Well, what an amazing experience my two-week Asia tour was! I’ve almost caught up on sleep now. Last time I toured with Motley Crue, I wrote a book on my tour adventures. As much as people have asked me to again, I decided I wouldn’t do it this time (been there, done that) so here’s a bit of a recap of some the frivolity for you with a few of my snapshots:

I arrived at Singapore’s Changi Airport in the evening and was greeted by the hot, humid sticky weather, of which I’m not a fan. I preferred the views from my thirty-eighth floor hotel room though and after a good night’s sleep and a hard day’s work, I was then ready to head to the first-ever Motley concert in South East Asia.

I zoned out from my Muslim taxi driver’s diatribe on how tattoos were bad and was soon amongst many other tattooed rock fans of all nationalities at the outdoor venue. I happily picked up my Access All Areas pass for the tour and with a thirst for more than just rock, I headed to the ‘Rock Star Bar’ trestle table, surprised that Victoria Bitter was the only beer available for sale. I opted for a Jack ‘n Coke and wandered around Fort Canning Park. The concert site used to be a graveyard; the former tombstones are now interned into the perimeter walls – I didn’t ask where the bodies were.

The Motley guys arrived backstage and it was great to reacquaint in the flesh and they were stoked I was going all the way through to the last concert in Japan. When it was show time, I took up vantage point at the top of the side ramp on Nikki Sixx’s side. The humidity was a real challenge for the band this night and Nikki was plagued with in-ear monitor level trouble. Towards the end of their set, I was watching Tommy Lee drumming away from a position parallel with his kit when he signaled and threw one of his drum sticks at me; the scuffed and abused aluminum drumstick now sits in my collection.

Motley Crue playing Home Sweet Home to close their first-ever Singapore concert
 

With not much happening after-show and thoughts of another hard day’s work ahead, I avoided taxi drivers and strolled the 1.5kms back to my hotel, taking in the sights of the clean and modern Singapore city streets. I was to leave Singapore the following night on an overnight flight to Tokyo.

Arriving at the airport, I went into the club lounge to eat dinner and wait for the boarding call. While finishing a third glass of white wine, I spotted Nikki walk across the other side of the lounge. I got my things together and wandered over to find guitarist Mick Mars and his minders also waiting in the lounge. Realising we were all on the same Japan Airlines flight, I sat alongside Mick and was thoroughly entertained by his humorous conversation for the next half-hour before we strolled to the boarding gate. Security checkpoints are always a challenge for Mick due to his hip replacement but we finally boarded and I took up my seat on the upper deck with his security guy Rhino.

It seems I only sleep well on planes in Business Class so it was a rough night but I was excited to touch down at 6:30am, literally in the land of the rising sun. I waited up for Tommy while Customs/Immigration gave him the third degree and then got into his van. Signing autographs for fans before 8am on items being poked through an open window for cigarette smoke after customs issues was not the most pleasant task for Tommy – fame does come at a price! But he did liven up and we shared some good conversation on the one-hour drive into our city hotels.

After checking in and sorting mobile phone issues, I quickly took a 40-minute train ride to Loud Park Festival, hoping not to miss the first-ever Japanese set from my Melbourne friends in Airbourne. As I entered the venue the first chords of their opening song rang out – perfect! I headed back to their dressing room after they had Tokyo rocking with fists in the air and we were all pumped to see each other. Skid Row guitarist Dave ‘Snake’ Sabo soon came in to introduce himself, which was a pleasant surprise.

I spent the rest of the day drinking Airbourne’s rider with them, or in the Artist Hospitality club room, or watching bands like Dragonforce, Carcass and Avenged Sevenfold from side of stage. Watching former Pantera members in Down from the sidelines was a great moment, before Slipknot closed the day in front of about 20,000 Japanese rockers and metalheads.

The next day I headed back to the same arena after catching up on some sleep overnight. Again I arrived at the perfect moment, just as former Guns ‘N Roses bassist Duff McKagan’s Loaded hit the stage. I watched the first-half of his ripping set from the security/photographers pit at the front before moving up onto side of stage. There I also stayed put for the start of the set from Bullet For My Valentine – I was drinking with these guys the day before and their guitarist Padge was tipping Jack Daniels onto his eyeball… crazy stuff!

