A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes.

Many maps are static two-dimensional, geometrically accurate (or approximately accurate) representations of three-dimensional space, while others are dynamic or interactive, even three-dimensional. Although most commonly used to depict geography, maps may represent any space, real or imagined, without regard to context or scale; e.g. brain mapping, DNA mapping, and extraterrestrial mapping.

Geographic maps[link]

A celestial map from the 17th century, by the Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit.

Cartography or map-making is the study and practice of crafting representations of the Earth upon a flat surface (see History of cartography), and one who makes maps is called a cartographer.

Road maps are perhaps the most widely used maps today, and form a subset of navigational maps, which also include aeronautical and nautical charts, railroad network maps, and hiking and bicycling maps. In terms of quantity, the largest number of drawn map sheets is probably made up by local surveys, carried out by municipalities, utilities, tax assessors, emergency services providers, and other local agencies. Many national surveying projects have been carried out by the military, such as the British Ordnance Survey (now a civilian government agency internationally renowned for its comprehensively detailed work).

In addition to location information maps may also be used to portray contour lines indicating constant values of elevation, temperature, rainfall, etc.

Orientation of maps[link]

The Hereford Mappa Mundi, about 1300, Hereford Cathedral, England. A classic "T-O" map with Jerusalem at centre, east toward the top, Europe the bottom left and Africa on the right.

The orientation of a map is the relationship between the directions on the map and the corresponding compass directions in reality. The word "orient" is derived from Latin oriens, meaning East. In the Middle Ages many maps, including the T and O maps, were drawn with East at the top (meaning that the direction "up" on the map corresponds to East on the compass). Today, the most common – but far from universal – cartographic convention is that North is at the top of a map. Several kinds of maps are often traditionally not oriented with North at the top:

• Maps from non-Western traditions are oriented a variety of ways. Old maps of Edo show the Japanese imperial palace as the "top", but also at the centre, of the map. Labels on the map are oriented in such a way that you cannot read them properly unless you put the imperial palace above your head.^{[citation needed]}
• Medieval European T and O maps such as the Hereford Mappa Mundi were centred on Jerusalem with East at the top. Indeed, prior to the reintroduction of Ptolemy's Geography to Europe around 1400, there was no single convention in the West. Portolan charts, for example, are oriented to the shores they describe.
• Maps of cities bordering a sea are often conventionally oriented with the sea at the top.
• Route and channel maps have traditionally been oriented to the road or waterway they describe.
• Polar maps of the Arctic or Antarctic regions are conventionally centred on the pole; the direction North would be towards or away from the centre of the map, respectively. Typical maps of the Arctic have 0° meridian towards the bottom of the page; maps of the Antarctic have the 0° meridian towards the top of the page.
• Reversed maps, also known as Upside-Down maps or South-Up maps, reverse the "North is up" convention and have South at the top.
• Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion maps are based on a projection of the Earth's sphere onto an icosahedron. The resulting triangular pieces may be arranged in any order or orientation.
• Modern digital GIS maps such as ArcMap typically project north at the top of the map, but use math degrees (0 is east, degrees increase counter-clockwise), rather than compass degrees (0 is north, degrees increase clockwise) for orientation of transects. Compass decimal degrees can be converted to math degrees by subtracting them from 450; if the answer is greater than 360, subtract 360.

Scale and accuracy[link]

A 'global view map' of Europe, Western Asia and Africa.

Many, but not all, maps are drawn to a scale, expressed as a ratio such as 1:10,000, meaning that 1 of any unit of measurement on the map corresponds exactly, or approximately, to 10,000 of that same unit on the ground. The scale statement may be taken as exact when the region mapped is small enough for the curvature of the Earth to be neglected, for example in a town planner's city map. Over larger regions where the curvature cannot be ignored we must use map projections from the curved surface of the Earth (sphere or ellipsoid) to the plane. The impossibility of flattening the sphere to the plane implies that no map projection can have constant scale: on most projections the best we can achieve is accurate scale on one or two lines (not necessarily straight) on the projection. Thus for map projections we must introduce the concept of point scale, which is a function of position, and strive to keep its variation within narrow bounds. Although the scale statement is nominal it is usually accurate enough for all but the most precise of measurements.

