Baby Animals

The Baby Animals are an Australian hard rock band active from October 1989 to 1996 and reformed in 2007. The original line-up was Frank Celenza on drums, Suze DeMarchi on lead vocals and guitar, Dave Leslie on guitar and backing vocals, and Eddie Parise on bass guitar and backing vocals. They recorded two studio albums, Baby Animals (September 1991) – which peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, and Shaved and Dangerous (August 1993) – which reached No. 2. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1992 the group won three trophies: Album of the Year and Breakthrough Artist – Album for Baby Animals and Breakthrough - Single for "Early Warning". Baby Animals was listed in the 100 Best Australian Albums (October 2010). The reunited line-up are DeMarchi, Leslie, Dario Bortolin on bass guitar and Mick Skelton on drums and percussion. Their fourth studio album, This Is Not the End, was issued in May 2013, which reached the top 20. The Baby Animals were formed in Sydney in October 1989 by Frank Celenza on drums (ex-Boys, Bamboo Curtain, DD and the Rockmen); Suze DeMarchi on lead vocals and guitar (ex-Photoplay, the Kind, DD and the Rockmen), Dave Leslie on guitar and backing vocals (ex-Swingshift); and Eddie Parise on bass guitar and backing vocals (ex-Boys, Bel Aires, Bamboo Curtain). De Marchi, from Perth, had previously recorded three solo singles with EMI in the United Kingdom. Upon her return to Perth in July DeMarchi contacted former bandmate Celenza to form a new band in Sydney. He was initially reluctant to go but recommended another former bandmate, Parise. In Sydney, DeMarchi approached her then-manager, John Woodruff (The Angels, Diesel [ex-the Kind, with DeMarchi]), who signed the new group and referred Leslie to her. Celenza then officially joined. Woodruff later recalled "I'd seen [DeMarchi] in London performing some bad Stock Aitken and Waterman tunes on television late one night. I found her and she turned out to be Australian. She also turned out to have a lot of attitude. I brought her back to Australia and put a band together around her." The band's first performance was in November 1989 at the Kardomah Café in Sydney, where they were billed as Woody's Heroes, then they worked the city's pub and club circuit. According to Kerrang! magazine's writer, Celenza provided the new name, Baby Animals, after seeing an ad for a local TV show, Wheel of Fortune, hosted by "Baby" John Burgess. Another version suggests the name came from a calendar in a mall. In a New Zealand magazine, RTR Sounz, DeMarchi indicated that they changed the story of the name's origins in different interviews as they were bored with that question. Baby Animals were assisted by the Angels including one of their demos, "Break My Heart", on the B-side of the established band's single, "Dogs Are Talking" (April 1990). "Break My Heart" was co-written by DeMarchi and Parise. The single also included a track each, from two other new rock and roll bands – the Desert Cats and the Hurricanes – a national tour by the Angels followed with all three new bands supporting. In August 1990 Baby Animals signed a publishing deal with SBK Songs (later EMI Music Publishing). After attending a gig, Terry Ellis, president of newly formed Imago Recording Company, signed them to his label, funded by BMG. Ellis described the performance, "the band was great, the songs were terrific and to me Suze clearly had that indefineable magic that separates one artist from the crowd and makes them a star." The band flew to New York to record their debut eponymous album, Baby Animals, at Bearsville Studios, Woodstock and Second City Studio, Long Island with ex-pat Australian Mike Chapman producing. DeMarchi said of the production process: "He very rigidly made us pull things back and just concentrate on the essence of the song rather than being fancy. Mike was the taskmaster – 'Let me hear the hooks'. Like Early Warning - that tag at the beginning 'too young to know too old to listen' - Mike said 'I'm going to take that part of the chorus, let's put that at the front; that's the hook'." Woodruff had organised for his band to work with Chapman and Kevin "Caveman" Shirley (audio engineer): "I had never met [Chapman], I knew his work. I'd listened to everything he'd ever done... I thought 'if we can drag him out of retirement to get the song structure right'... Susie was writing great songs and great sentiments, but the structure wasn't quite there. I thought if I can then convince him to work with a young rude engineer, which turned out to be [Shirley], and you couldn't get much younger or ruder than that, then I'm going to end up with a record that has an edge to it, that has some tone to it, that has some rock and roll and that has some feel to it that's as edgy as she is but with great songs." Their debut single, Early Warning (April 1991), reached the Top 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart. The track was written by DeMarchi, Parise and Leslie. After the release of the single, the band flew to the United States for a series of showcases for the Imago/BMG people, to coincide with the earlier release of the album there. Their second single, "Rush You", was issued in August, which also reached the Top 30. Baby Animals was released in September 1991, which debuted at No 6 on the ARIA Albums Charts. In the following February–March it spent six weeks at No 1. It spent a total of 46 weeks in the top 50 and was certified four times platinum by ARIA for shipment of over 280,000 units. It remained the highest-selling debut Australian rock album until the release of Jet's effort, Get Born (September 2003) – twelve years later. Baby Animals also appeared in the top 30 on the Official New Zealand Music Chart and top 50 on the Swedish Albums Chart. Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane felt it "showcased the band's confident and melodic brand of hard rock and, in particular, highlighted DeMarchi's provocative vocal growl." After listening to the album, Bryan Adams asked them to join his European tour. Whilst overseas, in November 1991, they won the Best New Act category at the inaugural Australian Music Awards. By Christmas that year the band were back in Australia for more national touring, and the release of two more singles, "Painless" (November) and "One Word" (February 1992); the latter peaked at No. 15 on the ARIA Singles Chart – their highest position. Baby Animals' Let Go of My Ears Tour had them playing to sell out crowds. In 1992 the band joined Black Crowes on tours of Australia and New Zealand. In the US they appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and performed "Painless". At the ARIA Music Awards of 1992 they won trophies for Album of the Year and Breakthrough Artist – Album for Baby Animals and Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Early Warning". The band then toured as a support act for Van Halen's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge Tour across the US from 28 January to 31 May, playing to arena-size audiences. Eddie Van Halen requested their presence after his wife Valerie had heard their album, and suggested them. Australian Rolling Stone placed DeMarchi on the cover. It was the first time they had put an Australian artist or group on the cover on the merits of a debut album. The band had played over 500 shows when they ended that tour in August 1992. In November 1992, Baby Animals released a new single, titled "Impossible to Fly". It peaked at No. 48 on the ARIA Singles Chart. In 1993 Baby Animals returned to Bearsville Studios, to start work on their second album, Shaved and Dangerous (August 1993), with two weeks of pre-production. They went to the Bahamas and spent two months recording at Compass Point Studios with Ed Stasium producing (Ramones, Living Colour, Hoodoo Gurus). Next, they travelled to Los Angeles, where they worked with Nuno Bettencourt (of Extreme); he provided song writing and guitar on "Because I Can" and produced "Life From a Distance" and "Be My Friend". McFarlane described the album as "a more