Shenavyre

ORIGINS: Pennant Hills, NSW

GENRE: Alt-Rock

YEARS ACTIVE: 1999-2003

 

MEMBERS:

• Crystal Moloney- Guitar, Vocals, Flute
  
• Rachel Sutton - Bass, Vocals
  
• Tanya Kurukulasuriya - Drums, Vocals
• Nicole - Vocals, Guitar (1999-2000)
• Natalie - Guitar (1999)
  

RELEASES:

• Demo (1999)
• 1. Ainmosni
• 2. Not The Kind
• 3. Misconception
  

• This is a Demo (2000)
• 1. Ainmosni
• 2. Jesus Loves Me
  
• 3. Githm
  

SUMMARY: Shenavyre began under the name Pixie Fish at Mount St Benedict College, with four friends forming a band after being inspired by the Grounded Festival in Penrith. After one or two shows, the band shifted into a three piece with the remaining members Crystal, Rachel, and Tanya taking over on shared vocal duties. Shenavyre recorded some music for a Grounded Compilation CD that never went ahead and steadily gigged around Sydney, predominantly playing All Ages shows due to their age and also playing out West a fair bit due to the thriving music scene in Penrith during the late '90s/early '00s. 

 

After the three band members began university, Shenavyre began to decrease in activity until eventually joining up with Troy Zarb to form a new band, Tsunami. Many years later, in 2022, the band's song Ainmosni gained some airplay on Double J as part of the radio station's High School Band Competition, in which it was voted winner of the first heat. Double J incorrectly listed the band as being from Darwin at the time.

 

Backstage at Grounded Festival (2000)

 

SHOWS:

• Blue Light Disco, YMCA, Caringbah - 29th March, 2000
  
• Venturers Gig, Baden-Powell Scout Hall, North Rocks - 31st March, 2000
  
• Grounded, Museum of Fire, Penrith - 17th June, 2000
• 95.1 FM, Radio Station, Sydney - 23rd June, 2000
  
• Castlereagh Hall, Castlereagh - 24th June, 2000
• The Big Wednesday, 278A Kingsway, Caringbah - 28th June, 2000
  
• Iron Duke, Alexandria - 6th July, 2000
  
• Kickass Rock Cruise, Sydney - 9th July, 2000
  
• PCYC, Penrith - 13th July, 2000
• The Whole, PCYC, Parramatta - 21st July, 2000
• Zound, Warrimoo Citizens Hall, Warrimoo - 9th September, 2000
• Granny Smith Festival, Eastwood- 14th October, 2000
  
• Forest Inn, Bexley - 15th December, 2001
• Greenwood Tavern, North Sydney - unknown date, 2001
  
• Gearin Hotel, Katoomba - 22nd December, 2001
• Northpoint Tavern, North Sydney - 18th January, 2002
  
• Band Comp, Manning Bar, Sydney University - 29th May, 2002
  

ORAL HISTORY:

TANYA: Crys had a music performance in a high school assembly one day and her friend, the drummer, didn't turn up at school that day. So in the morning she asked me if would learn the part. So at recess we went to the music rooms to practice and I played the drums at the assembly... I'd never played drums before but it was Pink Floyd's The Wall so it was an easy drum piece. We went to Grounded '99 together after that and were so in awe of all the bands on stage that we decided we also wanted to do that, haha. We had to practice in the school music rooms at the beginning because I didn't have a kit and Rach didn't have a bass. She later got one from her dad and my parents bought me a kit soon after when I convinced them it was not a phase.

Tanya Kurukulasuriya (Drums, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

CRYSTAL: All of us were quite new to playing our instruments when we went to Grounded, and we decided the next day we wanted to start a band. We practiced together a lot, after school, all school holidays, and started gigging not long after. We were influenced by The Offspring, Nirvana, Silverchair, Rage Against the Machine, and Australian bands like Sunk Loto, Loki, and Testeagles. 

Crystal Moloney (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

RACHEL: We initially wanted to be a punk chick band but then we started writing songs and they weren't punk at all haha. It was definitely more rock. We also decided we were gonna share vocals equally because we all equally disliked singing. 

