Crowded House

Neil Finn's band out of Melbourne, formed after Split Enz, whose Don't Dream It's Over went to number two in America and whose records have sold more than fifteen million copies.

Origin
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Years active
1985-1996, 2006-2011, 2020-present
Genres
pop rock, jangle pop, alternative rock
Labels
Capitol, ATO, Parlophone, EMI Australia, BMG
Also known as
The Mullanes

From Split Enz

Neil Finn, born in Te Awamutu, New Zealand, in 1958, joined his brother Tim's band Split Enz in 1977 at the age of eighteen. Paul Hester came in as its drummer in late 1983. On the Split Enz farewell tour at the end of 1984, Finn and Hester decided to start a band of their own, and Nick Seymour, brother of Mark Seymour of Hunters & Collectors, offered himself as bassist backstage. With guitarist Craig Hooper they played their first show on 11 June 1985 as The Mullanes, a name taken from Finn's mother's maiden name. A run of east-coast pub dates drew thin crowds, but Capitol signed them that month.

Hooper left, and the trio moved to Los Angeles to record with the producer Mitchell Froom. Capitol wanted a new name, and they took it from the cramped house in the Hollywood Hills where they lived during the sessions.

Breakthrough

Crowded House came out on 1 August 1986. Capitol tried livelier singles first, and the record only caught fire with Don't Dream It's Over, which reached number two in the United States in April 1987 and topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand. The band won Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards and three prizes at the first ARIA Awards, and the album reached number one in Australia almost a year after its release.

Temple of Low Men (1988), again produced by Froom, won Album of the Year at the 1989 ARIAs, with Better Be Home Soon named Song of the Year. Early in 1989 Finn fired Seymour over artistic differences, then took him back about a month later.

Woodface and Karekare

Neil then began writing with Tim for a Finn Brothers record. When Capitol turned down most of a new Crowded House album, the brothers' songs went to the band instead and Tim joined as a full member. Woodface, produced by Froom and Neil Finn, came out in July 1991. Its singles included Weather with You, Four Seasons in One Day and Fall at Your Feet, and it reached number six in Britain. Tim left during the British tour that November, and Mark Hart, their touring keyboard player since 1989, took his place.

Together Alone (1993) was made mostly in a house at Karekare Beach in New Zealand with the producer Youth. In 1994 the band won the BRIT Award for International Group. That April Hester quit in the middle of an American tour, and Peter Jones replaced him.

Farewell and return

In June 1996 the band announced it was splitting, as the compilation Recurring Dream went to number one in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. The farewell concert on the steps of the Sydney Opera House on 24 November 1996 raised money for the Sydney Children's Hospital; Finn later said it gave the band a sense of ritual and closure. Paul Hester, who had suffered from depression for several years, died by suicide in Melbourne in March 2005.

Finn and Seymour began recording together again, and the band returned in 2007 with the drummer Matt Sherrod. Time on Earth (2007), which started life as a Finn solo album, was dedicated to Hester. Intriguer followed in 2010, and that era closed with a concert in Auckland in February 2011. The band entered the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2016 and marked twenty years since the farewell with four nights at the Opera House.

A family band

Neil Finn toured as a member of Fleetwood Mac from 2018. The next Crowded House joined him and Seymour with Froom on keyboards and Finn's sons Liam and Elroy. During the 2020 lockdowns they made Live From Home videos, each member playing in his own house, and in October that year Whatever You Want became their first new single in more than a decade. Dreamers Are Waiting (2021), begun in Los Angeles and finished remotely, reached number two in Australia. Mojo called Gravity Stairs (2024) the most Crowded House thing the band had made in thirty years.

The band have sold more than fifteen million albums. On setlist.fm, Don't Dream It's Over is their most played song, with Fall at Your Feet close behind.

Members

Records

Songs

Split Enz, Fleetwood Mac, Paul Kelly, Powderfinger

Where to go next

Official

Reference

Discography and data

Writing and criticism

Interviews

Live performance archives

Film and video

Sources

  1. Crowded House, Wikipedia
  2. Crowded House, AudioCulture
  3. Neil Finn, Wikipedia
  4. Paul Hester, Wikipedia
  5. Nick Seymour, Wikipedia
  6. Song Exploder: Crowded House (transcript), Song Exploder (2024-06-12)