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20 years ago the Sydney duo, Butterfly 9, consisting of singer-songwriter Suzy Connolly and producer, co-writer Matt Fell released their self-titled debut album. That album and its follow up, One For The Birds (produced by Fell) contained a treasure trove of hook laden, Beatle-esque pop. During its tenure the band gained a devoted following, massive airplay, rave reviews, huge television exposure and high profile national support slots yet mainstream success was just out of reach due to mismanagement and just plain bad luck. The Butterfly 9 story essentially started in the most unlikeliest of places; suburban Van Nuys, deep in the bowels of Los Angeles, just prior to the new millennium. Suzy and Matt had packed their bags and relocated to LA in support of Suzy's blooming solo career, where she had started what they'd hoped would be a successful relationship with a music management company. "Like so many artists before and since, we had gone to LA with dreams of success", Suzy explains, "only to find that my management just couldn't deliver on what they'd promised." It was during that tumultuous time that Suzy and Matt poured what they were going through into the song and almost future hit 'Another Perfect Day'. The mournful ballad encapsulated the isolation they felt being on the other side of the world from friends and family, struggling to find their feet in a place that on the surface seemed perfect. "I remember us talking about the 'it never rains in Southern California' cliche, that everyday was another perfect one, yet we felt like we were drowning in all the drama and dissapointment that was around us," says Matt. "The chorus came to us while hiking one of the many canyons on a typically glorious day." "We knew we'd stumbled onto something great", says Suzy, "but the song was met by my manager with indifference and the irony and contradictory nature of the song was completely lost. We knew then that we'd reached the end of the road." With their tail between their legs but a fire in their bellies, Suzy and Matt returned to Sydney with a fierce determination to make music only on their terms and to do so as a band. Emboldened by the recent availability of home recording technology they created what became their debut album over the course of the year on a shoestring budget in various home studios and signed a recording contract with ABC/Universal. After the album was completed and not long before its release however they made the fortuitous decision to re-record 'Another Perfect Day' as an uptempo, guitar laden slice of glorious power pop. This new version sounded like a bona-fide hit and upon it's release it seemed like all signs pointed to mainstream success. The producers of Home And Away, Neighbours and The Secret Life Of Us became huge fans of the band and slathered the single (and other songs of the album) all over their shows. (The band even featured in the final episode of the 2nd season of The Secret Life Of Us). Counting Crows' lead singer, Adam Duritz listened to reportedly hundreds of Australian bands CDs and handpicked Butterfly 9 to open for them on their sellout national tour and the album received rave reviews from the music press. 'Another Perfect Day' had gone into high rotation on radio across the country, yet a year after its release everything had come to a quiet and unsatisfactory halt. Despite everything going for it, the album had failed to find its audience. They parted way with their label ABC/Universal. Hearing 'Another Perfect Day' in 2022, it's clear why the song was so appealing. Utterly infectious, it channels pure melodic pop-rock with hooks aplenty yet it contains a streak of melancholy that enables it to connect with a wide range of fans - from the mainstream to Americana. It's pure, world class songwriting that the pair would build on with their independently released second album One For The Birds and then onto the pair's solo work – Suzy with her brilliant 2012 solo record Night Larks and Matt Fell with his award winning work as a producer and musician. "Even after 20 years, people still bring up the band and especially this song in conversation," says Matt. "Despite it being unavailable for so long it's managed to last in peoples' minds. I'm thrilled that it can be finally heard again!" Suzy admits she hadn't listened to the song in quite a while but upon revisiting it she felt a real sense of pride. "I don’t think either of us ever really cared about following musical trends – we just cared about writing great songs and so it’s nice that twenty years on, for me it’s still very listenable and something that I’m very happy to share."