Its a lovely friday afternoon as we roll into Coolum on the End Of Fashion Endless and Nameless tour. Picturesque scenes of the beach and ocean pass us by. We are hiding behind our shades in denim and black creeping past the pastel citizenry. Tonight we are heading for the Sol Bar. A quirky place where the stage set up has us in a line left to right. Can not wait to see the Seabellies set with six people on stage. It is going to be very intimate and loud.
The night before we played the Sound Lounge in Currumbin... and it rocked!! It felt more like playing a party with the crowd either jumping around or lounging on the couches and cushions everywhere nodding along to the music, drinking a beer. Nights like that are fantastic. People want to cut loose and get into the music, grooving to the old and the new stuff. It gives us more energy to perform and give back to the crowd. Harlequin League and The Seabellies played great sets last night. Two sides of the musical coin. The Seabellies are choral, lush and anthemic. Harlequin League give passionate, intense slabs of rock.
Tomorrow night we play the Valley Fiesta. One of the highlights for us on the tour. Reading all the press for the festival in local media reminds us of home. Brisbane like Perth have a proud and passionate musical heritage, happily flying the flag for your home town. Well kudos to you Brisbane and to celebrate we'll have a party like it was 1999. Remember then... aah, they were good times.
September is my favourite month by far, just when ive settled into that dark winter depression, the greyness gets replaced by sparkling blue skies, the cherry blossoms on my street suddently bloom, the melbourne "delayed easter" show begins and you can go out at night with just a cardigan - sans doona. It seems the moment i peel off the layers and the first rays of warmth hit my shoulders, ace bands come out of hibernation and we are bombarded with album releases and tour dates.
Sometimes i daydream what it would be like to "be more than a listener" to my favourite bands. Foals new video makes you wish you were mates with them so you could get invited to their annual springbreak camping trip, lazing around in fields- getting high on helium, eatting bonfired octopus and swimming with fireworks. And i would gladly jump in the boot of CSS's campervan so i can go roadtripping with them ,be on standby with the baby powder when lovefoxx changes her jumpsuit and warn them of the dangers of taking too many holiday snaps.
On the occasion when i flip through international music mags, i religously skip the ads in the middle due to the amazing festival lineups im missing out on. In between flicking the pages the bandname "white denim" kept popping up. Unless The Black Lips release another stella record in the warmer months these guys may just steal their crown.
This month Bloc Party chucked a 'radiohead' by announcing not only had they secretly made a new album they would be releasing it online in 3 days time (and are coming to oz in november!) but You Am I , The Drones and Snowman restored my faith in aussie rocknroll, Beck , The Cold War Kids and The Walkmen released offerings that distracted me from finishing major assignments and although its only been a week Kings of Leon's latest masterpiece is in worse condition than my badly scratched copy of youth & young manhood. Sex On Fire
In this clip, Caleb rolls around on a bed all sweaty howling about the present a groupie left behind, the drummer shaves off his hobo beard and has a sensual shower, jared reads a book and "the cousin" chases around a chicken,then licks the southern fried goodness off his fingers. Also looking buffer than i remembered is TV ON THE RADIO! they are currently triple j's feature album and their quirky new video was released 2 hours ago! Looking like the barn yard version of the village people- their golden guitar has the power to make police officers dance like ballerinas and shoot rainbows from their chest!
NEWS TEAM ASSEMBLE!
The Kaiser Chief's new video reminds me of the episode of Skin's when Maxxie's dad (BILL BAILEY) tells off a group of young lads for teasing him then embarasses him further by line-dancing with a border collie. My mate in London tells me you shouldnt be afraid of walking the streets at night, its the mob of school children hanging out at the swingset who are more likely to put you in hospital. At least these deliquents raided grandmas dress up box before they wagged school.Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss A Beat
I think the moment you offically become an adult is when you have your first "when i was your age" moment. Although not very long ago my childhood was spent trading pokemon tazos, climbing trees, riding bikes and pretending to be power rangers! While its obvious now the monsters in the tv show were stepping on carboard cities, i still cant get over how much emotion the actors showed from a simple headnod or triumphant fist pump!
