Tuesday, February 10, 2009

We Ain't From Round Here... Update #2

My grand plan to keep this going throughout the tour has failed miserably. It was too hot, I didn't have internet connection, I was too lazy, blah blah blah. Let's see how we go with the recap. Excuse the largeness of this entry...

Mildura. Yes, awesome. I'm remembering. It was warm. Very warm. So warm in fact that our original plan to drive there on the Wednesday so we could get an extra day and night before the show fell through as we didn't want the poor car to drive in that heat, so we left the next morning. Although, after suffering through Adelaide's hottest day in 70 years (and later Melbourne's hottest day on record, but we'll get to that one later) 43 degrees in Mildura really wasn't too bad. We kept cool in Hudak's Baker and the river, as well as being moved inside for the gig at the Sandbar. We were originally going to play on the outdoor stage, but it was too freaking hot. It was a great show though - the crowd were really receptive to all of us, had a brilliant pub meal and got to see Jackson Firebird in all their glory in their hometown.

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cookie baker @ the sandbar, mildura

'shake the break down'

hot

Loxton. It is another riverland town like Mildura, about 2 and a bit hours out of Adelaide. We didn't leave Mildura till the late afternoon as we didn't really want to be driving in the middle of the day in the heat (was still in mid 40's). We had anticipated that the Loxton show could be a complete hit or miss in regards to crowd. The Big Day Out was on that night in Adelaide, so a lot of the youngen's would have gone there for that, and the with the heat, we assumed a lot of people would either be down by the river or at home under their AC. In saying that though, by the end of the night, quite a respectable crowd had turned up, and were all really enthusiastic. That night ended up being the biggest to date. All of the bands were put up in this house at the back of the hotel, so after the show we all went there to start on the rider that had been provided. Won't go into too much detail as to the activities of the night, but rest assured they included: drunk people sitting in a circle playing guitars and singing the blues, funny (and embarrassing) stories about each other, drunk photo's and a late night/early morning swim in the pool that had strictly and specifically been forbidden to band members staying in the house. Brilliant.

Rads! The night after Loxton was our home show of Adelaide. We had been looking forward to this for a little while, not that we weren't looking forward to the other shows, but you know, home town, lots of friends, blah blah. Again, another bloody hot day. But I think we were all getting used to it. Personally, this was probably the most fun show of the tour. The crowd were incredible, absolutely lapping up every band, and it was so great to share the night with so many friends, and give them a glimpse as to how much fun the last couple of weeks had been. We got Lochie to guest on a few tracks on bass, and they were PHAT. At 2am, Lochie and I decided that it was Maccas time, so we went for a quick bite to eat only to come back and find that the Grace Emily had closed. We missed the end of the party. Dayum.

harvs

blowy

crowd

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Since there was a few days till we had to be in Melbourne, we thought it a good opportunity to take The Mischief boys down to the farm on Yorke Peninsula. Freaking amazing. When we left Rads it was 40 something degrees, but down at Yorkes it was 27. AWESOME! I could only stay for one night, as I had to work the next day at Alpha, but here's a funny story - my shift started at 4, so I had to leave around 1:30 to make sure I got there on time. I tried ringing my sister to see if she could fill in for me as I wanted to stay down on the farm for a bit longer with the guys, but couldn't get a hold of her. My mobile had run out of battery so I couldn't ring anyone else. Got back home, drove to work only to find a sign on the door that said "Closed due to weather". At home, I recharged my phone to find a message from the boss saying not to come in today. Hilarious. Not as hilarious as what happened to the boys though. Or is that tragic? Their Tarago decided to overheat and explode while they were down at Yorkes, which meant they had to cancel their show in Melbourne the following night. Definitely not a good thing... Long story short, we left the following day for Melbs, with the Tarago at a mechanics that had boats he was working on.





Melbourne. We arrived at The Brunswick Hotel on Thursday night a bit after 8pm, which didn't leave us much time to bring all the gear in and start setting up. It was all a bit manic. The show itself was great fun, but not as many people came that we thought would, not that that ever gets to any of us. There was a friend who I hadn't seen in at least 10 years that came, which definitely made the night worth while. As well as another friend who had moved to Melbs quite a few months ago, so all in all it was a great night. After the show, many drinks were consumed, exchanging of merch, lots of hugs, and stupid photo's a plenty were taken as it was the last time we would all be together on this tour. We got a 3am dinner of Macca's (much to Cookie's disgust) and got to the hotel where we found that we weren't on the booking list. Standing around in a hotel lobby arguing with the guy at the desk at half 3 in the morning when you have to leave for the 8 hour drive back to Rads the next day isn't fun. But in the end we got the room, had a good sleep, and left back home around lunch.

back of the ute - why would you not?

We had another show with The Mischief on the Saturday in Melbourne, but we decided to go back home for a night to see our really good mate John Woods play his final show, along with launching the band's EP. I was so out of it that the whole night is a bit of a blur. It was ridiculously hot and sweaty, but so good to see this part of his life end the way it did. Very glad we made the drive back for it. But next morning we flew back to Melbs into the hottest day on record there - 47 degrees. It really was a bit ridiculous - I felt my eyelids burning. We walked around St Kilda for most of the afternoon before our show at Pure Pop Records - a brilliant record store that is also licensed and has a little stage area out the back of the shop. It was hot, we were sweaty, I broke 3 strings, but it was an incredible show. The Mischief played a killer set, and Blowy had to leave straight after to catch a plane only to find out that it had been cancelled. No wedding for him to attend... (not his own - that would just be silly).

the mischief

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one last hurrah



We spent that night getting a brilliant dinner and walking around trying to find a pub that wasn't swarming with people. We found ourselves on a tram heading back into the city, which we then proceeded to walk around for an hour trying to find a specific pub. We did, but weren't allowed in as some of us were wearing thongs (flip flops, whatever). Finally we found an awesome little place, where we sat down, drank and played Shithead (brilliant card game). Got 4 hours sleep and flew back home the next day.

That's it. Spent yesterday on the couch dozing while the cricket was on. Still needing to catch up on some sleep, but over this next week that shouldn't be too hard. Looks like I'll be playing a couple of shows with another good friend of mine Ange for the Fringe and Flinders Uni O'Ball, so really looking forward to that. And then of course there are the Fringe shows with Cookie Baker, which will be bloody amazing. If you are interested in attending that one, you should book tix ASAP as they will no doubtedly sell out fast. Until next time...

Rating: 6.2 (the tour finally started to catch up with me over the last couple of days - should recover no wuckas)

What I'm listening to: Jackson Firebird - Bottle Bin EP

2 comments:

michael said...

Faaaaaaantastic rundown of the tour, mate. 47 degrees is ridiculous though! Sidewalks melt in that heat, don't they?

Sounds like a phenom time for the most part, glad you got through it intact and in good spirits. Bring on the next leg of the Cookie Tour!

;)

x

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