Crowded House are a rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1985. The founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Later band members included Neil Finn's brother, Tim Finn, and Americans Mark Hart and Matt Sherrod. Originally active from 1985 to 1996, the band had consistent commercial and critical success in Australia and New Zealand and international chart success in two phases, beginning with their self-titled debut album, which reached number twelve on the US Album Chart in 1987 and provided the Top Ten hits

In 2006 Neil Finn asked Nick Seymour to play bass on his third solo album. Seymour agreed and the two joined up with producer and multi-instrumentalist Ethan Johns to begin recording. As the recording sessions progressed it was decided that the album would be issued under the Crowded House band name, rather than as a Neil Finn solo album. In January 2007, the group publicly announced their reformation and on 23 February, after 20 days of auditions, former Beck drummer Matt Sherrod joined Finn, Seymour and Mark Hart to complete the new line up. As Sherrod and Hart had not participated in the initial sessions, four new tracks were recorded with producer Steve Lillywhite including the album's first single "Don't Stop Now".  On 17 March 2007 the band played a live show at their rehearsal studio in front of around fifty fans, friends and family. The performance was streamed live as a webcast. The two-and-a-half-hour set included some new tracks, including "Silent House" co-written by Finn with the Dixie Chicks. A concert onboard The Thekla, moored in Bristol, followed on 19 March. Crowded House played at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, Arizona on 26 April as a warm-up for their appearance at the Coachella Festival on 29 April in Indio, California. They also played at the Australian Live Earth concert in Sydney on 7 July. The next day, Finn and Seymour were interviewed on Rove Live and the band, with Hart and Sherrod, performed "Don't Stop Now" to promote the new album, which was titled Time on Earth. The single was a minor hit in Australia and the UK. The album was released worldwide in June and July. It topped the album chart in New Zealand and made number 2 in Australia and number 3 in the UK.  On 6 December 2008 Crowded House played the Homebake festival in Sydney, with warm up gigs at small venues in Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney. For these shows the band were augmented by multi-instrumentalist Don McGlashan and Neil's younger son, Elroy Finn, on guitar. On 14 March 2009 the band joined Neil's older son, Liam Finn, on stage for three songs at the Sound Relief concert in Melbourne.

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