ORIGINS: Fairfield, NSW
GENRE: Punk
YEARS ACTIVE: 2003-2007
MEMBERS:
- Warren H. - Vocals, Guitar
- Andrew - Vocals, Guitar (2003-2005)
- Lachlan H. - Guitar, Backing Vocals
- Ash M. - Bass, Backing Vocals
- Toby J. - Drums
- Evan H. - Drums (2024)
RELEASES:
- The Ocean is Full of Food (2003)
- 1. Teenage Tragedy
- 2. @ The RSL
- 3. T is for TV
- 4. Yesterday
- Gangers and Bangers (2005)
- 1. Track 4
- 2. California
- 3. Are You Hot or Am I Just Wasted
- 4. San Choi Bow
- 5. Formula 1 Panda
- 6. Cowboys and Colon Cancer
- 7. Slow
- 8. T is For TV
- 9. Teenage Tragedy
- 10. Thank You Bitch
- 11. I Wish You All the Fucking Best
- 12. Fingerbun
- 13. Rewind
- 14. Don't Let This Be the Last Song I Write
SUMMARY: Sunshine
Winnebago began as a songwriting project for guitarist Warren as he was
moving on from his previous band Nephron. The band accumulated members
via their shared history as mates at Prairiewood High School, eventually
growing to a five piece band with three guitarists. One of these
guitarists, Andrew, left after a couple of years to focus on his other
band, Just A Day. Sunshine Winnebago continued with a variety of
memorable performances before eventually folding in 2007. The band
reformed with a new drummer for a reunion show in 2024.
SHOWS:
- Swamp Bar, UWS, Kingswood - 2nd June, 2004
- Arncliffe Hotel, Arncliffe - 1st April, 2005
- Arncliffe Hotel, Arncliffe - 18th February, 2005
- Vic on the Park, Enmore - 10th August, 2005
- Swamp Bar, UWS, Kingswood - 18th August, 2005
- Spectrum, Sydney - 23rd April, 2006
- UWS Blacktown - 30th August, 2006
- Empire Hotel, Annandale - 17th March, 2007
- Leichhardt Bowlo, Leichhardt - 29th June, 2024
ORAL HISTORY:
WARREN:
I was playing drums in a band called Nephron with Lachlan and I wanted
to become Tom DeLonge so I wrote a bunch of songs about girls and d___.
Ash couldn't play bass but he looked cool so we started Sunshine
Winnebago together.
Warren (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
Ash (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
LACHLAN:
Warren got Ash to join him in recording some of his songs with a
karaoke microphone, and that became the first Sunshine Winnebago
recording.
The rest of us joined the band after this. We called it Sunshine
Winnebago because we just wanted something that sounded happy and fun.
We tried a few other names like Geronimo 5, but they just didn't feel
right. We intentionally used to misspell 'Winnebago' as 'Winnabago'
because some drunk guy at the RSL told us the Winnebago company might
sue us. But we don't care anymore.
Lachlan (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
ANDREW:
We were all friends in high school. Lachlan, Warren and I had already
been in the band Nephron together but that band stopped after high
school. Warren was keen to write music and sing so he created Sunshine
Winnebago.
Andrew (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
TOBY:
I was in the core friend group with Ash, Warren, Lachlan, and Andrew,
and I was already playing drums in high school music classes with a few
of them. We would hang out at Andrew's house and just jam with different
sorts of rock/punk music of the day. Bands like Blink 182, The Living
End, Nirvana, Grinspoon, Foo Fighters, AC/DC. We'd practice int he spare
bedroom at Andrew's parent's house in Smithfield. We event tried to
soundproof it at one point. Warren had collected a bunch of egg cartons
that we stuck to the walls and then I brought some actual eggshell foam
from Clark Rubber and we put it over the window. It was a dodgy effort
at best.
Toby (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
LACHLAN:
Our first show was terrible. We played for a church youth group and our
songs were so shit. We weren't quite as in your face with our lyrics
back then. It was mostly songs about girls and friends. They were
G-rated lyric-wise. We got more sweary and offensive as time went on,
especially after Andrew left the band.
Lachlan (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
ASH:
Our first real show was at Arncliffe Hotel. We sold a heap of tickets
but no one got to watch us because they were all watching the strippers
that were on at the same time we played. The guy that did the bookings
put us on to headline a show about a month after, which was great. We
played at the Green Square not long after that with Rocket Dog. They had
no one watching (we didn't either) but were way too cool to talk to us.
We then played at the Arncliffe again a few weeks later - a big crowd
again; just needed strippers as an extra incentive.
Ash (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
ANDREW:
It was chaotic. It was really about a bunch of mates just having fun,
playing pop-punk songs about girls, genitals, dads, and insertions. Like
an overstaffed version of Blink 182 - particularly after I took part in
the band because then we had three guitarists. It was completely
unnecessary but we made it work because it was fun.
