Nick Launay was among the most successful producers of the post-punk era, helming records for many of the biggest international stars to emerge from Australia. He began his career during the early '80s with a series of releases from pivotal acts including
Gang of Four (the To Hell with Poverty EP),
Killing Joke (the "Follow the Leaders" single),
Public Image Limited (The Flowers of Romance). and the
Birthday Party (Junkyard and its follow-up EP, Release the Bats). By 1983, with the success of
the Church's
Seance and
Midnight Oil's
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,
Launay was among the most highly regarded producers on the Aussie rock scene; the year following, he also helmed
INXS'
The Swing. However, after 1985 -- a year in which he produced
Tim Finn's
Big Canoe, the Armoury Show's Waiting for the Floods, and
the Models' Out of Mind Out of Sight --
Launay began working far more sparingly than at the outset of his career, sometimes with months or even years separating projects. Quiet throughout much of the late '80s, in 1992 he resurfaced in the
Talking Heads' camp, producing three new tracks for the group's Sand in the Vaseline retrospective before working with frontman
David Byrne on his solo
Uh-Oh album that same year. After reuniting with
Midnight Oil on their 1993 effort
Earth and Sun and Moon,
Launay again took a hiatus before agreeing to helm records for American alternative acts like
For Squirrels (1995's
Example) and
the Posies (1996's
Amazing Disgrace). Also in 1996, he teamed with
Midnight Oil guitarist
Jim Moginie in a duo called Fuzz Face, issuing a self-titled EP;
Silverchair's
Freak Show followed a year later, and in 1998
Launay resurfaced with
Girls Against Boys'
Freak*on*ica. ~ Jason Ankeny