Hey folks..

It has been a LONG time coming but - at last - we are extremely delighted to inform you that our new record "SUNDANCER" is  available for purchase from today, Friday 8th May!!!

It's out through MGM distribution and includes an extended version of first single "Python For A Pillow"..

We will also be doing an Australian tour to support the release in June/July, with further plans to hit Adelaide and some regional centres in August/September. Details on our page.

We hope you like the record, we're really proud of it..

I guess we'll see you at a show soon if you do!

Thanks for the support,

Joel & Steve

Come and support the boys on their next chapter!!!

Check the dates below..

http://www.youtube.com/thefumesoz

SAT 30 MAY - THE GUM BALL FESTIVAL, BELFORD NSW

Ticket info available from www.thegumball.com.au

SAT 6 JUNE – MONA VALE HOTEL, MONA VALE NSW
Tickets: $15 pre / $18 door
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au ..   or Moshtix Outlets

 

THUR 11 JUNE – PRINCE OF WALES, BUNBURY WA
Tickets: FREE!
Info available from Heatseeker: www.heatseeker.com.au

 
 FRI 12 JUNE – AMPLIFIER, PERTH WA
Tickets: $15 pre / $20 door
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au & Moshtix Outlets

OR

www.heatseeker.com.au

 
 SAT 13 JUNE – NORFOLK BASEMENT BAR, FREMANTLE WA
Tickets: $15 pre / $20 door

Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au & Moshtix Outlets

OR

www.heatseeker.com.au

WED 17 JUNE – THE LOFT, WARRNAMBOOL VIC
Tickets: $13 pre / $15 door
Tickets available from Leading Edge, Capricorn Records 148 Liebig St Warrnambool 03.55622803
 

THUR 18 JUNE – THE PELLY BAR, FRANKSTON VIC
Tickets: $15 pre / $18 door
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au ..  and all Oztix Outlets and from the bar at Pelly Bar-Pier Hotel or Phonecharge 03 9783 7311

 
FRI 19 JUNE – EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB, MELBOURNE VIC
Tickets: $15 pre / $18 door
Tickets available from www.eastbrunswickclub.com ..  or the venue box office on 03.9388 9794 or in person at 280 Lygon Street, East Brunswick Box Office open Monday to Friday 11-6pm and Saturday 12-4pm
 

THUR 25 JUNE - GREAT NORTHERN, BYRON BAY NSW
Tickets: $15 pre / $18 door
Tickets available from Hotel Great Northern Monday - Friday 9.00 - 5.00pm (Jonson St, Byron Bay), on 6685 6454 and Oztix www.oztix.com.au .. or 1300 762 545.
 
 

FRI 26 JUNE – THE SOUNDLOUNGE, GOLD COAST QLD
Tickets: $15 pre / $18 door
Tickets available from www.thesoundlounge.com.au ..
 

SAT 27 JUNE – THE ZOO, BRISBANE QLD 
Tickets: $15 pre / $18 door
Tickets available from Oztix www.oztix.com.au .. or 1300 762 545
 

WED 1 JULY – THE HOEY MOEY, COFFS HARBOUR NSW
Tickets: $13 pre / $15 door
Tickets available from www.offbeatoperations.com.au .. or The Hoey Moey 02.66523833, Park Beach Music at The Plaza 02.66523725, Coopers Surf Australia Palms Shopping Centre 02.66526369
 

THU 2 JULY – CAMBRIDGE HOTEL, NEWCASTLE NSW
Tickets: $15 pre / $18 door
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au ..   or Moshtix Outlets

 
FRI 3 JULY – OXFORD ART FACTORY, SYDNEY NSW
Tickets: $15 pre / $18 door
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au ..   or Moshtix Outlets

 
SAT 4 JULY – WOODPORT INN, CENTRAL COAST NSW
Tickets: $13 pre / $15 door
Tickets available from Oztix www.oztix.com.au ..  or 1300 762 545
 

FRI 10 JULY – REPUBLIC BAR, HOBART TAS
Tickets: $15 pre / $18 door
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au ..   or Moshtix Outlets

 
SAT 11 JULY – HOTEL NEW YORK, LAUNCESTON TAS
Tickets: $10 pre / $12 door
Tickets available from MOJO MUSIC 81 Brisbane St Launceston TAS 7250 03.63345677
 

Hey my pets..
Is it too late to say "Happy New Year" ??? 
Hmm..
Well, I know we've been putting up release dates that don't eventuate and plans which haven't unfolded for our whole career but there is an "Official" press-release below which I can only assume is up to date.. 
Happy New Year. 
Let's Go! 

