Powderfinger

They followed with four more number-one studio albums in a row: Odyssey Number Five (September 2000), Vulture Street (July 2003), Dream Days at the Hotel Existence (June 2007) and Golden Rule (November 2009).

Ten Powderfinger albums and DVDs certified multiple-platinum, with Odyssey Number Five—their most successful album—achieving eightfold platinum certification for shipment of over 560,000 units.

After the release of their first DVD, These Days: Live in Concert (September 2004), and the compilation album Fingerprints: The Best of Powderfinger, 1994–2000 (November 2004), the group announced a hiatus in 2005.

One aim of their Across the Great Divide Tour was to promote the efforts of Reconciliation Australia, and awareness of the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.

In November the following year, rock music journalist Dino Scatena and Powderfinger published a biography, Footprints: the inside story of Australia's best loved band.

[6] All three members of Powderfinger were students at Brisbane Grammar School—a private school in Spring Hill—and they started as a cover band playing pub rock classics by the Rolling Stones, the Doors, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, Rodriguez, and Neil Young.

[8] In August 1992, the group self-funded a seven-track self-titled extended play, also known as the Blue EP, on their own Finger label, and the album was distributed by MDS.

[15] The EP has an early version of "Save Your Skin", co-written by Coghill, Collins, Haug, Middleton, and Fanning;[16] it was later expanded and released in July 1994 as a single from their debut album, Parables for Wooden Ears.

[3][12][29] McFarlane felt this album was "more self-assured and textured [it] consolidated the band's position at the forefront of the alternative rock scene, alongside the likes of You Am I, Spiderbait, Silverchair, Regurgitator and Tumbleweed.

FasterLouder, a music review web site, recalled that "when Double Allergic was released in 1996, it showed the band were here for the long haul to become arguably one of the best of the decade".

[25] Entertainment Weekly's Marc Weingarten provided a positive review and found the group "prove that there's still terrain left to be explored [in] guitar rock ... melancholy is the default mode ... [they] can be as prim as Travis or as mock-grandiose as Oasis".

[34] Their tracks received votes from national radio station Triple J's listeners on annual Hottest 100 lists: "These Days", "Already Gone", "Good-Day Ray", and "Passenger" were ranked in 1999, and "My Happiness" and "My Kind of Scene" in 2000.

27 in the Hottest 100 of all time, placing them as second- and fourth-highest Australian tracks after the Hilltop Hoods' "The Nosebleed Section" and Hunters & Collectors' "Throw Your Arms Around Me", respectively.

Following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Powderfinger appeared at the WaveAid fundraising concert in January 2005 in Sydney, to raise funds for aid organisations working in the disaster-affected areas.

During the separation, most band members pursued other musical projects; on the personal front, Haug and Middleton each had children, and Fanning met his future wife.

[54] Their debut album, The Way Out, recorded in March 2005 and released on 10 July,[55][56] was "a tad disappointing [compared with the EP] ... mostly mid-tempo pop-rock songs, mixed with some slower, pretty ballads.

[60] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2006, Fanning won in four categories including "Album of the Year" for Tea & Sympathy and "Best Video" for its lead single, "Wish You Well".

[65] In general, reviewers did not rate it as highly as its predecessor Vulture Street, with Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun HiT describing it as "No radical reinvention, no huge change in direction ...

[72] From August to October that year the two groups toured all state capital cities as well as fourteen Australian regional centres, and included four performances in New Zealand.

The two bands united on stage during only three performances throughout the tour, including Daniel Johns (Silverchair) and Fanning sharing lead vocals on a cover version of The Who's "Substitute" at one show in Sydney and two in Melbourne.

[98] Middleton had relocated to Melbourne and worked with Red Door Sounds' Paul Annison, producer of Children Collide's album Monument (April 2012).

On 23 May 2020, Powderfinger reformed for a one-off live-streamed YouTube charity performance titled One Night Lonely, with all proceeds going to Beyond Blue and Support Act.

[7] In a November 2007 interview with Paul Cashmere of the website Undercover, Middleton stated that a couple of songs they had initially written for Vulture Street "were just too Odyssey Number Five based", and that the first track, "Rockin' Rocks", was "probably the start of where we were heading with the album".

[47] Zuel also stated that there is a "real energy here that has some connections to early Powderfinger," and described "On My Mind" as having "AC/DC meatiness", and "Love Your Way" as "acoustic tumbling into weaving Zeppelin lines".

[47] In his review of Dream Days at the Hotel Existence, Zuel described it as "[having] high-gloss and muscular framework," and stated that that was what "American radio considers serious rock.

"[67] Compared with the relatively lean, agile sound they've perfected up to now, this is Powderfinger as the footballer who in the off-season spends his time in the gym and emerges buff and beefy.

The problem is he has bulk but has traded in his nimbleness.Clayton Bolger of AllMusic stated in his review of Dream Days at the Hotel Existence that Powderfinger "largely revisit the sound of their Internationalist album, leaving behind much of the glam and swagger of 2003's Vulture Street".