Rachel Sutton (Bass, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

BIO: Shenavyre are a unique-sounding four-piece from Sydney, born on the night of the infamous Grounded Festival in 1999. They were inspired by the great talents of Australia's finest young musical acts. A few months after starting up they were recording their demo and were lined up for their first few gigs. Nicole is known as the 'walking dictionary' of the band, who appears to be the quiet one, but trust us, once you get to know her she'll never shut up! Tanya never shuts up, whether you know her or not! She's the annoying one that you just want to stamp out and really lives up to the typical drummer stereotype. Crystal is the queen of bad jokes - she has one for every occasion! And trust us, they're really bad. So bad you might actually find them funny. Rachel is the psycho punk one, who is obsessed with the Beatles. She also seems to have fun impersonating famous bass players, like Lex from Frenzal Rhomb, Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Vanessa from Jebediah, Chris from Loki, Mike from Green Day, Greg from the Offspring and Chris from Silverchair... all in all, Shenavyre are a band that plays music that you listen to. With your ears.

Band Promo Bio, Version 2, 2000

Interview, Obzine Issue 9, April 2000

TANYA: I had lists of venues and loads of phone numbers, and I did our website too. We made a lot of friends by ringing up random numbers from Drum Media classifieds and just chatting about music. That's how we met Troy Zarb. We hung around Penrith late at night so much, but always felt safe. I reckon musos were and will always be a safe crowd.

Tanya Kurukulasuriya (Drums, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

REVIEW: Shenavyre were the only girl band of the day, with slightly longer set as Porndrug unfortunately had to pull out at the last minute because of timing complications. They seemed to play a few covers, but did this was extreme elegance. They held a growing crowd of girls cheering them out whilst they rocked out on songs like George Michael's Faith and The Bloodhound Gang's Fire, Water, Burn. They may be 'only girls' but they sure know how to scream out a tune.

Mark Alston/Lisa Jenner, review of Puddstock, Obzine Issue 13, August 2000

REVIEW: Shenavyre have always got me fooled. They are so young looking, but they are three girls who work off each other and combine their vocals to bring life to their grungey pop songs. With clever bass arrangements, heavy drop-D riffs, and the every-so-often screaming from their drummer, Shenavyre are an all-girl band with a difference. They played their popular 'Ainmosni', their amazing over of Yoko's 'Money', and a good mix originals with the occasional cover. 

Review of 'Zound' show in Warrimoo, Obzine Issue 15, October 2000

RACHEL: We played the pub scene a little bit but we started the band when were 16 so it was mostly underage gigs. We did do the Sydney Uni Manning band comp when we started uni. We came 4th and got to the semi-finals. Not too bad! Grounded Festival was a highlight too... there was going to be a Grounded CD for Grounded 2000 so we recorded one song ('Animosni') but then the CD never happened!

Rachel Sutton (Bass, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

TANYA: Our parents would take turns taking us to gigs whenever we had a show at a pub. We played all the usual haunts - Hopetoun, Vic on the Park, Annandale, The Harp, Manning Bar... At the Sydney Uni band comp, I remember the band who came 5th yelled at us in the lift and said we only beat them because we were girls. 

Tanya Kurukulasuriya (Drums, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

 

CRYSTAL: We started uni and Shenavyre quietened down a bit. The challenges of university classes took hold and we faded away... giving rise to Tsunami! Led by Troy Zarb, we embraced a new sound, fueled by Troy's original compositions.  

Crystal Moloney (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

TANYA: We met Troy Zarb when we were playing as Shenavyre and he initially became our band manager. Then, after a while, he asked us to be his band, and we became the band Tsunami. Troy played guitar and sang in Tsunami and we played the other instruments and provided harmony vocals. We stopped writing music because we thought Troy was a musical genius - he wrote amazing songs that we really liked and we got swept up in the honour of being asked to be his band. We really looked up to him, we met him when we were 16 and he was probably 22ish.  

Tanya Kurukulasuriya (Drums, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

TANYA: Shenavyre later made a comeback on the radio. Double J played our song Ainmosni (it's 'Insomnia' backwards) and we won that round of the station's High School Band competition. The next day they played our song Githm but we didn't win that round. 

Tanya Kurukulasuriya (Drums, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Tsunami, Crystal Moloney (solo artist), Tanya Natalie (solo artist)