Австралиялық Antiskeptic тобының тарихы

Rock band

Antiskeptic is a rock band based in Melbourne, Australia. The band has enjoyed over twenty years of successful touring nationally, releasing three full length albums, three EPs, one live album and two DVDs. The band have toured with many successful groups, including Midnight Oil, Jimmy Eat World, Anberlin, The Get Up Kids, Unwritten Law, Millencolin, MxPx, Jebediah, Bodyjar and Dashboard Confessional. Antiskeptic are known for their energetic live shows and powerful performances as much as the uplifting and encouraging lyrical content of their songs.

Formed in Melbourne in 1999, the band was originally only a side project for guitarist/singer Andrew Kitchen and bassist/singer Sean Daly. At the time, the men were performing in another band named Dispersia. Dispersa later broke up and gave way to Antiskeptic. Initially named TSP (an acronym for the Side Project), Andrew Kitchen came up with the band's name whilst treating an infected ear piercing; Kitchen misread the label on a bottle of antiseptic and suggested it to the other members. Shortly after, Nick Coppin became the band's drummer and the trio began to write material and play live shows. The band issued a self titled EP in 2000 and complemented the release with a low budget video clip for the track 60% Intentional, which was featured on Australian music video program Rage. The success of the EP and 60% Intentional saw the band begin touring outside of Melbourne for the first time, and scored festival slots at the Black Stump Music and Arts Festival in New South Wales and Forest Edge Music Festival in Victoria. In 2001, the band released a second EP, Change My Ways which featured two forthcoming tracks from the debut album that was still being recorded by Producer David Carr. The EP also featured three previous unreleased songs and a short video clip of interviews and liver performances. In June 2002, Antiskeptic released their debut album. Titled Memoirs of a Common Man, the album propelled the band to new heights. Lead single "Called" featured on high rotation on national radio stations Triple J and Triple M, with the track and video clip also featuring on Triple J's famous Hottest 100 compilation (CD and DVD, Volume 10) after being voted number 92 in Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2002. The success of "Called" also lent itself to more festival dates, including the M One Rock Festival with Nickelback, Midnight Oil and the Goo Goo Dolls and the Homebake festival with Gerling, Jet, Pnau and others.

In 2003, Daly made the decision to leave the band and pursue other interests. He toured and recorded with his side project, sunsetsallday and also married his partner. He was replaced by Shane O'Keeffe, who contributed bass on "Nothing to Say", the lead single from the band's second album, Aurora. However, the then 18 year old decided that the pressures of moving from Queensland to Melbourne were too great, and he made the decision to leave. This left the band without a bass player for the remainder of the Aurora recording sessions and the planned national tour to promote the new album. Daly and album producer David Carr recorded the remaining bass tracks and friend Corey Sleap was able to fill in for the tour while they continued to search for a full time replacement. Despite the setbacks, lead single "Nothing to Say" featured on Australian radio, the music video also ran on national programs such as Rage and Channel V. As the band went on a national tour to support the album, "Clear to Pass" was issued as a free single available through the band's website, complete with artwork. The single achieved some modest radio play, being picked up by Triple M and Sydney independent station FBI. At the beginning of 2004, it was announced that Daly had rejoined the band after temporarily filling in for the band in December 2003. On returning the band, Daly described the reunion as follows: "The band was in a position when they were trying out some bass players and they were in a spot with some shows. They contacted me and asked if I’d come back as a fill in, which I was thrilled to do because I’d had a break and was feeling great about it. After one show they said we’ve got these other shows booked, how would you feel about filling in for those. Then those three shows became five and it became a case of why don’t I just stay." The band also played the Gold Coast's Festival of Beers, Push Over Festival in Melbourne and the Cosmonautical Festival in Perth during the same period. The band appeared on Rove Live on 19 September 2006 as the show's house band. In March 2008 at the Easterfest music festival, the band made a statement during their performance that the band was finishing up as of September 2008. Recalling the decision to call it quits, drummer Coppin elaborated that "when we finished up in 2008, priorities had shifted in the band and we were unable to continue doing it in a way that was respectful to all members." Their 'Goodbye Goodnight tour' was to be their final tour, with only one Adelaide show, one Sydney show and two Melbourne shows, the last of which was on 20 September 2008 to a sold out home crowd at the Hi Fi Bar. In celebration of their career, they recorded one final single entitled "I'll Follow", which was available for free download on their MySpace, and released a DVD called Memoirs of a Common Band, which is essentially an overview of their career. The final live performance was recorded and filmed. The concert audio was made available to the audience immediately after the performance on the band's final CD release titled Goodbye Goodnight – Live at the Hi Fi. A full length CD/DVD of the performance with enhanced audio and features was released in 2011 through El Shaddai Records.

