Operator Please is an Australian pop band, originating on the Gold Coast of Queensland, in 2005. Their current lineup consists of vocalist and guitarist Amandah Wilkinson, drummer Tim Commandeur, keyboardist Chris Holland, bassist Ashley McConnell and violinist Taylor Henderson.

The original members met and formed Operator Please as students of Elanora State High School, in order to compete in the school's "Battle of the Bands" competition. In 2007, Operator Please released the singles "Get What You Want", "Leave It Alone", "Just a Song About Ping Pong" and their debut studio album, Yes Yes Vindictive. "Just a Song About Ping Pong", their most successful single to date, was nominated for two ARIA Awards in 2007, winning one for Breakthrough Artist - Single.

Operator Please was formed in early 2005 by lead singer Amandah Wilkinson in an attempt to compete in her high school's annual "Battle of the Bands" competition. After winning the contest, the five members, aged 17 to 19, started working on getting their name out through an independently produced EP, On the Prowl. Their second EP, Cement Cement, generated interest both locally and internationally, from a combination of word of mouth and exposure on the Australian youth radio network Triple J (which featured their first single, "Crash Tragic", taken from the EP, on high rotation for quite some time). Within months, and with the help of a record label sponsored showcase in NYC, they had agreed a deal with Virgin/EMI Records for Australia, and for the UK with indie label Brille Records.

"Just a Song About Ping Pong" was one of the most added songs at Australian commercial radio with the Hot 30 and Nova radio stations nationally leading the charge. The music video for the song was played on music programmes around Australia, UK, and Europe including MTV, Channel V, and ABC's rage. It was featured on the front page of MySpace and YouTube. Operator Please has since been labelled as "our favorite new band" and "the next big thing" by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton.

Since the announcement that the band were to play the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK in August, Operator Please continued to play industry showcases in the UK. The single "Just a Song About Ping Pong", released in Australia on July 28, has been added to national UK radio station BBC Radio 1 and London station XFM, following an NME feature which named them one of EMI's buzz bands. The single debuted in the ARIA Singles Chart on August 6 at #15, and topped out at #12. The single is nominated for two ARIA Awards in 2007: Best Pop Release and Breakthrough Artist - Single, and won the award for Breakthrough Artist - Single. Also, this was on the same night of their television performing debut performing that single.

The band recorded their debut studio album, titled Yes Yes Vindictive at The Groves, on the Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia, which was released on November 10. It charted at number 28 on the ARIA Albums Chart on the week beginning November 19. A track titled "Zero! Zero!" was heard on the Top Shelf program of Australian radio station Triple J on October 2. The band also recently opened for Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs on their Australian tours and are now on tour in the UK, Europe, and Asia. . The band finally released Yes Yes Vindictive in the UK on the 17th of March 2008. During the summer the band will be support touring The Futureheads and Lightspeed Champion. They have been playing many festivals across Europe including Glastonbury Festival. They have also covered 2 songs, Push It by Salt 'n' Pepa and Whip It by Devo, videos of these can be seen on YouTube

As of 11 June, 2009, Operator Please have started recording their next album. They are expecting to release a single in August and have their album released in late 2009. They have confirmed that Logic and Back and Forth will be in the new album. The band stated that the new album will have a more electronic feel than Yes Yes Vindictive. A demo version of "Back and Forth" was used on a update video of their progress on album number 2 which featured Amandah Wilkinson writing text onto paper and small slides of instruments and Timmy and Amandah. As of 15 August, 2009, Operator Please have finished recording their second album.

Charts and certifications

Operator Please's first single "Just a Song About Ping Pong" reached its peak of #12 on the ARIA Singles Chart (as of 27 August 2007) and has reached #10 on the UK Indie Chart. The next single "Get What You Want" debuted at #40 on 5 November. It has thus far peaked at #27. Their Australian album release Yes Yes Vindictive has so far charted at #5 on iTunes, at #55 on the New Zealand iTunes chart, #49 on the UK iTunes chart and #9 on the UK Indie Album Chart.

On the 18th of April, 2008, it was announced through several media sources that Gardiner had quit the band . The first to report the story were nme.com, who found the information through an unofficial blog post Gardiner had made on facebook.com . The band have been quoted saying the decision to split was mutual, following Gardiner's two-month break from touring in early January. Sarah is the third official member of Operator Please to leave the band (following Keiran Richards and Stephanie Joske).

Festivals

• Good Vibrations Festival(2007)
• Big Day Out (2007)
• Great Escape Festival (2007)
• Camden Crawl 2007
• Reading and Leeds Festivals (2007)
• Splendour in the Grass (2007)
• Homebake (2007)
• Coca-Cola Live 'n Local Up Close (2007)
• Falls Festival (2007)
• Big Day Out (2008)
• Saint Kilda Festival (2008)
• Hurricane Festival (2008)
• Glastonbury Festival (2008)
• Southside Festival (2008)
• Wakestock Festival (2008)
• Roxy Festival (2008)
• Slottsfjell Festival (2008)
• Melt Festival! (2008)
• Grazzhopper Festival (2008)
• Festival Of The Sun (2008)
• Fisher's Ghost Festival (2008)
• Valley Fiesta (2008)
• Dusty Days (Wagga Wagga) (2009)
• Clipsal 500 (2009)
• Northbeat (2009)

Television

• 21st Annual ARIA Awards - October 28, 2007
• The Sideshow - November 3, 2007
• Rove - November 18, 2007
• Sunrise - December 16, 2007
• Later With Jools Holland May 2, 2008
• Rove - June 15, 2008
• BBC Sound June 14, 2008
• Virgin Blue Commercial (Get What You Want Was Played During Commercial) (2007)
• Basement Sessions (2007)

ARIA Awards

• Official website
• Official web page on MySpace
• Official web page on YouTube
• Interview with SUPERSWEET, October 2007
• Interview with FasterLouder, January 2008
• Collection of photographs of Operator Please in concert