Baby Animals
Baby Animals | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Perth, WA |
| Genres | Hard rock |
| Years active | 1989 - 1996, 2007 - present |
| Labels | imago, Liberation Blue, BMG |
| Associated acts | The Boys, Swingshift, Red Phoenix, Truck |
| Website | http://www.thebabyanimals.com |
| Members | Dario Bortolin, Suze Demarchi, Dave Leslie, Mick Skelton |
| Past members | Frank Celenza, Eddie Parise |
Band members
- Current Line up
- Dario Bortolin (bass)
- Suze Demarchi (vocals, guitar)
- Dave Leslie (guitar)
- Mick Skelton (drums)
- Former members
- Matt Cornell (bass) 2009
- Frank Celenza (drums) 1989 - 1996, 2007 - 2009
- Eddie Parise (bass) 1989 - 1996, 2007 - 2009
Band information
Baby Animals play strongly melodic and strikingly heavy hard rock. The band was formed by Suze Demarchi after her return to Australia following a stint in the UK where she recorded a number of singles. Eddie Parise and Frank Celenza were drawn from Perth pop-metal act The Boys and Dave Leslie was a long-time member of Sydney band Swingshift, that had originally been a Cold Chisel tribute act before eventually switching to original material.
Baby Animals gained notice almost immediately with a commercial-sounding heavy rock laced with a sublime pop sensibility. After winning a national audience enjoyed a meteoric rise which saw them gain worldwide attention and success until the musical climate shifted and the collapse of their record label finally broke them apart.
After a brief formative period the band won the support of The Angels who put a Baby Animals demo track on the B-side of their "Dogs are Talking" single and took them on part of a national tour. Following this the band played several shows with Jimmy Barnes and released the single "Early Warning". Heavy touring followed the release of the album, which began as a sleeper but eventually got to #1 on the national albums charts almost a year after it was released, eventually selling over half a million copiesand becoming the biggest-selling debut album ever by an Australia artist, a title it held until 2003’s Get Born by Jet overtook it.
Picking up support in the US, the Baby Animals worked there extensively, touring with the likes of Van Halen, Robert Plant and Extreme, won several ARIA awards and returned victorious to Australia to record the second album.
Shaved and Dangerous displayed little variation from the successful formula of the first album and gained considerable local success, however a tour in early 1994 to support it had to be cut short when DeMarchi experienced voice trouble. In August she married Nuno Bettencourt from Extreme A few months later writing began for a third album but in early 1995 the Imago label collapsed when its distribution label BMG released them. With DeMarchi now living in Los Angeles, it was decided to put Baby Animals on ice. She released the solo album Telelove in 1999.
Baby Animals reformed in 2007 to record an acoustic album of their previous hits for Liberation Blue's Acoustic Series. Celenza and Parise were replaced ahead of a national tour in 2009 by Mick Skelton and Matt Cornell; Cornell was soon replaced with Dario Bortolin. The group has toured sporadically since, most frequently during 2012 and 2013 as they geared up for the release of a long-anticipated come back album, This is Not the End, which has the band moving in a bluesier direction. It peaked at #19 on the ARIA Album Chart. The band continues to tour regularly. Dave Leslie joined Truck in 2020.
Discography
Albums:
| 1991 | Baby Animals | imago | |
| 1993 | Shaved and Dangerous | BMG | |
| 2008 | Il Grande Silenzio | Liberation Blue | |
| 2013 | This is Not the End | Social Family |
Singles:
| 1991 | Early Warning | imago | |
| 1991 | Rush You | imago | |
| 1991 | Painless | imago | |
| 1992 | One Word | imago | |
| 1992 | Impossible to Fly | BMG | |
| 1993 | Don't Tell Me What to Do | BMG | |
| 1993 | Lights Out at Eleven | BMG | |
| 2013 |
EPs:
| 1992 | Ain't Gonna Get | imago | |
| 1992 | At The End of the Day | BMG |