www.AustralianGothicIndustrialMusic.com

Links to 30+ Page Profiles of Dark Alternative Music Bands from Australia & New Zealand ...

Introduction by DJ Robot Citizen: "I started building this site in 2012 by making profile pages - with comprehensive YouTube playlists - for some ANZ bands that I love ie. the list below. While that was great fun it was also very time-consuming. I soon found that my initial list of 50 artists bloomed to 100+ and then 200+ artists. I am gradually making links to that expanded list of projects at this page of Links - that being the best I can do, for now, with the time I have available. You may also like to check out: i) the Interviews page which mostly focuses on new emerging artists; and ii) this site's Facebook page for ongoing news about additions to the site as well as new music releases plus details for relevant live band gigs and nightclub scene events in Australia and New Zealand..."

The below are listed in chronological order for year-of-formation; each page includes a YouTube playlist with dozens of videos & songs for each artist:

• Split Enz - Formed 1972; from early art-rock they eventually topped the charts in several countries with albums & dark romantic new wave singles like I Got You, One Step Ahead & Dirty Creature; their striking visual styles incorporated cabaret, vaudeville, glam, new romantic and a black & white gothic punk look many years before, it seems, anyone else did.
• The Boys Next Door - Formed 1973; pioneers of (post-)punk gothic rock; after several releases they became significantly more ecletic, wilder and distinct in their style and altered name to the better known title of The Birthday Party which eventually led to the formation of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and other groups.
• Skyhooks - Formed 1973; achieved several number 1 albums & singles with ground-breaking pre-punk glam rock; combining theatrical costumes, make-up and daringly camp larrikin personas with usually humorous social commentary on taboo topics; factors which were central to the later genres of punk, post-punk and their goth and industrial rock sub-genres... While Skyhooks didn't achieve the international fame and fortunes of their heavy rock contemporaries ACDC, and later bands of the post-punk new wave rock era (such as Midnight Oil and INXS), they are often recognised as being Australia's most important and influential rock band; setting a major milestone in the development of Australia's distinctive pop and rock music culture.
• The Reels - Formed 1976; best known for their ethereal version of Bad Moon Rising and the haunting melancholia of Quasimodo's Dream (with its gothic cinematic video clip) selected as one of the top 10 Australian songs of all time.
• Mi-Sex - Formed 1977; post-punk new wave rock band who featured prominent electronics, futuristic dystopian themes with heavy beats; a precursor to 'cyberpunk industrial dance rock' that came many years later; Computer Games reached no. 1 in Australia, no. 2 in Los Angeles & Canada; charting in 20 nations. Other hits include People, But you don't care & Space Race.
• S.P.K. - Formed 1978; one of the earliest, most extreme and influential industrial noise projects; later explored ebm, goth, electro-industrial-dance-pop and dark ambient-cinematic-musique-concrete; a member later went on to a very successful career composing Hollywood movie soundtracks.
• Models - Formed 1978; post-punk alternative electronic rock group; topped the pop-charts in mid-80s but prior to that they were wearing industrial-combat style and make-up in industrial-themed videos with an innovative blend of angsty electronic-industrial-ebm-funk music (a good six years before, say, Nine Inch Nails starting doing something similar in the USA).
• The Scientists - Formed 1978; well known in Europe, the USA and locally these pioneers of dark post-punk 'swamp-rock' were a major inspiration on the later waves of international grunge rock. The song We had love was re-popularised in the 2008 film RockNRolla.

