More about Michael Hole
- Australian Singer, Songwriter, Recording Artist
Thanks for dropping in to read more about Michael Hole. If you've come this far, then perhaps you'd like to know something about his background and musical influences. There's also LOTS OF FREE MUSIC for you to hear, so if you like any of it, let us know by email: requests@michaelholemusic.com
You can just work your way down this page (which is the best way, cause you get to experience the musical evolution), or if you're impatient, you can jump to what Michael's doing now, or go to his influences, but then you'll miss out on all the cool songs to hear!
A History of All My Bands in Chronological Order
Before I had the confidence to join or form any bands, I spent a lot of time writing songs either in my head or on my brother's 4 track recorder. I also spent a good 7 years playing clarinet in symphonic bands, learning classical theory and teaching school kids. In college I studied electronic music, which in those days was focused more on Musique Concrete than drum machines and dance music; a much more avante garde style than most electronic music these days... This all got me started, but I didn't have the confidence to perform until a couple of friends invited me around for a jam...
Soulstice/Solstice (never could decide which way to spell it)
This was my first band. Dougal McPhie (guitar), Dan Louvrick (guitar) and I started jamming while I learned how to play the bass. Over 12 months we wrote about 10 songs of a tripped out, psychedelic bluesy, at times old style punk, nature until we met an army officer, Cameron Darrow who offered to play drums. Within 3 months we did our first gig to a live audience outside our house in Hackett Gardens, Canberra, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We went on to gig for about 15 months until our varying levels of commitment were tested, and we did our last gig at the Civic Youth Centre which rocked! Out of this project we recorded 7 songs at the 2XX community radio station which we called 'Kings of the Carnivalesque', and another 10 songs in a friends garage called 'Burning the Candle'. We made up a few tapes of these and gave them to friends and family. There's probably a few floating around still.
For a taste of the psychedelia: Rat Cage Blues (.mp3 excerpt), Hallahluyahcegenic (.mp3 full 7:34min song)
Burgundy Jam
After Solstice, Doug and I were still keen, and my girlfriend Melissa Freeman worked with us to put together a fun party covers band, doing stuff we liked from the 60s and 70s. I was lead singer, and Doug was lead guitarist. On bass we had Ian Batterham (Bat), drums Bernie O'Reagan (sadly deceased), keyboards Steve McGrory, backing vocals Lexy Lamas, sax Paul Buckley and Melissa was the manager. We had heaps of fun for a good year and a half, and spent many an evening jamming, writing and having a jolly good time. That is until the large social dynamic ate itself and the band was over. There was a short period when Bernie went walk-about and we had another drummer called Imanst, but he went on a 2 week trip to Queensland and we never heard from him again. We wrote about 10 songs in various combinations as a group and recorded a couple. For more info on Dougal and Melissa see my Links page.
For a sample of the music: Babe (.mp3 excerpt)
Barnstead
It was around this time one night, while everyone was out, that I got this idea in my head and sat down at the four track to create a rather intriguing song. The whole thing happened in about 3 hours and is still one of my favourites: Went Down Looking (.mp3 full song)
indelirium
Once again I wanted more, so Steve McGrory and I set up a new band with Reyner Keik on drums. We auditioned and jammed with a few different guitarists until we found Pin Rada. He was a very talented inspiring player, and also plays a mean digeridoo. I wrote a lot of songs, Pin wrote some, Steve and I wrote some and then we jammed a few out. The band was fantastic. We were a kind of indy, phaser, hard rock band with a light, poppy edge. People didn't seem to quite know what to make of us, especially the one time when I wore leather pants on stage. For the grungey, indy Canberra scene of that time, that was way too cock-rock. We gigged quite a bit for another 18 months and laid down a good 20 tracks in lounge room recordings, but I also wrote a lot of other stuff in that period which is still very relevant now. We never did a proper recording of any of the songs, so the legacy is just on a couple of tapes. Unfortunately we split due to 'artistic differences' and left behind what I believe could have been a very successful band.
These recordings are from a low-fi practice tape. The vocals are through my bass amp so please be forgiving: Lemon Maiden (.mp3 full 5:48min song), i Don't Think You Realize How Stone He is (.mp3 full song),
Pin and I continued for a while and put together a totally instrumental band with an excellent drummer Ross Bingham. That went on to be called 'Domingo' and was very successful in Canberra and Melbourne, but I'd moved on by then as I applied to an ad which turned out to be very interesting...
