Catherine Wheels was originally formed by Jeff Lowe and Tim Underwood in 1986 in Perth, Western Australia. Lowe and Underwood had played in The Russians, with Darryl Edwards and Richard Galli. Catherine Wheels performed as a drummerless two piece, before adding Greta Little and Chad Hedley as their rhythm section, under the name Catherine Wheels, in 1986. The band performed infrequently around Perth for about a year, releasing a single, "Big Letdown" in February 1987, before they relocated to Sydney, where Underwood, Little and Hedley left to form a new band, Northern Lights. Lowe returned to Perth and conscripted Will Akers on bass guitar and Felicity 'Flick' Dear on drums and Craig Chisholm on lead/rhythm guitar to form a new version of Charlotte's Web in February 1987. This lineup lasted until Akers felt that he could no longer physically cope with playing in the band and was replaced by Mandy Haines. The band toured the northwest of the state at the end of 1987 and earned enough money to record Flies in the Face of..., at Poon's Head studios in Perth, which was released in January 1988 as a cassette. In September 1988 Haines joined The Pallisades and moved to Sydney, at the same time Chisholm decided to travel to Europe. As a result Michal Zampogna took over on bass guitar, and Laurie Mansell, who originally auditioned as a bass player, replaced Chisolm on lead/rhythm duties. The band then expanded with the addition of John Bannister on trumpet and Kym Skipworth on cello. The band released a second single, "Heart Trouble", on local independent label, Mighty Boy, in 1989. The single receiving airplay on Triple J. In August 1990 Mark Rettig joined the band and with the line-up of Lowe, Mansell, Zampogna, Skipworth and Dear released an EP, Short Time Strait. The EP was produced by Dom Mariani.
Post Charlotte
After the Northern Lights, Underwood went on to form The Rosemary Beads, with Little and Cam Munachen. Dear went on to play drums with Wooden Fische, Box and Butternut. As from 2006, Dear was the principal of Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School in Bunbury and played in a Noongar band called Warangka. Lowe, Skipworth together with drummer Nathan Jarvis formed The Indian Givers, following the disbanding of Charlotte's Web. Skipworth stopped performing after she and Lowe were involved in a car accident in May, 1982. She went on to work for ABC Television as a designer and is now a Registered Vet Nurse. Zampogna worked at RTRFM, Community Television and as the President of Animal Liberation Inc.
