Tales from the road: Kev's NSW coast tour blog

Heya folks,

It's not all that often we play a run of shows in towns or places we've never played before but that's exactly what happened to us in NSW following our shows in Queensland. The fact that all these shows were also on the beach and we scored some unseasonably wonderful weather to go with it made for a most pleasant week!  

First stop was a little pub in North Nowra. We reconvene with our tour buddies Violent Soho and set up for soundcheck. Chris buys some beef jerky, a new food stuff he is becoming rather attached to. The band room is a guys apartment upstairs from the gig with a massive flat screen television that for some reason we decide to leave tuned in to a music video channel that is sowing a Lady Gaga special. One Lady Gaga video after another plays on the tele for the few hours before show time making for a surreal gig preparation. By the time we go onstage we know the tunes and even a few words of just about every Lady Gaga song there is which is kind of wrong. Maybe it's a sign we've been on the road too long. Anyways, the show goes swimmingly as always, despite the Gaga. 

The next day we head to Towradgi Beach which is pretty much Wollongong where we have played many times but just down the road a bit. The venue is a giant adult fun parlour, with gaming rooms, a bistro, sports bars, beer gardens....you name it. We are right on the beach and the weather is fair so Chris and I decide to go for a shuffle along the soft sand before sound check. It's a good leg work out. Tonights show is one of the better ones of the tour for reasons I'm not really sure I know. Maybe it was the couple of Sudafed I necked beforehand. Maybe it was the crowd. Maybe we were just having a good night. Anyway, it was a great gig but I didn't stick around long afterwards to celebrate because I had to race back to my room to watch the Eagles play Geelong, a game the Eagles won much to my delight. So it was a late night but one I spent alone so I'm not really sure what every one else did.

Saturday's show was at Batemans Bay. While driving up and down the coast we get to do a bit of sightseeing, the undisputed highlight being the blowhole in Kiama, (I think it was Kiama...apologies if I am remembering wrong). The Kiama blow hole is a marvel of nature.  Every time a wave comes in water shoots out a big hole in the rocky coastline. It's thrilling stuff. For a while a scream escapes from our mouths every time the water shoots out. We start to draw attention to ourselves so we grab some ice cream and head off. The Batemans Bay show rocked our worlds but unfortunately it's a bit of a hazy memory because we were up before dawn the next morning to drive up to Bateau Bay to play an early Sunday show. We arrive up North in a bit of a shabby state and having not got there in time to soundcheck the first look of the room I get is walking out there to play in-front of a massive Sunday crowd. It's easily the biggest crowd of the week. Being a Sunday and a cheap ticket, all sorts of people have come out to play in the massive beer garden. It's a great way to wind up the week.

In our next installment I think Ness will bring you tales from the West. Thanks once again to all the good folk who have come along to see us play. This tour has been going for three months now and we are still so excited by how well it's all going.

Cheers!

Kev X