Knocking down a wall at the venue entry yesterday. Been a huge week of building activity here. Still at it today. Big Anzac Day long weekend about to start. Building crew here again 7am tomorrow.
Marty on ladder, new venue, Collingwood 23rd April 2014.
Fires out.
Diva Demolition at the Espy, Sunday night. Been a long while since I’ve actually been down to St.Kilda. Think the last time might have been for a Vagrants show at the Espy. Either way, it was good catching up with the guys from Diva Demolition who were a long way from home. First met em at a sky-diving festival norhtwest of Brisbane in 2010, they were one of the local bands on the line-up. We’ve kept in touch since, never quite managing to catch up or play on the same line-up again. Great show guys. Blistering, solid guitar rock, punk attitude.
Diva Demolition, Espy front bar 20 April 2014.
Fires out.
Many thanks to Gav for sending this link – ‘Amazing Tron Dance’…
Hope you’re having a great Easter Sunday.
Fires out.
Here in Australia we have a unique tax-payer funded television & radio broadcasting service, the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Despite being infiltrated by a wealth of right-wing & corporate agenda, it still maintains a semblance of it’s independence – the last bastion of ‘main-stream’ media not owned and therefore, not completely subject the whim of a few powerful business-people. In the ABC we’ve got half a chance of hearing the truth about the most important issues affecting Australian society, culture and politics. Sadly, despite pre-election assurances to the contrary, this might not be the case for much longer as the federal government gears up to attack our national broadcaster.
People-power movement GetUp are currently running a campaign to hold the Australian government to account & keep the ABC funded as promised. Sign on if you feel the need.
Fires out.
China video archives. Strawberry Festival Beijing. ‘New’ song – and still unrecorded for release (definitely a major contender for the next album) – Next To You.
I told someone recently that I felt this show was an intimate gig. The person I was talking to & who I showed this footage, scoffed & called me a wanker. She was adamant that a show with an audience of this size couldn’t possibly be intimate. I gave up trying to explain & dropped the matter. I’d never felt that way about a festival show before. There was just something about the connection we had. Check out the video & see what you think.
Fires out.
Fun times dealing with paperwork for the new venue. Drafting floor plans for what’s existing & what’s ‘proposed’. Slow going in the design part of the process. Interesting but fastidious detail. Knocked off for the day. Family Guy & American Dad on TV. Clearing mind for tomorrow.
Venue plans. Stage on the left (street side).
Fires out.
OK, OK – Friday’s post was a hoax (sort of). We weren’t actually off on any ‘world tour’ as such – but we did play a couple of ‘gigs’ in southeast Queensland over the weekend. After some stoopid stuff on the flight there (delayed 2 hours on the tarmac before takeoff & aborted landing at Brisbane) we rented a car & drove out to Toogoolawah to catch up with the Ramblers sky-diving crew. In 2010 we played their Equinox Sky-diving Festival – and they very kindly threw the whole band out of plane the following morning. We’ve missed the guys & haven’t been back til now. One of the jumpers threw a great birthday party at their place Friday night. They’d set up an outdoor cinema complete with drop screen, projector, PA & everybody lounging around the backyard drinking beer in the balmy night air. Awesome. We played a couple of sets unplugged after the movie. Didn’t wanna leave the following morning. Great catching up with Sonja.
Arrived at Spicers Peak Lodge in the mountains west of Brisbane for a mate’s wedding around midday Saturday. Played Josh Pyke’s version of Endless Summer (by the Jezabells) as the bride walked down the ‘aisle’ overlooking said mountains. Sat up til the wee hours playing for the small but very rowdy reception. Arrived back in Melbourne midnight last night.
Spicers Peak Lodge west of Brisbane in the Great Dividing Range.
Great weekend catching up with friends we don’t see enough of.
Fires out.
At the airport waiting to board. Off on yet another world tour. Kept this one secret. See ya when we get back home in 2015.
Sad news today. Dave Frusher, friend and amazing supporter of the band, died on Tuesday in Puerto Gallera, Philippines. Dave was a half-time host at almost all of our shows at the Yak bar and around Melbourne between 05 & 07. He ran the meat raffle with Heidi, always at the ready with a series of bold one-liners. Up dancing on the nearest table with Kim during the show. Many a time, we’d be sitting at the bar for a few cold ones after the show til the early hours. We’d go back to Dave’s place & he’d let the pet snakes out for a pat (for anyone who was game enough). Dave followed his heart to the Philippines, pretty much re-locating there for the past few years. I guess I’d always thought he’d come home one day, and again we’d sit around Stalk & Kim’s kitchen table talking music, politics and the meaning of life. Good-bye Dave. We’ll miss you.
Fires out.
Probably not the best headline for a post, but we have gas connected to the new venue. 4 months & 7 days after placing the order, the guys finally came this morning and fitted this little meter between the pipes. And so the quest for heating, cooking and hot water nears it’s end. Another lesson in persistence and sanity. Dealing with Australian power, water & telephone companies is way too often a monolithic ordeal. Thank Christ we’re not a cafe or restaurant hanging by our teeth, waiting for Origin Energy to deliver the goods, before we can open. I could go on to further detail our frustration and anger at such a stupid system, but I’m freekin’ over it. Today we just thank that great marauding universal beast with many heads who lives in the clouds, that we have gas.
Fires out.
