Baby Animals release first single in five years ’Tonight’, forthcoming EP
PRESS RELEASE:
’Tonight’ is the perfect song title for a band renowned for lighting up the night on stages all ‘round the world.
Baby Animals’natural habitat is playing live on the concert stage, and their new single,‘Tonight’will soon be a fan favourite to rank alongside their classics such as ‘Early Warning’, ‘Rush You’, ‘Painless’ and ‘One Word’.
But more so, ‘Tonight’ is a special song for Baby Animals as lead singerSuze DeMarchiwrote it after her father passed away suddenly.
The band was in Suze’s hometown of Perth, and guitaristDave Leslieremembers a show in Fremantle the band had already committed to, just two days after he died.“Suze explained the situation to the crowd; I don’t know how she kept it together, but the energy in the room was electrifying – everyone was right there with her. That was the catalyst for the new song.”
“We have such amazing fans,”Suze adds.“They are so supportive and loyal. Doing shows is great therapy.”
Nearly three decades after they started working together, Dave remains in awe of Suze’s vocal prowess.“I’ve never heard her hit a bad note,”he smiles.“And there’s only one person on this earth who sounds like that – and that’s Suze.”
“I’m really grateful that we’re still making music together,”Suze adds.“Dave is like a brother.”
For those coming late to the show, Baby Animals, one of the biggest Australian bands of the ’90s, came blazing out on the radio with the aptly titled ‘Early Warning’.“Too young to know,”Suze sang,“Too old to listen.”
Their self-titled debut album was released in September 1991, the same month as Nirvana’sNevermind.Baby Animalssold 600,000 copies in Australia, keepingNevermind(which sold 350,000) out of top spot on the Australian charts. In Australia, the album spent six weeks at number one and remains the biggest-selling local rock album sung by a woman.
Baby Animalswas declared one of the year’s best in UK rock bibleKerrang!and won three ARIA Awards, including Best Album. The band toured the US with Van Halen, and appeared onLate Night with David Letterman.
“Baby Animals has saved my life in so many ways,”Suze says.“It’s given me so much joy, and I love being in a group. I think groups are really important for people. No matter what you do, it’s important to have a little team of family and friends, and Baby Animals is my group.”
Dave Leslie’s eyes are fixed firmly on the future, but he fondly recalls some magic moments in his career, including Eddie Van Halen giving him one of his signature Ernie Ball Music Man EVH guitars (“I’ve almost loved it to death, I’ve played it so much”), and hitting Bryan Adams in the head with a chicken leg during a food fight at a fancy Paris restaurant.
Years later, when Baby Animals did a gig with Bryan Adams in Perth, he approached Dave and said,“I remember you – you’re the only one to hit me in the head with a chicken leg and got away with it!”
But Baby Animals have never been a band to trade on past glories. These Baby Animals – Suze, Dave, bass player Dario Bortolin and drummer Mick Skelton – are busy making new memories.“Planting seeds as I go,”Suze sings in ‘Tonight’.
‘Tonight’ will be releasedFebruary 2nd 2018, coinciding with the band’s run of 22 Red Hot Summer shows.“There’s nothing I love more than getting in the van and playing music together,”Dave says.
An EP – working title:Love & Death– will follow soon after. It’s the band’s first new material since the 2013 album, the aptly titledThis Is Not The End.
“The songs are about coming to grips with our own mortality and other people’s,”Dave explains. And it shows there’s a lot of life left in Baby Animals.
‘Tonight’ is classic Baby Animals. Suze’s soaring vocals, Dave’s trademark guitar crunch, and a rumbling rhythm section. It’s Baby Animals 2018. A song about being there for a loved one by one of our most loved and dependable bands.
“TonightI’m holding on to you,”Suze sings. And it’s all that matters.