About The Whitlams
The Whitlams are an Australian Indie rock band formed in late 1992. The original line-up was Tim Freedman on keyboards and lead vocals, Andy Lewis on double bass and Stevie Plunder on guitar and lead vocals. Other than mainstay Freedman, the line-up has changed numerous times. From 2001 to 2022, he was joined by Warwick Hornby on bass guitar, Jak Housden on guitar and Terepai Richmond on drums – forming the band's longest-lasting and best-known line-up. Four of their studio albums have reached the ARIA Albums Chart top 20: Eternal Nightcap , Love This City , Torch the Moon and Little Cloud . Their highest charting singles are "Blow Up the Pokies" and "Fall for You" – both reached number 21. The group's single, "No Aphrodisiac" was listed at number one on the Triple J Hottest 100, 1997 by listeners of national radio station, Triple J. In January 1996 Stevie Plunder was found dead at the base of Wentworth Falls. Andy Lewis died in February 2000.
Tim Freedman and Anthony Hayes a.k.a. Stevie Plunder met at the Big Day Out Sydney concert in January 1992. While missing Nirvana performing inside the arena, the two planned to form a group. The Whitlams were formed as a pop band by September that year, with Freedman on keyboards and lead vocals, Andy Lewis on double bass and Plunder on guitar. Freedman named the band after the former Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam, although Plunder had sought to call themselves, 'The Three Nice Boys'. According to Freedman "I loved the family names—the Smiths, the Reivers. I thought, the Whitlams, no-one's done that. I'll be able to steal all the goodwill that Australia holds in reserve for Gough Whitlam." Initially, without a drummer, the band developed their material acoustically at the Sandringham Hotel, Newtown. Australian music critic, Ed Nimmervoll, felt that they were "a sideline band formed by two Sydney songwriters in search of a bit of extra action." In December 1992 they played a gig in Canberra supporting the Gadflys.
This line-up released their debut album, Introducing the Whitlams, in August 1993 on Black Yak/Phantom Records. The album was recorded in January and March 1993 at the Skyhigh Studios in Newcastle; for the recording sessions they used Louis Burdett and Nick Cecire on drums, with Rob Taylor producing. The album features a mix of original and cover songs, including tracks written by Justin Hayes a.k.a. Stanley Claret . The album comprises three studio tracks, five live takes and two songs from their first demo, including a tribute song to the band's namesake, "Gough", which was written by Freedman. The lead single, "Woody", detailed Woody Allen's break up with Mia Farrow and was followed by their second single, "Gough". Plunder described their sound to Naomi Mapstone of The Canberra Times, "There'd been lots of rap and lots of thrash and that's all very good, but we just have a different style of music and I think people appreciated hearing something a bit different sort of happy, sensitive, not that loud... much more acoustic." The Canberra Times' reporter, Nicole Leedham felt it was "sublime and ridiculous, the band's bluesy, country, jazzy, punky, folky pop swings from bleeding sensitivity to drunken hilarity." Oz Music Project described the album as being "very different to later recordings, with the band sounding a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. A far cry from the lush orchestration of recent recordings."
Stuart Eadie became the band's first permanent drummer. During 1993 to 1994 they performed over 300 shows along the Australian east coast. At first they travelled in Freedman's Holden Kingswood station wagon before using a tour bus, which was used for the 1994 feature film, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The group recorded their second album, Undeniably the Whitlams, from April to May 1994 at the 48V Studio in Sydney, with Taylor and Freedman co-producing. The songwriting for the album was shared between Freedman and Plunder, with significant contributions by Lewis. It was released by Black Yak/Phantom in February 1995 and sold approximately 8,000 copies. Ahead of the album, in October 1994, they issued a single, "Met My Match". Late that year Lewis had left to return to the Gadflys, with Mike Vidale brought in as his replacement. Their next single, "I Make Hamburgers", was released in October 1995 and received airplay on national radio stations, including Triple J.
The Whitlams' "I Make Hamburgers" was listed on the Triple J Hottest 100, 1996 on Australia Day . That same day, Stevie Plunder was found dead at the base of Wentworth Falls; according to Nimmervoll, he was "either the victim of suicide, or of an accidental fall after a night out." The death of Plunder was the make it or break it moment for the band. After several months Freedman reformed the Whitlams with new members; another round of line-up changes occurred later in that year. In August 1996 they issued a nine-track live EP, Stupor Ego, with material recorded from performances at the Harbourside Brasserie in mid-1994 and at Goosens Hall on 30 July 1995 , with the earlier three-piece line-up of Freedman, Lewis and Plunder.
The Whitlams recorded their third album, Eternal Nightcap, with Freedman and Taylor co-producing. Freedman "chose musicians to fit each song, rather than have the same band through the whole album." The album was recorded on an extremely limited budget of $18,000. In a later interview Freedman reflects "The band became a revolving door because I had no money to pay anyone. I actually made the album, Eternal Nightcap, during that most difficult period, that was a really tough year in which to keep my focus and keep my head up, but it ended in September 1997 when I put the record out and it just started selling itself." Jonathan Lewis of AllMusic described it as being " full of gentle, well-crafted, piano-driven pop songs." Singles from the album include "You Sound Like Louis Burdett" , "Melbourne" and "No Aphrodisiac" .
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