Three Days...

[Hitman]

TOUR DIARY

Day 1 Canberra

Mark and Troy drove down together, and Stassy Channy and I went down in another car. We left late, as usual, around 3:30. On the way we explained to Stassy how road signs work (OR YOU GET BOOKED!!), and almost rear ended about a thousand cars. Driving past Campbelltown was a particular highlight. Once we got into Canberra we got lost, and started driving towards Canberra University instead of ANU (Thanx Channy!). Canberra also has a lack of petrol stations, and the ones they do have are hidden VERY well. After driving around aimlessly for what seemed like an eternity, I broke down and stopped to ask for directions ( ) to a petrol station.
At the servo we asked for directions to ANU, and we were set....

We then proceeded to get lost IN the university itself!
But after much bickering between Channy and I, we made it to the venue, where we found Troy, Mark, and the Rook crew had arrived safely.

This gig was not very well attended, I guess on account of Uni not going back for another week, but everyone had fun, and the people that were there seemed to enjoy it.

Wepaons of Fashion were good, but their set seemed to drag, and came off as "samey".
The singer had a good powerful voice though.

We played a fairly solid standard TLS set. Rook, who had gone to thier hotel room (Fucking rock stars), arrived a few songs into our set, so I proceeded to yell things out at them. Troy had a tech diffculty with a lead during Bring it Down, but other than that, the set went smoothly, and we were happy.

Rook were up next.
It was my first time seeing them, and I must say they blew me away, far exceeding my expectations!
So much energy, and chops.
Tyson is a phenomenal guitarist, and Forbes voice is OMFG!

Both bands recieved some good feedback from punters afterwards.

Using Three words were a disappointment. I expected them to pull more heads, seeing as they were the headlining act. Their set, whilst competent, reeked of high school garage band. Nice guys, but their attitude left me with a bad taste in my ears.

We bidded Rook farewell, and started the long journey home, exhausted.
Hungry, we were drawn to the big yellow M on the hwy, only to turn off and find that all it was was a sign. No maccas to be seen WTF??
So we had to be content with meat pies and sausage rolls. The girls crashed, and snored their heads off. We made good time and were home for bed at 2:30.

Fuck I hate driving long distance...

[Stasswardo]

[Stasswardo]

[Chantel]

awwww

[Hitman]

Day 2 Wollongong

Chantel and I left late yet again.
We were meeting everyone else down there.
Channy drove this time, so it took us longer than expected.
Thankfully we arrived just in time for Rook's set.
I didn't want for Rook to open, but the venue booker insisted, because it was their first time down the Gong.
The small yet attentive crowd seemed to be blown away!
After every song they recieved a very enthusiastic crowd response, and ended up selling quite a few CD's afterwards.

Next band up was The Sparrows, also from Melbourne, who have recently signed to Sony. They were hilarious. When they got there, they complained about their not being a rider.
The run sheet the venue booker gave me had Sparrows listed as main support, and us as headlining. Sparrows disputed this. After a bit of arguing, and a chat with the bar manager, Sparrows agreed to go on.

Thier set consisted of some of the most derivative and unoriginal music since Wolfmother.
They also decided to play an extra long set, and cut into our time.
An intersting observation is that before they played, the crowd had built to a healthy size, but half way through, people started leaving. By the end of their set the crowd just wanted it to STOP!

So then it was our turn. Quite nervous, as we needed to put on a special performance to match what had come before, namely Rook.

We started out well, andthe crowd was into it.
Then something interesting happened.
Halfway through, we decided to thank the other bands.
We thanked Rook, and...Jet...oh no, I mean Sparrows!



Throughout the set we kept making references to Jet, and how we should all buy Orange amps etc. The Sparrows were sitting right there, mouths dropped open, pissed off to no end. Th crowd was also in stiches. We could hear Rook cracking up out the back.
Channy's face in particular was priceless.
The vibe and tension in the room was electric.
We used this to our advantage, finishing off with a blistering 3 pronged attack of Eleanor Rigby, The Crowded Room and Chinese Whispers.
We even had some people up and grooving at the front.
By the end people were even asking for an encore, but we had to finish up.

As we packed up, 2 of the Sparrows boys were yelling shit out at us.
Eventually I went up and asked them what the problem was.
They were in shick that we had compared them to Jet etc.
They wanted to step outside and sort it out like men.
I told them that we were more than happy to do that, but that they needed to loosen up and get a sense of humour.
I explained that we were a bunch of cheeky bastards, but meant no harm by what we said, and that every band is guilty of influences and unoriginality.
They were still very worked up, and the drummer was next to tears about being critisised. I couldn't believe it! A bad, who are on tour, SIGNED TO SONY, getting their egos bruised by a bunch of hacks down in the gong!



Eventually they calmed down and fucked off.

Rook gave us back slaps and shook our hands, saying that they had never witnessed a performance with so much intensity between the bands and crowd (They were obviously not big fans of the Sparrows ).

Yes we are assholes, and we live dangerously.
Isn't that what rock and roll is about??

[craigwardo]

LMFAO

[Chantel]

Channy drove this time, so it took us longer than expected.

We had plenty of time, fucko!

I was not going to speed in your mum's car!

[scottik187]

i think troy mentioned once that he wants to buy an orange amp...

[mrkeys]

Next band up was The Sparrows, also from Melbourne, who have recently signed to Sony. Thier set consisted of some of the most derivative and unoriginal music since Wolfmother.

I am happy to hear that Sony are continuing their great tradition of supporting original Australian music..

good post though dude..

[Chantel]

The Sparrow's incident was bloody hilarious.