I’ll pick up the story with our tour drawing to a close. It’s time for the Victorian leg, firstly an intimate show at Northcote’s The Wesley Anne where the band is joined by Melody Pool from Kurri Kurri in NSW. It was decided that the sweet lass would stay with Shaun and I in South Melbourne, and with that in mind we ran around the house the night before the show, frantically tidying up. We did an ok job of making her feel at home, but much to our delight we discovered that mel can curse and swear like the rest of us – she fitted in very well indeed.
The show itself was recorded for the free live disc we’ll be giving away soon, and we’re hoping it’ll all come out ok. The Wesley Anne is always a little touch and go with sound (thanks to noise restrictions) but we got through without major dramas – and we’ll spend a few hours analysing the tapes when we get them.
This section of the tour was, for me at least, broken up by a little journalistic work – I interviewed songwriter Mark Simos on the Saturday afternoon – keep your eyes out for the transcript which will be published on this very blog.
The Piping Hot Chicken Shop at Ocean Grove and Anglesea’s Red Till were great shows – just as we expected them to be. Last time we played at “the Chicken Shop” we’d had to cut our set short – thanks to the dreaded Victorian noise restrictions. This time we started early and gave the full house a good one and three quarter hour set – generally considered “money’s worth” in anyone’s language.
Shaun backstage
With time to kill on the rainy and cold south coast, Shaun, Mat and myself decided to drive up to Geelong and check out “Inception” at the cinema. The other two liked it very much. Somehow, I myself managed to lose my ticket stub between the box office and the popcor counter, and so had to kill two andthree quarter hours in a dreary geelong shopping mall. The rest of the band found this more than a little amusing…
At least we got well fed in Lorne, with fresh seafood paella and local wine making up for Shaun’s asthma attack (which almost had him in hospital). Luckily, thanks to a scene I’d remembered from a Harrison Ford movie, I was able to awaken his lungs with strong coffee. He has since described it as “the only useful thing I’ve ever done”…
Lachlan
