Bodyjar

Bodyjar are Australia's premier new age pop punkers.

Founding members Cameron Baines, Ben Peterson and Grant Relf grew up in the same Melbourne suburb and have been friends since primary school, and formed the band Helium in 1992.

For his part singer Cameron Baines came to the music via his passion for skateboarding. Watching skate movies the soundtracks invariably featured groups like the Descendant and Bad Religion, the new era punk with a strong moral fibre attached to the youthful hijinks and meaty guitar riffs. One thing led to the other and before long Baines was heavily into the music as well. But the pop punk Helium forged for themselves was not in vogue at the time when, inspired by Nirvana and Pearl Jam, everyone else seemed to want to be in a grunge band.

Helium released one album ' You Can't Hold Me Down' in October 1992 before changing their name to Bodyjar. Drummer Ross Hetherington joined in 95, compared to the rest, a veteran. Five years older than the other members of Bodyjar, he had played with bands since his mid-teens, notably hardcore punk outfits the Bastard Squad and the Swamp Rats.

With the help of punk fanzines and all-ages gigs at pubs Bodyjar managed to build a formidable reputation despite grunge. They also formed valuable allegiances with like-minded bands and record labels worldwide. Bill Stephenson and Stephen Egerton from All produced the first Bodyjar album 'Take A Look Inside' while on tour in Australia. No Fun At All took Bodyjar to Japan, Europe and Canada in 95/96. Blink 182, Pennywise and Bodyjar triple-headed a tour of Australia in 95.

The 'Rimshot' album followed in 96 and Bodyjar took to the world again: Canada, Japan, America's east coast, one step ahead of the So-Cal skate-punk bandwagon. Album three, 'No Touch Red' was recorded in Montreal over 12 days and mixed by All's Bill and Stephen in Colorado.

Guitarist Ben Peterson decided to opt out after the finale of the 1998 Big Day Out with Marilyn Manson, Hole and Korn. It might have been the end of the band completely, if they hadn't already demoed eight songs they considered some of the best song songs they'd ever done. Instead of breaking up, in May 99 Bodyjar added guitarist Tommy Read (ex-180 Discord). At the same time the band decided to consolidate their recording career by signing with one company rather than stay with the now-unmanageable collection of labels they now found themselves on worldwide. While all that was being sorted out, Bodyjar found themselves with uncustomary time to prepare the new album. By the time they signed with EMI there were 33 song demos in the can towards the album that became 'How It Works', in the end almost two years in the making.

While 'How It Works' proved to be the band's biggest album to date, and made the rest of the world take even more notice, in the end the band thought the album was probably a bit too slick, and for the follow-up, 'Plastic Skies' the band just miked up the PA in search of more of a live sound. The album was recorded the house featured in the movie 'Mad Max'.

In May 2004 it was Ross Hetherington's turn to gracefully bow out, on the eve of a national tour supporting Offspring. He was temporarily replaced for the tour's duration by Frenzal Rhom drummer Gordy Forman until Shane Wakker of Melbourne band Channel 3 was named the group's new drummer in August. "With a name like Wakker", claimed Bodyjar "he was half way there". In fact more than 40 drummers were auditioned before the choice was made.

At the beginning of 2007, Baines and Wakker launched their new harder-edged side project Daughters Of The Rich, with Mark Brunott (ex-For Amusement Only) and Mikey Juler completing the lineup.