Noise Levels: Fifth Place

ORIGINS: Penrith, NSW

GENRE: Pop-punk

YEARS ACTIVE: 1998-2001

MEMBERS:

Luke Webb - Vocals, Guitar
Matt Pearson - Vocals, Bass (1998-2001), Guitar (2001)
Tim Gannon - Drums
Isaac Harvey - Bass (2001)

RELEASES:

What's Your Excuse? (1999) [as Guest Speaker]

1. Not Funny
2. Reason for Intention
3. Fake Reality
4. Stay
5. Forever
6. Countdown
7. Game Over

Curiosity (1999) - Some tracks available to download here.

1. Routine
2. Interfere
3. Curiosity
4. Fake Reality
5. Change My Mind
6. Not Funny
7. Reason for Intention
8. Call Waiting / These Days
9. Remember
10. For All of Time (Our Song)

Opinions (2000)

1. Opinions
2. Remember
3. Interfere

No Hard Feelings (2000) - Some tracks available to download here.

1. Mistake
2. Chooser
3. Opinions
4. Romance Boy
5. The Things You Say
6. No Regrets
7. Losing You

SUMMARY: Starting as the band 'Guest Speaker' while in high school, the band later renamed themselves 'Fifth Place' in 1999 to reflect their shift into away from grunge to a faster, pop-punk sound. Their EP 'Curiosity' (1999) had a run of 100 CDs and sold out within a few months, leading the band to record a second EP relatively quickly. In the final few months, the band experimented with having two guitars, with bassist Matt Pearson jumping onto guitar while a new bassist joined.

SHOWS:

St Paul's Grammar School, Cranebrook - unknown date, 1998 (as Guest Speaker)
Axolotl, Werrington Youth Centre, Werrington - 20th March, 1999 (as Guest Speaker)
Youth Week Big Gig, Civic Centre, Springwood - 1st May, 1999 (as Guest Speaker)
Emu Plains Community Centre, Emu Plains - 9th October, 1999
Right Here Right Now, PCYC, Penrith - 12th December, 1999
Prankfest, Civic Centre, Katoomba - 1st April, 2000
Judgement Day, Judge's Carpark, Penrith - 8th April, 2000
Zound, Warrimoo Hall, Warrimoo - 15th April, 2000
Planet Rock, Daily Planet, Penrith - 2nd June, 2000
Blaxland Tavern Blaxland - 8th June, 2000
Grounded, Museum of Fire, Penrith - 17th June, 2000
Meredith's Birthday Party, Hazelbrook - 1st July, 2000
Channel Cafe, Penrith - 25th August, 2000
Rock the Lympix, Town Hall, Parramatta - 3rd September, 2000
Zound, Warrimoo Hall, Warrimoo - 9th September, 2000
Ballyhoo, Q Theatre, Penrith - 21st October, 2000
PCYC, Parramatta - 8th December, 2000
Havoc 2, Melrose Hall, Emu Plains - 24th March, 2001(show probably didn't go ahead)
Top Deck, Judge's Carpark, Penrith - 7th April, 2001
Big Little Gig, Blaxland Hall, Blaxland - 7th April, 2001
Prankfest 2001, Springwood Train Station Carpark, Springwood - 12th May, 2001

ORAL HISTORY:

LUKE: Basically me and the bass player have been jamming for two years. We thought we'd get a band together. We went through a few drummers but none of them fit the style so we lined up Tim from Warrimoo and we started jamming together and it worked out heaps well.

Luke Webb, Obzine Issue 4, October 1999

MATT: We formed when we were all in high school. Luke and I both played guitar but we needed a bass player so I decided to take one for the team and moved across to bass. Plus, I thought, four strings has to be easier than six! We all had different musical interests but a shared love of grunge and punk, as was the fashion of the era. We started off playing music together in the music rooms at lunchtime; occasionally drawing a crowd of moshing students in the music room. When this occurred we would be politely instructed to bring our practice session to an end. Still, we were pretty lucky to have free reign of the music facilities - having Luke's dad being the Head of the Music Department had its perks. So we produced our own EP on cassette over lunchtimes and after school on a borrowed Yamaha MT4X 4-track recorder. Luke figured out how to do this thing called 'ping pong' where you could somehow move tracks across so you could then layer more tracks on top of the 4 real time tracks the device allowed for, so we were able to add some additional guitar layers and vocal harmonies.

Matt Pearson (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

TIM: Luke and Matt were really the drivers behind putting the band together. They were in school together and I had jammed with Luke once, and from there he proposed getting together with Matt. They both wrote songs and had a few tracks ready to put together so my gig was to just work out some drum parts to fit.

Tim Gannon (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

MATT: We discovered and were captivated by the likes of early Blink 182, Frenzal Rhomb, etc., and were keen to become a fast pop-punk band. So Guest Speaker morphed into Fifth Place after a year of playing.

Matt Pearson (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

First show, 1998 (as Guest Speaker)

TIM: Our first show was the school walkathon and the 'stage' was a balcony on a demountable classroom. Being my first gig playing in front of people, I was still super nervous, but I also remember a pretty positive response. We played mainly originals and a few covers, from memory a super easy Green Day track and possibly a politically-correct version of Rage's 'Killing in the Name'. Shows were always a lot of fun after this - we were 15/16, so each gig felt like a big event and something to be practicing for and working towards.

Tim Gannon (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

Promotional Band Bio, c. 1999/2000

REVIEW: Next up was pop-punk band Fifth Place, who pumped out songs from their Curiosity EP. With catchy songs and funny hats, Fifth Place played a forty-five minute set of pure pop-punk tunes including 'Curiosity', 'Remember', and 'Fake Reality'. Fifth Place have played a few shows around the Penrith area with Offset, Hassle Brigade, and Spudgun, so they have become a bit well known around the area.

