Something special at this festive time of year – a Merry Christmas to all from The On Fires.

It’s our first annual ‘Australian Christmas Special’ video. If you’re an Aussie watching this, you’ll probably cringe a little here and there. If you’re not Australian, this is what life is like down under (at least for one of our families). You’ll see kangaroos, spiders, a variety of strange bugs, pristine sandy beaches and wide open roads…

Merry Christmas from The On Fires.

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

THE ON FIRES WORLD TOUR 2011:

We’ll arrive in Boston the first week in January. From there we’re doing a bunch of media, shows and preparation for a major North American tour beginning the first week in March. The first dates are in Toronto Canada before heading south to Texas, Florida, Georgia & Alabama. After the south we’ll head north along the east coast to New York and surrounding states in the north east.

For the first time, we’ll be touring China in May, Europe after that in June, followed by more touring again through North America, Europe and China in the 2nd half of the year.

2011 is shaping up to be the biggest year we’ve had so far. (At this stage, we’re planning for the final tour show of the year to be in Melbourne in November – already looking forward to it).

We’ve posted the first tour dates on the Shows page with more to come shortly.

And if anybody has the contact details of a good psychiatrist, please email us asap.

Checkya tommorrow,
Fires out.

I like this track by Welsh band, Stereophonics. I’ve bought a few of their albums, my favourite being 1999’s ‘Performance and Cocktails’. Vocalist, Kelly Jones, could pretty much sing a nursery rhyme and it’d sound like a hit. He’s got one of those great rock voices (gravel & croon etc). In this particular clip they’re telling the tale of tour loneliness, isolation and so on. Which seems odd at first glance with the huge crowds, classy hotels, parties etc etc. That said, I found myself identifying with the story throughout the course of this year – I’d put the video on pretty frequently. Cool song too.

Stereophonics have been around for nearly 20 years (how the time flies). They’ve been particularly big in the UK, and sometimes the US – with little fanfare in Australia. When I discovered them in the late 90’s I was sure they’d be huge in Oz – but radio wouldn’t play them and the whole thing went under the radar, while the rest of the world lapped it up. I guess listening to them when we’re out touring makes me feel closer to home.

On a sad note, the band’s orginal drummer, Stuart Cable (who features in the video preview above – that’s him on the bike), died this year after a massive drinking binge. He was 40 years old.

Checkya tomorrow.

Fires out.

Winners of this week’s competitions: Helen won a free double pass to The Happy Endings with The Skybombers at Ding Dong and Tracy won the free double pass to see Mark Wilkinson at The Grace Darling last night.

THE BEATLES LIVE AT SHEA STADIUM:

I’ve pulled this video up for a look several times over the past couple of weeks. This vid has nothing to do with the Tour Therapy diaries – it’s simply a great video. This might have been the start of stadium rock shows, way back in 1965. It’s perhaps the earliest footage of anything like it. The Beatles. Enjoy:

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

COMPETITION WINNERS ANNOUNCED TOMORROW

A double pass to The Happy Endings with The Skybombers at Ding Dong and another double pass to experience the beautiful music of Mark Wilkinson. Details of the comp in yesterday’s post. We’ll announce the winners tomorrow.

VIDEO IAN’S PARTY FLORIDA USA

We met Ian after a show in Lake Worth Florida. Turns out his Mum kinda knows my Mum, to cut a long story short (me being Marty). Anyhow, he invited me to his place the next Friday and I shot this video. It’s an extraordinary inside-look at the lives of these most generous and friendly people.

I had a total blast at the party/jam. This was one of my favourite nights on the tour. I can’t thank them enough.

Checkya tomorrow.

Fires out.

You could win a double pass to one of two fantastic shows this Friday evening 10th December in Melbourne. Whether you’re into insightful acoustic music or dancin’ fun-time rock we’ve got the goods!

