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.









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.

















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.



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).









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

It is warm...

Today reached 45.7C, which made it the hottest day in 70 years.
This means Mildura and the surrounding areas are going to be even hotter, which is where we're driving to tomorrow.
I'm going to have a 6am swim.

We Ain't From Round Here... Update #1

So Sydney sexies The Mischief, Mildura men Jackson Firebird, and Radelaidian rockers (HA!) Cookie Baker (and her collective) got together and thought it would be a good idea to do a bit of a tour with each other. Why? Mainly because we just want to see each other play. But in order to sound a bit more profesh, all thought the cross-genre idea would work amazingly well. And so far it has.



We left on a 40 degree day, the first we've had this summer I think, but luckily we had Cookie's dad's twin cab Holden Rodeo. How I love that car... First stop - Mildura. We didn't want to overdo ourselves on the first day of driving, so we did the 4 hour drive to Mildy quite late in the afternoon and made sure to have a good night's sleep. The following day, we knew we needed to sample the fine baked cuisine, so we stopped at Hudak's Bakery for lunch. We didn't end up leaving Mildy till after 2, so instead of seeing how far we could drive, we made it to Wagga Wagga (about 7 hours out of Sydney) and decided it was a good place to stay. Luckily as well because Cookie seemed to have a bit of a bout of heat stroke. Not much fun. Next morning, bright and early, and none feeling the ill affects of the day before, we headed north towards the Central Coast. Bloody lovely drive that is... and once you start hitting the forests, it really is amazing.



So first stop of the tour was a place called Wyong. Since none of the bands were from the area, we really didn't expect to pull a big crowd. We were right in doing so. However, it became almost a rehearsal to see how the gigs would go, and a chance for all of us to refreshen our live experiences of each other. It turned out to be an amazing gig. Sound was great, everyone played really well, and we all got to hang, chat and do Ross faces at each other (for explanation of what 'Ross faces' are, ask me in person - really can't be bothered writing it all down).

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We spent a couple of nights at the wonderful Miss Sarah Humphreys lovely abode. What a getaway that place is... Surrounded by forests, birds, and the sound of nature. I almost forgot what we were doing there in the first place. But was then reminded when we had to make the drive to Wollongong (which I will now refer to as the Gong).





Pulling into the Gong, we were all taken aback by it's apparent chilled nature. Picture this - half 5 in the afternoon, lovely sunny day, the town is all quiet, a few people strolling casually down the road, really quite a picturesque place. Come 9pm, the locals start coming out, and it turns into one of the most hilarious, bogany, rough-around-the-edges places I've been to in quite a while. That being said, Jackson Firebird certainly won over the locals with their brand of dirty blues/rock, and we all had a good time. After we all finished playing, I was peckish so I went and bought a kebab from across the road. It was amazing. We then drove back to Sydney that night, and spent a VERY comfortable night at bass player for The Mischief's Lochie's house. Beds to die for.







The next couple of days were spent enjoying Sydney. We went to Bondi, which was awesome! I know it's prob not the best beach in the area and it's such a touristy thing to do, but you know what? I AM a tourist, so I will go there thank you very much. Also, coming from Rads where the metropolitan beaches are flat as a tack and have great white sharks nibbling at your toes, this was heaven. We went out for coffee's, dinners, lunches and the like. And then we had the Sydney show - The Mischief boys took the cake that night. Being their home show, in front of their home crowd, and being able to go home at the end of it, they pulled out all the stops. Beer chugging, audience members being tangled in leads, it had it all. When it had all finished, we tried to find a pub that we could all have one last drink in as the Jackson Firebird guys were heading back home the following morning, but not much was open, so we got New York Pizza, scoffed that down, and said our goodbyes.



The drive back didn't seem nearly as bad as the drive there. We made the 11 hour journey from Sydney to Mildura in one day, spent the night there, and did the rest the following afternoon. But before we left, we made sure to sample some more local Mildura cuisine, this time in the form of gelati. It was good. :)

So we've been back home for a few days and head off again tomorrow back to the land of Hudak's Bakery and 48 Flavour Gelati, Mildura. This time though to actually play a show there. Then we are stopping through the lovely town of Loxton before ending this leg back in Rads at the lovable Grace Emily. So all those Radelaidians who aren't going to be wimping it by sitting under an air conditioner or going to the beach, come down to the Grace on Sat the 31st for some amazing times. I promise. Amazing. Fact.

Gigs, yoga and a Gala Day

The album is complete! Cookie Baker's debut album 'Gala Day' is finally recorded, mixed, mastered and in shops ready for you to purchase! How awesome is that?? Well, I'm quite excited, as this little baby has been a little while coming - a year to be more precise. There was a very joyous handing out of the finished products by Holly herself at the wonderful Grace Emily, and if nothing else, the artwork looks bloody amazing! So, if you're wandering past a JB-HiFi, may as well pop your head in and see if you can get a squizz at it. ;)

So now that the album is all finished, there's not a whole lot of Cookie Baker going on for the rest of this year, which I for one am quite happy about. We had a couple of gigs last weekend which were amazing, even if i got completely ruined by the late night shenanigans they led to. On Friday the 7th we supported Epicure at the Adelaide UniBar, a place that I hadn't been to in a number of years, but seemed as though it was stuck in the early naughties - it was LOUD, raucous, and the place was filled with smoke. Not by smokers, like it would have a few years ago, but by a smoke machine, which pretty much had the same affect on me as a room filled with cigarette puffing maniacs would. But never fear - the gig was fantastic, even if I did manage to break a string after the first song, by, get this, putting my capo on! It didn't even have the decency to snap while doing a totally awesome rock 'n roll strum. Ugh... And then I had to change it by mobile phone light on the side of the stage. But even still, I think I managed it in under 3 mins, which I was quite chuffed with. Didn't get home until around 4 the next morning however, so that pretty much killed me for the rest of the weekend. Then we had another gig on the Sunday arvo at the Wheatsheaf which was FANTASTIC, even though I felt like I had drunk copious amounts of alcohol the whole day. I couldn't focus on anything and felt so bloody vague. But the place was packed, and it was great to see so many friends there, some whom I hadn't seen for ages. So I've spent the last week or so trying to recover from that weekend.

Had clinic today, and to my surprise, my lung function is back up to 65%, after being around 60% only a couple weeks ago. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I did my first yoga session last night in about 4 months. Man was it hard... it wasn't until afterwards that I realised that I had been in an intermediate class, but that's cool - I figure if I can (almost) keep up with it from now on, it'll be a great thing to aspire to. But it felt so good to feel my body working like that again, and to feel my lungs really get a good work out. Still a ways to go before I start to feel really healthy again, but for now, it's going great. I've got another clinic at the end of December to see how I am and whether I'll need another admission before we go on tour in Jan. The last thing I want is to get sick halfway through that. That would be shite... But for now, things are awesome, and I intend to keep them that way.

We have a best friend's wedding on Saturday which we are playing at, and then our last planned gig for the year on Sunday afternoon, so I'm really looking forward to that. For those who are looking for something to do, we're playing at the Whitmore Sq Arts Fair with a couple of other AWESOME Rads bands (The Sea Thieves and Brillig) so come on down and say 'Hi'. It would make me smile anyway...

Rating: 8.3

What I'm listening to: Cookie Baker - Gala Day