Flat Earth Society
This was a fantastic band as you can hear in the songs below. It brought together all of my influences from the obscure to the rock. Greg Harmston-Jones was an amazing guitarist, having played for years, but he was also deaf in one ear which I think added to his whole experience of music. His long term girlfriend Edwina Howard has been playing bass for about 18 months and with his tutoring was a natural. I jammed with them one day, singing out of my crappy p.a. speaker and we just clicked. Stuff just came out. From the first jam I started writing lyrics and coming up with melodies and structures and within a few weeks we had newly graduated jazz drummer Alex Johnson. Within 3 months we were gigging with a whole bunch of original songs which ranged from quirky, avante-garde to serene beauty, to punk and metal. In some songs I sang, others I growled and some I kind of rapped. We recorded 4 songs and released them as a tape called 'a strange fixation', which included 'Superfly Pts 15 & 16'. Later we recorded 3 more songs, two of which went on the local Canberra band CD compilation 'Leggo Land Strikes Back - Smurf Wars'. These two songs 'Sand Oyster' and 'A Suit is Conceit' typified the extremes of our music. We ended up doing a live to air recording at 2XX radio station which remains as the last archive of the bands music. Unfortunately Greg and Edwina were also jamming with some other guys by this point and I could see the writing on the wall. A whole bunch of other things were coming to an end in my life so I thought it was time to move on, and within a few months I had moved to Sydney. Something I'd been wanting to do for years.
For a samples of the music: Superfly Pts 15 & 16 (.mp3 excerpt), A Suit Is Conceit (.mp3 excerpt), Something Moved (.mp3 full live recording)
Nameless
After the big move interstate there were a few bands I jammed with, some for a period of time others just writing projects. The most memorable was with a guy called Dan Caganoff who later went on to win the Sydney section of the first TripleJ Unearthed under the name 'Ariels Spans Earth' - great name. We also had a drummer called Tim Tebbit who went off to play with Nuno Beckencourt and a bass player called Greg who seemed unimpressed with me which lead to us going our seperate ways. Still, I wrote a few songs in that period which I have saved for future projects.
Northern Lights
My brother met this guy Michael Franklin Olliffe at a party playing a few of his songs. He told Michael to contact me as he thought we'd get on well. He was right. Michael and I hit it off straight away and started jamming along with his brother David and another guy called Paul or something. That project didn't really go anywhere, although Dave's other band 'The Vines' has done just a bit well!!! He used to play me low-fi tape recordings of their songs and I was quite blown away when I found out the deal they'd struck up with assorted record companies. Of course Dave is no longer with the band, but he's very much a part of it's spirit.
Meanwhile, Mike and I decided to do some recordings of his songs on my Cubase set up at home. He played guitar and sang, and I played bass, engineered and produced it all. We also got in a violin player called Guilia on one track and used the keyboard for other parts such as piano, brass and drums. We ended up producing a very nice 7 strack CD called 'Northern Lights - 1998-2002'.
For a sample of the music: Aphrodite's Sister (.mp3 excerpt)
The Corporate Services Big Band
I worked in the Corporate Services division of the Commonwealth Department of Health and someone came up with the idea of putting together a party band. I played bass and sang a few songs with Paul Grogan, Cynthia McDermott, Dario Bicego, Kerryn Stanton, Paul Wickham, Paul Musso and Peter McGee as Christmas Elvis. All were classic rock covers a bit like in Burgundy but with a bit more fancy dress. Needless to say we had a damn fine time.
Paul Grogan and I also tried to get our own project going called 'Glossilalia', but they just ended up being Paul's songs laid down on my Cubase setup with me singing. I have a memory of Paul's very bad smelling Dunlop Volleys and him saying that he could only do music and a job if he'd given up drinking and wasn't in a relationship. Then he started drinking again and got back with Cynthia so the music took a back seat. He's since married a Greek girl called Christine, moved out west and had a number of kids. I caught up a while back and he's been writing some songs for the Phillipines, so who knows when you'll be hearing from him again... Perhaps when you're on holiday in Asia? I hope we do, because I reckon he's a genius. Especially in wit! He also laid down some magical guitar on my song 'Bitter Pill'.
For a full listening: Bitter Pill (.mp3 excerpt)
Valerie Masters and the Lords of Discipline
At the same time I was asked to join another departmental band as the whole thing was part of a talent contest. This one was a bit more punk than the other. I played bass and we did a few modern pop songs. Personnel included Tom Easton on guitar, Scott Hamilton on vocals, Mayer Richmond-Tanner on vocals and Helen Easton on drums (great girl drummer). The highlight has to be instigating a mosh pit on the 6th floor of No 1 Oxford St - an office building!
