We’ve played many a show with Melbourne classic rock band, The Vagrants. Back in 2008, we met up to play a show together in Berlin. We were on separate tours of Europe, The Vagrants working the west, TOF working the east.

Recently, the guys have been winning heats & finals of the World Hard Rock Cafe ‘Battle of the Bands’. So today, we’re featuring an interview with The Vagrants talking about said competition, their band and life on the road.

Click the video above and go to the official Undercover Interview video.

Checkya later.
Fires out.

Back home in Melbourne, arrived last night after a long drive from coastal northern NSW.

Lu Dao Festival, China April 2012.

Caught up with my folks for a few days at Tamworth and South West Rocks before coming home. On Sunday I had the pleasure of goal-umpiring a local under 15 AFL football game between Macleay Valley and Wauchope. It was a first for me & I now have a new found respect for goal umpires. 30 goals were scored in total as the kids pounded the goal area at each end. You’ve gotta watch that ball like a hawk, judge a goal or point (or ‘out on the full’), write down every score at each end – and the name & number of the player responsible. I’d be half-way writing & the ball would burst out of the centre on it’s way back. It was a surprisingly intense job.

Still working through video from the China tour – lots of file conversion. We’ll post the footage here soon (over the next week).

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

Working through hours of video footage from the China tour. Lots of file transferring, backing up & conversion. Looking forward to posting live festival & club footage soon…

Strawberry Festival Beijing, May 2012.

Getting back into Aussie life here – albeit a very quiet existence in Tamworth town. Leaving for South West Rocks tomorrow to visit more family for the weekend. ‘The Rocks’ is a coastal oasis 5 hours north of Sydney (& 4 hours from here). My Dad & partner Ronda organise a football club there – so I’m gonna film a junior footy game tomorrow. Always a fun time at the club (Macleay Valley Eagles).

Back home to Melbourne early next week.

Checkya later.
Fires out.

Feeling a little shell-shocked today. It’s so quiet here in the valley, just outside Tamworth. Clear skies, clean air, no horns beeping or people massing about the place. Probably shaking off some jet-lag. Don’t feel awake yet.

Lu Dao Festival, China 29 April 2012.

Coming off tour is like being spat out of a whirl-wind to find yourself still & suddenly in a slow-paced existence. No gear to lug in a few moments, planes, trains, cabs or boats to catch, crowds to push through, sound-checks or shows to deal with – or band mates to hang out with. Nothing. Weird.

One day at a time…
Checkya later.
Fires out.

Sitting’ here at Sydney Airport awaiting a delayed final flight to Tamworth.

Nearly home from China. Been traveling 24 hours. Max is in the air en route to Melbournia.

Checkya later.
Fires out.

Boom. And it’s all over. I’ve been dreaming of this moment. The day after. Last night we played out a massive set at Mao Live House in Beijing. Totally exhausted, the show had wild energy & collapse – felt like a classic punk rock show. And on that big final note, the tour of China ended. Mao brought to a close 11 shows in a row in different cities – and 16 shows in 18 days for the tour total.

Lu Dao Festival, Zhenjiang China – 29 April 2012.

I’m sitting in a coffee house just across the road from the club as daylight starts to fade. Max is out somewhere walking about in quiet reflection. Kent is somewhere 39,000 feet over the Pacific on his way home to Atlanta.

Tomorrow afternoon, Max and I will be in the air on our way back ‘Down Under’.

Checkya later.
Fires out.

Massive couple of days. We’re in Dallian at Hertz Bar waiting to go on.

This pic from Strawberry Festival Beijing a couple of days ago – shot by Luong Trong.

Another city tomorrow.

Fires out.

It’s 3am. Went to bed a few hours ago, after Strawberry Festival in Beijing, because we’ve gotta be in the hotel lobby at 6am. Can’t sleep, completely awake now. Strawberry Festival was massive today. It was such a fun show. This pic isn’t great quality (Kent’s got my transfer card) – it’s straight off the camera view-finder.

We walked into the crowd after the show & got totally mobbed. Posed for hundreds and hundreds of photos, signed endless t-shirts & festival programs. It was totally insane. Toward the end of the day I was worn out & slightly scared to leave the back-stage compound – it’s not dangerous, you just get swamped & you can’t move.

We’re collecting a lot of video and pics to upload when we get better internet speed here. There’s some amazing video we’ll be uploading soon. This has been a phenomenal tour – with some epic festivals & massive club shows.

Checkya later,
Fires out.

We’re in our hotel room with a couple of hours til we leave for Beijing’s Strawberry Festival today. We’re in the middle of a long run of dates, 11 in a row. 2 nights ago, we played the biggest festival we’ve ever done – Lu Dao, in Zhenjiang.

Lu Dao Festival Zhenjiang, China – 29th April 2012.

We’re also in the middle of 11 shows in a row. I’ve been a bit sick for the past few days – but starting to come good today. We’re due on at Strawberry at about 3pm today.

Checkya later,
Fires out.