User:Amosashley/Star Assassin

Star Assassin
Star Assassin are a rock band from Albury, New South Wales. The band consists of Simon Hynes (vocals), Ryan Hynes (guitar), Josh Larcombe (bass) and Josh Orford (drums).

History
The band was originally formed as a side project by guitarists Justin Burford and Rodney Aravena together with Malcolm Clark (drums) and Jonathon Dudman (bass). After two years, Justin and Rodney split from The Sleepy Jackson, reformed as End of Fashion and - after a series of bass players and drummers including Vanessa Thornton (from Jebediah), Mike Hobbs and Hugh Jennings - finally settled on a line up with Nick Jonsson (drums) and Tom King (bass). However, recently, Nick Jonsson has left the band with Mike 'Hobbsy' Hobbs returning to demo for the band's second album. It is unknown whether he will stay on as a permanent replacement.

They also have ties to other Perth bands as Justin was dating Katy Steele, lead singer of Little Birdy and sister of The Sleepy Jackson's frontman, Luke Steele and she also features on the album track, "Oh Strain". Nick's cousin Olga Hermanniusson also plays bass in the unclassifiable Perth indie rock band Snowman.

In 2003 they started work on their first recording, a four track EP Rough Diamonds / Anything Goes with former Midnight Oil guitarist Jim Moginie as producer. The EP was released through independent label Hello Cleveland!/EMI.

Radio station, Triple J added both singles "Anything Goes" and "Rough Diamonds" to high rotation across the board in the first week of the release of the EP and following sell out shows during their five week national tour supporting Little Birdy and Betchadupa, concluding with their own headline shows to overwhelming fan response, commercial stations began follow to suit. The raunchy "Rough Diamonds" video was also well received by Channel V, video hits and ABC TV's rage. The EP was released in March 2004 and debuted at #57 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. After performing at SXSW in 2004 they were picked up by EMI/Capitol Records for a worldwide distribution contract.

On the 25th August 2005, End of Fashion released their self titled, debut album, which was recorded in Oxford, Mississippi and produced by Dennis Herring, a veteran who has worked with Elvis Costello, Counting Crows and Modest Mouse. The album went gold in Australia and New Zealand and was released in the United States in May 2006.

The band name End of Fashion, which is reported to have been suggested by Justin's mother, is the aim and moral of the band members. "I want to break down the walls - within that context, that image, we can do anything we want no matter whether it’s super cheesy or punk, I want to kill fashion, see the end of it." - Justin Burford

The band's first single "O Yeah" reached #21 on the ARIA Singles Chart, number 8 on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2005, won two ARIA Awards and was nominated for the prestigious APRA 'Song of the Year'. The fourth single "The Game" debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at a career high #13 in 2006.

Their songs have been on the games Thrillville (which featured "She's Love" and "Lock Up your Daughters" on the in-game radio) and FIFA Street 2 (which featured "O Yeah"). "The Game" was featured as the theme song for the 2007 NRL season coverage on the Nine Network.

On December 15, 2007 End of Fashion released a new song, "Biscit" (sic) on the band's official website, Facebook and MySpace pages, having previously released the lyrics on September 17, 2007, and in May of 2008, confirmed on their website that their second album, titled Book of Lies, would be released in September 2008.

Whilst End of Fashion released a further two new songs, "Kamikaze" and "Walkaway" on their MySpace page on June 27, 2008, the first single to be released from the album is "Fussy", which reached #47 on debut.

Performances
The band has a large festival history, having performed at Homebake, Triple J's Home and Hosed and One Night Stand festivals, the Come Together Music Festival, Southbound in Busselton Western Australia, Falls Festival in Lorne, Victoria and Marion Bay, Tasmania and also Big Day Out. They've also made several live appearances on tv shows such as Rove Live, Channel V Australia and MTV Australia.

They've also played the South by Southwest festival twice and have supported Metric in the US and Snow Patrol for a show in Canada.

In 2006 they supported fellow Australian band 'The Living End' on their national 'All States Of Emergency' tour, and also performed on the Coca Cola Live & Local tour alongside Evermore, The Veronicas, After The Fall & The Hot Lies. The band then finished the year with performances at Pyramid Rock Festival on Phillip Island, Gloucester Park in Perth and Beats on the Beach at Byron Bay.

Criticisms
End of Fashion have been criticised for copying the guitar riff from the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" for their song "O Yeah".

In a review, Jonathon Miller wrote "'End of Fashion are having no problem appealing to the 95% of people that haven't heard (and still remember) the Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind?' and have never experienced a truly exciting live show, and if that's what the band is aiming for, then they are a complete success.'"

In some of their later live shows, Justin Burford has taken to inserting lyrics from the Pixies song at the end of "O Yeah", as a tongue-in-cheek move against the critics and on occasion has played the entire "Where Is My Mind?" breaking straight into "O Yeah".

Albums

 * End of Fashion - Capitol/EMI (August 15, 2005) #3 Australia (Gold)
 * Book of Lies - Capitol/EMI (September 27, 2008) #26 Australia

EPs

 * Rough Diamonds / Anything Goes - Hello Cleveland! (March 1, 2004) #57 Australia
 * Too Careful - Capitol (November 1, 2004)

Singles

 * "O Yeah" (July 17, 2005) #21 Australia
 * "Lock Up Your Daughters" (November 13, 2005) #45 Australia
 * "She's Love" (February 25, 2006) #38 Australia
 * "The Game" (May 27, 2006) #13 Australia
 * "Fussy" (August 30, 2008) #47 Australia
 * "Dying for You" (TBA, 2008)

Compilations

 * Kiss My WAMi 2006 - "Too Careful" (February 2006)
 * Triple J Hottest 100 Vol.13 - "O Yeah" (March 2006)

Awards

 * 2005 ARIA Awards, Breakthrough Artist - Single for "O Yeah"
 * 2005 ARIA Awards, Best Video - "O Yeah" directed by Ben Quinn
 * 2006 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Music Video - "O Yeah"

Nominations

 * 2006 MTV Australia Video Music Awards, Spankin' New Aussie Artist
 * 2006 The Jack Awards, Best Live Band
 * 2006 APRA Song Of The Year, "O Yeah"
 * 2006 WAMi Awards, Best Rock Act
 * 2006 WAMi Awards, Best Male Vocalist, Justin Burford
 * 2006 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Single/EP, "O Yeah"
 * 2006 WAMi Awards, Most Popular Album, End of Fashion
 * 2006 WAMi Awards, Best Commercial Pop Act

Trivia

 * When Nick was out of commission for a few of the shows, due to a wrist injury sustained during skateboarding on the album tour ex-drummer, Mike 'Hobbsy' Hobbs filled in for the band.
 * Justin recently featured on the ABC music quiz show Spicks and Specks.