"THE FUMES are set to get back to some familiar ground, touring live in February after putting the final touches to their second studio album ‘Sundancer’ (recently mixed in Detroit and due for release in Australia on April 9th 2009). 
To support the first single at radio they take some serious blues infused garage tunes out for a road-test on the east coast of Oz. The boys will be taking on Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane before the two-piece head OS for shows in Canada and a US tour around their showcase at SXSW in Austin." 

DATES: 

Wednesday 11th Feb - Beach Rd Hotel, Bondi – Free 

Friday 13th Feb - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne - Tix: $12 (Pre) / $15 (Door) tix on sale NOW thru www.northcotesocialclub.com 

Saturday 14th Feb - The Espy, Front Bar, St Kilda, Melbourne - Free 

Friday 20th Feb - Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle $12 (Pre) / $15 (Door) Tix avail NOW thru the Venue 02 49622459, The Rock Shop 02 49291856 or www.bigtix.com.au 

Saturday 21st Feb - Annandale Hotel, Sydney $12 (Pre) / $15 (Door) Tix avail NOW www.annandalehotel.com.au 

Hey everyone..
 
THE FUMES have changed their MySpace URL for the next chapter..
The old URL no longer exists.
 
It is now:
 
www.myspace.com/thefumesoz

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Hey folks..
 
THE FUMES have been on the verge
of recording a second album 
for quite some time now
(ok, fucking ages..)
and we’re pleased to inform you
that we’re in the studio at last!
We’re in the middle of tracking 17 or 18 songs
which will be cut down to 11 or 12
when we decide which ones to put on the record..
 
We’ve decided to experiment
with a few different instruments
and a special guest vocalist this time around,
so we’re REALLY keen to see what you all think..
 
We’ve also recruited Jim Diamond
-who is a record producer
from Detroit in the USA-
to work with us 
at Megaphon Studio’s in Sydney..
 
Jim Diamond
is probably best-known for his work with
The White Stripes
on their early releases
and also for his bass-playing duties
with US band
The Dirt Bombs.
Needless to say,
we’re really excited about working with him
and he’s already pulled a HUGE drum sound..
You just wait.
 
Megaphon has hosted 
some pretty legendary Aussie bands 
in the past twenty-odd years,
including 
Midnight Oil,
The Hoodoo Gurus,
The Cruel Sea,
Cold Chisel,
Silverchair,
The Celibate Rifles
and more recently
Kisschasy
and The Panics..
(Which is somehow rather humbling).

It’s a pretty cool studio,
it has a massive rooftop balcony
and I noticed a cricket bat up there today..
I’m not sure if we’ll be able to have a game though,
there’s a ridiculously COLD weather front
hammering Sydney at the moment
and it’s way too cold and wet to venture outside!
Which is a good thing, I guess..
So, we’re all drinking about ten cups of tea a day
to stay warm (pretty rock n’ roll hey??)..
 
Anyway,
we’re hoping to have
the 1st single to radio 
by the end of November,
along with plans for a nation-wide tour 
to coincide with its release..
We aim to have the record 
available for purchase by March 2009.
 
Keep your eyes and ears peeled
on this site 
for some sneak peeks 
of our time in the studio..
 
Cheers,
 
Joel “Keeping You In The Loop” Battersby.

Fuji Rock: Part 1- The trip there

"I hate to tell ya, Batts.. but you're gonna have to pull over mate, I gotta take a piss".
It was with these familiar words,
spoken by Steve,
from the passenger seat of the car,
that it finally sunk in,
The Fumes were on the road once again..

But this was no routine road trip for us,
we were on our way to Brisbane airport
to catch a plane to Japan,
because we were playing at the world renowned
Fuji Rock Festival.
Nuts.

Let me see...
It's hard to know what to leave out,
because I was so stoked on it at the time
but it'll most likely bore the crap out of you..

I have to say though,
it was perfect from the moment the plane took off.
There was a tense moment
when the baby opposite me started crying
while we were taxiing to the runway,
but she was as quiet as a mouse for the rest of the flight.
Good girl.

I was going to leave this out,
but we flew over Guam (I think)
and it looked fucking amazing..
Lone, green, ancient volcanoes
sticking out of the North Pacific Ocean.
Awesome.

We were greeted at the airport in Japan
by Tracey (our manager),
Shin (our Japanese label rep.),
David (a translator from Ohio in the USA)
and Harada (a crazy Japanese driver)
who informed us that we were due to be on stage in 4.5 hours
and that it would take at least 4 hours to get there..
Perfect.

Apart from the fact that it was getting dark outside,
our driver was sitting on about 150km/h on the freeway,
so it was hard to take it all in at first,
but I did notice the abundance of vending machines
on nearly every street corner..
Bizarre.

Stay tuned..
I'm a crap typist,
this will take some time.

Joel.

