Whitlams

About Whitlams

The Whitlams won ‘Best Group’ at the 1998 ARIA Awards, as well as ‘Song of the Year’ and ‘Best Independent Release’ for their third album “Eternal Nightcap”.  In 2011 this album was placed  27th on the ABC’s “My Favourite Album” poll, and more recently was voted no. 17 in “JJJ’s Hottest Australian Albums of All Time”.

The Whitlams recorded output spans seven albums since 1993, and includes the double platinum “Love This City”, the No. 1 “Torch the Moon” and their “Truth, Beauty & A Picture of You – Best of the Whitlams” which sat in the Top 10 for six weeks running. More recently Tim released a solo album on Sony titled “Australian Idle”.

Tim’s solo performances are a treat for music lovers, as his intimate banter, caustic wit, honest vocals and stripped-back piano style have captivated audiences around the world, the highlights being his solo Sunday night residencies at London’s Ronnie Scotts in 2003 and 2005, and his nine year stretch of annual Christmas shows at The Basement in Sydney.

History

The Whitlams formed in late 1992 in Newtown, Australia. As a three piece with no drummer, Tim Freedman, Stevie Plunder and Andy Lewis developed their songs acoustically on Saturday afternoons at the Sandringham Hotel in King Street.

So followed the usual formative months of beer, bonding and bad shows. In early 1993 they discovered that with their gear, they could all fit into a Kingswood station wagon. Taking turns lying on the piano in the back, they headed off every six weeks to Byron Bay and Brisbane and became a real band.

Introducing The Whitlams

August 1993 saw the release of their first album “Introducing The Whitlams”. Its 10 tracks were a mixture of 3 produced tracks, 5 live takes and 2 songs from their first demo. Its jaunty acoustic spirit worked well with radio, and live they started to be known for their rather comic abuse of each other, which sat strangely with sweet 3-part harmonies one minute later. Stevie was usually drunk in those days and no-one could work out what Tim was on.

Andy didn’t speak. Piano and double bass were not the hip thing in the inner-city, but the rough edge and energy with which they utilised them got The Whitlams good crowds from the start. Over 1993 and 1994 they played over 300 shows, most with drummer Stu Eadie. This line-up was remarkable for its brutal dynamics and infectious snappy vigour. For six months they toured and lived in a pink greyhound bus, later made famous in the movie” Priscilla Queen of the Desert”. It was a mad-house on wheels.

Undeniably The Whitlams

Late 1994 they went into the studio with fabulous Rob Taylor producing again and had a month to create a full-length document. This became “Undeniably The Whitlams”. It was more richly textured and stylistically varied than its predecessor, retaining the humour and developing their artfully sensitive side. Just after the album was released Andy got married and moved to Melbourne. He was replaced by an friend of Tim’s, Michael Vidale, whose favourite food is fetta cheese with a bit of olive oil, cut thin and eaten on a knife.

The band toured the album nationally in November 1995 and its profile over summer increased enormously as the single “I Make Hamburgers” gained broad community and commercial airplay across the country. They were about to take advantage of this upturn in fortunes when Stevie Plunder was found dead at the bottom of a cliff on Australia Day, 1996.

 Eternal Nightcap

After a four month break Tim decided to keep the band going. He experimented with line-ups over a couple of tours to Melbourne and Brisbane, and 12 months after that recorded an album, “Eternal Nightcap”, which went on to sell over 280,000 units.

In 1998 The Whitlams were nominated for 8 ARIA awards:

-Best Group
-Song of the Year
-Best Independent Release
-Best Album Best Single
-Best Pop Release
-Engineer of the Year
-Best Producer

and won 3 ARIAs

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