Hunters & Collectors

Hunters & Collectors

Group from Australia

Genres: rock

About Hunters & Collectors

Hunters & Collectors are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, formed in 1981. Fronted by founding member, singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, the band's other mainstays are John Archer on bass guitar and Doug Falconer on drums and percussion. Soon after forming they were joined by Jack Howard on trumpet and keyboards, Jeremy Smith on French horn, guitars and keyboards, and Michael Waters on trombone and keyboards. Also acknowledged as a founder was audio engineer and art designer Robert Miles. Joining in 1988, Barry Palmer, on lead guitar, remained until they disbanded in 1998. The group reformed in 2013 with the 1998 line-up. Originally influenced by krautrock and the productions of Conny Plank, Hunters & Collectors' early music featured abrasive percussion, noisy guitar, and driving bass lines, producing a tribal post-punk sound exemplified by their debut single, "Talking to a Stranger" (1982). The band recruited Plank to produce two of their early albums, The Fireman's Curse (1983) and The Jaws of Life (1984), though neither charted in the Top 50 of the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. A turning point came with Human Frailty (1986), their first Top 10 album, which marked a shift toward a more polished, anthemic pub rock sound. This evolution continued with later charting releases, including Ghost Nation (1989), Cut (1992), and Demon Flower (1994). Among their best-charting singles were "Throw Your Arms Around Me" (1984), "Say Goodbye" (1986), "When the River Runs Dry" (1989), "True Tears of Joy" (1992), and "Holy Grail" (1993). They became one of the most popular live acts in Australia. Musicologist Ian McFarlane noted that their "great achievement was to lay bare human emotions in the intensely ritualistic milieu of the pub-rock gig".

Taken from Wikipedia.org