Duff McKagan at Loud Park Festival, Tokyo Japan
 

Duff didn’t hang around long so I didn’t get the chance to run into him backstage unfortunately. I met-up with a Japanese fellow Motley Crue webmaster, which was really cool. The Motley guys soon arrived and I was excited to see Buckcherry play live for the first time. I was talking to bassist Jimmy earlier in the day and his concern was now relieved: their drummer Xavier had finally arrived at the venue from the USA just 33 minutes before their show time. Buckcherry is a Top 5 All-time band for me and I was getting goosebumps sitting on a roadcase on the side of stage in Tokyo seeing my first show of theirs – killer!

Motley hit the stage and immediately the Tokyo crowd was singing along in Engrish and raising their fists. I’d always heard Japanese crowds were politely tame but I certainly wasn’t seeing that. I stood side of stage next to Nikki’s security guard Kimo during the show and as we watched people in the very last row jumping up and down with hands in the air; he told me he’s never seen Japanese crowds as crazy.

The party soon wound-up backstage and I caught a train to an after-party at Current Rock Inn in Shinjuku with a model from New Zealand and her American friend. We partied hard with the Buckcherry and Bullet guys until the wee hours when staff were pulling the Kiwi model off the bar during Paradise City – a superb way to cap off a great start to Tokyo.

After-parties are thirsty work
 

With limited sleep, I then fronted up to the Tokyo office at 8am Monday for work, and again the follow day. By the end of Tuesday I was itching to rock again so I was back underground figuring out Tokyo’s trains to get me to the bay area for the Buckcherry and Airbourne show. Again I arrived as Airbourne were starting, so I watched the whole show from the crowd and loved it. I stayed put with some beers and also watched and danced my way through the whole Buckcherry set from the sound desk. A killer double-punch!

Heading backstage after Buckcherry, I saw the Airbourne guys were just getting into their van to leave. They were surprised to see me and immediately bundled me into their van, captured hostage for the night. Arriving back at their Tokyo hotel, Japanese fans were waiting for them, keen on meeting for autographs and photos. One Japanese girl asked me if I was their manager but I replied that I was employed as their Rider Drinker. A male fan had his guitar signed by the entire band and was over the moon – so great to see this after watching the band grow from small Melbourne gigs at Cherry bar and the like. It seems they’ll be back in Japan next March for their own headlining tour!

With fans duly satisfied, we headed up to the band’s hotel rooms. The blokes’ party soon turned into a listening party /critical analysis of the new AC/DC album. Convinced that Airbourne are hungry enough, skilled enough, ready enough and rock enough to take the crown, we turned hotel staff away from the door countless times as they tried to have us quieten down our party, while we demolished every brand of Japanese beer, Suntory whisky, and many brands of sake. I stumbled from a cab into my hotel room at 4am.

Hotel Airbourne in full flight
 

I was up 3 hours later because my first meeting for the day was presenting to a boardroom full of Japanese management. Relieved when it was over, the feedback I got was awesome – they were very pleased and thankful for the value I gave them. I sat at a desk in my suit with staff all talking incomprehensive Japanese around me, snickering to myself with pride of my chameleon super powers. My business commitments finished that night with an awesome management dinner on a fifty-something floor restaurant with superb views over Tokyo’s skyscraper district and even better food.

After a recovery sleep, I was soon doing 300km/hr on my first Shinkansen (bullet train) to the city of Nagoya. With no support band tonight, the crew was putting the final touches to Motley’s stage setup when I arrived. I took the opportunity to walk around the stage, even taking up seat at Tommy Lee’s drum kit. When the band arrived, Nikki had his tattoo artist and TV personality girlfriend Kat Von D with him. A crew member snapped a photo of Nikki and me outside his dressing room, which he currently has set as his MySpace profile pic.

With limited stage space, I watched this show from the barricaded-off pit in front of Mick along with his Swiss girlfriend and Tommy’s beautiful Slovakian companion, who thoroughly enjoyed her final show before flying home the next day. We all snapped some great intimate shots of the guys’ performance this night before they all left as soon as possible after the show. I met up with my Japanese friend Dai in his hometown for some local knowledge of the next best thing, and I soon found myself in Nagoya’s Hard Rock Café celebrating the night with lots of Japanese fans.

