Playing a beer-barn on a Tuesday night in a town called Suhl, Germany earlier this year.

Max works the room, Suhl Germany April 2013. Pic by Simon Marrow at Monkey Stereo.

The show was sold out. We were opening for The Vagrants. German culture being what it is, instead of sitting in a soulless pokie-venue or watching some spirit-crushing reality TV show, people come out in droves on a week-night to see live music, eat great food & drink magnificent beer. They revel in it, young and old. We could take a leaf…

Have a great weekend.
Fires out.

Fantastic interview with Noel Gallagher. Everything’s in here – growing up in Manchester, rock stardom, song-writing, religion, family, the meaning of life…

Fires out.

We’ve had a few Facebook likes this week for this archival pic taken on our first tour of China (2011) at Zebra Festival.

We made a short documentary of that tour – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOJ8M4tOd6E

We arrived in China for the first time direct from a 6-week tour of the US. Fair to say, we all felt pretty battle-weary. It would be the last stop before heading back to Australia. We’d been away since January the year before on multiple tours of Europe and The States. Looking back, I think that first China tour was almost an after-thought. We were on our way home & weren’t expecting too much. But it turned into a monster, beginning with 2 huge festivals in Beijing and Chengdu followed by a string of killer club shows.

Fires out.

The Vagrants will play just two more shows in Melbourne over the next few weeks – before relocating permanently to Europe. We toured Germany with the guys earlier this year – one of our best tours ever & certainly the most fun. Great guys & outstanding musicians, we’ll be sad to see em go. Apparently, their plan is to return to Australia for a few months each year & play shows here before heading back home to Europe. It’s The Vagrants tour schedule for the past 7 years, in reverse. That said – you can catch them for the 2nd-last time this week at The Espy on Friday night. Or Cup Eve (for the last time) at Cherry Bar (4th Nov).

Long Live the mighty Vagrants.

Fires out.

Huge blast from the past. Plenty of Facebook chatter going on at the moment for Mercy Dash to play a special reunion show. Mercy Dash were around in the mid 90’s playing many-a-show at the now-defunct infamous Joey’s in St Kilda. And yes, I was in the band. We played all over Melbourne but particularly down on the Mornington Peninsula where most of the band lived. We had some great times – a bunch of really young guys attempting to punch above our weight. At the same time (and from the same area) bands like The Living End, Fireballs & Body Jar rose to prominence playing the same pubs we were playing. Alas, the band split up in the late 90s. Fast forward to now & there may well be another Mercy Dash show coming soon. We’ll keep you posted…

That’s Mick Brown on the left – he’s had a lot to do with The On Fires, playing drums on our debut album Sky Caves In & various other releases. And believe it or not, that’s me in the green vest, Brendan Young (2nd from the right) – now Chapter Ray’s guitarist, and bassist Chris Micalef (far right).

Fires out.

We were away out in the country over the weekend – important family business. A wedding nonetheless. Played guitar for the signing & for some of the reception (very honoured). Perfect setting on a farm in a valley surrounded by lush green rolling hills & beautiful weather. Awesome. Meanwhile back in Melbourne, The Cult were playing a show somewhere in celebration of their killer 2nd album Electric. I loved that album. Still do. Apparently they played the record start-to-finish. Here’s how I first saw em…

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Dropped over to see friend and photographer Simon Marrow yesterday. Simon came on tour with us through Germany earlier this year. At some point, we played a show in a city called Suhl & stayed at Anja’s place – another photographer. We had a few days there including a long photo-shoot followed by a show that night. Simon took the shot below in Anja’s bathroom – her home was converted from an old East German chandelier factory. When I caught up with Simon yesterday, I left with a drive full of pics & movies shot on the tour. (more about that soon)

Simon’s photography business is Monkey Stereo. Check out his site.

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Italian fashion designer Chiara Biasi recently used ‘Sky Caves In’ (title track to our 2004 debut album) as the soundtrack to the video launch of their latest clothing range, Anarchic.

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Saturday’s weather was cold, wet and windy – not ideal conditions for football. That said, 100,007 people crammed into the ‘G’ for a much anticipated Grand Final between Hawthorn and Fremantle. The rest of us hit our local pubs, lounge-rooms & anywhere else with a working TV. 2:30pm & the game kicked off to a very shaky start, both sides battling nerves, Freo particularly overwhelmed by the occasion. Goals were hard to come by, champion players like Mathew Pavlich missing easy shots he’d normally kick any day of the week. The standard lifted in the 2nd half. The Dockers threw everything at it, but alas remained hapless in front of goal. The Hawks kept their cool & methodically ran out winners by 15 points. Not a spectacular Grand Final for mine, more a war of errors.

And that’s it for 5 months (unless you’re into Rugby – their Grand Final happens this weekend). Cricket begins shortly, spring racing carnival next month, tennis and all that summer stuff. But for those of us who are dyed-in-the-wool footy-junkies, March 2014 can’t come fast enough.

Fires out.
PS – still writing new songs for the next album.

This is it. AFL Grand Final weekend about to begin. Hawthorn vs Freemantle in pitch battle tomorrow at the MCG playing for footy’s holy grail. We’re told the half time entertainment will be an all-Australian affair (AFL boss Andrew Demetriou was heard to say during the week, “We’re still recovering from Meatloaf…”). This year it’ll be Hunters and Collectors & Birds of Tokyo.

Birds of Tokyo, half time entertainment – AFL Grand Final 2013.

Is it just me or was last night’s footy show the best indication yet that homo-erotica and a more-than-curious fascination with cross dressing has reached a coming-of-age in AFL football? For those who didn’t see it (or don’t watch it) channel nine’s footy show reaches a crescendo each year on Thursday night before the Grand Final, with a monster live show at Rod Laver Arena. Every year they close the show with the infamous ‘players review’ – a bunch of current & ex-footballers strutting their stuff live on stage to backing tracks. We’ve gotta give it to ex-Melbourne player David Rodan – that man can really dance. Other acts included Sam Newman as Elton John, miming ‘Tiny Dancer’ to a ‘little person’ in drag atop a grand piano, Garry Lyon costumed as fish-net stockinged Sher straddling a giant cannon, and a current player thoroughly revelling in being a very skimpily-clad Miley Cyrus for the night. And so it went.

Hey, I’m not complaining – just an observation.

Don’t know who to pick for tomorrow. I’m thinking Hawthorn… but they will definitely have their work cut out for them.

Fires out.