Toy Balloon formed as a two piece in 2007 when Greg Cooper approached Nimai Etheridge to play guitar over electronic material composed entirely on a Roland MC-505 Groovebox. The two performed live around Brisbane regularly at venues like Ric’s, The Zoo, Lofly Hangar, The Troubadour, The Globe Theatre, Tongue N Groove café, as well as various private shows and house parties.
The songs however were still very much ‘works in progress’, and so the majority of 2008 was spent at the Lofly Hangar recording their debut album with producer/ engineer Phil Laidlaw (aheadphonehome). From here the songs were moulded into shape over a period of around six months. In October the band added Ben Green (ex- Capital) on drum kit and Chloe Cooper (Mr Maps) on piano keys to their live set up and from there the band’s reputation and profile grew.
The band has recently supported Canada’s Holy F**k, Melbourne band Aleks & The Ramps, and continue to gig around Brisbane with local acts of all genres. Their unique approach fuses electronic, hip hop, funk and dance genres with shoegazer, post rock, krautrock and guitar pop by layering electronic loops alongside a traditional live rock band set up. Their debut album ‘Toy Division’ will be released on the Lofly label June 2009 and an interstate tour is in the works for August.