Tour pt 5 - Newcastle, the end.

THE GREAT NORTHERN // 9 JUNE

Yae!Tiger, Briscoe + Hopes

Brooke from Yae!Tiger organised this show and it was sort of the quid pro quo to the Wollongong gig (aka shit-stinking ordeal they had to drive 4 hrs down from Newcastle for). We had booked hostel beds for the night but Brooke and Shane insisted we stay at their place, come early for a barbeque and eat all the rest of their food at 2am. We're lucky they don't understand latin, or that they are excellent people. 

Brooke and Shane also have a 2 piece side project called The Si Claros which you should check out. They've just pressed their debut 7". I heard it at their place on this<<< 

Hopes were up first and I really dug it. A few people were scrunching up their noses but it was a young band and they were really going for something - it was a chunk of noise rock with some edgy vocal ideas and some killer fuzzed-out guitar hooks that were making me think of My Bloody Valentine. A little way off MBV but at least they were going for something outside the ambit of inbred, edgeless indie music.     

Luke Davison of Preachers fame was filling in for Ross on the drums. We had one rehearsal with him, one short rehearsal and he was all over it. He must really like Briscoe, like heaps more than the Preachers. 

The gig felt very good, a bit loose but in the best possible way. It was timely cos the one/two punch of Wollongong and the Lansdowne had me ready to do something i may have regretted, like sell all my instruments and get a Sydney mortgage.

Yae!Tiger were terrific again. Set opener Sleepworking is my fave at the moment I think. We drew the curtain on the tour and consummated our bandlove by jumping up with them and singing the ecstatic outro to the Gordon Shumway Experiment. Flaming Lips eat your hearts out. 

Thanks to everyone who came to a show, we really appreciate it - not just saying that. Next time we see you it'll be with an album for sale at the door.

Tour pt 3 - The Gong.

THE PATCH // 18 MAY

Paisley Park, Briscoe + Yae!Tiger

Owen from Y!T - Simply The Best

Raining. Dee and I got there first and we walked through a rowdy, harshly lit front bar to the band room at the back. It looked pretty decent - nice sized stage, good PA, lighting rig, dance floor, decent. THIS IS NOT WHERE YOU ARE PLAYING. Back out to the beige-tastic front bar where we were actually playing, we'd missed the stripping waitresses by five minutes - they'd left ripples of burbling misogyny in their wake though. The stage was dismal: shallow and wide with twin flat-screen gargoyles perched above it. Yae!Tiger politely disguised their horror as they arrived and to their credit, were very civil to me. I felt bad.

The Rugby League was switched off, most of the clientele vacated the premises and Y!T proceeded to rock what was left of the house. They were once a 6+ piece but they took a break and slimmed down to 4 and it really is a helluva rebirth. The songs, which were always great, are so much bolder and clearer as a four piece. It's pop that rarely goes where you expect it to, but still gets its hooks into you. Totally creative and engrossing. 

Half of Briscoe arrived just before we were set to go on, and the first words we said to each other were "one, two, three, four" then I proceeded to offend one of the only punters who had hung around in response to a heckle I may have misheard. It had been a rough week and this iced the cake. Context aside I think it was one of our tightest sets. Surprisingly, a group of people who had been drinking with their backs to us turned around when we finished and shouted "change yer name and play another set!" I'll be quoting that in the next press release for sure.

Locals Paisley Park came on after us for their maiden show and my heart broke for them as the sound guy tried without urgency or success to tame the feedback that was dominating their first few songs. His solution in the end was to turn off the singer's microphone and to rest on the laurels of that nobel-worthy decision for the next two songs. It. Sucked.

READ PART 4 HERE

Brooke and Cat (Y!T) getting psyched

Day Job Tour almost over, actual day job remains interminable.

Well the tour is almost done and the post-tour empty and broken feeling is kicking in. Maybe i'll post about the shows in greater depth in the next few days but for now I'll just say come to the Great Northern in Newcastle this Saturday night for the last show... the weather's gonna be nice, the hostel beds are cheap and the bands (Yae!Tiger, Hopes and Briscoe) are, in my opinion, excellent.

I took this video on my telephone of Yae!Tiger (who are great) at our Wollongong show (which was effing horrible). Because I thought I'd be clever and get a non-iPhone phone, the sound does not do them justice... it is a great song though. Go here to hear a version that doesn't sound like a Thurston Moore noise rock excursion.