My Kind of Scene

Closer Than My Closest Friend (Part 2)

• Cara Diaria • Season 1 • Episode 10

Share episode

My Kind of Scene uncovers the past and present of Australian music. In the second part of this two-part exploration of Australian musical siblings, we'll explore even more double, triple and even quadruple sibling outfits, including some of our most beloved and influential artists. Find the episode playlist on the Spotify Cara Diaria artist page.  Send questions or compliments to mykindofscenepod[@]gmail.com.

My Kind Of Scene acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of the nation many of us call Australia.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners should be aware that this episode contains the names, voices and words of people who have died.

Sources:

Intro   00:00

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners should be aware that this episode contains the names, voices and words of people who have died.

Welcome to My Kind of Scene, where we uncover the past and present of Australian music.

I'm Cara Diaria, indie musician and music nerd, bringing my unique perspective to the hits and misses, the movers and shakers, the goodness and greatness that makes the Australian music scene, My Kind of Scene.

This is part two of our exploration of musical Australian siblings. Last time we covered some absolute classic Aussie brother bands and sister acts. We ended with two of our best-known triple sibling bands, INXS, and the Bee Gees.

More Triples: Sheppard + The Rubens   01:44

A more recent three-sibling success started in 2009 as a duo – a brother and sister recording a song for a TAFE college assignment. The duo – George Sheppard on lead vocals and guitar, and Amy Sheppard on vocals – morphed into a six-piece band, Sheppard, that included third sibling, sister Emma, on bass and backing vocals, as well as rhythm guitarist & songwriter Jay Bovino, lead guitarist Michael Butler, and drummer Jared Tredly. 

The Sheppard siblings were born and grew up in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where they attended international school before relocating to Brisbane. Perhaps the challenges of moving overseas galvanized the family's closeness – this is a true family band. Parents Greg and Linda managed and financed the group's early career. 

The band was an unconventional prospect for Australia's music industry, where community radio and Triple J airplay tend to cultivate commercial breakthroughs. From the beginning, Sheppard's sound was too commercial for those formats, but the band's debut EP, landed them on overseas festival bills, and caught the ear of musician and TV host David Campbell, who invited them to perform on his show, Mornings. But it was their second single, 2014's "Geronimo," that caught on fire, becoming 7 times platinum and the first independent song to top the Aussie charts in a decade.  

Sheppard followed up this success by, among other things, touring with Meghan Trainor and Justin Bieber, releasing one number one and two number two albums, and competing for the right to represent Australia at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. They were beaten by Kate Miller-Heidke, whose memorable mid-air performance of "Zero Gravity" placed first in the semi-final and ninth in the final – not bad for a country that's not even in Europe! One of these days, I think we'll need to do an episode on Australia's Eurovision obsession.

Okay, let's throw in one more triple-brother band, just for luck. Contemporaries of Sheppard, also on an indie label, the Rubens are three brothers from Menangle, New South Wales. Zaac, Sam and Elliott Margin, and their two mates Scott Baldwin and William Zeglis, started attracting alternative radio attention from the release of their very first single "Lay It Down" in 2011. Four years later, single "Hoops" cracked the ARIA charts reaching number 25 and was voted number one in the Triple J Hottest 100 poll.

The Rubens' fourth studio album, 0202, released in 2021, was their first to debut at number one on the Aussie charts, and their fourth to peak inside the top 5. Fun fact, the Rubens were named after the nickname of their fourth brother, Jett, who refused to join the band because he didn't like their music. Joke's on him, I guess, but I respect his integrity.

 

The Tin Lids, Yothu Yindi + Warumpi Band   07:19

Right! Which musical siblings are we missing? I know some of you are screaming at your phones right now… "What about The Tin Lids?" No? Just me? Okay, sorry.  Humor me for a moment while I scratch this itch.

The Tin Lids were an early '90s sibling spectacular, sprung forth from Aussie rock royalty: legendary Cold Chisel singer and solo artist, Jimmy Barnes, and his wife Jane. Comprising no less than four of Barnesy's kids – Eliza-Jane, Elly-May, Jackie and Mahalia, all under the age of 12 at the time – the Tin Lids were best known for their cute cover of the Was (Not Was) song "Walk the Dinosaur," enhanced by its Flintstones film clip. The band put out 3 albums over 3 years, and in 1992 released a single written by Dr. M Yunupingu of Yothu Yindi fame, and featuring his daughters, the Yunupingu kids. More siblings!

Actually – Yothu Yindi is a great addition to the sibling band hall of fame. Not only did the band that generated global hit "Treaty" feature lead singer Dr. M Yunupingu, but also his younger brother, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dr. G Yunupingu, who was also a member of Saltwater Band and a renowned solo artist. At the time of his death in 2017, Dr. G, or "The Guru" was reportedly the most commercially successful Aboriginal Australian musician ever, and has sold half a million records globally. Yothu Yindi's political subjects were also inspired and informed by their eldest brother, land rights activist Galarrwuy Yunupingu.

Yothu Yindi wasn't the only indigenous sibling band to find fame in the 80s and 90s. Aboriginal country rock outfit, Warumpi Band, was formed in 1980 by guitarist Neil Murray; brothers Sammy Butcher Tjapanangka on guitar and bass, and G Butcher Tjapanangka on drums; and frontman, Sammy's brother-in-law, George Burarrwanga. Warumpi Band were the first to combine the rock format with an Aboriginal language and released songs in both Luritja and English. In our Protest Songs episode, I talked about Warumpi band's powerful reconciliation anthem, "Blackfella/Whitefella," their connection with Midnight Oil, and the role of both bands in raising awareness of the inequities and injustices experienced by Indigenous Australians. 

Warumpi Band had a solid career, with three albums and a "best of," Australian and European tours, and three ARIA Award nominations. One of their most lasting legacies is this song… <"My Island Home" – Warumpi Band>

Written by Neil Murray and George Burarrwanga, after spending time at George's home at Galiwinku – a tropical island off the coast of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory – "My Island Home" spoke of the contrast between desert and island, and the longing for Burarrwanga's island home. 

Listeners my age might be more familiar with this version, known as "Island Home," released in 1995 by Torres Strait Island singer Christine Anu, as the second single from her spunky debut album, Stylin' Up. Anu, who had been a backing singer in Neil Murray's touring band, tweaked the lyrics to be from a female perspective, and to contrast the island with the city, rather than the desert. This version spent 20 weeks in the ARIA singles chart, reached number 47 in the Triple J Hottest 100, and took home song of the year at the APRA Awards. Anu has performed "Island Home" at Olympic and Commonwealth Games ceremonies and her version is included in the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia.


Rapid Fire   14:50

Okay! What musical siblings haven't we covered yet? 

There's Ballpark Music, the Brisbane outfit that includes twin brothers, Dean and Daniel Hanson. I guess the sibling band concept, "Hanson" was already taken!

In their 14-year career, festival favorites Ball Park Music have released 7 LPs and appeared in the Triple J Hottest 100 no less than 12 times, including reaching the number 4 spot in 2020 with "Cherub".

And how about another twin band? Electronic duo Cosmo's Midnight, formed by twin brothers, Cosmo and Patrick Liney, in Sydney in 2012. The twins run old school sounds through modern processing, resulting in an updated spin on influences like Chic, Daft Punk or even West Coast Rap, punctuated by their signature use of the vibraslap. In addition to releasing two Eps, two ARIA top 50 albums, and 23 singles and counting, the brothers have remixed tracks for local acts including Flume, Snakadaktl and Anna Lunoe, as well as overseas acts AlunaGeorge, Porter Robinson and Friendly Fires.

Or how about Cloud Control? Their final lineup featured not one, but two pairs of siblings! The original quartet, including siblings Heidi and Ulrich Lenffer, formed in the mid-2000s in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney, gaining attention with their self-titled indie EP. As their sound matured, acclaim grew, and their debut album Bliss Release won the Australian Music Prize in 2011.

Cloud Control's second album, Dream Cave, reached number 9 on the ARIA charts, spawning an "Unplugged" version. The band supported acts including Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend and Weezer, and – maybe my favorite fact about them – had a song included in the 2012 film Magic Mike.

