Background: Mental As Anything are an Australian new wave/pop rock band that formed in Sydney in 1976. Its most popular line-up (which lasted from 1977-1999) was Martin Plaza (birth name Martin Murphy) on vocals and guitar; Reg Mombassa (birth name Chris O'Doherty) on lead guitar and vocals; his brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty on bass guitar and vocals; Wayne de Lisle (birth name David Twohill) on drums; and Andrew "Greedy" Smith on vocals, keyboards and harmonica.
Context: During the sabbatical, Mental As Anything still played short tours and one off gigs, but by 1993 they were back on record, providing the song "Ride", produced by Tim Farriss, for the soundtrack to the Yahoo Serious film Reckless Kelly. They released a compilation of rare album tracks and b-sides, Chemical Travel, in November.  By mid-1994 the band had recorded an album's worth of self-produced material but were having difficulty getting a release deal. They self-released an EP of songs, Bicycle, and gave it away on their summer 1994/95 tour of NSW and Queensland. Radio station Triple J received a copy of the Bicycle EP on Christmas Day 1994 and put the lead track "Mr Natural" on immediate heavy rotation. Other stations followed and the demand led to the track being given a commercial release as a single and reaching the top 30 on the ARIA Charts (although charting higher in the States where the tour and free EP didn't reach). The resulting album, 1995's Liar, Liar Pants on Fire, reached the top 40, with Mombassa's cover taking the 'Best Cover Art' award at the 1996 ARIA Music Awards.  Three further singles were lifted off Liar Liar in 1995 and 1996: Mombassa's "Nigel" which just failed to chart, a cover of Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World" which landed just out of the Top 50 (Top 30 in Victoria) and O'Doherty's tribute to Ms Faithful, "Marianne", which was released as the band supported Chris Issak on his 1996 tour of Australia.  On 16 August 1997, Mental As Anything celebrated 20 years together with the same line-up with a free birthday show at the Hopetoun Hotel in Sydney. Late 1997 saw the band put together their third group art exhibition, Mentals III, which was opened by former Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, at the Manly Art Gallery (Paul Keating had opened their second group exhibition in 1990). Their 21st anniversary in 1998 was marked with the release of the last album by this line-up, Garage, which did not reach the top 50, nor did the two singles lifted from it, "Just My Luck" and "Calling Colin". December 1999 saw the release of Best of Mental As Anything which was accredited by ARIA with a gold certificate by 2001, and a seasonal single "White Christmas", that was given away at their "Yule Party" gig at Sydney's Metro Theatre.
Question: Was the album successful?
Answer: Queensland. Radio station Triple J received a copy of the Bicycle EP on Christmas Day 1994 and put the lead track "Mr Natural" on immediate heavy rotation.

Problem: Background: The Cardigans are a Swedish rock band formed in Jonkoping, Sweden, in 1992, by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson, with the line-up remaining unchanged to this day. Their debut album Emmerdale (1994) gave them a solid base in their home country and enjoyed some success abroad, especially in Japan. It was not until their second album Life (1995) that an international reputation was secured. Their popularity rose when their single "Lovefool", from the album First Band on the Moon (1996), was included in the soundtrack to the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet.
Context: The remainder of 1994 was spent touring Europe and recording Life, which was released worldwide in 1995. Life became an international success, selling more than a million copies and achieving platinum status in Japan. In 1996, Life was released under the label Minty Fresh in the US, but this release was essentially a compilation of tracks from Emmerdale and Life.  After their success with Life, The Cardigans signed with Mercury Records, under which they released First Band on the Moon worldwide in 1996. "Lovefool" was a hit worldwide, particularly in the US and Japan, where the album reached platinum status in three weeks. The album also achieved gold sales status in the US. "Lovefool" was shown on MTV in the late 1990s as a music video with clips from the 1996 hit film Romeo + Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. It also featured in the film Cruel Intentions (1999).  In 1997, the band played themselves on the graduation episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 as the featured entertainment at the fictional California High School's graduation party, hosted by Kelly Taylor's dad, Bill Taylor. The band performed "Lovefool" and "Been It."  1998's Gran Turismo was followed by a long hiatus during which the band members pursued solo side projects. The same year they also released a compilation album of rare B-sides, The Other Side of the Moon as a Japan-only release. The video of the song "My Favourite Game" was censored by MTV for showing reckless driving. Despite this, it went on to become their second global hit song. "My Favourite Game" was featured on the soundtrack of the PlayStation video game Gran Turismo 2 in the intro movie on CD1. That year also saw their song "Deuce" appearing on The X-Files: The Album. Their song "Erase/Rewind" was featured in the 1999 films Never Been Kissed and The Thirteenth Floor.  In 1999 the Cardigans recorded a duet cover of Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House" with Tom Jones for his album Reload.
Question: Where did they perform their concert tours?
Answer:
worldwide in 1996. "Lovefool" was a hit worldwide, particularly