Rogue Traders - WikiHQ

Rogue Traders is an Australian electronic rock band formed in Melbourne, Victoria in 2002 by mainstay James Ash on keyboards. In 1989, Ash met fellow original member Steve Davis in London while both were working as DJs. Before forming Rogue Traders, the pair had worked together on many projects, including the dance music act Union State, which relocated to Melbourne in 1992. The group's name comes from the 1999 drama film, Rogue Trader. They were joined in 2004 by soap opera actress, Natalie Bassingthwaighte, on lead vocals, Cameron McGlinchey on drums and Tim Henwood on guitar. Davis continued as a behind-the-scenes member, contributing to the songwriting process but not making any public appearances with the group.

Rogue Traders have achieved chart success in Australia, with seven top 20 hits on the ARIA Singles Chart, "One of My Kind", "Voodoo Child", "Way to Go!", "Watching You", "We're Coming Home", "Don't You Wanna Feel" and "I Never Liked You". Their most successful single, "Voodoo Child", peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, number four in Australia, number seven on the New Zealand Singles Chart and number fifteen on the Irish Singles Chart. The group's two Top 5 albums in Australia are Here Come the Drums (2005) and Better in the Dark (2007). In 2007, Here Comes the Drums was certified 4× platinum by ARIA for shipment of 280,000 copies, while Better in the Dark was certified platinum in 2008. As of 2008, Rogue Traders have been nominated for ten ARIA Awards, three MTV AVMA Awards, one The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, one Inside Film Award, and eight APRA Awards.

In June 2008, Bassingthwaighte left the band to focus on her acting and solo music career. In July that year, her then-boyfriend and later husband, McGlinchey, also left the band.

In November 2008, Mindi Jackson was revealed as the new lead singer to replace Bassingthwaighte. Peter Marin joined on drums to replace McGlinchey. The band was unceremoniously dumped by Sony Records in 2010, and split due to infighting shortly afterwards. Their fourth studio album and greatest hits compilation, The Sound of Drums, was released after their split in November 2011.

On 15 December 2015, it was announced that the group had reformed with Bassingthwaighte. The band were working on new music, expected to be released in late 2017, which had not yet materialised as of 2021, though a 2021 remix EP of "In Love Again" was released in June 2021.

History

Formation

thumb|[[James Ash performing with Rogue Traders, May 2008.|alt=Upper body shot of a 34-year-old man. He is partly obscured by a keyboard and microphone in front of him. He has short dark hair and wears a dark tee-shirt which has a large open eye logo. His eyes are directed down and slightly to his right. His arms are raised to the keyboard but his hands are obscured. The lettering O-A-S-Y-S is visible on the back of the synthesiser with an additional K at the right.]]

Rogue Traders formed as an Australian electronic, pop rock band in Melbourne in 2002 by former members of Union State, James Ash (aka Jamie Appleby) on keyboards and Steve Davis on guitar. The duo had met in 1989 in London where both were working as DJs. Ash relocated to Melbourne in 1992, but the pair continued to work together and formed Union State to release singles including, "Out to Get You" and "Retrosexual". However, it did reach No. 16 on the Top 50 Club Chart. It was originally intended to be the lead single for their debut album, We Know What You're Up To, however it was cut from the album's track listing before its release. The single was recorded with Jamaica Williams providing lead vocals. It performed better than their first release on the ARIA Singles Chart, peaking at No. 67. At the APRA Music Awards of 2003 it was nominated for 'Most Performed Dance Work'. Ash and Richards later married and, as Melinda Appleby, she contributed songwriting credits to Rogue Traders later work.

The band's first top 20 success came in 2003 when "One of My Kind", a remix/cover version of INXS's "Need You Tonight", was released on 23 February, which peaked at No. 10, The single brought greater recognition for the band and, at ARIA Music Awards of 2003, they were nominated in two categories, "Breakthrough Artist – Single" and "Best Video" (by Sam Bennetts, Rising Sun Pictures), and won "Best Dance Release". On 5 May 2003, their debut album, We Know What You're Up To, was released, but it failed to reach the top 100 on the related Albums Chart.

