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US Tour Day #11
US Tour Day #11
After a song fuelled goodbye to Chris we let the
We came in over the
US Tour Day #10
US Tour Day #10
Chris took us out to Texas BBQ for breakfast. Brisket that melts in your mouth and way to much meat for that early in the morning!
We then hit the thrift shop strip and went boot/western shirt crazy before crusing back to the Hodge Lodge for beers and shit talking, Made a late and fatal decision to go for Mexican and ate way too much for the second time that day. Wrapped up the night with a Tom Petty documentary and packed our bags for the flight in the morning.
US Tour Day #9
US Tour Day #9
Today was our final SXSW show courtesy of Paul at West Australian Music at a little place called BD Riley’s. We were a little worried that after Anthony Snape and Kara Grainger’s solo acoustic sets we were going to empty the pub but how wrong we were.
Crowd loved it, had about 200 people watching from the street and I smashed Oscar in the face with my bass, pulling out a large chunk of his hair on the way. We did a couple of interviews after we played then headed back to the Hodge Lodge to chill out and clean up.
Headed back in town via Hodge’s friend Victoria’s place to dump the car and then split up. I went and checked out
US Tour Day #8
US Tour Day #8
We were up early four first show the unforck and roll time of 1.15pm. Ben had hooked us up with an English mob called Westrocks to play their day party and we ricked the early risers hard. Bar dude and the crew loved it too. We took the gear back to the SUV and went to meet the hollow shell that was Ben at the artist lounge. He preceded to regal us with hazy memories of big black rappers and get kicked awake by hotel concierges whilst passed out face down in hotel corridors. Then he puked over the balcony some
Next stop was our official showcase with New York Dolls, Muck and The Mires and some other bands. Rad venue with a big stage, PA and free cigarettes. Got our ear talked off by the friendly security guy, fucking champ! Played a pretty decent set with Tom Zutaut who signed G ‘n’ R in the room, along with producer extraordinaire Bob Clearmountain. He informed Mo that Robbie’s one of the best rock drummers he’s heard
Had some dramas with one of Chippy’s mics going ‘missing’ then reappearing in a portaloo he’d never been in under some toilet paper. We’re pretty sure who took and karma will prevail you motherfucker. Watched a bit of the Dolls who were ok but being a bit to cool for their own good. After we lugged the gear out it was back walk, drink, sleep time.
US Tour Day #7
US tour Day #7
Quic showers then off to our first show of the day at Bayou. Little room and stage but after some brekkie beers we felt like a stadium band and were good to go. Only a 30 minute set but we killed it. Even sold some merch and everything. Made friends with a Scottish band called The Strand who are fucking rad and then headed over the road with them to the Troubadour for show #2. Another good tight set with the guitarist from Blondie in attendance and about 50 people just wandering in off the street to check us out. Big thankyou to Chris Perez at Captiva and Tim Manton back in Oz for hooking us up the shows.
After that was done we loaded the gear out and hit the streets again. Caught Lucero play a very drunk set around midnight, wasted but really good. Drinking music makes more sense played by drunks
US Tour Day #6
US Tour Day #6
SXSW time was upon us, we got downtown around 11am to register at the convention centre. We bitched about the lines when we got there but there were literally 100 people lined up by the time we got our badges. The guy who took my registration was actually the guy who booked our showcase which was cool. Got all our passes and shit together and hit the artist lounge for free beer, met Ben who’s following us around with a camera and hit the streets
Basically they shut down about 8 blocks of downtown and there’s bands playing in all the 200 bars/venues non stop. People fucking everywhere, kind of similar vibe to the old Big Day Outs when there was no aussie pride involved.
We headed back to HL and cleaned up then came back in to see Mariachi El Bronx play. The Bronx playing traditional mariachi stylee in full outfits with the bassplayer on trumpet and all. I left the guys to enjoy the normal Bronx set and went to see These Arms Are Snakes who were, as our French friend Alex says… FUCKING AMAZZZZING. Finally got home about 3am for a couple of hours sleep before the first day of showcasing.
US tour Day #5
US Trip Day #5
So there wasn’t any infamous LA traffic and we arrived at LAX at 6.30am for our 10am flight. Dropped Robbie and Mo off out the front of terminal 1 with the gear and
Then the GPS decided to fuck Oscar and I around getting the caddy back to the hire place. First it tried to take us to Compton before taking us literally around a block, 3 kilometre trip to travel probably 400 metres and we got it back. Jumped on the empty full size courtesy bus and got back to the airport for check in. The lovely SW airlines ladies helped us repack our bags to keep within the weight limits then it was security checkpoint hell. Shoes off, jackets off, they may as well strap the gloves on and shove a finger up your arse.
We sat around for three hours then enjoyed the oddness that is cattle call seating. It’s a bumrush for what ever seat you can get on the plane. Bizarre.
I slept lots on the plane and woke up in El Paso.
This is where we began to discover southern hospitality, fuck people are nice in Texas, from the security to cleaning people that you bump in to! Mo and I saw Keith Morris from Circle Jerks and went and got a photo with him and stuff which was rad. Also a really nice guy.
