It's a long way from the darkened foyer of a Glasgow youth hostel. But that's where Luke Hanigan, singer and guitarist for Sydney trio Lo-tel, made the decision way back in 1995 to follow his rock & roll dream. On the eve of the release of Lo-tel's debut album, Planet of the Stereos. Hanigan looks back on that one specific moment as the start of Lo-tel.

"That's when I went – This is what I want to do with my life, and dammit, I'm gonna do it", Hanigan grins. "Maybe foolishly, not knowing whether or not I'm any good. But luckily I've come this far, so..." "This far," as it turns out, is a considerable distance. With a little good fortune, lots of talent and some damn catchy songs, Lo-tel have gone from a passionate dream in the mind of a backpacker to one of the most promising realities of Australian music.

Consisting of Hanigan, Dave Lumsdaine (bass) and Darren Brollo (drums), Lo-tel currently reside in our fabled Olympic city, Sydney. Having already amassed a cult following thanks to their smooth pop gem, "Teenager of the Year" (the lead track from Australian film "Looking For Alibrandi"), Lo-tel are riding the waves of success ­ and it's only getting bigger. Both radio and video networks flogged "Teenager.." on the air, and Lo-tel was suddenly the name on everyone's lips.

Supported by renewed interest in an earlier radio track, "Genre Casting", "Teenager of the Year" climbed the national singles charts, winning the group loads of coverage on TV, in the national street press and an ARIA nomination for "Best New Artist – Single". Now, Lo-tel are ready to take the real test: follow up the promise of these earlier tunes with their first full length album.

"It's a bit of a mixed bag," says Hanigan, who wrote most of the tracks in the band's early days. "I think that it's covering everything from some of the more extreme arrangements in a song like "Disconnected', to a couple of songs which are more in keeping with Teenager," he says. "A lot of it really was re-recording bigger budget versions of demos we made ages ago, not a lot of the actual songs have changed, except some arrangements."

With work starting in April last year and finishing up in May, 2000, Planet Of The Stereos was recorded at Festival Studios in Sydney with final mixing taking place in Chicago with producer Keith Cleversley (who's worked with two of Hanigan's heroes, Mercury Rev and the Flaming Lips).

"Keith had such a great understanding of the songs, he just loved the stuff and that just made it so much easier. The whole process felt really natural," Hanigan says.

Like all good bands, the Lo-Tel story has a few twists and turns. For starters, the name 'Lo-Tel' is actually the group's second moniker. Formerly known as Brenda Starr, the boys were forced to change their name "because of a woman in America called Brenda K. Starr. We didn't even bother asking, we just changed it," says Hanigan. (Hardly surprising when you think that Ms Starr once boasted Mariah Carey as a backing singer and understandably has more than a little legal muscle to flex.)

The change of name prompted a few moments panic while the trio struggled for a replacement. Fortunately 'Lo-Tel' popped up just in time.. "We were up against a deadline for a name, and we were walking on, I think it's Victoria St, or it could be Darlinghurst Road [in Sydney], and we walked past this bar, and somebody said, 'That's where Lotel used to be', and I'd never heard of it but I thought it was a pretty cool name for a band."

While the band have made Australia's biggest city their home base, the description of Lo-tel as 'Sydneysiders' could be a little misleading. As Hanigan explains, "Darren's from Newcastle originally, I'm from Brisbane, Dave's from Brisbane also." Like many a minstrel before him, Hanigan moved from Brisvegas back in 1995, after his world trip, in order to find a way to make music his life.

"That's the only reason I moved to Sydney," Hanigan explains. "I went through this period where I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do, but I knew that music was what I really wanted to do with my life but I just didn't have the guts to give it 100%, so to speak. So I travelled for about six months, and that's when I realised that the only way I was gonna be really happy was if I did the choosy thing ­ follow the dream as John Laws would say ­ and yeah, I jumped on a bus and came to Sydney."

Hanigan met Lumsdaine through a mutual friend, the pair work-shopping and recording rough demos of Hanigan originals.

"I write, then co-produce with Dave," explains Hanigan. "So we worked the demos, and we knew if we were gonna get a deal we'd have to find a drummer. So a friend recommended Darren, and he was the first cab off the rank. He was great, awesome. And that was about, let's see.. early '97?"

From then the as-yet-untitled trio remained largely (home) studio based, until a series of coincidences made it crucial for the guys to take their well honed material to a live audience. "I worked for about two or three years on stuff with Dave, and then the demo fell in the hands of a guy who used to run True Tone Records, and he passed it on to Murmur Records" ­ which meant the band would take to the stage quicksmart. By gig number two, Lo-tel had a new fan.

