Smudge are an Australian rock and indie pop trio formed in 1991 by Paul Duncan on bass guitar, Alison Galloway on drums and Tom Morgan on guitar and vocals. Morgan is known outside Australia as a song writing collaborator of Evan Dando and his band, the Lemonheads. In 1994 Duncan was replaced on bass guitar by Adam Yee and in 1997 Pete Kelly joined on guitar. Smudge signed with Half a Cow to issue four studio albums, Manilow (1994), Hot Smoke and Sassafras (1994), You Me Carpark . . . Now (1996) and Real McCoy Wrong Sinatra (1998), before going into hiatus from late 1999. Since 2002, Smudge play a few times a year. There has been no new music since 1998.

History

Smudge were formed in 1991 in Sydney by Paul Duncan on bass guitar, Alison Galloway on drums and Tom Morgan on guitar and vocals. Duncan and Morgan were former school friends.

Smudge had formed after Galloway and Morgan were asked by Dalton to contribute a song, "Tea, Toast and Turmoil", to the 1991 Half a Cow 7-inch four-track split extended play, Slice (with one track each from Swirl, Jupiter and Studley Lush). The group's first gig was at the Lansdowne Hotel – where Galloway had worked as a barmaid – to launch the EP.

They released a 7-inch single, "Don't Want to Be Grant McLennan" (referencing the Go-Betweens' Grant McLennan) in October 1991, It was named by John Peel as his record of the week and NME provided a favourable review.

Smudge appeared at the inaugural Big Day Out, January 1992 in Sydney. Love Lust & Lemonjuice (September 1992), their second EP, included the track, "Divan". In 1993 the group issued a compilation album, Tea, Toast & Turmoil, for the international market on Canadian label Shake/Cargo. In March of that year the band released its debut album, Manilow, produced by Dalton, on Half a Cow Records. The first single from the album, "Impractical Joke" (November 1993), was released in three different countries, each with different B-sides culled from a number of home-made four-track recordings conducted independently by each of the band members. which was recorded at Idful Music Corporation in Chicago, with producer Casey Rice (Liz Phair, Dirty Three) and number of additional studio musicians, including John McEntire (Tortoise). Its second single was a three track, "Slight Return", in August. In 1997 the band released a compilation of rarities, Mo Poontang.

During 1997–1998 the band had two guitars in line-up – Pete Kelly (ex-Disneyfist, Sea Life Park, Decoder Ring) joined the band on second guitar and helped record the band's fourth album, Real McCoy, Wrong Sinatra.

From late October 1999 until 2002 the band went on an extended hiatus while drummer Alison Galloway went trekking across the world. She joined Her Name in Lights, which issued their debut album, Into the Light Again, in October 2004, but she had already left that band before it appeared.

The band re-united for a limited number of performances in Sydney and Melbourne at the end of 2004. In October 2008 they again performed together at the inaugural Sounds of Spring Festival in Brisbane which was followed by two performances in Melbourne the following weekend. In August 2010 the band released a compilation album, This Smudge is True. In November and December that year they supported The Lemonheads on an Australian tour playing all thirteen songs from the 1992 album It's a Shame about Ray, plus a selection of songs from other albums. Morgan and Galloway played with Dando in the encore performance of "The Outdoor Type". Smudge performed as part of the lineup for the 2011 Big Day Out Festival.

Discography

Albums

  • Manilow – Half a Cow/Domino/Shake (1994)
  • Manilow 2cd Reissue – Half a Cow (2006)
  • You, Me, Carpark...Now! – Half a Cow (1996)
  • Real McCoy, Wrong Sinatra – Half a Cow (1998)

Compilations

  • Tea, Toast & Turmoil – Shake The Record (Canada, 1993)
  • Mo' Poontang – Half a Cow (1997)
  • This Smudge Is True – Half a Cow (2010)

Extended plays

  • Don't Want to Be Grant McLennan – Shock UK (1992) (7-inch EP)

Singles

  • "Don't Want to Be Grant McLennan" – Half a Cow (1991) (7-inch)
  • "Leroy de Foix" – Half a Cow (1992) (promotional 7-inch)
  • "The Outdoor Type" – Domino (1993) (12-inch/cd)
  • "Desmond" 7 – The Bus Stop Label, USA (1994) (7-inch)
  • "Hot Potato (demo version)" – Blind (1998) (split 7-inch)

References

Further references

  • Half a Cow: Smudge. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  • Smudge @ MySpace.com
  • Tom Morgan interview