Just got back from dropping our passports off to the visa agent for the China section of next month’s overseas touring. They’ll take a couple of weeks to process & we’re good to go.

Strawberry Festival Beijing, May 2012.

Fires out.

Last night at White Night Festival, Melbourne. Haven’t seen the city this packed before. Everywhere you went there were tens of thousands of people. Swanston Street was shut down by an enormous crowd which stretched from the Arts Centre to La Trobe St. Flinders St was the same from Russel to Elizabeth & beyond including every side street and laneway. The shot below – Ash Naylor setting up on stage below the clocks at Flinders St Station.

And a shot just before the bands kicked off (standing out front of St Pauls Cathedral) –

Fires out.

Wandering around the massive White Night festival in Melbourne. A large section of the city shut down for bands, arts etc. standing in a long line at a bar. Taking ages. Across the street, Flinders Street station has a band stage set up on the steps under the clocks.

Flinders St Station, Melbourne – White Night Festival.

Fires out.

Really cool interview Max did about touring China. She called this one in around the time of our last tour in 2012. Check it out here.

Crowd shot at a show on tour in China 2011.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview –
The On Fires toured China in May 2011 and played non-stop cross the country. Their frenetic itinerary included Dalian, Shenyang, Beijing, Chengdu, Zhuhai, ,Shenzen, Guangzhou, Forshan, Changsha, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Xi An. From bar gigs in Beijing to the Zebra Festival in Chengdu, the On Fires loved the energy of the crowds and found it “a reflection of the incredible boom going on in the country at this time”.

Fires out.

Max posted this pic on Facebook yesterday. The tour set list from China May 2011. If I remember correctly, this was the festival set. The post was inviting suggestions for our set-list on coming tours of Europe and China (April/May this year). We’ve had some interesting suggestions on FB, including Hotel Room & Arms Open from the Betrayer album, an obscure track from the Sky Caves In album, Freefall (Shane Melville wanted that one – he’s the first ever to request it). Jeanette chimed in with ‘Eidelweiss’ for our German audiences. The list goes on. Check it out (FB comments).

Fires out.

Worked through creating the OS tour set-list today, researching festival & club footage from last year to watch & hear which songs worked best. We’ve got a few new songs to add which means replacing some of the old ones (for upcoming shows in Europe & China). It’s been a pretty strong set for the past few years. The new songs have to be good enough to oust the existing. Brutal decision time.

The On Fires live at Midi Festival Beijing 2011.

Once we got an idea of where things were headed, we started rehearsing the new set in the afternoon. We’re feeling good.

Fires out.

Vagrants guitarist Steve Iorio just posted this video on Youtube. Yep, he’s on the other side of the world, skiing the slopes of St Anton, Austria. In about 6 weeks we’ll be standing on a stage together for the first tour date in Cologne, Germany (5th April). Full European tour dates for April announced shortly.

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Spent today writing. Got some new songs on the way. We’ll be releasing one of them before the China tour (that’s the plan anyway). Using a different app to write with. The Past few years I’ve been a Garageband man. Love that thing. This time I’m having a crack at Ableton Live. There’s a fairly steep learning curve – but it’s got some killer built-in sounds. Great to play around with – building the entire arrangement drums to vocals. Anyway, I got through a couple of verses & a chorus before calling it a day.

Fires out.

Went down to the Abbotsford Convent for a guided historical tour today. Bit different from our usual trip down there for the weekend markets, bars, bands & cafes. Apparently the 7 hectare site operated as a secret Catholic society for over a hundred years, until the 70’s when developers bought it – with plans to convert the whole thing into a massive high-density apartment complex. The community went nuts & forced the government to buy it back. Now it’s a sprawling arts precinct (since 2004), including an open-air cinema, the occasional music festival, sculpture studios, performance spaces & so on.

Max & Marty, today at the Abbotsford Convent market.

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Last night, it all started again for another year. AFL (Australian Football League). There we were, sitting in the stands at Docklands Stadium watching our beloved Bulldogs get pounded by two vastly better teams. It was a ’round-robbin’ affair. 3 teams playing 2 halves against each other in the Nab Cup pre-season competition. Strange – but nonetheless interesting. Last night’s game was also the first in a long long season – which it definitely looks like being for the Doggies. It’s footy from here to October. Ahhhhhh, the good stuff. Bring it on.

Docklands (Etihad) Stadium, last night as Collingwood defeat Western Bulldogs.

Fires out.