Crystal Castles have finally gotten around to making a video and it features snipets of a !!!GAY ZOMBIE MOVIE!!!! called "otto or up with dead people" (The director Bruce Le Bruce makes Tarantino look like a carebear!)Crimewave
Personally i think Zombies are overatted. For one they always complain about hunger, they have bad skin and the stench of rotting flesh cant be easily covered with overzealous sprays of lynx. They are bad at conversation, might eat your friends when you go to the bar and with exception for MJ in thriller they arent very good at dancing up a storm(shuffling up a light wind at best)
I want to go dancing with the underpants gnome who lives in a dumpster outside 3rd class!
Yep if i could choose any creature, my new bff would be the pointy eared star of midnight madness. Sure he has a tail but he also has a mirrorball suit, can get into any club with his wall scaling abilitys,can "catch" a cab for you afterwards and those 360 head and leg roations will guarantee winning any dance off hands down.
Nick Littlemore (aka the man who must never wear a shirt)seems to have the golden touch, im not sure how talented he would be solo but once paired he creates an unstoppable force.
Before she was famous, ladyhawke was in a great electronic duo called Teenager with Nick and his main project Pnau are finally getting the sucess they deserve (elton john is rumoured to be building a studio in their honour)whilst the crowds were screaming out for wild strawberrys to be played for the 2nd time i was hoping luke steele would jump out of a fruit mascot costume and launch into my favourite song of the album "with you forever" (which has been added to the new kitsune compilation) You can imagine my excitement when i found out Nick & Luke enjoyed their duet so much they created a sideproject called Empire Of The Sun.
Visually, its like Ziggy Stardust crash landed in Shanghai then decided to do some sightseeing with the newly single Andrew Stockdale.
"Do you use your pointy nipples as telescopic antennae bowie?"
I am writing this on the eve of the end of the world.
In the morning the multibillion dollar 27km long "Large 'hardon' collider" aka -the ultimate doomsday device, will be turned on. I was completly supportive of scientific advancements until the newsreader said "there is a teeny tiny possibility it may create a blackhole but dont worry ive been assured it is safe"Im sure im not the only person whos heartstopped and wondered if someone cut corners by getting the machine parts from acme. It sounds like the plot of a bad american summer blockbuster to me , featuring - Steven Hawking's talking wheelchair turning to the darkside and instructing easily corrupted scientists to create a blackhole that will turn the world inside out. In the final minutes Steven realises not only does he have telepathic powers to warn the world and shut down the machines , he becomes more bad-ass than bruce willis in diehard4 and Megatron combined- bursts out of his wheelchair, kills thousands of badnerds with his bare hands and generally brings the world back to order.
Im not actually that sad i may wake up in space and everyone i ever knew will be dead im just really pissed off with the timing caz I was kinda hoping I wouldn’t get a grim reaper visit before I went to Parklife, Meredith or Falls.
It also got me thinking what a waste it would be for all the cool underground bands with great potential to suddently vanish off the face of the earth just when they are starting to build a fanbase and gain momentum, The following is a list of acts that have amazed me in the past months. Their demos and live shows are so awesome it scares me to think how good they are going to be this time next year....
Le Kingste–is a band of brothers who make the perfect soundtrack for the upcoming apocalypse. The track “two pills” sounds like Matthew Bellamy howling and tinkeling the ivories on a stormy night whilst a grandiose theatrical mens choir plays Kirby's Ghost House on Super Nintendo.
The Voltaire Twins –are a brother sister electro outfit from Perth who make the kind of music the crystal castles could of created if they spent more time on original work than remixes and alice glass took singing lessons.They have just been added to parklife and ladytron handpicked them as supports. Their demos have been given a workout on fbi and can been heard blasting out the speakers at the indie discos
I found TRAPS' demo in the jar of “free shit” the weird and random bookstore polyester offers you when you buy an artist biography, big book of useless Japanese inventions or manual on satanic lesbian tattoo artistry.It really was a lucky dip caz I seriously thought the cd would only spend 5 seconds in my cd player before being retired as a coaster. But the tracks “ballad for the times –future and current” along with “common errors” are just so well developed and riveting I get urges to kidnap this band and lock them away in my wardrobe so they can get me pumped before i hit the town.
