I am on tour for the next six months.
Suitcase bound and fancy free. It has already begun.
This month sees myself and Joe McKee travel around Australia doing some co-headlining shows. We have already done four – Wollongong, Sydney, Canberra, Sydney. They have been pretty amazing so far. My brain doesn’t work right now.
Then next month I go to Europe for five months, to play at the Great Escape and Liverpool Sound City music conference/festival things in the UK, then to travel all over.. Iceland, Germany, France, Sweden, Spain.. collaborating with musicians and writing a new album. I know.. it’s going to SUCK.
Anyway the tour started Wednesday. Joe and I caught the plane from Melbourne to Sydney, stopping briefly to enjoy some sweet privelige in the V Lounge. Let them eat V Lounge!!!
Then got the train from the airport straight to Wollongong. I hadn’t done that trip before, it was very nice. We hoofed it to Music Farmers, where Jebbaroo had kindly agreed to let us camp out. It’s such a great record store. Jeb is a hero to the Wollongong people, and to people generally. Did you know Bonnie Prince Billy came to play at Music Farmers a few weeks ago?
I realised while slowly dying of emphesema that I had too much stuff. I will need to work on that. I have managed to get rid of amplifiers, drum kits, electric guitars, pedals, fans but still it feels like I have too much stuff. Maybe I could get a plastic guitar case, that might help. And maybe less pairs of jeans. Joe pish poshed my ownership of multiple pairs of jeans, pointing to his succesful ‘wear one pair of jeans until they fall apart then buy a new pair’ method. What about washing them, I asked? “You don’t wash them, they fall apart.”
Gig at Yours & Owls in Wollongong was kind of weird but good. The opening act, Hail Obscura, or Sean, had songs about Skyrim and first person Zombie shooters – something like “Aim for The Head”. That was pretty cool. We walked back through Wollongong Mall and up Crown Lane and listened to records in the empty record store. I read the book about No Wave by Thurston Moore and Byron Coley. That was good.
Next day we trained it back to Sydney and Chris came and got me from Sydenham station and helped me lug my ten tonnes of crap up to his place. Was so good to see him again. That night was the Union with Michel Michel and Robert F. Cranny. It was huge – it was purportedly a ‘secret’ show but the place was packed out. It felt like I finally cracked Sydney. It’s hard to earn Sydney’s respect. Afterwards, I went back to Chris & Tiani’s place completely buzzing and danced around the lounge room listening to Azealia Banks on repeat. WARNING: NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK.
I think they’re sick of hearing it, but only just. I think that, right now, it’s the best song in the world. Although I saw the MIA “Bad Girls” clip last night and that blew my mind.
Anyway the next night was Canberra, splendid early Autumn Canberra, cloudless and warm. More on that soon. Stay put. Newcastle tonight. Argh. Gotta go catch the train.