Paul Miles on Tommy Lee's  Motley Crue drum kit - Nagoya, Japan

When the lights came up for closing time, we headed to another bar until they closed, then a ramen house (Japanese noodle soup) before I realised I had not been to a karaoke bar yet. So after some Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and other classic rock numbers the lights went up yet again and we walked out into sunrise and headed to the train station. I bid my crazy Japanese friends farewell with thanks and got a couple of hours sleep on Friday’s first bullet train back to Tokyo – broken sleep at that because I was woken by conductors telling me to move carriages – I couldn’t read their signs, OK?

I intended to go to Budokan this day for Def Leppard and Whitesnake's concert and even had a VIP pass lined up, but my liver and eyeballs won and I chose recovery to ensure I made it through the rest of my To-Do list. After a decent sleep, I sought out an old-world, shanty pub where I enjoyed the most amazing food experience of my trip. This place was built after the Second World War and has served only sake and beer with their unagi yakitori (eel on skewers) cooked over hot coals since – absolutely delicious! The light above the cooker hadn’t been cleaned in the sixty years and was a feature of the place; I know, it sounds disgusting and a health risk, but it just added to the character of this great place.

Buzzed from the sake, I said goodbye and thanks to the old owner and was about to head back to the hotel when I remember that the Lexington Queen nightclub was another item on my list that would be best experienced tonight. So I ventured to the seedy backstreets of Roppongi, paid the cover charge and proceeded to soak up the atmosphere. The venue’s manager of twenty-plus years soon came up and refunded my cover charge and furnished me with Whisky, before we exchanged infamous stories about Motley Crue at this very nightclub. A haunt for young western models working in Tokyo, you’d swear you had just stumbled into a modeling convention as pictures of celebrity visits line the walls – everyone from Paris Hilton to Marilyn Manson to Duran Duran.

A quick recharge sleep and I was bullet train-bound for Osaka for the magnificent Saturday triple-bill of Airbourne, Buckcherry and Motley Crue. As I entered Osaka’s Jo Hall, Airbourne were doing their soundcheck. I pulled up a seat near the front and saw Buckcherry’s vocalist Josh sitting some seats over. The guys were treating their soundcheck like the real deal – “perfect practice makes perfect”. Once their levels were set, they burst into some Cinderella songs and I was soon invited up. It was a memorable moment singing Gypsy Road with them on stage through the massive PA in a 15-thousand-seat venue, albeit empty.

Airbourne backstage after-show in Osaka, Japan

We headed to their dressing room and started on their rider. With less than an hour to kill before they hit the stage, I took opportunity to quickly head out across the grounds to the Osaka Castle and take some pictures of this amazing moated castle. From my soundboard vantage point alongside their fun-time professional manager Gregg, Airbourne then proceeded to capture the hearts of Osaka with their non-stop energetic rock’n’roll show. It was a nice touch when front man Joel yelled out mid-song “Mr. Paul Miles” before launching into a solo.

Backstage in their dressing room after their set, I thanked them and they thanked me, while the sounds of Buckcherry’s singer warming up his vocal chords came ripping through the neighbouring bathroom walls. I then soaked up my third and final Buckcherry show after walking to the stage with them, introducing Airbourne’s drummer Ryan to Tommy Lee on the way.

With Buckcherry's bassist Jimmy Ashhurst, minutes before show time in Osaka

With a promise to kick-on with the Buckcherry guys at the famous Rock Rock club afterwards, I enjoyed my tenth Motley Crue show in the last 3 years. The backstage party in Tommy’s room was short-lived and when he headed out with his crazy dildo-looking banana briefcase, we planned to hook up later at a dance club. I made my way to Rock Rock where I was greeted with a Halloween costumed-crowd and a whisky shot from my sweet bartender friend Akko, before moving into the VIP room with all the non-sober Buckcherry members.

Realising I hadn’t had any dinner and still had a long night of drinking to endure, I asked some new Japanese friends if they could take me to get some food. The costumed sisters and I went to a nearby McDonalds (yuk) and heading back to Rock Rock at 1am, I convinced them to try and find the dance club instead to see if Tommy was still there. As we spoke with the door people at the club, Tommy and his security guy arrived – amazing timing. So we all went through and were soon drinking bottles of champagne, compliments of the house.

