Early yesterday morning, I caught a flight from Melbourne to Tamworth. Woke just before 4am after a big night & made it to the airport.

So now, I’m sitting here on mum’s balcony in sunny Tamworth, New South Wales, having a few quiet beers.

Mum’s balcony, just outside Tamworth.

Just got back from the shops, down in the town, & brought this back: One very fine bottle of AC DC Cab Sav. He he.

Long Truong, a friend in China, just posted a bunch of great photo’s from Beijing earlier this year – it was the last show of the tour in May at Mao Livehouse. I’ll post some more of those shots here in the coming days.

The On Fires, Live at Mao Livehouse Beijing May 2011 – Photo by Long Truong.

Checkya tomorrow,
Fires out.

We had a great night last night at Browns Reserve on Nicholson Street. Friends & neighbours started turning up around 7 – it was a great turn out. Things got a little hazy for me but I remember playing skeleton on an acoustic (& messing it up).

Max & Mat Ward.

A couple of years ago we met Simon & Jay in Warsaw (a couple of Aussies working for the Australian embassy in Poland). We haven’t seen them since, til last night, when they rolled up out of the blue – awesome. There were actually quite a few surprises including Aron, a neighbour down the street who found Mojo, our dog, wondering at large last week, and old house mates Camile & Eron.

Scotty & Daz.

We hung out til late before bringing the stayers back to our place, across the street.

All up, a fantastic night – & thanks to everybody who came along.

Have a great Christmas from The On Fires!

We’ll be over at the park for a BBQ, picnic & drinks later today. Kick off about 7pm. Browns Reserve, Nicholson St, Abbotsford. BYO whatever you’re eating & drinkin’.

Seeya there.

Fires out.

Picnic in the Park this Friday at 7pm – all welcome.

Just across from our place on Nicholson St, Abbotsford, we’ll be gathering in the little park there (Browns Reserve). They’ve got free BBQs – so BYO whatever you’d like to eat & drink. We’d love to catch up with you before Christmas & holidays. Check out the event on Facebook.

Browns Reserve Abbotsford (this Friday).

Max posted on Facebook this morning –

“in lieu of a big Christmas bash, we’re having a relaxed hang-out in a park that conveniently has free BBQ, kiddie playground & a church next door for all you sinners. BYO all vitals (drink, meat, lentils, well-behaved-dogs, guitars & party tricks).”

Browns Reserve BBQ.

Briefly, in other news: Spent the first couple of days this week talking with producers about the next release. One possible scenario – Recording drums in the US – the rest of the instruments recorded in Australia…

Checkya tomorrow (or seeya Friday in the park),
Fires out.

Our local Crocodile Dude, Clive “Dundee” Cooke, rolled back into town yesterday. We had drinks etc over at Stalk & Kim’s place to celebrate.

Clive’s been on a traveling odyssey around Australia for the past 6 months. We featured some video of him crossing the Nullabor Plain earlier this month. Clive used to live locally before re-basing to Tamworth & beyond about 5 years ago. These days he’s completely nomadic, staying in Melbourne til February before taking off again. Clive’s a big supporter of The On Fires from way back. He was there at nearly every show before we began overseas touring in 2007.

Clive ‘Dundee’ Cooke.

We had a great afternoon catching up & drinking too much – as ya do at this time of year.

Clive, Max, Stalk (behind Max) & Scotty (our housemate).

Checkya tomorrow,
Fires out.

Last night we met up at a restaurant in Victoria Street, Abbotsford, for a farewell-to-Al dinner. Our good friend Al Golder, after years living locally, is moving to Wellington, New South Wales. In fact, he’s on the road right now somewhere in southern NSW, having left at about 7am this morning.

Max & Al at Stalk & Kim’s place last night.

When things started to get messy at the restaurant, we moved to Stalk & Kim’s place. The shot above isn’t a particularly good one of Al so I thought I’d add the little inset there (taken from his Facebook).

When we got back from overseas this year, Al put us up at his place for two weeks while we organised somewhere to stay. Baz, Al’s Staffy dog, played like a maniac with Mojo, our Staffy, every waking moment. A month later, Baz wounded Mojo in fairly unsavory fashion (for those with strong stomachs – check this out).

We’ll miss you Al – all the best on your new journey.

The Alan Golder Marquis, Stalk & Kim’s backyard.

Checkya later,
Fires out.

Had the pleasure of dropping in to see John Ruberto at Crystal Mastering this afternoon. John’s been our mastering guy since 2004. He’s our first port-of-call when it comes to an upcoming release – had a great time discussing all things recording, production & planning for the next album. Awesome.

John Ruberto at Crystal Mastering.

John started his mastering career back in 1985 at Newmarket studios, which was Melbourne’s only mastering studio. Since those humble beginnings he’s worked with thousands of artists including Grinspoon, Madison Avenue, Electric Mary, Daddy Cool, Alarum, Boom Crash Opera, My Friend the Chocolate Cake, Rocket Science, The Cat Empire, The Drones, Washington, Daysend, Superheist & Kate Ceberano.

We’ll be seeing John again (in a couple of months), at the end of the recording process when he applies his genius to the final mix.

John’s studio at Crystal.

It has been a beautiful sunny summer day in Melbourne town.

Have a great weekend.
Checkya later.
Fires out.

The silly season was on in earnest yesterday…

5 minutes from home: A Ukrainian guy driving a purple Commodore rus into the back of my van, while I’m sitting at the lights. When I ask for license details he tells me there is no damage and “I not give you license. You take me to court!”. He jumps back into his car & speeds off.

Down the road another 5 minutes & a pedestrian in Melbourne city decides to run across oncoming traffic to catch a tram. Cars hit brakes, screeching tires, pedestrian survives (just) but misses tram.

Another 5 minutes & BMW stopped in front takes off at red light on massive busy intersection (Victoria Parade & Hoddle St) & gets to the other side, miraculously without collision.

Merry Christmas.

Checkya tomorrow,
Fires out.

Went down to Station 59 in Church St Richmond last night to hang out at the Resignators Christmas party show. It was an awesome night. By the time I got there Chris & Craigie were well on the way at the bar. Did my best to catch up. A small snippet of the Resignators on stage in the video below (video quality not the best)…

As usual the Resignators were great. Can’t help but like this band, everybody in the pub dancing or tapping their feet. We played with the guys at Cherry Bar a few weeks ago at our final show for the year. We first met the band at a show in Toronto in March. Guitarist Steve helped me with some tech issues right before we were due on stage. They came on after us & cranked out an amazing set.

Resignators at Station 59 last night.

A little hungover this morning.

Checkya tomorrow,
Fires out.

The first date for next year’s China tour came in overnight. Shanghai – Saturday 28th April. More dates to be announced shortly.

Max on stage at Zebra Festival, Chengdu China May 2011.

Still on a high from the Foo Fighters & Tenacious D show, Saturday night on the Gold Coast, Queensland (pic below).

See a brief review of the show in yesterday’s post, below.

Checkya later.
Fires out.