Years active 2002–2012 Active until 2012 Members Tim Morrison | Website www.trialkennedy.com/ Active from 2002 | |
Origin Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Past members Tim Morrison
Stacey Gray
Shaun Gionis
Richard Buxton
Aaron Malcomson Albums New Manic Art, Living Undesigned, The Birds and the Bees Genres Alternative rock, Indie rock Similar Horsell Common, Calling All Cars, Kisschasy, Mere Theory, Behind Crimson Eyes | ||
Trial Kennedy were an Australian rock band formed in 2002, in Melbourne, Victoria. After 10 years together Trial Kennedy announced their break-up.
Contents
Early work
Forming in 2002, Trial Kennedy's first release was an independent extended play (EP), Present for a Day, recorded, engineered and produced by renowned producer Kalju Tonuma. It was released in 2004. However, it was not until 2006's Picture Frame EP, also produced by Kalju Tonuma, that the band began amounting some form of recognition. A chance inclusion of the band's song "Damage on Parade" on a sampler for Blunt Magazine roused industry attention. Shortly afterwards, the band found themselves with both a manager and a national booking agent.
Early Touring
The band has toured with popular international bands such as Fall Out Boy and Yellowcard. They played legs on the 2007 and 2008 Soundwave festivals, as well as the 2008 Come Together Music Festival.
The band supported Birds of Tokyo in the Wild Eyed Boy tour in March 2009.
New Manic Art
Trial Kennedy released their debut studio album, New Manic Art, on 31 May 2008. The album was produced by Nick DiDia, who has worked with Powderfinger, the Stone Temple Pilots, Incubus and Audioslave.
The album had a strong critical reaction. Kathy McCabe noted that the band "demonstrated the kind of chops that could take them around the world. Seriously, they're that good." Elsewhere, Nick Snelling of BEAT Magazine claimed that New Manic Art was "an album of the year contender;" an idea shared by Matthew Cheetham of Sydney street press Drum Media. Positive reviews also came from the Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, triple j Magazine, Time Out Magazine, Zoo Magazine, Perth's XPRESS Magazine, BLUNT Magazine and Sputnikmusic.
Living Undesigned
In September 2010 the band began work on recording their second album at Sing Sing Recording Studios in Melbourne with renowned producer Eric J.
The first song from the second album, titled "Strange Behaviour" was released on 10 November 2010. Australian youth radio station Triple J played this song on high rotation over the summer of 2010/2011 and was available as a free download for a short period of time from the Triple J website.
The first official single from the second album, titled "Best of Tomorrow" was released on 4 March 2011 with an Australian wide tour of the same name planned for March 2011.
On 10 April 2011, Trial Kennedy announced the title of their forthcoming album, Living Undesigned, which was released on 13 May 2011.
Four more songs from the album, titled "Sally", "Exology", "Living Undesigned" and "Breath a Dime" were previewed on their Facebook page.
Ignite Tour
In November 2010, Trial Kennedy completed a tour of the east coast of Australia with Shihad. The band toured to Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Adelaide.
Best of Tomorrow Tour – Part 1
In March 2011 Trial Kennedy embarked on an East Coast tour of Australia with various supporting bands for each city including Numbers Radio, The Bloodpoets and The Ivys. The tour visited Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney and promote the release of the new single by the same name.
Final tour and split
On April 16, 2012, the band announced via Facebook that "For a number of reasons all of us in the band have chosen to close down the project that is Trial Kennedy."
The press release continued:
We are calling it a day with our heads held high for we have had the most incredible time as Trial Kennedy. We've had the amazing pleasure of writing and recording 2 albums that we loved, 2 EP's and a split EP, and have had the upmost pleasure of touring Australia figuratively hundreds of times. We have spent more hours in overcrowded and uncomfortably crammed 12 seater Europcar vans travelling up and down the Hume. We have slept on more floors and played more gigs to just the bar guy and the sound guy that we ever thought we would. We have been charged ridiculous amounts by Virgins excess charges on so many occasions we could have bought our own plane, and we have spent many years chasing the dream that is Trial Kennedy and we feel like we are walking away happy. We truly hope that Trial Kennedy has been a great experience for you guys too. And we all must say this is the end of one musical chapter but the beginning of many more so look out in the future.The band announced their final tour dates for June 2012 with supports including My Echo and Sendfire.
Their last gig was at The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, on Jun 23, 2012.
In April, 2013, Tim auditioned for Season 2 of The Voice (Australia) and after successfully having two judges turn their chair he chose Delta Goodrem as his coach. He successfully defeated Oscar Chavesz in the Battle Rounds. He then progressed through the Showdown Rounds as one of the final four members of Goodrem's team left in the competition.
Singles
NOTE: The single "The Great Escape" featured a different version of the song to the version found on the album "New Manic Art".
Songs
Best of TomorrowLiving Undesigned · 2011
Colour Day ToursNew Manic Art · 2008
Sunday WarningNew Manic Art · 2008