Sydney band the
Clouds
epitomized the definition of "almost famous." The popularity of their
early material, perfectly timed to coincide with the early-'90s boom in
alternative rock, was never properly seized on through a combination of
mismanagement, poor decisions, and plain bad luck.
The core members and vocalists
Jodi Phillis (who also played guitar) and
Patricia Young
(who doubled on bass) originally called themselves Scudda Hey before
adding drummer Stuart Eadie and guitarist Robert Phelan and settling on
the name
Clouds. Their first show was as the opening act for
the Go-Betweens' farewell concert at the Petersham Inn; a symbolic passing on of energy and perhaps misfortune.
While supporting
Falling Joys, the
Clouds
slowly became popular enough to take over as headliners and were signed
by indie label Red Eye Records in 1990. Their first EPs, Cloud Factory
and
Loot, were well-received, as was their debut album,
Penny Century.
Dave Easton had replaced Robert Phelan on guitar and brought a harsher,
rockier sound to the album, which was eventually certified gold. Andrew
Byrne replaced drummer Stuart Eadie shortly afterwards, who had clashed
with the rest of the band while they were on tour. Their follow-up, the
mini-album
Octopus,
was released a year later, though the label had tried to persuade them
to wait until 1993 and record more songs to beef it up into a
full-length album release.
Penny Century
was given an English release in 1993 by Polydor, who had effectively
taken over Red Eye Records. With yet another new drummer in
Raphael Whittingham,
the band headed to London to tour and promote it. When they returned
with a set of new demos for their third album, Polydor was unimpressed
with all but one of them, "Domino," which they wanted to be a single.
The band went into the studio and rewrote the music, they came out with a
version of the song that slowed down the vocals until they were
unrecognizable. When the album
Thunderhead was released, "Bowers of Bliss" was chosen to be the single instead. It sold disappointingly.
During a tour of Europe and the U.S., they recorded
the Beetroot EP in London. They ran into trouble when Polydor refused to
release
Thunderhead
in America in time for their visit. They stayed in San Francisco while
touting the album, eventually picking up a distribution deal with
Elektra, who requested that they re-record the single to be less
explicit for the sake of American radio. Things seemed to finally be
working out, until Elektra was unexpectedly merged with East West by
their owners Warner Bros. and most of their acts, including the
Clouds, were dropped.
Discouraged, Easton quit the band on their return to
Australia. Though the other members were happy to remain a three-piece,
their label talked them into finding a new guitarist before recording
again. They acquiesced and brought
Ben Nightingale
on board for the Futura album. Polydor were again unhappy with the
demos and refused to allow the song "Mid-Winter" onto the album when it
was released in 1996. Once again sales were disappointing. A video was
filmed for the song "Never Say Forever," which the band hated so much
they vetoed its use. When they saw it on television soon afterwards they
finally called it quits, performing a last farewell tour in 1997.
Jodi Phillis went on to form the Dearhunters and
Patricia Young moved to England. When
Young returned to Australia in 2005 the two original members reunited as
the Girls from the Clouds and released an EP called
Lalalala, though they disbanded again afterwards.
