The Baby Animals are an Australian hard rock band active from October 1989 to 1996 and reformed in 2007. The original line-up was Frank Celenza on drums, Suze DeMarchi on lead vocals and guitar, Dave Leslie on guitar and backing vocals, and Eddie Parise on bass guitar and backing vocals. They recorded two studio albums, Baby Animals (September 1991) – which peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, and Shaved and Dangerous (August 1993) – which reached No. 2. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1992 the group won three trophies: Album of the Year and Breakthrough Artist – Album for Baby Animals and Breakthrough - Single for "Early Warning". Baby Animals was listed in the 100 Best Australian Albums (October 2010). The reunited line-up are DeMarchi, Leslie, Dario Bortolin on bass guitar and Mick Skelton on drums and percussion. Their fourth studio album, This Is Not the End, was issued in May 2013, which reached the top 20.
Biography
Early history: 1989–1990
The Baby Animals were formed in Sydney in October 1989 by Frank Celenza on drums (ex-Boys, Bamboo Curtain, DD and the Rockmen); Suze DeMarchi on lead vocals and guitar (ex-Photoplay,<!-- Not the film fan magazine, nor silent film type nor novel --> the Kind, DD and the Rockmen), Dave Leslie on guitar and backing vocals (ex-Swingshift); and Eddie Parise on bass guitar and backing vocals (ex-Boys, Bel Aires, Bamboo Curtain). De Marchi, from Perth, had previously recorded three solo singles with EMI in the United Kingdom. Celenza then officially joined. Woodruff later recalled "I'd seen [DeMarchi] in London performing some bad Stock Aitken and Waterman tunes on television late one night. I found her and she turned out to be Australian. She also turned out to have a lot of attitude. I brought her back to Australia and put a band together around her."
The band's first performance was in November 1989 at the Kardomah Café in Sydney, where they were billed as Woody's Heroes, then they worked the city's pub and club circuit. According to Kerrang! magazine's writer, Celenza provided the new name, Baby Animals, after seeing an ad for a local TV show, Wheel of Fortune, hosted by "Baby" John Burgess. Another version suggests the name came from a calendar in a mall. In a New Zealand magazine, RTR Sounz, DeMarchi indicated that they changed the story of the name's origins in different interviews as they were bored with that question. The single also included a track each, from two other new rock and roll bands – the Desert Cats and the Hurricanes – a national tour by the Angels followed with all three new bands supporting.
Debut album: 1991–1992
The band flew to New York to record their debut eponymous album, Baby Animals, at Bearsville Studios, Woodstock and Second City Studio, Long Island with ex-pat Australian Mike Chapman producing. DeMarchi said of the production process: "He very rigidly made us pull things back and just concentrate on the essence of the song rather than being fancy. Mike was the taskmaster – 'Let me hear the hooks'. Like Early Warning - that tag at the beginning 'too young to know too old to listen' - Mike said 'I'm going to take that part of the chorus, let's put that at the front; that's the hook'."
Woodruff had organised for his band to work with Chapman and Kevin "Caveman" Shirley (audio engineer): "I had never met [Chapman], I knew his work. I'd listened to everything he'd ever done... I thought 'if we can drag him out of retirement to get the song structure right'... Susie was writing great songs and great sentiments, but the structure wasn't quite there. I thought if I can then convince him to work with a young rude engineer, which turned out to be [Shirley], and you couldn't get much younger or ruder than that, then I'm going to end up with a record that has an edge to it, that has some tone to it, that has some rock and roll and that has some feel to it that's as edgy as she is but with great songs." The track was written by DeMarchi, Parise and Leslie. Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane felt it "showcased the band's confident and melodic brand of hard rock and, in particular, highlighted DeMarchi's provocative vocal growl." By Christmas that year the band were back in Australia for more national touring, and the release of two more singles, "Painless" (November) and "One Word" (February 1992); the latter peaked at No. 15 on the ARIA Singles Chart – their highest position. The band then toured as a support act for Van Halen's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge Tour across the US from 28 January to 31 May, playing to arena-size audiences.
