Pluto (New Zealand band)

Pluto is a New Zealand rock band from Auckland. Their album Pipeline Under The Ocean, released in 2005 went double platinum on the RIANZ albums chart.

Band members

• Milan Borich (lead vocals, guitar)
• Tim Arnold (guitar, vocals)
• Michael Franklin-Browne (drums)
• Mike Hall (bass guitar, vocals)
• Matthias Jordan (keyboards, vocals)

Band overview

Pluto has produced three albums. Their first album, Redlight Syndrome, has a range of song types, starting with acoustic folk and ending with heavily distorted metal.

Between that and their next album, the band enjoyed minor highs and a few lows, but they delivered on their early promise by finding a collective voice on Pipeline Under The Ocean.^[1] The second album was released after much complication from touring and changing record companies. The album's name is derived from the Second World War Pipe-lines Under The Ocean - acronym PLUTO - which supplied fuel to Allied forces after D-Day. The songs are mostly rock and roll. Hits include "Long White Cross", "Dance Stamina" and "Baby Cruel". The album went double platinum^[2] and Pluto enjoyed good successes at the 2006 New Zealand Music Awards, winning Single of the Year with "Long White Cross", as well as reaching the finals for the People's Choice Award, losing out to Fat Freddy's Drop.^[3] It is said to be an ultra modern, complex and different album which is highly popular throughout New Zealand.

Their third album has a combination of elements including modern sci-fi-delic, rock'n'roll power, pop sensibilities and gliding vocal melodies drawing influences from everything from the morning to dusk, to love, and to strangers they have met on their travels.^[4][5]

In 2007, the band's version of the Alphaville song "Forever Young" was used in the Gregor Nicholas-directed TV commercials, part of Tourism New Zealand's "100% Pure New Zealand" campaign, which market New Zealand as "the youngest country on earth".

Discography

Albums

Featured appearances

The group's songs have appeared on the following compilations:

• (2000) - If Licks Could Kill (Antenna Music) - "Moscow Snow'" and "Field 11 Cows"
• (2001) - Live At Helen's (Festival Mushroom Records) - "Hey Little"
• (2004) - State Of The Nation (EMI) - "Perfectly Evil"
• (2006) - Broken Dreams II (Warner Music) - "Long White Cross"
• (2006) - Rippon 06 (Loop Recordings) - "Dance Stamina"

"Long White Cross" from Pipeline Under the Ocean was used in the EA Sports computer game, Cricket 07.

Singles

References