We finally got this tour under way, a transit van full of gear and merch and a tarago full of musicians not knowing what to expect. Tthe drive to Canberra was 6 hours of bad food, talking alot of shit and tom taking over the stereo with his ipod. We got to Canberra and went straight to the hotel to chill out, our crew went to load in and get sound check happening. After sound check and realising our new stage banner is so big we can't even put it up in the venue, me a Granto find a good Japanese resturaunt in town and eat some raw beef and tempura prawns, mmmmmmmmmmm the good shit!! Canberra is a pretty quiet town and we don't know anyone, so it was good to see Kim and Ben from Melbourne who'd driven along way to see the first show of the tour. Kim gives us gift wrapped presents from Canberra's porn district Fishwick, I get a wind-up penis on a skateboard, Wakker gets a medi evil male chastity preserver, Granto gets cock golf tee's, and Tommy gets crotchless girls lacy undies which he instantly puts on and starts taking bets to wear them on stage. So far the pot is $150 bucks but he has to wear them for at least 2 songs.. easy money for someone who would do it for free by himself. We found out we had alot of pre sale ticket sold for the show, which is cool because we were a bit worried about getting a crowd in Canberra on a wednesday night, but we ended up getting a really good crowd and having a fun show. A good way to start the tour. Switch 3 and memorandum supported and were cool bands. After the show we decide to make a few changes to the set list, the new songs went down well but I think we should probably not do 3 in a row. We head back to the hotel for a few beers with Kim and Ben, then hit the hay. |
||||||
DAY 2, with Shane So last night we played at the ANU bar in Canberra and now it's time for us to head to Newcastle to play at the Brewery. Again there was a bit of driving to be done today, and more of Tom's Ipod to be listened to (please no more Red Gum). Also today was "Wak Wakker" day as everyone seemed to want to hit me for some reason, but all is good when I get them back. Once we got there it was straight to the hotel, our home for the night. Went to the venue to help our crew load in upstairs (bit of a bitch), and it was off to Harry's Pies for what i was told is an experience as I hadn't had a "Harrys" before. Only thing is I didn't get the pie that everyone was going on about and I just got a chicken pie instead, no mashed peas for me . It was then back to the Brewery to sound check for the rock show that was to follow later in the night. This venue was pretty cool with water front views, plenty of sea breeze, good food and not a bad little local brew called blue tounge which we had a bit of once we started on our rider. Playing with us tonight was Angela's Dish and In The Grey, and both of them rocked out in front of the sold out crowd. Once we got on stage it was a real stinking dog box, but in a good way with the crowd going nuts. One chick was even dry reaching at the front of the stage but still wouldn't leave from the front even when on the verge of chucking. Post Show, It's from this point onwards for me that the night gets a little blurry. A few brews had been consumed at the gig and we continued on afterwards at a seedy little pub called the "The Ducks Nuts", and it was here that I discovered the joy and the not so joy of having shots of OP Rum which comes in at a tidy 58% Alc Vol. But a mixture of tequila, scotch and beer on top of this made tonight a very messy night. I can't actually remember what time we got back to the hotel but i know it was close to being light (I think). Even lights in the Hotel seemed to want to fall from the roof and cut me, which I don't remember happening but am told did. So all up today was a good one, with a good show, rockin times and a hangover to boot. So onto Sydney.... |
||||||
DAY 3, with Cam We all wake up feeling shithouse and after showering and a dodgy takeaway breakfast, start the drive to sydney town. It's the last long drive of the tour. The only good thing about driving is that we can use our own gear instead of hiring stuff. Wakker likes his sparkly drum kit and stuff and Tommy and me like to have our own gear, apart from that I'll take a plane Back to the hotel where we all get some food and sleep then back to the Metro to check out the supports. After Bagster open up proceedings, Irrelevant play a tight set to a good sized crowd, they are a good bunch of dudes and a really good hardcore band. Wakker scams a free t-shirt and we watch the crowd go through many emotions while trying to comprehend what was going on in front of them, Blood Duster.
After the show we load out and Tom, Tim (our mixer) and Caleb (tour manager) head out with Matt from Blood Duster and have beers till the early hours. Me, Granto and Wakker chill out at the hotel then hit the sack at 3am, pretty happy with how the tour is going so far. |
||||||
DAY 4, with Shane Woke up feeling a lot better than I did the previous morning. I actually woke up twice, the first being at about 6am when Tom accompanied by Matt from Blood Duster come back from a night of drinking, very messy and very amusing. Fair to say they might have had a bit of a hangover a few hours later on. So I went back to sleep and end up getting up around 10am. No one else was up yet so I went for a bit of a walk outside and come back to the hotel just in time to go grab a curry for lunch with Tim our sound tech, Tom and Matt. The food from the restaurant we went to was great, but I just couldn’t finish it, there was way too much. It’s then off to Wollongong for tonight’s show at the Yallah Roadhouse which is our last show of the NSW/ACT leg of the tour. Again we have a bit of time to kill before we go to sound check, so we just kick about having a look around and cruise down to the beach for a bit of a squizz. By the time we get to sound check our crew have everything ready to go and I jump on the kit to do a bit of a line check and tune my kit up. Sound check goes well and then we grab some tea. All of us had tea at the venue except for Tom, who was invited around to a relatives place for an awesome Thai dinner (lucky man). He arrived back later feeling very good about the whole dinner thing. Tonight’s show was another sold out event, which was awesome. We are sorry to the people that didn’t manage to get in, we’ll try get back up that way again soon. From early on in the night we knew it was going to be a fun gig with the local support band “Lost in Line” getting the crowd going fairly nuts from the outset with a really tight set. Blood Duster played again tonight and the response for them was amusing with people just not knowing what to do, but it didn’t take long for people to start going pretty crazy. Its then our turn to hit the stage and we where greeted by many a smiling face and loud cheering. Tonight was a very fun show with the crowd going crazy and singing along to all the tunes. After the show we hang around for a bit, I get some happy snaps of the night and we head back to our hotel in Sydney as we have a flight back to Melbourne. Our crew however stayed the night in Wollongong as they where driving back to Melbourne with all our gear in the morning. Myself and Grant both slept most of the way back to Sydney aided by some late night scotches which was great. Tom does the driving while Cam Navigates. Once back at the hotel we just kick back for a bit watching some Rage and then everyone decides to call it a night. These first four show of the tour have been great, everyone’s been having a rad time, were looking forward to the VIC leg this week, in Melbourne, Geelong and Belgrave. So we hope to see all you VIC folk there! |
||||||
Check out WWW.BOMBSHELLZINE.COM for the rest of the Call To Arms Tour Diary
|
||||||
