Julian Knowles

Even As We Speak is an indie band from Sydney, Australia. Formed in the mid 1980s, founding members Matthew Love (guitar, banjo, vocals) and Mary Wyer (vocals, guitar) were later joined by Rob Irwin (bass) Anita Rayner (drums, banjo, mandolin), Julian Knowles (keyboards, guitar, production), and Paul Clarke (guitar, vocals). After a series of vinyl releases on Australian independent labels including Phantom Records, and success on the Australian indie scene, they came to the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel who started to play the band’s 1987 indie guitar cover of New Order's 'Bizarre Love Triangle' on his show. This brought them to the attention of UK audiences and began a relationship with UK indie label Sarah Records. The band released several singles and an album on Sarah Records, three of which reached the Top 5 of the Melody Maker
and New Musical Express (NME) UK independent music charts in 1992 and 1993.



Between 1992 and 1993, the group recorded three sessions for John Peel and one session for Mark Goodier for BBC Radio 1. They were among the few Australian bands to record Peel Sessions – others were The Birthday Party, The Triffids, The Go-Betweens and Laughing Clowns. These sessions were released as the album ‘Yellow Food: The Peel Sessions’ in June 2014. A session was also recorded for Radio France. The band’s music is an unusual hybrid of accessible pop and more experimental elements. Some commentators consider them to be key figures in the post-C86 subculture in the UK, although their music breaks out of conventional pop moulds to experiment with forms.



In recent years the band have reformed to play some sporadic live shows, most recently to mark the release of ‘Yellow Food: The Peel Sessions’ a compilation album of the complete sessions recorded for the BBC between 1992 and 1993. Recently, the band has been working on a new 5 track EP release.