Monkey Boy (don't be fooled by the name - this band rocked)
This was one hell of band. We rocked hard with a great Tool/Soundgarden/Stone Temple Pilots feel. Really loved this band and all went very well for a good 18 months. Like Flat Earth I started writing lyrics and melody lines from the first jam and within 3 months we had a 7 track CD called 'Intestinal Avenger' which Richard Flaus, the bassplayer, couldn't resist naming given his attraction to garlic chicken sausages. These were funny guys. Tony Gibson on guitar, Bruce Tathan on the Hammond organ and Ari Chandler on drums. We drank a lot, I took up smoking for a while, let them shave my head on New Years Eve and we recorded 5 more great songs. We also wrote a whole heap of other stuff which didn't get completed. We did quite a few gigs in a short period of time and after 18 months were starting to get a small following. TripleJ played us on the morning show and Three Hours of Power, but that was until the old drummer-ego monster reared it's ugly head and the band broke up. We reformed again about a year later with another drummer called Matt but the vibe wasn't there and after a couple of gigs we just never got back together for a practice or even a beer. We're all on good terms but I think that period of my music career is over... although anyone looking for a really powerful melodic hard rock band should listen to the songs and give us a call. We could easily be talked into getting back together to write some more songs and record another album.
For an awsome sample of the music: God (.mp3 full awesome song), Snaek Ride (.mp3 full song), Breed on... (.mp3 excerpt)
Another Roadside Attraction - join the ARA mailing address
This isn't my band. Nor is it a choir in the normal sense of the word. It's an underground acupella group I joined about four years ago and it's been a great musical experience. We do wonderful indi pop songs by people like Rufus Wainright, Nick Cave, Hunters and Collectors, The Church, The Smiths, Elvis Costello, Neil Finn, The Verve, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Hoodoo Gurus, Beck, Antony and Don McGlachen, and then there are heaps of indigineous songs from different cultures such as East Timor, South Africa, Gana, Georgia, Samoa, Cuba, Papua New Guinea, Jewish songs, Hungarian songs, you name it, there's always a new one coming. Just recently I did my first ever acupella arrangement of a Verve song called Bitter Sweet Symphony. I'm just in the process of teacing it to the group and its sounding great. I put together a learning CD which I have called the 'Strangled Cat Sessions'. We're also planning on doing a proper recording of 10 or so songs in the next few months, so lets see what happens there! Also worth noting that these are the guys who supported Paul McDermott in his live version of 'Throw Your Arms Around Me' on Good News Week a few years back. I joined as a bass singer but these days sing tenor on most songs. I get to have lots of fun as it's a great group of people, and Tanya Sparke, the choir director is a very inspirinng musician and does lovely arrangements. We used to be lead by Stephen Taberner, who is also is a very talented man and has had quite an influence on my music. Who knows, I may use ARA in one or two of the songs when I do my first album... one day... Also worth checking out Stephen's other project The Spooky Mens Chorale - very cool.
Michael Hole 2004 (solo)
I began by demoing the songs at home, then I recorded a selection with producer/songwriter/musician extraordinaire Barbara Griffin. I met Barb through another friend Latu Harper (also a great songwriter) whom I met whilst doing a gig with the choir. Barb has helped me to make these songs sound great. We got Kinnon Holt to play the guitar parts and he rocks. He used the most crappy, scratched silver painted $30 semi-acoustic guitar out of a beaten up old Marshall and old style Ibanez effects pedals, but just listen to what he does with it. Fantastic!
'3 Songs' is my first proper solo release. You can listen to samples or buy it HERE
And for those who understand the dreamers, this is the year that might have been 2005, but obviously wasn't! Rolling Stone
2005-2006
In 2005 I didn't do much in the way of new song writing, but I did get this website up and running and well, at least it puts my name up in the top 3 on Google, which is encouraging.
Then last year I did an acupella arrangement of The Verve's 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' and carried on singing in the choir. I was a featured soloist in a Ruphus Wainright song called "Oh What a World" - a great song which includes an underlying counter melody/rhythm of Ravell's Bolero. I also put my 3 Songs CD up on CD Baby which is turning out to be a real babe. I also put some Flat EArth Society, Monkey Boy and Barnstead songs up on Triple J Unearthed. They've had a few comments, but nothing to get them radio play. There's another thing I'm researching too. I might start selling my songs to established artists. That could work quite well.. stay tuned!
Well 2007 has arrived and things are picking up a bit again. I'm currently working on a project with a guy called Cameron Roberts. It's more of a dancy/trip-hop style with a great sample at the core of it. Those of you who have ever been to London will recognise this iconic sample straight away. I've also been very busy working on my illustrated novel. This is a long term project that will take up a lot of my time over the next year as I complete the book. It's quite an epic task writing your first novel! I'm not going to tell you about it here, because it's still top secret and not yet ready for launch, but I've got the URL and I will put together a website soon. In the meantime I'm writing and talking to illustrators, and I think I might have found just the right person... The one thing I will tell you is that the book will be called.... The Execlintians...