Natalie Bassingthwaighte gained popular acclaim as an actress on the Australian soap opera, Neighbours, playing the role of Izzy Hoyland from 2003. By 2004, she began working on a parallel music career creating her own demos: songs with an acoustic-rock sound when, late that year, she was recruited as the lead singer for Rogue Traders. Upon being presented with the band's music, Bassingthwaighte auditioned for Ash and Davis. The pair had auditioned 15 to 20 candidates, and after she performed their song "Voodoo Child", she became the band's front woman. number three in the United Kingdom (in July 2006), and number fifteen in Ireland (also July 2006).

In October 2005, the group performed at the NRL Grand Final shortly before the release of their second album, Here Come the Drums on 23 October. By that time they had added Cameron McGlinchey on drums. The album peaked at number two on the ARIA Albums Chart and reached the top 50 on the UK Albums Chart. In March 2007, she reprised her role as Izzy Hoyland in scenes shot while on location in London in November 2006.

Rogue Traders won the 2006 MTV Australian Video Music Award for Best Dance Video for "Voodoo Child". In June at the APRA Music Awards of 2006, Rogue Traders won their first APRA Award, with "Way to Go!" taking out the "Most Performed Dance Work" category.

In June 2007, "Voodoo Child" was featured in the Doctor Who episode, "The Sound of Drums" (Season 3, Episode 12). The song was preceded by the episode's villain, The Master, proclaiming "Here come the drums!" The song's lyrics echo the title of the episode, which refers to the drumming the Master hears in his head. Rogue Traders were also a surprise inclusion to the 2006 season of Big Brother Australia, entering the house and playing a "concert" for house mates. The event was also streamed to Big Brother audiences from the program's website. The Rogue Traders' song, "Fashion" was also used as the theme tune to Gok Wan's Channel 4 television programme called Gok's Fashion Fix.

In 2006, Rogue Traders went on the We're Coming Home Tour around Australia. They performed songs from Here Come the Drums, kicking off each show with "Believer" and ending with an encore of "Voodoo Child". The band also previewed songs which were subsequently included on their third album, Better in the Dark (2007), including the title track, "What You're On" and "Shout Out". By the end of 2007, Here Comes the Drums was certified 4× platinum by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments in excess of 280,000 copies in Australia.

2007-2008: Better In The Dark

thumb|[[Cameron McGlinchey on drums for the Rogue Traders, during the Better in the Dark Tour, 2008.]]

In January 2007, Rogue Traders performed at the opening of the Australian Jamboree at Elmore, Victoria in front of a crowd of over 10,000. In April the group performed at the Melbourne Crown Casino, previewing some of their new songs. In May they supported British girl group Girls Aloud on The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits Tour. The Sunday Telegraph reported that "[t]he group's management confirmed the band had been in discussions with a major US label." Rogue Traders flew to the US in July where they launched their first single into the North American market. The group then signed Universal Music Group. Unfortunately, the song failed to gain much attention in the US.

In May 2007, Old Navy, a division of Gap, Inc. in North America, featured "Believer", "Watching You", and later, "World Go 'Round" in their Summerland commercials. In June Rogue Traders completed a tour of the UK and returned to Australia to finalise their third album. In September, the lead single, "Don't You Wanna Feel", was released: it debuted on the ARIA singles chart at number ten, It was released in two forms; the standard form and a limited CD/DVD edition with international imports available later the following week. Better in the Dark made it to number four in the ARIA Albums Chart, "Don't You Wanna Feel" was certified Gold (35,000+ copies sold) by ARIA. It was the group's third single to go Gold. Better in the Dark was also certified Platinum. Their second single, "Voodoo Child", went Platinum (70,000+ copies sold).

thumb|left|Bassingthwaighte performing during the Better in the Dark Tour in 2008

In January 2008, the second single, "I Never Liked You", from Better in the Dark, was issued, which peaked at number nine. That same week it reached number eighteen on the Physical Singles Chart, number nine in the Australian Artists Singles Chart and number three on the Dance Chart.

