The Fauves

The Fauves rank among Australia's most overlooked acts, crafting guitar-driven pop distinguished by sharp, witty lyrics in a vein reminiscent of TISM yet delivered with far greater restraint. Four school friends—Andrew Dyer, Adam Newey, Andrew Cox, and Phil Leonard—assembled the Melbourne-based group in 1988 and borrowed their moniker from the brief early-1900s art movement, with "fauve" translating from French as "wild animal."

Their initial EP, This Mood Has Passed, surfaced in 1989, followed two years later by The Scissors Within and then the 1992 release Tight White Ballhugger. Each of these recordings earned strong critical notice, yet widespread sales remained elusive, leaving the quartet with only a devoted cult audience.

The band's first full-length effort, Drive Through Charisma, arrived in 1993 and received favorable notices without breaking through commercially, though it yielded the modest alternative singles "Thin Body, Thin Body" and "Marble Arse."

Extensive road work in support of The Young Need Discipline, issued in 1994—including opening slots on Australian dates for Throwing Muses and Live—finally brought the wider recognition the Fauves had earned. That album showcased memorable tracks and incisive, clever wordplay, spawning alternative favorites "Caesar's Surrender" and "Dwarf on Dwarf."

Buoyed by this momentum, the group allowed their humorous outlook greater prominence on the 1995 EP Everybody's Getting a Three Piece Together, while still ensuring songcraft remained paramount and the quality of their guitar pop stayed undiminished.

Future Spa, their third album, emerged in 1996 and reinforced their standing among Australia's finest bands through strong reviews and radio support generated by the singles "Dogs are the Best People," "Self Abuser," and "Don't Get Death Threats Anymore"; a concealed track captured a police interrogation of two members after a marijuana-possession arrest. Lazy Highway followed in 1998 with another set of refined guitar pop, producing the alternative singles "The Charles Atlas Way" and the Beach Boys-inspired "Surf City Limits."