The Devastations


Devastations were an indie rock band from Melbourne, Australia. The band's solemn lamentations often earned comparisons to artists such as Nick Cave and Tindersticks.

Band history

The band was founded in 2002 by Tom Carlyon, Hugo Cran and Conrad Standish after the end of their former band Luxedo. Originally called "The Devastations" to mimic the style of bands such as The Temptations, "The" was later dropped.
The band was signed to Beggars Banquet Records, released three albums and toured extensively in Europe, where two of the band members lived. Their self-titled debut album was named by Rolling Stone Germany as the best debut of 2004.
The band was nominated in 2005 for an Australian Music Prize for their second album, Coal and again in 2007 for Yes, U, their third album. Yes, U, was also nominated for an Age Newspaper EG Award for Best Album of 2007.
Devastations recorded a cover of the Cure's 1981 song All Cats Are Grey for , a charity record released in October 2008 by Los Angeles indie label Manimal Vinyl.
In 2009, Devastations collaborated with New York City-based band Blonde Redhead to record a song for the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization. The ensuing song, When the Road Runs Out, uses the Devastation's instrumental song Misrecordia from Yes, U.
By 2010, Devastations had disbanded, although Carlyon and Standish later reunited as an electronic music duo, Standish/Carlyon, releasing the album Deleted Scenes in 2013.

Personnel