Rogue Traders

The electro-rock outfit Rogue Traders adopted their moniker from the 1998 psychological drama Rogue Trader, which starred Ewan McGregor. Longtime associates James Ash and Steve Davis assembled the project in the early 2000s after first encountering each other in 1989 during DJ sets in London, where they had previously notched their greatest achievements as the dance act Union State. Following the outfit’s move to Melbourne in 1992, Union State notched a pair of international successes via the tracks “Out to Get You” and “Retrosexual.” Roughly ten years afterward, Ash and Davis elected to overhaul their sonic approach.

The resulting dance-oriented endeavor surfaced in 2003 via the album We Know What You’re Up To, whose opening cut “Need You to Show Me” reached number 16 on Australia’s Top 40 Club Chart. Although the follow-up single “Give In to Me” met with more modest returns, the group garnered wider recognition through a reworked cover of INXS’s “Need You Tonight.” Rebranded as “One of My Kind,” the track attained number ten on the Australian charts and circulated as a club favorite throughout the U.K. Ash and Davis subsequently received an ARIA Award for Best Dance Single for “One of My Kind” before the year ended.

Australian soap actress Natalie Bassingthwaighte entered the Rogue Traders lineup in 2005. Recognized for her role as Isabelle “Izzy” Hoyland on the enduring series Neighbours—the program that also launched the singing careers of Kylie Minogue and Natalie Imbruglia—she had first crossed paths with Ash and Davis during a winter 2004 audition. Her sultry, charismatic delivery secured her position as lead vocalist. Around the same period Davis stepped back from performing to concentrate on songwriting duties, while guitarist Tim Henwood and drummer Cameron McGlinchey joined the touring configuration alongside Bassingthwaighte and keyboardist Ash.

The refreshed ensemble issued its second album, Here Come the Drums, in 2005. Its initial single, “Voodoo Child,” emerged as a worldwide club phenomenon by merging a propulsive rhythm section and Bassingthwaighte’s seductive vocals with elements drawn from Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up.” The track climbed to number four on the Australian singles chart and earned the band three ARIA nominations—for Best Dance Release, Best Video, and Engineer of the Year. By December the album had achieved platinum status in Australia and secured Rogue Traders an opening slot on Kelly Clarkson’s Breakaway Tour. Here Come the Drums reached the U.K. in July 2006. Two years later Bassingthwaighte departed to launch a solo career, with McGlinchey following suit one month afterward.