Large scale maps, say 1:10,000, cover relatively small regions in great detail and small scale maps, say 1:10,000,000, cover large regions such as nations, continents and the whole globe. The large/small terminology arose from the practice of writing scales as numerical fractions: 1/10,000 is larger than 1/10,000,000. There is no exact dividing line between large and small but 1/100,000 might well be considered as a medium scale. Examples of large scale maps are the 1:25,000 maps produced for hikers; on the other hand maps intended for motorists at 1:250,000 or 1:1,000,000 are small scale.

It is important to recognise that even the most accurate maps sacrifice a certain amount of accuracy in scale to deliver a greater visual usefulness to its user. For example, the width of roads and small streams are exaggerated when they are too narrow to be shown on the map at true scale; that is, on a printed map they would be narrower than could be perceived by the naked eye. The same applies to computer maps where the smallest unit is the pixel. A narrow stream say must be shown to have the width of a pixel even if at the map scale it would be a small fraction of the pixel width.

Cartogram: The EU distorted to show population distributions.

Some maps, called cartograms, have the scale deliberately distorted to reflect information other than land area or distance. For example, this map of Europe has been distorted to show population distribution, while the rough shape of the continent is still discernable.

Another example of distorted scale is the famous London Underground map. The basic geographical structure is respected but the tube lines (and the River Thames) are smoothed to clarify the relationships between stations. Near the center of the map stations are spaced out more than near the edges of map.

Further inaccuracies may be deliberate. For example, cartographers may simply omit military installations or remove features solely in order to enhance the clarity of the map. For example, a road map may not show railroads, smaller waterways or other prominent non-road objects, and even if it does, it may show them less clearly (e.g. dashed or dotted lines/outlines) than the main roads. Known as decluttering, the practice makes the subject matter that the user is interested in easier to read, usually without sacrificing overall accuracy. Software-based maps often allow the user to toggle decluttering between ON, OFF and AUTO as needed. In AUTO the degree of decluttering is adjusted as the user changes the scale being displayed.

Map types and projections[link]

Map of large underwater features. (1995, NOAA)

Maps of the world or large areas are often either 'political' or 'physical'. The most important purpose of the political map is to show territorial borders; the purpose of the physical is to show features of geography such as mountains, soil type or land use including infrastruction such as roads, railroads and buildings. Topographic maps show elevations and relief with contour lines or shading. Geological maps show not only the physical surface, but characteristics of the underlying rock, fault lines, and subsurface structures.

Maps that depict the surface of the Earth also use a projection, a way of translating the three-dimensional real surface of the geoid to a two-dimensional picture. Perhaps the best-known world-map projection is the Mercator projection, originally designed as a form of nautical chart.

Aeroplane pilots use aeronautical charts based on a Lambert conformal conic projection, in which a cone is laid over the section of the earth to be mapped. The cone intersects the sphere (the earth) at one or two parallels which are chosen as standard lines. This allows the pilots to plot a great-circle route approximation on a flat, two-dimensional chart.

• Azimuthal or Gnomonic map projections are often used in planning air routes due to their ability to represent great circles as straight lines.
• Richard Edes Harrison produced a striking series of maps during and after World War II for Fortune magazine. These used "bird's eye" projections to emphasise globally strategic "fronts" in the air age, pointing out proximities and barriers not apparent on a conventional rectangular projection of the world.

Electronic maps[link]

A USGS digital raster graphic.

From the last quarter of the 20th century, the indispensable tool of the cartographer has been the computer. Much of cartography, especially at the data-gathering survey level, has been subsumed by Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The functionality of maps has been greatly advanced by technology simplifying the superimposition of spatially located variables onto existing geographical maps. Having local information such as rainfall level, distribution of wildlife, or demographic data integrated within the map allows more efficient analysis and better decision making. In the pre-electronic age such superimposition of data led Dr. John Snow to discover the cause of cholera. Today, it is used by agencies of the human kind, as diverse as wildlife conservationists and militaries around the world.

