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Ninetynine

Ninetynine is an indie band based in Melbourne, Australia. The band was founded by Laura Macfarlane, who played drums in Sleater-Kinney, in 1996 as a solo project. The first album, 99, was recorded with her playing all the instruments. Not long after she assembled a band with Cameron Potts and Rhonda Simmonds - who has since left the group and now plays in Origami. Other former members of the band are Iain McIntyre (who played with Laura in several earlier bands) and Amy Clarke (formerly of The Vivian Girls). Meg Butler joined in 2006. Ninetynine's music has been described as art-pop, combining elements of indie rock, post punk and power pop with strong melodic elements and an often playful approach. Some of their songs incorporate experimental elements such as unusual time signatures or exotic scales. One of the band's trademarks is the use of Casiotone keyboards and chromatic percussion (typically a vibraphone) in their music, and the musicians frequently swapping instruments between songs (and sometimes in the middle of songs). Ninetynine have played live extensively, and played support for bands including The Paradise Motel, Stereolab Dirty Three, Le Tigre and Preston School of Industry. They have also embarked on many self-funded tours, playing in Japan, the UK, Europe and North America; these tours have usually been assisted by contacts in local live music scenes. It is quite possible that Ninetynine have more fans outside of Australia than within. The members of Ninetynine have been known to play different music together under different names; During their 1996 European tour, Iain and Laura played support sets for Ninetynine as "86", with Iain on vocals, performing mostly old sea haggs songs.