After bassist Jeremy Kelshaw left in 2015, lead singer Alister Wright's brother Doug joined the band on bass, giving Cloud Control two sets of siblings. After a third album the band has mostly been inactive, with Alister focusing on a new musical project, and Heidi founding an organisation that invests in renewable energy to offset the environmental impacts of the music industry, which Ulrich now also works for. Maybe this is Cloud Control's way of controlling the clouds?

You might also be thinking about the Steele family from Perth, whose talents have shone in multiple musical acts, especially in the first decade of the new millennium. The Sleepy Jackson  was formed in 1998 by singer and guitarist Luke Steele, his brother Jesse on drums and bass player Matthew O'Connor. Following a series of acclaimed EPs, the band released two albums which had some success in Australia and the UK. But it was Luke Steele's next project, an electro-acoustic pop duo with Pnau's Nick Littlemore that captured the world's attention. Debut single "Walking on a Dream" was a top 10 hit in Australia and charted in at least 10 countries. It has since had over 600 million Spotify plays. The album of the same name and its singles garnered seven awards at the 2009 ARIAs. 

If this wasn't enough Steele family success, younger sister and distinctive vocalist Katy Steele, also got in on the act. First, with her band Little Birdy – whose three albums all charted in the top 10 in Australia, and more recently as a solo artist. Katy teamed up with her brother Luke in 2010 on a track that was part of a tribute album for Australian rock and country blues singer-songwriter and guitarist, Maurice Frawley.

Speaking of brother-sister pairings, let's talk about Angus and Julia Stone. This duo has been active since the mid-2000s, initially drawing attention with their warm, earthy acoustic sounds topped with boy-girl harmonies. It was their second album Down the Way, with its Triple J Hottest 100 winning single "Big Jet Plane" that made Angus & Julia Stone household names in Australia, and sent them to the Coachella festival in California, as well as a European tour. The duo has had two Australian number one albums, contributed a song to one of the Twilight saga film soundtracks, recorded an album with legendary American producer Rick Rubin, and won 6 ARIA Awards. And they've each launched successful solo careers.

Or how about this talented family? Canberra-based hip hop artist, Kojo Owusu-Ansah, was born in Ghana and came to Australia at age 6. His work under the moniker Citizen Kay has received two ARIA nominations.

Kojo's younger brother Kofi Ansah-Owusu performs under the stage name Genesis Owusu. He caught the attention of Triple J radio while still a teenager, becoming a finalist in their Unearthed High competition in 2015. After a string of EPs, his 2021 debut album "Smiling With No Teeth" peaked at number 27 on the ARIA chart and took home four ARIA Awards, including Album of the Year.

The two brothers also make music together and perform live as the Ansah Brothers.

Alright. I think I've covered almost all the Aussie musical siblings of note, haven't I? What's that? You're still screaming names into the void? 
 

Finn Brothers + Seymour Brothers   26:36

<"I Got You" - Split Enz> Yes I know, I know, the Finn brothers are from New Zealand, and Split Enz is a New Zealand band. That being said, the band, formed by singer-songwriters Tim Finn and Phil Judd in Auckland in 1972, did relocate to Australia for a handful of years in the mid-seventies, before moving again to the UK. It was in their UK years that Tim's brother, Neil Finn, brought his singing and songwriting talents to the band, and their sound moved in a new wave direction that helped them find commercial success in the early '80s. "I Got You" was the group's first and only number one hit in both Australia and New Zealand. But Split Enz had several subsequent top 40 hits and a hat-trick of number one albums in both countries, and in the years since, tribute albums have featured artists from both sides of the Tasman. This might be my favorite example of the brothers' harmonies <"History Never Repeats" - Split Enz>.

By 1984, Tim Finn had left the band to pursue a solo career, and Neil became the band leader for Split Enz's ninth and final studio album. He then went on to collaborate with Melbourne-bred drummer Paul Hester on a new project, which would become one of Australia's most beloved bands of all time.

Crowded House hit the ground running. Back in Melbourne, Finn and Hester had joined forces with bass player Nick Seymour and their first single, 1986s "Mean To Me" cracked the Australian top 40. Their self-titled debut album's fourth single, pensive ballad "Don't Dream It's Over" reached number 8 in Australia, and climbed even higher overseas, finding its way to number 2 in the U.S. and number one in Canada and New Zealand.

