Ashram Poets is a band from Adelaide, South Australia that mixes indie rock and electronica.
Biography[]
Greg Vincent[]
Greg Vincent joined his first band Primitive Painters as the bass player alongside guitarists Rod Tyler, Dave Norris and drummer Michael Heath. Primitive Painters gained a solid following in the Adelaide independent music scene of the mid 1980s. Vincent later formed the power-pop band Fortune Tellers with school friends Steve Fieldhouse and Dave Bosanko, releasing their debut mini-album First Light as the re-titled Morning Glory in September 1988 through Greasy Pop Records. This band split after musical differences the following year. Greg then took on the guitar role with his next project Cartoon in 1990, with ex-Fortune Tellers vocalist Pat Loughry.
Greg disbanded Cartoon in 1991 and again joined Rod Tyler in 1992 to form the more experimental group, Puppethead. Puppethead signed with Zuma Records in Germany for a European release in 1992. Their self titled debut release received warm responses in Australia and Europe. Rod parted company in 1994 and Puppethead was in limbo until Greg joined guitarist and drummer Peter Long, whom he had played with briefly in a line-up of the Primitive Painters. Puppethead recorded another two albums for Zuma, Lizardland in 1996, and Breathe in 1998 which helped to build a solid fan base both in Australia and Europe. Puppethead once again stalled as Peter moved to Melbourne in 1998 and Greg moved to the UK in 2000. They reunited in Sydney in 2002 and attempted to reignite the Puppethead flame, but ultimately decided to discontinue the project in 2003 after losing interest in the musical direction they were taking.
Parting ways again - Greg to Adelaide, Pete to the Blue Mountains - it wasn’t until late 2005, after listening to aborted recording sessions in Sydney from two years before, that the duo decided to start afresh with a more stripped back electronic approach, and utilising the knowledge gained from some twenty years of performing and recording together, the Ashram Poets were conceived.
Peter Long[]
Peter Long served his musical apprenticeship as lead guitarist in Adelaide pop outfit Primitive Painters from 1987, briefly performing with Greg before releasing the Sea Of Art album through Greasy Pop/Festival Records in 1990. He went on to collaborate with Greg in the more experimental electro-pop of Puppethead, releasing a further two albums through German label Zuma. He then relocated, first to Melbourne in 1996 and then to Sydney in 1998, where he formed the power pop Resounder with singer Pat Loughry and ex-Ratcat bassist Amr Zaid, as well as playing drums in Zaid's outfit, Ampersand.
Peter joined Greg again in 2000 to tour Puppethead in the U.S. and U.K. and upon returning to Sydney in 2001 he teamed up with Resounder drummer Rene Arriagada and bass player Jo Herbert to form the avant-pop Bümbüm in 2001. This group entertained Sydney audiences with an oddball mix of indie rock, eastern tonalities and electronic toys. Due to internal differences Bümbüm split in 2003 and Peter relocated to the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. He the joined the infamous men's acapella group Spooky Men's Chorale and is currently a performing member, touring as far afield as the U.K.
In early 2004 he committed a backlog of material over several years to tape and released his solo album Midday Sun in 2007 to glowing reviews. After a long hiatus, he dusted off the recordings made with Greg a few years previously and the pair went to work on tracks for a new album. Peter has also produced the cover artwork and a number of videos for the Ashram Poets debut Corpios.
Ashram Poets[]
Formed from a musical association spanning over two decades, the members of the Ashram Poets, Peter Long and Greg Vincent, decided in 2006 to retire their six-strings indefinitely and utilise loops, beats and electronica. They made music by cutting up loops from old recording sessions to develop new grooves and textures, gradually revealing a new electronic aesthetic emerged from previous rock and pop sensibilities. Their influences swing wildly from the gritty Tom Waits-like drum and bass workout of Sex In Her Step to the dreamy, Air-like quality of Seize, to the Madchester rave of Mortalised and the quasi-eastern overtones of Corpios.