It was a big weekend. Saturday was Clive “Dundee” Cooke’s birthday – and Deano’s, TC’s and Kujo’s birthday – celebrated at the Collingwood football ground.

The On Fires – pic courtesy Kerrie O’keefe’s Facebook – Miss Daisy in background, Sat 11 Feb 2012.

The weather permitted, so we hit the hallowed turf for three massive footy kicking sessions. There were goals scored, marks taken and injuries sustained. Our house-mate, Scotty, pulled a hammy & limped from the field (he was looking very sore on Sunday morning). Later in the afternoon, we broke out the acoustic & played a few songs from the first album – it was basically a Yak Bar re-union crowd. The beer kept flowing well into the night, back at our place.

Clive ‘Dundee’ Cooke & friend, Collingwood football ground, Sat 11 Feb 2012.

Deano, Scotty (torn hammy) & Kim, Collingwood footy ground, Sat 11 Feb 2012.

Yesterday (Sunday) we went back into the studio for more recording on the next release. Still got a bit to go – but we’re nearly there.

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

TOF’s official photographer, Mat Ward, went along to Roger Waters on Tuesday night and emailed us this review below. Check out more pics at Mat’s eyehunger.com site.

Roger Waters, Melbourne 7th Feb 2012 – pic by Mat Ward.

Roger Waters review by Mat Ward:
Oh my god – this was the most amazing show I’ve ever seen! I wasn’t allowed to take my SLR so I’ve only got shots from my pocket camera which really don’t do justice to the specatacle. It helps that I’ve loved the album (The Wall) for decades of course. The show was updated to include a major anti-war message covering all wars over the last 100 years or so.  Lights, explosions, fireworks – this show had everything! Amazing music, an awesome band with a 4 voice choir attached.

Roger Waters, Melbourne 7th Feb 2012 – pic by Mat Ward.

Incredible projection system with amazing visuals that only got better as the wall was built across the set. Scary giant inflatable puppets. A giant flying pig roaming around the arena. And the master himself, Roger Waters singing and performing some of his most personal work. Incredibly moving at times. It was an honour and a privilege and an absolute delight to see this show.

Still buzzing from the whole thing.

Roger Waters, Melbourne 7th Feb 2012 – pic by Mat Ward.

Many thanks, Mat.

Have a great weekend. We’ll be back in the studio on Sunday.

Checkya later,
Fires out.

About to jump into the band van & head out for another day in the studio. Should be close to completing all the instruments today.

Checkya later,
Fires out.

Spent the weekend at Rangemaster Studios with David Carr producing the latest release. A couple more days & we should be done. The session was stopped yesterday when we blew up my Marshall amp.

Something smelled like it was burning – indeed it was the circuitry inside the amp. Must have had it up way too loud. Luckily, it was late in the day & we decided to call it & go home. So far, during these recordings, we’ve blown a hard drive & an amp – not bad for the first 2 days. Hopefully no further casualties from hereon…

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

PS – the drums were recorded last week in Atlanta, they sound awesome.

Kent called from Open Sky Studios in Atlanta this morning. He’d spent the day with producer Bruce Butkovich, recording the drum tracks for the next release. The first song (working title ‘Perfect Day’) had gone down really well & Kent was stoked with it. The guys played some of the drum recording over Skype. It sounded fantastic – although the connection was doing its best to drop out.

Skype session with Kent & Bruce at Open Sky Studios, Atlanta, this morning (night time, their time).

A few hours later I got an email from Kent – the 2nd song was done. By now, the guys will probably be fast asleep after a long day in the studio. When Bruce gets in tomorrow morning, he’ll begin uploading the drum tracks for me to download by the end of the week.

We hit the studio in Melbourne on Saturday to lay down the rest of the instruments over the Atlanta drum sessions. In theory, we should be done by next week with the new releases ready for mastering & release mid to late this month.

Kent Aberle (& The On Fires) on stage at Midi Festival, Beijing, May 2011.

Checkya tomorrow,
Fires out.

