Atlantis Regrets Nothing
(Sensory - SRP044) 2006

Feature Articles & Reviews

ATLANTIS REVIEW: THE AGE: "While Wolfmother continue their world domination with their banging psychedelic prog rock, the Sand Pebbles go quietly go about their business as one of Melbourne's most interesting bands..."

ATLANTIS REVIEW: FASTER LOUDER: "The Sand Pebbles are kings of this alternative music scene for mine, and just continue to impress me with their cut through ability in terms of the structures, ideas and musical brains they possess, and hence clearly utilise to their full, spectacular potential..."

ATLANTIS Review: SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: "The Water Too Warm is terse drama, A Thousand Flowers lies in a deep groove, Howard's End is an urban surf song, Drop City is unashamedly good pop and on Natalie they pull off a muscular New Order. This band just keeps getting better..."

ATLANTIS Review: ABC On-Line: "Psychedelic rock that doesn't trip over itself or disappear up its own tambourine; cleverly arranged, well played and complex enough to keep you coming back for more..."

ATLANTIS REVIEW: IN*PRESS: "...while The Pebbles enjoy pushing experimental envelopes, Atlantis Regrets Nothing also demonstrates their propensity for the power of pop..."

ATLANTIS review: MUSIC AUSTRALIA GUIDE: "The Sand Pebbles, there's no other band quite like them. Not that they're inaccessible. It's just that they don't sound like anything else that's out there..."

INTERVIEW with CHRISTMAS HOLLOW: AUSTRALIAN MUSIC ON-LINE: “There was a feeling things weren't going to last, so it was a matter of capturing the way the five of us play as best we could, as fast as we could, before something gave out...”

BEAT SAND PEBBLES LIVE REVIEW: August 18, 2006: "... Journeys don’t get much better than this..."

 

Ghost Transmissions
(Raoul - WIFE005) 2004

Feature Articles & Reviews

 

 

REVIEW: SUNDAY TIMES (UK): "The twelve minute Black Sun Ensemble is one of those unforgettable, hypnotic, slow-burning, snake-charming epics that comes along once in a generation..."

INTERVIEW: OYSTER with Ben Michael X

 

 

INTERVIEW: SADNESS IS IN THE SKY...Ben Michael X: "We've always found ourselves too indie for the pub rock crowd and too macho for the indie cardigan kids, so we were sitting there going 'f*^k, we're in no-man's-land cause we don't want to play that kind of super-macho rock. We're probably closer to the twee-er end of rock but then we're the kind of blokes who like footy and sh%t and we're never gonna be skinny enough or cardiganed enough to fit into that World..."

 

INTERVIEW: i94 BAR...Psychedelic enigmas: the Sand Pebbles' Chris Hollow asks: 'Is Beyonce godhead?'

 

EG FEATURE ARTICLE: A psychedelic flower-punk band from Ramsay Street? There goes the neighbourhood...click here

GREEN GUIDE REVIEW: ' sounds so relaxed, self-assured, and, well, different ... with a willingness to follow a sound or a feeling through to its natural conclusion...' click here

EG REVIEW: '...a brain massage - you can feel the sertonin rise...' asserts The Age ****1/2 stars ...click here

 

HERALD SUN HIT FEATURE ARTICLE: It's flat out or flop for the Sand Pebbles guerilla operation...click here

LP REVIEW: 'You can beach party to 'Hanging Out', creep yourself out with 'Ghost Girl' and get on the nod to Black Sun Ensemble...' advises the Sydney Morning Herald

 

LP REVIEW:"It's quite like lots of things, but not quite like anything.Australian rock may be about to be reborn..." ponders Readings magazine

 

FEATURE ARTICLE: 'Are the Sand Pebbles the soul surfers of the post-psychedelic wave? ANDREW TANNER and MARTIN JONES ponder this and other heavy stuff...'

LP REVIEW: "the Pebbles are striding across that hot, heat hazy sand, windblown and chests puffed out because they bring, what? Integrity. Maybe even The Truth.." concludes In*Press magazine...

LIVE! SOLD OUT! ALBUM LAUNCH REVIEW: "feel-good head-rock with plenty of ba da baa's, la la la's and do do do's and a kind of brown mescaline fuzz around the edge of everything..."

 

BLURB: 'no bar band... no regular gigs to the regular crowd... these gents are aristocrats...'

 

 

LIVE SHOW REVIEW: Revolver, Nov 27th, 2004: "Sand Pebbles do to West Coast surf psychedelia what Radio Birdman did to late 60s Motor City punk..."