These vary greatly, but I'll begin with the first that come to mind and then in no particular order:
David Bowie, The Beatles, Radiohead, Jethro Tull, Kate Bush, Jeff Buckley, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Smiths, Byork, King Crimson, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Van Morrison, Robbie Williams, Talk Talk, The Icicle Works, Joy Division, New Order, REM, Depache Mode, Cold Play, Hawkwind, Alan Parsons Project, The Killers, Steve Winwood, Traffic, Tom Waites, Cat Stevens, Carole King, Carly Simon, The Witlams, Doves, Tool, Jimi Hendrix, Mike Oldfield, Seal, Massive Attack, Beck, Pink Floyd, Gary Glitter, The Sweet, James Blunt, Gorillaz, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Rufus Wainright, Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Queens of the Stoneage, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, Blind Faith, Thin Lizzy, Prodigy, Midnight Oil, Hunters and Collectors, The Carpenters, Glen Campbell (Jimmy Webb), Simon and Garfunkel, Gordon Lightfoot, Violent Femmes, Hoodoo Gurus, Echo and the Bunnymen, Suzanne Vega, The Church, Beasts of Burbon, The Cruel Sea, Gerling, Sidewinder, Clouds, Henry's Anger, Sunny Boys, Black Crows, Stone Roses, Tears for Fears, Spandau Ballet, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Billy Joel, Kylie Burtland, Blur, The Cure, Gomez, Pixies, Foo Fighters, Iggy Pop, The Police, Eurythmics, U2, The Verve, The Who, Janes Addiction, NIN, Muse, Kiss, Sly and the Family Stone, Black Eyed Peas, Golden Earring, Captain Beefheart, Faith No More, Mr Bungle, Grinspoon, Jebadiah, The Vines, Outkast, Small Faces, Three, Neil Finn, Stephen Taberner, Powder Finger, Divinyls, Portishead, Pet Shop Boys, KD Lang, Marianne Siberi, INXS - both, No Doubt, Lincoln Park, Yello, Duran Duran, Live, Guns and Roses, Rage Against The Machine, Beastie Boys, Underworld, Dido, Jack Jones, Tom Jones, Elvis Costello, Michele LeGrand, Harry Nillson, Leonard Cohen, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Prince, Wacko Jacko, Cold Chisel, The Cruel Sea, Skidmarx, Ultra Vox, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Sex Pistols, The Kinks, Killing Joke, Sinead O'Connor, Eminem, Destiny's Child, Beyonce, Jamiroquai, Madonna, Tori Amos, Alicia Keyes, Ed Kuepper, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa, Gong, Yes, Sky, Laurie Anderson, Santana, Godley and Creme, The Buggles, Steve Miller, The Doobie Brothers, Steeley Dan, Spinal Tap, The Goodies, Madness, Bob Marley, Specials, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Lang, Christina Olsen, Roy Buchanan, Alex Lloyd, Bryan Ferry, Russell Morris, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber (yep! mainly for JCSuperstar), Pete Murray, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Albert King, Ry Cooder, Rodriguez, Stravinski, Phillip Glass, Mozart, Rodrigo, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Rimsky Korsikoff, Modest Mousorgski, Michael Nyman, Carl Orf, Michel Gondry, Chris Cunningham, Spyke Jonz and the list goes on...
Credits
I just need to thank a few people. Firstly my beautiful fiance Rachel Dunn for her fantastic photography and artwork on my CD and all of her beautiful love. Also Barbara Griffin for all her time and energy in producing my 3 Songs. She is totally inspiring. Rowena Mueller who got me started with this website. In one afternoon she showed me the bones of Dreamweaver, so I've put this site together. Then there are all the musicians, musical influencers and mentors; but in particular my brother Ian Hollen, Dougal McPhie, Melissa Freeman, Pin Rada, Michael Olliffe, Paul Grogan, Kylie Burtland, Marcus Dawe, John McDougal, Eli Nootenboom, Jacqui Abood, Latu Harper, Jackie Nugara, Mum, Dad and all the people who have ever taken the time to listen to my music or come to see me play. There are so many of you, and I look forward to sharing many more songs over the years. It seems like I've done a lot so far, but that's just the beginning and there's a lot more to come, you won't believe it!
© Michael Hole Midia Enterprises Pty Ltd 2004-2006. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
