January 19th 2014
Big Day Out Gold Coast, Queensland,
Pete 'has a vision' ...for a band.
January 26th 2014
Cosy Corner, Byron Bay, NSW
On the beach, after having just seen a bare foot Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother, on the street, swapping riffs with some other guy on an acoustic, a motivated Pete armed with another acoustic, writes two songs, the first of which is 'Smash it up'.
And takes photo of the scene.
Thursday 30th January, 2014
Pete and Johnny have first Jam of the Reidy Rise Sessions. 3 songs completed. The name The Drop Bears is first suggested.
Friday January 30th, 2014
Mikey joins TDB.
October 12th 2014
Tdb complete 10 songs in a roughly 45 min rehearsal set at the Soundbar at Hopppers Crossing. And are asked by the manager to play their first gig after he overhears them through the door.
October 27th 2014
tdb Facebook page launched
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Drop-Bears/859027990775218bBam
October 30th 2014
The drop bears First Gigs announcement!
April 2015
The Drop Bears 'Smash it Up'
is played on national commercial radio for the first time, this is the first time The Drop Bears have had a song played on radio anywhere.
April10th 2015
First Jam session for second album songs.
April 24th 2015
After a friend sent in a demo to a radio station, The Drop Bears are played and asked to support Everclear on their 2014 national tour.
http://www.triplem.com.au/melbourne/music/news/2015/4/homegrown-the-drop-bears-success/
May 2015
The Drop Bears Support Everclear on their Australian tour to rave reviews. The promoter is left impressed, they are told they will be made main support for an upcoming tour.
July 2015
the Drop Bears are asked to tour the USA but have to decline as they are still recording and writing and don't yet have enough material to play headline shows.
August 2015
The Drop Bears play Oxjam Closing Party at The Prince bandroom.
October 2015
The Drop Bears Headline The famous Cherry Bar in AC/DC Lane on Cherry's biggest night of the year, Cherryween.
November 2015
The Drop Bears become the first band to ever play the Panacea Festival and arrive with one minute to spare after the Hume highway is blocked for three hours.
Jan 2016
The Drop Bears Play the Anglesea Festival performing 'Sorry' from the Easybeats in a tribute to recently departed Stevie Wright. They receive rave reviews and are named 'Band of The Festival'.
March-September 2016
The Drop Bears Head in to the studio to write and record and start working on a number of music videos.
September 2016
The Drop Bears announced as main support for Unwritten Law (USA) 2016 Australian tour)
October 2016
The Drop Bears Announce East Coast Tour in support of forthcoming debut album.
December 2016
And we're off on our tour!
Torquay Here we come!
December 2016
Holy Crap Torquay, that was the best show we've ever played! Thanks for packing the place out and absolutely going off!
We will definitely be back!
Frankie's Sydney, here we come!
December 2016
Frankie's! Another absolutely bangin' night, Thanks for all the love and what an atmosphere! We love you Sydney! The tour is off to a flyer, 2 from 2!
Ric's in Brisbane, HERE WE COME!
January 2017
To all the punters that came to Ric's last night, Thank you for warming to us and making the gig one of our best ever, we were a bit worried when there was only one guy in the audience during the first song, but the room packed out pretty quick and together we made the place go absolutely nuts! Great to make so many new friends, we will definitely be back soon! P.S. Best Beer Garden, ever!
January 2017
Broadbeach Tavern, THAT WAS FREAKIN EPIC!
We're still recovering from one of the most energetic crowd of punters we've ever seen!
To the girl in the front row with the Drop Bears stickers on her boobs... Mikey wants your number. To the rest of you, thanks again! We will be back!
Australia Day 2017
IIts was great to be back home at Cherry Bar in Melbourne! And what a homecoming!
Thanks to everyone that came along, the room was packed to the rafters, and that was definitely our biggest ever Melb show! So great to see so many people knowing the words to our songs after such a short time as a band, that really is a special feeling. Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!
