Chocolate Starfish has premiered a new feature-length documentary, tracing the Melbourne band’s journey from pub rock beginnings and chart success to personal tragedy and an enduring second act on the Australian live circuit.
by Paul Cashmere
Australian rock band Chocolate Starfish has opened its archives for a new documentary, Between The Cheeks: The Unfinished Story Of Chocolate Starfish, a feature-length film that chronicles the group’s three-decade history, from its origins in Melbourne’s pub scene to the loss of founding guitarist Zoran Romic and the band’s continuing life on stage.
The documentary, released via YouTube, arrives at a time when veteran Australian artists are increasingly using digital platforms to document and preserve their histories independently. By releasing the film directly to audiences, Chocolate Starfish has created an extensive record of its own story while also providing a snapshot of the Australian music industry during the major label era of the 1990s and its subsequent evolution.
Between The Cheeks follows the group’s beginnings in late 1980s Melbourne, when musicians from various local bands regularly crossed paths at the Chevron Club on St Kilda Road. The band eventually adopted the name Chocolate Starfish, reportedly suggested by the late Barry Humphries.
At the centre of the early story is the friendship between singer Adam Thompson and guitarist Zoran Romic. The pair wrote their first song, Second Skin, at Romic’s family home in Avondale Heights. The line-up later expanded to include keyboardist Darren Danielson and bassist John Nixon, eventually securing a single deal with EMI.
The band’s breakthrough came unexpectedly with a high-energy interpretation of Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain. The song became a national Top 10 hit while the group was in the United States on a songwriting trip. In the documentary, Thompson recalls how extensive commercial radio airplay transformed the band’s fortunes, turning modest pub audiences into packed venues almost overnight.
Success led to an intense touring schedule throughout the 1990s. The documentary revisits long drives up and down Australia’s east coast in a Toyota Tarago and performances at venues including Newcastle’s Star Hotel. During a three-month stay in Los Angeles, the band wrote Mountain, a song that would become one of the defining tracks of its catalogue and remain a staple of its live performances.
The film also examines the pressures that accompanied the band’s rapid ascent. By the late 1990s, the strain of relentless touring and a lack of effective management contributed to tensions within the group. The members drifted into separate lives, focusing on families, teaching careers and other musical projects.
Their estrangement ended suddenly following Romic’s diagnosis with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The health crisis brought the musicians back together and led to one of the documentary’s most emotional chapters. The film includes footage and reflections on Romic’s final public appearance, a major benefit concert staged by Melbourne’s music community, where the guitarist insisted on performing despite his deteriorating health.
Zoran Romic passed away on 31 March 2012, leaving the remaining members to consider whether Chocolate Starfish should continue. With the support and blessing of Romic’s family, the band resumed activity in 2013. After working with several temporary guitarists, the group eventually found a permanent replacement in Zakk Zedras.
The documentary acknowledges the challenge faced by any long-running band attempting to continue without a founding member. While the original chemistry can never be entirely recreated, the addition of Zedras provided a pathway for Chocolate Starfish to celebrate its legacy while continuing to evolve as a performing unit.
Today, the band remains one of Australia’s most active touring acts, particularly through its theatrical presentations of classic albums, including its acclaimed full performance of Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell. The documentary suggests that the current version of Chocolate Starfish represents a renewal rather than a revival.
As Thompson reflects in the film, the band has found what he describes as a symbolic “second skin”. For Chocolate Starfish, Between The Cheeks is both a historical record and an acknowledgment that the story remains unfinished, with the group’s future continuing to be written on Australian stages.
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