Friends of the Iguana - April 1997

David Megarrity from the wonderful Friends of the Iguana
and other Brisbands has sent me some fantastic recordings
and information on this truely beautiful sounding band.
If you like say a band like My friend the chocolate cake
you will love this. So give it a listen and some feedback
in the comments.
Many thanks to David.
Check out their web page Here

Friends of the Iguana were an unusual brisband –
two guitars and a cello were the core of the group, formed in
1992, initially as a scratch band for a cabaret at La Boite
Theatre.Guitarist/songwriters David Megarrity and Anthony
Mullins, and cellist Madelaine Hale began to put together
their original material shortly afterwards: literate, emotional,
often domestic landscapes captured by delicate chamber-pop
arrangements. They played all the local venues, were state
finalists in the National Campus Band Competition,
and recorded a self-titled EP in short order.
They followed with a full length album, ‘Fall’ at West End Music,
played a lot, including support gigs such as My Friend the
Chocolate Cake and Regurgitator, and were reviewed well in live
and recorded form (including a write up in UK music rag NME)
Madelaine left the group and moved to the UK where the band
later played as a duo. The ‘Black and Brown’ EP was recorded,
followed by appearances at the 1996/7 Woodford Folk Festival.
On April 26 and 27th 1997 Friends of the Iguana, by now in its
2nd incarnation, with cellist David Sills and Liz Elliott on violin,
gathered at the Coorparoo house of sound engineer and general
good-guy Andrew Meadows to record some new songs and new
arrangements live to DAT, in preparation for a third album.
These recordings are a selection of these tracks, recorded
completely live with the windows open to a suburban Brisbane
backyard. Later that year, on the 6th of July at the Valley Fiesta,
the band played what turned out to be their last gig.
These are the final live recordings made by the group.
With the encouragement of local music luminary James Lees,
the band’s original lineup reunited in 2004 to play the Keep Off
The Grass anniversary show at The Zoo, along with The
Toothfaeries and various other folk/pop brisbands of the mid
nineties. Having released only cassettes during their time,
the Friends of the Iguana’s music was released on CD in 2005
for the first time in the compilation ‘Collected Recordings’,
which is now finally available from Rockinghorse Records
or in an expanded format on itunes.
David and Anthony formed a filmmaking partnership which ended
up in Cannes 2000. David went on to form the short-lived
Daveylamps, then The Goodbye Notes.

Tracklist

01 - Susan
02 - First Sigh of Love
03 - National Geographic
04 - Gayfield Square
05 - One Extra
06 - An Old Donkey
07 - Over
08 - Time to Go



Download Here