Last night, Ross Buckingham played his first ever open mic gig (I hope I’ve got that right). We went down to Station 59 in Richmond where Ross played a 15 minute set, including a cover version of Skeleton – the first time we’ve ever heard someone else do one of our songs live – what a buzz.

Ross Buckingham at Station 59, Richmond Victoria, last night.

Thing was, he gave Skeleton a completely different spin. With a deep timbre in his voice, sounding a little like Leonard Cohen & Cat Stevens, he slowed the song down capturing a melancholy intensity. Fantastic. I took some video of the show to post here shortly. Ross also played guitar with us a few months ago when we recorded The Jam’s ‘That’s Entertainment’ for our ‘Somewhere In The World’ video series.

Speaking of videos, while I think of it, Friday night’s Rage was awesome, making for a very slow start to Saturday. This clip by The Horrors, ‘I Can See Through You’, still stuck in my head.

For OS viewers, Rage (video show) runs every Friday & Sat night on ABC TV, starts at about midnight & goes til morning.

Checkya later.
Fires out

Sneaky Vader, Missy Daisy:
Love this pic. Got it from Missy Daisy’s official Facebook page.

The traveling roadshow that is Missy Daisy (Clive Dundee & his tour van) will be partying at Victoria Park, Abbotsford on Sat 11 Feb in honour of birthdays for Cujo, Clive & Deano. The van will apparently be open for inspection as we BBQ, kick the footy, & drink beer on the hollowed turf.

Victoria Park is the home of Australia’s most famous (or infamous) football team – Collingwood. A place where legends were born. I remember as a kid, standing with my dad in the outer, watching the Bulldogs play the Pies. Not the safest feeling; a beer-fueled crowd getting more and more out of control as the game went on. Nothing like Missy Daisy’s event in a couple of weeks…

Drums Atlanta:
Kent goes into Open Sky studios in Atlanta on Tuesday to record drums for the next single. We’ll have those drum audio files here by the week’s end to lay the rest of the instruments & vocals down.

Checkya later.
Fires out

Had a great afternoon yesterday at Stalk & Kim’s place, Abbotsford, Melbourne. It was indeed Australia Day – a day off around the country to celebrate white colonial ‘settlement’ – and the beginnings of Australia the country, and a day for Australia’s indigenous people to commiserate the invasion of their ancient land.

Max, Dave (rear facing) and Marty, thumbs up at Stalk & Kim’s, yesterday – pic courtesy of Clive Cooke.

At our small backyard party, the weather was beautiful & the beer was flowing under the warm summer sun. I vaguely remember a deep philosophical conversation at Stalk & Kim’s infamous kitchen table (where the minds meet) before staggering out the door on the walk home at dusk.

Kent records drums in Atlanta, this weekend, for the next single release due out in preparation for the US and China tours, March to May. Tours which are fast approaching.

Checkya later.
Fires out.

Drove out to Melbourne’s far eastern suburbs today to meet with producer David Carr for  pre-production discussions about the coming single release. Had a really cool time out there – he’s a laid back, friendly dude – and an avid collector of antique musical equipment. Much of the next recording will be tracked using some really nice old gear re guitars, amps, keys, mics etc. We’re going for a dirty rocking dance sound; an all-out effort to capture the live vibe.

David Carr & his Ibanez collection.

Early next week the drums will be recorded in Atlanta & sent over the pacific, via the interweb, to Dave’s studio where the fun is set to begin.

David Carr at Sing Sing Melbourne.

Checkya later.
Fires out.

Rehearsed the songs for the next release with Daniel Salazar on drums at Bakehouse yesterday. We had a great time playing & experimenting with the new material.

Just after rehearsal, Marty, Daniel & Max.

Daniel’s our next-door neighbour from Columbia – who happens to be a great drummer. We all loaded into the van, drums coming out from one house, guitars and keys coming from the other (definitely a first). It was a beautiful warm summer day in Melbourne-town. This time last year we were holed up in Boston, in minus 20 degree temps. Very good to be home for summer.

Checkya later,
Fires out.