In March 2011 it was announced via the band's Facebook page that its members would reunite for a special one off performance at Melbourne's iconic punk/metal venue The Arthouse to commemorate its closing. Tickets for the show sold out in minutes and the band was joined by fellow Melbourne rock trio Horsell Common. The band played a brand new song titled "The Kids Aren’t Scared" and was also the first time people could purchase the full length CD/DVD Goodbye Goodnight – Live at the Hi Fi 2008. Following the show, Kitchen and Coppin decided they wished to continue on following the success of the Arthouse show. Following a series of discussions, Coppin and Kitchen decided to reform the band permanently, without Daly; "We got some feedback that Antiskeptic was the chemistry that we all had, but Nick and I were keen to proceed," recalled Kitchen in a 2012 interview. "We all talked about it. A few days after we made that decision, Nick and I walked in on a new frontier. We had gigs booked, and with only two active members. A day or two later, one Bodyjar show was confirmed and we knew we made the right decision from then on." When queried on the future of the band, Coppin stated in January 2012 that it was open ended; "the plan for Antiskeptic is to have fun. We are now in a position where we are open to anything. We have four dudes in a band that are passionate about playing music and performing for people and that is feeling really exciting and invigorating. We want to continue to tour, we want to record and we want to have a blast doing it!" The band will be tracking the majority of the album in Kitchen's studio and are having it mixed and produced by Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus, Cog). and was part of Newcastle's two day CityFest lineup in November with Evermore, New Empire and Stan Walker. Antiskeptic announced in February 2013 that Ryan Mclerie had left the band due to commitments to House vs Hurricane. He was replaced by Jarrod Salton of City Escape. The band played with MxPx on the Adelaide leg of their national tour in early March, before making a second appearance in as many years at the Forest Edge Music Festival, also with MxPx. The band began recording the new album in May. 'Stare Down The Ocean', Antiskeptic's third full length album was released in 2014 and was met with positive critical reviews Australia wide and became the Album of the Week on the national Triple M 'Homegrown' radio program. In support of the album Antiskeptic undertook an extensive national tour with Queensland rock band Young Lions in support. Throughout 2015 the band hit the road for separate tours with American rock bands Switchfoot, Everclear and Lifehouse before calling it a day at the Lifehouse show at Melbourne's Forum Theatre.

In May 2019, Antiskeptic performed a one off show in Melbourne with their original lineup (Andrew, Nick and Sean), supporting Anberlin on their 2019 Australian tour at The Forum. The response was so positive from fans that the band made their return official and followed with a tour supporting The Get Up Kids in October that year. December 2019, Antiskeptic celebrated their 20th anniversary playing to a sold out show at the Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy and announced further shows in 2020 and that writing had begun on new material. In March 2020 the band performed alongside fellow rock/punk veterans For Amusement Only, Seraphs Coal and Wishful Thinking for a successful run of shows on the east coast which was cut short due to the COVID 19 pandemic. In 2022 the band released a 20th Anniversary Remastered Vinyl edition of the 2002 debut album Memoirs of a Common Man and tolerated a hardcore/metal band called Dark Antiskeptic releasing heavy and twisted re recordings of the bands back catalogue which coincided with the vinyl release. In November 2022 Antiskeptic made a triumphant return to the stage with fellow Melbourne 3 piece Horsell Common for a sell out hometown show where the band announced their new album Instincts was in development and performed new material live for the first time in 7 years.

A number of video clips have been commissioned for Antiskeptic to promote singles/releases. The following is a list of official promotional videos. YearTitleAlbumNotes2000"60% Intentional"Antiskeptic (EP)The '60% Intentional' clip was a school project for a film production student and friend of the band. Shot over two days, one half on the streets of Box Hill in Melbourne and the other half in studio at Box Hill TAFE. The clip was submitted to the ABC for viewing on RAGE and received several screenings which very fortunately coincided with spotplay on triple J. The band quickly gained attention from indie labels, radio and industry professionals whilst touring on the back of this unplanned national exposure.2002"Called"Memoirs of a Common ManWhen Antiskeptic produced the clip for "Called" it was to coincide with generous national airplay which the song had picked up and due to favourable attention from Triple J, was included on the first Triple J Hottest 100 DVD. Filmed in an underground carpark in St Kilda, Melbourne between the hours of 9pm 3am one Friday night the clip was put together on a meager budget of only $3000. It was also available on the CD single "Four Seasons" as a CD ROM component and on various give away/compilation CDs including Coke's M One festival sampler.2002"Four Seasons"Memoirs of a Common Man"Four Seasons" was put together on an even smaller budget and shot in an upstairs graphic design/ photography suite in the Melbourne CBD. It featured images of Australian soldiers from the Vietnam War about whom the song is written. This clip also received a generous amount of screen time with support from 'Fly TV,' a music focused youth program on Saturday mornings on ABC.2003"Nothing to Say"AuroraAnother performance clip set in a warehouse capturing the energy and attitude of the aggressive and anthemic track. This video of the band shows Antiskeptic's second bass player Shane O'Keefe who performed in the band at the time of the single's release. The clip received airplay on both Channel V and ABC programs during the two month national tour that followed its release.2004"Beautiful in White"AuroraWritten and directed by Andrew Kitchen, this very clever and entertaining clip was shot over several days and locations in Melbourne during the summer of 2005. None of the members actually saw each other on the day of their filming because the camera follows the accidental travels of a soccer ball as it encounters the band members in different places.2006"Dancing on the Inside"MonumentsThe clip was filmed over 36 hours of straight shooting, not including the digital post production and special effects. Initial production began at various locations across Brisbane for the story/narrative element while the after dusk/performance filming was done at an unused correctional facility in Wacol, Brisbane. The clip was aired on RAGE, Channel V and received generous attention through the bands MySpace and YouTube sites.