After another seating battle and flight we arrived in Austin. It was about 25 degrees and wonderful. Picked up a hire car from the overly friendly Brenton (he won’t lie to you) and then fought with the GPS until we got to the Hodge Lodge. Chris (and Frenchy though he was actually in Melbourne) was putting us up for the week and we were welcomed with more open arms. After a shower or two we hit downtown and went to Casino El Camino for giant burgers. Oh, the parking lots here don’t have meters, you stuff folded up notes in to a big metal box (please use your keys or the stuffer provided)
The burgers were amazing and massive plus you get a giant pickle with each meal here so I’m in heaven, then it was home and back to sleep
US Tour Day #4
US Trip DAY #4
Oscar got up and went for a big walk to get his puke off and almost got his jewellery stolen by a crackhead.We met up with him after a breakfast burrito at swingers and went to amoeba records. Holy Shit the place is huge, pretty much a whole city block of CDs, vinyl and dvds. We almost got lost forever in there. We then drove the caddy in to a truck and headed off to True Tattoo to meet Jeff who we partied with in queensland a while back. Checked out a few more thrift shops on the way back and hit swingers again. Ben who’s following us around and filming us while we’re here was crashing on the floor and had to be up even earlier than us to get to the airport so we hit the deck for the night.
US tour day #3
US TRIP DAY # 3
So the burrito mistake involved popping down to the 24 hour taco stand and getting Oscar some salmonella. He spent a lot of quality time puking in the morning and let loose down the door of the Caddy as we pulled in to valet parking out the front of the venue.. Loaded in to The Echo and put Oscar back in the car to sleep. The day was yet another bogan fest (in the good way) with nary an American accent in earshot. A lot of great Aussie bands played and we did too. We somehow made it through without Oscar passing out though he did spew in a bin in the middle of the venue straight after we played. Oh and Oscar managed to lose his bag with his passport in it as well, luckily Jack from The Art accidentally took it out with their gear and returned it to security or we would have been well fucked
Post show we put Oscar to bed and went to Vince’s house with Damien and Briony to chill out. Vince works for Myspace music and is numbingly hospitable guy. He took us to his local strip club where the girls aren’t nude and while Briony got dared to throw money oat the strippers, Vince bounced quarters off the table on to the podium, stripper wasn’t stoked on that.
We pulled the pin around 4am and headed home, thanks Vince the new Obits album by the way
US tour day #2
US Tour Day #2
US TRIP DAY #2
While the guys slept off their hangovers/jetlag, chippy and I got up early and waited to get picked by The Art’s manager Gabe. He ran me down to the hire place that I had thought about walking to. Thank god I didn’t because LA is ridiculously big.
We ended up with a massive caddilac as they were out of vans so we’re currently macking the luxury leather seats.
Driving on the wrong side of the road is some freaky shit. Kind of got the hang of it but it’s scary as hell turning left.
When we got back everyone had gotten their 12 hours sleep and we hit some thrift shops around the corner and then headed home to meet Damien and his wife Briony from Rode Mics. Thanks for the mics mate, you rule!
They took us to el coyote, a Mexican restaurant where Sharon Tate ate her last meal before getting in to an altercation with Mr Manson’s family. Awesome food and margaritas so thanks again Damien for showing us a good time.
After dinner we went to hollywood to see the art play and meet our new friend Josh, a tattooist and generally all time good guy from LA
Interesting club with bands downstairs and chubby Goths getting whipped by half naked gay dudes upstairs
As everywhere here shuts at 2am we headed home to drink at the hotel. We altar boyed the Red Riders then made the infamous late night burrito mistake
US tour day one
US TRIP DAY #1
We congregated at the airport in Sydney at 5.30pm with various loved ones for a beer and goodbyes before check in.
The lovely virgin staff ‘neglected’ to add up our bag weights correctly and we were ready to go.
With good mate chippy in tow we strolled about the spanking new plane and settled in for the ride. If someone can explain how Robbie ended up with thre seats to himself we’d love to know. Afew valiums later we were landing at LAX and reday for customs torture…
Except there wasn’t any, just a friendly customs guy guessing who did what in the band and heckling us as we walked through, no bag checks, no visa questions, nothing.
We met a kiwi band out the front who are also staying at the Beverly Laurel (they popped over for altar boys later) along with us, there’s also Red Riders and Mary and Glenn from the Aussie BBQ here too.
After a scenic stop motion drive in LA traffic ast all the oil derricks we checked in, had showers and headed down to Swingers diner for food, fucking good food too.
Then it was partay time at the Rainbow where we met a guy called Chester, Mo chatted to Taime from Faster Pussycat and we found MORE Australian friends from Sydney. After that we skipped over to the Viper Room for a couple more drinks (these places are tiny by the way)
Oscar, chippy and I headed home and left Mo and Robbie to their own devices, they got home eventually and proceeded to kill us with snoring and other bodily functions. Now I’m off to get a hire car and work out driving on the wrong side of the road
Till hopefully tomorrow if I remember
angels tour day one
we as per usual got off to a late start on the road to Coffs but eventually hit the road where we discovered Robbie's new talents as an 'auteur' (french for dickhead) as he managed to film lots of trees and make some simulated car crashes too with the video camera.
got to our lovely friend Hana's place around 4.30 and got to watch her surprise as her boyfriend from melbs made a surprise visit that we already knew about
coffs ex-services was exactly what we thought, a little bit frightening, poker machines and the pale skinned gamling addicts scare me. Room was fucking massive, The Angels and crew were all really friendly. Only got a quick soundcheck but played a fucking good 30 minute set to maybe 400 people (standing at the back of the room)
Angels are fucking great, Doc's voice is still awesome and they're tighter than a nun's nasty
After getting kebabs and throwing them at drunk fuckwits we proceeded back to Hana's, got drunk and passed out
More rivetting bullshit tomorrow perhaps!
Love, HCGx
almost time to go
well we'll see if we can keep it witty and amusing over the next few weeks in this tour diary shenanigan
We're not on tour yet
Just a note to let you know we're not on tour yet but we will be real soon with The Angels!!!
That's all for now...
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