#THEGLOG by #MRTKFIREAussie Tour II 2014 Well… greetings and salutations readers, back again with another weird tour glog… Where to start… How about the 8hr Air New Zealand flight direct from Auckland to Perth aye… a smooth and comfortable flight… a special shout out to the female flight crew for the free sammies and friendly conversation, one of the female crew members hailing from Raglan… our super jet sporting the space age window dimming system, no manual shutters here, but using suspended particle device (SPD) technology, windows can be dimmed progressively and quickly to reduce light, glare and heat. They can also be dimmed gradually from either the top or the bottom, with various zones being adjusted without separation marks appearing in the window. The effect is something like that achieved with a Venetian blind, and the dimming process is controlled from a dial next to the window or via a personal control panel… like I said, space age!!!... okay, enough geek stuff. The usual landing protocols are reminded of us with an announcement by our friendly flight crew to stow tray tables, fasten seatbelts and so on… time piece adjustments (-5hr difference from NZL), after I guess what they’d call ‘a text book landing’, I disembark and stroll my merry way down to the conveyor belt to claim my luggage… over to immigration for a quick passport scan at the electronic gate, my efforts slowed, reluctantly joining the huge line of fellow time travellers… bounce through bio-security… doorway to freedom… g’day Australia. After a short wait outside, we’re collected from the airport by our van driver (Ajay) whom then shuttles us to our hotel to meet up with Mikki, Jordan-T and Stephen... the usual drill of collect room keys, luggage drop off… soon afterwards, most of us wander up the street to a noodle shop while others disappear into their rooms never to be seen again until morning… whilst waiting for my noodles, Jordan-T and I have a catch up korero, subject being the health of family and friends, conversation soon turning towards the concern of the Kilauea lava flow. What up Perth!… Perth has got to be one of the tidiest and cleanest aussie cities I’ve visited, the architecture, the graphically designed landscapes are neatly thought out… earns a place on my favourite city list here in aussieland. Waking at the ungodly hour of 5.00am (time-shift adjusting), stomach rumbling (as usual), I head to the restaurant for a big breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushrooms, sausages and toast… photos with a couple of excited female fans as we sit and chat for a while during breakfast… 2 hours later… 9.30am… lobby call, time to move, time to make our way to Margaret River for our first show of this tour… Margaret River… its coast to the west of the town is a renowned surfing location, with worldwide notoriety for its surf breaks… colloquially, the area is referred to as Margs while the surrounding area is the Margaret River Wine Region and is known for its wine production and tourism. A town full of vibrant and friendly people… I remember the last time we come through here, the area was hit hard by rampant bush fire, threatening the township and the lives of the many people in it… locals and farmers witnessing their life’s work, their homes go up in flames… our show was nearly cancelled for its path was headed directly towards town, fortunately, fire fighters suffocated the flames a few miles out… some of the victims of the dismal and gloomy experience attended our show that night, wanting to be somewhere positive, seeking the company and comfort of others… emotions were at their peak that evening. Thankfully, none of that happened this round, but, some of those same people I met then, again attended our show, glowing with expressions of peace and tranquility, signs of happiness, saying they found healing in our music that night. After being served up some tasty smooth Reggae vibes from Mumma Trees, looking happy and humble… we were also treated by the soulful vocals that are the group ‘Cera Kymani’… Jordan-T cut through the audience like a hot knife through butter, oozing out his set to googly-eyed onlookers, an eager new audience to his music, curious, anxious to hear what he’s all about… ‘the fire’ enter the stage, sound check earlier was on point, but that soon changed through our set as the monitor guy started to struggle with droning noises and feedback (just turn the stupid monitors down)… after getting over that issue, the night moved along well, Margaret River went off, and I must admit, it’s been my favorite show thus far, the vibe was awesome, Margaret River can really party! Moving forward… Fremantle… During World War II, Fremantle was the home of the largest base for Allied submarines in the Southern Hemisphere where there were vast numbers of US, British and Dutch submarines operating out of its harbor. Here we come… cruising the aussie country side in our van-hicle, armed with my Android phone camera, ready to click at a moment’s notice of spotting a bouncing ‘Skippy the bush kangaroo’, or anything else at that matter of aussie nature. Australia, a country flooded with its own indigenous forms of beings, bush and tree mammals, bird life, reptiles and strange insects, although I didn’t see much of any, they’re all out there, probably being nocturnal or just hiding from the sight of humans. With no luck on the local critters showing face, we soon enter our next point of civilization… after a couple of unsanctioned laps around the city block, Ajay pulls up to our accommodation… luggage unload, check in, a reminder from Mikki to meet at the venue around 4.00pm for sound