TOUR DIARY"A Journey for a Nation" National Tour 7-11th June 2007 TASMANIA – 18TH - 21ST MAY 2006 A little update from our adventures through the “Gates of Hell” down in the Apple Isle. We always love going to Tassie, because it is really more like a holiday than hardcore touring, due to all the family and friends we have down there these days. Didn't arrive until late on Thursday night, so Mark, Claire, and I had to cab it straight to the Republic Bar in North Hobart . Baxter, Johnny and Chris did an interview at Edge Radio at Tas Uni. Caught the last part of The Roobs, a great local band, not unlike The Stooges. Chonga the frontman is a madman. The show ended up being far from our best. The bass rig that we had to play through had basically no volume, so nobody could hear Mark, we had lots of vocal feedback, and I suspect one Baxter McMando was 2 parts pissed. Nevertheless, the Hobart crew seemed well up for it, even on a Thursday, and the place was fairly full and jumping. Think I might have even had a crowd surf at one stage, and everyone ended up lying all over the stage singing along as the Roobs and Ballpoint guys helped us finish the show with "New Race." Got up for a brief encore with "Coming Down." It's a funny thing, reflecting on a gig. As a band, we know what it feels like to play well, and when we don't we get really disappointed. The feeling between us in the band room after the show really reflects how we all feel about it, and after the Hobart show we were all really down. It was particularly worse in this case, because it was technical stuff that made the show feel bad, and not our playing. It's interesting, because people who haven't seen the show since we were last in Tassie, and people who hadn't seen us before thought it was great. From the crowd, I think the perception can be really different to that of the band. Sometimes, as a band, its easy to forget that there are lots of factors that make up a good show, not just how we sound. The night finished off with some local herb samples in the beer garden, signing a bunch of merch, and looking for a fast food store at 2am. Mark, Claire and I went out to Oyster Cove to stay, and the other guys stayed with Craig and Shred from Ballpoint. Next day we went down to the beach with Ethan and Kai. As it turned out, we couldn't find any fishing gear at the house, so we sampled the local brew at the Margate Tavern and placed a few bets instead. Just trying to make the best of a bad situation really. Had an instore set that afternoon at Aroma Records in North Hobart , which was basically like setting up and playing to a bunch of kids in a bedroom. Fun though, and met a few local ads from The Numlocks. Great store – they even serve coffee and beer while you browse the music. Sergeant Pollock mysteriously turned up at the instore show (as he always does, at any place in Australia ), so I realised at that point that our weekend would soon become ‘interesting' to say the least. A quick BBQ at Gibbo's house (our Hobart promoter), a few more beers and listening to the SC Trash and Ramones albums, and then out to the Foreshore Tavern for the night show. We were greeted with “About farkin time you blokes turned up!” by the venue owner, which of course put everyone in great spirits. Soon after, though, the knowledge of an endless bar tab somehow managed to persuade the mood of the band. Aided Im sure by the Roobs as well, who played a great set and Chonga avoided being lynched by the local thugs. Ended up being a great show, with about 300 there I think, and lots of local crew that knew the words and helped sing along. Lots of beer, lots of crowd surfing, and plenty of chaos. The Tassie bands don't seem to like the Foreshore, but we ended up having a ball. After the show we all met back at the Ballpoint house for a little drunken acoustic karaoke. It must be said at this point, that I am ashamed and embarrassed by the number of Top 40 songs and 80's Hits by Bryan Adams, Mr. Big and Poison that Baxter and Mark know. And I'm not talking just a bit of the chorus here, I'm talking every word and every chord. So, so ashamed... Not that I can really talk. I do believe that at one stage the next day, I was travelling in an army vehicle wearing a Size DD woman's bra…long story for another time… That night Mark, Claire and I shared a room at the Hotel. I politely asked them to wait until I was snoring, and definitely asleep. Next day I woke to Claire speaking on the phone one of her Irish mates at 100 miles an hour….funniest conversation I think I have ever heard. “Oh, hew er ye…..oh, dats grand…..oh, yer fooking maad you lot….what, ye still oop drinkin er ye? …..Em in Tasmaania wit Merk…..okey, okey….bay noo!!” I think I laughed all the way to Launceston the next day. It actually occurred to me at one point between Hobart and Launceston that we were travelling with Sergeant Pollock in an army vehicle and had stopped in a town called Baghdad so Bax could have an enormous shit. How's the irony? We had two shows on the Saturday, an all ages at 4pm and an overage show at 9pm. Turned up around 3pm and checked into the hotel rooms. Turns out the gas wasn't on, so there were no hot showers, and no heaters. And it was FUCKING FREEZING!! The arvo show went pretty well, albeit not many kids, and we spent a few hours after the show with Johnny , Matt and myself fixing the PA system and lighting for the night show. Some pizza with the Ballpoint guys in their hotel room as they told us about some new sex moves they had invented, and back downstairs to start on the rider. Huge room and a huge stage, but people seemed to come from everywhere, so there was a really good crowd in for the night show. Its not unlike the HiFi bar in Melbourne . It was the first time I'd watched Ballpoint for the weekend, due to being late on Thursday, and they were awesome. They have a really unique sound, and stacks of energy on stage. It will be great if we can get these guys over to play some shows over here with us. The Saturday night show was probably the most fun of all the shows for the weekend, the band played pretty well, there were heaps of people there, and a great atmosphere. I think we played for nearly an hour and a half, plus an encore. After the show the room cleared out, and there were more people in the band room (with 5 bands) than there was in the pub. Great night had by all. The next morning we had to get a reasonably early start back to Hobart , as we had an afternoon show at the Lewisham Tavern, or so we thought. I had a phone call at 1pm