The Painted Hearts

Australian band, formed in 2005, originally based in Canberra, ACT, relocated to Melbourne. The Painted Hearts were formed in Canberra, Australia in 2005. P.R.Davis sang, played guitar and wrote the songs, Matt Nightingale (later of The Wedded Bliss, Heath Cullen band) played electric upright bass and Kevin Nicol (Noiseworks) played drums. Owen Andrews was recruited to play bass following Nightingale's departure from the band in March 2007. By 2011 Nightingale had re-joined and drums were played by Mike Oakley. Rick Millband took over the drum chair in 2012. The Melbourne based lineup consists of Davis, John Milton (drums), Zoe Frater (bass) and Matt Dixon (guitar). Essentially a live band, improvisational and loose, the self-titled debut album The Painted Hearts was recorded somewhat characteristically in one - whatever goes down goes down - session at Infidel Studios, Queanbeyan in September, 2007 and released in 2008. The second album Volume 2 released in 2011, was recorded in pretty much the same spirit albeit with more of an acoustic sound and sensibility, again relatively quickly over two sessions - this time at Canberra's Cowperson Lounge, through just two microphones. Matt Nightingale rejoined the band on double bass for the Volume 2 sessions and Mike Oakley played drums. The third album, Volume 3, was tracked live once again at Cowperson Lounge in 2014 with basically the same approach, though with the use of a few more mics than the two used on the Volume 2 sessions. Davis and Nightingale are joined by Rick Millband on drums for these sessions.