Last day of 2010.

Leaving Tamworth tomorrow – should be an interesting series of flights back to Melbourne.

Have a great, safe night tonight. It looks like we’ll be heading into town (Tamworth being the country music capital of Australia) for a hoe-downin’ New Year celebration.

Checkya tomorrow in 2011,
Fires out.

Wow.
What a day.
On the side of a hill in Tamworth, Australia. It’s 3am. Can’t sleep. Playing, singing with my folks all day. New songs, old songs. Beer, wine, etc. Magic. Just got off the phone (drunk dial) – Poland, UK, Ukraine, USA.
Queen. Get down…

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

ton ight we spent the time, on this christmas eve, drinking inordinate amouonts of alcohol followed by other chasers.
get down & back u again.

checkya tomorr

FIRE S OUT.

Staying at South West Rocks, New South Wales, Australia. It’s 1am. Just finished watching The Bourne Identity with Dad. It’s become a tradition – we kick back & watch at least one flick in the trilogy. Love it. Great catching up with family.

We’ll be in Boston mid Jan in the lead up to a big US tour. I’m both excited and daunted by the thought – but I know for sure I’ll be missing this beautiful Australia again throughout next year.

Merry Christmas to you, wherever you are in the world.

Checkya over the next few days (for some drunken Christmas posting).
Fires out.

Taking the day off on today’s post. Spent the arvo at a funeral for an old mate (more later, sad right now). Packing to head off to Tamworth tomorrow.

Checkya later.
Fires out.

Last week we recorded this session for Undercover.fm. Three songs live acoustic – with some explanation of what the songs are about – Skeleton, Coming Home and Hotel Room. Undercover just put the session up on their video page (click below).

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

Something special at this festive time of year – a Merry Christmas to all from The On Fires.

It’s our first annual ‘Australian Christmas Special’ video. If you’re an Aussie watching this, you’ll probably cringe a little here and there. If you’re not Australian, this is what life is like down under (at least for one of our families). You’ll see kangaroos, spiders, a variety of strange bugs, pristine sandy beaches and wide open roads…

Merry Christmas from The On Fires.

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

THE ON FIRES WORLD TOUR 2011:

We’ll arrive in Boston the first week in January. From there we’re doing a bunch of media, shows and preparation for a major North American tour beginning the first week in March. The first dates are in Toronto Canada before heading south to Texas, Florida, Georgia & Alabama. After the south we’ll head north along the east coast to New York and surrounding states in the north east.

For the first time, we’ll be touring China in May, Europe after that in June, followed by more touring again through North America, Europe and China in the 2nd half of the year.

2011 is shaping up to be the biggest year we’ve had so far. (At this stage, we’re planning for the final tour show of the year to be in Melbourne in November – already looking forward to it).

We’ve posted the first tour dates on the Shows page with more to come shortly.

And if anybody has the contact details of a good psychiatrist, please email us asap.

Checkya tommorrow,
Fires out.

I like this track by Welsh band, Stereophonics. I’ve bought a few of their albums, my favourite being 1999’s ‘Performance and Cocktails’. Vocalist, Kelly Jones, could pretty much sing a nursery rhyme and it’d sound like a hit. He’s got one of those great rock voices (gravel & croon etc). In this particular clip they’re telling the tale of tour loneliness, isolation and so on. Which seems odd at first glance with the huge crowds, classy hotels, parties etc etc. That said, I found myself identifying with the story throughout the course of this year – I’d put the video on pretty frequently. Cool song too.

Stereophonics have been around for nearly 20 years (how the time flies). They’ve been particularly big in the UK, and sometimes the US – with little fanfare in Australia. When I discovered them in the late 90’s I was sure they’d be huge in Oz – but radio wouldn’t play them and the whole thing went under the radar, while the rest of the world lapped it up. I guess listening to them when we’re out touring makes me feel closer to home.

On a sad note, the band’s orginal drummer, Stuart Cable (who features in the video preview above – that’s him on the bike), died this year after a massive drinking binge. He was 40 years old.

Checkya tomorrow.

Fires out.

Winners of this week’s competitions: Helen won a free double pass to The Happy Endings with The Skybombers at Ding Dong and Tracy won the free double pass to see Mark Wilkinson at The Grace Darling last night.

THE BEATLES LIVE AT SHEA STADIUM:

I’ve pulled this video up for a look several times over the past couple of weeks. This vid has nothing to do with the Tour Therapy diaries – it’s simply a great video. This might have been the start of stadium rock shows, way back in 1965. It’s perhaps the earliest footage of anything like it. The Beatles. Enjoy:

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.