Umpire

Based in Perth, Western Australia, Umpire was formed in 2006 as a studio songwriting and recording project, where Simon Struthers, Geoff Symons and Michael Lake had the opportunity to utilise the studio as an instrument, developing their songs without the pressures of playing as live band.Australian audiences first became familiar with the band via with their debut single ‘Streamers’ off their self-titled EP in 2009. 'Streamers' achieved widespread critical acclaim, national airplay and won WAM Song of the Year in 2009. The founding members of Umpire (Geoff Symons, Simon Struthers and Michael Lake) have a long history in the Perth music scene, playing in many seminal progressive indie-rock bands, including Adam Said Galore, O and Hidden Shoal’s very own Mukaizake, so it was a natural progression for the band to develop their live show by adding drummer, Josh Watkins. Performing the songs live has allowed the band to tour Australia and play with many of their musical heroes, including Stephen Malkmus, Built to Spill, Paul Dempsey, The Jezebels, Sugar Army, Jebediah, Love Of Diagrams, Dan Kelly, Bob Log III and Tame Impala. Their debut album "Now We’re Active" is released in June 2011 through Hidden Shoal Recordings. Check out the band's website, http://www.umpiremusic.com/ for more info. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.