Sounds Like Sunset: Австралийская группа из Сиднея

Australian band

Sounds Like Sunset are a band based in Sydney. The group formed in 1997 and as of 2019 have released 3 albums, Saturdays in 2001, Invisible in 2005 and We Could Leave Tonight in 2014 as well as various other releases on cassettes, 7 inch and compilations. We Could Leave Tonight was released on vinyl 22 July 2014 through Tym Records, and on CD and digitally on 22 August 2014 through Simon Tahiti Records.

The band formed initially as a side project with David Challinor (guitar), David Hobson (bass) and Rohan Geddes (drums) in a recently vacated room in Challinor's moldy and more or less condemned share house in Pennant Hills in Sydney's north west in August 1997. Challinor had been mostly busy playing guitar in the Sydney indie band Sal Paradise (Tooth & Nail Records) since early 1996, and Hobson had been playing bass in Sydney punk/hardcore act Ceasefire since around 1994. Early Sounds Like Sunset tape recordings and gigs showed the band in similar sonic territory as inspiring home recording band influences Flying Saucer Attack and other drone/noise/post rock instrumental bands of the time however this was something the band quickly distanced themselves from in the hope of melding all the noise & feedback into more concise, hummable melodic pop arrangements.

The band are often filed under shoegazer and noise pop music. The group's influences and inspiration range from the Beatles, Beach Boys, The Kinks, Velvet Underground and Love, through to more recent artists You Am I, Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, Spacemen3, Stereolab, Bailter Space, Flying Saucer Attack, Sonic Youth, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain. The members' teenage/formative years share a collective love of punk & Death metal which occasionally resurfaces, some might say at odds with the delicate melodic nature of the band's current output. Live shows are generally loud, densely layered and orchestrated guitar assaults.

Until recently the band regularly fielded a team aptly named "The Söunds Like Sunset Singletönes" in the PRL (Pretend Rugby League) competition, formed during the early 2000s by Chief Robert F Cranny of numerous celebrated indie bands including Sarah Blasko, Gersey and 78 Saab. The PRL was formed from a number of the community of Sydney indie bands who rehearsed at the beloved and now defunct Troy Horse Studios in Alexandria. The team's PRL career began in 2003 during an alcohol fuelled player auction event at the Zetland Hotel where the mostly ambivalent Challinor/Hobson auction representatives quickly exceeded the $100 salary cap and were outrageously docked competition points before a ball had even been kicked. Its career highlight was coming Div 1 runners up in the 2006 season, followed by a Div1 3rd place in the 2007 season with a team selected entirely by Travis Baird of cult Sydney indie instrumental band Founder. Baird was recruited to select a squad when everyone in Sounds Like Sunset once again forgot to attend the player auction. In 2008 the band shocked the PRL community by again failing to attend the 2008 PRL player auction, a move that did not go unnoticed by the PRL hierarchy and the band were forced to relinquish their coveted spot in Div1 of the PRL altogether. The band hope to be eligible to re register with PRL in 2020 (after again forgetting to attend the 2019 player auction) and aim to start climbing their way back through the lower leagues until again finding PRL glory in Div1. As Phil Gould can often be quoted saying (though perhaps not in direct reference to the Singletönes) "dismiss them at your peril".