telling us that the afternoon show had been double-booked with a blues band. We'd sent posters and talked to the venue weeks before, so I have no idea how these things happen. Gibbo attempted valiantly to salvage the day by booking us into The Trout in North Hobart that night for an end of tour party show. Our day went from bad to worse though. I lost my voice, Mark got really sick, and Johnny broke his bagpipes, so we couldn't play. Really disappointing. Still – it wouldn't be an indie rock n roll tour without a costly mishap of some kind. Thanks to Ballpoint, the Roobs, Kev the mixer, Sergeant Pollock, all the other support bands, and the promoters Eggy and Gibbo. It's not hard to see why we love Tassie so much, couldn't find a better bunch of people to work with and have as friends. Congratulations to Dallas and Kali too, who managed to celebrate their engagement party at a punk rock show. May the sauce be with you. Keeno THE ADVENTURES OF THE GO SET - QUEENSLAND - 4TH - 7TH MAY 2006 Kicked off the weekend in Byron Bay at the Great Northern. Whilst Bax, Chris, merch man Ish and Matt endured the 20 hour drive, Mark, Johnny and I got a flight up - needless to say, we copped a lot of shit. The Great Northern was an OK show, very weird though. No Australians!! Nevertheless, we made some new friends, and were told by three different people to go to three different clubs after the show - all of which were closed. The night ended, as all good tour nights end, with all the bands (Hytest, Violent Soho, and ourselves) standing on the balcony above the venue watching the procession of drunks walking past and entering the Kebab shop across the street, muttering abuse at them from the safety of the second floor. Next day we were up bright and early and, after a lighting load into the van, were off to Brisbane. Luckily we only needed one very short fuel stop on the way. In less than 5 minutes I had almost managed to drive off and leave Johnny behind, and Ish had picked a fight with a passing motorist (of course, it was his fault). We got to Brisbane about 11.30am, and Mark and I went into 4ZZZ, the local indie radio station, and did an interview. After that we checked into the luxurious accomodations fit for rockstar types like ourselves - the Valley Backpackers. Then the afternoon was free....Bax and I caught up with a few mates (including our publicity team at Aus Music Biz), Big Al went and got some home cooking from his mama, and Mark lost his only $5 on the horses. The Rev show got off to a fairly poor start that night. Firstly the bar manager told us that if we 'didnt get 200 people through the door, we wouldnt get another gig'. (If I had a dollar for every time Ive been told that...hehe). Then, the opening band decided not to show - or to tell anyone that they were'nt going to show. Nice. Gradually the crowd built up, and it ended up being a great show. Sweaty, beer swilling, and loads of fun. Its easy to tell though, that although people came to check out the show, they didnt really know much about the band or the songs. Sometimes, theres just no place like home when it comes to sing-alongs, and crowd participation. Nevertheless, I think it went down really well, and it was definitely enough motivation to make us get our arses back up to Brissy soon. Beer goggles on at Rics in the Mall and we divided into our standard drinking groups.The usual suspecs trundled off to bed, and the'other' usual suspects did the midnight till dawn shift at the Casino. Of course, it's only at that time of night that each of us is at our funniest, toughest, and sexiest. Sore Head Sunday came around and we had an instore performance at Skinnys in Brisbane, before packing the van again and heading up the coast to the Sol Bar at Coolum. On the way 'Davey' came on the radio, which was a blast - as was the porn on Baxter's laptop that the boys showed to our neighbouring motorists at the traffic lights. It's all class in The Go Set van. Hit and run mission tonight. We basically arrived, set up and soundchecked, had a feed, played the gig, and got straight back in the van to Brisbane. Matt, Chris and Johnny had an early flight, so we drove straight to the airport and dropped them off. I ended up walking all the way from the fucking city to where I was staying - about 10km away. Would you believe , not one fucking taxi stopped. Shit, there were only about 400 of them. Anyway, Mark, Ish and Bax arrived back about 1.30am on Monday morning after a slight detour to Canberra (thanks Ish!), bright and early for work!! Ahh....the fame, the fortune, the stardom...... Backpacker accom and 2 min noodles for all!! Keeno APOLLO BAY MUSIC FESTIVAL - FRIDAY 21ST - SUNDAY 23RD APRIL 2006 After a couple of hours drive in the pissing rain along the Great Ocean Road, we made it down to the Apollo Bay music festival on Friday night. Noteably warmer in the pub than outside, I thought it only approriate to look after my health and stay in the warmth of the bar for most of the evening, although ventured out to check out a few acts. 28 days looked as though they had had as many jars as me by the time they hit the stage in the main marquee.... Back at the pub, Jimi Hocking (AKA Jimi the Human) was in fine form. This guy is amazing. If you every get a chance to check him out, he is an incredibly talented performer (and piss funny too). Next day (with a slightly sore head), we all met at the Apollo Bay Hotel stage. Our gig time was midday, which, as most of you can probably imagine - is not the norm for a Go Set show. I should have read the writing on the wall when I noticed that we were listed as 'world music' in the festival guide. So, the packed (albeit quiet) crowd of nanna's and pa's waited patiently for the world music act to arrive...... a) turn it up to 11, and kick over the foldbacks in the first song and scream "FUCK YEAH!!! ROCK AND ROLL MOTHERFUCKERS!!"...or do we... As it turned out, we just ended up doing what we do. I moved a few chairs and forced everyone to stand up, Baxter went to the bar and got a round of "Morning Lager," and everyone pulled out the rock moves in the broad daylight. Later on in the day we played again down at the Great Ocean Road Hotel stage, which was nuts. The place was packed and crazy. Thanks to anyobne reading this who bought CDs and t-shirts on the weekend, I reckon we made a bunch of new friends and fans! Capped off a top weekend standing side-of-stage watching Carus rock out. Didnt get home until midnight on Sunday. What a weekend!! Hanging for Queensland next week now!!! Keeno |