Godstar
Until Sneeze started playing live in mid-1996, Godstar had been the main focus for Nic Dalton’s songwriting and recording since 1992, following the hiatus of the Plunderers, and in between his commitments to the Lemonheads, which took up a lot of time from 1992 to 1994.
Having featured an ever-changing line-up for most of its existence, Godstar released two studio albums: Sleeper (1993) and Coastal (1995) as well as a bunch of seven inch singles that came out in USA, Spain, England and Australia. A compilation called Way Out Jim was released in Japan. The final Godstar release was the September compilation which came out in 1997 (under the name The Godstar Reminder) and was a compilation of recordings from September 1993.
The band did two tours of Australia in September 1993 and September 1995 and two shows in Boston in May 1994 (with Dominique Zar on drums and Dan Estabrook on bass). A couple more shows at the end of 1995 (including an Alex Chilton support) and that was it. Apart from Nic, Godstar included songwriting input from Tom Morgan, Robyn St Clare and Alison Galloway, who, along with Evan Dando, John Encarnacao, Tania Bowers and Bon King made up the main live bands.
From 1996, Nic Dalton decided to no longer record under the Godstar moniker (as he and Tom Morgan were both in Sneeze and Godstar – and Sneeze started playing live in 1996 – they decided that being in one band together was enough). The last release from the band was the “Has She Got Your Time Now” 7 inch single (as The Godstar Reminder) on the Blind label. The title track was written especially for Nic by Sally Russell (from Sydney band Lustre 4).
Half A Cow reissued Coastal on a double cd in 2003 expanded with home recordings, a live show and b-sides from the sessions. A digital compilation of Nic’s four tracks that became Godstar songs was released in 2019 called Babe Rainbow.
A version of Godstar played some of the support slots on the Sneeze UK/Europe 2002 tour, with Nic and Tom joined by Sneeze drummer Simon Gibson and Swedish Tom on bass. Using the name The Godstar Rewinder, the band reformed for one show in October 2015 to celebrate Half A Cow’s 25th birthday at The Petersham Bowling Club in Sydney (along with Smudge and Sneeze). Nic was joined by Tom Morgan on guitar, Tania Bowers on bass, John Encarnacao on keyboards and Alison Galloway on drums. The band played “Kitchen” for the first time, Alannah Russack got up to sing “Every Now And Then” and Mark Temple (Hummingbirds drummer) filmed and recorded it. It was the first (and last!) show in nearly twenty years.
Pics
Video
Buy Music
Stardust Memories
Sleeper
September
Coastal
Babe Rainbow: The Godstar four tracks
Way Out Jim – a Japanese compilation
Before and after Coastal
Discography
The Brightest Star
The Brightest Star 7″ (bus 029)
released by The Bus Stop label 1992
side 1: The Brightest Star/Valentine Tour
side 2: Kitchen/Every Now And Then
The debut release from Godstar, recorded from Dec ’90 to Jan ’92.
The Brightest Star CD EP (hac11)
released by Half A Cow 1992
1. The Brightest Star
2. Valentine Tour
3. When Rosemary Smiles
4. Way Out Jim
Bad Bad Implications - the Chemcraze EP
Bad Bad Implications – the Chemcraze EP (hac14)
released by Half A Cow 1993
1. Bad Bad Implications
2. End Of Day
3. You Treat Me Like A Kid
4. Charter Me
5. Babe Rainbow
6. The Best Of Friends
7. Every Now And Then
Nic Dalton: vocals, various instruments / Alison Galloway: drums, backing vocals / Alannah Russack: vocals, guitar, drums, ebow / Tom Morgan: guitar, backing vocals / Evan Dando: drums, guitar, backing vocals / Robyn St Clare: bass
Recorded 1992 Cambridge, MA and Sydney, NSW
All songs by N. Dalton except Every Now and Then by N. Dalton/A. Russack.
Mastered by William Bowden at Festival.
