Boom Crash Opera - Recording Career

Recording Career

Prior to forming Boom Crash Opera, Peter Farnan was in the Serious Young Insects. Richard Pleasance was a fan of the band.

Boom Crash Opera were quickly signed to WEA records Australia and in 1986 released their debut single "Great Wall" (produced by Steve Brown). The single reached number 5 on the ARIA National charts. Their self-titled debut album, released in 1987, (produced by Alex Sadkin) went Gold and also featured the follow-up singles "Hands Up In The Air" (produced by Steve Brown), "City Flat" and "Her Charity".

Following on from the success of their debut in 1989 they released the top 10 single "Onion Skin" from what would become their most successful album These Here Are Crazy Times (produced by Pete Smith and Richard Pleasance, mixed by Nick Launay). These Here Are Crazy Times spent more than 12 months in the Australian National Top 40 and achieved double platinum sales. "Onion Skin" was followed by the top 20 singles "Get Out Of The House", "Best Thing", "Dancing In The Storm" and "Talk About It".

In 1990 they released Look! Listen!!. The album featured remixed versions of songs from their first two albums plus two new songs.

It was soon after the release of Look! Listen!! that Richard Pleasance was diagnosed with Tinnitus. While Richard took time off he was replaced on bass by Mick Vallance. It was during this break in 1991 that Richard released an ARIA Award-nominated solo album titled Galleon.

In 1991 they released the EP 'Dreams On Fire' with both Pleasance and Vallance. The EP featured the single "Holy Water". Though the EP didn't perform as well as their previous efforts it brought the band and Keith Forsey together. This relationship would continue when Keith would end up co-producing their next album with producer Jamie McCarney.

In 1992 they travelled to Los Angeles and began work on the follow-up to These Here Are Crazy Times. Soon after they began writing and recording Pleasance made the decision to leave the band. He was temporarily replaced by Dorian West.

The band returned from L.A. and Ian Tilley joined as the permanent replacement for Pleasance. In 1993 they released the single "Bettadaze". It was followed by their third album, the L.A. recorded Fabulous Beast (Produced by Don Gehman and Keith Forsey). "Bettadaze" was followed by the singles "In The Morning" and "This Isn't Love". Though the album went Top 40 it didn't perform as well as These Here Are Crazy Times and soon dropped down the charts.

After the long and fairly successful tour of Fabulous Beast they took a break. It was during this time off that Peter Farnan produced the debut album for The Sharp, a three piece band from Collingwood in Melbourne that went on to have some success. It was also during this break that Greg O'Connor decided to return to full-time study at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

The remaining members returned to the airwaves and record stores in 1995 with a new contract with BMG and the double album Born (produced by Peter Farnan and Neil Wiles). The album was released as a double CD package. The idea being that after a few months they would release the second CD, Born Again. Born marked a real turn in the sound and look of the band, featuring the glam rock sounding single "Gimme" and the follow-up single "Tongue Tied". The album was a lot more electronic than previous releases and though "Gimme" received generous radio airplay the album failed to ignite renewed interest in the band. Due to this lack of interest BMG scrapped the release of the second part of the album Born Again. Also in 1995 Pleasance released his solo album Colourblind.

1997 saw the release of Boom Crash Opera's last new release Gizmo Mantra (Produced by Daniel Denholm, Kalju Tonuma and Boom Crash Opera). Pulling back from the electronic sounding Born, Gizmo was somewhat of a return to the melodic rock sounds that fans were used to. Featuring the singles "All" and a song penned by Farnan and Pleasance around the time of "Dreams On Fire" called "Dreaming Up A Fire" the album again failed to return the band to the top of the charts.

A year later BMG released The Best Things a greatest hits album featuring singles from all their albums plus the song "Soundtrack" from their unreleased album Born Again.

In 2002 Robert Doyle the Opposition Leader of Victoria used the song "Dancing in the Storm" as his theme song at the Liberal Party of Australia State election campaign launch in November. The band wasn't asked their permission, and would have refused if asked according to Richard Pleasance. The campaign failed, and Steve Bracks of the Australian Labor Party won the election.