Singer Merida Sussex is the lead vocalist with the band The Paradise Motel.
She was born here to a physicist father and historian mother but moved to England aged three. When she returned here at 15, she says, ''I felt so alienated''. In her early 20s, she was working in St Kilda Public Library when she met her soon-to-be bandmates. ''They'd just come from Tasmania, so when we got together it was like we were all not really belonging in Melbourne,'' she says.
The Paradise Motel was a seven-piece outfit that played here for a couple of years, recorded an album and moved to London in 1998. It was there - feasting on the expense account when they were taken out by the record company (''we were the last wave of that big money-throwing situation,'' Sussex says) but living on toasted-cheese sandwiches when all at home together in their tiny East End house - that the outsiders came to a surprising conclusion.
''It was amazing touring Europe and America, but the shock discovery was that the artistic voice of the band was directed at Australia, it had nothing to do with being in England,'' chief songwriter Charles Bickford says. ''We discovered our Australianness in London.''
Following the disbandment of The Paradise Motel, Aulich, Sussex, Austin and O'Shannassy remained in the UK. Sussex released a solo album before forming Candy with Paul Jones. In 2003 Sussex co-founded the Stolen Recordings label with Jones and Rachael Robb.
In January 2008 The Paradise Motel had reformed with Aulich, Austin, Bickford and Sussex joined by new members Damien Hill on drums and ex-Penthouse bassist Esme MacDonald. They began recording their third studio album, I Still Hear Your Voice at Night however the album was not released until 29 January 2011 due to the suicide of Hill in December. Thematically it was considered an extension of their earlier preoccupations; death, disappearances and the Australian wilderness. After the recording Campbell Shaw joined on violin.
Work on a fourth studio record, Australian Ghost Story began mid-2009, with the addition of drummer Andy Hazel (ex-Tacoma Radar and The Ruby Suns). The album concerns the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance and was issued on the 30th anniversary of her birth, 11 June 2010. A limited edition release on USB was made for a one-off performance in Melbourne. The album received positive reviews upon its release.Their most recent album Oh Boy was released in September 2013. It was announced as the second album in a thematic trilogy examining Australian self-criticism and drive for cultural approbation.
The Paradise Motel was a seven-piece outfit that played here for a couple of years, recorded an album and moved to London in 1998. It was there - feasting on the expense account when they were taken out by the record company (''we were the last wave of that big money-throwing situation,'' Sussex says) but living on toasted-cheese sandwiches when all at home together in their tiny East End house - that the outsiders came to a surprising conclusion.
''It was amazing touring Europe and America, but the shock discovery was that the artistic voice of the band was directed at Australia, it had nothing to do with being in England,'' chief songwriter Charles Bickford says. ''We discovered our Australianness in London.''
Following the disbandment of The Paradise Motel, Aulich, Sussex, Austin and O'Shannassy remained in the UK. Sussex released a solo album before forming Candy with Paul Jones. In 2003 Sussex co-founded the Stolen Recordings label with Jones and Rachael Robb.
In January 2008 The Paradise Motel had reformed with Aulich, Austin, Bickford and Sussex joined by new members Damien Hill on drums and ex-Penthouse bassist Esme MacDonald. They began recording their third studio album, I Still Hear Your Voice at Night however the album was not released until 29 January 2011 due to the suicide of Hill in December. Thematically it was considered an extension of their earlier preoccupations; death, disappearances and the Australian wilderness. After the recording Campbell Shaw joined on violin.
Work on a fourth studio record, Australian Ghost Story began mid-2009, with the addition of drummer Andy Hazel (ex-Tacoma Radar and The Ruby Suns). The album concerns the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance and was issued on the 30th anniversary of her birth, 11 June 2010. A limited edition release on USB was made for a one-off performance in Melbourne. The album received positive reviews upon its release.Their most recent album Oh Boy was released in September 2013. It was announced as the second album in a thematic trilogy examining Australian self-criticism and drive for cultural approbation.
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