“A speedy little EP (seven songs in a zippy 16 minutes), Bad Bad Implications is the record that makes clear Godstar’s most immediate predecessor. In many ways, this album sounds like the second coming of Australia’s great lost guitar pop band, the Hummingbirds, not least because that group’s Alannah Russack and Robyn St. Clare are all over this disc. Russack even sings co-lead with Dalton on two songs, the silly “The Best of Friends” and the gorgeous, jangly closer, “Every Now and Then.” The other five songs whiz by in a blur of shaggy vocals, fuzzy guitars, and Big Star-influenced melodies, with the title track a particular standout. Fans of slightly punky early-’90s indie pop will adore this.” – Stewart Mason, allmusic
Lie Down Forever
Lie Down Forever (hac21)
released by Half A Cow 1993
also on cassette (cud21)
Lie Down Forever
Plummet
Sleeper
It’s Down To You To Make It Up To Me (Jesse Peretz: bass)
Turn Around
Track 1 Recorded at Fort Apache, Nth. Cambridge
Tracks 2 to 4 Recorded at Sun Studio, Sydney
Track 5 Recorded on a Tascam 4 track at Romolo, West Melbourne, June 86
also released by Taang! 1993 (with different tracklisting)
Lie Down Forever
Sleeper
Kitchen
It’s Down To You To Make It Up To Me
Dead Sad Night
Turn Around
Track 1: Recorded at Fort Apache Nth. Cambridge, MA Aug-Oct 92
Tracks 2 & 4: Recorded at Sun Studio, Sydney Jan-Feb 93
Track 3: Recorded on 4 track at home in Annandale and Troy Horse Rehearsal Dec 90
Track 5: Recorded at Troy Horse Studio, Sydney September 93
Track 6: Recorded on 4 track at Romolo, West Melbourne in June 86
Sleeper
Sleeper (hac22)
released by Half A Cow 1993
also released by Taang! (US), Toy’s Factory (Japan)
1. Sleeper
2. Bad Bad Implications
3. Little Bit About
4. Single
5. Everything You Give Me Breaks
6. Wigram
7. Forgotten Night
8. Lie Down Forever
9. The Brightest Star
10. Had The Time Of Your Life
11. Stranger
12. Days Gone By
13. Something Unplanned
14. Every Now And Again
Recorded and mixed at Fort Apache, Nth. Cambridge. Aug-Oct ’92 except 9 & 10 recorded at Sun & Powerhouse, Sydney, mixed at Rich, March ’92
Taang! released Sleeper on double 10″ with two bonus tracks not found on the original Australian release (these tracks also appear on the Toy’s Factory cd)
15. My The Mind
16. Poncho
Glasgow 7"
Glasgow EP (dump017)
relesased on 7″ by Rugger Bugger, UK 1994
A: Look-A-Like / When The Sun Goes Down
B: Smothered / Doubledecker Bus
Recorded at Stuffhouse Studio, Glasgow on Easter Monday 1993 with the ‘Scottish’ line-up of Godstar featuring Dee Bahl (bass), Skip Reid (drums) and Eugene Kelly (guitar & backing vocals). Backing vocals added by Milo, Tom and Evan back in Sydney when it was mixed at Troy Horse September 1993. Look-A-Like and Smothered have also appeared on the Japanese compilation Way Out Jim (100GM-02).
Limited edition numbered version of 100 comes in screen-printed cardboard mailer.
Tracing paper sleeve variation. Hand-numbered limited edition of 200.
Four Seventy 7"
Four Seventy 7″ EP
released by Bus Stop 1994
side 1: Love and Trucks / Sunshower
side 2: Load / Mr Austin
One song each from Nic, Tom, Robyn and Alison, recorded in September, 1993. All songs appeared on The Godstar Reminder’s September (hac60) album.