Signing to Murmur shortly after, the group hankered down to writing new material and getting their current songs just right. "It was what I'd set out to do, so there wasn't quite that sense of elation there that I was expecting, which was kind of a shock," claims Hanigan of his new record deal. "Darren was ecstatic, and Dave was pretty happy too." Soon the band found themselves heading to Chicago, a debut album in the works. Back home "Genre Casting" started hitting the Triple J airwaves, and then, thanks to "…Alibrandi", "Teenager Of The Year" started climbing the charts.

"The people at murmur, and our publishing company, were compiling the soundtrack for the film, and originally had another song in a particular scene and for whatever reason it wasn't quite working so they then took our track to the producer, who had a listen and loved it."

And now there's Planet Of The Stereos. From the blistering pop opener and latest single "A Pop Song Saved My Life" to the bittersweet strains of "Sweet Janelle"; from the riffs of "Disconnected" to the infectious chorus of "Same", Planet Of The Stereos marks the arrival of a band that's been waiting in the wings to take the stage, front and centre. It's pop, it's rock and, most of all, it's damn good. "I think we did an OK job," Hanigan laughs, in his usual self-depreciating manner.

Don't be fooled. Lo-tel are here to stay.

Lo-Tel Are:...

Luke Hanigan (vocals, guitar) Age: 26 Day Job: I work at a disposal shop, selling knives to psychotics Major Influence: Mark Kozelok (of Red House Painters)

Dave Lumsdaine (bass) Age: 30 Day Job: Audio director for TV Shopping Network Major Influences: Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp

Darren Brollo (drums) Age: 26 Day Job: Music teacher Major Influences: U2, especially Larry Mullen, Jr. Ringo Starr A POP SONG SAVED MY LIFE ************************************************************** * "Sometimes in the evening/ I call and she's not home * * I can't stand the silence/ So I turn on radios * * I need the guidance of an AM-FM stereo * * Favourite appliance/ My one and only * * And a pop song saved my life/ Made my troubles harmonise * * And I know I'll be alright/ Yeah a pop song saved my life" * **************************************************************

"Basically it's a song about sitting at home alone, just getting off the phone with your girlfriend and realising that no one else is there, and turning on every appliance in the house in order to forget that you're alone." So explains Luke Hanigan, frontman for Sydney trio Lo-tel, of his band's latest single "A Pop Song Saved My Life". Proud to admit that he's a former soap opera watcher and a lover of really bad '80s hair metal bands, Hanigan is a man who's happy to embrace being a big fan of pop music.

"It's just happy sounds," he says. "So I'm turning on the television but turning the sound down; switching on the radio" Hooking up the Internet? "For sure," Hanigan laughs, "all of that. It's a just a fun little song written about distracting yourself from your troubles with the pop culture all around you."

As single number two for Lo-tel, "A Pop Song Saved My Life" follows on from their recent Top 40 hit "Teenager Of The Year," which saw the trio - consisting of singer/guitarist Hanigan, Dave Lumsdaine (bass) and Darren Brollo (drums) - climb the national single charts, thanks to high rotation airplay and countless TV and press appearances, not to mention the fact that the song appeared on the soundtrack to the hit film 'Looking For Alibrandi', which starred Pia Miranda and Greta Scacchi. Before "Teenager.." the band debuted on radio with the scorching "Genre Casting", which is still riding the airwaves around the country.

For Lo-tel, it's been a very busy six months.

Who hasn't sung along to the radio from time to time? One of the band's most recent tunes, "A Pop Song Saved My Life" was written early January and was an instant winner, sitting in nicely with older tracks already recorded.

While Hanigan admits that he wrote "Pop Song.." when he was "feeling kinda bummed," the tune, which opens Lo-tel's much anticipated debut album ('Planet of the Stereos') out October 23, is musically about as light-heartened as this band gets. "I just got reminded of how instant pop music can be," Hanigan says of the song's inspiration. "It's got a pointless kind of lyric but that's what most pop songs are like." Aided along by Hanigan's melodic guitar riffs and a very perky keyboard line, "Pop Song.." has the same qualities that all the best pop music does: an instant hook to keep you singing along a long, long time after you've heard it on the radio. For Lo-tel, the decision to open the album with "A Pop Song Saved My Life" was easy; it's by far their most "up" sounding recording on the album and as immediate as it is catchy.