Tommy’s security guy was thankful for my assistance in helping to keep people at bay to allow Tommy a good time. As much as we tried, people still hassled him to shake hands, have a photo or get an autograph. The Japanese were the most respectful; it was the Westerners that were the pushiest. At one point, a young American guy came up and asked for my autograph, thinking I was also in Motley Crue. Without hesitation, I confidently signed his piece of paper with my name and he was happy. I told Tommy’s security guy that I wrote “Two Cheeseburger please” and we laughed about it regularly for the rest of the tour.

Champagne party with Tommy Lee in Osaka

The owner of Osaka’s Chopstick Tattoo studios came down and was pleased I had helped him to finally meet and have a drink with Tommy, promising me a free tattoo on my next visit to Osaka – like I didn’t love Osaka enough already! Tommy exited back to the hotel and I kicked on to Rock Rock until all the punters had left and I found myself having staff drinks with Akko and Yoko, fondly reminding me of many nights at Melbourne’s own Cherry bar.

Go-go dancer Betty walked me to the train station and ensured I got on the first bullet train back to Tokyo safely. I snored in my rocked and rolled state for two hours, waking just in time to marvel at the clouds covering the top of Mt Fuji. I felt the looks from Japanese commuters and thought back to the 1987 Motley tour when Nikki was arrested for hurling a bottle of Jack at a Japanese businessman on the bullet train.

Back in Tokyo, there was no time to sleep any more because I had to get organised to make my way to the venue for the final Crue show of the tour. As support band Loudness completed their soundcheck, I had a final catch-up with Motley’s road crew before going to a Meet & Greet with the band. I joined the end of the queue and the Motley guys signed my copy of their autobiography The Dirt that I contributed to. I also purchased a Japanese copy and they all signed that too with little comments.

The band’s final show was awesome. As I stood side of stage during their performance, Nikki walked over to me in the darkness between songs, gave me a hug and said, “I’ve got a really strange way of making a living.” As he ripped out the opening notes of the next song and then moved back out on stage under the spotlight, I looked out onto his happy Japanese customers jumping up and down.

Motley Crue says arigato and sayonara Japan

The show concluded with their classic Home Sweet Home and indeed it was. I said my goodbyes backstage until it was all down to Tommy. During the show his security guy has given out VIP passes to 15-20 of the most beautiful ladies he could spot in the crowd, who now proceeded to enter Tommy’s dressing room-come-nightclub for a party. Helping to remove any discomfort, I played bartender, ensuring every guest had a Grey Goose vodka or Corona while they started moving to the loud dance music pumping from Tommy’s iPod through a PA.

After a while, I was tapped on the shoulder by a lady who explained in her broken English, “I’m sorry, you have given my daughter vodka but she is underage and not allowed to drink.” I apologised profusely and she took up my suggestion that she drink the vodka while I get her young daughter a soft drink.

The party got rowdier and Tommy was soon dancing on the coffee table with his shirt off, looking for willing participants to follow suit. After a while, I noticed the underage girl looking to take a turn. I whispered a word of warning to Tommy that she was underage but she still seemed willing. In horror, my eyes scanned the room’s perimeter for her mother, afraid someone was really going to get an earful this time. As I copped an eyeful of this young girl dancing away with Tommy, I spotted her mother… standing right next to the coffee table clapping her hands in beat to the music and chanting crowd with the biggest smile on her face. WHAT? Just when I thought I was starting to understand Japanese culture… crazy!

When the last of the ice blocks were put down people’s clothes, we closed the party and headed out to a bar with some NBA basketballers including Tommy’s friend Peter Cornell, who acts alongside Will Ferrell in this year’s movie release Semi Pro. Some entry deal was done that included drinks but after a few hours drinking, there was a nasty dispute over the final bill. The situation got pretty tense to the point where Tommy’s security guy was telling me that we have to get him out of there at the first hint of serious trouble breaking out; it was already serious enough for my liking. The situation was finally diffused as I was eying off a bunch of Nigerian guys taking up position at the exit. We went back to Tommy’s hotel suite and got some room service – Tommy went for a leak and crashed on his bed before the food arrived and that was the last I’ve seen of him until next time.