check… Metropolis is tonight’s showcase, about 200 meters up town by the market place, sporting a high rising stage in a dimly lit room… sound check is pretty time lengthy (one for the record books). That night… A little catch up with the Jah Moko whanau back stage after enjoying their set, introducing a couple of newer band members since last I seen them perform, they’re sounding tight too… set up, intro, huge ecstatic cheers from the crowd as we enter the stage, the venue now confidently packed compared to half capacity presented earlier… stage sound has been a little rough since the start of this tour thanks to a mixture of clueless monitor engineering and the vacancy of no in-ear rack module (left behind in the USA) presented unwelcome squeals and hums from monitor feedback, with me some nights wanting to wreck the onstage monitors with a sledge hammer. The following night… Perth… Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia (WA). Some trivia… before European colonization, the area had been inhabited by the Whadjuk Noongar people for over 40,000 years, and claimed to be the most remote city on earth. The city streets are full of people, bodies everywhere… but wait, our venue, The Amplifier Bar in the city of Perth is near empty?... A feeling of disappointment in the Jah Moko camp as I’m told that the lead singer suffers from a throat infection cancelling their night’s performance… kia kaha, just sit it out and re-gather next time bruthas… a bummer but however, that didn’t put a damper on the rest of the night’s music celebration with Cera Kymani and Jordan-T managing to cover the now extra time… three Heavy Metal bands are setting up in a bar next door, I go and indulge in some guitar abusing, drum stick wielding, bass thumping madness for twenty minutes as I await our stage calling. A pleasant surprise as our bar packs out moments before our stage entry, but it’s to be an early curfew tonight… the owner turns the place into a DJ dance club around 10.00pm so we need to vacate the venue asap directly after performance. Following morning… flight to Adelaide… History… prior to its proclamation as a British settlement in 1836, the area around Adelaide was inhabited by the indigenous Kaurna Aboriginal nation. Adelaide is a planned city, designed by the first surveyor-general of South Australia, Colonel William Light. His plan, now known as ‘Lights Vision’, arranged Adelaide in a grid, with five squares in the Adelaide city center and a ring of parks, known as the Adelaide Parklands, surrounding it. Another of my favorite places in Australia, with a relaxed vibe and the chilled locals whom remind me much of our own laid back southern kiwi folk… tonight’s performance being at the Gov, besides this venue having an earthy natural feel to it, the kitchen chef also serves up some pretty hearty meals, hosting friendly staff with laid-back personas… the stage is a bit of a weird shape, not your traditional straight lines and sharp angles, but curvaceous, portraying a smooth flowing energy to it. The night audience was guided into a passive sway as Jordan-T massaged the locals with a set mixed of his own poly-smooth originals with respect to a few Bob Marley covers. Katchafire’s onstage presence ignites a frenzy of song and dance into the hearty audience… skanking, singing, a full-heartedly vocal audience smothered the whole place with positive vibrations… afterwards I participate in load out after the show, a random homeless guy casually strolls in from the street through the rear entrance (yep… no security on that doorway) and joins the rest of the randoms for an after party in our green room, go hard old fella!... however, his celebration soon ended as one of the bar staff lead him back out the way he came in. During a down day in Adelaide I meet a Canadian girl at a roast chicken restaurant… swears she knows me from somewhere, I ask if she’s from one of the few places we’ve been to in Canada, Victoria BC… she replies yes, so I tell her we performed there at a reggae festival on the waterfront port with Toots and the Maytals… ends up being a K-fire fan, so photos and lunch is on… she didn’t know we had a show here in Adelaide and was disappointed to have missed it!... The departure morning… Killing time before our flight, we call into a music store and low and behold, they’re the main Australasian supplier of Steinberger products… 4 and 5 string basses, 6 string guitars, Spirits, Synapse’s, double ball end strings, soft and hard cases… awesome little music store dealing in big brand names and assorted wind, stringed and percussive instruments. Adelaide to Canberra via Sydney?… err… A flight change to Australia’s capital city… Canberra… so, instead of two flights via Sydney lay over, we instead fly direct, and, arrive a day early. A quick geographical layout… within the central area of the city near Lake Burley Griffin, major roads follow a wheel-and-spoke pattern rather than a grid… We meet Dave (our second tour driver) whom traveled with our backline from Sydney, Dave will be helping ‘the fire’ during the next couple of nights… sound engineer Stephane formally of French Reggae group Mister Gang, flew in during sound check on the evening of our show at the Southern Cross Club in Canberra, Stephane will be continuing on for the remaining duration of our Australian tour, this is my first time meeting with him, but the guys have worked with him around 2002… Southern Cross Club, kind of similar to our RSA clubs back home but on a larger scale, and divided into allocated public, social and members only sections, sporting a huge restaurant on a lower level floor and various bars and stages at different