78 Saab is an Australian rock band, comprising Ben Nash (guitar, vocals), Jake Andrews (lead guitar), Garth Tregillgas (bass) and Nicholai Danko (drums). The band compare themselves to Neil Young, REM and The Rolling Stones as well as Australian bands Died Pretty and The Church^[1]. Forming in Canberra, they have been based in Sydney since early 1997. Image File history File links 78Saab. ... For other uses, see Canberra (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Rock music (disambiguation). ... Alternative rock (also called alternative music or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. ... Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music often used to refer to bands that are on small independent record labels or that arent on labels at all. ... Dream pop is a type of alternative rock that originated in the early 1980s when bands like Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and A.R. Kane (to whom the term has been attributed) began twisting New Wave melodies into sonic, echoing textures and mumbled vocals. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Ivy League Records is a record label based in Sydney, Australia. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Neil Percival Young[1] OM (born November 12, 1945, Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and film director from Omemee, Ontario. ... R.E.M. is a rock band formed in Athens, Georgia in early 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and vocalist Michael Stipe. ... “Rolling Stones” redirects here. ... Died Pretty (sometimes The Died Pretty) was an Australian indie rock band centred around singer Ron Peno and guitarist Brett Myers. ... The Church are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. ... For other uses, see Canberra (disambiguation). ... The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of 4,119,190, and 151,920 in the City of Sydney, as of the 2006 census. ...

History

Early years

The band was formed at Australian National University – by Nash, Tregillgas and the since departed Darren Smith and Christovac Thompson - to perform in the Australian National Campus Band Competition, the name coming from the car that Nash drove at the time. "I used to own a 1978 Saab which I bought off my grandparents for around a-thousand bucks when I was at university", explained Nash, in a later interview, "Anyway, we entered a band competition [at Uni] and we had about 3 hours to come up with a name. '78 Saab' got thrown in the ring and for better or worse we've stuck with that name."^[2] The Australian National University, or ANU, is a public university located in Canberra, the national capital of Australia. ... The National Campus Band Competition is an annual Australian national band competition produced by the Australian Association of Campus Activities. ... Saab Automobile AB is a subsidiary of General Motors. ...

At the time, the major sponsor of the competition was Sydney business, Troy Horse, a recording and rehearsal studio with a record label attached. The winning band was awarded an EP - recorded and released by Troy Horse - and a 40-date national tour of campuses.

Upon winning the competition, 78 Saab recorded their debut EP, Eastwards By Removal for Troy Horse Records^[3]. Other winners from that era included Perth bands Eskimo Joe and Jebediah^[4]. Eastwards By Removal was released in August 1997. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Jebediah is an alternative/pop rock band from Perth, Western Australia. ...

It was at this time that Jake Andrews became a member of the band, after original guitarist Smith made the decision not to tour due to a medical condition^[5].

As referred to in the title of the EP, 78 Saab moved due East from Canberra to Sydney at this time. It was in Sydney that Nicholai Danko joined the fray, with drummer Thompson having left the band after the campus tour was completed. Danko had first encountered 78 Saab as a student at CSU Riverina during their campus tour. CD Blake Auditorium, Bathurst campus, CSU Charles Sturt University (CSU) is an Australian multi-campus university in New South Wales. ...

The Winterman & Goldstein Era

78 Saab were among the first group of bands to work with the Winterman & Goldstein group of companies, a management company with an attached record label, Ivy League Records. "We released some fantastic Australian singles and albums by our favourite Australian bands and friends РYouth Group, 78 Saab, Hoolahan, The John Reed Club & The Monarchs to name... well, all of them actually", reads the official Ivy League site, referring the label's origins^[6]. The label was created largely to release the bands of the company directors Рnamely Youth Group, John Reed Club and, later, The Monarchs. 78 Saab were the first band to give them notoriety in a purely management role, something they would later build on with bands such as Jet and The Vines. Ivy League Records is a record label based in Sydney, Australia. ... Youth Group is a rock band from Sydney, Australia signed to Ivy League Records. ... Jet is a rock band from Melbourne, Australia, whose d̩but album Get Born, released in 2003, has so far sold over 3. ... The Vines are an Australian garage rock band notable for producing a raw musical hybrid of 60s rock and 90s alternative music. ...

