Underground Lovers

Underground Lovers (sometimes stylised as undergroundLOVERS) are an Australian pop-rock band whose sound encompasses elements of indie rock, electronic and shoegaze. Founding members Glenn Bennie (guitar, vocals) and Vincent Giarrusso (vocals, guitar, keyboards) formed the group GBVG in 1988. By May 1990 they became Underground Lovers with Richard Andrew (drums), Maurice Argiro (bass guitar), and Philippa Nihill (vocals, guitar and keyboards) joining. At the 1992 ARIA Music Awards the group won Best New Talent for their debut self-titled album from March 1991. Their highest charting studio album, Dream It Down (June 1994), reached the ARIA albums chart top 60. After releasing seven studio albums, they disbanded in 2002. They reformed in 2009 and subsequently issued three more studio albums. Richard Andrew died in October 2024, after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Glenn Bennie and Vincent Giarrusso met in a suburban Melbourne high school during the 1970s. Both musicians credit their careers to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) and the album Architecture & Morality (1981); they were also influenced by Joy Division, New Order, the Cure and the local underground electronic and experimental music scenes. While later studying drama at university, they formed a music duo called GBVG, and released a single, "Blast", in 1988. Australian music journalist Ed Nimmervoll praised how well "Glenn's striking hypnotic guitar atmospheres balanced against Vince's acute pop sense."

New members Richard Andrew, Stephen Downes, and Philippa Nihill were recruited throughout 1989, and by the end of the year, they had changed the name of the group to Underground Lovers, borrowing from the title of an Italian surrealist play. Their first gig, in May 1990, was at the Corner Hotel in Richmond, supporting the Macguffins. Maurice Argiro, formerly of No Nonsense, replaced Downes on bass guitar after the first show.

The members of Underground Lovers self-financed the recording of their self-titled debut album, with producer Simon Grounds; it was picked up by the independent record label Shock Records, and released nationally in March 1991. Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane noted that the record contained "melancholy guitar pop ('Girl Afraid', 'Wasted'), rhythmic dance pop ('Yes I Do', 'Round and Round') and reflective, acoustic folk ('My American Accent')." Two singles were released from the album: "Round and Round" in February and "Looking for Rain" in April. In November, they issued a new non-album single, "Lick the Boot", which was their first release in the United Kingdom. With hype for the band beginning to grow outside of Australia, Shock released a new version of the album for the UK and United States markets, changing the title to Get to Notice (the name of the opening track) and replacing the penultimate track ("Ascend Up") with "Lick the Boot".

The band finished out 1991 with the release of a four-track EP of new material called Nice, as well as an exclusive track, "Ripe", on rooArt's Youngblood 3 compilation album. Beat magazine selected Nice as their single of the week, describing it as "pop rich in all the right ingredients" and "awesome". Bevan Hannan of The Canberra Times wrote that "Nice G.I.", which dealt with "the early stages of the Gulf War about the commandos orchestrating the bombing of Iraq," was the "outstanding cut" from the EP. Hannan also praised "Ripe" as "by far the best" track on Youngblood 3.

In January 1992, the group entered the studio to record their second album, this time with Bennie and Giarrusso co-producing with Wayne Connolly (of the Welcome Mat). At the ARIA Music Awards of 1992 in March, they won the Best New Artist award for Underground Lovers; it had also been nominated for Best Independent Release. The second album, Leaves Me Blind, was a more layered and experimental work. It was first released in August in the UK by the short-lived 4AD sublabel Guernica.; by that stage, Polydor had signed the group for the rest of the world, and released Leaves Me Blind locally in December. Mathieson described them as "so far ahead of their contemporaries that they passed over the horizon, borne on a rolling sea of sound that would become their signature." Over the following year, three singles were released: "Ladies Choice", "I Was Right", and "Your Eyes". Mathieson called the latter track a "telling example of their refusal to be contained... The focus is on the bedroom, one person looking into the eyes of another, as the bassline dips and rises like a heart beginning to race with excitement." Underground Lovers also supported both the Cure and My Bloody Valentine on their respective Australian tours in 1992.

The band spent the first half of 1993 on a tour of North America and the UK, including a performance at 4AD's prestigious 13 Year Itch festival in July. Upon returning home, they commenced production on their third album, first enlisting two former members of Essendon Airport, David Chesworth and Robert Goodge, to handle rhythm and keyboard programming, as well as co-production along with engineers Connolly and Grounds. During the recording, Andrew was replaced on drums by Derek Yuen. Dream It Down was released in June 1994, bookended by two singles, "Las Vegas" and "Losin' It". Praised as "lush and atmospheric", the album became the band's first to make the top 60 on the ARIA Albums Chart. "Losin' It" reached the ARIA Singles Chart top 100, and received high rotation on national youth radio, Triple J, eventually landing on the station's year-end chart at #19. A third song, "Beautiful World", was released the next year as the lead track from a four-song EP called Splendid.

Seeking greater artistic freedom, the band parted ways with Polydor in 1995 and set up their own indie label, Mainstream Recordings, in conjunction with a larger indie, Rubber Records. Their fourth album, Rushall Station, was named after Rushall railway station, located near Giarrusso's home in Clifton Hill. Released in April 1996, the album showcased the band taking "a minimalist approach". Philippa Nihill amicably parted ways with the band during the recording of the album, though she recorded vocals for two tracks, and remained with Mainstream for the release of her debut solo EP, Dead Sad, later that year. The album earned Underground Lovers another nomination for Best Independent Release at the 1997 ARIA Awards. 1997 also saw the release of two new albums: first, Bennie and Giarrusso revived their original duo project, GBVG, putting out a debut album titled Whitey Trickstar; the fifth Underground Lovers album, Ways t'Burn, was released in June. The latter saw a move towards more electronic territory,^{[citation needed]} and Derek Yuen departed during the recording sessions, later to be replaced by Autohaze drummer Andrew Nunns.