PLAYLUNCH

History
The band formed in '92 after Cath Grimes and Peter Willemsen met in a music class at the Conservatorium in Sydney. Pete sang his new song "Pusherman" over the phone to Cath and they fell in love. Soon after, they set off on a seven-month writing trip around Australia. Sydney born singer Cath has a college education in music and a background in pop/folk and musical productions. Pete is from Amsterdam and now resides in Sydney. Over in Europe he played in bands such as Cash Meat and Morzelpronk that toured a bit of Europe and supported bands such as Henry Rollins, The Jesus Lizard and Ween. After traversing a few stylistic differences, Sugar and Spikes was formed.

The Music
The result is their own brand of Pop. Infectious moods, weaving guitars and the colourful vocal of lead singer, Cath Grimes.
In 1996, they recorded debut EP Fire in a Stone. The title track made an impact and engaged the interest of Peter Bales from Makeshift Music and EMI.



Radio/TV/Live
Fire in a Stone did the rounds and enjoyed airplay on a variety of radio stations, homegrown shows etc., Australia wide. They were picked up by commercial radio when Andy Huxton from Sydney's Mix 106.5FM decided to add the second track, One More Chance to his play list.
Russian independent film maker Zorro Gamarnik produced a video clip to Fire in Stone, which featured on ABC's Rage. Throughout 1996-98, Sugar and Spikes played the Sydney inner city live circuit, building a wide fan base along the way. Last year the band drew the attention of Renato Rispoldi from Pacific Circle Music and were showcased at the PCM Convention, after being selected from over 500 local and international bands.

And Then There Were Three...
Newtown guitarist, Michael Ballard is the latest addition to the pop outfit. As his arrival flagged a markedly new stage in the band's development, the name was changed to

PLAYLUNCH
Michael adds another layer of rich Fender filled guitar lines and lyrical content. His background stems from theatre, jazz and blues.

Latest Release
Enter "Everybody Leaves". The new release shows how far the band has come. Recorded by Sydney's esoteric Tom Kazas, the new album has mood and soul. The breezy fuzz-toned pop song Red and the uptempo, more provocative Sugar Girl have captured the most interest in the audiences and the media so far.

1999/2000
It's been a very successful year for Playlunch. Even before its official release the CD drew the attention of Catherine Miller from MPC Management and Publishing. She started promoting the band and organised a series of successful shows in the Greenwich Village in New York ("Arlene Grocery" , "Downtime", "The Bitter End" and the "Sidewalk Cafe") and Amsterdam ("Winston Kingdom").
The shows were promoted by the college radio network throughout the US. The throbbing pulse that is the New York music scene, was an inspiration after Premier Carr's "valley of the poker machines" wasteland (for the non-Australians among you: Carr is the labor premier of New South Wales and the present policy of legally encouraging pubs to have poker machines in stead of live music is killing the live scene, if not Sydney itself).
The experience of touring overseas prompted the band to further direct their energy overseas.

After appearing in the Australian Music Marketing Abroad Magazine/CD, that went to Midem 2000 in Cannes, Playlunch have been selected to be showcased at one of the biggest music industry events this year, with over 50, 000 professionals and attendees from more than 80 countries: Popkomm 2000, Koln, Germany. They'll also appear for live shows at the Expo 2000 in Hanover twice a day between the 27th of August until the 9th of September.