Gareth Liddiard

Early life

Liddiard was born in Port Hedland, Western Australia and then lived in London until he returned to Western Australia to start school in Perth. Initially his musical interest lay in jazz, but he eventually found his way to rock and roll music and started playing in bands during his high school years in the city's northern beach suburbs, around Sorrento. Nearby to his High School, Duncraig Senior High School. As a teenager, Liddiard listened to the music of artists such as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Black Flag and John Coltrane.

At the age of 18 years, Liddiard gained employment with a concert lighting firm in Perth and remained in this role for seven years, working with festivals such as the Big Day Out and bands such as Kim Salmon and the Surrealists. In regard to his development as a musician during this time, Liddiard explained in 2013: "Everything came together slowly and organically. It was only when Rui [Pereira (high school friend)] and I moved to Melbourne in 2000 that we thought of trying to make some money out of music. Before that I'd never considered the idea of being an entertainer."

Music

Liddiard formed The Drones with Pereira in 1997 and then relocated with the band to Victoria in 2000. The Drones have released six studio albums since 2002 and have toured throughout the world, including music festivals.

Liddiard released his debut solo album in 2010 and completed corresponding tours with support from artists such as Sydney, Australia musician Loene Carmen. The album earned him a nomination for a 2011 ARIA Award for Best Male Artist. In response to the nomination, Liddiard stated: "It's just for wankers, snorting coke and getting drunk. It's just not on my radar and I'm just not interested. The ARIAs don't really mean anything to me."

Together with Pereira, who left the Drones line-up, Liddiard contributed to the production of a self-titled album by Perth band Gutterville Splendour Six. Liddiard played guitar on fourteen songs, in addition to undertaking mixing and recording duties. All of the album's songs were recorded on an ADAT eight-track machine and the album was released as a vinyl record on Spanish record label Bang! Records.

In 2013 Liddiard cited Dimitri Shostakovich, The Stooges, North African music and Olivier Messiaen as musical influences. In terms of writers, Liddiard provided Carl Sagan and Kurt Vonnegut as examples. Regarding his own lyrics, Liddiard stated in 2013: "I read but I'm not that widely read. I don't know. They're just words for songs. That's all they are. Yeah, they're sometimes funny. You've got to be funny; life's funny."

Personal life

As of September 2013, Liddiard is a vegetarian and resides in the rural town of Nagambie, Victoria, Australia with Drones bassist Fiona Kitschin. Prior to Nagambie, the pair lived in the rural Victorian town of Myrtleford. The Nagambie property, next to the Goulburn River, was the recording location for the 2013 Drones album I See Seaweed and Liddiard explained its attributes in a media interview: "It's as good as anywhere for writing, but the main thing is it's cheap, Liddiard says. There's a huge amount of room. We have a billabong, there's a swampland, a creek, we're on the river. It's nice."

Liddiard was living in the same area as the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 and subsequently attained a 75 series Landcruiser Troop Carrier vehicle in the event of such an incident in the future. Liddiard explained in 2013 that "it's basically our ticket out of the next bushfire. In the last fires we had a 1990 Ford Falcon which wouldn't have been much use once a tree fell across the only road out of our valley."

Discography