I was a bit apprehensive to hear triple j’s winner of the best high school band in the country. Sure Silverchair had a great career, Bridezilla prove talent doesn’t have an age limit but The Flairz aren’t cute now that they are sprouting zits and i would rather eat razorblades than listen to “song about pingpong" part 2. But the winners IS are thankfully in Bridezilla's category. The song "Cult Romance" starts off really dark and athmospheric then all of a sudden changes direction completely by creating an insanely bright and poppy chorus that will be in your head for days. With most of the band members being an average age of 16, im excited to hear what they will come up with in the next couple of years till they are allowed to legally enjoy their rider.
The Frowning Clouds Are another collective that needs adult supervison when they rock the pub circuit. I wrote their name in my phone after coming across a picture of a fashionable band in Frankie magazine that looks like The Horrors if they grew up in the 60’s. As soon as I got home I looked them up expecting them to be a shit hot band from the UK but choked on my own spit when I found out they come from Geelong and had a gig down the road that very night. The place was packed full of scenesters trying to catch a glimpse of the pre pubescent boys in matching turtle necks and tight checked pants. The lead singer has a fondness for running around the audience acting like a gorilla during “jungle king” while the others bop around to the harmonica solos and bo diddley guitar twangs. It was incredibly fun without that derivative taste you get in your mouth after watching “retro” bands. If they were born 40 years earlier they would be megastars but I still want to shake the hand of the parent who left their early rollingstones records out for the kiddies to stumble upon.
Brisbane band Twist Oliver Twist! Have thankfully got the songs to backup the use of such an awesome name. Fun catchy and unstoppably dancey download “sass it” if you like the sound of a headbanging multi-synth battle royal with a dueling keyboard breakdown in the middle.
I felt really sorry for Fait Accompli the first time they played at The Espy, they were the last band during the StKilda Festival but played in the basement whilst the headliners were rocking the crowds upstairs. They just spent several hours in traffic jams driving from Sydney only to play to the barmaid who was counting the seconds till home time. Regardless they plugged in and played one of the greatest sets ive ever seen in that establishment. I stopped wipping benches and sat down crosslegged in the middle of the floor hypnotised by the punk rock fury they unleashed (that could rival death from above if they didn’t disband) and weaved beautiful melodies over the top of screams sung by one of my favourite drummers and maori multitaskers Mr.Ray.
Erase Release– if I didn’t stumble across this band on unearthed by accident I would of swore they were the latest act from the mecca of beardy yet awesome indie music from some sunny leafy cardigan wearing American state. I cant believe these guys have only been around for a few months as they have such a tight ,developed and impressive sound. If you put the howls of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah , the layered guitar madness from The Cure, the lyrical finesse of Expatriate ,the melodies of the Cloudroom, scooped up the arty lo fi cred of Les Savy Fav and blended it up together like a creative juice smoothie then got The Bravery to snort it, their vomit sticking to the lightup dancefloor would sound like this (mmm creamy beige)
A few months ago I put my back out and spent two weeks coming in and out of conciousness from painpills. I got such cabin fever I decided to go out on a stormy weeknight and see an unknown band called KITCHEN. KNIFE. WIFE. (Due to the comic name alone). I was thrilled to see this band wasn’t a screamo emo band in wife beaters but the new project from one of my favourite local indie/ rocknroll acts that mysteriously went AWOL 6 months ago called The Sticks and consequently put my back out again from dancing like a madman. Back when I poured beers for a living, on a good night I would see a few bands that can play their instruments well but they always lack that special something that makes the avg punter camp out for tickets or stick their poster on your wall. The night The Sticks played, I went on a loo break, got hypnotised by their showmanship on the other stage and somehow returned to the bar half an hour later-sweaty, in a daze ,clutching their tshirt and ep that I spent my nights tips on. They are currently touring with The Wombats in the trendy parts of London and are heading along to Berlin to wow the crowds at Popkomm.
