Tim Rogers - History

History

Originally from Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Rogers moved around a lot during his adolescence, including stints in Adelaide and Canberra. Following his primary school years in Applecross, a suburb of Perth, Rogers later became School Captain at his Sydney-based school, Oakhill College. He then went on to study law at the Australian National University. It was during this time that he met long time You Am I band mate, Andy Kent (bass player), who originally was You Am I's sound mixer.

Rogers formed You Am I with his school friend Nick Tischler and his own older brother Jaimme Rogers in 1989, though the lineup shifted around early on, settling on Andy Kent on bass and Mark Tunaley on drums. After the recording of their first album, Sound As Ever, Tunaley was asked to leave the band and Russell Hopkinson joined, forming the 'classic' You Am I lineup. Second guitarist Davey Lane — initially part of The Twin Set touring band — joined in 1999. (for more history on You Am I, see You Am I History)

Also in 1999, Tim released his first solo album, What Rhymes With Cars And Girls. Not intended as a sign of You Am I's demise, it was simply a case of Rogers having some songs and some time to himself:

I had some time alone and I found myself writing some songs and then I just thought, well it looks like You Am I's not going to be recording for a while, while we're waiting for albums to come out overseas, so I wanna make a record…

Recorded at Jen Anderson's (Weddings Parties Anything) home studio, the album showed a mellower side to Rogers' songwriting, being predominantly a country/folk affair, rather than the raucous rock You Am I were renowned for. Tim named the backing band for the album and consequent tour The Twin Set. He later won an ARIA award for Best Male Artist in for the album.

The initial release of You Am I's fifth album, Dress Me Slowly also contained a bonus disc entitled The Temperance Union EP, consisting of 8 songs Tim had recorded and written, mostly solo. He took the name of the EP — based loosely on the Woman's Christian Temperance Union — to name his backing band for his subsequent solo albums, starting with Spit Polish in 2004.

2005 saw the release of a Temperance Union double album, Dirty Ron/Ghost Songs, featuring various special guests including Missy Higgins, Donna Simpson and Rebecca Barnard.

In 2006 Rogers teamed up with long-time friend Tex Perkins to form T'N'T, eventually releasing the album My Better Half, an eclectic mix of acoustic originals and cover tunes. Arguably it included some of Rogers' finer solo writing, but received mixed reviews for its minimal production values and tongue in cheek covers, such as Rod Stewart's Tonight's the Night.

In 2007 he released his fourth solo album, The Luxury Of Hysteria, his first credited solely to his name (though The Temperance Union do play on the album). He also created his own record label, Ruby Q, to deal with the release.