The Mr Kneebone EP was recorded between album number 1 and 2, and released on 24 July 1995. A lot of people don’t even know this EP exists—it wasn’t produced in large numbers and didn’t get played much on radio—but it marked an important turning point for Powderfinger.

Record label Polydor suggested Powderfinger make an EP before embarking on a second album. They wanted the band to get back to writing songs that ‘could be played on the radio’, like those on their debut EP.

Again, Powderfinger recorded at Metropolis Studios in Melbourne, but this time with local Brisbane producer, Lachlan ‘Magoo’ Goold (who later recorded The Day You Come). From the outset, Magoo suggested they simplify their songs—telling the band that there was ‘too much going on’.

While Powderfinger still seemed to be in ‘Parables songwriting mode’, they took some important steps with Mr Kneebone, recording simpler songs like Drongo.

None of the songs from Mr Kneebone would make it on to Double Allergic, and with good reason—by that point their songwriting had taken a quantum leap. What Mr Kneebone did do, however, is give the band more space and time to work out who they were.

Next release: Double Allergic