Relief map Sierra Nevada

Even when GIS is not involved, most cartographers now use a variety of computer graphics programs to generate new maps.

Interactive, computerised maps are commercially available, allowing users to zoom in or zoom out (respectively meaning to increase or decrease the scale), sometimes by replacing one map with another of different scale, centered where possible on the same point. In-car global navigation satellite systems are computerised maps with route-planning and advice facilities which monitor the user's position with the help of satellites. From the computer scientist's point of view, zooming in entails one or a combination of:

1. replacing the map by a more detailed one
2. enlarging the same map without enlarging the pixels, hence showing more detail by removing less information compared to the less detailed version
3. enlarging the same map with the pixels enlarged (replaced by rectangles of pixels); no additional detail is shown, but, depending on the quality of one's vision, possibly more detail can be seen; if a computer display does not show adjacent pixels really separate, but overlapping instead (this does not apply for an LCD, but may apply for a cathode ray tube), then replacing a pixel by a rectangle of pixels does show more detail. A variation of this method is interpolation.

File:World.pdf

For example:

• Typically (2) applies to a Portable Document Format (PDF) file or other format based on vector graphics. The increase in detail is, of course, limited to the information contained in the file: enlargement of a curve may eventually result in a series of standard geometric figures such as straight lines, arcs of circles or splines.
• (2) may apply to text and (3) to the outline of a map feature such as a forest or building.
• (1) may apply to the text as needed (displaying labels for more features), while (2) applies to the rest of the image. Text is not necessarily enlarged when zooming in. Similarly, a road represented by a double line may or may not become wider when one zooms in.
• The map may also have layers which are partly raster graphics and partly vector graphics. For a single raster graphics image (2) applies until the pixels in the image file correspond to the pixels of the display, thereafter (3) applies.

See also: Webpage (Graphics), PDF (Layers), MapQuest, Google Maps, Google Earth, OpenStreetMap or Yahoo! Maps.

Conventional signs[link]

The various features shown on a map are represented by conventional signs or symbols. For example, colors can be used to indicate a classification of roads. Those signs are usually explained in the margin of the map, or on a separately published characteristic sheet.^[1]

Some cartographers prefer to make the map cover practically the entire screen or sheet of paper, leaving no room "outside" the map for information about the map as a whole. These cartographers typically place such information in an otherwise "blank" region "inside" the map -- cartouche, map legend, title, compass rose, bar scale, etc. In particular, some maps contain smaller "sub-maps" in otherwise blank regions—often one at a much smaller scale showing the whole globe and where the whole map fits on that globe, and a few showing "regions of interest" at a larger scale in order to show details that wouldn't otherwise fit. Occasionally sub-maps use the same scale as the large map—a few maps of the contiguous United States include a sub-map to the same scale for each of the two non-contiguous states.

Labeling[link]

To communicate spatial information effectively, features such as rivers, lakes, and cities need to be labeled. Over centuries cartographers have developed the art of placing names on even the densest of maps. Text placement or name placement can get mathematically very complex as the number of labels and map density increases. Therefore, text placement is time-consuming and labor-intensive, so cartographers and GIS users have developed automatic label placement to ease this process.^[2][3]

Non geographical spatial maps[link]

Maps exist of the solar system, and other cosmological features such as star maps. In addition maps of other bodies such as the Moon and other planets are technically not geological maps.

Non spatial maps[link]

Diagrams such as schematic diagrams and Gantt charts and treemaps display logical relationships between items, and do not display spatial relationships at all.

Some maps, for example the London Underground map, are topological maps. Topological in nature, the distances are completely unimportant; only the connectivity is significant.