locations each catering for a variety of live music and dinner functions… Canberra joins my list of likes, fan of the NRL whilst a growing teen back in the eighties, some of my personal favorites of the sport’s most inspirational players included the likes of Geoff Toovey, Phil Daley, Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley and Glenn Lazarus, from the Manly Sea Eagles and the Canberra Raiders, also the home of the Brumbies Rugby Union team… great stuff. Fast forward… A smaller crowd tonight, a little over half venue capacity, pretty good for our very first time here with practically no advertising and comments claiming ‘We didn’t know Katchafire were playing here tonight’ from half the people I met, sweet as… anyway… everyone was amped thanks again to the silky smooth vocal set of Jordan-T, practically melted all the aussie/kiwi girls present… some Huntly locals from Aotearoa were making themselves known to everyone, they were the loudest and liveliest ones there… partied hard, selfies on the dance floor at front n center stage, danced their butts off in true 828 style and like a typical Huntly ninja, they disappeared into the night… good to see some cuzzies representing Rahui Pokeka supporting ‘the fire’. By now, I’m settling in to a repertoire of perform, rest and travel, but much like the USA, we have limited road crew to load our backline so we’ve had to do most of it ourselves, some are making an effort, however, there still needs to be some schooling in setting up and breaking down of the gear, disappearing adds time to the already lengthy process… all hands on deck! Sydney bound… A short flight in the morning for Sydney and frankly, Virgin Air is slowly winning me over for comfort, attitude and presentation… by now I’ve been expecting a wrecked guitar case, but have been pleasantly surprised by the well-handled manor of my instrument, although, there have been a few moments of denial of over-sized looking carry-on guitar cases (Gee and Jordan-T) by some of the boarding gate staff… no big issue though, the staff put them into a storage cupboard in the main cabin separate from the cargo luggage. Millions of tourists come to Sydney each year to see the citys landmarks… its natural features include Sydney Harbor, the Royal National Park, Bondi Beach, and the Royal Botanic Gardens and man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge are also well known to international visitors. The Hifi is tonight’s venue… it’s a venue that’s thrashed by every band that tours here, local and international… also happening tonight, Totem Cirque Du Soleil, have a show in the park right next door and the staff have gifted Katchafire tickets to their performance under the big top, so as a gesture of thanks, all the Totem staff are invited to our concert at the Hifi. Finally after nearly two weeks, the in-ear module has turned up!!!... but all is not quite yet back to normal… Leon’s in-ear monitors are being serviced so he’s still using normal stage monitors… It’s a big stage with a huge front house sound, but as with most large high ceiling indoor venues, the sound is less than favorable, frequencies bouncing everywhere but forward… however, the Sydney crowd loved it, P.A system volume wise, being the loudest on this aussie tour so far, actually overpowered the audience for once where they usually dominate… I could see mouths moving but their voices were more of a delayed distant echo… was still fun though watching them mess up lip-synching… Security being doubly strict with backstage access and the removal of non-wrist pass wearers, didn’t leave very much time for catching up, especially when one is trying to hurry up and pack down before guests got the send-off… I spot our Brazilian contacts Fernando and Igor (Igor sporting a bandaged leg) through the stage curtain as its being drawn closed, I go and drag them passed the security guard whom has his hands full with other patrons trying to get back stage. I missed my opportunity to catch up with Taii Pere, next time bro… the Totem staff loved our show, and stayed well after the set talking and chatting… what a great night Sydney. Melbourne Victoria… Straight off the plane, the heat reminds me of Hawai’i, the weather is perfectly summery, makes you want to just lay around and peel back a cold one and bask in its warmth… Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia… the CBD is well designed and its grid is clearly laid out for ease of commuting both in and out of the central city. Other things that represent this prestigious city is ‘The Melbourne Cup’ (horse racing), NRL team Melbourne Storms, Netball team The Vixens, and is known as the birthplace of Australian film and television and Australian Rules football… pretty flash aye Melbourne… also on my ‘sweet as’ list… Rob will be our third tour driver, the venue ‘Hifi’ just 4 minutes’ walk from our accommodation… Jayson Davies joins us later at sound check, Rob jumps right into load in and set up of our back line, Jayson lends a hand… An all too familiar venue, a tiny greenroom upstairs, a darkened venue that could do with some light just to brighten it up from its dreary atmosphere… not to worry… the fire will sort that out later once we kick into our set… back at the hotel, the French receptionist (Laura) offers me free high speed wifi just for being cool, we chat about geek stuff, I then offer her a vip pass to our show as thanks for her kind generosity. Later down at the Hifi… almost everyone is there to help set up our backline for sound check (another lengthy one for the records)… much later… with sound check out of the way it’s time to rest for the show… Lobby