Holy Roadside

Biography

Michael Spiby formed The Badloves in Melbourne during January 1990. Spiby, John Housden and Stephen O'Prey had all been part of Daryl Braithwaite's 1989 touring band. A year later, Michael's brother John left The Badloves to be eventually replaced by Tony Featherstone on Hammond organ and guitar. The band became a popular live attraction courtesy of regular gigs and a fine set of laid-back, 1970s-styled blues, Memphis soul and New Orleans R&B material. The band's sound was simple, soulful and ve...

Michael Spiby formed The Badloves in Melbourne during January 1990. Spiby, John Housden and Stephen O'Prey had all been part of Daryl Braithwaite's 1989 touring band. A year later, Michael's brother John left The Badloves to be eventually replaced by Tony Featherstone on Hammond organ and guitar. The band became a popular live attraction courtesy of regular gigs and a fine set of laid-back, 1970s-styled blues, Memphis soul and New Orleans R&B material. The band's sound was simple, soulful and very funky. The Badloves were immediately labelled as 'organic', 'neo-hippies' and 'retro', which may have been the case, but at least it showed a band working within a rich musical tradition.

The Badloves signed a deal with Mushroom Records at the end of 1992 after label head Michael Gudinski saw them supporting Hall and Oates at the Melbourne Concert Hall. Initially then band's debut album Get On Board (June 1993) sold moderately, and the first two CD singles 'Lost'/'Green Limousine' , 'Stop' (March) and 'I Remember' (July), were only minor hits. Months of touring and opening for bands like The Sharp, Weddings Parties Anything and Baby Animals did not help sales. The band's fortunes began to change at the end of 1993 when they collaborated with Jimmy Barnes on his Flesh And Wood album.

In partnership, they recorded a cover version of The Band's classic 'The Weight', which reached #6 in December 1993. Following the success of 'The Weight' and the release of 'Green Limousine' as a single, Get On Board eventually made the Australian Top 5 (Selling in excess of 140 000 copies), and the band won three 1993 Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) Awards (Best Debut Album for Get On Board, Best Debut Single for 'Lost' and Best New Talent).

In early 1994, The Badloves toured Europe with Jimmy Barnes, after which bassist O'Prey left the band to be replaced by John 'Bullfrog' Favarro. The CD single 'Memphis' appeared in March. The band then undertook the successful Travelling Salvation tour which saw The Badloves playing to packed houses across Australia. The beginning of 1995 was taken up with recording a new album with producer Doug Roberts, and the whole project was documented by filmmaker Clayton Jacobson. Black Crowes producer Jack Joseph Puig mixed the album Holy Roadside in Los Angeles.

Holy Roadside came out in September 1995, preceded by the CD single 'Caroline" in August. A limited edition collectors' album, Live In Amsterdam (recorded at 'The Paradiso' while the band was touring Europe with Jimmy Barnes), was also available for a short time with the purchase of Holy Roadside. The soulful 'Slave' appeared as the album's second CD single in November. The 'Barefoot Bride' CD single (May 1996) featured a live rendition of Paul Simon's 'Love Me Like A Rock'. The Badloves issued the live album Everybody Everywhere in April 1997.

The band didn't do much after this, many people said that they broke up, Tony Featherstone denied this in an email he sent me - he said it was a ploy so that they could get out of their Mushroom record deal - looks like it worked! Michael Spiby released his debut solo album in 2000, Ho's Kitchen. The Badloves then came together once more in mid 2000 to play a Victorian festival, the band enjoyed themselves, so they then set out on a small tour. They played more shows again in April 2001. Tony Featherstone left the band early in 2002 to pursue a career in web design. He has yet to be permanently replaced.

The Badloves have continued to tour again and released an EP "14" in March 2002.

Unfortunately, on September 21, 2003 - The Badloves played their final show. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.