Too much fun at the Bendigo Hotel on Sunday night. TC, Mat & Craigie dropped around earlier in the evening. We based here in the beer garden for Triple J’s 2013 Hottest 100 (final 20). Got into a huge conversation about the pros & cons of the hair-metal era (as ya do). Mat & Craigie hit the road around 10 & for some reason after way too many beers TC & I thought we’d hit the Bendi for an Australia Day death metal show. We were not disappointed. Wish the guys had stuck around & come with us. Found myself in the mosh. Awesome. Nothing like a metal gig to get the blood pumping. The bands were great. Left with a smile on my face & way too much adrenaline to sleep. These guys were headlining –

Be’Lakor on stage at Summer Breeze 2010. Pic taken from their Facebook page.

On the line-up with Be’Lakor were Claim The Throne (WA), Orpheus Omega, Okera & Heisenberg.
Hangin’ for the next show.

Fires out.

Ben Redlich sent us a link to his new band, Sarah Rzek Band. This is some really cool stuff – take a listen below. First met Ben on the road with The Vagrants years ago in Germany. If memory serves me right, he celebrated his 21st after a show in Berlin. Ben was The Vagrants drummer for some time. Late in 2012, he came on board with us for the Revelry show at Abbotsford Hall. I like the sound of his latest band, sorta quirky, bit folky, rocking out when it needs to…

Stalk & Kim were over last night for a BBQ & a few quiet ones. Due to current Beatles obsession, pulled out the acoustic & had a crack at this one, Max on BVs, everybody singing along. Love this song…

Fires out.

Pic Below: Steve from The Vagrants on the ski slopes of Austria 2 weeks ago. He’s back there again, working as a ski-instructor by day, playing in the bars by night. We toured with The Vagrants through Germany in April last year. It was one of the most fun tours ever. I’m tipping the guys are gearing up for another tour of Germany, Austria and beyond sometime over the next few months.

Steve Iorio – Austrian ski slopes 4th Jan 2014.

Fires out.

Great Facebook chatter going on at the moment after Saturday night’s Mercy Dash re-union show. Check it out here at the Mercy Dash event page. Or here at The On Fires FB site. Thanks to Mick & Stace Brown for the shot below (and the shots in the video – see yesterday’s post). Crazy fun night. Great way to kick off 2014, playing with a bunch of old mates at such a great venue. And catching up with a whole lotta people I haven’t seen for so long.

Mercy Dash reunion show, 18th Jan 2014.

No doubt there’ll be another Mercy Dash show at some point. Everybody in the band is nowadays in another band – and working hard at it. That’s the tricky bit.

Fires out.

A very short video of the long-awaited Mercy Dash Reunion which happened Saturday night (18th Jan 2014) – Many thanks to Al and Deb who shot the footage. Did a bit of splicing & threw some still shots in there. We had an awesome night – and yes, there was plenty of rock-piggery goin’ down. The still shots feature two other lead singers who were also in Mercy Dash, Manno and Adam (don’t have video of them yet).

Fires out.

Sound check done. Kids running everywhere. People arriving. Beer flowing. Awesome monster ‘outdoor’ shed. First band about to start. Mercy Dash due on stage later.

2 days to go til the much-anticipated Mercy Dash re-union show. Here’s what the local paper had to say at the time.

I used to sing in the band, picking up the guitar occasionally. Although, as Mick the drummer pointed out at rehearsal last week, I never picked it up when I was supposed to. Either way, this Saturday will be an amazing night. The band sounds great, everything coming together. The show is down at Pearcedale, not far from Frankston – and it’s sold out. That said, we’ve put a few tix aside for fans of The On Fires. Message us on FB or leave a comment below & we’ll give you the details. We hit the stage around 7pm.

Fires out.

Last year, in the middle of winter in Australia, we played Ho Hoi Yan festival in Taiwan. It was around 40 degrees on the beach when the show kicked off. The shot below was taken during sound-check before the crowd arrived. Much like Melbourne today, there was no escaping the heat. Great show & awesome festival, we were totally cooked by the end.

Me on the Ho Hai Yan festival beach, Taipei Taiwan 5 hours before the show.

Fires out.

Maddy sent us this video link – Aussie band, Whitehouse – ‘The 26th’. A poignant reminder that Australia Day represents something quite different for our country’s first people.

Fires out.