Over the past decade, few Australian bands have sold anywhere near as many records as Powderfinger. Though the band first formed in 1989, it wasn’t until 1998 album Internationalist swept the board at the ARIA Awards that vocalist Bernard Fanning, John Collins (bass), guitarists Ian Haug and Darren Middleton and Jon Coghill (drums) cemented their place in mainstream Australian rock.

Named after the Neil Young song of the same name, the Brisbane five-piece started life playing covers, before releasing the Blue EP and Transfusion in 1993. The band soon signed to Polydor and released debut album Parables for Wooden Ears the following year. Though the album received ample airplay on Triple J, 1996 follow-up album Double Allergic was Powderfinger’s first foray into the mainstream. With Fanning’s Buckleyesque vocals and singles DAF and Pick You Up, Double Allergic was a surprise hit and scored the band 10 ARIA nominations over 1996 and 1997.

If Double Allergic had taken Powderfinger to the brink of mainstream recognition and success, Internationalist picked up right where the last album left off. A string of singles from the record, including The Day You Come, Don’t Wanna Be Left Out, Good-Day Ray, Passenger and Already Gone, helped push the album right to the top of the Australian albums chart and sent it five times platinum. Almost a year on, Internationalist was awarded the gong for Best Album at the ARIAs, while The Day You Come, a stunning reaction to the rise of Hansonist politics, took the prize for Single of the Year.

The band returned with Odyssey #5 (2000) and Vulture Street (2003), which both debuted at number one on the ARIA albums chart. Late in 2004, Fingerprints, Powderfinger’s first best of compilation, accompanying live album These Days.

While Fanning spent much of 2005 and 2006 working on his solo project, he reunited with Collins, Coghill, Haug and Middleton early in 2007 to record album number six Dream Days at the Hotel Existence. Preceded by the single Lost and Running, the album will be released on June 2 and will contain the song Black Tears, the lyrics to which were recently amended following controversy relating to Fanning’s references to the Palm Island death in custody case.