In November 1992, Baby Animals released a new single, titled "Impossible to Fly". It peaked at No. 48 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
Shaved and Dangerous and disbandment: 1993–1996
In 1993 Baby Animals returned to Bearsville Studios, to start work on their second album, Shaved and Dangerous (August 1993), with two weeks of pre-production. They went to the Bahamas and spent two months recording at Compass Point Studios with Ed Stasium producing (Ramones, Living Colour, Hoodoo Gurus). The album peaked at No. 2 in Australia. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1994 they received another nomination for Best Group – this time for Shaved and Dangerous. In early 1996 Baby Animals officially disbanded as the band members undertook separate projects.
Reformed and new albums: 2007–2017
Baby Animals reformed in 2007 in the US with all four original members: Celenza, DeMarchi, Leslie and Parise. They released an acoustic CD of their previous hits, Il Grande Silenzio, on 19 January 2008, as part of the Liberation Blue Acoustic Series. The band appeared live on Australian breakfast TV program, Sunrise, three days later, and confirmed local tour dates for that year. In the following January they announced another national tour throughout that year, which was subsequently sold out.
Early in 2009 internal conflicts become apparent, Celenza and Parise eventually left. In April that year Demarchi and Leslie continued the group with Matt Cornell on bass guitar and vocals, and Mick Skelton in drums. Cornell was later replaced by Dario Bortolin.
In April 2013 the Baby Animals line-up of Bortolin, Demarchi, Leslie and Skelton released their first new single in 20 years, "Email". It was followed by the release of a new album, This Is Not the End, in late May. This was the first album released by new label Social Family Records, which peaked at No. 19.
In May 2016 the Baby Animals re-released Baby Animals as Baby Animals 25th Anniversary (or BA25), to celebrate 25 years since the original release of their debut. Also in that month they provided two gigs with the original line-up performing the debut album in full and the new line-up playing tracks from This Is Not the End. A live album was released in November 2017.
Greatest Hits: 2018–present
In February 2018, Baby Animals released "Tonight" which lead singer Suze DeMarchi wrote after her father died suddenly. In January 2019, the band announced their first greatest hits would be released in February 2019. The album will include three new recordings including a cover of Linda Ronstadt's "How Do I Make You". From November 2019, The Baby Animals co-headlined the "They Who Rock 2019" tour with The Angels. To promote the tour, The Angels released a cover of The Baby Animals' "One Word" and the Baby Animals covered The Angels' "Marseilles", both released on 1 October 2019.
In 2020 the Baby Animals were part of the Red Hot Summer Tour series of outdoor shows around Australia, alongside Boom Crash Opera, Killing Heidi, The Angels, The Living End, James Reyne and headliner, Hunters and Collectors.
Members
Current members
- Suze DeMarchi – lead vocals, guitar <small>(1989–1996, 2007–present)</small>
- Dave Leslie – guitars <small>(1989–1996, 2007–present)</small>
- Ricki Rae – drums, percussion <small>(2024–present)</small>
- Dario Bortolin – bass guitar, backing vocals <small>(2010–present)</small>
Former members
- Frank Celenza – drums, percussion <small>(1989–1996, 2007–2009, 2016)</small>
- Eddie Parise – bass guitar <small>(1989–1996, 2007–2009, 2016)</small>
- Matt Cornell – bass guitar, backing vocals <small>(2009–2010)</small>
- Mick Skelton – drums, percussion <small>(2009–2024)</small>
Timeline
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bar:MS text:"Mick Skelton"
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</timeline>
Discography
Studio albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|+ List of studio albums, with selected chart positions and certifications
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"| Title
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:20em;"| Album details
! scope="col" colspan="4"| Peak chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"| Certifications
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| AUS<br/>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| NZ<br/>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| SWE<br />
