Not From There
Encyclopedia
Not from There is an Australian indie rock
band formed in 1991 in United Kingdom, but relocated to Brisbane, Queensland
by 1992. They had success in the late 1990s with their 1998 single, "Sich Offnen", featured on radio station Triple J
's Hottest 100 and their debut album, Sand on Seven
winning the 'Best Alternative Release' at the ARIA Music Awards
in 1999
. Not from There's sound was characterized by grinding basslines, fuzzed-out guitar riffs and the occasional usage of dubs
or samples
.
n-born guitar
ist, Heinz Riegler
, who met two Australian musicians in London
, drummer
Simon Lambert and bass guitar
ist Anthony Hills and together they formed a band. The name, Not from There, relates to all three as immigrants who were deported to their home countries at one time or another. The trio recorded a series of EPs
and mini-albums until gaining commercial success with their first major label album, Sand on Seven
. Their early EPs were the six-track CD
, Conned, released in 1991 on Trinity in UK, and an eight-track cassette
, Wooden Polished Floors released in 1992, also on Trinity. At this time the two Australians, Hills and Lambert, were deported from UK, with Riegler following, to Brisbane
, Queensland. A seven-track CD was released in September 1994, Valid to 06/95, on Malignant Records, an independent record label
. In 1995, Riegler was deported from Australia to Austria and returned in 1996. Not from There, a self-titled five-track EP, followed in October 1997 on Infectious Records
.
, in August ahead of their debut album, Sand on Seven which was released in November. Their Infectious Records releases were now distributed by Sony
. The album met with critical success and moderate commercial success, winning the 'Best Alternative Release' ARIA Award
for 1999
. "Sich Offnen", was played on many indie based radio stations, garnering heavy rotation on national radio broadcaster, Triple J
, and featured in their Hottest 100
for 1998
. A follow up single, "Juanita's Cocktail Party", was released in January 1999, and despite having a promotional video
, it failed to achieve the success of its predecessor.
or funk
-oriented feel to it than Sand On Seven and managed to sound more accessible but failed to gain the success of the previous album. It evolved on the electronic side of the first album throughout. Its first single, "Frisco Disco", was released in January 2001 but had limited commercial success although it appeared on the soundtrack
of Australian television drama, The Secret Life Of Us
. The band broke up some months later.
continued to work on a variety of projects, he collaborated with Lawrence English and Tam Patton in the experimental / ambient / noise outfit I/O3 which in turn issued two recordings on English's Room 40 label. Riegler contributed vocals to Toshack Highway, Adam Franklin
's post Swervedriver
debut solo album. Riegler also briefly fronted the three piece punk rock band Nightstick which included Martin Lee on drums and Tam Patton on bass guitar. Nightstick toured Australia throughout 2004–2005 and released a self-titled EP. Riegler is currently working on a solo material. Simon Lambert joined Japanese group Zoobombs
and toured as well as recorded with the group in 2003/2004.
In July 2008, Riegler was short-listed for the Grant McLennan
Memorial Fellowship, a Queensland Government Initiative created in honour of the late The Go-Betweens
founder.
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band formed in 1991 in United Kingdom, but relocated to Brisbane, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
by 1992. They had success in the late 1990s with their 1998 single, "Sich Offnen", featured on radio station Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
's Hottest 100 and their debut album, Sand on Seven
Sand on Seven
Sand On Seven is the debut of album of Australian indie band Not From There. The album received warm critical reception and won the ARIA for Best Alternative Release in 1999 . Sich Offnen and Abgedroschen are sung entirely in lead singer Heinz Riegler's native tongue, German, save the bridge of...
winning the 'Best Alternative Release' at the ARIA Music Awards
ARIA Music Awards
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association...
in 1999
ARIA Music Awards of 1999
The 13th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 12 October 1999 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre...
. Not from There's sound was characterized by grinding basslines, fuzzed-out guitar riffs and the occasional usage of dubs
Dubbing (music)
In sound recording, dubbing is the transfer or copying of previously recorded audio material from one medium to another of the same or a different type. It may be done with a machine designed for this purpose, or by connecting two different machines: one to play back and one to record the signal...
or samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
.
Early history
Not from There was founded in 1991 by AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n-born guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist, Heinz Riegler
Heinz Riegler
Heinz Riegler is an Austrian born musician based in Brisbane, Australia.Riegler’s career in Australia began after he relocated in 1993, following prolonged periods living and performing in Europe and the UK...
, who met two Australian musicians in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, drummer
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Simon Lambert and bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
ist Anthony Hills and together they formed a band. The name, Not from There, relates to all three as immigrants who were deported to their home countries at one time or another. The trio recorded a series of EPs
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
and mini-albums until gaining commercial success with their first major label album, Sand on Seven
Sand on Seven
Sand On Seven is the debut of album of Australian indie band Not From There. The album received warm critical reception and won the ARIA for Best Alternative Release in 1999 . Sich Offnen and Abgedroschen are sung entirely in lead singer Heinz Riegler's native tongue, German, save the bridge of...
