December 2009 - wrapping up a great year!

Hi everyone

So this year has been an absolute ripper, and it's coming to a pretty mad close. In the last month, we've returned from a freezing cold Korea, had an awesome welcome home show at the Chapel, spent some time singing with the kids out at Rowville Secondary College (hi guys!), done the national anthem at the Melbourne Cup greyhoud races (of all things) and we're working on putting together a target listing for our next recording project.

Oh, plus Loz and the Colonel's episodes of Kids in the Kitchen have started going to air, so we'll have video footage of those two goons and their best cooking efforts for you shortly.

Korea wrap-up

There were some valid complaints that our Taiwan tour report from the last newsletter contained nothing but singing and partying - well, Korea was more of the same in that regard; we worked hard and played hard every second of every day. So we won't go into too much detail this time. If you want to see some photos, we've uploaded some here.

Suffice to say it was just as mad as Taiwan. We did 2 major TV appearances, one on MBC, the other on EBS, which as I understand have either just aired or are just about to air. We'll get the video as soon as we can. Thanks to our sensational AusTrade rep Youna Kim for making those happen!

We made lots of new friends, including the very talented guys from Snow City (and their awesome vocal percussionist Jay, who lined up a whole bunch of other gigs for us while we were there), and the Maytree team, who we met in Taiwan. A cappella is a very vibrant scene in Korea, there's lots of very talented groups around and we were amazed by the professionalism there. There's even a bar dedicated solely to a cappella music - how cool is that?

Lots of crazy stuff happened but... Ask us about that in person, we'll talk your ears off! At the end of it all, we're discussing digital distribution options in Korea in preparation for next year.

...Next year? Yeah, next year. 2010 looks like it could be "2009 squared" for the Suade lads. We're already planning our return to Asia, and the trip looks like it might be twice as long. Singapore, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Japan are all looking like strong options.

So, that's November covered, what's happening this month?

Christmassy Gigs,

That's what! There's only a few around Melbourne this year, but they're all free and they're all going to be a lot of fun.

Here's a few you're welcome to join us at:

Thursday December 3 - yes, tomorrow night. Breast Cancer findraiser, East Malvern.

Jenny Blain, mother of no less than two Suade lads, is going to shave all her hair off in solidarity with a friend who has a nasty case of boob cancer. Suade, being big fans of boobs in general, are going to sing a set live at her house before she does it.

You're welcome to join us - it's a big house. Entry is free but Jenny would appreciate a donation towards cancer research. She's going to go around with a naked head, it's the least you can do.

Thursday December 3, 7pm
Phone Jenny on (03) 9571 5340 for address details. Everyone's welcome but she wants to have some idea of numbers!

Saturday December 5 - Denis Walter's Carols by the Bay, Geelong

You might have seen ads for this one on the telly; Denis, apart from being everyone's favourite Keno host, runs a fantastic community carols event each year on the beach in Geelong. We'll be singing several tunes this year, along with a bunch of other groups. It's always a beaut night with the carols and the candlelight and the huge crowd if you're into that sort of thing.

Saturday 5th December, 7.45pm
Waterfront Geelong, Eastern Beach Reserve
Get there early, as many as 40,000 people show up so you may teach yourself some new swear words while trying to find a park!

Saturday December 19 - City Of Kingston "Summer Revival Festival"

Everyone loves a sausage. Except vegetarians, but there'll be chicken for you guys*! Our final show for this year will be a lunchtime BBQ in Mentone Station Gardens. We'll be doing two full sets, including every Christmas song we know. But there's only four of those. And if I know us, we'll stick around for a drink or two afterwards, so this is a great event to come down for if you want to catch some great singing and hang around for a chat. We'd love to see you.

Saturday December 19, 11am-1pm
Mentone Station Gardens
Como Pde, Mentone.
*Just kidding, they'll probably have some of those tofu lentil thingies. ;)

Roll your sleeves up and have a sing

If you want to get into singing, there's never been a better time! There's loads of groups looking for new members, and there's a few great festival events next year that get everyone involved.

