Sparkadia


Sparkadia is a band that formed in Sydney in 2004 and were originally known as 'The Spark'. The brainchild of Alexander Burnett and Dave Hall, the band became a reality with the addition of Nick Rabone and Josephine Ayling in 2006. In 2008 Ayling was replaced by Tiffany Preece on guitars and vocals. By 2009 the group had become Burnett's solo project. Sparkadia has issued two studio albums, Postcards and The Great Impression.

Band history

Sparkadia formed as a duo in 2004 in Sydney by Alexander Burnett on lead vocals and David Hall on drums. They first came into prominence in Australia with their debut EP titled Things Behind the Sun. The EP was released by Australian indie label, Boundary Sounds on 20 February 2007; with the lead single "Morning Light" being the No. 1 most downloaded track off Australian national broadcasters Triple J's website with 32,000 downloads in a month. This was followed by extensive Australian touring and led to signing with UK indie label Ark Recordings.
On 17 February 2007 Sparkadia issued a five track extended play, Things Behind the Sun, on Boundary Sounds through Inertia Records, which peaked in the ARIA Singles Chart top 100 for four weeks in March–April. It was followed by a single, "Too Much to Do", which reached No. 11 on the ARIA Hitseekers Singles Chart.
Their first studio album, Postcards, was released on 31 May 2008 and reached number 23 in the ARIA Albums Chart. For the album the line-up were Ayling, Burnett, Hall and Rabone. Soon after Ayling was replaced by Tiffany Preece on guitars and vocals. However, by 2009 Sparkadia had become Burnett's solo project; according to Burnett: Hall had "moved onto other things", Preece had left to have a baby, and Rabone went to India.
In March 2011, Burnett was the featured cover star for Sydney music magazine The Drum, with the tagline "Sparkadia I'll Do It Myself".
The feature photo shoot was conducted by award winning music photographer Daniel Boud.
In September 2010 Sparkadia issued the next single, "Talking Like I'm Falling Down the Stairs", which peaked in the top 100. Another single, "China", was issued in March 2011. Burnett, as Sparkadia, had moved to London to work on the second album in mid-January 2010. The Great Impression was issued on 18 March 2011, which reached number 8 on the ARIA Albums Chart. On 20 March it was the week's "feature album" on national youth radio Triple J.
Their cover of "This Boy's in Love" by The Presets for Triple J’s ‘ Like a Version Volume 5’ of 2009 and subsequently appeared in their ‘Best of’ anthology released in 2013.
In late 2012, 'Space & Time', off their debut record was featured on the Sears campaign, Connecting Flights.
As of 2016, Alexander Burnett is working on the third Sparkadia album.

Members

Studio albums

The band toured across Australia, UK and Europe throughout the 2000s, with pockets of fan bases in Britain and Germany outside Australia. They have performed with many diverse artists such as:
In 2007, Sparkadia supported Elbow on their tour of Australia following the release of the Things Behind the Sun EP. This was followed by a tour of the UK that included supporting Irish band The Thrills, whom they were to support again the following year on their Australian tour.
In 2008, Sparkadia toured with Jimmy Eat World on their European tour.
This was followed by shows with Vampire Weekend, as well as their own headline shows across the UK and Europe.
Festivals appearances at that time include Glastonbury, T in the Park, V Festival and Oxegen Festival. Returning to Australia, Sparkadia supported Faker on the band's Are You Magnetic? tour across Australia, before heading out on their own headline tour. The band played Australia's New Year's Eve festival Pyramid Rock in 2008 and 2011.
In 2009, Sparkadia toured Australia as part of the Big Day Out, before embarking on a string of sold-out shows across Australia before amicably parting ways as a four piece.
After travelling around the US and Europe, Alexander Burnett finished working on the second album in London with Mark Tieku ; playing multiple instruments on the recording. The album came out in out early 2011, with the first single off the album "Talking Like I'm Falling Down Stairs" released in September 2010, coinciding with Little Red's Midnight Remember tour, which Sparkadia supported.

2011 onwards: Alexander Burnett solo career

Following Sparkadia's The Great Impression and Mary tours of 2011, Burnett joined the Nick Cave Straight To You concert series organised by Triple J. He performed on many of the songs on the tour including his own rendition of The Boys Next Door’s "Shivers", and the duet "Where the Wild Roses Grow" with Lanie Lane. The subsequent live recording/DVD went on to win an ARIA in the 2012 awards.
From December 2012, Burnett has largely working as a songwriter. He has collaborated and co-written tracks for various artists including DJ Snake, Alison Wonderland, Kaiser Chiefs, Digitalism, George Maple, Flight Facilities, Elizabeth Rose, Dan Sultan, Thelma Plum, Tieks, LDRU, Rationale and more.
Burnett currently writes and records in East London.

Antony & Cleopatra

Full article & discography at Antony & Cleopatra.
Burnett also has a deep house project called Antony & Cleopatra, which is based in London. It is a duo with Anita Blay, who met in London in 2014 during a pop writing session.

Releases

Their debut single as lead artists, "Sirens", was released in 2015, and an album is soon to follow. Another single was released afterwards entitled "Take Me". The duo got together again to form their third single and first single of 2016, entitled "Love Is A Lonely Dancer", which was debuted on SoundCloud.
In 2017 they released the singles "Dust" and "Twitch" both achieving Australian radio success.
In November 2018, the duo released their 6 track EP "Hurt Like Hell" to strong reviews:
- Pile Rats
- The AU Review
- The Kollection
- Air It

Live

The duo's first Australian tour was part of the 2017 Alison Wonderland's 'Scarehouse Project' alongside other acts such as Lunice, Lido, ASAP Ferg and Saatchi.
The next year they went on to play Australia's largest winter music festival Splendour In The Grass in July 2018.

Additional Work

The duo have also provided vocals on: