dustdudes australia tour diary? why not?

[Deleted]

one thing: "Happy Jacks (né Burger King)" - its HUNGRY Jacks. best fast food in Oz. there's one across from the Metro, where you'll be on Wedensday.

also - i'm supposed to wear sunscreen EVERY time i go out? damn. the heat is pretty horrible, though... can you sneak me back to New England?

did you catch any of the Drones? they blew me away at Big Day Out... amazing live

can't wait to see you on Wedensday!

[john k]

any photos ?

[lilhan]

dude, wow.
don't melt!

[emily]

I thought the 40 degree heat wave we're having here was warm. Damn.

[hard corey]

Feb 1, 2009 12:10:30 GMT -5 emily said:

I thought the 40 degree heat wave we're having here was warm. Damn.

yeah i'm excited that it might be 43 degrees tomorrow.

[john k]

just seen on the news about the railway sleepers buckling. thats hot.

[Deleted]

i wonder if the boys can sneak me back home in a guitar case or something

[Deleted]

ok i just checked the Sydney Laneway timetable... Toydeath are playing. you have to at least hang out with these guys - they circuit bend toys to make music so you can play with stuff like fucked up Hulk Hands. really really really fun
oh and check out the Drones
wooooo! this is going to rock!

[dustdudes]

Day 5:

Another thing that's better in Australia: Air travel is still fun. Or, if not exactly fun, it isn't the horrible experience that it has become in the US. For a domestic flight we don't have to show any ID, pay any extra for checking 16 pieces of gear, take off our shoes, or any of the other things that make checking in take forever at home. Leesa gets boarding passes for everyone and we just walk through the metal detectors. Checking in 8 people and all of our gear takes twenty minutes. When we get to the gate we realize that just about every single band that is playing the Laneway festival is on the same flight. I sit in front of Stereolab, right behind Jay Reatard, next to the guitar player from Temper Trap, and the rest of the plane is full of other bands. Except for the guy in first class with a Minnesota Twins hat and jersey. He works for Apple and is working on opening a few stores in Australia. When we land in Melbourne we discover what happens if you try to put ten touring bands on a single flight: There's not enough room for all of the gear underneath the plane. Every band gets half of their stuff, the rest is on the next flight coming in. Thankfully there's a Brisbane to Melbourne flight every hour. The band goes back to the hotel, Andy and Leesa and I drink coffee in the airport, and everything shows up fairly quickly. The bands that are playing early in the day get nervous that their gear isn't in and they're onstage in two hours but we've got plenty of time. Our driver back to the hotel tries to teach us the ins and outs of regional Aussie slang. Most of it is totally filthy. Some of it is even so good that I have to write it down. "No wuckers."

We only stop at the hotel long enough to drop our bags off and then we're on the way to the festival site. The best part of these festivals being in the middle of the city is that they're never more than a five or ten minute drive away from the hotel. The stage here is three times the size of the one in Brisbane, the crowd is three times the size (12,000 people the promoter says), and there's actually a real backstage area. I watch Stereolab again and get to see Jay Reatard and No Age finally. I change the strings on all of the guitars. The heat and humidity and dust storms from Brisbane have everything completely covered in filth. The heatwave that we've been hearing about for the last few days broke as soon as we got here. 85 degrees in the hottest part of the day, 75 with a light breeze when we go on after the sun goes down.

Notes about the show: We're halfway around the world and the crowd knows the words to every song including stuff off the first two records. I didn't know anyone outside of Minneapolis knew those two. The AC30 reissues we have today, the AC30TB, I think, are better than the Custom Classics but still sound awful. We ask for two Vox AC30's with our backline because they're the most consistent thing that every rental company everywhere has and with a bit of work they can sound "pretty okay." I'll be happy to get back home to amps that sound good and I know the maintenance history of. The show goes mostly without a hitch except for a problem with the rental keyboard in the first song. Turns out the last person to rent it reprogrammed it be be transposed a full step down. I'll be checking that from now on.

After we load out and shower back at the hotel I go out to a bar with McQ and Leesa and Tim, the festival promoter. He knows a great rooftop bar near the hotel. It is on the sixth floor and has an awesome view of downtown Melbourne. And the elevator is broken. By the time we get to the top we're ready for beer. Budweiser. Half the time I order a "Budweiser" here I get an American Bud. The other half of the time I get Budvar/Czechvar. I like them both so I take whichever. Thanks to Tim I've had, in fairly short time, enough beers to ask the bass player for a local punk band how long they've had electricity here. He just stares at me. So I offer that maybe they've had it since 1970 or 1975. He just stares at me even more confused. I ask him if they have Wallaby Ladies. You know, like how in America we have Cat Ladies. I've lost him and am pretty close to not being able to keep up with myself. Then a friend of Tim's, who has been at our table but I haven't spoken to, sobers me up with the Best Insult Ever. Without even trying. After listening to me talk for twenty minutes she interrupts and asks me where I'm from because I have a very interesting accent. I ask where I sound like I'm from. She says "You sound like you're from either Canada or Williamsburg."

