Spencer Tracy (band)

History

The band was formed by three teenagers from a small coal mining town called Collie in Western Australia, who started playing in pubs around the south corner of Western Australia. They reached the finals of the Next Big Thing band competition and joined indie label Embryo Records in 2000 - aged just 15, 16 and 18 having performed about 100 pub gigs.

Initial Triple J and RTRFM support for their first EP Corner of My Eye in early 2001 led to several East coast tours and support spots for the likes of Midnight Oil, Lotel, Iota, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Fauves.

Further airplay for a track called "Stupid" from their second EP Daisy Daze strengthened the band's position while two members (Shaun Sibbes on drums and Kim Jones on bass guitar) finished school and principal songwriter Lee Jones began to work on honing the band's sound.

Disaster nearly struck when world-renowned pianist Roger Woodward saw the potential in Lee’s classical piano playing and tried to persuade him to study piano at San Francisco State University in mid-2002 - a great opportunity offered to only a few of the best young players in the world and a heavy decision for a 20-year-old from the bush to make.

It was in this time of indecision and conflicting emotions that Lee penned the breakthrough tracks "Disco King" and "Ocean" and opened the gateway to the sound and direction the band was to take. Long conversations with manager Rosco Stewart and producer Ben Glatzer urged Lee to do two things; firstly to follow his heart - whether that be a career in classical piano and composition or a career in rock 'n roll and secondly just to get back into the studio and get the tracks down.

Once Spencer Tracy were back in the studio magic happened. Long-time friend and guitarist John Rabjones, also from Collie, was added to the line up and the new look Spencer Tracy hit the stage turning heads wherever the played.

"Disco King" hit the airwaves of Triple J in January 2003 and the band went from strength to strength. A January tour with Regurgitator, February spots on the Perth Big Day Out, March east coast gigs with Waikiki and Machine Gun Fellatio plus a Western Australian tour with You Am I.

More airplay followed in February with the Triple M network adding "Disco King" to official rotation in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, NOVA Sydney & Melbourne running the track in the high rotation Buzz bin for two consecutive weeks and NOVA 93.7 in Perth giving solid airplay over a six-week period. The video clip to "Disco King" was also taking off with rotation on Channel V, MTV and Rage.

The second single "Ocean’ was launched in June and was added to rotation on Triple J(national), 96FM (Perth), Nova 93.7 (Perth WA Made) K Rock (Geelong) and is currently being spotted on Triple M the Nova networks and HotFM. July saw Spencer Tracy tour Australia with international band Veruca Salt and cement their position as one of Australia’s hottest new acts.

International interest in the band began, Spencer Tracy launched their debut album with a series of gigs across Australia. The self-titled album was recorded at Revolver Studio's in Western Australia with Ben Glatzer (Ammonia, The Sleepy Jackson, Cartman, Crawlspace) producing and engineering the song and is released on Embryo Records (Veruca Salt, Cartman).

The album has also picked up feature album, (8–15 August) on Triple J after enjoying a week in the number one position on the Triple J's Net 50.

Line up problems plagued the end of 2003 and the band toured Australia as a three piece with founding members Lee Jones on Guitar, brother Kim Jones on Bass and Shaun Sibbes on Drums, later adding Jessie Bennett (formerly of Perth band Lash) to the lineup.

In 2004, Spencer Tracy was selected to perform at SXSW in Austin, Texas, and began to attract a lot of international attention when Lee Jones unexpectedly left the band to concentrate on classical piano.

The remaining members rallied together and after three rehearsals played the Lotto Skyworks and Perth Big Day Out to combined crowds of about 4,000 people. They then began touring the new lineup to enthusiastic crowds around rural Western Australia. The band then released what was to be their final release, the EP Hold On.

The new line-up for Spencer Tracy toured the south-west of Western Australia with Jebediah and preparation was being made for a Japanese tour later in that year. The band also expanded their line up with Shaun Sibbes moving to front the band on guitar and vocals, with Nicolas Jonsson from The Avenues and Malcom Clarke from The Sleepy Jackson both filling the position on drums on different occasions. The band eventually disbanded in November 2004.

Since their breakup Lee Jones has fronted Perth electronic act Astronaut, which won a WAMi Award in 2006 for 'Best Live Electronic Act' and subsequently joined The Sleepy Jackson in 2006 on keyboards and lead guitar. In April 2007, with The Sleepy Jackson not working, Lee joined Eskimo Joe's touring band playing keyboards, electric guitar and lap steel guitar.

Jessica Bennett plays in The Preytells, National Campus Band Comp winners for 2005.

In 2009, Shaun Sibbes played drums as a session musician for Australian act Sneaky Sound System. He is also playing with Lee Jones again in The Sun Orchestra.

Members

At the end of 2003, the band consisted of:

John Rabjones, also of Collie, joined the band as second guitarist for the duration of the band's 2003 first, self-titled album.

Albums

EPs

Singles

Compilations