LP REVIEW: "sounds like the Meat Puppets, the Sports and the Maurice Gibb finding common cause..." suggests Beat magazine

LP REVIEW: "coolly austere and psychedelic in a homespun way without adopting trickery in lieu of knowing pop substance..." proposes Time Off magazine

LIVE REVIEW: "...like the musical equivalent of surfing a mighty long wave; sure you remember short moments – in fact you recall them more vividly and enthusiastically than just about anything else in your life – but for the most part, you’re so caught up in the exhilaration of the moment, that taking notes, mental or physical, is the last thing on your mind..." contends Bigpond...

LP REVIEW: "There’s a musical freedom apparent throughout Ghost Transmissions that can’t help but excite music fans..."

 


"When I was over in LA mixing an album with T-Bone Burnett..."
Short In*Press interview with Andrew Tanner and Christmas Hollow

Eastern Terrace
(Camera Obscura - CAMO51CD) 2002

Feature Articles

 

 

 

 

"I couldn't handle recording in studios with producers," admits Ben Michael X. "I'm not a 'muso' type and was intimidated by the 'is that guitar in tune?' vibe..."

Up close and personal confessions with USA's 'Dream' magazine

 

 

 

'When Natalie Imbruglia showed me her crystal collection...I freaked out'
A wide ranging interview (Imbruglia, 'Neighbours', and even some music) with all four members for the UK magazine Ptolemaic Terrascope.

 

 

 

 
Making Eastern Terrace involved 'fiddling about on the kitchen table ...'
Chris Hollow talks up the album, Edith Piaf and the new language of love to France's Zoopaloop magazine.

 

 

 
The Sand Pebbles copped their name from a Steve McQueen film. They write for television in Australia. They're songs are sprinkled with film references.
Ben Michael, Chris Hollow and Andrew Tanner were asked to place 'Eastern Terrace' songs in a cinematic context. The results range from 'Mr. Mom' to 'Scarface'.

 

 

 

Bullied into singing falsetto ... Melbourne's In*Press magazine reveals the startling truth behind Andrew Tanner's girlish squeal.

"the only band all four of us would agree on, straight out is Blondie..."

 
 

Eastern Terrace
(Camera Obscura - CAMO51CD) 2002

Reviews

 
"addictive, slightly annoying, strangely evoking the Rolling Stones," states the All*Music Guide
"A few tracks even feature a well-placed guitar synth," cooes USA's DIG BMX mag...
"it'll have you leaping off the ceiling," screams USA's Dream magazine.
'a triumphant close to a spaghetti western' ... fanfares USA's Free City magazine…
"Any band that takes on -- and conquers -- Julian Cope's "Out of My Mind on Dope and Speed" says a lot about itself," claims USA's Ink 19
'there is beauty here … and truth' notes Melbourne's In*Press magazine
'the modalities have been worked out at the highest levels of introspection' observes the USA's Metro Times.
Eastern Terrace has drawbacks? Penny Black Music points one out.
'has a dancing grace that will make the antennas of our own underground scene get up," attests Italy's Rockerilla magazine.
Translated from Italian the language of this review is baroque, almost operatic.
'a cover of Julian Cope's ‘Out Of My Mind On Dope And Speed’, flags their chosen genre more effectively that any press release' suggests comedian Stewart Lee in UK's 'Sunday Times'.
'wonderfully wild-eyed and evocative' declares the UK's Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine
'the Sand Pebbles’ approach is visionary, sophisticated, subtle and spiritual' testifies Melbourne's Age newspaper

'the band explore two different worlds: a pop one and a more experimental, repetitive one...' suggests France's Zoopaloop magazine.


'The Sand Pebbles are one of the best bands in Melbourne, stretching out on psychedelic garage-pop that pays tribute to all the right influences...'

The more commercial oriented songs, "My Sensation" and "Dirty" could be hits but again, perhaps a little too strange.

The Sand Pebbles 7" Single
(Camera Obscura CAMO42S) 2001

Reviews
Rip off Love! Were they thinking no one was going to notice that? All*Music Guide lays a charge the Sand Pebbles are still trying to figure out.
'searing guitars like molten lava sluicing its way down a massive mountain slope,' imagines Sweden's 'Broken Face' magazine.
'a synthesis of the Sand Pebbles love for 60s fuzz pop and creative film scoring,' says Melbourne's In*Press magazine.
The Sand Pebbles and Sting! USA's Magnet magazine knows the score.
'Celluloid and pop/rock are frequently intertwined but who were the first band to name themselves after a film?' asks UK's Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine
'the guitar tone on "Hey, Let Me In" is pure Status Quo (ca. Pictures Matchstickable)' USA's Wire magazine has an ear pressed to the speaker.