As the line up for Splendour In The Grass this year consisted of ¾ of my favourite bands, I did not think the set I would be ranting and raving about afterwards would be the first one of day one. Whilst ART VS SCIENCE set up their many keyboards I admit I rolled my eyes and scanned the timetable for better offerings but within 2 songs, they converted me from music snob to hysterical fan where I found myself crowdsurfing with a 6ft penguin. Their Midnight Juggernauts esque vocals, Calvin Harris hooks , fevered drumming and energetic wiggles-on-speed dancemoves was so infectious they drew a bigger crowd than some international acts and cemented themselves as the ultimate party band I will shaking my flippers to on NYE (just got added to falls!)
If your reading this blog it means we have survived the unthinkable.
Now that youve had a near deathexperience and are seeing life in all its technicoloured glory, give the same thrill to your ears and track down these acts ep's for the latest ipod assesory -the electronic gramaphone dock!
So word on the street is our next record is due to drop on September 27th which is um,...not too long now. It took us a while I know, but we hope when you get a listen, you'll see where all that time went. The general vibe from our end is that it's a damn fine listen haha!
Anyway, we're out on our first official headlining tour since some time in 2006. A good 2 years, so as you can imagine, we're pretty excited. Our first stop is Geelong and we'll be spending the rest of the first week in one part of Victoria or another so if you're around when we are, pop your head into a show and say hey. We'd appreciate the company ;) Word out to anyone who came down to our residency shows a few weeks ago in Northcote and Annandale.
Bit of a sneaky of some of the new songs. But that's no excuse not to come to the shows on this run. Mainly cos we've rehearsed more so we're playing all the tunes better haha!! Have to mention to the peeps that were there at the Levity gig we played down at the Hollywood. It was a cool night. Not the sort of venue we're used to playing sure but it was quaint and had a really intimate vibe. Any chance you get to see a band play there I'd recommend it. It's like playing in someone's well stocked living room. Good times, fond memories.
K well I'm writing this from the band room at the Barwon Club. If you're ever in the area stop in for a Rib-eye steak, you won't be disappointed. Our mates from Harlequin League are about to step on stage so I'd best be off, got to support the team and all. Keep your eye on this site cos I think I'll be adding a couple more of these before the tour is over. Hope to see you all real soon.
Since i moved to Melbourne by myself 3 years ago, barely a month has gone by where an interstate friend or band hasnt rocked up on my doorstep and asked me to show them the town. They might be here for 3 days or 2 weeks but expect me to take them to the coolest haunts, go on shopping expeditions all day and go bar hopping every night. After my last visit i decided ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! as i ended up embarking on a 6 day bender which ended by vomiting in the middle of the main st then watched in horror when pigeons flew down to eat it, only to see guts get added to the mix when a tram ran over the poor thing. My vomit was that pigeons last meal. After this fond memory i now pretend im not home and created an 'indie kids guide to melbourne' that i slide under the door and hope they go away.
MONDAY - Public Bar . (opposite queen vic food markets in north melbounre) iconic rocknroll pub that sells $1 pots and was the birthplace of 67 special.
TUESDAY -Eurotrash- (corrs lane chinatown) if you want to experience the best indie nightlife Melbourne has to offer you better not be sitting in your hotel room (or crashing on my couch) on Tuesday. Not only is it free entry and all drinks under $5 before midnight there are three levels to run amok in. The top level has pooltables, a bathtub full of goonbags, you can lay on fur skin rugs and make up subtitles to dodgy 70's kungfu movies shown on the walls. The second level has the largest dancefloor and Australias' answer to girl talk -DJ Mugen is often behind the decks, there also a padded wall corridor (woo insane assylum! )that takes you out to the smoking stairway courtyard with more bars. On the first level not only are there hair straighteners in the bathrooms and arcade games inside put there is an arabian nights porn room (yes you heard right) and my favourite djs the sweethearts are responisble for the funnest night out you will have in ages with their captain planet vs the rapture or ninja turles vs bloc party mash ups.