Rogue Traders undertook the Better in the Dark Tour from 29 April to the beginning of June, playing venues around the country. The tour kicked off at the Regent Theatre in Yarram. The group played songs from all three albums: We Know What You're Up To, Here Come the Drums and Better in the Dark. They surprised some fans by playing their first top 10 single, "One of My Kind", a re-working of the INXS classic "Need You Tonight", but this time sung live by Bassingthwaighte. They also performed a cover of "Nothing Compares 2 U", the Prince song also covered by Sinéad O'Connor.

In June 2008, after the toured ended, Bassingthwaighte quit the band to focus on her acting and solo music career. A fourth single from the album had been planned, linked with a competition involving Ford. The competition was to answer in 25 words or less why they should feature in the new Rogue Traders video. The single was confirmed to be "On Your Way to the Disco", but it was never officially released as Bassingthwaighte had left. In July that year her then-boyfriend (they later married), McGlinchey, also left the band. Ash dismissed the idea that Bassingthwaighte's departure signalled the end of the band, stating that he had already started working on the next album, the fourth for the band. On 14 November, Ash revealed via Twitter the names of their new singer, Melinda "Mindi" Jackson, and new drummer, Peter Marin. On 25 December 2009 (Christmas Day), "Love Is a War" was issued as a digital download single and then, on 8 January 2010, as a physical single. On 12 March "Would You Raise Your Hands?" was released as the follow-up single, which reached number ninety-five. On 11 November 2011 Rogue Traders finally released Night of the Living Drums, after they had re-signed to Sony. It was released as part of The Sound of Drums which is a double album that includes a compilation disc, The Greatest Hits, and the studio recording, Night of the Living Drums. Ash described The Sound of Drums conception, "[t]he catalyst was when we realised we were coming up to the band's 10-year anniversary. We'd always talked about how much fun it would be to do a greatest hits one day, and we struck on the idea of doing a record that combined the two. I have to give credit to Sony, because they changed their minds about us – we brought this idea back to them and they went for it".

2025-present: Midnight Alarms

In late 2025, Rogue Traders announced a new album titled Midnight Alarms to be released in 2026. In February 2026, the single "Take You Down" was released.

Personnel

Timeline

Discography

We Know What You're Up To (2003)
Here Come the Drums (2005)
Better in the Dark (2007)
Night of the Living Drums (2011)
Midnight Alarms (2026)

Awards and nominations

As of 2008, Rogue Traders have been nominated for ten ARIA Awards, three MTV AVMA Awards, one The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, one Inside Film Award, and eight APRA Awards.

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) to "honour those composers and songwriters who have achieved the highest performances of their work and excellence in their craft over the previous year". They have won two awards in the category of "Most Performed Dance Work" (later renamed as "Dance Work of the Year") from eight nominations.

| 2003 || "Give in to Me" – Rogue Traders <br>(Jamie Appleby, Steve Davis, Josephine Armstead, Milton Middlebrook) || Most Performed Dance Work ||

| 2006 || rowspan="2"| "Way to Go!" – Rogue Traders <br>(Jamie Appleby, Isaac Moran) || Most Performed Dance Work ||

| rowspan="2"| 2007 || Most Performed Dance Work ||

| "We're Coming Home" – Rogue Traders <br>(Jamie Appleby, Melinda Appleby) || Most Performed Dance Work ||

| rowspan="2"| "Don't You Wanna Feel" – Rogue Traders <br>(Jamie Appleby, Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Steven Davis, Dougal Drummond) || Dance Work of the Year ||

| 2009 || Dance Work of the Year ||

ARIA Awards

The annual ARIA Music Awards are presented by the Australian Recording Industry Association since 1987. Rogue Traders have won one award from eleven nominations.

|rowspan="3"| 2003 ||rowspan="2"| "One of My Kind" ||Best Dance Release ||

| "Voodoo Child" – Sam Bennetts, Mad Angel || Best Video ||

| Best Group ||

| "Voodoo Child" || Best Dance Video ||

|2007 || "In Love Again" || Best Dance Video ||

References

External links