Touché, lady. I don't know any Minnesotans who aren't at least a little bit sensitive about sounding like Canadians. And I've been spending a week a month for the last year working in Greenpoint, right next to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, making fun of it and being glad I don't live there. All to then have an Australian say I sound like a Canadian in Williamsburg. Ouch. Sails deflated and newly self-conscious I'm ready to go back to the hotel.

Day 6:

First thing in the morning Craig, Tad, Franz, and I get taken to a radio station to do a taped interview/acoustic performance. Tad plays guitar, Franz plays accordian, Craig sings. The interview isn't more than twenty minutes long. We're in the station for less than thirty minutes. We're back at the hotel 45 minutes after we left. The second in-studio thing we were supposed to do has been cancelled. This is good news because we have something better to do this morning: Eat chips and watch the Super Bowl. 8 out of 8 of us are pulling for the Steelers. The game starts at 10:00AM here on a Monday morning. I enjoy it more this way. We watch the first half down in the lobby bar at the hotel. The only non-American there is an Australian guy who gives us each a copy of his CD. He wants to be the Jimmy Buffet of the Outback. I think I'm the only one who is really into this idea. He has a lot of questions about the rules of football and seems to think it is inferior to rugby. The game couldn't have been a better Super Bowl game. High drama. Steelers victory. Mike Tomlin after the game. Perfect.

The show today is at Corner Hotel in Melbourne. Medium sized club, a restaurant up on the roof, and time during the day to soundcheck. None of the stress of festivals is there. And the rented backline is better than yesterday's. We get our third different version of the Vox AC30 in three days. These ones, the blonde tolexed AC30HW (handwired), are AMAZING. The only Vox besides a pre-1967 AC30 or AC15 that I would buy or that actually sounds like a Great Amp. Soundcheck goes great, deep cuts make it into the setlist, the show sold out weeks ago, we're all looking forward to a real club show with a full 90 minute set.

After soundcheck we head up onto the roof for dinner. This is the first chance I've had to order kangaroo. So I order it. With a sweet chili relish. Rare as hell. I struggle at the table to describe it to everyone else (except Andy, he orders it too). I want to, and eventually do, say that it tastes somewhere between elk and moose. Extremely lean, heavily marinated to keep it from being gamey, even rare it is a bit tough. The flavor is great but there's definitely a reason that beef is the Steak of Choice. I can imagine that poorly prepared kangaroo is just awful. I go for a walk about dinner and explore the neighborhood until the show starts. More great coffee and I take pictures of Melbourne. There are parts of the city where the architecture looks just like New Orleans or Savannah, Georgia. People who know keep telling me that Melbourne is the New York to Sydney's Los Angeles. This has me a bit wary of flying to Sydney tomorrow. Never tell someone that the place they're about to go reminds you of Los Angeles. Gross.

The show is amazing. Capacity just under a thousand, sold out, over a hundred degrees in the room, everything sounds great and runs perfectly. After the show we drink on the front steps of the hotel for a few hours and finish off the Strongbow and Jim Beam from the backstage rider. Tomorrow we fly to Sydney. I'll probably miss Melbourne. I'm getting a haircut on Thursday.

[mattjs]

Man, I'm loving these updates! Really helping transport me away from my desk to a sunnier place. What I'd give to be drinkin' beer on the steps of a hotel right now.....

[Deleted]

awesome!
any word on the Laneway controversy?
ever have American kangaroo? its farm raised... my dad's place in CT prepared it great
matt, i'd trade places with you in a second. get me out of here!
i was going to give the guys my mate's CD but i forgot it. he wants to be the Craig Finn of Sydney

Aussies tend to ask if people are from Canada since they think Americans will be ashamed of America and Canadians will be offended at being confused with Americans. I find a hearty "I'm from AMERICA" works nicely
aussie slang is hilariously messed up. they also like to shorten things... afternoon - arvo, McDonalds - Maccas, etc
don't order american beer! try a Boags or a James Squire or a VB
and give me a yell tonight - i'll be wearing my Unified Scene shirt

[gushingblood]

This thread is the only reason I visit the Scene Reports board.

[Deleted]

have you been called a 'seppo' yet, dustdude? you don't want to know what its short for...

[barx01]

Oh - how Sydney to shorten it to Seppo!!!

[Deleted]

you don't have that in other places?
best bit of Sydney rock culture is a bit of graffiti that reads 'PLAY SOME FUCKING STOOGES!'
this now gets yelled out at sydney rock and roll shows
i'd like to promise i won't yell it tonight but i may be drunk

[mattyg]

Looking forward to tonight. Get Coopers Pale on your rider and don't look back.

Tlon, you aren't infamous Sydney gig punter Graig More Beers, are you?

[Jersey]

Absolutely loving this thread.

Dustin is the new Koob (on the boards, anyway)

[frannyglass]

Touché, lady. I don't know any Minnesotans who aren't at least a little bit sensitive about sounding like Canadians.

Ouch! As a Canadian, I'm a little hurt....

[Deleted]

Feb 3, 2009 21:27:02 GMT -5 mattyg said:

Looking forward to tonight. Get Coopers Pale on your rider and don't look back.