See also[link]

Atlas portal

General

• Atlas
• Automatic label placement
• Cartography
• Counter-mapping
• Geography
• Globe
• Map–territory relation

Map design and types

Modern maps

• Censorship of maps
• Google Maps
• Japanese map symbols
• List of online map services
• MapQuest
• Maps of the UK and Ireland
• Map of the United States
• NASA World Wind
• Orthophotomap - A map created from Orthophotography
• ABmaps
• Intermap Technologies
• Engels Maps
• Ordnance Survey Maps

http://www.terralibrary.com/

Map history

• Early world maps
• George Bradshaw, including maps of the British railway network, first published in 1839
• History of cartography
• List of cartographers
• Ordnance Survey UK map agency
• Sanborn Maps - detailed American fire insurance maps

Related topics

• Aerial landscape art
• Aerial photography
• Automatic label placement
• Digital geologic mapping
• Geographic coordinate system
• Geography Cup
• Index map
• Map database management
• National Mine Map Repository
• Global Map

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• David Buisseret, ed., Monarchs, Ministers and Maps: The Emergence of Cartography as a Tool of Government in Early Modern Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992, ISBN 0-226-07987-2
• Denis E. Cosgrove (ed.) Mappings. Reaktion Books, 1999 ISBN 1-86189-021-4
• Freeman, Herbert, Automated Cartographic Text Placement. White paper.
• Ahn, J. and Freeman, H., “A program for automatic name placement,” Proc. AUTO-CARTO 6, Ottawa, 1983. 444-455.
• Freeman, H., “Computer Name Placement,” ch. 29, in Geographical Information Systems, 1, D.J. Maguire, M.F. Goodchild, and D.W. Rhind, John Wiley, New York, 1991, 449-460.
• Mark Monmonier, How to Lie with Maps, ISBN 0-226-53421-9
• O'Connor, J.J. and E.F. Robertson, The History of Cartography. Scotland : St. Andrews University, 2002.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Maps

• Geography and Maps, an Illustrated Guide, by the staff of the U.S. Library of Congress.
• Historical Maps from the Hargrett Library Collection (University of Georgia) - browse over 1000 maps from as early as 1544. DjVu format; requires free plugin or JAVA
• The History of Cartography Project at the University of Wisconsin, a comprehensive research project in the history of maps and mapping
• Mapping History Project - University of Oregon
• Mapping the World The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division at The New York Public Library
• Online map collections at the Library of Congress
• John H.W. Stuckenberg Map Digital Collection at Gettysburg College
• Journal of Maps

Anthony Peter Buzan
Born	(1942-06-02) June 2, 1942 (age 70) Palmers Green, Middlesex
www.thinkbuzan.com

Anthony "Tony" Peter Buzan ( /ˈbuːzən/; born 2 June 1942) is an author and educational consultant. He is a proponent of the techniques of Mind Mapping^[1] and mental literacy. He claims to have worked with "corporate entities and businesses all over the world; academics; Olympic athletes; children of all ages; governments; and high profile individuals, in teaching them how to maximize the use of their brain power."^[2]

Background[link]

Buzan was born in Palmers Green, Enfield, Middlesex. He is an alumnus of Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver, where he was Head Boys Prefect 1959-60. His brother is the academic Barry Buzan. He is a promoter of mnemonic systems and Mind Mapping techniques. He launched his own software program to support Mind Mapping called iMindMap in December 2006. His website cites trademarks on the phrase 'Mind Maps'.

Following his 1970s series "Use Your Head" for the BBC, many of his ideas have been set into his series of five books: Use Your Memory, Master Your Memory, Use Your Head, The Speed Reading Book and The Mind Map Book. He has since authored or co-authored over 100 books that have appeared in 30 languages.^{[citation needed]}

As a popular psychology author, Tony Buzan has written on subjects relating to the brain, "genius quotient (GQ)", spiritual intelligence, memory, creativity and speed reading. He is the founder and President of the Brain Foundation (not to be confused with various medical-related bodies with the same name) and also the Brain Trust Charity, the World Memory Championships^[3] and the World Championships of the Brain. He was a co-founder of London's Mind Body Spirit Festival as well as the Mind Sports Olympiad.^[4]

Bibliography[link]

