Fur Patrol

When singer/songwriter/guitarist Julia Deans enlisted the help of three friends in mid-96 to demo to some original material, there was no indication that a permanent group would result, and that this group would have a New Zealand number one hit four years later.

Drummer Simon Braxton and Julia had jammed together a little beforehand. Guitarist Steve Wells and Julia met via a mutual acquaintance in 1995, and played in a band for about 3 months in 95/96. Steve and bass player Andrew Bain had played together in bands since 1990. Julia was the link between them all. It was also Julia came up with the name Fur Patrol. She found it in an article she was reading.

Those Fur Patrol demos found attention at home in Wellington, but also attracted airplay on Triple J in Australia and college radio in Ottawa. In 1997 and 1998 Fur Patrol was voted best original band at the Wellington music awards. The group released its first EP, the six-track 'Starlifter', in November 98, through Wellington indie label Wishbone records, this time meeting with chart recognition. The EP was also voted Best Independent release at the 1999 B-net awards and Fur Patrol themselves were nominated for Best Rock Release, Best Live Act and Best Video for 'Starlifter' track, 'Dominoes'. Two singles later, at the 2000 B-net awards the group was nominated for Best Music Video (for the single 'Now') and Julia Deans was nominated for the Best Vocalist award. By now Julia was being described as somewhere between a tortured Kristen Hirsh and a seductive Chrissie Hynde. The band were nominated in the prestigious NZ Silver Scroll 2000 awards for their second single, 'Holy'.

The group's releases were accompanied by a solid diet of live performances. They had worked themselves into the position of becoming one of New Zealand's most popular bands. The October 2000 release of the 'Pet' album was supported by a tour with fellow Wellington bands Weta and Shihad and played sold out shows in almost every centre. Two months after its release the album had sold Gold and the release of the 'Lydia' single met with across-the-board airplay, sending it to the much prized No.1 spot in mid-December.

In March 2001, Fur Patrol relocated to Melbourne.Fur Patrol became a three-piece when Guitarist Steve Wells left the band in late 2004.