Andrew (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
LACHLAN:
We used to get friends to come up on stage whenever we could, to sing
backups for our cover of GG Allin's 'Bite It You Scum', to scull jugs of
beer, to play random guitar, or to play a bagpipe solo.
Lachlan (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
ASH: Sunshine shows were lots of fun. Semi nude, lots of dress ups and
name changes on the fly to match what was topical. My favourite show was
Kernundrum's last show where we played as Sunshine Beaconscfield when
the Beaconsfield Miners were freed. We wrote a song about spending two
weeks in a hole with a man. It had a bunch of innuendo and then finished
with "and then I didn't even get to shake Richard Carlton's hand". He
was a reporter who died offset doing the updates.
Ash (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
ANDREW:
We played a show, I think it was in Rockdale... It was a packed venue, a
very loose show. Tonnes of friends and family were there. We even
featured Tye Pennington on bagpipes to open the set. Lots of guest
singers hopped up on stage with us that night. For me, this show was
peak Winnebago - chaos, beers, and friends. It was a top night.
Andrew (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
TOBY:
I remember one gig where the stage noise was so loud that I was hitting
the drums as hard as I could just to be heard. My ears were ringing for
two days after that one. We used to put toilet paper in our ears to
help reduce the noise. There was another gig where the guys played in
their underwear Chilli Peppers style. I kept my pants on but played
shirtless.
Toby (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
LACHLAN: Andrew quit Winnebago to focus on Just a Day and we continued as a four piece after this.
Lachlan (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
WARREN: Andrew left because we sucked.
Warren (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
ANDREW:
I had my other band, Just A Day, throughout this period and just wanted
to focus my energy there. Winnebago didn't need me, they had their own
thing going on.
Andrew (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
ASH:
We recorded an EP at my cousin's place. It was going to have 'Formula
One Panda' as the main song. My cousin lost the recording of it. I
really think it's because it was a sick song and he didn't want to admit
that I was musically talented. He's a c____. All the other songs were
pretty shit but there was that one good song and it happened to be the
one that got lost. I was pretty pissed.
Ash (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
LACHLAN:
We liked to dress up. One time we played in our underpants. Another
time we dressed up as miners in tribute to the Beaconsfield mine
incident and changed our name to Sunshine Beaconsfield that night. For
our last show in 2007 we played in dresses. They actually used a photo
of Ash dressed in a French maid's outfit as the wallpaper at the bistro
of the Empire Hotel (where we played our Farewell show). We'd decided to
call it a day in 2007 as Warren and Ash were also both in Just a Day
with Andrew and I had started playing bass in Forgotten Suns. At that
time more or less everyone in our friend group was playing in at least 2
bands.
Lachlan (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
ASH:
Warren and Andrew were already playing in Just A Day. I was actively
doing all the bookings for Sunshine Winnebago but people stopped coming
along to the shows. When I joined Just A Day I stopped searching for
Winnebago bookings and we just played when we were asked to open shows,
which was way less stressful because we didn't need to bring a big
crowd. It became easier to play Just A Day shows because we were filling
rooms with people we didn't know.
Ash (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
TOBY:
Sunshine Winnebago was never anything terribly serious and once the
guys kicked off with Just A Day, that took most of their attention.
Sunshine just kind of petered out as life moved on. I didn't play with
any other punk or rock bands after that. Since then, I've continued
playing drums at church but that's obviously a slightly different type
of music to what we were playing!
Toby (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
WARREN:
We pursued careers outside of music but now we've returned. We wrote a
song 'P____ Dad' as a new song for our reunion show - based on Lachlan's
dad being on an adult DVD... Anyway, our old drummer found God so we
kicked him out for the reunion in 2024. Our last show was 17 years ago -
a photo of Ash from this show was made into the bistro wallpaper at the
venue because a redhead in a dress is hot.
Warren (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
LACHLAN: We reformed in 2024 with my brother Evan on drums.
Lachlan (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
TOBY:
I was replaced without being asked, unfortunately. I likely wouldn't
have been able to find much time to practice anyway and I'm not as fast
on the drums as I once was so it was probably for the best. I don't
think I would be able to punish my drum kit anymore now, not the way I
did back then, haha.
ASH:
Lachlan wrote 'P____ Dad' based on a time we were watching a '70s
German adult film and someone said one of the guys was Lachlan's dad.
Obviously guys aren't the star of that sort of movie so it was hard to
get a good look at him but Lachlan agreed it looked like him. We looked
at the cover of the VHS and it was made in the year that Lachlan's dad
was in Germany as an amateur soccer player, which is what extended the
joke further.
Ash (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
RELATED BANDS: Nephron,
Just A Day, Bored of Studies, Cinderella Syndrome, 6'4, Forgotten Suns,
Lazarus Taxon, Swing from a Streetlight, Furious Penguin, Polyscape,
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