Bodyjar

Bodyjar
Background Information
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genre	Punk Rock Pop Punk
Years active	1993- Present
Label(s)	Shagpile/Shock (1994-1999) EMI/Capitol (2000-2004) Shock (2005-2009)
Associated Acts	Daughters of the Rich Burn the City
Website	http://www.bodyjar.com/
Members
Cameron Baines Grant Relf Tom Read Shane Wakker
Former Members
Ben Patterson Ross Heatherington Charles Zerafa

Bodyjar are an Australian punk rock/pop punk band based in Melbourne. Performing under the name Bodyjar since 1993 previous names include Damnation and Helium.

The lineup at the time Bodyjar disbanded included only two original members - vocalist/guitarist Cameron Baines and bassist Grant Relf. Guitarist Tom Read and drummer Shane Wakker completed the line up. Tom replaced founding member Ben Petterson who left before How It Works and in early 2004 Shane replaced long-time drummer Ross Hetherington who had been with the band since original drummer Charles Zerafa left after the recording of Take A Look Inside.

History

Bodyjar would gain universal recoginition as early as 1995, while touring with Pennywise and Blink-182. The band would follow up with a tour of Canada, Japan, and the U.S. the following year, promoting the 'Rimshot' album. Their third album, 'No Touch Red' was recorded the following year in Montreal over 12 days. Guitarist Ben Peterson would leave the band following the 1999 Big Day Out Festival with Marilyn Manson, Hole and Korn. Facing an impending breakup, the band added Tom Read of 180 Discord to the lineup. That year Bodyjar would also sign with EMI/Capitol, having completed 33 song demos for their upcoming release. Though independent for the majority of their career, Bodyjar released two studio albums for EMI/Capitol in the early 2000’s. The first album for the major label, How It Works, reached the top 20 on the Australian ARIAnet albums chart in 2000 and achieved gold sales (35,000 copies). The album’s first single "Not the Same" was also featured in a Pepsi campaign and the video games Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and MX Superfly. After their second major label album Plastic Skies and a retrospective Jarchives featuring new and rare material, failed to build on the success of How It Works, Bodyjar begun anew with their old label Shock Records, starting with 2005’s self-titled album. In May of 2004, however, Ross Hetherington would leave the band while on tour with The Offspring. Hetherington was temporarily replaced for the tour's duration by Gordy Forman of Frenzal Rhomb. The role was then filled by Shane Wakker of the Melbourne band Channel 3 and dance troop named 'The Nazi Synthesizers'. Shane from the Victorian town of Moe, was named the group's permanent drummer later that year.

Despite having their commercial peak seemingly behind them, Bodyjar remained a major attraction on the all-ages circuit in Australia, and continued to tour and play festivals. Selections from their discography have also been repackaged and released for the American and Japanese markets, where they have consolidated live followings.

At the beginning of 2007, Baines and Wakker launched their new harder-edged side project now called Cola Wars, a moniker which Baines has used for various projects since 1999. Mark Brunott (Automan/The Volume Ten) and Mikey Juler (ex-For Amusement Only) complete the lineup. The band have played under other pseudonyms over the last year including Daughters of the Rich and William Shatner's Dacks.

Also Read and Relf, have their own side project know as Burn The City. Partnered with Harish Chabria and Pete Cerni, their debut self titled album is available through Dstar records.

Despite an announcement on the official Bodyjar website, as of the 10th of January 2008, a new album "looks to be shaping up for late in the year". However, the band announced on September 4, 2009 they would be calling it quits after a farewell tour.

Discography

Albums

Studio Albums

• You Can't Hold Me Down, 1993 (as Helium)
• Take a Look Inside, 1994
• Rimshot, 1996
• No Touch Red, 1998
• How It Works, 2000
• Plastic Skies, 2002
• Bodyjar, 2005

Live Albums

• Is It Alive, 2007

Compilations

• Singles and Stuff, 1999
• Short Music For Short People, 1999
• Jarchives: 10 Years of Bodyjar, 2003 DVD release and album
• Time To Grow Up, 2004 (Brazil-only compilation with similar tracklisting to Singles and Stuff)

EPs

• Strange Harvest (limited edition), 1997
• You Got Me a Girls Bike You Idiot!, 2001
• You'll Never Kill All the Ants, 2006

External links

• Bodyjar Official Website
• Bodyjar Official Myspace

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Bodyjar. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Less Than Jake Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.