Antiskeptic

Antiskeptic
Antiskeptic performing live in 2008
Background information
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Rock
Years active	1999–2008, 2011–present
Labels	Toupee / 88 (2000–2004) El Shaddai Records (2009–present)
Website	antiskeptic.com.au
Members
Andrew Kitchen Nick Coppin Ryan Mclerie Tavis Wardlaw
Past members
Sean Daly Shane O'Keeffe Corey Sleap

Antiskeptic is a rock band based in Melbourne, Australia. The band has enjoyed over 10 years of successful touring nationally, releasing two full length albums, three EPs and two DVDs. The band have toured with many successful groups, including Midnight Oil, Jimmy Eat World, Unwritten Law, Millencolin, MxPx, Jebediah, Bodyjar and Dashboard Confessional. Antiskeptic are known for their energetic live shows and powerful performances as much as the uplifting and encouraging lyrical content of their songs.

Early Years & Memoirs 1999-2003

Formed in 1999, the band was originally only a side project for guitarist/singer Andrew Kitchen and bassist/singer Sean Daly who were at the time performing in another band name 'Dispersia', which later broke up and gave way to Antiskeptic. Initially named 'TSP' – an acronym for 'the side project' – Andrew Kitchen came up with the band's name whilst treating an infected ear piercing; Andrew misread the label on a bottle of antiseptic and suggested it to the other members. The band issued a self-titled EP and a low-budget video clip for the track 60% Intentional, which was featured on Australian music video program Rage, and was also available free online via the band's website. The success of the EP and 60% Intentional saw the band begin touring outside of Melbourne, and scored festival slots at the Black Stump Music Festival in New South Wales and Forest Edge Music Festival in Victoria.

In 2002, their track Called featured on high rotation on national radio stations Triple J and Triple M, with the track also featuring on Triple J's famous Hottest 100 compilation for that year. The success of Called took the band to new heights, and saw them performing at the MOne and Homebake festivals in Sydney.

Aurora 2003-2005

In 2003, Daly made the decision to leave the band and pursue other interests. He toured and recorded with his side project, sunsetsallday and also married his partner. He was replaced by Shane O'Keeffe, who contributed bass on Nothing to Say, the lead single from the band's sophomore album, Aurora. However, the then 18-year-old decided that the pressures of moving from Queensland to Melbourne were too great, and he made the decision to leave. This left the band without a bass player for the remainder of the "Aurora" recording sessions and the planned national tour to promote the new album. Daly and album producer David Carr recorded the remaining bass tracks and friend Corey Sleap was able to fill in for the tour while they continued to search for a full-time replacement. Despite the set-backs, lead single Nothing to Say featured on Australian radio, the music video also ran on national programs such as Rage and Channel V. As the band went on a national tour to support the album, Clear to Pass was issued as a free single available through the band's website, complete with artwork. The single achieved some modest radio play, being picked up by Triple M and Sydney independent station FBI.

At the beginning of 2004, it was announced that Daly had rejoined the band after temporarily filling in for the band in December 2003. On returning the band, Daly described the reunion as follows: "The band was in a position when they were trying out some bass players and they were in a spot with some shows. They contacted me and asked if I’d come back as a fill in, which I was thrilled to do because I’d had a break and was feeling great about it. After one show they said we’ve got these other shows booked, how would you feel about filling in for those. Then those three shows became five and it became a case of why don’t I just stay.” The reunited trio released a single and music video for Beautiful In White and followed up with re-recorded version of the Aurora track More Than Kind on vinyl, complete with new vocals by Daly. While the band had reunited, Coppin moved to Brisbane, but remained a full member of Antiskeptic.

In March and April 2004, Antiskeptic headlined the Renegade Festival which toured Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Others on the bill included I Killed The Prom Queen and After the Fall. The band also played the Gold Coast's Festival of Beers, Push Over Festival in Melbourne and the Cosmonautical Festival in Perth during the same period.

In September 2005, Antiskeptic played at Youth Alive 2005 in the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne. The concert was filmed, and would later be released on the DVD accompanying Monuments.