Arriving back at my hotel as the sun was coming up again, I arranged a late-checkout and caught some sleep before packing up my hotel room base after 9 crazy nights in Japan. During my flight home I reflected on my wonderful Japanese experience. The people are so polite and respectful there; I think we in Australia can learn a lot from that. The first meal I wanted back in Australia was Japanese – I don’t think I could ever get sick of their clean and fresh food. As fast-paced and crazy as it was, I feel I could certainly enjoy living in Tokyo. I miss Japan… but it’s good to be back with my wife decorating our new home in Melbourne.

It'll also be good to get back in the DJ booth this Saturday night again for Rock ROYALTY. Let's create some more good times for our life's collection!

..

 

Rock on,

Hey there, hello again. A couple of Saturdays ago, I spent the evening with Airbourne at their sold-out final Melbourne show before relocating to the USA. It was sad to say goodbye and see them go but they're primed to take on the world now. The Australian market just isn't big enough and it was good to see their album debut in the UK Top 40 this week.

For much of the warm night, I sat in their dressing room backstage at the HiFi as they professionally went through their preparations. Joel was loud as hell with his vocal warm-up – singing along to a few choice tunes on his iPod, he would alternate between sips of hot water with honey and straight Jack Daniels. Just before they hit the stage, I got them together for a photo to mark their red letter night. A cameraman about to film the show joined us in the room and snapped this pic of me with the boys.

They hit the stage to the delight of the chanting crowd and it was foot-to-the-floor rock'n'roll from that moment forward. The heat coming off the frenzied 1000-strong pack was intense, so I watched most of the show from behind, where the fan from their dressing room kept me much cooler.

As they came off stage following a rousing encore, I handed them waters as they collapsed on the dressing room couches – exhausted. Others soon started to come in the room to congratulate them on a great show and to say goodbye. Once done at the venue, we moved on to Cherry bar where it was also soon time for me to say goodbye to the boys for now.

After playing a DJ set at Ding Dong on Friday night before Electric Mary's blistering show, I was back to the HiFi on Saturday as Swedish rockers Hardcore Superstar played their first-ever show in Melbourne. The first I heard this Grammy-nominated band was over seven years ago at the time I was relocating to Melbourne from Perth, so their first album marks my memories of that time for me.

I got to the venue just after 4pm and after meeting their crew, I was soon helping to load in the band's equipment. Once most of their gear was in place on stage, my friend Paul came across their massive logo backdrop in a bag. To the doubt of their crew, Paul and I managed to hang it behind the band as they sound-checked, being careful not to drop it on the drum-kit in the tight confines we worked in.

After soundcheck, I sat in their dressing room and interviewed drummer Magnus 'Adde' Andreasson for about forty minutes. We got along well and he opened up and was generous in the interview for my next book (more on that another time).

The band played really well and the crowd lapped it up. I watched the encore from their dressing room doorway and greeted them as they came off stage, ensuring they had their preference of beer or water, as we talked about highlights from the show. As I unhooked Adde's ear monitors from the back of his shirt, their tour manager came in and snapped a couple of shots of me with the sweaty band, before we headed back down into the main room where they signed autographs and had photos with the remaining fans.

Once the last fans had exited and we had folded the banner back up, it was about 2am and time to say farewell to the band before they needed to leave for the airport at 5:30am for the next Hardcore Superstar shows in Japan.

My weekend rounded out perfectly on Sunday night with a river cruise party for the staff of Cherry bar. We departed just before dusk to the sounds of AC/DC pumping out from the onboard DJ, as we cruised along the Yarra River through Melbourne. Returning a few hours later after plenty of food and drink, the owners then opened the bar to continue the private party, where I acquainted myself with Laphroaig whisky.

I'll be back at Cherry bar again this coming Saturday night, when I hit AC/DC Lane with the best rock'n'roll party tunes from every era.
 

Happy New Year to you! I hope you enjoyed your celebrations. It was extremely hot here. With the temperature outside reaching 41.4C (106.5F), the last day of 2007 ended up being Melbourne's hottest day of the hottest year on record.