• Severed Heads - Formed 1979; highly influential vanguard project of industrial, electronic body music (ebm), techno-house-electro-glitch-dance-pop, musique-concrete, noise, ambient & computer video synthesis (VJ'ing). More than a dozen albums over the 20+ years. Perhaps best known for the sinister dance hit Dead Eyes Opened.
• The Church - Formed 1980; pioneers of neo-psychedelic-new-wave-goth-rock. A sound and style that became very popular with a later wave of British goth bands like The Cult, Sisters of Mercy and The Mission. The Church had numerous top 40 hits in Australia, USA and Europe.
• The Divinyls - Formed 1980; this post-punk new wave rock band had a top 10 hit in the USA, UK and many reached the top 40 in Australia. Chrissy Amphlett was one of the most striking and provocative women in rock music history with her husky siren voice, schoolgirl outfits and punk attitude.
• The Birthday Party - changed name from The Boys Next Door in 1980; considered one of the most exciting & innovative groups in post-punk music - a maniacally intense mix of fiery gothic-punk-rock and industrial-no-wave-blues-noise - their influence has been widespread; released several albums; toured the UK, Europe & Australia numerous times.
• Foetus (aka JG Thirlwell, Venture Bros cartoons, Steroid Maximus, Clint Ruin, Wiseblood etc.) - Formed 1980; an icon of industrial music with over 30 releases & still going through a wide range of industrial, demented-electro, avant-gard-jazz and cinematic music; also involved with iconic industrial groups like Coil & remixed many artists including Nine Inch Nails, Front 242 & Marilyn Manson.
• Dead Can Dance - Formed 1981; very influential world-renowned band has ventured from ethereal gothic dark wave electro into medieval, rennaissance music and a wide range of percussive world music and ambient; toured the world many times and topped relevant music charts.
• Christian Death - as fronted by Australian-born'n'raised Valor Kand; C.D. is often considered to be the founding group of deathrock (American goth rock) music. Valor joined in 1983 and in 1985 became the project's leader, vocalist and composer, through to the present day; releasing many albums and touring internationally.
• Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - from the ashes of The Birthday Party (Boys Next Door) they've released more than a dozen albums over 25 years, toured the world multiple times, won many music awards and become very well known. With a career spanning 30 years Nick Cave is probably the most successful, best known, longest-producing artist who came out of the post-punk goth-rock genre.
• Died Pretty - Formed 1983; from early impassioned, tortured, bluesy post-punk goth rock to later commercial success with melancholy indie-rock. Several albums that charted in Australia and Europe; toured extensively until mid '90s with a few reunions more recently.
• The Wreckery - Formed 1984; from upbeat bluesy-goth-rockers full of fire through to intense gothic ballads full of drama and passion. Members also played with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. Both acts came out of the Melbourne/Berlin scenes that were characterised by drugs and damaged, doomy, bluesy gothic sounds.
• Snog - Formed 1989; became well-known in 1992 with several electro-industrial-club hits; released many albums and still going; toured internationally; styles include electro-industrial, dark trip-hop electronica and no-wave.

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• EYE - Formed 1991; explorers of cyberpunk-industrial-electroclash-EBM-darkwave-witch-house-cybergoth-glitch-hop-powernoise-rock; numerous independent albums; most popular on national radio around 1998-2004 with several controversial political songs of post-industrial 'information-music for an information age'; some extensively sampled and re-constructed local politicians.
• Soulscraper - Formed 1991; cyberpunk-electro-industrial-techno-rock; 2 EP CDs; national radio; toured with some popular UK acts.
• Tedium (TDM) - Formed 1993; independent DIY; 3 albums; began as an experimental industrial performance-art troupe, then electro-goth-industrial, on to refined acoustic-electronica-rock; popular on local and national alternative radio in the early '00s.
• Insurge - Formed 1993; 2 albums and numerous EPs of political industrial-punk-rock; signed to a major label; received a lot of radio airplay on the national Triple J station; toured constantly and at many festivals.
• Black Lung - Formed 1994; well-known offshoot from Snog to showcase the instrumental electro-industrial-acid, intelligent dance music (IDM) and dark-ambient made by David Thrussell; around 20 CDs.
• Jerk - Formed 2000; industrial-nu-metal-heavy-rock; played live with Marilyn Manson, Disturbed, Insane Clown Posse and Killing Joke; EP, album and 4 videos; producer worked with Guns N' Roses, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Slayer and System of a Down.
• Cut Copy - Formed 2001; melancholic and romantic 'indietronica dancepunk' synthpop; albums charted at 1 & 3; toured in the USA several times and received many millions of views on youtube.

• The Presets - Formed 2003; they became very successful reaching the top of the album charts with extensive mainstream radio and club airplay, winning many music industry awards with music that is strongly influenced by EBM (electronic body music), electro-industrial, synth-punk, synthpop and electroclash.
• Midnight Juggernauts - Formed 2004; several albums; they've toured the world with an eclectic unique combination of electro-punk, synth-rock, psychedelic-ebm-industrial, prog-rock and french-electro-disco-house.
• Angelspit - Formed 2004; a duo making abrasive electronic-industrial-cyberpunk; they've built a large fanbase with numerous albums and tours of Europe, North America and Australia.
• The Dark Shadows - Formed 2005; several albums & EPs; they've toured the world with their unique blend of post-punk new-wave dark indie goth-rock; fronted by Brigitte Handley who has released & toured numerous albums in the genres of psychobilly, punk & rockabilly since the late 90s.
• Shiv-R - Formed 2008; heavy-electro-cyber-industrial-ebm; several albums & EPs; toured extensively with international artists and at esteemed dark-music festivals in Australia, Europe and North America.
• Empire of the Sun - Formed 2008; very successful with new-wave dark-synthpop-electro-rock; youtube videos have 30,000,000+ views; reached number 1 in German charts, top 10 & top 40 in many countries; debut album went platinum/gold.

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BUT WAIT!!! THERE's MORE!!! ;-)

Here is another page with links to more than 200 other projects, from Australia & New Zealand, making music in these genres.