Monuments and split 2006-2008

Following the release and tours for the last of the Aurora singles, the band re-entered the studio to record the EP/DVD release Monuments. The recording was originally supposed to be an album, but the band became concerned that the new studio sessions were too similar to that of the previous album; “we had predominantly focused ourselves on writing another album...but we found that the more and more we tried, the more and more we came up with, it was just sounding like Aurora part two. So we put ourselves to the task of writing something really different and that takes time," stated Daly. The result was a 4 track EP that was cut down from 13 demos which showcased a brand-new musical direction for the band, with the group exploring more hard rock and progressive territory. The band supported Dashboard Confessional on their Australian tour, before conducting their own national tour in support of the release.

The band appeared on Rove Live on 19 September 2006 as the show's house band.

In March 2008 at Easterfest 2008, the band made a statement during their performance that the band was finishing up as of September 2008. Their 'Goodbye Goodnight tour' was to be their last ever tour, with only one Adelaide show, one Sydney show and two Melbourne shows, the last of which was on the 20th of September 2008 to a sold out home crowd at the Hi-Fi Bar. In celebration of their career they recorded one final single entitled "I'll Follow", which was available for free download on their MySpace, and released a DVD called "Memoirs of a Common Band", which is essentially an overview of their career. The final live performance was recorded and filmed. The concert audio was made available to the audience immediately after the performance on the band's final CD release titled 'Goodbye Goodnight - Live at the Hi-Fi’. A full-length CD/DVD of the performance with enhanced audio and features was released in 2011 through El Shaddai Records.

Reunion and Reformation 2011–Present

In March 2011 it was announced via the bands Facebook page that its members would reunite for a special one off performance at Melbourne's iconic punk/metal venue 'The Arthouse' to commemorate its closing. Tickets for the show sold out in minutes and the band was joined by fellow melbourne rock trio Horsell Common. The band played a brand new song titled ‘The Kids Aren’t Scared' and was also the first time people could purchase the full length CD/DVD 'Goodbye Goodnight - Live at the Hi-Fi 2008'. Following the show, Kitchen and Coppin decided they wished to continue on following the success of the Arthouse show. Following a series of discussions, Coppin and Kitchen decided to re-form the band permanantly, without Daly; "We got some feedback that Antiskeptic was the chemistry that we all had, but Nick and I were keen to proceed," recalled Kitchen in a 2012 interview. "We all talked about it. A few days after we made that decision, Nick and I walked in on a new frontier. We had gigs booked, and with only two active members. A day or two later, one Bodyjar show was confirmed and we knew we made the right decision from then on."

In early November 2011, the band's complete reunion was formally announced, with the addition of new members Tavis Wardlaw of No Love For Lexi and Ryan Mclerie of House Vs Hurricane. The band announced that former bassist Sean Daly would not be returning in the new line-up. At this time, Antiskeptic announced a reunion tour of Australia; combining club shows with festivals, including headlining performances at Easterfest in Toowoomba (Queensland) with P.O.D., Rapture Ruckus and Mercyme in April 2012, and Victoria's Forest Edge Music Festival with Ivoryline in March 2012. The remainder of the dates will include shows at traditional live venues in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

Members

Current

• Andrew Ridley Kitchen – Vocals and Guitar (1999–present)
• Nick Coppin – Drums (1999–present)
• Ryan Mclerie – Guitar and vocals (2011–present)
• Tavis Wardlaw – Bass Guitar and vocals (2011–present)

Former

• Sean Daly – Bass Guitar and vocals (1999–2003, 2003–2008, one-off show in 2011)
• Shane O'Keeffe – Bass guitar (2003)
• Corey Sleap – Bass guitar (2003)

Discography

Albums and EPs

• Antiskeptic EP – August 2000
• Change My Ways EP (Toupee / 88 Records) – December 2001
• Memoirs of a Common Man (Toupee / 88 Records) – June 2002
• Aurora (Toupee Records) – August 2003
• Live EP – December 2005
• Monuments (Communiqué) – August 2006
  • CD-only pre-release – April 2006
• Goodbye Goodnight - Live at the Hi-Fi (Hi-Fi Live/Salt Studios)– September 2008