The photo below was taken inside Cherry bar in AC/DC Lane, Melbourne at 5:30am on 1 January 2008 after an exhausting seven-hour DJ set during the New Year's Eve heat.

We toasted with champagne at midnight, as I spun a great version of Auld Lang Syne by punk rock band the Dropkick Murphys.

Towards the end of the night, a girl told me she had flown down to Melbourne from Sydney earlier in the week and seen a plug for me in Jetstar airline's in-flight magazine. Australia's Bartender of the Year in 2007 had recommended Cherry as the place to be in Melbourne that night.

The New Year has certainly begun in hectic fashion. I spent time in Hong Kong last week for business and also managed to have a bit more of a look around the city. I sat next to an Indian chap on the flight up, so there was lots of debate about the recent Test cricket match... until another passenger spilled a glass of red wine on him.

When my driver pulled his Mercedes into the hotel, I knew I would be in for a good time as I was smack-band in the middle of Wan Chai where the only rock bars are situated. After some room service Lobster pasta while watching crazy pop music on MTV China, I headed out to Carnegies and checked out the music memorabilia-lined walls as people danced on the bar to the sounds created from the little DJ booth perched high up under the roof line.

On another night I saw a great three-piece blues band at The Wanch. The long-haired singer was wailing and playing a mean slide guitar, considering it was after 2am. My favourite music venue in Hong Kong is Dusk Til Dawn, where cover bands rock a packed house full of old Caucasian businessmen, young locals and Philippino sex workers, with some solid DJ sets in between the bands. Befriending one of the guitarists and enquiring more about music in the city, he was soon telling me that I must "weally love wok 'n' woll!" Indeed I do.

Can you believe it's already December? It's that busy time of year again where everyone is trying to get things done before the holidays arrive, and at the same time the summer social calendar is bursting at the seams.

My wife and I recently enjoyed an end-of-year Christmas party that was themed '70s Disco. We wound back the clock to the golden years and hustled on down to the venue off Chapel Street, where we were greeted by trays of Cosmopolitans. Before long, I was devouring the prawn cocktails offered by waitresses in afros. The DJ spun the disco gems all night long as we danced the balmy night away in our sparkling original '70s lurex attire.

Some said we looked like Sonny and Cher, but it was probably more '70s porn star and his foxy lady than anything. We kicked on with friends to another bar after the party, but were refused service. They said we had enough alcohol in us already, but I just think they had something against my moustache! The following day, my wife was feeling worse than me for a change.
 

The guys from Juke Kartel came over last weekend and we filled our bellies with great food and drink. As my son played his new Guitar Hero 3 game he got for his birthday a week earlier, the challenge was thrown down to Toby and Todd to have a go. They struggled at first but soon started to get the hang of it, before handing the guitar over to my son. He set it on expert level and chose a Dragonforce song. Shredding like a madman, he scored like 80% and even managed a long 'look away' during some soloing, while we all cheered him on in disbelief.

Toby Rand about to get his ass kicked at Guitar Hero by my son

We then rolled on to The Espy to see a killer set from Electric Mary with support from Hell City Glamours. It was a packed house of rock music lovers, with a full spectrum of musicians in attendance (everything from Rose Tattoo to Australian Idol's Lee Harding.)

When the show came to a close with Toby finishing off the last song, my wife and I went outside for a moment. As we walked back up the stairs to re-enter The Espy, a couple of bouncers crashed into us as they ejected a guy. We skidded down at least six steps, with one arm around my wife's waist and the other hooked over a railing as I tried to stop our fall. Once we came to our feet with grazed shins through our jeans, I headed down to street level to voice my displeasure. The bouncers had let the ejectee go and once I let him know I was pissed off, he came at me and landed a solid blow on my jaw. I went towards him again when I was grabbed by Juke Kartel's security guy who got me out of there while they pinned the guy down. He later told me the guy was twice his size and would have snapped me in half. Probably right... I told him I'm a lover, not a fighter.

After another drink inside, we thought 10 hours of partying was probably enough so we got a taxi home with Toby and Nicky [Whelan, model and actress of Neighbours fame]. We went to Maccas on the way and Nicky convinced me to get a Big Mac as well, showing me how to eat it from the bottom up so the mayo doesn't drip. We were laughing because I had difficulty eating my burger since my jaw had swollen and I could only chew with my front teeth.