Review of 1999 show at Emu Plains Community Centre, Obzine Issue 5, November 1999

Obzine Issue 4, October 1999

TIM: The first Fifth Place EP we recorded by ourselves with a 4-track rape recorder in a school hall - I remember being surprised by how decent (some of) the sound quality was. It was super basic in terms of production, and the songs were really straightforward - I was very much playing along with the already established ideas and Luke was pretty handy at feeding me drum ideas, which helped a bunch with cohesion.

Tim Gannon (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

REVIEW: The third time I listened to Curiosity I was getting the songs stuck in my head... it's extremely catchy and very pop, similar to Smudge and Lemonheads.

Review of Curiosity EP, Obzine Issue 5, November 1999

Penrith City Star, November 23, 1999

MATT: The scene was really pumping in Penrith for a few years there! There was a gig on somewhere once or twice a week. We played Prankfest at Katoomba, which was heaps of fun, there was quite a big crowd there and heaps of bands on the bill. Grounded 2000 was also awesome too; a big music festival right in the heart of Penrith, some big name acts on the bill, and a great stage with a big PA. It was an amazing feeling as a 17-year-old!

Matt Pearson (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

REVIEW: Fifth Place kicked off with real style. They had a real Millencolin/Fat Wreck Chords sound and were definitely the tightest sounding band of the day. They didn't play a single cover (which is always a plus point as far as I'm concerned) and still managed to pull a very decent crowd and mosh. Fifth Place displayed amazing energy and a healthy enthusiasm that really impressed me.

Luke Bartolo, review of Judgement Day Skatefest, Obzine Issue 10, May 2000

Judgement Day, Judge's Carpark, April 2000

REVIEW: By now you would have heard all about this three piece punk machine. They played a set of new songs and old, explaining that their new CD will be coming out eventually. I'll admit here that I'm not the biggest punk fan but these guys did impress me. As with the Skatefest where I saw them last, they were tight, fast, reminiscent of NOFX and very, very good. One of the boys delayed his holiday so they could do this show and the crowd were very glad they did.

Mark Alston, review of Zound (April 2000), Obzine Issue 10, May 2000

TIM: Gigs with bands like The Hassle Brigade stand out as Ivan was such an immense drummer and the band was such a force that playing a gig with them felt like it lent cred to us as 'real' band. The Warrimoo Community Hall gig in 2000 stands out for this reason. The Grounded Festival was another one - a bunch of great local and bigger bands that we could check out (after playing under a tarp as the gates opened at about 10am!)

Tim Gannon (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

REVIEW: Fifth Place were professional and tight like usual, but this time they seemed to have more energy than usual! They moved a lot more and even interacted with the crowd. They had their new CD for sale, which many people snapped up, and tried some new songs on us which sounded as punk and melodic as ever. Good show.

Lisa Jenner, review of Puddstock, Obzine Issue 13, August 2000

CD Review, Obzine Issue 13, August 2000

MATT: We're very happy with the new CD. Even though we've been around for a while, it's only been over the past few months that we've really found our own sound. Doing No Hard Feelings professionally (recording, mastering, etc.) was really great, and well worth the time and money that was spent on it. We did one track, 'Opinions', in a separate session from the rest, and that took around four or five hours. Our old album, Curiosity, was a learning experience. We learnt about the sounds we like and the sounds we don't like. The biggest lesson we learnt was that if you want to put out a CD, it's worth spending the extra cash and getting a decent recording.

Matt Pearson (Bass), Obzine Issue 14, September 2000

TIM: By the time we recorded this second CD, we had decided to be a 'punk band', which basically meant I was sweating through playing flat-out punk beats a bunch of the time and had grabbed a double kick pedal to basically ease the load on the hands for a few fills here and there. We recorded with a guy called Chris Grey at Grey Label Studios and the main highlight was his response to a question from Matt about whether if he thought we should bother paying to get it mastered at 301. His reply was along the lies of "You can't polish a turd". He was right, but I think we may have paid 301 to try anyways!

Tim Gannon (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

REVIEW: Fifth Place rocked up to the stage all pumped and ready to launch their new and second CD No Hard Feelings. They looked like they were having fun up there on stage as their fans danced along to a bunch of songs from the CD as well as a few oldies. I liked 'Romance Boy' and 'Losing You'.

Review of Zound show (9/9/00), Obzine Issue 15, October 2000

REVIEW: Fifth Place is Fifth Place, always tight and the same solid style of punk. Always entertaining.

Luke Bartolo, review of Top Deck Skatefest, Obzine Issue 20, June 2001

Article about Ballyhoo, Q Theatre Show in October, 2000

REVIEW: A tight set as usual with a lot of action from the crowd and a few jokes about Luke's accent from Matt. The boys play some requests and then finish up with their quality songs like 'Gifthorse', 'Romance Boy', and 'Losing You'. Fifth Place are doing everything right and tonight was no disappointment. All they need is to take their punk rock and hit the city. I'm sure they'll build on what they already have.

Mark Alston, review of Big Little Gig (7/4/01), Obzine Issue 20, June 2001

MATT: Fifth Place stopped as we started to grow in different directions. We were finishing up school and also changing musically. Tim and I went on to form Universal.

Matt Pearson (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

TIM: The whole experience was a great entry into performance and building experience and the confidence to gig. I learnt from Matt and Luke about how they put songs together and how to communicate ideas to build a track. We finished up because I think we started playing with other people a bit more and tried a few things with including other people and instruments for a few rehearsals and jams, which lined up with finishing school. From there, we kicked off into some slightly different musical directions and formed some other bands.

Tim Gannon (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Universal, Rockboxx, Code Atlantic, Lucky Luke and His Shooting Stars