Biography
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Years Active
2001 – 2003 (2 years)
There are at least two bands named "Two Lane Blacktop".
1. The first was a hard rock band from Wellington, New Zealand who formed in 2001 and disbanded in 2003. The band wrote all its songs about movies and was named after a 1971 film directed by Monte Hellman. The members of the band were Matt Harrop on vocals and guitar, Luke Hutching on bass, Phil Smiley on drums, and Pip Brown on lead guitar and background vocals.
The band was influenced by protopunk groups such as The Stooges and The MC5, and were often compared with contemporary hard rock bands such as fellow countrymen The Datsuns.
The band formed in early 2001 when Harrop's then hardcore band was looking for a second guitarist. Harrop invited Brown to audition after meeting her in a documentary film class. Harrop and Browns mutual interest in old cinema and 70's rock inspired them to form a new band. Smiley a mutual acquaintance of Brown and Harrop was asked to drum, introducing a darker feel to the sound and another Design School student Ben Fraser was called in to play bass. Fraser added a distinctive and original soul element to the band but slowly drifted away. Fraser was replaced by Nato Hickey bass player in the band Paselode who introduced the band to their future manager Dave Benge, before Hutching, lead guitarist for the band Fore Arm of Fury, was brought in on bass about one month before their first scheduled shows in Australia.
The band enjoyed quick success in Australia riding the wave of the popular New Rock revival and it wasn't long before the band was making frequent trips between the two countries.
In May of 2003 The Rat / Hellhound 7" single was released through Infidelity Records and distributed throughout New Zealand and Australia it gained considerable air play in each country and was placed on rotation by John Peel on his Radio 1 program. The band was received well by the Australian press, appearing in the 'ones to watch' issue of Rolling Stone magazine Jun 2003 as did their single 'The Rat' which made it onto the C.D which came with that issue. Back in New Zealand the band gained nominations for 'Best new band' and 'Best unreleased song' in the New Zealand B.Net awards.
In mid 2003 the band made its first trip to America, playing 3 weeks of shows in Los Angeles and New York. On the bands return the first tracks of their new album were recorded at the language of love studios in Wellington, these recordings have never been released.
In late 2003 one week before an East Coast Australian tour with American band Modey Lemon, Two Lane Blacktop decided to end the band. The reasons for the breakup have not been made clear but personality conflicts have been rumored.
2. Another band called Two Lane Blacktop is a now-disbanned rockabilly group from the Netherlands, that released a self-titled promo cd in 2001.
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