Two festivals that we'd like to mention are the Boite's Daylesford Singers' Festival in January 2010, and the Hobart Festival of Voices in July 2010. Both are wonderful events if you want to have a bit of a sing, so get on down and shake the cobwebs off your vocal chords!

Cuddles on the Radio

One last thing - 'tis the season, so we're starting to get a bit of airplay around the traps again. If you're one of those people that call up radio stations (and God bless you if you are), why not request that they play our christmas tune?

If they don't have it, we'll send it over to them pronto. ;) So here's lots of big cuddles from us wishing you a great Christmas and/or holiday season. We'll see you in the new year with a whoooole bunch of new songs, new videos, and new love handles from our holiday overindulgences.

Love,
Loz
...and the Suade lads.

You know that new album we've been banging on about for so long? Well, it's launching at The Hi-Fi Bar on Sunday, May 17th @ 5pm. As all of you know, we've been putting heart and soul into this album for over twelve months, and we'd simply love you all to come and celebrate its completion. We've named it "Home Brew" to reflect the fact that:

a) We love beer
b) The Colonel makes beer
c) We've done bloody EVERYTHING on this record ourselves - we bought all the gear, Chris taught himself to engineer, and co-produced with Loz. We recorded it in Roy's cupboard and Loz is doing all the design work. Plus, it's almost all original music, so we even brewed the tunes at home.

SPECIAL PRICE FOR YOU!
We're offering two very special discounts for all you lovely people. Firstly, book in the next three weeks at receive 20% OFF your ticket price.Secondly, copies of our CD HOME BREW will be available on the night for $15. That's 25% OFF the price for launch attendees only.

HOME BREW LAUNCH
SUADE Live @ The HIFI
125 Swanston Street Melbourne
5pm, Sunday 17th May 2009
Tickets $25 including booking fee
**EARLY BIRD tickets $20**
BOOKINGS: 1300 THE HIFI OR
http://www.thehifi.com.au

The HIFI is a fully lisenced venue. Patrons under the age of 18 are allowed only when accompanied by their parent or legal gardian. No exceptions will be made, so bring ya Mum and Dad along!

DEKE SHARON - good to meet ya

In other news, a couple of weeks ago we had the chance to spend a workshop and a night on the turps with Deke Sharon from San Francisco. For those who don't know this clown, he's commonly referred to as the father of contemporary a cappella. He founded CASA, BOCA, The Contemporary A Cappella League and TotalVocal, is a member of the House Jacks, brought vocal percussion to the a cappella scene, has worked with Boyz II Men, BaSix, the Nylons and pretty much everyone else - and is a general all-round mister smartypants when it comes to vocal bands.

We spent a few hours showing Deke our new tunes, workshopping performance ideas and generally stuffing about. He gave us plenty of great feedback, and reckons we're "the number one male a cappella group in Australia." Nothing you guys didn't know already, but it's nice to hear it from somebody who understands the singing scene inside out. He reckons we'll be competitive on the global scene once we pull our fingers out and get touring.

Afterwards, we got him on the Aussie plonk and some meaty South Australian red gave him a case of hiccups that lasted more than an hour. Result!

Anyway, get yer diaries out, stick some red pen all over May 17th, get your families and your buddies in, and buy your tickets for the CD launch before all the good seats get bums on them!

Can't wait to see you all there!
The Colonel
...and the Suade lads. :)

Hello all and, even though we're half way through Feb, happy new year from the Suade boys!

This update will be short, sweet and to the point cos we're all being busy little beavers organising some very cool stuff that will be happening this year.

Such stuff shall include:

1. Free lunchtime gig on Monday.

You read right. Next Monday we're doing a FREE public gig in the student bar at Australian Catholic Uni, proudly brought to you by the Melbourne campus Student Association. So, next Monday, Feb 23, get your booty down to ACU (115 Victoria Pde, Fitzroy) from 12-1(yummy lunch time) to see the guys in their first public show for 2009. Don't worry, the bar will be open and CDs will be available.

