Skybombers

During the 1990s, You Am I embodied the archetype of the Australian alternative rock group. Chaotic yet accomplished, the band spurred a wave of young Australians to begin playing instruments. Even grunge wannabes Silverchair adopted the latter half of their name from the You Am I song "Berlin Chair." The influence endured for later groups such as Skybombers, who rose out of Melbourne to sudden international exposure through a comparable melding of British and American influences into a laconically debauched rock & roll whole.

All four Skybombers members—guitarist and lead singer Hugh Gurney, bass player Ravi Sharma, drummer Scott McMurtrie, and guitarist Sam Bethune—had attended high school together. After one was expelled from the school orchestra and the others were barred from the music room, they practiced inside a cramped spare room at Scott McMurtrie's mother's house and staged their first concert at a party in the McMurtrie family backyard. A five-song demo titled Sirens, created to be handed out to friends at another early show, reached Albert Productions, the label responsible for classic Australian rock bands such as Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, the Easybeats, and AC/DC. Albert Productions signed the young Skybombers and flew them to Los Angeles for six weeks to record their debut album, 2008's Take Me to Town. The trip also allowed them to arrange support slots for major American acts including X and Foo Fighters.