26, and 26 is an Australian musical outfit founded in 2004 by friends Nick O'Donnell and Drew Fellows, who later recruited Ross Duckworth and Iain Wilson. Originally categorised as indie rock, 26 has since employed a variety of guest artists and choirs to produce a sound that is unique to the band.
History
The band’s first album, The King Must Die, was recorded by O'Donnell before he had a band and was released in Australia through Floodboy Records and MGM Distribution, and globally through iTunes, in 2005. The album received national airplay and The King Must Die was honoured as the feature album on Sydney radio station FBI 94.5 FM's The Album Show. With the band’s growing popularity, 26 toured Australia in 2006 for the release of their single, "Friendly Fire", which went on to win the 2006 Queensland Song Award for Best Rock Song and was also a finalist in The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Awards. The single also received airplay on national youth network Triple J and further exposure on FBI 94.5 FM. With the release of their second album, Births, Deaths & Marriages, in 2008, 26’s track "Aloha" was featured on the 3 website, which led to it debuting at #8 on the ARIA Digital Download Charts the following week. That same week, 26 was chosen as one of only forty acts to showcase at Queensland’s 2008 Big Sound Conference, one of the most respected and fastest-growing music business events in the Asia-Pacific region. "A New Beginning", the opening track of Births, Deaths & Marriages, featured in the season finale of NBC’s Rand Ravich-created police procedural drama series, Life. The finale aired in the US and Canada to more than 5,000,000 viewers on Wednesday, 8 April 2009, and aired in Australia on Network 10 on 29 April to over 776,000 viewers. The show also aired in another 22 countries. As a result, "A New Beginning", along with other selected tracks from 26’s catalogue, went on to receive airplay on numerous US college/alternative/AAA stations. In 2010, 26 toured the US, Canada, Hong Kong and the UK, as well as performing at the MUSEXPO 2010 in West Hollywood on 26 April.. In August 2011, 26 returned to the northern hemisphere for an extensive national UK tour, including performances at the Y-Not Festival and the Edinburgh Festival. 26's third album, Sunshine Salvation, was released on 26 October 2012, with "The Outside" announced as the album's first single.
Live performances
26 performed at the 2010 One Movement Festival/Conference in Perth, playing alongside artists including Sarah Blasko, Hilltop Hoods, Scribe and Kate Miller Heidke. Following this, the band was invited to play at Canadian Music Week in March, 2010, which allowed the band to then tour Canada and the USA. To launch their 2012 album, Sunshine Salvation, the band played an intimate, start-to-finish pre-release show for their Brisbane-based friends, families and fans at the Black Bear Lodge in Fortitude Valley, Queensland.