[107] He commented on Fanning's "commanding and distinctive vocals", the "twin-guitar attack" of Middleton and Haug, Collins' "innovative basslines", and the "powerhouse drum work" of Coghill.

[117] The legal team for Hurley, who was charged with manslaughter over the death of Mulrunji in 2004, had referred the song to the Attorney-General of Queensland, Kerry Shine, in their attempt at altering the track.

In January 2011, following the Queensland flood disaster, [undercover.fm] reported that Powderfinger would not reform for a benefit concert, but the band instead donated a never-before-released track, "I'm on Your Side", to help raise money for the victims.

Collins is playing his bass guitar with his left hand on the fret board and right hand with fingers plucking at the strings. His head is bent to his left and down, his fair haired fringe hangs over his eyes. He wears a dark long shirt. A drum kit is beyond him, further to his left. Stage lights shine down from above.
Bass guitarist John Collins , one of the founders of Powderfinger, is shown at the Rock and Soul Revue, Brisbane, in January 2005.
Haug is playing his guitar, while leaning forward and to his right. His hair is shoulder-length, he wears a dark shirt and dark pants. Some band and stage equipment is near his feet.
Ian Haug , another founding mainstay, on lead guitar in Sydney in September 2007.
Coghill is playing his drum kit, his right arm is crooked, holding a drumstick and hitting the drum rim situated slightly to his left. His left arm and most of his lower body is obscured by the rest of the kit. He stares off to his right with his lightly bearded chin slightly raised. He is dressed in a pale blue sleeveless shirt and similar coloured pants. In front and above his kit are microphones and band equipment. Behind him is a large graphic design, consisting of red-orange lights and black dots.
Coghill on drums, in Melbourne, January 2010. He joined in 1990. [ 3 ]
Middleton is playing his guitar with his left hand on the fret board and right hand on the strings. His knees are flexed, he wears dark glasses, dark pants and a dark shirt. His stage pass dangles from the end of the guitar. His hair is brown and hangs partly into his eyes. He wears a wide ring on his right hand's fourth finger. There is band equipment nearby.
Darren Middleton on guitar in January 2010 at Big Day Out , Melbourne. He joined in 1992 and formed a side project, Drag , in 2001. During Powderfinger's 2005–07 hiatus, Drag regrouped.
A wide shot of a stage with only four musicians visible: each is playing a type of guitar. A drum kit is mid-stage but the Coghill is obscured by lighting and equipment. The audience are across the front, below stage, some have one fist raised. A photographer is centred, front of stage, another is further to the right with a camera pointing at the band, a third cameraman is at left pointing into the crowd. Behind the group on the left is a large screen which depicts various words including "Fight clouds baby blue despair skin red lies lost stars ith empty rocket paint love g". Overhead lights shine down on the performers. To the right is a large sign with white writing "bring your living room to life" on red-orange background.
A performance of " I Don't Remember " on the Across the Great Divide tour . Middleton, Fanning, Collins and Haug are visible, Coghill is obscured.
Powderfinger are on stage, with Coghill at left on drums, then Middleton on guitar, Fanning mid-stage singing into a microphone, Collins on his bass guitar and Haug at extreme right.
Powderfinger performing on their Sunsets Farewell Tour , 6 November 2010, Sydney. They played their final show at the River Stage in Brisbane one week later in front of 10,000 fans. The last song was "These Days"; the group disbanded after the tour. [ 86 ]
Left side on view of an aeroplane. It is basically silver in colour with the standard logo of the airline. Added to the side of the plane is a large print of 'Powderfinger' in black-bordered yellow to orange-brown colouring. It spans the distance from where the wings join to just before the rear doorway. To the right and just below the band's name, in smaller lettering, is the word 'Sunsets', coloured mostly in brown. Either side of the runway are grassed areas, beyond the jet are buildings – mostly obscured.
A Jetstar Airbus A320 with Powderfinger logo at Newcastle Airport in September 2010. It was used on the Sunsets Farewell Tour .
Frontline of Powderfinger are shown in side profile across a stage, with Fanning closest to viewer. He is pointing into the audience with his right fore-finger, while singing into the microphone held in his left hand. Just beyond him, Collins is stooped low over his bass guitar with his long hair fallen forward. Haug is further along and plays his guitar while standing more upright, his shoulder length hair partly obscures his face. Stage equipment is in front of the three men.
The Across the Great Divide Tour by Powderfinger and Silverchair promoted Reconciliation Australia 's efforts in the Indigenous community. Bernard Fanning , Powderfinger's lead singer, is at front left, pointing into the audience. Collins and Haug are beyond him.
Middleton is singing and playing guitar, Fanning has his right knee bent and lifted, Collins is bent low over his bass guitar and Haug is at right on guitar. Coghill is not visible
Powderfinger performing on the Across the Great Divide Tour in September 2007. Left to right: Middleton, Fanning, Collins, Haug.