1988's Temple of Low Men album continued their successful run, with another ballad, "Better Be Home Soon," leading the charge on the charts. Third album Woodface reunited the Finn brothers, gifting the world with more of those iconic vocal harmonies on tracks like "It's Only Natural" and "Weather With You," which was Crowded House's highest charting UK single, reaching number 7.

In 1993, Neil and Tim Finn were awarded an Order of the British Empire for their contributions to New Zealand music. The same year, the band's fourth studio album, Together Alone, was released. In 1996, Crowded House announced they were disbanding, playing a historic "Farewell to the World" concert on the steps of the Sydney Opera House for over 100,000 fans.  

The Finn Brothers have collaborated on a couple of albums as a duo, and I was fortunate enough to witness them in concert at an intimate venue in Melbourne on a very special evening in about 1998.

But Neil and Tim Finn aren't the only Crowded House members who qualify for musical sibling status. Remember their bass player, Nick Seymour? As a young boy in country Victoria in the '60s, he and his three siblings toured in a family band. He taught himself the bass while at school and played in various bands through the late '70s and early '80s, eventually forming Crowded House with Finn and Hester. Nick wasn't the only Seymour sibling to pursue his musical talents though. Brother Mark, older by two years, had learned guitar as a teenager and by 1980 was a member of post-punk pop group The Jetsonnes. This was short-lived, and a new band formed out of the remnants in 1981.

The first few Hunters & Collectors albums pioneered a kind of art-funk in the vein of Talking Heads, morphing into a more commercial, pub-rock sound over time. 

1984 single "Throw Your Arms Around Me" initially didn't chart in Australia. Two years later, album Human Frailty featured a re-recorded version, and while the album climbed to number 10 on the Aussie album charts, the single stalled at number 49. But the song has gone on to become an enduring classic, with over 37 million plays on Spotify and countless cover versions recorded. By the way, Crowded House used to like to cover this one live. 

The Hunters' next four albums reached the top 20, with 1992's Cut producing two top-20 singles, "True Tears of Joy" and another enduring Aussie classic, "Holy Grail." The latter has become something of an Australian football anthem, soundtracking Channel 10's AFL broadcasts for several years, being performed at multiple grand finals, and appearing as the theme song for the 2006 rugby league film, Footy Legends.

After nine studio albums across their 17-year career, Hunters and Collectors were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2005.

Mark Seymour has collaborated with his brother Nick on some of his solo work, but nothing quite as formal or public as the Finn Brothers. But, it's incredible to think how these two sets of siblings have shaped the Australian music landscape, defining the sound of commercial rock-pop through the '80s and '90s.

Okay – let's finish strong!

 

Kylie + Dannii Minogue   38:26

How about we go back to where we started, all the way back at the start of part 1 of this episode? Kylie and Dannii Minogue were the musical siblings that got me thinking about this Aussie phenomenon. We've talked quite a bit about Kylie on this podcast, but very little about Dannii, or about how the sisters' careers were intertwined. 

We all remember Kylie storming onto the world pop stage in the late '80s with "The Loco-motion," but to me, and millions of Australian kids, her younger sister Danielle was already a superstar, thanks to TV show Young Talent Time, that beamed lip-synching teens into our lounge rooms weekly.

Here's Dannii going fluffy perm to fluffy perm with cast-mate Beven Addinsall.

The Minogue sisters took dancing and singing lessons growing up, and so it was a natural step for them both to go into the performing arts. Both appeared on TV soaps as kids, and through their teen years, Dannii starred on Young Talent Time, while Kylie, who was rejected from that show, focused on acting, with roles on The Henderson Kids, and later, Neighbours. The huge success of the soapie in Australia and the UK was the perfect springboard for Kylie's pop career.

At Dannii's final Young Talent Time show in 1988, her already-starting-to-be-very-famous sister was in attendance, along with the sisters' mum Carol, who was a former ballet dancer. The same year, while Kylie's debut album was dominating the Aussie and British charts, Dannii launched her own fashion range – I'm pretty sure I had the Dannii stirrup pants. Following big sister's footsteps, Dannii quickly landed a role on prime-time soap Home and Away, where she appeared as the rebellious teenager Emma Jackson, earning a silver Logie nomination. 