WEDNESDAY - is generaly a quiet night, but if you want to be surrounded by luxury, sit in velvet and gold encrusted private booths sipping cocktails and dont mind abit of taxidermy (an emu in pearls greets you at the door and inbetween the palmtrees there is a girafe with a top hat) head to the CARLTON CLUB for 'homeless'(193 burke st cbd). the well dressed bums from local band the last gypsys 'play the tracks they listen to in their cardboard abodes' plus if there is an international act in town they will most likely be hanging out here. ive rubbed sholders with death cab, klaxons,brian jonestown masacre,the horrors, black rebel motorcycle club, the wombats, kasabian and muse.
THURSDAY - I would recomend going to the mother of all indie discos -POGO(corner of flinders ln and geddes ln $7 on a list) if you like starting your night watching the latest underground bands then dancing till dawn on light up dancefloors and getting lost in ballpits.
3rd class(duckboard pl-old honkytonks) is quite popular with the cool kids who have a fondness for electro suppied to them from miami horror & tranter. It is worth going just to try the bucket of beer or the infamous rave juice which is a plastic bag full of vodka, redbull and comes with your very own glowstick. You can also challenge others to wii battles and ipod wars (creating a playlist from your ipod to entertain those in line for the loos) if your south of the yarra, head along to 'loose thursdays' at cushion lounge in stkilda.its free entry, has dancin soul music of the 60's & 70s and $10 gets you a bottle of wine and a cheese and cracker platter. classy!
FRIDAY -Fashion Keyboard(189 lonsdale st cbd) is not the funnest place despite its free entry, cheap beer and jagerbombs.They often have special guests like art gallery owners and up and coming designers behind the decks. So its not a place to go dancing rather a place to stand around and get your photo taken. Despite being super pretencious i think the reason i have a grudge against the place is because the venue is an rnb superclub every other night . (although the other week miss shapes and bad teeth djs made a suprise apperance so the athmosphere improved dramatically) Look up in the streetpress when the next "us vs them" or "batman" nights are coming up then head to ROXANNE (coverlid pl china town) it takes ages to walk up that stairway in heels but those promoters sure know how to throw a party plus knowing that the scare and beach house are waiting for you up there - will motivate you to get buns of steel in no time.
SATURDAY - The newest additon to the the indie disco empire is the appropriately titled WOW! held at the same place as pogo but with more levels open($10 on a list). if you arrive early and have a smashing outfit (they often have dress up nights:)you get a wristband to the rooftop where the soccer mum and yacht club djs spin their disks and you dont need to wait in queues when the thousands of other scenesters arrive.
Black Night Crash(the rochester johnston st fitzroy) is like a portal to the most popular underground nightclub in camden. Knackered Converse plays the latest and greatest britpop to come out of london, they have space invader coffee tables and show the mighty boosh on projector screens -free entry & cheap drinks too!
If you like your tunes more rockin head to weekender at Ding Dong(Market lane & bourke st) They have the best band nights and your aloud to dance hypnotised to the shiny silver cutains till 7am. (after 12 am the ticket lady goes on a 4 hour smoke break so you can sneak in for free:) but if the clientelle dont have enough leather, 80's metal hair and tattoos to your liking venturing to ac/dc lane is worth your while.
SUNDAY =rest liver. If you must roll out of bed ,head to St.Jeromes(where the laneway festival began- @caledonian lane behind maccas) sit in an alleyway on a milkcrate drinking a longneck , looking at streetart and catching up with everyones weekend shenanigans.
No matter what night it is everyone ends up at PONY (little collins st/exhibition) or Revolver(chapel st) -which plays dance music 24hours a day its VERY seedy and they let anyone in so proceed with caution. I would also recomend going to The Croft Insitute if you like the sound of drinking tequila out of test tubes, sterile environments and hospital beds conviently placed in the toilets. Its very hard to find if your a muggle i mean non-local ,so this is the only place i will escort you to. Expatriate also filmed their "crazy" filmclip here. SHOPPING.
