Lash (band)

Lash were an all-female alternative/punk rock band from Perth, Australia. The members Belinda-Lee Reid (vocals, guitar), Jaclyn Pearson (drums), Jessica Bennett (lead guitar) and Micaela Slayford (vocals, bass) who all met at the Catholic Santa Maria College, whilst in secondary school, and formed the band Exteria in 1996.

History
After being together for three weeks, the girls entered the song "Aloha Mr Hand" into the Open Youth Category for under-18s in the 1996 West Australian Music Industry Awards. The four 14-year-olds (at the time) won the $1,000 prize, and came to the attention of manager Andrew Klippel.

In 2001, now renamed Lash and signed to Festival Mushroom Records, their first two singles ("Take Me Away" and "Beauty Queen") reached the top 40 Australian ARIA Singles Chart, but did not sell enough to validate the large investment by their record company. "Take Me Away" saw Lash nominated for the 2001 ARIA Music Awards for "Best New Artist - single" (it was won by The Avalanches).

They toured Australia in 2001 (including performances at Homebake ) and 2002 with Eskimo Joe, The Living End, Motor Ace and Ash, and played in East Timor and Romania in 2002. A third single made the top 100 in 2002, "Don't Ever Make My Mind Up". Their debut album with these three singles was The Beautiful And The Damned, which also made the top 50 ARIA Albums Chart in 2002.

Their song "Beauty Queen" was also featured on the Freaky Friday soundtrack in 2003, as was "Take Me Away", which was performed by the main character's (Lindsay Lohan's) band in the film.

The group disbanded after poor album sales and amid criticism that they were "manufactured" by manager/producer/songwriter Andrew Klippel and producer/songwriter Barry Palmer and thus lacked the "credibility" seemingly demanded of an Australian rock group.

After the break-up of Lash, Belinda-Lee Reid has pursued a solo career. She was the subject of an episode of the documentary TV programme The Hit Game, which aired in Australia on ABCTV on 4 October 2005, and showed her recording new 'demos' with Palmer, assisted by Pearson and Bennett. In this show she lamented the stigma attached to her by music industry leaders, for being in a 'failed' act. Her debut solo EP The Road from Lillyfield was touted for release in 2005, but never emerged. Reid's new band The Silver Scene emerged in 2006. Their self-titled EP was released for free download via Triple J Unearthed's website. By 2014 Reid was working as a Real Estate Agent.

Jessica Bennett and Jaclyn Pearson were in The Preytells from 2004-2009. They won the National Campus Band Competition in 2005. Since 2016 Jessica Bennett has run Love Shack Studios in Footscray, Victoria. She also plays guitar in the band Edith Lane and has a new project up and running called Tender Buttons.

Awards

 * 1996: WAM Song of the Year (as Exteria) - also winners of 'Open Youth' Category
 * 2001: Rawards, Best New Australian Artist on Commercial Radio
 * 2001: Australian Live Music Awards, WA's Best Emerging Live Act
 * 2002: Golden Stag Award, Romania

The Beautiful and the Damned
The Beautiful and the Damned was Lash's only album release:


 * 1) "Take Me Away"
 * 2) "Don't Ever Make My Mind Up"
 * 3) "Better Than You"
 * 4) "Do It"
 * 5) "Beauty Queen"
 * 6) "Live or Lie"
 * 7) "Caged My Soul"
 * 8) "In My Head"
 * 9) "Dumb"
 * 10) "Only To Heal"

Take Me Away
Take Me Away, Lash's first single, was released on 26 March 2001. It reached number 33 in the weekly ARIA chart during April 2001 and received a large amount of radio play. The single version does not include the guitar solo used in the film.


 * 1) "Take Me Away"
 * 2) "Aloha Mr Hand"

Beauty Queen
Beauty Queen was released on 27 August 2001. It reached number 31 in the weekly ARIA chart, and included their earlier hit.


 * 1) "Beauty Queen"
 * 2) "Beauty Queen" (Bump and Grind Remix)
 * 3) "Take Me Away"

Don't Ever Make My Mind Up
Lash's third and final single was released on 25 February 2002. It did not reach the Top 50.


 * 1) "Don't Ever Make My Mind Up"
 * 2) "Don't Ever Make My Mind Up" (acoustic)
 * 3) "Beauty Queen" (live)
 * 4) "Do It" (live)