Stop laughing – you try eating a burger with only your front teeth working! haha

I'm off to Sydney for the rest of this week for business and some more Christmas parties. But I'll be back for my next DJ event at Cherry this Saturday night, when it's time to create some more good times and great memories. See you there pretties!
 

What a busy few weeks it has been here! I recently caught one of my all-time favourite punk bands The Exploited on their first-ever tour of Australia (from Scotland). Back in the eighties, I used to stomp about my bedroom and the Perth streets with my mohawk, chanting along to tracks from The Exploited's now classic Punks Not Dead album. I remember the day I bought the LP from Da-Da Records, and also remember singing their song Troops of Tomorrow on stage at the Stoned Crow one night in 1987.

It was cool to finally witness them play these songs and others live. The hardcore crowd seemed to dig it just as much as I did. It was also cool to catch up with their legendary front-man Wattie after the show.

Wattie Buchan of The Exploited and Paul Miles
 

Jumping from old-school punk to electro-house music, I also recently checked out DJ Mike Felks at the album launch of Skitzmix 27. Mike has pumped main-room floors with residencies at Melbourne's most prestigious venues and events for many years now, and the crowd at Billboards lapped up his set.

As one of Australia's most sought-after remixers, Mike has a great remix of The Choirboys' classic Run to Paradise featured on the megamix CD Skitzmix 27. The successful and renown Skitzmix series from Nick Skitz is the highest-selling deejay compilation in Australia and always tops the ARIA Compilation Chart upon release.

It was good to step into a different headspace that Friday night, share some drinks, some bullshit, and some promises of checking out Mike's studio and his new originals in production.

Rock DJ Paul Miles with DJ Mike Felks
 

The Motorhead show with Rose Tattoo and Airbourne was great, along with the after-show drinking session at Cherry with some members from all three bands. Motorhead were in fine form with Lemmy giving a mouthful to some idiot who threw a drink on him. Airbourne got the night of to a great start - they're flying out to the US tomorrow for shows with Korn, Sixx: A.M., Kid Rock and others, check out this e-card and see them play. I always enjoyed Rose Tattoo's show, even though Angry Anderson had a cold that night, which hampered his performance.

Like many others in Melbourne, I've also had a stubborn head-cold that took far too long to evict. It probably wasn't helped by taking a walk around Melbourne's cemetery one chilly afternoon, as I stole some fresh images of all the beauty that caught my eye. You can check out one hundred-plus images in my Graveyard gallery. Even though Halloween is upon us, I'm sure you'll agree they're not too spooky!

One of the new additions is this shot below of The King in Melbourne. You can read the plaque and learn what Australia's own King of Rock 'n' Roll Johnny O'Keefe had to do with this by visiting the gallery.

Click to check out the Graveyard gallery
 

This Saturday night it's time to slip on your blue suede shoes when I rock Cherry bar once again. There's bound to be some Elvis tracks amongst my six hours-plus of non-stop rock'n'roll classics from the 50s through to today. Long live rock!
 

Last week I took my son along to the Australian Premiere of the movie Air Guitar Nation in Carlton. Not sure what to expect of this documentary, we went in with an open mind and found ourselves laughing right from the beginning - it was great!

One of the stars of the movie - Bjorn Turoque - flew in from America to be there for the premiere. That's him on the poster above, and in the photo below as we played some air guitar on the night. Check this movie out; it's funny!

Bjorn Turoque and Paul Miles playing air guitar
 

Speaking of movies: five years ago I took a webcam snap as I was at my computer every single day of the year. I recently turned this into a short movie titled A Year In The Life Of... Check it out - it's available at the bottom of my website's home page. 2002 feels and looks like such a long time ago now!

This Saturday night it's time for me to rock Cherry bar once again, with more than six hours of non-stop rock'n'roll party tunes from every era.  Perhaps I'll see you there!
 

ARIA Award-winning and multi-platinum-selling band Taxiride headlined the event and I enjoyed diminishing their beer supply and hearing them play their hits like Get Set and Creeping Up Slowly. The other bands on the bill - The Scissor File, Missfire, and Jaded Season - brought a cool blend of new rock to the night. Check them out if you get the chance.

