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You Am I
Rooted in classic rock
and roll, three-piece You Am I became one of the most successful Australian
bands of the Nineties - without commercial radio support achieving three
national number one albums in a row - relying on material largely created
by the group's singer/guitarist Tim Rogers.
Tim started playing
guitar after receiving an acoustic guitar for his fourteen birthday in 1982. His parents separated when he was
seventeen and, after a troubled high school life, Tim formed his first
band, the Pleasureheads while studying arts/law
at the National University in Canberra. He then returned to Sydney and took up an arts degree at
Macquarie Uni while working at a pizza joint and joining another band,
Glazed Expression.
The first version of
You Am I was formed in December 1989
with Tim's oldest school friend Nick Tischler on bass,
and his older brother Jaimme Rogers on drums. At
a gig somewhere or other a "spaced out" girl came up to Tim and
launched into a big spiritual spiel about ".... I am you... you am i...". The band took that
as the inspiration for the working title for their band, playing the
raunchy sounds of the sixties - The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Faces - together with the raunchy sounds of the
seventies - The Clash, the Replacements, The Jam.
Jaimme left the band after a fight
with Tim. The next year, Nick left "selflessly" because he didn't
think he could fulfill Tim's vision. They were
replaced respectively by Mark Tunalay and Andy
Kent. The group met Andy when he mixed their set at a Canberra gig, supported the Falling Joys
but didn't join until travelling with the band for a while as their own
mixer.
In the meantime, in May
1991, You Am I released its first CD, the Snake Tide EP through independent
Timberyard, followed by the Goddamn. EP in May 1992. A month later Andy
Kent replaced Mark Tunaley. It was this line-up
which captured people's imaginations and led to a recording contract with
Ra Records, a subsidiary of INXS manager Chris Murphy's RooArt
label. Their first Ra release was the Can't Get Started EP in November
1992.
Optimistically, Tim
Rogers sent copies of the band's records and a letter to Lee Ranaldo of American cult band, Sonic Youth, and when
the Americans were in Australia for the inaugural national Big Day Out tour
in January 1993 (which also featured You Am I), Renaldo took time out help
produce the Coprolalia EP, and then You Am I travelled to Sonic Youth's
studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota to record the band's first album, 'Sound
As Ever'.
The last real line up
change occurred late 1993. Mark Tunaley wanted to
play heavier music whereas Tim and Andy wanted to play a more pop based
rock. The problems boiled over during the recording of 'Sound As Ever', and
days after You Am I returned from the States, Mark was fired from the band
with a simple phone call. However, they now needed a drummer with whom to
promote the album. They offered the spot to a fan with a list of bands
behind him who used to get drunk with them on their Melbourne gigs. Russell "Rusty"
Hopkinson happily accepted.
'Sound As Ever's singles, 'Adam's Ribs', 'Berlin Chair' and 'Jaimme's Got A Gal' enjoyed a lot of Triple J airplay
and the album won the ARIA award for Best Alternative Release. In the
meantime America's Soundgarden
discovered You Am I on Big Day Out's 1994 stage and invited the group to
tour the States as their support group.
You Am I recorded their
second album, 'Hi Fi Way', in the Greene Street Studios
of New York, again with Ranaldo. Recorded over
seven days in mid September 1994 this reflective, lyrically nostalgic album
sent You Am I to the Number One spot nationally. The next album 'Hourly
Daily' took a nostalgic journey musically, reflecting Tim Rogers' love of
The Sixties. Instead of reflecting his own life, Tim's lyrics looked at the
suburban lives of others. With each album his songwriting
powers were growing. 'Hourly Daily' achieved Number One again, and was
nominated for nine Australian Record Industry Awards, taking away six.
A support performance
at Crowded House's farewell on the 24th of November, 1996 brought the band to the attention of
the visiting English press, adding Europe to You Am I's
tour schedule.
By now You Am I were regularly augmenting the core trio with extra
musicians on stage and on record, and Tim presented the occasional solo
performance. In 1997 Tim composed and produced the soundtrack for 'Idiot
Box', with You Am I themselves supplying three new tracks. You Am I's back-to-basics fourth album, "#4 Record", was produced by George Drakoulias
(Black Crowes), and was followed by an
introspective country and accordian solo (with
friends) album from Tim, recording songs inspired by his break-up with his longtime girlfriend.
In 1999 You Am I
invited their fans to two nights at a warehouse in Melbourne and recorded the live album,
'Saturday Night Around Ten'. In an important change guitarist David Lane had been added to the official
line-up. His entry gave You Am I extra guitar bite both on stage and in the
studio, although the studio results would take longer to hear than the band
would have liked. You Am I were under a lot of pressure to 'write hits' and
'play the game' for the sake of their US breakthrough. Rather than
compromising You Am I went straight to the heart of what You Am should
sound like as far as the band is concerned. The result was April 2001's
'Dress Me Slowly' album. 2002's 'Deliverance' was the aftermath of that
painful episode, relaxed, eclectic, self-produced, and stubbornly without
anything resembling a 'hit' single. In September 2003 the group parted ways
with BMG when the company refused to support a tour of the US.
You And I reconvened
in 2006 to record 'Convicts' for EMI completely on their own terms,
Tim ready to rock after more countrified “solo” sojourns ('Spit
Polish' and 'Dirty Ron/Ghost Songs'), Russell Hopkinson now doubling
as Radio Birdman's drummer, Davey Lane fronting his own group (The Pictures) and Andy
Kent having taken on the group's business affairs. The title of
'Convicts' was a band joke, a name they had sometimes suggested
as an alternative when people queried You Am I As a name. It was
also had that historic Australian connection, how they were made
to feel at times during their international jaunts. The album
itself was one of the most aggressive since 'Sound As Ever'. No
sign of a hit single.
Almost immediately, in
July 2006 Tim teamed up with Beasts Of Bourbon/Cruel Sea singer
Tex Perkins for an album as T'N'T. Then in September 2007 Tim
released his first true solo album The Luxury Of Hysteria ,
possibly is finest collection of songs yet, without the normal
rock trappings, backed primarily by string arrangements.
Despite
all the extracurricular activity and even his band members' disapproval
of the way he sometimes had gone off the rails in recent times
You Am I remained top of Tim Rogers mind. He's always thought
of them as the greatest band ever and wants to keep working with
them creatively. 'Convicts' had been an "up yours' made-to-be-played-on
stage album, the album they could make because they'd survived
and had become by osmosis self-sufficient, down to soundman Greg
Wales acting as producer. With Wales at the controls again, and
having got so much out of their system with 'Convicts', 2008's
follow-up 'Dilettantes' returned to some of the musicality and
sophistication of 'Hi-Fi Way' and 'Hourly Daily' era You Am I,
Tim Rogers ever growing as a songwriter.
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