February 2017
After a very successful tour playing to packed rooms every night, we have been given a very special invitation to headline the first night of the Anglesea Festival along with Tash Sultana who will be doing the Sunday Night. BRING IT ON!
March 2017
Thank you so much to the people that turned up festival directors for what was quite simply the most amazing show we have ever played. There were some great artists on the stages preceding us and we were in awe of the talent that Victoria and the Surf-coast has to offer.
Thanks again for the kind reviews from the festival Director, Tony Caon, which we have included to the right of the page.
We will definitely be back next year!
April 2017
Such a great night at Bridie O'Reiley's in Brunswick, we feel really privileged to be asked to play at the final night ever at what was one of the grandmothers of live music in Victoria for 163 years. RIP Bridie's/Sarah Sands Hotel.
Thanks to everyone that came along and to everyone that has ever supported live music in this iconic venue.
April 2017
jUPDATE: Album recording is going well, although slow. we will be releasing the first single from our first album.
December 2017
Vale John Healy
1974 - 2017
It is with profound sadness that we have to let you know of the passing of our dear friend and brother, Johnny Healy.
Johnny passed away in his sleep yesterday morning after a brief battle with a very aggressive brain cancer.
Johnny was a very well known and much loved and respected musician and character in the Melbourne Music scene having played in such bands as The Pop Tarts, Kartoon, Felix, The Breed, Planet X, Plush and was a founding member and bass player of The Drop Bears.
Our deepest condolences go to Johnny's two boys, Hamish and Jude who were his world, and his brother Russell and Jacqui and Caz who took such good care of Johnny in the final weeks and days and his dear mum, Marion as well as his other family and many friends, who were numerous and stand as a testament to a person we can only describe as a true gentleman with a lightning wit and a massive heart and about whom nobody ever had a bad word to say.
Over the last 20 years, between us we were lucky enough to play thousands of times with Johnny, his bass playing was phenomenal, as were his vocal abilities and when we formed The Drop Bears together, there were people actually thanking us for putting a bass guitar in his hands again.
A band which we put together in Johnny's lounge room, because we were, at the time, going through some tough times and all we wanted to do at the time was hang out with each other, have a few drinks and laughs and play some music.
His love of music and playing in bands was only surpassed by his love for Hamish and Jude, and there were times that John had to leave gigs and sleep for two hours in his car before starting work. He would do anything for his boys, and in the end Johnny had to sacrifice and cut back on his beloved music to have more energy and time for them.
We were lucky enough to see Johnny a few times over the last couple of weeks and we got to hug him tell him that we loved him and have a few laughs with him in his hospital room, reminiscing about gigs and shenanigans we had got up to over the years. Something which we will be eternally grateful for.
Up until late last week Johnny was asking us to arrange a night of music, a benefit to raise some funds to help him and his boys and true to his fighting spirit, it was still his intention to get on stage and play at that night.
It is so hard to process Johnny's passing, it just does not seem right, and there have been many tears flowing in the past weeks and especially in the last 24hrs.
When we can get our heads together we will keep our promise to Johnny and his boys.
To everyone that has sent messages of support, love and condolences, we thank you.
To Johnny,
Thank you for sharing your life with us, thank you for the music and magic that we created, the fun times we had and the laughs we shared as well as the drinks we smashed.
Thank you especially for the support and love that we gave each other in some of our darkest times.
We miss you already and will love you forever.
R.I.P. Brother.
January 2018
It's always a beautiful thing when USA Punk Rock Royalty really like what you do.
The last shows we played with Unwritten Law in 2016 were the best shows we ever did.
The UL boys are back in Oz in 2018, and they asked us to ride the crazy train again.
Unfortunately due to previous commitments, we can only do a handful of shows in Melb, Frankston and Sydney.
This will be wild.
Check UL's pages for more shows right across Au.
Let's do this.