Fuji Rock: Part 2- The Thursday show

It was 10pm when we arrived at the festival site of Naeba Ski Resort
and it was here that the language barrier finally hit me..
Our legendary translator -David- organised all our passes for us
and obtained all the important info about where everything was,
so he made it easy to get by
but he wasn't going to be on stage with us in 20 minutes..
Fuck!
All I could think of was what I could say to the audience..
Luckily, I'd downloaded some basic phrases
taught by an American lady with a particularly annoying and grating voice,
so they had stuck in my head..
Still, I wasn't entirely confident..

When we arrived behind the stage,
we could hear a DJ doing his thing and the crowd were going nuts for it..
I was a little worried that they weren't in the mood for a "blues/rock" duo
but I had to forget about that and frantically head to the stage to set up the hired drums.
Here, I had my first experience of Japanese efficiency-
they had set up the drum kit exactly how I would have myself!
I'm not sure how they knew (whether they'd seen photo's or footage)
but all I had to do was put the cymbals (that I'd brought) onto their stands.
But when I turned around to pick them up
there was already four people attaching them to their stands..
They were working like ants!
We had time to spare after all.
Brilliant.

When we took to the stage
there was an enthusiastic response
from the packed Red Marquee audience.
We've sold a few records in Japan,
but we're by no means well known,
and we've never been there before,
so it's safe to say that hardly anyone knew what to expect..

"Konban-wa" (good evening), I said.
And they lost it!
We kicked into this instrumental that just builds and builds
and the roar from the crowd at the end of that first song
was just mind blowing.
Then we did Oh My Babylon,
Down River,
Automobile
and a rather speedy new one to finish.

And the crowd were amazing,
the between-song banter is always a bit hit-and-miss
but these guys just cheered at anything we said!
It was just "thank you" and "are you having fun?"
but they just seemed to be stoked that we bothered to learn a bit of their language.
I think we won them over for our Saturday show anyway.
Good times.

There's more to come..
Of course..
If you're not bored yet..
Stay tuned.

Joel.

Fuji Rock: Part 3- The Day Off

On the morning of the Friday,
which was our day off at the festival,
I looked across our hotel room to see Steve
and his good mate Vaughan (did I mention that he came with us?)
passed out in their respective beds.
I was wide awake,
so I went over to the window
and drew the curtains back..
Holy fuck!
You wouldn't believe how beautiful this place is..
It was dark when we arrived the night before,
so we weren't aware of our surroundings at all.
Then, I hear
"Man. Do those curtains really need to be open?"
I don't even bother replying to Steve,
I pull the curtains shut
and leave the room to check it all out.

We were staying at the
Naeba Prince Hotel
which is this pimp joint
at the bottom of some of the prettiest ski slopes
you're ever likely to see,
but it was summer there,
so there was no snow..
Ok?
Anyway,
this is where all the artists were staying
and the place is HUGE..

I ran into Tracey (our manager)
in the hallway outside our room
and we decided to go and find some breakfast downstairs.
We'd missed the free buffet breakfast,
so we had to find something quickly
as we wanted to catch out the Midnight Juggers early set..

Now, this is where I had my second experience of Japanese efficiency,
we found a little pizza bar,
in the depths of the hotel,
the pizza's were already made,
sitting in the display cabinet,
we decided which ones we fancied,
asked the girl behind the counter,
very politely,
as best we could,
in Japanese,
with a little point to make it easier,
but we were told,
very politely,
as best she could,
in English,
with a little point to make it easier,
that we had to first buy a ticket,
from a vending machine,
which was right next to her counter,
then hand the ticket to her,
and then she would hand us the pizza..
Efficient?
or silly?
I do feel like a typical,
complaining tourist right now,
but I was hungry
and it annoyed me..

Anyway,
we ventured outside
where the height of our situation
made me stop and think
about how damn lucky I was..
Try to imagine the Big Day Out
having sex with the Woodford Folk Festival..
Now, imagine what the baby looks like
and you might get an idea of the festival site.

Like I said before,
it's held at a ski resort
but it's summer
so it's just this lush, green valley
with a stream running through it
but it is fucking HUGE!
It took us over an hour
just to walk from one end to the other..
On the way,
we caught the end of Midnight Juggernauts,
who played ridiculously early
but you would never have known
because they had a huge crowd
and they were all extremely energetic for that time of day..
We also saw The Presidents of the U.S.A
who have heaps of songs that we all know the words to
but I was too embarrassed to watch too much..

I also caught Spoon, The Vines and Gossip!
I've been wanting to see Gossip for so long
that I can't even remember when my longing began..
They blew me away,
maybe, in part, due to my meeting Beth Ditto
on the side of the stage, just before they went on.
She came and stood next to me
and began fanning her face with a traditional Japanese fan
while I was waiting patiently for them to go on.
She said,
"Man! It's so fucking HOT!"
She then pulled her floral dress up,
began fanning her nether regions
and said
"I don't have to tell you that it's sticky down there.. Do I?"
Needless to say,
I was lost for words,
but she managed to establish that I was Australian
from my accent
and wished The Fumes well
before going on stage and tearing Japan a new bum hole.
At the end of their first song,
she came back to where I was standing and said,
"This is fucking ridiculous, I can't fucking do this!"
and proceeded to rip her floral dress off,
to reveal a skin tight black nighty
that had holes in it where the fabric had given way to her girth.