call… I make my way to the gig, I’m greeted by a pleasant surprise from Natalie ‘Blue King Brown’ as I bump into her on the stairway at the venue *big hugs*… two of my vip guests manage to find me in the darkened stuffy room (Dufty and Mia), greetings are swapped in the way of a ‘hongi’… chur my maori. Support act I & I are jamming their final couple of songs as my guests and I look on and enjoy their music… Time to set the place alive as Keysie fires up our intro, smashing into our first lot of medleys, the stage is dimly lit… the crowd responds in full cheer, relentless and fully energized song after song… the most responsive tunes being, ‘Love Letter’, ‘Seriously’ and the Bob cover ‘Three Little Birds’ where Jordan-T joins us for a verse and a jam… It’s difficult not to spot Laura (French receptionist) and her female friend whom is frantically waving out, trying to catch my attention at the front of the audience, arms flapping everywhere… funny yet cute at the same time… I return the gesture with a friendly wave of my own… Warning… Dr. Evil vocabulary follows… They should frikkin ban smoke frikkin machines on frikkin stage because them things are frikkin annoying, especially when there isn’t a frikkin fan plugged in to move the frikkin smoke a frikkin round… the frikkin vapors just sat floating around in the frikkin same frikkin place all frikkin night… End of rant... Show comes to an end after we oblige our punters with an encore… a slow dispersion of tired bodies as the dance floor empties out… Pack down and load out once again… myself, Rob and Jayson shuffle and rework the backline into the cargo van upstairs… opting to flip all the cases on their backsides, a bit of strategy and common sense to void the cases from rolling around in the back of the van since they’re not equipped with wheel locks… once that’s done, Jay and I realize the guy with the venue key has left and we’re locked out… nemine… we both head across to ‘pie face’ for a snack, afterwards going our separate ways… As I was heading through the lobby to my room the receptionist working the night-shift asks me if I’m from Katchafire… so just to be cheeky I reply, ‘no, I’m from Huntly’… she then tells me she is a huge fan (I interrupt here… ‘where were you when I needed you for the smoke machine?’)… tells me she has attended every single Katchafire show at Waihi Beach, apparently that’s where she is from… I start randomly calling out some shows and the bands we’ve performed with out at Waihi as she starts reminiscing… she’s yet another person that didn’t know we were in town performing... more awesome advertising it seems… The morning arises, a late checkout of our rooms, we decide the go for a look around the Victorian Market… I immediately scope and purchase some sustenance in the shape of an Egg n Bacon roll (pronounced Bacon n Egg roll in kiwiland), the food store also boasting ‘Roo’ burgers… ummm, yeah… walking around the place, stall owners can be a little pushy in sales even if you’re just browsing, I found the only way to make them back off is to demand them to show me the tag of authenticity, because any fool can shove a logo on something and call it legit, that’s why your stuff looks exactly like their stuff in isle 4, 5, and 6 bro… Dufty and the whanau meet me at the markets just for a quick catch up and farewell, man how your kids have grown… family is looking healthy brutha Duff… Geelong… Geelong was named in 1827, with the name derived from the local Wathaurong Aboriginal name for the region, Jillong, thought to mean ‘land’ or ‘cliffs’, it’s major employers include the Ford Motor Company engine plant in Norlane, aircraft maintenance at Avalon Airport and the head office of retail chain Target. We didn’t book any accommodation in Geelong, opting to drive an hour back to a Melbourne hotel closer to the airport for our morning flight to the Gold Coast… yet again Rob and Jay did the load in and set up of the back line, Jayson single handily sound checking all the instruments… mean maori mean… what’d you think of the Synapse Jay? We turn up much later that evening, a few minutes to spare before Showtime… a nice crowd for our very first time in Geelong, the cuzzies Collin, Tania and David turn up to support us, Collin dominating the dance floor with a lot of smiley faces in the crowd also enjoying his vibe… the curfew is set for 11.00pm since the establishment closes its doors at midnite… so we kick it off early in the night. I enjoyed that show, I think because the volume wasn’t too overwhelming or too loud out the front house… did a bit of finger gymnastics in the form of a bit of slap n pop, triplet notes and passive aggressive ascending and descending x, y, z-augmented minor/major/flat/sharp 5 fista-lydian scales (work that one out geniuses)… A quick pack down and load out sees us on the road back to Melbourne within the hour after our performance, Farewells to the cuzzies Noda… and huge respect to Jayson and Rob… I’ve been approached to be the official glogger… so what ya reckon of me doing an official Katchafire glog?... sounds exciting aye… nah… sounds hard when you look at it that way… plus it might stop being fun if it turns into being a duty or responsibility… but, I’m sure the more participation and input made by all of us will guarantee a more interesting read… surely you guys don’t wanna just hear it from my perspective?... besides, I only write of my own adventures, tour witnessed through my own eyes… thoughts?... thanks for reading… Be well… \m/ To be continued… maybe… depends… Like
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 07:15:23 +0000
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