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Chris and Scott went to school together at Wheelers Hill Secondary College in Melbourne.
Scott originally played piano but Chris introduced him to rockabilly and got him to
learn double bass. They jammed together and played covers under the name the Runaway
Boys starting in 1991. They went through a succesion of drummers until they left school.
They recorded their first EP/mini album Hellbound with Joe Piripitsi on drums.
They scored the prime spot as the opener for Greenday's 1996 Australian tour.
Soon after they changed drummers to Trav. They then toured the country with Blink 182 and the Offspring. Local bands also took them on tour and they landed a Live at the Wireless session. They continued to consolidate with their solid live performances despite a few setbacks. A support slot with the Reverend Horton Heat was lost when the tour was scrapped. They also had to blow out some of their own gigs due to illness. Second Solution / Prisoner of Society was recorded and released late 1997 and this one went troppo.... almost straight to #1 on the localternative only being knocked off by the Homebake compilation. It also peaked at #43 on the MAINSTREAM singles chart and #7 on the alternative singles. The extra exposure afforded through JJJ playlisting pushed both It's For Your Own Good and Hellbound into the localternative top 10. In the 1997 Triple J Hottest 100 Prisoner of Society came in at #15 and From Here On In at #49.
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This success continued with slots at Pushover, the Falls Festival and the Australian Vans Warped tour. They played on Recovery again on 21/2/98 as well as their set from the Falls being used as a Live at the Wireless on Triple J on 23/2/98. Most material for the debut album was recorded early February 1998 at Sing Sing studios but was left to go on tour with Jebediah. Further recording for the album is scheduled. They were featured in April 98 Juice magazine, who interviewed Chris. They played to a huge crowd at the Offshore festival at Torquay (estimates range from 10 000 to 18 000). Second Solution/Prisoner of Society went gold (representing 35 000 sales) on the 14th April, 1998. The band also scored a slot to play 10 shows as part of the USA Vans Warped tour. |