The first releases on Ivy League were the two-track single, "Whatever Makes You Happy", the five-track EP Hello Believers and a later re-pressing of the EP, which features all seven songs.

This material was recorded and co-produced by Michael Carpenter, a musician with local power-pop band, The Pyramidiacs. Hello Believers featured the first involvement of Robert F. Cranny as an occasional keyboardist.^[7]The EP was listed at #93 in the Oz Music Project Top 100 Australian Albums of the 90s^[8].

Picture a Hum, Can't Hear a Sound

In 1999, 78 Saab would have their first encounter with producer, Tim Whitten (Art Of Fighting, Gaslight Radio, Gersey), who recorded the track "Sunshine" as a summer single at Megaphon Studios in Sydney. However, the rest of the band"s debut album would be recorded with Greg Wales (Sandpit) in St. Kilda^[9]. The album, entitled Picture a Hum, Can't Hear a Sound was released in 2000 on Ivy League Records, and received rotation on Triple J with "Sunshine", "Smile", "Jack Frost" and most notably, "Karma Package Deal". Tregillgas was credited as G. Surls on the album, an in-joke referring to his occasionally acerbic demeanour. Unfortunately, the album went out of print in 2003.^[10]. Gersey is an Australian shoegaze band based in Melbourne, which formed in 1997. ... Ivy League Records is a record label based in Sydney, Australia. ... Triple J (JJJ) is a nationally-networked, government-funded Australian radio station (a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation), mainly aimed at youth (defined as those between 12 and 25). ...

Crossed Lines

The band's second album, Crossed Lines, was released in October 2004, after a considerable hiatus from the studio. By this time the group had been playing without a keyboardist for some years. They had toured Australia numerous times in support of their debut album, but had also spent considerable time renegotiating a deal with Ivy League Records. Having split from Winterman & Goldstein – essentially the management arm of the same company – the group considered offers from other labels before eventually signing back on with their old label ^[11] Ivy League Records is a record label based in Sydney, Australia. ...

Recorded with Tim Whitten, the album sandwiched alternative rock songs between more epic dream pop-influenced numbers. ^[12]. Singles from the album included "Beat of Your Drum" – as a preliminary EP release – and "No Illusions", which would give the band its biggest taste of commercial radio play. Alternative rock (also called alternative music or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. ... Dream pop is a type of alternative rock that originated in the early 1980s when bands like Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and A.R. Kane (to whom the term has been attributed) began twisting New Wave melodies into sonic, echoing textures and mumbled vocals. ...

Third album

78 Saab have recently finished the recording of their third album. The album is titled 'The Bells Line' and is slated for a late September 2007 release.

Other projects

Ben Nash has collaborated with Adalita from Magic Dirt and performed live with her during the "Tough Love" tour, which featured 78 Saab supporting Magic Dirt^[13]. Magic Dirt at the 2004 Big Day Out Magic Dirt is an Australian rock band, formed in 1992 in Geelong, Australia. ... Magic Dirt at the 2004 Big Day Out Magic Dirt is an Australian rock band, formed in 1992 in Geelong, Australia. ...

Drummer Nicholai Danko has performed live with Tucker B's and The For Fuck's Sakes, and has recorded with Josh Pyke and Sarah Blasko, whom he played live with in 2003. The quality of this article or section may be compromised by peacock terms. You can help Wikipedia by removing peacock terms. ... Josh Pyke is an Australian singer-songwriting musician, best known for his songs Middle of the Hill which was voted number 19 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2005, Memories and Dust and Private Education which were voted number 38 and 57 respectively in the Triple J Hottest 100... Sarah Blasko (born September 23, 1976) is an Australian musician. ...

References

• Band profile at Australian Music Online

PBS 106. ...

External links

• Official website