Songs written Tom Morgan (a1), Alison Galloway (a2), Robyn St. Clare (b1), Nic Dalton (b2)
Single 7" / CD
Single 7″ (T-85)
released by Taang! (US) 1994
1. Single
2. Corey / Drop Twenty
cd (TAANG!85)
1. Single
2. Butterfly Knife
3. Way Out Jim
4. Rain 14
5. When Rosemary Smiles
6. It’s My Turn
1 Recorded at Fort Apache, Nth Cambridge Aug-Oct 92
2 Recorded & mixed on Tascam 244 4 track in Annandale (drums at Troy Horse Rehearsal) Jan 93
3 Recorded & mixed on Tascam 244 4 track in Annandale (drums at Troy Horse Rehearsal) Oct 90-Jan 91
4 Recorded & mixed at Troy Horse, Newtown Sept 93
5 Recorded & mixed at Troy Horse April 92
6 Recorded & mixed on Tascam 244 4 track in Annandale (drums at Troy Horse Rehearsal) Oct 90-Jan 91
Way Out Jim (compilation)
Way Out Jim (100GM-02 )
released by 100 Guitar Mania, Japan 1994
1. Valentine Tour
2. You Treat Me Like A Kid
3. Every Now And Then
4. Look-A-Like
5. It’s Down To You To Make It Up To Me
6. Way Out Jim
7. Stuck Like Gum
8. Butterfly Knife
9. When Rosemary Smiles
10. Sleeper
11. Babe Rainbow
12. Rain 14
13. Smothered
14. The Best Of Friends
15. It’s My Turn
16. Just Like Me
17. Kitchen
18. Charter Me
A compilation put together for release in Japan. All songs were previously released except tracks 15 and 16.
Pushpin / Seeing Stars
Pushpin / Seeing Star (hac40)
released by Half A Cow 1995
1. Pushpin
2. Seeing Stars (edit)
3. Blissed Out Clown
4. Needle Pulling Thread
5. That Certain Smile
Pushpin and the original version of Seeing Stars is from Coastal. Seeing Stars is an edited “radio” version. Tracks 3-5 recorded during the Coastal sessions. All songs written by N. Dalton except That Certain Smile (N. Dalton/R. St Clare)
Coastal
Coastal (hac42)
released by Half A Cow 1995 on double vinyl and cd
Side one
1. Mistletoe Revenge
2. Pushpin
3. Another Spring, Another Love
4. Friend Of A Friend
5. Seeing Stars
Side two
1. Table For One
2. Mathrock Boy
3. It’s Hard To Love A Drunk
4. Out Of My Mind
5. Enter #3
Side three
1. Fly Me To The Moon
2. Go Now
3. Coastal
4. Theme From “Annandale 2038″/Lula
Side four
1. …And Other Plants
2. Forever Snowing Inside
3. Duje Daisy
4. Watch Out Bicycle
5. Zillar
Limited edition 2CD included Side Four: Love and Death (hac43)
re-released February 2003 with b-sides and second disc of other tracks
disc 1
1. Mistletoe Revenge
2. Pushpin
3. Another Spring, Another Love
4. Friend Of A Friend
5. It’s Hard To Love A Drunk
6. Out Of My Mind
7. Seeing Stars
8. Table For One
9. Mathrock Boy
10. Fly Me To The Moon
11. Go Now
12. Coastal
13. Enter #3
14. Theme From “Annandale 2038″/Lula
plus bonus tracks:
15. Needle Pulling Thread
16. Blissed Out Clown
17. High Anxiety
18. Your Ego’s Out Of Control
Tracks 15 & 16 from Pushpin cd single (hac40), tracks 17 & 18 from Table For One cd single (hac48)
Before and after Coastal (hac105)
disc 2
1. Pushpin
2. Another Spring, Another Love
3. Seeing Stars
4. Death At The Empress
5. Red Bull
6. Never Seen A Rainbow
7. Forever Snowing Inside
8. Watch Out Bicycle
9. Another Spring, Another Love (live)
10. Seeing Stars (live)
11. It’s Hard To Love A Drunk (live)
12. Forever Snowing Inside (live)
13. Way Out Jim (live)
14. Table For One (live)
Re-release of Godstar’s 1995 album with 4 non-LP b-sides added plus 14 track disc featuring unreleased (tracks 1-6) and other songs (tracks 7 & 8 originally released on Coastal ‘Side Four: Love & Death’) plus a live show (supporting Alex Chilton) from November 1995 (tracks 9-14).
