All that music that was quite rightly called ‘dinosaurs’ and blasted to oblivion in ’76 when punk rock whacked us. We got no problem with that. But we still love all that fossilized music. Anyhow, its all in our influences. But for all it’s prog rock roots, Coelacanth is not a “dinosaur.” No big semi-trailers full of gear; no big light show; no groupies. Maybe it’s not a prehistoric fish at all, but a mean egg-stealing shrew?
Coelacanth
Band Bio
Coelacanth (pronounced seelakanth) is a Sydney based prog rock band that have been working out of several lounge rooms located in the inner-west and Canberra. The band works as an artistic collective with three core members: Pharmakeus, Art Neuro and Chella Elaine.
Coelacanth music has hybridized roots in all sorts of musical genres - metal, funk, reggae, mod, new wave, latin, fusion, blues, opera, punk (and expresses the end of the old age and beginning of the new). But it has direct lineage to old prog rock music from the late sixties and early seventies with bands like Yes and King Crimson. All that music that was quite rightly called 'dinosaur stuff' and blasted to oblivion in '76 when punk rock whacked the world.
Pharmakeus
Pharmakeus started playing electric guitars because they sounded mean. That was in the mid 70s. Every day after school, he'd jam with friends and that's how he learnt to play. Pharm played in various garage bands including the The Hollow Men, Craig's Band and Arctic Circle and was listening to a lot of music but especially old style blues and rock and prog bands — Led Zeppelin, Yes and King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra and the Mothers as well as getting full-on into Bob Marley. But his main influences are the people he’s jammed with. In the late 80s, Pharm helped create Vega V with Art Neuro — which eventually became Satellite City when Chella Elaine joined as lead vocalist. Satellite City broke up after two years and Pharm left Sydney and moved interstate. He jammed when he could in Melbourne, Townsville and Cairns but nothing got too orgnanised. Years later, thanks to the internet and the new home recording technology, Pharm began playing and recording with Art and Chella again. That's the genesis of Coelacanth.
Art Neuro
Art got his handle from the Cyberpunk era. That era came and went real quick, but he's still stuck with it. He plays guitar, bass and keyboards. Art says he likes rock music because it has a low threshold entry into music. As a disgruntled teen, Art was deeply influenced by the ideas of Pete Townshend, Robert Fripp, Trevor Horn and later, Frank Zappa that he read in crappy books about Rock Music in the school library. It was a largely wasted youth, but he did play with Chella and Pharmakeus in some interesting bands. This phase was followed by a string of other no-fame bands with names like Bass Age, The (Annoying) Time Wasters, and Beaver Patrol. If you were unlucky enough to hear Bass Age, Art apologises most sincerely. Sometimes he wishes he didn't find rock music so compelling, but that's just life.
Chella Elaine
Chella started singing when she was very young and got her first professional gig at the age of 13 singing Dixieland and Oklahoma numbers in shopping malls. But because she didn’t practice and know all the words — her mum wasn’t a pushy ‘stage mom’ — she was told ‘we’ll call you’ — which was a blessing ‘cause Chella was more interested in riding her pushbike with all the other kids. At 16, Chella’s mum started giving her an operatic singing training, which meant that in later years she could sing hard and loud without hurting her voice when she joined Satellite City. Chella's favourite singers are Shirley Bassey, Ann Wilson, Cecilia Bartolli, Kate Bush, Freddy Mercury, and of course, Clare Torry, who gave the world one of the greatest prog rock vocal improvisations known to human ears.