Wellington was great because it was the final of the rugby 7's and that meant everyone was out and ready for a good time. Being our first gig of the tour we were excited and put on a real good show.
Next up we drove to Taranaki, 5 hours in the van was a bit of a mission but we were rewarded when we got to our flash accommodation in the heart of New Plymouth. Four stars! Not bad for some poor starving muso's from Brisbane! The venue where the wine and food festival was held was stunning; it was an outdoor festival at a vineyard overlooking the ocean. Everyone at the festival was full of wine so they were ready for some good music, which is exactly what we gave them. Afterward the festival a few of the boys got stuck into the duty free and despite our awesome accommodation, Charles ended up sleeping on the floor.
The next day involved another mission drive to play at the Lounge bar in Carterton. It was a real family affair for me as that is where I grew up and all my family turned up for the gig. We were also reunited with Euan who got stuck in Malaysia after holidaying in Cambodia (he missed the first 2 gigs). Some highlights for me included having my cousins 11 year old son jump up and play some drums for a funk jam, my 80 year old Pop getting up to sing a song with us, my uncles deciding they'd strip their shirts off after one too many local beers… not pretty, and meeting Willie from Masterton who entertained the boys with his incoherent tales of…. Who knows what he was talking about!
Then we filmed the video clip for our single 'Frank, do me good' with my friends Toby, Melissa and Dickos from Playhouse Pictures. We spent 2 long days at different locations shooting some really amazing footage around the hills of the Wairarapa. We're launching the clip at the end of March along with our new EP so keep an eye on our gig guide.
On Thursday we headed for Gisborne with a stop off at Wairoa College to play to the music class. We were greeted with a traditional maori song sung by the whole class then we played a few songs and they played us a couple more and did a haka, it was a real highlight. We played a really fun gig in Gisborne to a really good response, the boys made friends with a local hero 'Chiefy' who had a dreaded mullet and plays in the Gisborne band 'Jah Sunz'. Supporting us that night was Blackbird who had some really cool chilled out sounds.
Coromandel was our next destination… our biggest drive of the tour, 7 hours later we arrive at the beautiful Coromandel town which is surrounded by ocean, islands and bushland. We played a good set supported by Tahuna Breaks from Auckland, a great bunch of guys and girls. We stayed up in the bush at Hamish's house, a good friend of mine. He kindly accommodated us and it was so nice to wake up to the smell of native bush and the sound of cicadas and wildlife. We had a mean breakfast at a really cool café too. Nice.
Next stop… Auckland, the Rising Sun was the venue, another fun gig with the Tahuna Breaks gang who put on a wicked show in their hometown. After that show I well and truly crashed into my bed at our accommodation on the 10th floor of the downtown backpackers.
On Sunday night we played the Kings Arms in Auckland with nine piece band The Hot Grits, great band that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Monday night was going to be a quiet one but we got invited to see a DJ at a new venue 'Silo' which had just opened (wicked venue!). We went along, had a few drinks, listened to some funk music and met up with Ivy who showed us some sights in Auckland.
Wednesday… We got snuck into The Les Mills Gym International Summit party, we were the odd ones out and everybody knew it! Everyone was all fit and buff and we were 5 skinny boys just there for the free food and drinks… weird function.
Rakinos in Auckland on Thursday was a great gig, Dee Jay Low Key played before us and Lachlan described it as 'the best DJ set he's ever heard'. Then we played well into the night to a really energetic crowd who loved every second of it.
On Friday we drove to Mount Maunganui to play at the Brewers bar with Auckland band 'the WBC', another really great gig with the highlight of Robert (a local Maori guy with face tattoos) lighting up a smoke, eating it, then drinking some beer then brings the smoke back up, dry as a bone and continues to smoke it… watch out for it on youtube, its choice!
After the Mount Maunganui gig we decided to do the mission drive to Raglan where the SoundSplash Eco reggae festival was being held. We arrived there at 5.30 in the morning, found our accommodation (just!) and then woke up a few hours later with a wicked beach view of the best surf spot in NZ. SoundSplash was a real cool festival, the food was cheap, beer was cheap and there was a real family vibe backstage with heaps of kids running around and most importantly, good music. We played the 8.45pm slot on the heavyweight stage and it went off, our best gig of the tour, we got it filmed so look out for some scenes soon. Highlights from the festival were Ladi6, Tahuna Breaks, Unity Pacific and Katchafire.
So after 3 weekends of touring we finished up by driving from Raglan to Auckland (at 2.30am) to catch our 7am flight back to Brisbane…
Big thanks to Bec for organising the whole tour, she did a really great job and we had a sweet as time, CHEERS!