. Their early EPs were the six-track CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, Conned, released in 1991 on Trinity in UK, and an eight-track cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
, Wooden Polished Floors released in 1992, also on Trinity. At this time the two Australians, Hills and Lambert, were deported from UK, with Riegler following, to Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Queensland. A seven-track CD was released in September 1994, Valid to 06/95, on Malignant Records, an independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
. In 1995, Riegler was deported from Australia to Austria and returned in 1996. Not from There, a self-titled five-track EP, followed in October 1997 on Infectious Records
Infectious Records
Infectious Records is a record label whose bands have included Ash, Local Natives, Symposium, My Vitriol, Seafood, The Paradise Motel, General Fiasco and The Subways. Infectious was established by Korda Marshall after leaving RCA, and became part of Marshall's Mushroom Records UK operation in the...
.
Sand on Seven
A three-track single, "What Is Better?", was released in May 1998 on Infectious Records and was followed by the second single, "Sich Offnen", which is mostly sung in Riegler's native GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, in August ahead of their debut album, Sand on Seven which was released in November. Their Infectious Records releases were now distributed by Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
. The album met with critical success and moderate commercial success, winning the 'Best Alternative Release' ARIA Award
ARIA Music Awards
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association...
for 1999
ARIA Music Awards of 1999
The 13th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 12 October 1999 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre...
. "Sich Offnen", was played on many indie based radio stations, garnering heavy rotation on national radio broadcaster, Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
, and featured in their Hottest 100
Triple J Hottest 100
The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music poll, based on the votes of national Australian radio station Triple J listeners, in order to determine their favourite song of the year. Voting is conducted by the internet and begins roughly two weeks prior to the new year for the previous year's songs...
for 1998
Triple J Hottest 100, 1998
The 1998 Triple J Hottest 100, announced in January, 1999, was the sixth such countdown of the most popular songs of the year, according to listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J. As in previous years, a CD featuring 36 of the songs was released...
. A follow up single, "Juanita's Cocktail Party", was released in January 1999, and despite having a promotional video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, it failed to achieve the success of its predecessor.
Latvian Lovers
Not from There released their second album, Latvian Lovers, in 2000. The album had a more discoDisco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
or funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
-oriented feel to it than Sand On Seven and managed to sound more accessible but failed to gain the success of the previous album. It evolved on the electronic side of the first album throughout. Its first single, "Frisco Disco", was released in January 2001 but had limited commercial success although it appeared on the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
of Australian television drama, The Secret Life Of Us
The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us was a television drama series set in the beachside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. The series was produced by Southern Star Entertainment and screened in Australia from 2001 to 2005 on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK...
. The band broke up some months later.
Post break up
Heinz RieglerHeinz Riegler
Heinz Riegler is an Austrian born musician based in Brisbane, Australia.Riegler’s career in Australia began after he relocated in 1993, following prolonged periods living and performing in Europe and the UK...
continued to work on a variety of projects, he collaborated with Lawrence English and Tam Patton in the experimental / ambient / noise outfit I/O3 which in turn issued two recordings on English's Room 40 label. Riegler contributed vocals to Toshack Highway, Adam Franklin
Adam Franklin
Adam Franklin is a guitarist, singer and songwriter who has played in Swervedriver , Shake Appeal , Toshack Highway and currently releases records as Adam Franklin and tours with live band Bolts of Melody...
's post Swervedriver
Swervedriver
Swervedriver are an English alternative rock band from Oxford. The band went on hiatus in 1998 before reforming in 2008 for a world tour, which included a performance at the high-profile Coachella Festival...
debut solo album. Riegler also briefly fronted the three piece punk rock band Nightstick which included Martin Lee on drums and Tam Patton on bass guitar. Nightstick toured Australia throughout 2004–2005 and released a self-titled EP. Riegler is currently working on a solo material. Simon Lambert joined Japanese group Zoobombs
Zoobombs
Zoobombs are a Japanese indie rock band, formed in Tokyo in 1994 by vocalist and guitarist Don Matsuo. The band's funk-rock style draws on influences such as the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis....
and toured as well as recorded with the group in 2003/2004.
In July 2008, Riegler was short-listed for the Grant McLennan
Grant McLennan
Grant William McLennan was an Australian singer-songwriter with the alternative rock band The Go-Betweens, which he co-founded with Robert Forster in Brisbane, Australia in 1977...
Memorial Fellowship, a Queensland Government Initiative created in honour of the late The Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens were an indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Australia in 1977 by singer-songwriters and guitarists, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. They were later joined by Lindy Morrison on drums, Robert Vickers on bass guitar and Amanda Brown on violin, oboe, guitar, and backing vocals,...
founder.