The Eastern Dark

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Use Australian English|date=March 2018}} {{Infobox musical artist |name = The Eastern Dark |image = |caption = |background = group_or_band |origin = [[Australia]] |genre = [[Australian rock]] |years_active = 1984–1986 |label = Waterfront, [[Half A Cow]] |website = | }}

'''The Eastern Dark''' was an [[Australian rock]] band who formed in the 1980s as an offshoot from another Australian band, [[The Celibate Rifles]].<ref name="AMG">{{cite web | title=allmusicguide.com | work=Allmusic Profile | url={{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p4158|pure_url=yes}}}}</ref>

==History== The band was formed in 1984 when then [[Celibate Rifles]] [[bassist]] James Darroch decided to leave and form his own band.<ref name="AMO">{{cite web | title=australianmusiconline | work=Australian Music Online | url=http://www.amo.org.au/artist.asp?id=1175}}</ref> Darroch switched from bass to [[guitar]] and enlisted drummer Geoff Milne and former [[Lime Spiders]] backing vocalist Bill Gibson on bass. After some rehearsals the three became The Eastern Dark, named after a place in [[The Phantom]] comics.<ref name="AMO"/> The three piece began playing live in May 1984, quickly garnering local support and earning notoriety for their habit of opening each set with a different Ramones cover, working their way chronologically through the Ramones' discography. Their first single, "Julie Is A Junkie/Johnny And Dee Dee," was released on Waterfront Records in July 1985.

With [[Rob Younger]] as producer<ref name="AMO"/> the band recorded the EP ''Long Live The New Flesh!'' in 1986. On 4 March 1986, days after finishing the EP, and en route to a week-long series of shows in Melbourne, the band's van went off the road; Darroch was killed, and Milne and Gibson were hospitalised. ''Long Live the New Flesh!'' was released posthumously later that year, and a collection of live recordings and demos was released as ''Girls on the Beach (With Cars)'' in 1989. A CD collection of the previously released material, ''Where Are All the Single Girls?'' was released on Half A Cow Records in 2000 (and re-released in 2010).

==Members== * James Darroch - vocals, guitar (1984-1986; his death) * Bill Gibson - bass (1984-1986) * Geoff Milne - drums (1984-1986)

==Discography== *''Julie Is A Junkie/Johnny And Dee Dee'' [7"] (1985) *''Long Live the New Flesh!'' [EP] (1986) *''Girls on the Beach (With Cars)'' [2xLP] (1990) *''Where Are All the Single Girls?'' [CD] (2000)

==References==

==External links== *[http://www.amo.org.au/artist.asp?id=1175 The Eastern Dark at Australian Music Online]

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Eastern Dark}} [[Category:Australian rock music groups]] [[Category:Musical groups established in 1984]] [[Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1986]]