car stereo wars

Artist Information

Biography

car stereo wars – Biography March 2009

car stereo wars formed in 2000 when Jason ‘Blackie’ White (bass) and Matt Gillman (guitar) met at an extremely nerdy new media course in Melbourne. In an attempt to appear cooler than they were, they decided to start a band and soon recruited singer Alyssa Doe.
The trio then imposed on the generosity of a handful of friends to join them on their first EP ‘Project A.’ The single ‘Broken’ subsequently gained the attention of national Australian radio station Triple J and Melbourne’s 3RRR and eventually found its way onto the Ministry Of Sound’s Chillout Sessions Summer Compilation.

In 2002 the band travelled to Texas to play at South by Southwest Festival, and two years later packed their bags again to play a show at the now extinct CBGB’s as guests of New York’s CMJ Music Marathon.

After all this excitement, the foursome returned to Melbourne, had a good lie down and headed back into the studio with long time producer Robbie Rowlands to record their second EP ‘They asked me to be in a movie’. The feature track ‘Come To Nothing’ was included on the MOS Chillout Sessions # 5 later that year.

In the few years that followed the band went back on the road and established a loyal fan base. Along the way the band began to piece together the songs for a debut album after amicably parting ways with their label, having decided that stylistically they were moving away from chill/electronica.

Despite births, deaths and day jobs, the long awaited debut album ‘For Your Comfort and Safety’ was completed in 2008, and showcases the band’s versatility and knack for genre mixing. From the bouncy pop of ‘radio edit’ to the sweeping outer space adventure of ‘smooth’, the music is an eclectic, layered blend of electric, acoustic, orchestral and electronic instruments that
may contain traces of nuts.

In 2009 car stereo wars received a huge promotional boost when Ferrero chose to use the song ‘Come to Nothing’ in a national TV campaign launching their new Tic Tac ‘Chill’ flavour. The song has since come to the attention of other advertisers such as Dell, who have used a large portion of the song to promote the new Adamo laptop via the internet. (To see these ads check out the band’s myspace page below).
All this publicity is creating quite a buzz around global discussion boards and on the band’s myspace site: www.myspace.com/realcarstereowars

car stereo wars are: Alyssa Doe, Jason White, Matt Gillman, Gra Luther, Sean Ashbrooke and Dave Meagher

car stereo wars independently released 'For Your Comfort and Safety' through Greg Records on the 1st August 2008. It is available for purchase via the band’s website: www.carstereowars.com

Instrumentation

Alyssa Doe - Vocals, Jason White - Bass, Matt Gillman - Guitar/Keys, Gra Luther - Drums, Sean Ashbrooke - Guitar, David Meagher - Guitar/Keys

Discography

Project A (EP) 2000, They asked me to be in a movie (EP) 2004, For your comfort and safety(LP) 2008

Links

• car stereo wars website
• Myspace

Audio

• Come to Nothing
  Listen   Download
• Broken
  Listen   Download
• Radio Edit
  Listen   Download
• Smooth
  Listen   Download
• Radio Edit (instrumental)
  Listen   Download
• Come to Nothing (instrumental)
  Listen   Download
• November
  Listen   Download

Lyrics

• Come to Nothing
• Broken
• Radio Edit

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• car stereo wars - For Your Comfort and Safety [+ Show ]
  

  The band that cleverly named itself during the inner Melbourne boutique strip of Prahran’s plague of...The band that cleverly named itself during the inner Melbourne boutique strip of Prahran’s plague of “Chapel Street hoons” and tracksuit laden drive-by subwoofers (has much changed?), did so with deep irony as these Car Stereo Wars look and sound completely opposite, coming more from the college of indie easy listening than anything.
  
  The intelligent, gripping opener that is Smooth clearly matches its own title plus that of the album, with no irony to speak of in Alyssa Doe’s idyllic vocals. Triple J pick, the appropriately titled Radio Edit bounces in like a Labrador but more info on this track later, as lap steel in hand CSW veer a tangent down Punt Road for third track Broken, where lyrically and vocally The Underground Lovers’ Philippa Nihil channels Suzanne Vega crossed with Art of Fighting’s Peggy Frew.
  
  Though not coupled in the track list, Radio Edit and November go together like cold beer and cigarettes, without damaging our health. Between their similar geek-pop hooks, handclaps and “doo-doo” harmonies I expect them to break into “b-a-d-m-i-n-t-o-n!” like Perth’s The Bank Holidays did on their Greatest Game. In short, November is just plain ace… a real album highlight.
  
  Nothing says electronic French ‘stique like the Air-like Alone, its simple though rather special keyboard progression the type that gets in your ear, makes you listen hard and then wants you to play it yourself, another highlight.
  
  The writing, instrumentation, vocals and production of core fellows Jason White and Matt Gillman, along with the aforementioned Doe with Sean Ashbrooke and Graeme Luther are all top notch. This album features no less than four cellists, evidenced on tracks ala Dearheart (remix) plus there’s a heap of other players throughout. Obvious sponge-worthy Ministry of Sound moments Come to Nothing (as seen on MOS Chillout Session 5)and Broken (MOS Summer Collection 2004) actually have less hammock potential than that of Dearheart or its blissful following tune the piano friendly, softly trumpeted Down. A one-minute high pitched instrumental Little Alarm wakes us gently before the album’s title track and purty closing theme, complete with twee whistling and all the room in the world for a little dog’s bark, even if only in my head.
  
  With a number of jump-backs to previous EPs this is almost now a compilation, but eight years or so has made for a bloody good wrap. Turn it up, sit back and enjoy the ride, b’yatch.
  
  Review from www.thedwarf.com.au
  

• Meet Car Stereo Wars [+ Show ]
  

  Meet Car Stereo Wars Their name might conjure up images of sitting at a traffic light with extremel...Meet Car Stereo Wars
  Their name might conjure up images of sitting at a traffic light with extremely decibel-challenged individuals in the car next to you, but the music of Melbourne, Australia's Car Stereo Wars is actually serene in comparison. Beginning musical life as a trio back in 2000, their first EP was titled Project A and included a very dreamy track called Broken which earned them considerable attention. Since then, they've continued to refine an impressive blend of orchestra and electronic into their debut full-length release, For Your Comfort and Safety. This is your chilled-out release of the year, atmospheric and though-provoking if the moment calls for it made available to you by a band with terrific versatility, and their music will grab you, pull you in and keep you in full float. A band as good at genre-mixing as they come. Excellent.
  

• Baby Sue Review [+ Show ]
  

  “There’s an interesting social phenomenon happening in music lately. While the world of hugely popul...“There’s an interesting social phenomenon happening in music lately. While the world of hugely popular artists has never been more horrific and awful…there seems to be a wealth of cool and credible artists getting their feet in the door by having their music featured in commercials and televisions shows. We were blown away late last year by Britain’s Patrick & Eugene (whose music can be heard on several big-time television commercials)…and now the folks in Car Stereo Wars have the same effect on us…despite the fact that their music is being used for blatantly commercial purposes (!). Just goes to show that when the quality’s there…nothing else really matters. Many folks would probably lump the songs on For Your Comfort and Safety into that all-too-familiar dream pop genre…but in our minds these folks are simply creating smart, gliding, progressive pop with cerebral qualities. Eleven beautiful cuts here including “Smooth,” “Radio Edit,” “November,” and “For Your Comfort and Safety.” This album should instantly appeal to fans of Ivy.”

Setlist

We don't play live too often, but when we do our set is about 50 minutes.

Basic Requirements

Calendar