As we are Australia's fashion capital there are plenty of pamphlets out there telling you where to shop and too numerous to mention factory outlet tours that are a waste of money. I say get on any tram into the city and literarly get lost. Its always fun to discover a cool boutique down an alleyway you swear wasnt there a minute ago.If your addicted to oppshopping and need a new outfit to stand out from the crowd here are some places to pin point on your map.
Retrostar -the largest vintage clothing store in australia is bound to give you a clothesgasm .overpriced? yes . but you get a free lollypop on entry and next door is full of everyband tshirt imaginable -you can even make your own!(nicholas building swanston st)
Fat Helens - is run by a crazy old lady who collects teapots and old playboy issues but also has a keen eye for sourcing 80's party dresses around the world. (near windsor station)
Lost & Found Market (smith st collingwood) dont let the name fool you, inside isnt a stall selling missplaced scalves and books left behind on metlink, its a 60's treasure trove!
You know in horror movies when they are about to die and say "hush now go to your happy place children?" well Chapel Bizzare is my happy place. (chapel st prahran)maybe its all the bright colours but the place is a cross between the coolest things you could ever imagine to find in a $2 shop of another era and a museum. it is chock a block full of vintage dresses , kitch furniture, quirky assesories and so much weird stuff that is so utterly useless in the most wonderful way.
Camberwell Markets - Melbourne's biggest art & craft market, many sell bric a brac out of their car boots not to mention 300 + stalls dedicated to clothes and random jewelry.also grab some one-off pieces from the minds of textile students and somedays you can catch local bands selling their entire stage wardrobe to fund their tours like young & restless did last month.
A shopping trip wouldnt be complete with out a trip to SAVERS it is a magical land the size of a football field that is full of second hand clothes.The owners dont realise some of the pieces they stock are what i would spend my rent money bidding on ebay but here you can get cool shoes & dresses starting from $3. On september 15th they are having another 50% off sale that many camp out for. I always feel like im scamming them for getting clothes this cheap and feel bad caz the proceeds go towards diabettes research but it evens out caz i buy bags of the stuff. I wouldnt bother going to the one in Brunswick as all the indie kids have picked its carcuss dry so there is less "vintage" and more "dead peoples clothes nobody wants". So venturing out to the sticks like footscray and preston is worthwhile or if your not afraid of bogans and dont mind the 2hour train trip, Frankston savers is where you will find the gems and its 3 levels.
As your on holiday why not find some quality music thats not on limewire for a change? Support these local record stores and help musicans buy some more guitar pics.
Missing link - (405 bourke st -in between elizabeth& Colins st cbd) The eddy current supression ring instore performance at this basement was suprisingly one of my best gigs of the year.
Rare Records( 82 acland st Stkilda ) if you find yourself pigging out on the best cake shops in the planet on acland st, burn off some calories walking upstairs and browsing for hours at this store - if theres a particular autograph, band poster or deleted single your after they can help you find it asap.
Off The Hip(basement of 383 flinders ln CBD) specialises in aussie rocknroll, powerpop and garage. place to go if your radio birdman vinyl is scratched!
Greville st Records(in between prahran train station and chapel st) No other record store compares. quite small but ive seen Tim Rogers, The Black Keys, Nick Cave and members of Rocket Science browsing the racks.
Dixons Recyled-(brunswick st & chapel st) you know how industry people and streetpress reviewers get tons of promo cds every month? well as soon as they have listened to them they sell them here.
EATS Melbourne cuisine isnt just swanky resturants and 24hour hungry jacks. If you are feeling peckish but spent all your money from activities above , you dont have to starve!
The Rochester Castle(johnston st fitzroy) sells the best pub grub hands down and all meals are twice the size of your head.
Bimbos if your walking down brunswick st and see a giant plastic baby figurine -enter. Inside you will find the yummiest $4 pizzas and 10 different flavour infused vodka they make on the premises. Plus they stop serving dinner at 2.30am!
