Laura MacFarlane

Laura Sandra MacFarlane is from Glasgow, Scotland. Her parents are George MacFarlane (1936–2006) and Patricia "Patsy" MacFarlane. She has two older siblings and one daughter.[1][2][3] The MacFarlane family migrated to Perth in October, 1978.[2] George was an accomplished musician, and had played trombone and percussion instruments with British and Australian army bands.[3]

MacFarlane began her interest in music as a child, playing vibraphone and trumpet. She went on to receive a music scholarship at Perth Modern School, for vocals and percussion, and later studied music at The University of Western Australia. MacFarlane began performing in independent bands in Perth from 1988 onwards. She was the main songwriter in the Brautigans from 1989-1991,[4] performing vocals, guitar and vibraphone.[5] She performed in other local bands, including Halcyon Days on drums[5] and Louder than God, which had an extensive line-up of ten members, co-founded by Iain McIntyre.[5][6]

MacFarlane then joined Manic Pizza, on bass guitar and vocals, with Gareth Edwards (Sandro) on guitar and Cameron Potts on drums.[4] As a member of Manic Pizza, MacFarlane relocated to Melbourne in the early 1990s.[4] Edwards later told René Schaefer, of Mess+Noise website, that "Cameron was heavily into the Pixies at the time. I was a Hüsker Dü freak. Laura provided the actual talent."[4] In 1992, MacFarlane formed Sea Haggs (later renamed Keckle)[7] on guitar, viola, percussion and vocals, with McIntyre and Potts. That group's material was later included on a compilation album, Jelly (1995).[7]

In 1992, MacFarlane began publishing Woozy fanzine with McIntyre. Woozy was a self-published fanzine, with a DIY philosophy, that promoted local Melbourne and Australian bands, as well as international underground acts and grassroots politics. Woozy produced over 20 publications from 1992-2002. In 1996, MacFarlane also co-founded, with McIntyre, Choozy independent distribution (1996–2002), which distributed music, fanzines and small publications within Australia and overseas.[8][9]

MacFarlane on keyboards and vocals with ninetynine, Northcote Social Club, 2007

MacFarlane began playing drums and vocals in 1994 with visiting United States rock group, Sleater-Kinney, and in 1995 she went to Olympia and Seattle to tour and record with the band. She is the drummer, co-producer and co-writer on their self-titled debut album, Sleater-Kinney.[10] She is also lead singer and guitarist on the track "Lora's Song". MacFarlane provided drums, backup vocals and guitar (track 12) on their follow up album, Call the Doctor (March 1996).[11]

In 1996, MacFarlane returned to Melbourne and founded an indie rock band, ninetynine, initially as a solo project, playing all the instruments on the debut album, 99 (October 1996).[12] Her project soon became a band, including Potts (from 1997) and McIntyre (from 2000).[12][13] By 2010, ninetynine had released eight albums, and toured the world several times. The band celebrated their 20th anniversary with the release of Further in 2016.[12][14] MacFarlane founded her own record label, Patsy,[12][13] which issued ninetynine material, as well as that by the bands Sea Scouts, Fiona Beverage, Boo Who, Baseball, Trixies Undersea Adventure, and Vivian Girls.

MacFarlane has played a variety of instruments on a number of records, including vibraphone, drums, guitar, keyboard and vocals.[15] She has worked with other artists, including Lee Memorial (alongside Karl Smith of Sodastream),[16] Bombazine Black, The Wonder,[17] Winterborn, Tarantula,[14] New Buffalo,[18] Trixies Undersea Adventure, Boo Who, Popemobile,[19] Dragster, Scared of Horses, Cold Cold Hearts, Madigan, Disaster Plan, Clag, and Low Talk.

MacFarlane has worked as audio engineer at 3CR Melbourne radio, and on many recordings, including solo work, recent ninetynine releases, Covens Revenge, The Hatchets, Cleber Claux Memorial Singers, Baseball, Love of Diagrams, The Stabs, and Jules Sheldon. MacFarlane is also a teacher and educator of music, establishing Augment Music Education in 2016. She is based in Melbourne, and still plays as a member of ninetynine, as well as performing solo.[20]

In 2020, during the Melbourne Covid lockdown, MacFarlane started the Vivid Recording Project, which was a series of three EPs that featured a specific instrument, and only that instrument, with vocals. The EPs were Into the Metalude (vibraphone), The Narrows (guitar) and Future Obscura (Casio keyboards). Their initial releases were in conjunction with the Bandcamp Fridays, held to assist music artists during the pandemic. In 2021, the whole project was released as the album ViViD.

• Laura MacFarlane Bandcamp page
• Ninetynine Bandcamp page
• Ninetynine Facebook page
• Ninetynine Youtube channel
• Woozy
• "Artist on Artist: Dead River Vs Ninetynine", archived from the original on 19 April 2015, Mess+Noise, February 2014. Accessed on 6 October 2015.
• "Photo Gallery: Lou Barlow + Laura MacFarlane @ Northcote Social Club – 17 April 2012"