Photo shoot yesterday at midday. Another shoot at 2pm. Rehearsal in Boston at 4pm til 7. Everything going according to plan (more or less). The shot below taken at the second shoot by Sean (tour videographer).

Got back to the apartment at 8 & made a few calls to Australia. Then we all went out to dinner for a band & crew bonding session – which is always great. We get so cooped up each day, and mesmerised by laptops, that we’re only communicating at a work level most of the time. So it’s great to get out & relax a bit with everybody.

The restaurant: Fire Bull, a Spanish all-you-can-eat place just down the street. They give you this little beer-coaster thing. One side’s red, the other green. When it’s green, they hammer you with food, non-stop – waiters continually arriving with huge chunks of meat on skewers. Flip the coaster to the red side, & they give you a break, til it’s green again. Suffice to say, we all ate too much & nobody wants to eat today, just yet.

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

Here we are again, the end of another day in Boston. Lap-tops out, brainstorming the upcoming US tour & Kent entertaining us with previous tour tales & general clownery.

Maybe cabin fever’s kicking in. We’re kinda trapped – mountains of snow outside. There’s one more night of snow storm and we should be done, hopefully for a while.

Checkya tomorrow,
Fires out.

Helped a guy in a BMW get out of the parking lot, digging & pushing til he got the necessary traction. After that, had to shovel snow off the steps to get back into the apartment. Max set about making a snow angel. All fun for about 10 minutes til the cold kicked in.

The two-day monster storm started early (earlier today). Everything’s ground to a halt, including traffic & business. Amazingly, Kevin & Kent flew up from Atlanta & arrived a few minutes ago. They kept the plane in the air while they ploughed the runway enough to land. And somehow, after that, they made their way through the 3-mile-an-hour traffic to get here.

Checkya tomorrow from under the ice, here in Boston.
Fires out.

A shot taken out the window earlier today.

We’re staying in a Boston suburb called Peabody (pronounced Pea-Bdee). This is our ‘back yard’. On the news tonight; a massive snow storm coming tomorrow which will last for 2 days and probably dump 2 feet of snow on the city. The problem now is that there’s nowhere to put the snow (30,000 tons of snow trucked out of Boston already). In Peabody it’s already piled metres high on the sidewalks in an effort to keep the roads clear. I propose we all get out there with cigarette lighters and get drinking. Tomorrow will be too late…

That said, checkya tomorrow & Fires out.

Here’s some more live footage of The On Fires at Equinox Rocks festival, October last year (Toogoolawah Queensland). As mentioned in yesterday’s post, we received a DVD in the mail, just before leaving for Boston, featuring raw footage of the show (we’d forgotten about it). We’re belting out ‘Skeleton’ in the video below..

It’s midday Sunday and about minus 5 degrees Celcius here in Massachusetts (heat wave). Some of the snow has started to melt. Who knows, maybe things are warming up? (not betting on it – & not complaining either…). Max is out with a friend & I’m here at the apartment, working out how to use the new pedals I bought last week. A somewhat steep learning curve (but who doesn’t love a challenge?).

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

In the week before we left Australia for Boston, we discovered this footage – one of the guys from the festival film crew mailed it to us. It’s raw video of our show at Equinox Rocks festival in Toogoolawah, Queensland Australia (we’d forgotten about it). This clip features ‘Coming Home’ (and Max lettin’ loose).

And for those of you who haven’t seen it – check the sky diving video below, taken at Equinox Rocks festival (the day after our show).

Saturday night here in Boston. Just a little warmer today. Must have been pushing zero – the snow’s starting to melt.

Checkya tomorrow,
Fires out.

Took a train down into Boston yesterday – just as a snow storm began to blanket the city. Shot this video at Salem station & on board the train.

I was traveling to Guitar Center on the other side of the city. My timing was not good. The mission was all about connecting trains and buses – but when the snow-falls got heavier I gave that idea away & resorted to a series of cab rides.

When I finally got back on the train home with a bunch of gear I’d bought, this huge guy asked if he squeeze in next to me. I said, “sure, let’s give it a shot”. After taking the seat and crushing me against the window, he turned and asked “How’s that?”. I replied (as politely as I could) “It’s a little tight, maybe you could find another seat. There might be room upstairs…”. I was thinking there was no way he was going to get up and try climbing those stairs to the upper deck. Fortunately for me, he did & I got home without injury.

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

Epic mission today. Cab to Salem. Caught a country train down to Boston (the train had WiFi). 2 more trains to the other side of Boston and Guitar Center. The trip took about 2 hours in the midst of a snow storm. Stayed at Guitar Center for about 5 hours. It’s possible to get totally lost & absorbed in that place.

Walked out with a bunch of gear at 9pm. Ukraine cab driver took me back to North Station in Boston where I caught a ‘purple line’ train home. Looks as through the worst part of the storm will hit overnight. Schools have canceled classes for tomorrow.

Hope ya had a good Australia Day, Aussies.

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.
PS. Mum, I know what you’re thinking – “why does he always pull those stupid f*cken faces?” …
PSS. Douglas Mawson was an Aussie Antarctic explorer (OK, wrong pole but you get the idea)

Kicking back at the apartment tonight. Friends of Derek’s rocked up. Few Beers later, they started freestyling. Check this out.

The guys on the right hand side of the video are from a local live hip-hop band called CFP (Constant Flow Producers).

Happy Australia Day, Australia (we’re 16 hours behind here).

Love & Checkya tomorrow,
The On Fires.

Minus 23 C last night (-9 F). Took a walk to Duncan Donuts again this morning for coffee & some kind of bagel thing. Crazy cold.

Just spoke to Dad and Ronda on Skype. Told them about the snow man on the beach – so I thought I’d post this pic. They proceeded to tell me it was 32 degrees (C) where they are (Australian east cost – right near the beach). Yep, that’s what I needed to know. Anyway, enough about the weather.

Spent a couple of hours in the local Guitar Center, a huge store for guitars, keys, drums etc. Going back tomorrow. So much stuff to look at. The cost of instruments & equipment here is way way lower than in Australia – which is great because I need a bunch of extra gear.

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.