Biography:
Mumsdollar are Ben Claxton on lead vocals, Dave Barr on guitar and backing vocals, Tim Beale on drums, and brothers Pete Wood, on guitars, and Steve Wood on bass and backing vocals. They are based in Auckland New Zealand and have been together as a band for over 7 years. During that time Mumsdollar have toured the USA, Australia and New Zealand, and have independently released four CDs and two music videos. Their first recording, For Christ's Sake , came out in 2001, followed by Eastern Time in 2002. After numerous re-runs, and a re-release of Eastern Time in 2004, both recordings have completely sold out.
Early in 2005 Mumsdollar released their A Beautiful Life EP, followed later that year with a full-length album version of the same title. Predictably, both releases have sold well thanks to their extensive fan base, built up through consistent live performances. 'Nevertheless', the first track from A Beautiful Life , was produced by Malcolm Welsford and funded by NZ on Air, as was the music video. The song was released on Indie Hit Disc No. 32 and was well received at radio, with The Rock featuring it on their kiwi music show 'Off The Record'. The music video was similarly well received and charted several times on C4's Select Top 5.
2005 also saw Mumsdollar's first performances in America, having won a worldwide competition to perform on the mainstage at Cornerstone Festival 05, Illinois. Mumsdollar played alongside headline acts Anberlin, Dead Poetic and Switchfoot. While in the States, Tim received an endorsement from Truth Custom Drums; the track 'A Biography' from A Beautiful Life was played on various indie radio stations, registering in the Top 10 Countdown on the Life100 network; and negotiations were entered into with a US management company.
The second single 'A Biography', from A Beautiful Life , was released early March 2006 on the NZ on Air Kiwi Hit Disc No.80, with a music video directed by Ivan Slavov of the Independent Film Company of New Zealand. Mumsdollar's plans for 2006 also include ongoing touring, and the release of a live performance DVD filmed before an audience of over 20,000
2007 was a big year for the band, releasing 'A Beautiful Life' in Japan through Trident Style records, and an exhaustive amount of work preparing new material to be included on their 2008 March release of a new album (yet to be titled), The band put off recording this album until they knew they had a killer track list, and are now confident in the decision to put this off and very happy with the outcome. The first single to be released is titled 'Sticks and Stones' and will be released early in 2008.