• Spore One - Structure in Hyperspace (September 25, 1972) ISBN 0-85115-016-0
• Use Your Head (January, 1974) ISBN 0-563-10790-1
• Speed Memory (January 27, 1977) ISBN 0-7153-7365-X
• Make the Most of Your Mind (February, 1984) ISBN 0-671-49519-4
• Speed Reading (20 May, 1971) ISBN 0-7221-2119-9
• The Mind Map Book (6 September, 1993) ISBN 0-563-36373-8
• Concordea (December, 2006)
• Requiem For Ted (December, 2006)
• Use Your Memory, (BBC Publications)
• Master Your Memory, (BBC Publications)
• The Memory Book, (BBC Publications, 2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Biography at open2.net BBC/Open University.
• Matteo Salvo - Italian certified partner.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tony Buzan

Ximena Sariñana
Sariñana in 2011
Background information
Birth name	Ximena Sariñana Rivera
Born	(1985-10-29) 29 October 1985 (age 26) Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Genres	Jazz, pop, rock, alternative
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals, piano, percussion, charango
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Warner Bros. Records
Associated acts	Omar Rodríguez-López
Website	ximenamusic.com

Ximena Sariñana Rivera (born October 29, 1985) is a Mexican singer-songwriter and actress. Sariñana's musical career was launched in 2008 with the release of her first studio album Mediocre, an adult contemporary pop-rock/vocal jazz album that has been critically acclaimed and nominated for various awards, including two nominations in the Latin Grammy Awards of 2008.

Childhood[link]

Ximena Sariñana (pronounced: [xiˈmena sariˈɲana]) Rivera was born in Guadalajara, Mexico^[1] to producer/director Fernando Sariñana and screenwriter Carolina Rivera. When she was 2 years old, Sariñana attended an Ella Fitzgerald concert, claiming this to be the beginning of her interest in music and one of her biggest influences. She soon started listening to other artists such as Paul Simon and Tracy Chapman. She would often be seen singing and dancing, dressed up in costumes. When Sariñana was 7 years old, her neighbor, Cecilia Toussaint suggested she should take singing lessons with her teacher Ricardo Sánchez, known for instructing Mexico's biggest talents. She also took up piano lessons with Hanna Cot. In 1994, Sariñana acted in Hasta morir (English: 'Til Death^[2]), which was produced by her father, Fernando Sariñana.^[3] Sariñana would later attend the Academia de Musica Fermatta.

Acting and early work[link]

She started acting in telenovelas at the age of 11 as the villain Mariela in Luz Clarita,^[2] starring Daniela Luján as the main character, Luz Clarita.^[4] The following year, Sariñana acted in the telenovela María Isabel as Rosa Isela, with Adela Noriega as the main character, María Isabel.^[2] Her final appearance on a telenovela was in 1998 on a telenovela entitled Gotita de amor (English: Droplet of Love) as Enriqueta.^[5] At seventeen, after earning a scholarship for the Five Week Program of the Berklee College of Music, she composed three songs for the soundtrack of the Mexican movie Amar te duele where she also played the part of Mariana. Other important movies in which she acted were as Ximena in the 2001 film El Segundo Aire (English: A Second Chance^[2]), Valetina in Niñas Mal (English: Bad Girls), all of which were directed by her father and written by her mother. She also appeared in a short film called De paso in 2005. In 2007, Ximena Sariñana acted in the movie Dos abrazos (English: Two Embraces^[6]) directed by Enrique Begne. Dos abrazos won Sariñana an award for Best Female Actress at the 38th Diosas de Plata of Pecime awards.^[7] The latest movie in which she has acted is called Enemigos íntimos^[2] (English: Close Enemies) and will be released on DVD in late 2008.

She went on to be part of the band Feliz No Cumpleaños (English: Happy Un-Birthday), a Mexican funk-jazz, pop-rock band she formed alongside old friends from the Academia de Musica Fermatta. She captivated the audience on television by performing "El Triste" (English: The Sad One), originally performed by Mexican icon José José.

