Daxton Monaghan
Daxton Monaghan is an Australian musician and songwriter based on the NSW Central Coast. Daxton has produced numerous albums and performs regularly throughout the east coast of Australia. Daxton’s music has appeared on national radio stations, and been included in television soundtracks. His music style has varied over his career but is predominately southern blues/rock.
Life and career
Daxton was born “Daxton Paul James Monaghan” on October 31, 1972 on the Central Coast of NSW. He attended St Edward’s high school in East Gosford and left school at 16 in year 10. After school Daxton took a range of jobs including printing, door to door sales and hospitality work.
At the age of 19 Daxton formed his first band “Horus” with school mates Jamie Foster and Matt Casey. From this first band Daxton progressed through a number of musical incarnations inlcluding funk, grunge, jazz, lap steel and, in the close of the first decade of the 21st century, has settled into a classic Southern Blues/Rock format.
Musical Career History
Daxton’s first band in the early 1990s was called Horus was influenced by popular bands of the late eighties Living Colour, Suicidal Tendencies, Zappa, and Captain Beefheart. The band included Jamie Foster on Drums, Matt Casey on Bass, Daxton on Guitar and vocals.
Daxton’s second band from the mid to late 1990s was “Egg” with a continued strong influence from sounds like Frank Zappa and Mr Bungle. Egg’s line-up included Christian McBride on drums and Spencer Price on bass. Daxton was once again the guitar vocals combination. The band played predominately in the Sydney-Newcastle area of NSW.
In the early 2000s Daxton played in a Sydney based band “Low Yield Atomics” with Mathew Casey once again on bass and Raelene Solomons on drums. Low Yield Atomics was a punk-rock outfit and performed in Sydney and Newcastle from about 2001 until 2002. When the band disbanded Daxton played occasional solo gigs over the next few years.
In 2008 Daxton collaborated with Bill Chambers to produce the county album "Two Roads." This led to performances at the Tamworth Music festival in 2009 and other blues and country festivals and gigs in subsequent years.
This year also saw Daxton forming a new band “Daxton & the Sweet Lips.” This band’s first release was on iTunes with the self-titled “Daxton & the Sweet Lips” album, which featured a heavy distorted blues sound with elements of rock. Track number seven Moody Liz was released on American TV series Dollhouse and received an admirable mention in the 2009 International Song Competition. The Sweet Lips line-up included Mike Rix on bass, Shayne Brown on drums and Ken Stanhope on harmonica.
In 2009 Daxton joined Sydney musicians and entertainers Andy Kent from You Am I, Jeff O'Connell from Headache, Shayne Pinington and Adam Yee from Smudge for a series of gigs at the Annandale Hotel under the name “The baby baby baby baby yeah yeah yeah's,” a Cult tribute band. Daxton performed as lead singer.
2009 also saw Daxton receive significant airplay on CMC television in Australia with the clip for the song "Two Roads" which was Produced by Cory Hopper (who also produced Kasey Chambers album Wayward Angel.)
In 2010 Daxton toured from Australia to the US and played a number of shows on the west coast and at Nashville including shows at the Douglas Corner Cafe, the Blue Bird Cafe in Nashville and the Hollywood Piano Bar in Los Angeles.
In 2011 Daxton & the Sweet Lips recorded the Thin Tall Lily album which was published by Foghorn Records and was recorded at Damien Gerard Studios. It received international distribution.
Career highlights
Awards
- Appeared several times in 2011 Australian Blues Top 25 charts
- International Song Writing Competition 2010
- Triple J Unearthed, 2004 Runner Up
- Number 3 on Australian blues charts 2011
Discography
Year | Album | Notes |
---|---|---|
2011 | Daxton’s Stompin Christmas Blues | Christmas covers including Silent Night and Fat Bottomed Girls |
2011 | Thin Tall Lily | Southern Blues/Rock album |
2010 | Small Steps for Big Kicks | Country/Blues |
2009 | Daxton and the Sweet Lips | Self-titled, Southern Blues/Rock album |
2009 | Foghorn’s Home Grown Roots | Included on compilation album of Sydney artists Feat. song "Moody Liz" |
2009 | Dollhouse Soundtrack | Song "Moody Liz" featured in Dollhouse Soundtrack |
2008 | Two Roads | Country album produced by Australian country musician Bill Chambers |
2002 | Blackweed | Country/Folk album |
2000 | Blue Room | Jazz/Funk album |
Bands and associations
- Horus
- Latex Rubber Skinhead
- Egg
- Low Yield Atomics
- Daxton and the Desirables
- The Baby Baby Baby Baby Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Daxton and the Sweet Lips
Notable appearances
- Tamworth Country Music Festival, 2011, 2010, 2009
- Sydney Blues and Roots Festival, 2011
- Ironfest, 2012, 2011
- Newtown Festival, 2002
External links
- www.Daxton.com.au
- www.myspace.com/daxtonthesweetlips
- ISC Previous winners
- 2011 Sydney Blues festival
- Australian Blues Charts
- Australian Country Music Channel (TV)
- Baby Baby Baby Baby Yeah! Youtube clip and Gig notice