I swear, I had every good intention of having a quiet weekend... doing my gigs, and going to bed straight after like a good girl should... but unfortunately I'm not a good girl and being a country chick in a rock band of course I'm bound to be led astray by other band members (blame the bass player, I always do!).
So the weekend started off innocently enough... Barb Baillie (Acoustic) and I loaded up my car, turned the CD player to ear drum exploding proportions and we were merrily on our way. Coming to our half way point, we received a phone call from Scotty Greenaway (Bass Player) saying he'd meet us in Musswellbrook @ the pink pub on the corner for a drink or two to get the weekend started. Upon arrival it would seem that on EVERY corner in Musswellbrook there was a Pink Pub. Not that a pub on every corner in a country town suprises me, it was more the choice of colour. So after looking in several pubs for the illusive Scotty Greenaway hidden in one of the many pubs coloured Pink, we decided to hit the road and make up for the drink at a later date.
About an hour out of Tamworth Barbs and I found one of the most beautiful things we have ever seen... A green ute... and the person driving it wasn't too bad either. At this point I should mention, Barbs and I have a bit of a thing for utes... seriously boys, it just SCREAMS "chase me". So we did. Unfortunately we lost him (I mean the ute) somewhere around the hills... it would seem my little daewoo doesn't handle corners as well as a Holden SS Ute *drool*. Not to be dissuaded however, we arrived in Tamworth only to be welcomed by roads full of attractive, hotblooded, revving (start your engines boys)... utes. Barbs and I were in heaven.
Even after living there for a couple of years, it always amazes me how friendly and welcoming the people of Tamworth are. Feeling my usual butterflies and excitement for the unknown, after never playing a Hats Off Festival before, it was awesome when we made our way to the gig @ the Central to see it packed out shoulder to shoulder as it is in January. There was an atmosphere in the crowd that got me and the band pumped and ready for a fun gig. And my, my, my did we have fun. With Phil Doublet on lead guitar (aka ROCK GOD), Scotty Greenaway on Bass, Barb Baillie on acoustic and Gene Knox on drums, we had an absolute ball.
So to keep the good times flowing after the gig, I magically found a bottle of "Currant" vodka (think purple skittles), a couple of jugs of orange juice and some very willing drinking partners in the form of Scotty and Phil. Folks... *hint* vodka is the devil's saliva, keep away from it. So up top of the Central we acquired a crowd of drinking buddies in the form of Rough Stock, Dan Mureau's Band, various hotel tenants and Luke O'Shea (who for the night went under the name of "Barbs", for anonymity or purely as an excuse to wear a dress... we will never know). And the good times continued.
There was even a point when "Barbs" and "Luke" (aka Barbs, confused yet?) decided to have a battle of the sexes in the form of a wrestling match, where "Barbs" gave "Luke" a crash tackle and a blood nose... however "Luke" was still the victor... twice. That's right, beaten by a girl. From there we watched the sun come up through drunken, sleepy eyes and decided to call it a night... or day as it were, and get some sleep ready for another night of similar activities.
I won't bore you with too many more stories, apart from the fact that Saturday and Sunday went down the same way as Friday, with more sleepless nights, except with fellow tamworthian Matt Scullion added into the mix. There's one thing to be said for Matt... and that is that after a weekend of gigging and partying he's definitely not soft. After a slight mishap and having to stay an extra night in Tamworth after our gig together at Tangarratta vineyard Sunday, Matt was ready for another night on the town... so I took the challenge and matched him almost drink for drink (he's a bloody tank, as if!). It was a good opportunity to catch up with old friends from the days back when I was living in the good ol' Country Capital. Matt and I also found a name for our particular genre of music... it's a mixture of rock, country and blues... so we've decided nothing is more apt than the words "Dirty Country".
All in all, an AWESOME weekend... after only a couple of hours at home I already had the after festival blues. Good music, good mates and good times... what more could a girl want.
Girls and boys, this festival was only the warm up. Come January we'll be ready to rock your socks off harder than ever before, and with the album to be released shortly, you can be sure we're going to be up for another party of a festival.