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Skulker was an ARIA Award-nominated rock band from Sydney that formed in 1994. After two albums, the group parted ways in 2005.

History

The group's original members met at Cheltenham Girls High School in northern Sydney in 1994 and decided to form a band. The original line-up consisted of Greer Skinner on lead vocals and guitar, Annette Harada on bass guitar, Naomi "Batti" Battah on guitar and occasional lead vocals and drummer Angela Blackshaw.

After an initial period establishing itself on the Sydney live circuit the band came to the attention of independent label Chatterbox Records and in 2000 Skulker released the album Too Fat for Tahiti. The title was apparently inspired by the band being rejected for a gig as a house band at a resort in Tahiti because they were "too fat".

Too Fat for Tahiti spawned the singles "Hëj" and "Naughty" which received considerable support from the national youth radio station Triple J and both were voted into the network's annual listeners' poll, the Triple J Hottest 100, 2000, at number 50 and 80 respectively. The album was subsequently nominated for ARIA Award for Best Independent Release and Best New Live Act at the Australian Music Awards.

In 2003, the band released their second studio album, The Double Life. A free download-only single "Rock Nugget" was released. It was downloaded over 20,000 times and received high rotation on Triple J. The band also played alongside one of their major music influences, Veruca Salt, in Sydney's The Metro Theatre in July that year. The band released the singles "Coming Home" and "In Your Arms" and played the Big Day Out tour in 2004. Early 2004 also found the band opening for Pink in Sydney and Newcastle and touring nationally supporting The Superjesus.

At this point Batti decided to depart the band and moved to Canada to pursue other interests. Following the replacement of Batti with new guitarist Gregory Boulting, Skulker toured the east coast of Australia and recorded extensive demos of new material that have never been released. The band members have since decided to go their own ways and pursue further interests.

Discography

Albums

Extended play

Singles

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards are a set of annual ceremonies presented by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the music of Australia. They commenced in 1987.

References

1. "Q&A With Skulker", The Newcastle Herald, 1 April 2004
2. Williams, Sue (13 July 1997), "Not So Spicy Aphrodite", Sun Herald
3. ^ Kent, Melissa (6 June 2003), "Party girls they ain't", The West Australian
4. Moore, Chris (29 June 2000), "Skulker Happy With Progress", Illawarra Mercury
5. Lawrence, Elissa (26 March 2000), "Beached wails", Sunday Mail
6. Watson, Chad (9 March 2000), "Slim Excuse", Newcastle Herald
7. Baker, Tiffany (16 May 2003), "Metro – Frill seekers", Adelaide Advertiser
8. McMenemy, Lauren (29 May 2003), "Rough play for Skulker", Adelaide Advertiser
9. Simonot, Suzanne (8 May 2003), "Skulking it!", Gold Coast Bulletin
10. Chalmers, Emma (16 May 2003), "Skulker keep their day jobs", The Courier-Mail
11. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 255.
12. "Too Fat For Tahiti review", The Sunday Telegraph, 13 February 2000
13. Buchanan, Matt (7 April 2000), "Too Fat For Tahiti review", The Sydney Morning Herald
14. Nahrung, Jason (4 April 2003), "The Double Life review", The Courier-Mail
15. "ARIA Awards Best Independent Release". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

• Australian rock music groups
• Musical groups established in 1994
• Musical groups disestablished in 2005
• Australian all-female bands