[edit] Mediocre

Sariñana in 2008

Her first solo album Mediocre was released on February 12, 2008 by Warner Music Group. Ximena wrote most of the songs on the album and revealed in Venus Zine's Summer 2009 cover story that, “Learning the language of my nationality was something I really wanted to achieve... so I thought maybe if I did a Spanish album it would be a good challenge."^[8] On March 28, 2008, Mediocre was certified gold by AMPROFON for selling more than 50,000 copies.^[9][10] Sariñana would later receive further achievement when Mediocre reached platinum status for selling more than 80,000 copies.^[11]

The videos for Vidas paralelas, Normal, and No Vuelvo Mas were all shot in Iceland. Vidas paralelas was directed by Pablo Dávila.^[12]

In late June, Metronomy stated that they were fascinated with Ximena's debut album Mediocre and the group produced a remix of La tina. Her music video for the second single, No Vuelvo Más, was premiered as an exclusive video on July 14, 2008 in MTV Mexico. She was later nominated for two Latin Grammy awards for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Song but lost to Kany García and Volver a Comenzar by Café Tacuba respectively.

Collaborations[link]

In 2007, she contributed vocals for the song "Valenciana" in the album Extempore by the Ensenada-based nujazz band Kobol. In March 2009, Sariñana was featured as a vocalist alongside her boyfriend Omar Rodríguez-López with his solo group on their tour of Europe, which resulted in the live record Los Sueños de un Higado. She also provided vocals on Omar's solo albums Xenophanes, Solar Gambling, Ciencia de los Inútiles, Cizaña de los Amores and Tychozorente.

Along with Jason Mraz, she has released a Spanish version of Mraz's song "Lucky". The video for the Spanish-version has both her and Mraz in it, it was released to MTV on 22 June 2009.

Second album: Ximena Sariñana (2009-present)[link]

In November 2009, Sariñana was in the studio working on her second album. Her second, self-titled, album, consists of English songs written or co-written by her. The album contains one Spanish-language track called, "Tu y Yo". The album was recorded in Mexico City and Los Angeles during 2009 and was completed in early 2011. It was released in North America on August 2, 2011. The album's first single, "Different", was released in June 2011.^{[citation needed]}. Shine Down was released as a promotional single in summer 2011..

An article in Rolling Stone España in February 2009 featured Sariñana, and she expanded further into international stardom when she graced the cover of Venus Zine's Summer 2009 issue, transcending national boundaries to make her mark in American media.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Guest appearances[link]

• Extempore by Kobol (2007)
• Los Sueños de un Higado by Omar Rodríguez-López Group (2009)
• Xenophanes by Omar Rodríguez-López (2009)
• Solar Gambling by Omar Rodríguez-López (2009)
• Ciencia de los Inútiles by El Trío de Omar Rodríguez-López (2010)
• Tychozorente by Omar Rodríguez-López (2010)
• Cizaña de los Amores by Omar Rodríguez-López (2010)
• どういたしまして by Omar Rodríguez-López Group (2010)
• Tu Nite con Lorenzo Parro (2011)
• Jay Leno Show (2011)

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ximena Sariñana

• Official web site
• Ximena Sariñana at the Internet Movie Database

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2010)

The Basics
The Basics at the Oxford Art Factory, 2010
Background information
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Rock
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Independent, Albert Records
Associated acts	Gotye, Down Hills Home, Dog With Wheels, Blood Red Bird
Website	The Basics Official Website
Members
Wally De Backer Kris Schroeder Tim Heath
Past members
Michael Hubbard
Notable instruments
Lead guitar, drums, bass guitar.

The Basics ( /ˈbæzɪtʃ/ BAZZ-ich) are a three-piece band from Melbourne, Australia, formed by Wally De Backer and Kris Schroeder in 2002. Their style has been described as anything from 'indie-pop' to 'rock'n'roll' to 'pop-rock', though their records show they span a wide range of genres, including reggae, ska, country, and electro-pop. They are "recognised as one of Australia's hardest-working bands".^[1]

With close to 1000 shows in their ten-year career, their live performances are well-known for their sense of humour and energy.^[2]

Formation[link]

The Basics were formed after Kris met Wally at a party in Melbourne.^[3] The event was to see off the young aspiring producer, who was about to depart for Los Angeles, and together with a number of musician friends, the two jammed on some blues-rock standards. Later that night, they bonded over a mutual love of The Beatles, 70s and 80s cartoon theme songs and old Sierra adventure games.

