Psychedelic rock in Australia and New Zealand
[2] The most internationally successful Australian pop-rock band of this period were The Easybeats, formed in Sydney in 1964 by a group of English, Scottish and Dutch immigrants, who scored multiple local hits in Australia before travelling to the UK.
The show featured a full psychedelic light-show with liquid slide projections, smoke machines and mirror balls, and the band was wheeled onto the stage inside a specially-constructed giant die.
[5] All the groups' early singles tracks were penned by rhythm guitarist Mick Bower, who quit the music scene for health reasons soon after "Living In A Child's Dream" was released.
In London, they recorded a series of minor hits and participated in the psychedelic scene before returning home in mid-1967, where they performed the entire Sgt Pepper's album live on stage some weeks before its official release in Australia.
[8] The most successful New Zealand band of the period, The La De Das, produced the psychedelic pop concept album The Happy Prince (1968), based on the Oscar Wilde children's tale, but failed to break through in Britain and the wider world.
His 1969 solo debut "The Real Thing", penned by mid-Sixties pop star Johnny Young, broke new ground in Australian popular music for its lavish production by Ian Meldrum and John L Sayers and for its running time of almost seven minutes.
One-man act Tame Impala, real name Kevin Parker, led the charge with the 2012 breakthrough hit "Elephant", which reached number 8 on Billboard's Alternative and received widespread radio play.
Hiatus Kaiyote, led by singer Nai Palm, emerged around the same time, as did Perth native psych-rock Pond, with each offering a psychedelic sound influenced by R&B and hip-hop, creating music laced with reverb and complicated by distinct rhythmic syncopation.
Other important and emerging acts in the scene include Courtney Barnett, who developed a record label and a significant following, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Bananagun, GUM, and Wolfmother.