Rock DJ Paul Miles at the HiFi Bar & Ballroom, Melbourne city > more DJ pics
 

The gig finished in the wee hours and after a short sleep, I then flew out to Hong Kong later that morning. I spent the week up there with a full schedule of business commitments. I did manage to get some play time in while I was there. I enjoyed checking out some of the cheesy Philipino cover bands in bars, as well as many of the sights, sounds and smells of the Hong Kong streets. I took my camera (of course) and will be adding lots of cool pics to the Photography section of my website, all in good time.

While in Hong Kong late one evening, I was walking past Ricky Tattoo Studio in Wanchai when I decided to get a souvenir of my first time in Asia. When Hong Kong was returned from the British rule to China in 1997, the new regional flag of Hong Kong was hoisted. The bright red flag features a centre-piece flower: the Hong Kong Orchid Tree (Bauhinia Blakeana) named after Sir Henry Blake, the British Governor of Hong Kong from 1898 to 1903. The actual flowers are bright pinkish-purple, not white as on the flag, but I decided to get my petals coloured red like the flag. The small flower tattoo is on the back of my upper-left arm and ties in with my existing Japanese cherry blossoms. The studio owner Ricky inked it for me in about 20 minutes. I gave him HK$470, which was about $70 Australian for my memento.

Getting inked in Hong Kong > more Tattoo pics
 

It's certainly good to be back in Australia with my family this week. I am looking forward to getting back in the saddle this Saturday night though, when I DJ my next six-hour-plus set at Cherry bar. Come on down if you need to shake your thing.
 

Life has been pretty crazy for me recently:

I enjoyed DJing for Airbourne in front of their sold-out hometown crowd recently. I told you it was sure to be a classic night of pure Australian pub rock and it certainly was! The crowd really started to get crazy half-way through their set. Crowd surfers were soon landing head-first on the stage before getting shoved back off stage by over-zealous security. One punter even got pushed backwards down the two steps from the stage and the back of his head smashed the plastic lid of the DJ turntables. It was nuts... and the band rocked hard!

Warming up 950 Airbourne fans at a sold-out Prince of Wales
 

The following night's six-hour-plus set at Cherry bar was a great night also, even though it got a bit fruity at times. The crowd seemed to dig all the tunes, even though my mind was elsewhere.

After a progressive dinner in Southbank, I got just four hours sleep before heading up to Sydney for three packed days. After a sleep back in Melbourne, I then headed to Perth the next morning with my wife to spend 5 days by my Dad's hospital bedside.

He was first diagnosed with emphysema about 15 years ago and his terminal disease caused by smoking has now reached its final stage. As tough as it was, it was great to be able to see him again, squeeze him again, put up with his jokes again, and tell him that I love him again. Time will tell how many more breaths he has left, but we are as prepared as much as possible, and have said all we need to say.

Here's a shot of me recently helping Toby Rand out at an Ed Hardy clothing label party

So now I'm back in Melbourne and ready to DJ at the HiFi Bar & Ballroom this Saturday night as special guest. Taxiride are headlining the great line-up of fresh Aussie rock bands and I'll be sure to keep the rock flowing in between.

Ticket pre-sales have been going well for the promoter - get yours by checking out this flyer below, or rolling up on the night. See you there.

Hope all has been rockin' in your world. Mine has been sniffley this week as I shake a head cold.

I am looking forward to this Friday night though when I DJ at the legendary Melbourne venue "Prince of Wales" in front of a sold-out crowd of 950 rockers, eager to witness Airbourne tear up the stage.

Their debut album Runnin' Wild was released four weeks ago and has been sitting in the ARIA Top 50 album chart ever since. They have just signed an International deal with Roadrunner records and currently have one of the Most Added tracks at Australian radio. It's sure to be a classic night of pure Australian pub rock!

Check out Airbourne's songs and videos at their MySpace page

The rock then keeps rolling on Saturday night when I DJ a six-hour-plus set at Cherry bar. I look forward to seeing your smiling faces.

Jot down August 11 in your diary as I'll be DJing a rocking event at the HiFi Bar & Ballroom. Stay tuned for more details.