2. Bushfire benefits

We'll be helping out in what little way we can with the bushfire relief effort over the next couple of months, appearing at a few benefit gigs. Dates will be sorted out soon - we hope you can come contribute, every bit helps the poor buggers that have lost homes, animals, property, friends and family in some of the most beautiful parts of Victoria.

3. New website.

Lozzo is currently beavering away on a new website for '09. Personally, I reckon it looks pretty spiffy, and will incorporate new and exciting content including forums where you can chat to other fans, chat to the guys, or just chat to yourself if you want, as well as the convenience of digital mp3 downloads from the Suade store. The site will launch shortly, and Loz says "it's a fricken technological Death Star" so that sounds.... good?

4. New CD.

The new CD has been named and the Blain brothers are very close to signing off on the recording and mixing bit. We're now starting the design phase and it looks like we'll be launching mid-late May. It's jam packed with all-new original Suade tunes as well as a couple of new covers of some of our favourites. We'll have a date and venue for the launch soon, and it's gonna be huge - worth the wait, we promise!

5. International touring.

For a while now we've had our hearts set on taking our music overseas to expand our audience. Now we've actually started planning how we'll make this a reality. The USA would seem to be the most logical choice, as we seem to have a fair few fans over there already - but the visa laws there make it bloody tough. We're working on it, as well as possible trips into Asia and Europe.

Cheers and see you all Monday,

een and da Suade boyz.

Hello my good friends and welcome to another fun-filled episode of Suade's monthly adventures. It has been quite a month as usual.

Rare Undergound Urban Acappella!

Ever since about midnight on the 10th November, Een has been busily and excitedly sewing a proud new patch onto his Scout duds - a "Street-cred" badge depicting strange harmonic music in a dusty ol factory with motrobikes surrounding him. Yes, since we last spoke we had our little impromptu show at the old AALTO factory in Port Melbourne, a good seventy people rocked up to join in some relaxed fun. Great effort everyone, considering you had about eight hours notice!

Well, the stage was creaking and rocking (as if some really heavy man was dancing on it), the chairs ranged from fold-out campers and old massage tables to empty industrial gas cylindars, a couple of dubious characters dropped their dacks during the undies song, and no one left without their clothes and faces covered in a collection of dust, grime and motorcycle tyre smoke. Yet still there were smiles! A big thanks to all who made it - especially those newcomers who needed a freebie to be convinced! We had a great time in a really relaxed setting, we'll see if we can organise more odd-location gigs like this one in the new year. Let us know if you know about an atmospheric place we might be able to use...

Christmas Cheer Approaches

Stuck for a gift for Uncle Fredrique and Aunty Mavis? In need of some stocking filler? Need some smooth, ambient tunes for your Chrissy party?
No? Bugger. Wanna buy a CD then?

Don't forget about our "Cuddles For Christmas E.P." or the much heralded "All Singing, No Dancing" album when choosing your gifts this year. You can order them by clicking here and following the links. A snail-mail form is also available. Jump on and check out our range of merchandise too. Strewth... it'd be straight out rude not to I reckon!

We're singing at a couple of carols gigs again this year. Fill up your picnic hampers with your prefered brand of crackers and cheese, a bottle or three of naughty, don your goofiest santa-hat and head on down for some early christmas cheer. They're free events, so if the sound of jingling bells doesn't yet make you want to strangle baby reindeer with tinsel, come say g'day and sing along when you know the words.

Bayside (Dendy Park)
Tuesday 9th December (Twilight)*
(Yes, tomorrow night!)

Glen Eira (Caulfield Racecourse)
Sunday 21st December (Twilight)*

*Updated info available from council websites.

Here's Suade signing off and wishing all you lovely people the merriest of silly seasons, and the happiest, most refreshing start to the new year you can fathom!

The Colonel
...and the Suade lads. :)