Phill Calvert

Raised in the suburbs of Melbourne, Phill Calvert started learning the drums at four years of age. At the private boys school Caulfield Grammar in the early 1970s he met vocalist Nick Cave and guitarist Mick Harvey and formed a rock band with other students, playing parties and school functions with a mixed repertoire of proto-punk material (David Bowie, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Alice Cooper). The band picked up Cave’s friend Tracy Pew on bass, and after finishing secondary school named themselves The Boys Next Door. They swiftly became a leading band in the Melbourne Punk rock scene, playing new wave style originals. After recordings for local independent labels Suicide (a subsidiary of Mushroom Records) and Missing Link, and playing hundreds of live shows, the band left for London in 1980 and renamed themselves The Birthday Party, signing first to 4AD Records and then Mute Records. After his split with The Birthday Party in 1982, Calvert joined the UK group The Psychedelic Furs, touring the U.S., but never recorded with them. He left before they recorded Mirror Moves in 1984. He returned to Melbourne and in 1985 became a founding member of the rock group Blue Ruin. They recorded five LPs with Calvert and travelled to the UK. Calvert split with Blue Ruin in the late ’80s. Blue Ruin reformed with Calvert for some shows in 2006. Phill along with Guitarist Ben Ling have co-produced the Melbourne band Witch Hats on releases Wound of a Little Horse (2006), Cellulite Soul (2008) and Solarium Down the Causeway (2009). In 2015 Calvert launched the label Behind the Beat Records with associate Ben Ling and have released 10 albums by various Australian Artists to date. As of 2020 Calvert makes assemblage sculpture in collaboration with his wife Julia under the name “Kitty Calvert”, while still recording and producing local artists.