reviews:
“The grand sweep of these songs – taking in arrangements using brass, string and piano parts recorded both locally and abroad – rarely fetter their deep sentiment, aided by simple-hearted lyricism and the album’s overall upbeat factor.” – Rolling Stone, 1995
“Line-up change for each song and feature members of such local bands such as Smudge and the defunct Hummingbirds, or overseas pals such as Fuzzy. Lyrically Dalton is thirty-something and still fascinated by the joys of first love, the bewilderment of the break-up and the simple things in life. Add a couple of wide-ranging covers from Buffalo Springfield and the Stylistics and you’ve got a pleasantly motley menagerie.” – Who Weekly, 1995
“From the time that snarling guitar cuts into the opener Mistletoe Revenge, you know it’s got you. Pushpin’s angelic melodies and cute tinklings prove all to short, but nonetheless infectious, but it’s the brilliant pop pleasantries of the wonderful Another Spring Another Love that stands out so popervescently from the rest.” – Drum Media, 1995
Opening with a track reminiscent of some sort of chilled-out, flamenco-styled pop, Godstar’s Coastal is an album full of suprises as it twists and turns through an epic journey of pure pop pleasure. Short, and simple, yet extremely catchy, Coastal is a re-release of one of the more salient recordings created in a very long line of releases by ex-Plunderers’ song writer Nic Dalton.
Originally released in 1995 on Half A Cow Records, the second full length album from Godstar (formed after Dalton’s departure from his revered Aussie punk band Plunderers) has been re-released with a further 4 extra tracks, which previously appeared as b-sides on various different recordings. In addition to this, the re-released Coastal also includes an added bonus of another 14 track CD comprising of unreleased recordings, rare tracks and a live show from November 1995. The bonus disk, entitled Before and After Coastal is a perfect complement to an already stimulating release, and any fan of Dalton’s Godstar will be more than satisfied with this most recent offering.
Hailed by some still to this day as his musical peak, in terms of the psychedelic pop aspect of his varied career this limited edition, 32 track 2CD was released in February 2003. Get out there and get listening to it – it’s well worth it! – Danielle Leigh, Oz Music Project
Table For One
Table For One (hac48)
cd single released by Half A Cow 1995
1. Table For One
2. High Anxiety
3. Your Ego’s Out Of Control
4. Rock Your Baby
5. Angela
Table For One from Coastal. Tracks 2 & 3 also appeared on the 2003 reissue of Coastal. Rock Your Baby is a cover of the 1973 George McCrae hit.
For sale on Discogs
Has She Got Your Time Now?
Has She Got Your Time Now? (BLIND 05)
released by Blind Records 1996
A: Has She Got Your Time Now?
B: Unrequited / Android
Bandcamp – digital version includes additional track Parking Lot.
Parking Lot recorded at the same time as Has She Got Your Time Now and was originally released on Snowstorm – Galaxie 500 tribute album (Elefant Records, Spain).
Track 1 and 4: Nic Dalton: vocals, guitar / Tom Morgan: guitar / Tania May Bowers: bass, vocals / Alsion Galloway: drums / Tony Dupé: backing vocals (track 4). Recorded Feb 95 by Greg Wales at Smash, Mixed by Michael Pilz.
Track 2 and 3: Nic: vocals, guitar, bass / Tom; guitar / Richie Lewis; drums. Recorded and mixed Feb 94 by John Rafferty at Troy Horse.
Cover art by Lara Meyerratken.
