Ollie Olsen

In the late 1970s Olsen formed two punk, post-punk bands, as leader and vocalist, as well as being a key figure in the Melbourne little band scene.[3] His punk bands included the Reals and the Young Charlatans.[5] Aside from Olsen on guitar, the Reals' line-up was Peter Cave on drums, Gary Gray on lead vocals and Chris Walsh on bass guitar.[1] At the end of 1977 he formed the Young Charlatans with Janine Hall on bass guitar, Rowland S. Howard on guitar (ex-Obsessions) and Jeffrey Wegener on drums (ex-Saints).[1] Australian music journalist, Clinton Walker, described this band as having "inner-city 'supergroup' status from the outset and helped pioneer post-punk rock in Australia."[1]

Howard had written his iconic song "Shivers" while with the Young Charlatans, it was later recorded and released by a group Howard joined soon afterwards, The Boys Next Door.[1] Young Charlatans recorded the first (and second) version of 'Shivers' as part of their unreleased demos, which were made by Bruce Milne for a future single on his Au Go Go Records label.[6]

The Young Charlatans broke up in May 1978 and Olsen, on lead vocals, synthesiser, clarinet and saxophone, formed Whirlywirld, with Andrew Duffield on synthesiser, John Murphy on drums (ex-the News), Dean Richards on guitar and Simon Smith on synthesiser.[1] Their debut self-titled three-track extended play was released in June 1979 via Missing Link Records.[1] Olsen wrote two tracks and co-wrote the third with Murphy.[7] The group issued a second self-titled EP in February 1980.[1] The first 500 copies also included a bonus single, "Sextronics", but Whirlywirld disbanded before it appeared.[1][8]

Olsen and Murphy relocated to the United Kingdom in early 1980 on the recommendation of Iggy Pop.[8] The Canberra Times' Jonathan Green reported that "The Ig was impressed with the band's first ep when out here last year."[8] The duo formed the Beast Apparel, which later became Hugo Klang, and released a single, "Grand Life for Fools and Idiots", in 1982.[1] Olsen returned to Australia in the following year and continued Hugo Klang[9] with Alan Bamford, Tom Hoy and Laughton Ellery, before this group split up in 1983.

In 1984 Olsen on vocals and guitar, Marie Hoy on keyboards and vocals and Murphy as drummer formed "an avant-garde outfit", Orchestra of Skin and Bone.[1] Marie Hoy had been an instigator of the Melbourne 'little bands' scene, as a member of Too Fat to Fit Through the Door and others. Other musicians associated with Orchestra of Skin and Bone included David Hoy on cello, Tom Hoy on saxophone, Lochie Kirkwood on vocals and saxophone, Dugald McKenzie on vocals and harmonica, James Rogers on trumpet and Peter Scully on guitar. They issued a self-titled album in 1986 and disbanded soon afterwards.[1] The following year, Ollie formed No, with Olsen on keyboards, vocals, drum machine and sampler, Marie Hoy on keyboards, vocals, samples alongside Kevin McMahon on bass guitar and Michael Sheridan on guitar in 1987.[1]

Film director Richard Lowenstein asked Olsen to appear in and work as music director for his feature film, Dogs in Space (December 1986). Olsen supervised the reforming of acts from the late 1970s little band scene and produced music recordings for the soundtrack. He re-recorded material by Whirlywirld including two singles, "Win/Lose" (April 1987) as a solo effort, and "Rooms for the Memory" (February) by the film's star, Michael Hutchence (of INXS).[1] The film also featured Marie Hoy singing "Shivers". In a 2009 interview, following the restoration of the original film for a DVD release, Lowenstein told Trevor Block:

But Whirlywirld were always the ones for me. I mean, their music is in the movie itself, over the end credits. And the great thing about Ollie [Olsen], and one of the reasons I asked him to do so much in the movie, is that his songs have always had a feel to them, a kind of mood that fitted in with what we were doing. You'd die to make a video for some of his songs, he uses so many great images, and the rhythms he uses are amazing as well.[10]

In 1989 Olsen and Hutchence collaborated on a musical project, Max Q, co-producing a self-titled album combining electronic music with orchestra, bass, guitar and backing vocals. The Max Q band included Arne Hanna (guitar), Bill McDonald (bass), John Murphy (drums, percussion), Michael Sheridan (guitar) and Gus Till (keyboards).[11][12] After recording Olsen and Hutchence travelled to New York City to mix the tracks with DJ, Todd Terry.[13]

Max Q is featured in the 2019 film Mystify by Richard Lowenstein.[14]

Olsen returned to Australia and turned his attentions to trance music, co-founding Australian electronic music label, Psy-Harmonics,[15] with Gus Till's brother, Andrew Till, and recording under the name Third Eye. From the 1990s onwards, he has worked increasingly in sound design and score for film and score for television.[16]

Olsen has lectured on and taught electronic music at various universities and symposia, and has also performed with a wide variety of international artists.

As of 2006, Olsen was working on a number of recording projects – mostly electro-acoustic pieces – with artists from Australia, Japan and South Africa, for performance and release in 2006. Olsen's musical output that year consisted of the release of the album, I Am The Server (13 February 2006), through the Greek record label, Creative Space, and the release of an electro-acoustic album, entitled Simulated. I Am The Server was composed, recorded and engineered by Olsen, with additional music from Bill McDonald and Peter Luscombe; the album was mastered by Simon Pool at LGM studios and the album artwork was produced by Maro Kassoti. Simulated was composed, performed and engineered by Olsen, between 1999 and 2006, mastered by Simon Pool at LGM studios, in January 2006, and the album artwork was, again, produced by Maro Kassoti.[17][18]

In January 2019, Olsen announced his retirement from music via Facebook.[19] In May 2020, Olsen announces publicly online on making a return to music and the release of the Whirlywirld Complete Discography 1978-80 LP on HoZac Records due out in June, 2020.[20][3]

In 2020 Olsen was diagnosed with multiple system atrophy (MSA).[21][22] In January 2023 music journalist Jane Gazzo, singer Adalita and producer Nick Launay re-recorded Olsen's 1978 composition "Rooms for the Memory" – originally a top 20 solo single for Hutchence in 1986 and also used in the associated film Dogs in Space.[22][23] Olsen's MSA was announced in June 2023 and the new rendition featuring Mick Harvey, Andrew Duffield and Mat Watson (Taipan Tiger Girls) is due for release in July with proceeds in support of his ongoing medical expenses.[22] According to Greg Phillips of Australian Musician, Olsen's condition "continues to deteriorate as there is currently no known cure."[21]