Chocolate Starfish

Chocolate Starfish is an Australian rock band formed in 1992 and disbanded in 1998. Their self-titled debut album, issued in April 1994, peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It was followed in October 1995 by their second album, Box, which reached No. 6. Their highest-charting single, "You're So Vain", was a cover version of Carly Simon's 1972 hit. It peaked at No. 11 on the ARIA Singles Chart in September 1993. They had another hit with "Mountain" in March 1994, which reached No. 12. 

The group reformed in 2010 and on 31 March 2012, guitarist Zoran Romic died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma after remission from an earlier bout. Since the reformation, the group has released a further three studio albums.  

The group are also known for paying homage to great and touring classic albums, including odes to Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell in 2017 and INXS's Kick in 2018 and a Bohemian Rhapsody tour 2021.

History

1992-1998: Formation, Chocolate Starfish & Box
Chocolate Starfish were founded in Melbourne in early 1992 with Norman Falvo on keyboards and vocals; Craig Harnath (ex Kids In The Kitchen) on bass guitar, Bruce Pawsey on drums; Zoran Romic on guitar and vocals and Adam Thompson on vocals. The band played a limited number of shows with a comical country based theme under the name of The Hodads at the Station Hotel.  Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, described Thompson as an "entertaining frontman who lent the music an air of much-needed theatricality and melodrama". Other early members were guitarist Brett Kingman (also a member of Uncanny X-Men, and a member of James Reyne's band for many years), and John Justin.

In January 1993 Chocolate Starfish released their debut extended play, Seafood. By that time ex-Roxus members John "Stone" Nixon and Darren Danielson replaced Harnath on bass guitar and Pawsey on drums, respectively. In August they released their debut single—a cover version of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain"—which reached No. 11 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Their second single, "All Over Me" (October), reached the Top 40; while their third single, "Mountain", peaked at No. 12 in March 1994.

Their debut album, Chocolate Starfish, was released in April 1994, and reached No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The album was certified platinum. It was produced by Pseudo Echo front man, Brian Canham, for EMI Music Australia. The album appeared in the top 40 on the ARIA End of Year Charts. McFarlane felt the album "showcased the band's confident and punchy, if overwrought, delivery". Falvo left the group at the end of 1994 and Tim Rosewarne replaced him on keyboards for the second album, Box, released in October 1995, reached No. 6. This was mixed by Thom Panunzio (U2, Soundgarden) and produced by Canham for Virgin Records. McFarlane felt it was similar to their debut album and "mixed strong vocals with grungy riffs, anthemic choruses with moody ballads, and accessible 1970s-influenced rock with tight 1990s production values". In 1997 Danielson left and the group relocated to Paris for six months; they disbanded by 1998.

1997-2009: After disbandment
In 1997 Danielson and Canham formed a band, Brill, which released one self-titled album independently. In 1998 Romic joined Brill. When Canham re-formed Pseudo Echo in 1998, he recruited Danielson to play drums. In the following years, Romic and Danielson formed The Fur Group and Fur Records in Melbourne with successful bands such as Skybombers.

2010-present: Reformation, Born Again Versions, Spider & Beautiful Addiction
In 2010 Chocolate Starfish reformed with a line-up of Danielson, Falvo, Nixon, Romic and Thompson. They started work on new studio material, however a planned concert tour was cancelled when Romic was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in March 2011. A benefit concert was held for Romic in October 2011—at which he performed with Chocolate Starfish—and on 31 March 2012 he died of the cancer. 

The band continued after Romic's death and from January to March 2013 they played on the Red Hot Summer Tour alongside Jimmy Barnes, Ian Moss and Dragon. For the tour they used Tim Henwood (The Androids, The Superjesus) on guitar. 

In 2014, the band recorded a wholly acoustic album of favourites called Born Again Versions (BAV) with the premise that "If a song can stand the rigours of a rework and still hold up, then hopefully it has the hallmarks of a good song".

In 2014, the band wrote a song for a TV commercial in the Northern Territory, which lead to them writing and recording an EP. In October 2014, the group released a self-produced EP titled Primitive. Drummer Daniel Danielson said "It's a little from where we left off in the '90s. I'd like to think that we still have that energy that we had back in the day." Thompson told Forte magazine, "I'm going to tell you that it's fantastic that we finally have some new material we can shop around and show people. It was a long time coming to put it together, because everybody has other things in their lives going on and Starfish isn't a full-time thing anymore. It freshens everything up and its a welcome change for us I think."

On 31 October 2014, the group performed a one-off performance of Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album from start to finish they also picked up their current Guitarist Zakk Zedras. 

In March 2015, the band released their first new single in almost 20 years, titled "Cinderella". All proceeds from the sale of the song were donated to the Jaime Wild Foundation in support for Jamie, who is a young woman challenged by motor neurone disease. 

On 31 December 2017, the band released their first album of new material in twenty years, titled Spider dedicated to Zoran "Spider" Romic. Romic co-wrote the album track "Heavyweight" several years ago. The album's lead single "Farmer Loretta" was released in early 2018.

In December 2020, the band released the EP Scaled Back which includes tracks from 1993 debut recorded in an intimate, jam session.

In March 2021, the band confirmed the release of the album, Beautiful Addiction set for release in May 2021. The lead single is a cover of 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up".

In 2023, the band toured Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album around australia.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation and achievement across all genres of Australian music. Chocolate Starfish has been nominated three times.

|-
| rowspan="2"| 1994 ||rowspan="2"| "You're So Vain" || ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist – Single || 
|-
| ARIA Award for Highest Selling Single || 
|-
| 1995 || "Mountain" || ARIA Award for Highest Selling Single || 
|-

References

External links
 
 Zoran Romic - Tribute website

Australian rock music groups
Musical groups from Melbourne
Musical groups established in 1992
Musical groups disestablished in 1998
Musical groups reestablished in 2010