Max & I arrived at the Hi Fi Bar around 7pm last night to help set-up for a Halloween benefit show, organised by our friends The Vagrants. Max’s job was to work the merch table & my task for the evening was ‘stage-manager’. The bands started coming on at 8:30. I’ve gotta say, stage-managing can be a fairly challenging job. I’ve never done it before – but now I know how that guy feels; the one who’s standing in the wings yelling at the band to get off because they’ve run overtime. If the first band goes 10 minutes over & the 2nd band does the same, you never catch up & the headliner gets their set cut short (and the stage-manager gets an arse-kicking). Luckily, everything went pretty smoothly.

Renata out front of The Vagrants, last night at Hi Fi Bar, Melbourne.

The Vagrants played a great show, inspired by the ghoulish costumes they were wearing. At one point they must have had 10 people on stage, including a backing-vocal section. Nat Allison Band was great too. I didn’t get to see much of anything out front, holed up at side of stage, but there were some excellent musicians in the bands. Jimmy Cupples, a winning contestant from ‘The Voice’, headlined the show with his backing band of killer session players. I found him a little uneasy at first, before he warmed to the club environment. Gotta be said, the guy has a great voice. The band played a bunch of classic rock covers to round out the night.

Vagrants on-stage mayhem, last night at Hi Fi Bar.

More info about this month’s Revelry show (11th Nov) coming soon.
We’ve got a stack of local guest stars joining us & a magificent crew of volunteers helping out on the day. It’s a liquor licensed show – and it’s an all ages thing too. Doors open at 1pm, show starts at 2…

CLFO

Big one tonight at Melbourne’s Hi Fi Bar. A monster Halloween benefit show, organised by our friends The Vagrants, kicks off at 8:30 with a bevvy of fine local acts. The On Fires will be at the show, working behind the scenes. I believe Max will be sitting at the merch desk. And I’ll be stage managing. The Vagrants will hit the stage somewhere near the top of the bill (around 11pm). Dress your best ghoul & rock out.

The show will raise funds for the Australian Music Industry Benevolent fund.

More news on November’s Revelry Show coming soon.

CLFO.

Local singer/songwriter, Ross Buckingham, joins us on stage at November’s Revelry show. Ross will be lending a hand on his trusty acoustic, playing a live favourite from our first album (had a cruisy rehearsal on the back verandah over the weekend).

Ross Buckingham, live at Station 59 Richmond, earlier this year.

We caught one of Ross’s solo shows earlier this year at Station 59 in Richmond – where he played a cover of ‘Skeleton’ from the Betrayer record, taking the song a little in the direction of Leonard Cohen. Watch out for Ross’s backing vocals at the show too.

Ross has lead an interesting life indeed. A race-car driver, he’s traveled the world for his sport, living in London for nearly 20 years before returning to Australia. These days he plans trips to Bathurst between acoustic shows in local pubs.

More guest artist news for next month’s show coming soon…

CLFO

Michael Carney will be our official MC at next month’s Revelry Show, Sunday 11th November. A man with a wealth of MC experience – and an inherent rock-style sensibility, Michael will also be a guest backing vocalist for a Paul Kelly song we’ve rehearsed especially for the show.

You might also remember, Michael jumped on stage for backing vocals at a Melbourne Cherry Bar show we did in 2010.

More local guest star news for next month’s Revelry show coming soon…

CLFO

Steve & Renata, front guys from The (mighty) Vagrants, will be joining us on stage for next month’s Revelry show. We’ve played many a show with the guys – but never quite like this. Steve will be cutting up some mean lead guitar in the first set, while Renata pounds out vocals with Max.

Renata out front of The Vagrants.

Remembrance Day Revelry is set to blow the roof off Abbotsford Hall on Sunday 11th November. (cnr Gipps & Hoddle Sts, doors open 1pm)

The Vagrant’s next big show will be at Hi Fi Bar 31st October (11 days before Revelry). A Halloween extravaganza. We’ll be down at Hi Fi on the night to help out with a little organising (& drink their rider). The show is a benefit for Support Act – an Australian music industry benevolent fund.

And next year, we’ll be touring Europe with The Vagrants. But that’s another story for another day…

CLFO.

Daniel Salazar will join us on stage next month at Remembrance Day Revelry. Daniel is a drummer from Columbia, who we first met as our next door neighbour last year. He played with Ecuadorian band, Utero, before coming to Melbourne to study a couple of years ago. Along with Ben Redlich (see yesterday’s post below), Daniel will be playing percussion at the Revelry show (11th Nov).

Daniel Salazar, over the neighbour’s fence last year.

More news on next month’s Revelry show coming soon…

CLFO.

Percussionist extra-ordinare, Ben Redlich, will be pounding out percussion for us at next month’s Revelry Show in Abbotsford. Ben played percussion for The On Fires back in ’09 at a show in Belgrave before we went OS for extensive touring. He was also The Vagrants‘ drummer for a couple of years, touring Europe with the guys in ’08 (celebrating his 21st somewhere in Germany).

The pic above features Ben in his current band, Whodafunkit. I saw em July this year at IDGAFF. They’re a great fun band complete with bizarre costume action.

More guest artist news for the November Revelry show coming soon…

CLFO.

Waaaaayyyy back in 2004, we played one of our first shows at a pub in Upwey. To be honest, I don’t remember doing the gig. Des, one of our very first drummers, sent us this pic last week. That’s him behind Max in the shot below. It’s one of the earliest live pics of this band…

Not even sure our first album had been released at this stage. Just the demo CD.

More news on next month’s Remembrance Day Revelry show coming soon. We’ve got some amazing local guest stars on the bill.

CLFO.

Michael Gallichio will open the show on Sunday 11th November at 2pm. Michael toured with us in 2010 on an east-coast Aussie tour, playing shows in Brisbane, Byron Bay, Sydney & Melbourne. Back then, he was our bass player & backing vocalist. But in November, you’ll see Michael’s solo show.

Max & I went along to see him play last year at The Empress in North Fitzroy – a thoroughly enjoyable mix of comedy & eclectic song-writing. A perfect way to kick things off at Remembrance Day Revelry.

CLFO

Ross Buckingham posted this on Facebook. A pic from the archives – a show at The Yak Bar, 2005. From memory – which is hazy – we’d lost our drummer (yet, another one) at the last minute. So I put the kick drum in front of me & we did the show Mumford & Sons style.

We played 3 sets every Sunday at the Yak from April 05 to May 06. The best bit about that year was the community that built up around those magic Sunday arvos – many of whom will be coming along to our Remembrance Day Revelry show next month, 11th Nov. In fact, we’ve modeled this forthcoming Melbourne show on the spirit of the mighty Yak – what with the meat raffle, Heidi bringing around the party pies & sausage rolls, Stalk behind the bar (for some of it), guest artists a-plenty on stage (soon to be announced), free entry & cheap beer. It’s all happening…

CLFO