Bluebottle Kiss were formed in Sydney in early 1993 as a
grunge trio by Simon Adams on drums,
Jamie Hutchings on lead guitar and lead vocals and Sian Williams on bass guitar. Ben Fletcher replaced Williams on bass guitar and backing vocals later in 1993. John James on guitar and backing vocals briefly joined in 1994. In 1995 Hutchings and Fletcher were joined by Peter Noble on drums as a three-piece band. It was recorded at the
Bondi Pavilion Theatre with
Wayne Connolly producing (
Underground Lovers,
You Am I). Australian musicologist,
Ian McFarlane, noticed they did not use a "sterile" studio setting, but used a theatre "to capture a certain ambience. The album ran the gamut of sounds from quiet dirge to chaotic noise." For the group's second album,
Fear of Girls (August 1996), they used US producer,
Jack Endino (Nirvana, Mudhoney, Afghan Whigs). McFarlane opined "[it] covered a lot of ground, from tough, noisy art-rock to bleak ballads." A reviewer at
ideal.net.au declared, "an outstanding album from a band in definite progress. It's dark stormy night stuff, angst, frustration, disappointment, frailty." Late in 1997 Noble was replaced on drums by Richard Coneliano. Jasper Lee of
Oz Music Project observed, "[it] features songs of a much more stripped back tone, gaining mostly support and praise from loyal fanbase." Hutchings had taken up production duties and recorded
Patient in four days. It is named for his hospitalisation after a sporting accident.
SoulShines writer observed, "[which] delivered some of the most ferocious and most tender Bluebottle Kiss moments to date". It reached the
ARIA albums chart top 100. Charles Spano of AllMusic rated it at four stars and explained, "[it] may not be an entirely consistent album, but when at its best, Bluebottle Kiss is unstoppable, layering noise, feedback, and jangles over a core of power pop." Lawrence found "[they] have created the kind of meisterwerk that only comes around once or twice in the lifetime of a great band. Their hybrid of strong dynamics, subtle experimentation and an ever-present classic sense of melody has seen [them] gain a highly loyal following in Australia." During 2002 Coneliano left the group; he was replaced on drums by Simon Fuhrer in 2003.
Come Across (2003) their fifth studio album, was named Featured Album in November by Australian music journalist,
Ed Nimmervoll. It contains "slow brooding blues rock songs, big building rockers, amazing variety from song to song, using piano one some tracks, harmony vocals elsewhere, acoustic guitars on another song. All round it's a really strong performance from everyone." Ross Dickie on bass guitar and Jared Harrison on drums replaced Fletcher and Fuhrer, respectively. They toured Australia with five shows in October 2022 to support the reissue of
Patient on vinyl. In October–November they undertook a joint tour with
Screamfeeder. On the tour Bluebottle Kiss promoted the re-release of
Fear of Girls (July 2024) on vinyl via
Perth's Love as Fiction Records. == Members ==