Dannii Minogue launched her own pop career in 1990, with her debut album, Dannii, released as Love and Kisses outside of Australia. The perfectly of-its-time single, "Love and Kisses," reached number 4 in Australia and 8 in the UK, where Home and Away was almost as popular as fellow soapie, Neighbours. In fact, the album generated 5 top-40 UK singles. 

This is the same year Kylie released her third album, Rhythm of Love, which contained one of my favorite Kylie singles, "Better the Devil You Know" – one of three singles to hit the top 10 in Australia and the UK. I think I still have the ticket stub somewhere from the Rhythm of Love tour. I had the night of my life, with friend Kate Christie, two tweens dancing in the nosebleeds at the Melbourne Tennis Centre.

Kylie had four albums and a greatest hits under her belt by the time Dannii followed up with her second studio album, Get Into You. It didn't chart well, but her cover of Melba Moore's 1976 disco hit "This Is It,"   managed to climb into the top 20 in Australia, the UK and Ireland.

By the mid-nineties the Minogue sisters had enjoyed success as teen and twenty-something bubblegum pop stars, but it was time for them to grow up. 

Kylie entered her so called "Indie Kylie" phase, with albums Kylie Minogue and Impossible Princess and a spookily sultry collaboration with Nick Cave showing the world she was more than just a pretty face. 

And Dannii went all sexy, with a new blonde look and lots of skin. She'd landed a multi-million dollar album deal with Warner, and 1997's Girl showcased her new Euro-dance sound. While the album wasn't the smash hit she might have hoped, the single did well, and set the scene for 2003's club-oriented Neon Nights album, which delivered three UK top 10 singles and found success on the U.S. dance charts.  

At the same time, Kylie had pivoted yet again, showcasing an ebullient house sound on two successive number one albums, Light Years and Fever.

2007's Club Disco was Dannii Minogue's last studio album, while Kylie has continued to release albums up until 2020's Disco. Coincidence? Maybe.

With their danceable hits and flamboyant costumes, both sisters have found themselves embraced by the gay and lesbian community, performing at Pride and Mardi Gras festivals and becoming icons and allies. The sisters have also both found their way back to television, appearing as judges for Australian and UK reality competition series The Voice, X Factor, Australia's Got Talent and The Masked Singer.

While their careers have had similar arcs, I should take care not to conflate the success of the two Minogue sisters, at least in a musical sense. With estimated career sales of over 80 million albums worldwide, Kylie has outsold her sister by a factor of 10. In 2011, she was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. For services to music and culture, Kylie has been appointed Officer of the Order of Australia, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, and a Knight of Arts and Letters in France. Dannii's music career stats are more modest – but over 8 million albums sold and 9 UK top-ten singles is nothing to sneeze at from where I sit.  In recent years, Dannii has shifted away from pop music and carved out her niche as a host and judge on British and Australian television. 

And the pair finally came together again on a song! "100 Degrees" was the second single from Kylie's top ten, 2015 album, Kylie Christmas. I like to think of the video, which shows the Minogue sisters goofing around having fun in the recording studio, as a callback to the first time I saw them sing together. The 1986 Young Talent Time special showed them recording side-by-side in the studio, before magically appearing on stage in identical sparkly outfits and giant perms. Fast forward almost three decades, and the Minogue sisters' synchronous careers had finally come full circle. They performed "100 Degrees" live on X Factor, wearing identical sparkly outfits – no perms this time though.


Outro   50:11

I think we really did it this time! I'm pretty sure we've mentioned just about every Aussie musical act of note that contains brothers or sisters or both.

I hope you've enjoyed this freewheeling flight through the siblings of Australian music 

If you want to hear the songs we played again, check out the Cara Diaria page on Spotify – you'll find a playlist featuring all the tunes, plus playlists from previous My Kind of Scene episodes.

And of course – please let me know what I missed! Send me an email at My Kind of Scene Pod @ gmail.com. 

Thanks for listening to My Kind Of Scene. This episode was written, recorded and produced by Cara Diaria. Theme music by Cara Diaria. Source links are in the episode description. If you enjoyed it, please rate and review us, and tell your friends.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Cara Diaria

Host