Once upon a time in a land far away, 3 boys and 1 girl decided to try out some demos, written by the girl, on a live audience. Those four kids were Fur Patrol, named after God can only imagine what, and consisted of vocalist/guitarist Julia Deans, bassist Andrew Bain, drummer Simon Braxton and guitarist Steve Wells. Fur Patrol’s debut performance in May 1996 at Bar Bodega (in Wellington New Zealand), opened their eyes to the possibility that they could exist as more than just a one-off vehicle for Julia’s demos. At the request of their audience they continued writing and gigging together and in 1998, as indie label Wishbone’s first signing, they released their debut ep Starlifter to rave reviews.
In mid-1999, after releasing two video singles in the form of Dominoes and Beautiful, Fur Patrol went into the studio to record what would eventually be known as the album Pet. The first single, Now, was released in May alongside an excellent music video from Chris Graham at 2-D films. Pet, initially to be released in August 2000, (a full year after it was recorded) was finally released on October the 13th 2000. One of many successful New Zealand albums released at this time, Pet was delayed time and time again so it wouldn’t be lost among the hype of the other top selling albums. Fortunately, their success at pulling the crowds in, including the General Electric tour, featuring the now defunct Weta and biggest band in the world, Pacifier aka Shihad, impressed both fans and critics alike. So impressed were the buying public that they raised Pet sales to platinum status, and a peak of number 7 on the national album charts. Meanwhile the Furs jumped over to Australia for their virgin trip, scoring the support slot for the Dandy Warhols. Australia was now on their minds.
Track number 5 from Pet, a little ditty named Lydia, soon became the most played song on radio and the Xmas number 1 in the country. This number 1 was the only New Zealand song to reach the top in 2000, surprising considering the popularity of NZ music growing at the time. They picked up 4 Tuis/NZ music awards, including single of the year for Lydia, and songwriter of the year for Julia. Fur Patrol performed their wee hearts out over the summer of 2000/2001 and after the orientation gigs in Feb/March 2001 leaped the ditch and set up camp in Melbourne, Australia, much to the dismay of their fans in New Zealand.
On arrival the band joined Australian band Motor Ace on a tour, followed up by a support slot for legendary former Split Enz/Crowded House singer Neil Finn. They continued gigging around and visited New Zealand once more in 2001 to play the By Hokey it’s Fur Patrol tour with Betchadupa and Goodshirt.
In 2002, after NZ Orientation gigs, the Furs joined other Australiasian acts at the Fierce Festival in England, alongside fellow number 1 kiwi Che-Fu.
In October 2003 the Furs released the HIGHLY anticipated second album, “Collider” after working on it in London with producer Mark Wallis and have since been focusing mainly on Australia, where they are making quite an impact.
In October 2004, Steve Wells made the decision to leave Fur Patrol. Fur Patrol began life as a new mini-beast and on 14 May 2007 their first spawn in 3.5 years was released in NZ - the delightful EP “Long Distance Runner”.
Up next - their first LP as a 3-piece. And the little world waits…