Take The Money And Run EP
Take The Money And Run EP (ER-184)
released by Elefant Records, Spain 1997
side 1: Peanut Butter / Speak Memory Speak
side 2: The Girl Most Likely To Succeed / Papas Fritas
Tracks 1 2, 4 recorded at Fort Apache mid-94 by Tim O’Heir. Tracks 3 recorded at Troy Horse Feb 94 by John Rafferty. Nic Dalton: guitar, bass and vocals, drums (track 1) / Tom Morgan: guitar / David Ryan: drums (track 2) / Richie Lewis: drums (track 3) / Dominique Zar: drums (track 4)
Peanut Butter was a Welcome Mat demo written by Leo Mullins (who went on to form 2 Litre Dolby). Speak Memory Speak also appeared on Heard It Through The Bovine Vol.1.
September
September (hac60)
released on cd by Half A Cow 1997
1. Girls On The Avenue
2. Stuck Like Gum
3. Mr. Austin
4. Load
5. Love And Trucks
6. Sunshower
7. Dead Sad Night
8. Rain 14
9. Mongoloid
10. Corey
11. Drop Twenty
12. Pacman
13. Autumnal Eyes (live)
14. Every Now And Again (live)
A compilation of recordings made between the Sleeper and Coastal albums from the line-up of Nic Dalton, Tom Morgan, Robyn St. Clare and Alison Galloway. Contains the previously released Four Seventy EP (tracks 3-6). Tracks 1-10 recorded late September 1993, tracks 11 and 12 recorded January 1993, track 13 recorded live at ABC Studio for JJJ 27th September 1993 and track 14 recorded live at the Lansdowne 24th September 1993. Includes covers of Richard Clapton’s ‘Girls On The Avenue’, Devo’s ‘Mongoloid’ and Sneeze’s ‘Autumnal Eyes’.
Before and after Coastal
Before and after Coastal (hac105)
released on cd by Half A Cow Records 2003
1. Pushpin
2. Another Spring, Another Love
3. Seeing Stars
4. Death At The Empress
5. Red Bull
6. Never Seen A Rainbow
7. Forever Snowing Inside
8. Watch Out Bicycle
9. Another Spring, Another Love (live)
10. Seeing Stars (live)
11. It’s Hard To Love A Drunk (live)
12. Forever Snowing Inside (live)
13. Way Out Jim (live)
14. Table For One (live)
Featuring unreleased (tracks 1-6), tracks 7 & 8 originally released on Coastal – Side Four: Love & Death’ plus a live show from November 1995 (tracks 9-14).
Before and after Coastal is also available as a 2CD edition with Coastal (hac42/hac105).
Both discs also sold separately.
other releases
“It’s My Turn” on Half A Cow promotional 7 inch (Half A Cow, moo06) 1992
with Swirl and Smudge
This version of “It’s My Turn” from first Godstar recording (Nic with John Encarnacao: lead guitar, Tom Morgan: bass, Alison Galloway: drums). Recorded at Troy Horse 1991.
“Yes To Nothing” on Beikoku Ongaku magazine compilation
3 inch CD
“Lie Down Forever” on Gavin Alternative Video Magazine (The Gavin Report, USA) VHS 1993
The Booth Tape cassette (Blind Records 1993)
includes 4 track recordings of King Of My Feelings, Lost For Days, Had The Time Of My Life, Under The Ground. Also includes songs by Swirl, Smudge, Love Positions
“Younowknow” on The Bob magazine 7″ flexidisc (The Bob, USA) 1994
with Velvet Crush, Guided By Voices, Bill Lloyd
“There With Bells On” on Hydrovane EP (Bloody Dolphins, Japan) 1994
3 inch CD
“Pacman” on Medium Rare CD #1compilation CD 1995
given away with Underworld magazine
“Ring On Every Finger” on Never Get Plugged compilation CD (Total Heaven, France LOFI06) 1995
“Ambient Groupie” on Rock N’ Roll is Here To Pay compilation CD (Dud001) 1995
“Duje Daisy” on Music For Film & TV 2CD (PolyGram) 1995
“Pushpin” on Love and Other Catastrophes soundtrack CD 1996
“Parking Lot” on Snowstorm – a tribute to Galaxie 500 (Elefant Records, Spain) 2001)