She then went back on stage,
coughed up a very chesty oyster,
spat it on the stage,
rubbed it into the floor with her feet,
then kicked into another Gossip masterpiece
and the crowd went nuts for it.
Very impressive indeed..
Shit!
This doesn't feel like a Fumes diary any more..
Does it??
Sorry..
But, I had to tell someone..
Until next time.

PS: I forgot to say that I finally found Steve and Vaughan
while I was watching The Vines..
They had acquired themselves a beautiful
Japanese friend named Kaori,
who they'd met when Steve accidently
stepped on the back of her thong
and didn't know how to say "Sorry".
She picked up on his Aussie accent
and helped them find their way back to us.
Piss heads.

Joel. xo

Fuji Rock: Part 4- It's the last one, I promise..

Ok.. So, for some reason, this fucking thing won't let me write the way I normally do..So, that's going to make it a bit harder to read but I can't put it off any longer..Get your shit together Tom!We woke up on Saturday morningafter a rather late night at the hotel barand ventured downstairs to the free buffet breakfast..Here,I saw a heap of the other artists in their full morning gloryand I have to say,it was pretty humbling-even though I only knew who they were because there was an older couple next to me,filming, whilst doing a running commentary-Underworld,Ian Brown,Tricky,Primal Scream,My Bloody Valentine,and quite possibly the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen..I’m not sure if she was an artist,or if she “belonged” to an artist,but she was a piece of art,so much so,that I wasn’t paying attentionto what I was putting onto my plateand found -when I put it in my mouth-that I’d mistaken grated spring onionsfor apple sauce.Now,you may think it strange of meto want to eat apple sauce for breakfast in the first place,but I think it strange to eat most of the buffet selection at hand.Anyway,I don’t recommend onions and yoghurt as a good way to start the day..We met down in the dressing room around 11amand started writing out a 1 hour set list for our 1pm show..Just then,David the translatorstuck his head through the doorand told us that we needed to make our way outside because the shuttle bus was due to pick us upto take us to the Field of Heaven stage.The nerves hit me right thenbut we ran into Wally De Backer in the corridor and (unbeknownst to him) his calmness and enthusiastic greeting put me at ease,for the time being anyway..We did a show with his band The Basics a few years agoand they were top blokes.We arrived behind the stageand hopped off the ridiculously comfortable,air-conditioned bus. The extreme heat hit me instantly!It was like walking into a kebab shopin the middle of summer..Heavy.We made our way to the stageand found our gear,which was,once again,set up and ready to go..Legends.A few minutes before we were due on stage,I snuck a peek at the crowd..Holy shit!There was nobody there!Where were they all?!The stage manager had already told us to be ready in two minutes!Fuck..I was shattered.Butjust as I started to feel deflated,I noticed shit-loads of people coming out of the woodworkfrom all directions..It was amazing.You know when people queue outside a venueand the doors finally openand everyone rushes to the front of the stage to claim their position??Well,that’s what it reminded me of,now it was packedand it felt awesome.“Konnichi-wa”Steve said..And they were stoked again.He stepped on his power-supply pedal to get things startedbut there was nothing!No noise at all..Shit!We forgot that we disconnected the batteries to stop them going flat!He usually plugs the pedals into a power point,but they use different voltage over there,so batteries were the only option..Steve was frantically plugging in the batteries for what felt like five awkward minutesbut was probably only five seconds..There was some feedback,then a crackle through the speakers,then a crunch,then a bigger crunchand then the massive wall of noisethat is Steve’s guitar sound.He threw his arms in the air like he’d just won a marathonand the whole crowd did the same..What a moment.Away we went,we pretty much played all of “Guns of Gold”but it was so fucking hotthat I had to ask Steve to do an acoustic songbefore we did Automobile,just so I could catch my breath..That’s never happened to me before,it wasn’t very good for my ego,to say the least.But the crowd were loving it,we were loving it,the stage crew were loving it,even the sound engineers were loving itand then it was over..That hour went so quickly,we came off stage feeling like we actually had run a marathon..And that was it,we signed a shit-load of cd’s,drank a shit-load of booze,ate a shit-load of little green peas from the pod,Steve vomited,and I laughed..I’m still laughing,because we’ve just been informed that we’ll be returning to tour Japanin February ’09..Good times.Check out the Fuji Rock Festival footage, photo’s and reviews on our page..Cheers,Joel.