Initially, they played around Melbourne as an acoustic guitar/drums combo, starting at The Opposition in Frankston and the House of Fools in Footscray, where in late 2002 they met Michael Hubbard and later invited him to join them on electric guitar.^[4] Though lacking any real experience with the instrument, Kris willingly purchased his first bass guitar, and the trio was born. During this time, the group start performing songs with more complicated three-part harmony.

During late 2002 and early 2003, The Basics recorded and released an album called Get Back through MGM Distribution. They began what was to become regular tours of the East and West coasts of Australia.

2004-2005: Current lineup[link]

Tim Heath joined the group in June 2004, after Michael decided to pursue his solo career, which has included being one half of Down Hills Home.^[4] Tim was reportedly the only person to reply to an advertisement in Melbourne's Beat Magazine looking for a new guitarist. Tim apparently answered the advertisement - which said the applicant "must have a love of 50s and 60s rock'n'roll" - thinking that he would be meeting "a couple of old guys to play with on the weekends over some beers". They soon recorded For Girls Like You.

The Basics in 2005 continued to tour and play small festivals, and after releasing For Girls Like You through MGM Distribution, they departed for a national tour of Australia, which lasted for two months and took them to every Australian state and territory. Stuart Padbury, a young Melbourne sound engineer, joined them on much of this tour. On returning, the band began demonstrating songs for a new album.

2006-2009: Touring and soundtracks[link]

In 2006, The Basics began recording what was to become known as Stand Out/Fit In. Taking several months, it was not completed until the end of the year, despite intentions to have it released in June. Instead, they held a successful 'album preview', where each of the tracks was demonstrated in 'rough form' accompanied by a music video for each (produced by Melbourne photographic artist James Bryans). The band also talked about the origins of the songs. This event brought a lot of attention to the band for the idea's originality. They pre-released a radio single 'Just Hold On' from the album. The band were invited to play the hugely popular Homebake Festival in Sydney, where they received a great response, after being introduced onto the stage by a short stocky Asian guy with big calves ("one of the highlights" wrote The Daily Telegraph).

In 2007, the band departed on a tri-state residency which saw them play Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane every week for the month of April - a bold move which brought further attention to the band for its original idea.^[5] Riding on the wave of this tour, Schroeder, De Backer and Heath departed on their first overseas tour which saw them performing 26 shows around Japan, Norway and the United Kingdom.^[6] They also toured twice more up the East Coast, one of which was with popular Japanese band The Bawdies. Their song 'Rattle My Chain' was used in a series of commercials for Volvo Australia. The song 'Hey There!' featured in the British film The Bank Job - starring Jason Statham - and was used as the backing for a February 2007 short film directed by Tim Longhurst called The Rip. Their song 'Better' was featured in a surfing documentary about the invention of the shortboard in 1967.

In 2008, the band appeared on Australia's Channel 9 for Australia Day celebrations, performing two of their songs - 'Just Hold On' and 'Hey There!' - to an estimated audience of 2 million. Securing an Australian Government grant, they embarked on a two-month tour of Australia, specifically targeting "culturally underprivileged groups" in rural and regional schoolchildren and Indigenous communities. The programme had them holding masterclasses and performing alongside Indigenous groups in the remote Northern Territory and Queensland.^[7][8] Their initiative also had them raising money for the charity Lifeline^{[disambiguation needed ]}, their contribution to which was recognised with a plaque at the end of the tour. Season two of Californication starring David Duchovny featured their cover of the classic 'Have Love, Will Travel', most famously covered by 'The Sonics'.

