Artist description A wonderfully unique rock band from Australia. Combines hugely powerful guitar breaks with beautiful spots of ambience. Not your usual fare and quite unpredictable.

Music Style Alternative Experimental Rock

Musical Influences Refused, Radiohead, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth

Similar Artists a blend of Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Pumpkins and Refused

Artist History The past Puppetman started out in Wangaratta as a three piece "grunge rock" band in 1995, when brothers Aaron and Damien Shanahan started jamming with first drummer Rohan Anderson in his garage. They started off playing covers of Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins songs, but soon after Aaron began writing his own songs. With few gigs available for original bands in the country areas, they competed in a few Battle of the Bands competitions. After about a year as a three piece, bass player Colin Huggins joined the band and Damien took up second guitar duties. The unique sound was starting to develop as Puppetman starting focussing on song dynamics and melodies. They then progressed through the regional finals of the Push Battle of the Bands to then play at the Myer Music Bowl Finals as part of the PushOver festival. Drummer Peter Van Winden joined during this time and the band soon moved to Melbourne permanently and began work on their first ep "They sky used to be blue" which was recorded at Song Zu by James Freud and Tony Hunt. It was soon after this time that Brett Kneebone replaced Colin on the bass and the band began to gig seriously around the Melbourne circuit. Another year of hard gigging and the next ep "Honesty-the new market strategy" was recorded with David Coulthard-Clark at Sing-Sing and Soundpark studios. After receiving airplay and great reviews for Honesty - subsequently getting named in PBS FM’s top unsigned bands of 2000 list, Puppetman decided to take the plunge and invest in recording equipment. Work began on the 'concept' ep "The Search for Something Sacred", with keyboard player Brian Walton joining around this time. As a flowing 'musical painting', the new ep was a bold new step for the band in terms of production and artistic expression. Aaron took the reigns with mixing and recording with assistance from Daniel Reeves. Brett then departed for the country and Luke Dykes has taken over bass duties since. Receiving great responses for powerful live shows, Puppetman continue to play all the major venues around Melbourne. The present Puppetman have just finished recording some new demo tracks. They are also organising a new improvisation night for local bands to participate in - the focus being on creative expression and freedom. The website has been revamped and a film-clip is on the way very soon. The future Puppetman plan to continue pushing the boundaries of creativity and artistic expression through all the different avenues open to them. Hopefully the musical and artistic futures of all the members of Puppetman will prove to be both satisfying and enjoyable. The plan for the future is to continue evading the 'pigeon-holes' and make some wonderful music along every step of the journey.

Group Members Aaron Shanahan - Guitar/Vocals Damien SHanahan - Guitar/Keys Peter Van Winden - Drums Luke Dykes - Bass

Instruments Lots.....

Albums The Search for Something Sacred, Honesty the New Market Strategy, The sky used to be blue

Location Melbourne, Victoria - Australia

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