So I saw a video by Crowded House the other day and thought to myself, “hmm, that guy looks like the dude from Split Enz!”. I may be totally nuts here, but are the two bands related? I’m a SE fan, but not so much so that I’ve followed the members bio’s or anything.
Yes
- also check out Tim and Neil Finn’s solo work - ‘Before/After’ and 'Try Whistling This ’ are both v. good.
Related question: is Crowded House a New Zealand band?
New Zealand claims Crowd House and SplitEnz as New Zealand bands, yes. But in truth, the members of both came from both Australia and New Zealand.
However, as Australia has a lot of good stuff already, the bands are ours. 
And yes, I meant to type Crowded House. Sheesh!
What was with the crazy hair in the “I Got You” video?? 
I’m shocked that the Bad Bews Baboon hasn’t showed up yet. She’s a HUGE Neil Finn fan and can give you lots of advice/annswers.
I’m going to buck the Australian trend of claiming anything vaguely related to ourselves as being Australian, and say that yes, though Crowded House (and perhaps Split Enz) had Australian members, the prime creative forces behind the band were from NZ, and the band can be said to be New Zealandish.
And to definitively answer the OP, Split Enz and Crowded House both featured Tim Finn and Neil Finn at various times in their respective histories. I’m not sure if their relationship extends to other members. (I also think that Neil Finn is vastly more talented, and the best CH work is that done without Tim Finn, and the best SE work is done with Neil.)
This tends to happen with Irish music in the UK. Bob Geldof was famously called “a Brit with true grit” by Margaret Thatcher, and U2 are forever being called British. In the British media they only become Irish when they do something naughty…
I guess this is a good thread to plug Betchadupa, a group fronted by Neil Finn’s son Liam. I randomly saw them at South by Southwest in Austin last year and was pleasantly surprised. I really haven’t listened to much Crowded House to be able to compare it, but I’d still call it New Zealand rock.
Split Enz was founded by Tim Finn, and later grew to include his younger brother Neil.
Crowded House was founded by Neil Finn, and later grew to include his older brother Tim.
When Crowded House dissolved Neil and Tim recorded together as the Finn Brothers.
Well, this question has pretty much been answered, but I had to open it because I love Crowded House, etc. If either band can be called Australian, it’s Crowded House. Two of the three orignal members were Australian though Neil Finn who, as others have said, was the singer and songwriter is from New Zealand. Split Enz, on the other hand, was largely made up, I think, of New Zealanders with some Australians and British thrown in.
Frenz.com is a fabulous resource for both bands as well as Betchadupa and other related bands.
-Lil
That was their schtick when they first began - crazy hair, starkly white freaky make-up, and zany eye-poppingly dazzling clothes.
The Finn brothers will be releasing another album this year. Thank you, boys
Ex-Crowdies Nick Seymour and Paul Hester(also of Split Enz) are involved in a new band Tarmac Adam (www.tarmacadam.com.au). With luck, they will be touring outside of Oz soon.
Another good resource is www.sevenworlds.net
As mentioned earlier, frenz.com is a great place for information.