Ya Ya Choral In-depth Biography
Beginning life as an experimental electronic outfit, Sydney band Ya Ya Choral became a much-admired, if commercially unsuccessful, hard rock outfit over the course of a decade.
Ya Ya Choral's first release was the EP Such a Dutchman on M Squared in 1982, followed by the What's a Quaver? album in July 1983. Guitarist Michael Filewood, formerly of Systematics, replaced Patrick Gibson for their next single, "Two Lines," on the Red Eye label in August 1985. The next year they were featured on ABC-TV's BeatBox program and videos for "Who's the King?" and "Lonesome No More" received national airplay.
Although the group broke up in 1986, Fiona Graham, Michael Tee, and Michael Filewood revived proceedings in 1987 with a new lineup that included Joanna Urbanik on bass and Dave Kelly on drums. With a new sound that mixed hard rock and pop, support rose as they toured with bands such as Lime Spiders, the Radiators, and Sunnyboys. Their next EP, Grunts, was released on their own Maelstromm label in October 1988, later released as Extra Grunt. Their debut album, One Small Step for Mankind, was released in March 1989. Spurred on by a positive reaction from the U.K. heavy metal press, Ya Ya Choral toured the U.K. later that year. A momentary name change to Fear of Angels occurred in 1990, but they reverted to Ya Ya Choral soon after. ~ Brendan Swift, Rovi
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