About to embark on a national tour with US rockers Fuel, Lo-tel have spent the last few months playing gigs across the nation and preparing for the onslaught that's about to hit them with their long-player release. "It's been a long time coming but it all seems really fast to us," says Hanigan of the band's quick climb. Asked if he's aware of their growing profile and fanbase, the singer admits it's all a bit heady - but exciting. "It's great to finally have everything finished but now is when it gets difficult; this is when we start stressing. We just want to get the album out there and see what fans think."

Hanigan can rest assured. Pop songs don't get much better than this. Instore Monday, September 4.

TEENAGER OF THE YEAR

Luke Hanigan: Singer/songwriter/guitarist Dave Lumsdaine: Bass Darren Brollo: Drums

So what's the mysterious magic that binds rock & roll trios? Everyone from the Police to the Jam, Green Day to Nirvana have figured a fourth member would break the magical musical spell (and take up too much room on the tour bus). The latest advocates of the three piece are Sydney-based moodsters Lo-tel, a band comprising Luke Hanigan (singer/strummer/tunesmith), bassist Dave Lumsdaine and time-keeper Darren Brollo.

"Don't forget the Ted Mulry Gang," Luke laughs, when asked about his fave three-pieces. A beat later he adds: "I'm not very religious, so I'm not sure about a holy trinity thing with trios. But we're all really in synch in the studio, so that's where the three piece thing works."

Cue their debut commercial release, "Teenager of the Year", an evocative, thoughtful, hook-laden slab of power pop. So what's the story? "It stems from watching the six o'clock news and hearing about Dolly's Look of the Year competition," according to Luke. "I was transfixed by these girls, torn between feeling happy for the winner and being dejected, rejected. "What I found really upsetting was watching these girls wrestling with the idea of not being good enough to be considered the look of the year. I thought it was very unfair and very scary. And what kind of impact does that have on the kids on the audience? It's a trickle-down effect of low self-esteem."

Brisbane-born, Hanigan upped and moved to Sydney three years back, tired of his "dead-end job, bedroom and Atari". Quickly he hooked up with another former Brisbanite, bassist Dave Lumsdaine, and a sound that nods in the direction of such thinking-person's rockers as Mercury Rev started to take shape. A few demos later they came to the startling conclusion that a drummer was needed. Enter Novacastrian Darren Brollo. Twenty-five gigs and many weeks in the studio later and "we're a pretty tight little family," Hanigan believes.

"Teenager of the Year" was produced and engineered by US producer Keith Cleversley (The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), and mixed by Jack Joseph Puig (Taxiride, Goo Goo Dolls). Of Keith Cleversley, Luke recalls, "I was checking off his CV against my favourite albums – he did Hum, Drugstore, Flaming Lips; how could we miss?"

It's a finger-licking taster from Lo-Tel's debut album, due out later in the year

GENRE CASTING

Luke Hanigan: Singer/songwriter/guitarist Dave Lumsdaine: Bass Darren Brollo: Drums

The name bears no relation to the now defunct Sydney drinking hole L'otel but suggests images of a fictional 'corrupt tele-marketing empire'. The truth, however, is that Lo-tel are a three piece Sydney rock band. Singer, songwriter and guitarist Luke Hanigan made the move from Brisbane to Sydney in early 1996 to realise his musical ambition. After leaving his "dead-end job, bedroom and Atari", Luke - who says his musical reference points range from Mercury Rev to the Cars via the Beach Boys - moved to another bedroom in Sydney where he spent three years writing songs. It was around this time that he met up with bassist Dave Lumsdaine.

The pair clicked instantly when they quickly discovered they shared a penchant for producing. After recording initial demos, Dave and Luke decided to replace their Dr. Rhythm with the real thing - enter drummer Darren Brollo. Darren was first audition victim and they instantly realised they need look no further.

As soon as all the pieces fell into place, Lo-tel was in business. Six months and only ten gigs later, they had scored a record deal (with murmur) and were readying to go into the studio to record their first album.

Lo-tel's debut release - the grinding and thumping Genre Casting - is reflective of the understated but confident songwriter behind it. Genre Casting was produced and mixed by US producer Keith Cleversly (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev) who has also produced the band's debut album.

"Genre Casting isn't an obvious first single if you're looking to break out," Luke admits. "I don't think it's intended to do that. I think it's more of a bizarre introduction to the band. From an arrangement perspective I think it's pretty radical."

Lo-tel's debut long-player will be out in late-winter 2000.

But nevertheless love them or hate them Lo-Tel are definately here to stay!!!