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Nicholas James " Nic" Dalton (born 14 November 1964) is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and record label owner. He was a member of various Australian bands including, The Plunderers (1984–95), Godstar (1991–95) and Sneeze (1991–present); as well playing with Ratcat and The Hummingbirds. He was the bass guitarist for American band, The Lemonheads in the early 1990s. He also runs the record label Half a Cow, which he co-founded 1990. His current bands are The Sticker Club and, until recently, the Gloomchasers (who disbanded in November 2019).
In January 1984 Dalton on bass guitar and vocals, Plunder on guitar and vocals, and Elmo Reed on drums started the Plunderers. In May 1984, Get Set Go split up and the newly-formed Plunderers asked Lindsay Dunbar to join on drums. There was also a line up that included David Branson on violin and Jacquie Martin on saxophone. In December 1984, Dunbar left and the group went into hiatus while Dalton and Hayes joined cover band, the Gadflys, for six months. The line-up was Dalton on bass guitar, Hayes on guitar, Mick Moriarity on guitar and vocals, his brother Phil Moriarty on clarinet, and Pete Velzen on drums.
In June 1985 Dalton, Velzen and Plunder left the Gadflys and revived the Plunderers. In October of that year they issued a single, "Into The Ice"/"Strange Affection". The group relocated to Melbourne late that year when Andy Lewis joined on keyboards, guitar and harmonies. They moved to Sydney in July 1986. Lewis left the band in 1987. In January 1989 Velzen was replaced by Geoff Milne (ex-Eastern Dark) on drums. The trio also played gigs and released records as Hippy Dribble and Captain Denim. In 1987 Dalton's parents opened a book store, Dalton's Books, in Glebe, Sydney. In late 1989 Dalton and his friend, Miles Ferguson, took over the store, renamed it as Half a Cow and expanded its stock list to include comics, records and T-shirts.
In 1990 Dalton and Ferguson founded a record label, Half a Cow. In 1990 Robyn St Clare, the bass guitarist for the Hummingbirds took leave from that band during her pregnancy, and Dalton filled in during their tour of Australia supporting visiting American band, the Lemonheads. Lemonheads' lead singer, Evan Dando, formed a friendship and musical collaboration with Dalton and his Sneeze bandmate Tom Morgan, and the results of Dando and Morgan's song writing collaboration contributed two songs to the Lemonheads' 1992 album, It's a Shame about Ray and formed much of the Lemonheads' 1993 album, Come on Feel the Lemonheads.
Dalton played with the Lemonheads for two years, and played on the band's 1993 album Come on Feel the Lemonheads. He co-wrote the song "Dawn Can't Decide" with Dando. Most of the remaining songs on the album were written by Dando and Tom Morgan, except for the album's hit single "Into Your Arms", which was written by Robyn St Clare and originally appeared on the Love Positions' Billiepeebup album (a collaboration between Dalton and St Clare released in 1990).
After touring with the Lemonheads for the Come on Feel... album, Dalton left the band in August 1994 and returned to Australia. He rehearsed with Dando and Dinosaur Jr. drummer Murph for the recording of the Car Button Cloth album in 1996, but ultimately decided to decline Dando's offer to remain in the band.
Dalton joined Ratcat on bass guitar in 1998.
After a year in Melbourne, Dalton moved back to Sydney in 2006 and formed a new line-up of the Gloomchasers, as well as joining lounge act the Handlebars. In 2011 he formed a "bubblegum band for kids" called The Sticker Club with Alison Galloway, Ben Whitten, Nellie Afford, Damien 'Dizzi' Cassidy and Ruby Firmstone. Their album Scratch 'n Sniff was a joint release by ABC Kids and Half A Cow Records. Dalton also released two albums, in 2015 and 2017, under the name Chewee.
Nic Dalton at Australian Rock Database:
McFarlane, 'The Plunderers' entry. Archived from the original on 15 June 2004. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
McFarlane, 'The Gadflys' entry. Archived from the original on 28 August 2004. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
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