The Paradise Motel Check In

After a ten year public hiatus, The Paradise Motel returns to present Australian Ghost Story, an album of reflections on the events of August 17, 1980 and the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain.

TPM has had a busy start to 2010, with a live to air performance at Melbourne’s 3RRR as part of their Autumn Almanac series in March, followed by a sold out night at The Toff in Town.

In April, TPM performed a Tuesday night residency at the Northcote Social Club. Each show was commemorated by unique, limited edition hand made live EP, becoming instant collectors items in keeping with the band’s long history of special artefacts and beautiful packaging.

Hailing from Tasmania in 1994, The Paradise Motel moved to Melbourne and quickly established themselves as one of the most distinctive and haunting bands of their generation. Notorious for their live shows that veered between the violence and the silence, they signed to Infectious Records and released clutch of EPs including the classic debut Left Over Life To Kill and the albums Still Life and Flight Paths, before moving to London in 1998. After two years of extensive touring in Europe, UK and America, the band took an extended hiatus. Until now.

Now based in Melbourne and London, The Paradise Motel is Merida Sussex (vocals), Charles Bickford (acoustic guitar), Matthew Aulich (electric guitar), Mark Austin (keyboards, pedal steel), Esme Macdonald (bass), Andy Hazel (drums) and Campbell Shaw (violin).

The following review by Jason Strange sums up the intent of the album nicely: “The Paradise Motel return with their first album after a eight year hiatus with perhaps their most ambitious work to date. Tackling one of Australia’s most famed mysteries in the story of the disappearance of baby Azaria Chamberlain, who was alleged to have been taken from her family’s tent by a wild dingo on 17 August 1980…well that’s a mammoth undertaking. The Paradise Motel have captured the feeling of the event and emotional aftermath almost perfectly.

Hauntingly beautiful, desperately melancholy, the songs speak from different perspectives surrounding this story. From Azaria’s mother Linda (‘A Prelude To Saga’), her father Michael (‘The Witnesses’), brother Aiden (‘My Sister In 1994’), the police investigators (‘The Cops’) and even from the missing girl herself (‘Brown Snake’).”

24 Sep 2010      Clarendon Guesthouse , Katoomba, NSW
25 Sep 2010     The Sandringham, Newtown, N.S.W,
1 Oct 2010     The Troubadour , Fortitude Valley, QLD
2 Oct 2010     Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury, Melbourne, Victoria,
8 Oct 2010     Sirens Ballroom, Hobart, TAS,
9 Oct 2010     The Palais, Hepburn Springs, Victoria,