Good Times And Killer Rhymes - Part 2

13/3/09

This weekend marks the beginning of the NSW leg of the good times and killer rhymes tour so we get it easy as we dont have to do a bunch of driving. Drew picks me up from my house we load on the trailer to his trusty station wagon headed for our first destination this weekend - Campbelltown. We have played C-town on pretty much every tour we have done for the last year and its always such a good time but this time we are playing an over 18's club as opposed to playing AA venues like we usually do so everyone is worried how tonight is going to go. We get to the venue and start loading in the boys from AYTR have been here for the last two hours so i think they might have been excited to see someone they knew, shorty after stealing oneal arrive and we shit talk about how their trip was and i give their manager Johann a big hug cos i havent seen the guy in a while then i immediately head over to the merch table to start giving shit to Pees who is SON's tour manager we have been teasing the living shit out of each other for this whole tour and tonight is no different. If you are coming to any of the remaining dates go see the really tall merch guy and yell "Hey Pees! PSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTT!!!"

As it gets closer to show time people start rolling up and i start to feel not so nervous, our friends Mark, Dean, Pete and all the boys who usually come see us in Campbelltown are here as well as Danny and his mates who have made the trek from Canberra to see us tonight THANKS BOYS! AYTR head on and play really well especially with being down a backup singer as Sam voice has left him but they sounded great like they always do.

The oneals get on and rock the place out more people spill in which is great i have decided that Chin Up Baby is probably the catchiest song i have heard in the last six months when they play it Pees and i get into a dance off behind the merch table which probably looked like two really really tired dudes having a lazy epileptic fit. Towards the end of their set i bolt across the street to grab my trusty pineapple juice, grab my ipod and head to the bathroom to do my vocal warm ups, i think there was a dude droppin a deuce in the stall next to me i must have scared the shit out of him when i started doing my warm ups hahaha poor bastard. After the boys finish we set up, the stage in this venue is tiny so i figure fuck it and jump on the floor with everyone else and let the band have the stage everyone is singing along and we had the best time!! one of the funnest shows on this tour so far. Oh and Tim from SON got naked and jumped on my back during We Take This To The Night funniest shit ever the look on the crowds face when he came out naked was fucking amazing. I guarantee Jack from SON has photos of that so hit him up for them. After the show we hang about and chat with everyone then i head home for an early night!

14/3/08

Tonight's show is our last headlining show in Sydney before we head into the studio so we had honestly been promoting the living shit out of it so we could play one last time to everyone we love and everyone who (hopefully) likes us! I jump on the train from home to head out to the show tonight and listen to The New Frontiers - Mending such a fucking pretty album (www.myspace.com/thenewfrontiers). While sitting on the train i get bored and start texting Ace Ventura quotes to Chris from Oneal as we have been quoting the life out of it all tour.

I get to the venue and we load in, one of our street team members Rachael is doing a tafe assignment in her music management course and has asked if she can interview me so we head off to get some mexican food while she asks me a few questions then i head back to the venue get changed and start waiting for all our friends to arrive everyone shows up and the show is ready to start the first band on tonight are some dudes from campbelltown called The Understatement so i watched them from the couch at the side of the venue with Ryan from SON these dudes have great harmonies the singer and guitar/singer's voices work really well together nicely done boys. Then AYTR get on, go to their myspace and listen to their song bombs (www.myspace.com/ayeartoremember) seriously go now ill wait here............................................... now i guarantee you dont have that song out of your head for the next two days its so good ive been singing it for 3 fucking days!! once again great show.

Stealing O'neal had the best show of the whole tour tonight they play so well everytime we see them but tonight they were so on and they smashed it once again i sang along like a dickhead frmo the merch table.

The room fills up and we hit the stage right before we are due to go on Far's amp blows up so we have to switch it with Tim's which delays us for 10 minutes after that we are off and cracking its always fun to play at home but this was hell fun just to see all your friends supporting and singing along as well as people i have never seen before feels so good. When we get to we take this to the night..... yup ya guessed it Tim balls and all appears on the stage hahahah since he did it last night i didnt see it coming still hilarious. After we walk off the old "One More Song!" chant starts we all stand by the merch table shitting ourselves cos we have no other songs!! all we practiced was the set for this tour and we didnt have anything else prepared so Far and i walk back onstage to do a Guitar/Vocals version of The Last Crusade which surprisingly turned out pretty well.

After the show i had to bail fast as our great friends Fifty Six(x) were playing their first show back after a long break and with new drummer Tim at the helm we didnt want to miss them so i jump in a cab with some friends and we head over, crowd is loving the boys tonight! I get there just in time to jump up and sing Let It Ride seriously this will sound so cheese but i missed this band we all love them as people and as a band and it was good to see them absolutely smash this crowd into the ground THEY EVEN HAD A WEDDING PROPOSAL LIVE ON STAGE! haha it was great and their new songs are a real big step up wait for that album to drop.

After the show finishes everyone else rolls up (oneals, mission dudes and our friends) and it starts to get really loose im not drinking so i can keep my voice because we have another show tomorrow at the metro so i say goodbye to everyone tell the oneals i will see them in adelaide and head home.

15/3/08

Wake up with my throat feeling like a frog took a shit in my neck ( gross i know but its the best way to describe it) and grab breakfast then head into the city. We are playing the metro today with the UK band McFly i have no idea who this band is but i was told they sold out the metro 2 weeks ago and are doing another show they asked us to play and as there arent many all ages shows on this tour we thought it might be good if anyone wanted to come check us out under the legal age.

I get to the venue and there is literally a line up around the street out the front of the metro i overheard some kids saying they had been there since 9 in the morning CRAZY! I get excited about the show and the fact that i am 30 seconds walking distance from Kings Comics so i head over there to scope the goods, saw a hellboy ouija board got a little bit stoked about that, checked out the amazing hard cover collection of The Walking Dead series and read half of the new Cal McDonald story before the lady behind the counter started eyeing me off like she was gonna say "Oi this isnt a library" so i headed over to the show to help Kenny load in. After load in we set up the merch and met the opening band who are a bunch of guys from Melbourne called Skybombers they were such nice dudes and have really toured their asses off they told us great stories about opening for the Foo Fighters in New Zealand and getting payed stupid amounts of money to go to Malaysia where the show they were supposed to play got cancelled so they got an all expenses paid trip to Malaysia for nothing. Doors open and kids FLOOD in all fighting over the front barrier spot hahahah i remember this shit when i saw Millencolin when iw as like 16 no fucken way was i giving my spot up at the front hahaha good to see kids still get excited about their favourite bands.

Our friend Jay came to hang out with us today and take some photos of the show and us hanging about in the dressing room (which i will post up when i get them off him) as we sit in the dressing room we hear the most ear piercing screams i had ever heard - Skybombers take the stage and the crowd is excited they are really good so go check them out if they are heading your way. After that we head on, most enthusastic crowd we have played too in so long thank you to everyone who was there it was a very warm welcome. After we play we head to the merch table to talk to people and relieve our merch girls so they can go to the bathroom.

Post show i head out to get mexican food and now i am sitting on the floor of my living room typing this and about to watch some TV before i fall asleep for 2 days.

Adelaide and Melbourne, your next.

xo.