As i was not born in Melbourne i too find it quite strange how so many locals sit around really really close together and sip coffee. Walk down any laneway in the city and you will see hundreds of people doing just that at all hours every day of the week -dont these people have jobs?! if you want to experience this head to degraves st for the best lattes, boutique cupcake shops and all day greasy breakfast.
50's diner soda pop - (257 torak rd south yarra) I took kate nash here for lunch and she got so excited about the tabletop jukeboxes and kitsch 50's booths she ate 2 & a half (aka mine) $10 rockin robin burgers. They also do dr.pepper spiders, chilli fries and sell big red, hersheys kisses and resses pieces. Shanghai dumplings- is a melbounre insitution. For the best chinese food in town follow the trail of uni students down tattersalls lane.Its open till 10pm so get there early because you will order seconds and thirds as its just so scrumptious and cheap. you can get a plate of dumplings (12) with noodles and soup for around $5 and most main meals are around $10. Ive eatten there a few thousand times and never gotten food poisoning. If its your first time there tell them its your bday - they bring out a tape recorder and blast the chinese birthday song at your table -funtimes!
Incase your not a tightarse, i would recommend spending your last night by booking a table at "little blue" resturant . Its located right at the end of st.kilda pier and over looks the harbour .Its very swanky without the price tag and the food has won alot of awards and stuff - which can only be a good thing.Get there before dark you can eat a meal fit for a king whilst the sun sets on the water and afterwards watch the thousands of penguins hop along the pier. as tempting as it is to take one home to live in your bathtub. please respect the wildlife.
Welcome to the fourth week in the life of Cut off Your Hands. So far you have read of our mystical journeys to Tokyo, death defying trips to Mt Hutt New Zealand and our intrepid journeys through Australia. Now its my turn…..I’m sitting backstage in the grey town of York, UK listening to the repeated sound of a floor tom being sound checked, eating a stale sandwich and killing time with You Tube footage of wrestlers getting accidental boners. (I would recommend checking this one out……sensitive viewers be aware)
One could be forgiven for thinking my pool of experience in which I get to write this blog on is a little dull. However, despite us being back into the routine of van, show, travel lodge – van, show, travel lodge we have managed to fit in a few memorable outings!
We landed at Heathrow around 3pm on Tuesday afternoon, warmly welcomed by our now regular driver PJ. A stout Polish man with lots to say about everything. Normally sitting in London traffic after a 24hour flight is intolerable but our man PJ seems to know how to keep the laughs going.
The following day we started a short tour with We Are Scientist. They are possibly one of the friendliest bunch of fellow’s we’ve been able to tour with. If you’ve never heard them you should check them out. www.myspace.com/wearescientists. The little tour took us to Oxford, Peterborough, Middlesbrough and now York. By Peterborough we realised there was a few die hard fans who were following the tour. They attend each show and spend hours on end outside the venue each night so they can get a photo with one of the Scientists or anyone involved for that matter. A lovely bunch but frightfully dedicated….
The weekend brought us bank holiday, a regular event in the UK’s calendar. This particular bank holiday we attended the Notting hill Carnival. An annual event that has been running since 1965 to celebrate Caribbean culture in London. We had an amazing time watching all sorts of steal orchestras, moving floats, sambas and Calypso. (Political, social and satirical commentary, set to music!). The below float was but one of many amazing pieces coming down the road.
(The boys with some friends at the carnival)
By Tuesday we were heading up to Middlesbrough to play the show. Not to be let down, we we’re greeted by the loyal tour followers who had set up a picnic outside the venue. This show went amazingly well. Sometimes it’s hard to pin point what makes a show great or completely rubbish. This one however was amazing and thoroughly reminded me why I’m a band.
Wednesday we stopped off in a cute little town on our way to York to row some boats up a river. Nick and Mikey controlled the rudder, Phil rowed, and I took some photos (sorry I didn’t have time to have them developed). All was under control being somewhat of a nautical band. Although, we did manage to run into a family travelling in the opposite direction.
And now its Wednesday night….we just finished the show and I’m sweating all over my computer. A four hour drive home, two hours sleep and then a 30 hour journey back to NZ so I can see my hearing specialist. Fun!
