They say it’s better to burn out than fade away, well for these Aussie bands it would sadly be the latter, leaving many fans scratching their heads wondering ‘Whatever happened to those guys?’
These are the bands that were everywhere for one hot minute and then seemingly disappeared without so much as a farewell to fans. The bands who had the biggest single or album in the country and then ghosted on us.
Yeah, you know what time it is, get ready for a nostalgia-fest.
Faker
Yes, you know the words, don’t even front like you don’t know every single one of the lyrics to ‘This Heart Attack’. triple j love, top 10 singles, Gold albums, and plenty of acclaim, Faker were meant to be huge. But last we heard, even frontman Nathan Hudson doesn’t know if they’re still around: “I think Faker is over. I can’t really tell…”
Cassette Kids
They won the Unearthed Sydney 2008 Big Day Out competition, they were nominated for a 2008 Unearthed J Award, their song ‘You Take It’ was a triple j’s Ausmusic Month featured track, they released their debut album, Nothing On TV in 2010, and then… nothing.
Operator Please
These young, pop-smithing wunderkinds’ breakout single may have been ‘Just A Song About Ping Pong’, but it was a very promising song about ping pong. However, whilst they haven’t officially split, the talented Gold Coast outfit have been inactive since 2011, with many of the members moving on to other projects.
Bachelor Girl
We’d like to apologise in advance for getting ‘Buses And Trains’ stuck in your head for the rest of the day, but man, wasn’t that song and the band behind it just everywhere? Well, at least for a moment they were. We haven’t heard much from Bachelor Girl since.
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Dukes Of Windsor
The Aussie dance band that moved to Berlin before all the others did it, Dukes Of Windsor are perhaps best known for ‘The Others’, the smash they put out in collaboration with TV Rock. It’s been a bit quiet since then, and though they’re still listed as active, their last full-length release was nine years ago.
Dash & Will
The Melbourne indie pop duo are distinguished in that they supported Justin Bieber on his 2011 tour. Apparently, Bieber gave them the kiss of death backstage, because they haven’t done too much since. In fact, they haven’t so much as updated their Facebook page.
Grafton Primary
Like Cut Copy and Midnight Juggernauts, in 2006 Grafton Primary were part of a wave of new Australian bands that weren’t afraid to say they like dance music, which was actually pretty novel at the time. However, unlike the aforementioned, we haven’t really heard from this Sydney duo since.
Little Birdy
Australia has a knack for producing awesome, female-fronted rock bands, from Magic Dirt to The Superjesus. Little Birdy carried that torch with style and monster tunes like ‘Relapse’ and ‘Come On Come On’. However, we haven’t heard from the band since 2009 and frontwoman Katy Stelle and her bandmates are said to be working on respective outside projects.
Van She
We all know Van She member Michael Di Francesco is enjoying a stellar solo career as Touch Sensitive and the other members of the band have also been keeping busy, but what about… you know, the band? They haven’t released anything since 2012 and that’s all we know about their status at the moment.
Lost Valentinos
After releasing two EPs as The Valentinos, they changed their name and got the party started for everybody with their 2009 debut album, Cities Of Gold. It’s anybody’s guess from there, because we haven’t heard from them since and they make only sporadic appearances on social media.
Dardanelles
A four-piece indie rock outfit from Melbourne, Dardanelles gained a reputation for frenetic live performances that saw them turning their discography into a chaotic wall of noise. They apparently got lost somewhere in that wall of noise, because we haven’t heard from this ‘Band to Watch In 2007’ since, well, 2007.
Something With Numbers
Beloved by triple j and fans alike, the Central Coast band formed in 2001 and went on to release a total of four albums, the last hitting shelves back in 2013. Whilst their Wikipedia page doesn’t necessarily say they’ve broken up, there hasn’t been much activity since that fourth record.
The Cops
The Cops were like a bunch of ‘Best of New Wave’ compilations mixed in a blender and then poured into a quintessentially 2000s mould. One of those bands that had a song that was everywhere for a minute, we haven’t heard from the group since their last album, which came out all the way back in 2007.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-hCiIjI7TY
The Mess Hall
The Mess Hall got a reputation as sort of being Australia’s answer to The White Stripes, no matter how much they tried to shuck the image, though they were beloved by fans. The band last released an album in 2009 and it apparently put a full stop to the band’s list of accolades, which included tours with Foo Fighters and plenty of festival spots.