Tlon, you aren't infamous Sydney gig punter Graig More Beers, are you?

no?
i'm infamous Sydney Mess and Noise user ChrisBrimstone and if you're near the Sydney poetry scene or listen to the Naked City you've violently disagreed with something i've said...
i mean i'm pretty infamous in Sydney and you'll probably recognize me if you see me but i'm not Graig More Beers

[stevet]

Loving this diary guys... glad to see you're having a good time here, and the heat isn't killing you yet... looking forward to the show tonight!

[lilhan]

awesome. keep 'em coming dude. i am loving these.

[twang]

Feb 3, 2009 21:27:02 GMT -5 mattyg said:

Tlon, you aren't infamous Sydney gig punter Graig More Beers, are you?

HA!. I thought exactly the same thing!

Great read do far, Dust. Can't wait for the Sydney review. That was one helluva show!. I'm still a little giddy.

[Deleted]

hey goldenfoot - are you sydney identiy Goldfoot?

[mattyg]

Hey Dustdudes, I know that time is tight and you're really busy changing the strings on Tad's 6/12 (I'm only half joking), but I am absolutely itching for your next update!!!

[dustdudes]

Day 7:

We fly from Sydney to Melbourne, the only band on the flight this time. By this point a two hour flight is basically a non-event. Andy seems to have the Hangover of the Year happening inside his head. We drop the gear off at the hotel, change into swim trunks, and are at Bondi Beach by 4. It is hot, but not too crowded. Bobby goes straight to the ice cream truck and brings back a giant dipped cone. Craig and Franz and Andy and I go for a swim. Clear, warm water, big ol' waves, no jellyfish, it is fun as hell. I don't think I've been to an ocean for eight years. I haven't been in the Pacific for twenty. There are nets at the outside edge of the bay to keep sharks out. Galen and Tad work hard on their tans. After two hours of sun we walk a few blocks to what we're told is Sydney's best (and possibly only) Mexican restaurant. Margaritas by the pitcher, Coronas, giant burritos, we order it all. I think this is the first time I've seen hot sauce since entering Australia. I haven't even noticed it missing because the food has been so goo. England, take note.

Our driver picks us up from the beach at takes us back to the hotel at 7. No one stops to change or shower, we just head up to the heated pool on the roof of the hotel. They make these great things in Australia that are cans of whiskey and cola already mixed. Jim Beam & Cola. Jack & Cola. Wild Turkey and Cola. Available by the six-pack. Pretty cool. I deepen my tan, Andy deepens his sunburn, I think that swimming two or three times a day is a lifestyle that suits me. We've got nothing organized for the evening and everyone sort of splits up and goes in their own directions. I put on my sweater and long pants for the first time since I've left New York and go for a walk around the hotel. The hotel sits right on Rushcutter's Bay and there's a park full of joggers and hoodlums that I check out for a while. I listen to the Mountain Goats on a park bench and think about how much more I see and get done in a country where there isn't free internet access everywhere. Tomorrow is a jam-packed day so I'm happy to go to bed early, set up a wakeup call for 8AM, and get eight hours of sleep for the first time in a few days.

Day 8:

I meet Craig and Franz and Tad down in the lobby at 9AM. We have a driver to cart us around from radio interview to radio interview this morning. The first one is an interview and live performance for Triple-J radio. They're a part of ABC, which is like the Australian BBC, as I understand it. The engineer who does the session, Greg Wells, recorded the band last time they were in Australia. He also did a record ten years ago at the studio in Minneapolis that I worked at for 6 years. And he recorded the Hot Snakes' Thunder Down Under record. It is a small small world. We have not shortage of stuff to nerd out over. The band does an acoustic guitar/accordian/vocal cover of History Lesson Pt. 2 by the Minutemen.

On the way to the second radio interview our driver tells us about the Australian point-based system of violations on your driving license and how you start with 12 points and how she has none left. I'm disappointed to find out that this doesn't mean that I get to drive. I've never driven a right-hand drive car or on the wrong side of the road and think that downtown Sydney is the perfect place to learn. Craig and Franz disagree. Tad actually seems up for it. The next radio station is a small community indie rock station. The Radio-K to Triple-J's Current. The band does one song, a short interview where there is not talk about baseball or photography or Bruce Springsteen, and we're out the door twenty minutes after we walk in. Craig and Franz and I have lunch at a café next to the hotel. So far everything I've eaten or had to drink in this country has been awesome at the bare minimum. Even the lowly hotel-bar salad is great. Even the hotel lobby coffee, at every single hotel, has been exceptional. I have no idea how people here stay so fit.

After another mid-afternoon dip in the pool we head over to the club to soundcheck. The club is big, the same size as First Avenue, the dressing room is full of cockroaches, the stage is big and the PA is great. Soundcheck goes smoothly, Franz writes a great setlist, and we go back to the hotel to do, of all things, a bit of swimming before the doors open. The show is awesome, starts with Positive Jam, ends with Killer Parties, the crowd is completely insane. There are three kids in the front row with homemade shirts, each with one word from the phrase "SO MUCH JOY." They were waiting outside the club to get in at 6 o'clock, they were in the center of the first row for the entire set, and they came backstage and weren't shy at all about drinking our beers. Australian fans are the best.