunited in , released a new CD, Time On Earth, and have been touring to rave reviews, including Coachella and a slot on the Australian leg of the live Earth concert in July . The tour brings them through the UK in November and December, including dates at Wembley Arena and the Royal Albert Hall. If you want to see how good s pop was, youd be hard pressed to beat this show.

For a bit of a then and now flashback effect, heres the reunited band playing Dont Dream Its Over at Live Earth in :

Discography (Original releases Only) : Crowded House (# UK) : Temple Of Low Men (# UK) : Woodface (# UK x Platinum) : Together Alone (# UK Platinum) : Farewell To The World (# UK) : Time On Earth (# UK)

Forthcoming UK Dates / Dublin, Ireland - National Stadium / Belfast, UK - Waterfront Hall / Manchester, UK - MEN Arena / Glasgow, UK - SECC / Nottingham, UK - Arena / Birmingham, UK - NEC / Cardiff, UK - International Arena / Bournemouth, UK - International Centre / Brighton, UK - Brighton Centre / London, UK - Wembley Arena / London, UK - Royal Albert Hall