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| UK<br />
|-
! scope="row"| Baby Animals
|
- Released: 2 September 1991
- Label: Imago (72787-21002)
- Formats: CD
| 1 || 21 || 50 || 70
|
- ARIA: 8× Platinum
|-
! scope="row"| Shaved and Dangerous
|
- Released: 30 August 1993
- Label: Imago (74321-16262)
- Formats: CD
| 2 || — || — || —
|
- ARIA: Gold
|-
! scope="row"| Il Grande Silenzio
|
- Released: 21 January 2008
- Label: Liberation Blue (BLUE 152.2)
- Formats: CD, digital download
| 78 || — || — || —
|
|-
! scope="row"| This Is Not the End
|
- Released: 31 May 2013
- Label: Social Family (SFR0002)
- Formats: CD, digital download
| 19 || — || — || —
|
|}
Re-issues
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|+ List of re-issues, with selected chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"| Title
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:20em;"| Album details
! scope="col" colspan="1"| Peak chart positions
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| AUS<br/>
|-
! scope="row"| BA25
|
- Released: 20 May 2016
- Label: Liberation (LMCD0288)
- Formats: CD, digital download, streaming
| 73
|}
Live albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|+ List of live albums
! scope="col" style="width:12em;"| Title
! scope="col" style="width:16em;"| Details
|-
! scope="row"| Baby Animals Live
|
- Released: 21 November 2017
- Label: Bloodlines
- Format: Digital download
|}
Compilation albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|+ List of compilation albums
! scope="col" style="width:12em;"| Title
! scope="col" style="width:16em;"| Details
|-
! scope="row"| Greatest Hits
|
- Released: 15 February 2019
- Label: Bloodlines
- Format: Digital download
|}
Extended plays
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|+ List of extended plays
! scope="col" style="width:12em;"| Title
! scope="col" style="width:16em;"| Details
|-
! scope="row"| The Essential Five
|
- Released: 16 February 2018
- Label: Bloodlines
- Format: Digital download
|}
Singles
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|+ List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:19em;"| Title
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:1em;"| Year
! colspan="3" scope="col" | Peak chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:11em;"| Album
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| AUS<br />
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| NZ<br />
|-
! scope="row"| "Early Warning"
|rowspan="3"| 1991
| 21 || —
|—
| rowspan="5" | Baby Animals
|-
! scope="row"| "Rush You"
| 30 || —
|—
|-
! scope="row"| "Painless"
| 49 || 31
|29
|-
! scope="row"| "One Word"
|rowspan="3"| 1992
| 15 || —
|46
|-
! scope="row"| "Ain't Gonna Get"
| 65 || 50
|—
|-
! scope="row"| "Impossible to Fly"
| 48 || —
|—
| non-album single
|-
! scope="row"| "Don't Tell Me What to Do"
|rowspan="2"| 1993
| 24 || —
|—
| rowspan="3" | Shaved and Dangerous
|-
! scope="row"| "At the End of the Day / Backbone"
| 60 || —
|—
|-
! scope="row"| "Lights Out at Eleven"
| 1994
| 54 || —
|—
|-
! scope="row"| "Email"
|rowspan="2"|2013
| — || —
|—
| rowspan="2" | This Is Not the End
|-
! scope="row"| "Stitch"
| — || —
|—
|-
! scope="row"| "Tonight"
|rowspan="2"|2019
| — || —
|—
|-
! scope="row"| "Marseilles"
| — || —
|—
| non-album single
|-
! scope="row"| "Ace of Spades" (with Chris Cheney)
| 2025
| — || —
|—
| non-album single
|}
Awards and nominations
APRA Awards
The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters".
!
|-
| 2019
| "Tonight" (Suze DeMarchi / Dave Leslie)
| Urban Work of the Year
|
|
|}
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. Baby Animals have won three awards.
!
|-
| rowspan="6"|1992
| rowspan="3"| Baby Animals
| Album of the Year
|
| rowspan="6"|
|-
| Best Group
|
|-
| Breakthrough Artist - Album
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| "Early Warning"
| Single of the Year
|
|-
| Song of the Year
|
|-
| Breakthrough Artist - Single
|
|-
| rowspan="3"|1993
| rowspan="3"| "One Word"
| Best Group
|
| rowspan="3"|
|-
| Single of the Year
|
|-
| Song of the Year
|
|-
|1994
| Shaved and Dangerous
| Best Group
|
|
|-
References
Notes
Taken from the book Baby Animals Guitar Tablature, Published by EMI
External links
- "Rockwired Interviews Suze Demarchi of the Baby Animals", by Brian Lush for Rockwired, 2013