In 2009, The Basics for the first time enjoyed the support of Australian radio network Triple J, which had reportedly snubbed the band's previous material.^[9] The singles 'With This Ship' and 'Like A Brother' were added to the station's playlist, and momentum carried The Basics overseas for a second tour of the United Kingdom and Norway, and also a series of shows in Dublin, Ireland. They were joined by the longtime front-of-house engineer Stuart Padbury, who had been mixing them since 2005. The band was often seen in the Grafton Street Mall in Dublin, busking to promote their concerts there. Their second show in Oslo, Norway, saw the band perform with Hot Tub, one of the members of the Norwegian boy band "Boyzvoice", in his first performance for several years. Season Eight of Scrubs featured the song 'Lookin' Over My Shoulder'.

Despite all this promise, the band's album Keep Your Friends Close - produced and part-recorded by Peter Cobbin at London's Abbey Road Studios - though enjoying many favourable reviews,^{[10][11][12][13]} failed to impress Richard Kingsmill, music director of Triple J. This effectively ended the band's apparent upward spiral and the resulting album launch tour was reportedly "trying".

2010: Hiatus and live album[link]

In 2010, following the band's fourth stint at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and the recording of a yet-unreleased live album, an indefinite hiatus was announced on the band's websites. This was in part due to the impending release of a new album produced by Wally for his Gotye project, and also to reported tensions within the band following the previous year's disappointments.

However, this hiatus was soon broken with a two-month residency at the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne, which saw an apparent return to form.^[14] The band's EP "Wait For You" enjoys airplay on Triple J.^[15] The Basics also played a one-off show at Sydney's Oxford Art Factory.^[16]

On 20 August 2010, The Basics released their fourth LP /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/, available free and exclusively from their website for digital download^[17]. The band had reportedly moved to expand their listenership through this free giveaway, though 300 "Deluxe" CD/vinyl versions have been printed. /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/ was recorded at the Northcote Social Club on 6 February, "in front of a live studio audience", and like the previous record, was mixed by Peter Cobbin at Abbey Road Studios. Technically a self-titled album, the phonetics spell out the accurate pronunciation of the band’s name. Kris Schroeder: "For years we’ve worked at bringing our live energy into the studio and thus far it’s been a bit hit-and-miss. Our trick this time was to pull a switcheroo and bring the studio to us instead; the result is the best and closest to us we’ve sounded yet."

Melbourne thespian and Dog With Wheels bassist David Bramble - friends with Heath from university days - has occasionally joined the band on tour, playing keys, often while sporting a large moustache. Other guests have included Jake Mason (saxophone), also of Cookin' on 3 Burners and The Bamboos^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Gideon Brazil (saxophone, flute), Simon Imrei (guitar and vocals) and Monty MacKenzie (saxophone).

Covers have often made an appearance from various sources: to date, some of the bands covered have been Cream, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, New Kids on the Block, Richard Berry, Sonny Curtis and The Crickets, JJ Cale, Harry Nilsson, Bill Scott, Ryan Adams and The Coasters (via The Beatles for their cover of Three Cool Cats).

Members[link]

Current

• Wally De Backer - drums, vocals (2002-present)
• Kris Schroeder - bass, vocals (2002-present)
• Tim Heath - guitar, vocals (2004-present)

Former

• Michael Hubbard - guitar, vocals (2002-2004)

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Get Back (15 January 2004)
• Stand Out/Fit In (5 May 2007)
• Keep Your Friends Close (25 September 2009)
• /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/ (20 August 2010)

EP[link]

• For Girls Like You (11 July 2005)
• Lookin' Over My Shoulder (10 February 2007)
• Like A Brother (5 June 2009)
• Wait For You (21 May 2010)

Singles[link]

• Call It Rhythm & Blues (20 August 2004)
• Just Hold On
• With This Ship (22 February 2009)

Upcoming projects[link]

The band is taking a three year hiatus, with an announced return to the stage together in early 2014. Wally De Backer launched Making Mirrors under his Gotye act in August 2011, Tim Heath will be touring and recording with Blood Red Bird, and Kris Schroeder recorded a solo EP titled, Patience in the Face of Control, before leaving Australia to work with the Red Cross in Kenya for a two year sabbatical.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Myspace Website