DVDs

• Monuments (Communique) – August 2006
• Memoirs of a Common Band (Pezwa Films) – September 2008
• Goodbye Goodnight - Live at the Hi-Fi 2008 (Pezwa Films / El Shaddai Records) – April 2011

Singles

Memoirs of a Common Man singles

• "Called" (Toupee / 88 Records) – July 2002
• "Four Seasons" (Toupee / 88 Records) – October 2002

Aurora singles

• "Nothing to Say" (Toupee Records) – July 2003
• "Clear to Pass (Online Single)" (Toupee Records) – September 2003
• "Beautiful in White" (Toupee Records) – March 2004
• "More Than Kind" – October 2004

Non-album singles

• "I'll Follow" – September 2008

Video Clips

Antiskeptic EP

• 60% Intentional

The '60% Intentional' clip was a school project for a film production student and friend of the band. Shot over two days, one half on the streets of Box Hill in Melbourne and the other half in-studio at Box Hill TAFE. The clip was submitted to the ABC for viewing on RAGE and received several screenings which very fortunately coincided with spotplay on triple J. The band quickly gained attention from indie labels, radio and industry professionals whilst touring on the back of this unplanned national exposure.

Memoirs of a Common Man

• "Called"
• "Four Seasons"

When Antiskeptic produced the clip for 'Called' it was to coincide with generous national airplay which the song had picked up and due to favourable attention from TRIPLE J, was included on the first TRIPLE J Hottest 100 DVD. Filmed in an underground carpark in St Kilda, Melbourne between the hours of 9pm-3am one Friday night the clip was put together on a meager budget of only $3000. It was also available on the CD single 'Four Seasons' as a CD-ROM component and on various give away/compilation CDs including Coke's M-One festival sampler.

'Four Seasons' was put together on an even smaller budget and shot in an upstairs graphic design/ photography suite in the Melbourne CBD. It featured images of Australian soldiers from the Vietnam War about whom the song is written. This clip also received a generous amount of screen time with support from 'Fly TV' (R.I.P), a music focused youth program on Saturday mornings on ABC.

Aurora

• "Nothing to Say"

Another performance clip set in a warehouse capturing the energy and attitude of the aggressive and anthemic track. This video of the band shows Antiskeptic's second bass player Shane o'Keefe who performed in the band at the time of the single's release. His early departure left fans wondering who the person was they had seen in the video, the promotional photos and handful of gigs performed for this release. The clip received airplay on both Channel V and ABC programs during the 2 month national tour that followed its release.

• "Beautiful in White"

Written and directed by Andrew Kitchen, this very clever and entertaining clip was shot over several days and locations in Melbourne during the summer of 2005. None of the members actually saw each other on the day of their filming because the camera follows the accidental travels of a soccer ball as it encounters the band members in different places.

Monuments EP

• "Dancing on the Inside"

DOTI is one of the four in-studio performances featured on the 'Monuments DVD'. The clip showed the band recording the song at Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne and gives an inside look at the recording and performance of the track whilst in the setting of a recording studio. Drums are in an isolation booth whilst free-roaming camera's catch the rest of the action in the main room.

The band later shot a commercial video clip for the song after the release of 'Monuments' mainly for TV, Internet and promotion. By far the most visually impressive clip produced by the band to-date, DOTI was filmed over 36 hours of straight shooting not including the digital post production and special effects. Initial production began in the morning at various locations across Brisbane for the story/narrative element which features a young woman fleeing from dark apparitions across a range of landscapes. After dusk the crew settled in for a long night time shoot of the bands performance at an unused correctional facility in Wacol, Brisbane. The clip was aired on RAGE, Channel V and received generous attention through the bands MySpace and YouTube sites.

External links

• Official website
• Antiskeptic discography at MusicBrainz
• Antiskeptic on Myspace