COMPETITION 1: To win a double pass to see our mates The Happy Endings with The Skybombers at Ding Dong, tell us where The Happy Endings are originally from before they came to Melbourne. Click here for event details.

COMPETITION 2: To win a double pass to experience the beautiful music of Mark Wilkinson, tell us in which country we first met Mark. Click here for event details.

You have until 8pm Thursday to enter by email theonfires@theonfires.com.au. Winning answers will be chosen for either their factual correctness or their entertainment value. Thanks to The Happy Endings and Mark Wilkinson for sharing the love with our crew!

In the photo below, Mark Wilkinson (bottom right), Renee Brack, Time Arney (Mark’s manager) and Max. At an Australian Defence Force/Federal Police event for artists who’d toured to play for troops and police posted overseas.

Checkya tomorrow,
Fires Out.

Another Tour Therapy band, Nashville’s The Dead Weather. I really got into this album toward the end of the US tour. We rented a small room in Brooklyn for about 7 weeks in notorious Bedford Styvesant, to set up the remaining leg of the tour (September). One night somebody started shooting out in the street. After the 2nd shot Max was like “OK, let’s turn off the lights and get down” – which we did pretty quickly. The shooting stopped, nobody got hurt, the lights stayed off.

It was during the Brooklyn stay that I discovered The Dead Weather. I’d heard a few singles on radio back home but I hadn’t paid much attention. Chris Bourque, our Texan bass guitarist, gave me the Horehound album (released 2009) and it quickly grew on me. It’s an often sparse, chilling sound. Spooky and dark, then it bursts into hard garage-rocking mayhem. There’s a real soul to what’s happening underneath the drama, particularly in the vocal delivery. The video above features the 1st track on the record, ’60 Feet Tall’.

Checkya tomorrow,
Fires out.

Video – live at Seven Festival, Poland – Sat 10th July this year. This footage features about a minute-and-a-half of ‘Uncool’ – one of our live favourites (a track from the Motherfu*ker EP released 2009).

Check yesterday’s post for live video of ‘Sky Caves In’ also from Seven Festival. They held the festival in a small town in the north of Poland called Wegorzewo (pronounced Vengo-shevo). We had an amazing time there in a truly beautiful part of Europe.

In the week before the show we played live on Poland’s biggest morning TV show to a viewing audience of around 4 million people. Later that week we did an interview and album feature on Trojka Radio Warsaw to an estimated audience of 7 million. By the time we got to the festival it seemed everybody knew The On Fires, people stopping to take photos in the street, or occasionally coming over to say hello.

We’ll be touring Poland and surrounding countries again mid 2011.

Checkya tommorrow,
Fires out.

On 10th July this year we played the Seven Festival in Poland. It was one of the highlights of the year. Everything about it was amazing – the show, the scenery, the people, the food, the accomm…

The festival was held in the northern lakes district of Poland, about 100 miles east of Gdansk.  The video you’re about to see features a live version of Sky Caves In (taken at Seven Festival).

Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.

I love this band – the mighty Stone Roses.

We were getting well beyond fatigued toward the end of the US tour this year (September). We were kicking back in a hotel in upstate New York after a show at Ithaca & I put this track on LOUD in the headphones – which made me not feel so tired after all. This was not necessarily a good thing – I then found myself having to drink a lot more beer to get to sleep (yep, a likely story but I’m sticking to it).

That said, hangover aside, I couldn’t get the song out of my head the following day or the days after that. The chorus just stays with you. It’s a pretty uplifting vibe.

‘She Bangs The Drums’ is an extraordinary song by this amazing seminal English band from the 80s & 90s. The Stone Roses paved the way for bands like Oasis & Blur some years later. In fact, it’s widely thought that if they had just held it together a bit longer, they would have taken Nirvana’s place at the forefront of cultural change. When they disbanded it left a so-called ‘void’ in the British music scene – perhaps an indictment on expectations placed upon the band, and how greatly they were respected.

Checkya tomorrow.

Fires out.