Todd
Sparrow
Scientists believe the reason why Nick Kennedy and Rob Gibson started bashing around together in 2001 can be traced back to an incident several years before that in the sleepy Sydney nook of Newtown (South), whose central attractions at the time were 1. a tailor's shop specialising in footy jerseys and made-to-measure bomber jackets (still there last time I looked) and 2. Nick's house (also still there even though no longer his house). On a midwinter's night in the latter venue after a rare Cowspanker (Rob's band at the time) show at the Sandringham Hotel, witnessed as usual by only a lucky few, both lads experienced inspiration listening to Grifters records and a subtle but profound shift occurred in the alignment of the universe. Without so much as a word spoken between them on the subject - to this day - it was clear that a new rock and roll band would be born. They simply knew, like Mike and Carole Brady, that it was much more than a hunch...
In between commitments with Big Heavy Stuff, Knievel and others Nick found time for the odd rendezvous with Rob, who brought a kit bag of wide-eyed hope, old but unbroken guitar strings and half-finished songs to a now-demised Tempe rehearsal studio. Soon enough moving to more salubrious lodgings, in 2002 they collared David Trumpmanis (with whom each had worked on BHS and Cowspanker recordings) after a Centipede practice and demanded he join the band and play whatever instrument or device he saw fit. Todd Sparrow was born and in September 2002 we started tracking at Spacejunk (run by the Church's Tim Powles) with Dave at the controls.
By this time Nick, an idle loafer of a man, was only playing with The Cops, The Forresters, Centipede and doing session work, in addition to the ever-beloved BHS and sometime appearances with Knievel, all which was merely yang to his yin of daily 6am yoga sessions, midwinter ocean swims and a full time job. So as you can imagine Sparrow time was as thin and precious as a Hollywood starlet. Somehow, though, we managed finish cooking the 10 Spacejunk tracks in bedrooms and sheds around inner western Sydney, with help from many friends including the incredible Sophie Glasson playing cello and the gorgeous Tanith Sherman with her angel's voice. Only one thing was missing and Nick had the answer. Eliot Fish was roped in by his BHS bandmate in 2003, laying down bass on all the tracks in a single jawdropping take, then the four of us hit the studio again to record 9 brand new songs, live and loose and rusty and lusty.
From the best of all these adventures comes a 12 song album, "Here's to the Start of Something Beautiful," released September 2004. Scientists believe it will break your heart, kick your arse and make you laugh all at the same time.
