Crowded House reunites to record album, tour

MELBOURNE, Australia — Crowded House, one of Australia’s most successful bands in the late 1980s and early 1990s, is re-forming to record an album and go on tour.

Singer-songwriter Neil Finn said Wednesday he would reunite with fellow founding member Nick Seymour. He said they had spent part of past year writing music together.

“We are now announcing our intention to re-form Crowded House with a new record entitled, ‘Time on Earth,’ ” Finn said.

“It feels right to us that the band should re-emerge at this time, and ... we look forward to reconnecting with the audience that we established and for whom we still hold a deep respect,” he said in a statement.

Crowded House, formed in 1985, had a series of hits, including “Something So Strong” and “World Where You Live,” from their debut self-titled album. The group disbanded in 1996 after seven albums and a series of farewell shows that were capped by a performance on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.

Band members will play their first comeback shows at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., in late April, the statement said, confirming an earlier report.

“We aim to make the upcoming shows and the new music every bit as vital and spirited as what has come before,” said Finn, who has recorded steadily over the years under his own name and with brother Tim as the Finn Brothers. The siblings earlier were part of the seminal new wave band Split Enz.

Paul Hester, another founding member of Crowded House, died in March 2005.

Finn said the band was holding auditions for a new drummer.