Artists:Ollo

Since their debut album, ‘Sleeper’ appeared in late 2002 to rave reviews ollo have been on quite a ride. They have played live in Australasia, the USA and Europe, supported both Ninja Tune's Neotropic on tour in the USA, and Matthew Herbert at Sydney Festival. Live performances have been broadcast on ABC Radio National and SBS Radio. They've presented Extended Play, a weekly radio show on Sydney's 2SER since 2005, and have created audio collage soundscapes for FBI 94.5's experimental show 'Sunday Night at the Movies', with performances of these by Lars at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, MCA and Cockatoo Island. They've written for Australia's Cyclic Defrost magazine.

Ollo's remix of 1978 punk track by John Peel favourites The Dodgems reached number 8 in BBC Radio 1's Festive 50 chart in the UK in 2005, and was playlisted on FBI. They've also remixed Groove Armada, Dsico, R.O.C, Neotropic.

DJ gigs include Loose Ends, Frigid, The Gypsy Tea Room, Überlingua, Club Kooky, Popfrenzy, Zero Kelvin, Sydney Esquisse, Speakeasy, The Museum of Contemporary Art and the Sydney Opera House. They've DJ'd in Europe, the UK, the US (including the Sundance Film Festival), and NZ.

A video clip for the track “Ping Pong” from the album "Sleeper" was shot in Berlin. Both this and their video for the single The Campaign For Real Bread were shown on Rage. Ollo's own visuals were shown at a video art exhibition at Bondi Pavilion in 2004.

Linda Evangelista has sashayed down the catwalk to their cover version of "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)", and they've performed this song accompanied by a costumed tap dancing troupe and assorted lunatics in political satire mode. They've also been the soundtrack of choice on the European and Australian tours of the Dissociatives.

Alex played keyboards, flute and and sang backing vocals on the Astronomy Class hit "A Bright Tomorrow" (Elefant Traks). He also appears on keyboards on Neotropic's album "White Rabbits (Mush). Ollo released a smouldering Bond theme cover version in a duet with Paul Mac collaborator Peta Morris. They provided the music for a film awards show broadcast live on SBS TV, The IF Awards 2006.

Currently Alex is working with Steve Cobby from Fila Brasillia on his new project The Cutler. And since they began their name has been "stolen" both by a ball with eyes in a kids' video game, and an Australian olive oil brand. Which certainly never happened to The Flaming Lips.

Ollo's second album, The If If, was made 2SER album of the week and was 'album packet' on FBI Radio in release week and has been featured on the UK's Dandelion Radio. The dingle "The Campaign for Real Bread" was featured on XLR8R magazine's cover mount CD in 2007. The album guest musicians Peter Hollo (Fourplay), Kevin Purdy (Tooth), Roger Mills (UK), and Dale Harrison (The Herd). It marks a departure for Ollo with more focus on songwriting while retaining their diverse style. It was mixed with Mike Burnham at Tardis Studios in Sydney (Mo Wax, Output, Def Jux etc).

WHAT DO OLLO SOUND LIKE?
Ollo have been compared to Herbert, Fourtet, Prefuse 73, Caribou, The Triffids, Board of Canada, The Flaming Lips, David Sylvian, Jarvis Cocker, Massive Attack, Can, Belle & Sebastian, Beta Band, Department of Eagles, Ultramarine, Errors, Tunng, Air and Basement Jaxx. So... have a listen and see what YOU think.

WHO ARE OLLO?
An Australian resident for 14 years, Alex Crowfoot grew up in the UK and began writing music at age 8. He is the main force behind Ollo and is responsible for writing, playing and production, plus visuals and graphic design.

Lars Chresta was raised in Switzerland. He speaks 6 languages fluently (including Mandarin) which is handy on tour. He DJs, presents the radio show, creates sound collages for FBI radio, and works the laptop when ollo play live. He also acts as as a 'sounding board' for ollo production and sings backing vocals.