In the five years of SANDPIT’s existence, the band, featuring Brendan Webb on vocals and guitar, Stephanie Ashworth on bass and Paul Sciacca on drums, accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. Influenced by the sounds of seminal ‘90s acts Swervedriver, Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth, the band jumped into the studio with producer Greg Wales at Sydney’s Charing Cross Studios, recording and releasing two EPs, Lessons in Posture and Tyranny of Creeps, ahead of their celebrated album, On Second Thought. The 2020 Cheersquad Records and Tapes release of The Hunting Picture sees the band’s first two EPs pressed onto the one record, which has been lovingly remastered for vinyl by John Ruberto at Mastersound.
Fans can order a special white vinyl reissue from cheersquadrecordstapes.bandcamp.com.
In other news, boutique guitar/amp/pedal builder, Tym Guitars in Brisbane have made ‘The ‘Pit’ distortion pedal which celebrates Sandpit and joins a number of other previously released projects, including signature pedals made for J.Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., or Bob Mould of Husker Dü.
While the band only existed from 1994 to ;98 I distinctly remember being mesmerized the first time I heard them through one of their early EPs. It was however their debut 12″ LP, On Second Thought, that absolutely captivated me. The band were influenced by a lot of bands I loved at the time (some of whom I work with now) but On Second Thought was a masterpiece of melody, arrangement, incredible guitar tones and Brendan’s angelic voice. To this day it still gives me chills and I would personally say it’s in my top 10 Australian records of all time, for all time. – Tym Guitars / GO HERE to see more!
Extra: Other Australian indie bands from the 90s worth a check:
MOUTH – VICTIM CHANT
SMALL WORLD EXPERIENCE – SIDE PROJECTS
SCREAMFEEDER – BURN OUT YOUR NAME
MIDGET – another great 90s band from Sydney:
MAGIC DIRT from Geelong:
BLUETILE LOUNGE from Perth – Lowercase LP
RICAINE – another popular 90s band very much inspired by Big Black / Shellac
BUDD from Brisbane:
