This blog is a group effort - contributions from several Winters members and tour crew:
Russian Winters were invited to play the Sunburst Festival in Kuala Lumpur in March 2009 and here's an idea of what went down:
THURSDAY
12:05PM
- Touch down in Malaysia. The band, their manager Joel "Spruiker"
Thomson, and entourage are greeted by Alia, the Sunburst artist liaison.
12:15PM - The band are whisked through immigration
by Suhaimi - the Sunburst immigration liaison - as if they were a bunch
of Australian diplomats. They receive their performance permits
(something that they forgot to do for N.E.R.D.) in a flash. Maybe it
was Suhaimi's close connections with the authorities, or perhaps it was
lead guitarist Sam "Question Boy" Sterrett's multitude of friendly
questions that led them to waive the band through so hastily, we will
never really know, but the band and their equipment are in the Sunburst
vans by 12:30, heading for the city.
12:18PM - As soon as the van hits the highway, the
first bottle of Jack Daniels is opened. Entourage member Joe Caudo,
brought on the tour for his resourcefulness of procuring vital items at
vital moments, produces a round of cups and mixers to accompany the
bourbon.
13:15PM- Check in at the Concorde Hotel where they
are greeted by their Tour Manager, Juhn Teo. The band is given their
schedule of commitments and informed that breakfast is available every
morning from 6am-10am, a piece of information and meal that becomes
completely irrelevant.
14:00PM - Drinking continues in the hotel lounge.
16:00PM
- The band assemble in the hotel lobby and are greeted by Cynthia from
the Laundry Bar. As the band begin to set off to Laundry for their
soundcheck, they realize that they are missing Ben Crooke- the drummer
and band narcoleptic. Despite repeated attempts to bang down his hotel
room door, Joel and Juhn send the band off to Laundry, in fear of
missing the soundcheck. They stay back at the hotel and finally manage
to wake Ben after half an hour of ringing his door bell. The nickname
"Arvo Crooke" is coined.
17:00PM - Soundcheck at Laundry; Joel sets up his merchandise booth.
20:00PM - Dinner Unable
to wait for food any longer, Tour Manager Joel leads a few band members
into the Italian Restaurant next to the Laundry and they are graciously
ushered to their 'reserved' table. Like men who have stumbled in from
the desert, they don't hesitate to gorge on bread dipped in an exotic
local delicacy - olive oil and balsamic. Hmm.
Soon realising they're not
booked into this restaurant and have dominated someone's table by
mistake, they stumble out in a co-ordinated display of confusion and
let Ben handle the situation by muttering, "what's going on?"
21:00PM - Dead Mushrooms play - total Pearl Jam fans!
Joel falls in love for the second time in his life.
22:00PM - Pure Vibracions play
Russian Winters' members fall in love with their song, 'Reggae Music'. This becomes anthem for the rest of the tour.
23:00PM - Russian Winters play
Drunkenly but with gusto.
Good crowd but they have been mellowed by Pure Vibracions Bob Marley rip-offs.
FRIDAY
8:30AM - The band are at NTV7 appearing as guests on The Breakfast Show
with Nas. They are told by the head page that the band being on the
show will appeal to their target audience of "urbanites".
Rob
and Dima fall into a giggling fit right before airtime. Sam instructs them to "keep it together fellas." This leads
to more laughter cos Sam's serious voice is funny.
10:30AM - Breakfast @ Champs
The crew
is amazed by the array of Malaysian dishes on offer and the impressive
feats of strength performed by Champs owner Richard, displayed in
photos on the wall. Holding a giant tuna. Chasing a whippet. Meeting
Richard M. Nixon.
Ben and Rob are not enticed by the steaming broth and mystery meats on the menu - so they both order Australian lamb shanks at 10.30am.
Joel recites 3/4 of the Michael Jordan doco - 'Come Fly with Me' much to the delight of Dima.
12:00PM - Soundcheck @ Sunburst
This
soundcheck is longer than any of the performances the band has played
in their career. Sounds great but they run out of songs so they stop.
That, plus Ben is having heart palpitations due to the heat.
18:30PM - Artist Party @ Luna Bar
Some
band members vow to "take it easy" for the performance the next day but
are swiftly seduced by the rooftop view of the city and Jagermeister on
tap. No-one makes it out sober.
22:30PM - Guests on The Quickie
on 8TV.
Ben has drunk too much Jager at the Artist party and is left to sleep it off in the flower beds of the NTV7 studios whilst the band go on
air. Janitor pokes him with a broom handle but he is unmoveable.
12:00AM - The band go for a late night snack at Hartamas Square and avenge Steve Irwin's death by consuming a stingray.
SATURDAY
13:30PM - The band check-in @ Sunburst and are
escorted to their own Green Room and are ecstatic that their
refreshments rider has been fulfilled. The Vodka and Red Bulls start to
flow.
16:00PM - They check out their favourite band Dead Mushrooms
for the second time in 48 hrs, and are again blown away by the 90s
grunge-rock outfit. Joel cannot contain his affection for their hit song 'Who Are You' and temporarily forgets that he is there to support RWs.
17:00PM - They hit the Sunburst big stage and play a killer 7-track set.
Dima proclaims it "the best 30 minutes of my life" then has a spew backstage.
Here's some footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FxoK_ByS_s
20:00PM - The band sign autographs for fans at
merchandise booth. Bass player Rob "the good-looking one" Stephens is
mobbed by female fans who have travelled far and wide to Sunburst just
to smell his hair.
21.00PM - 23:30PM - Band and crew put in one more mighty effort to sink more Tuborgs and watch N*ER*D and Korn from the wings.
SUNDAY
16:00PM - Chinatown: the band are introduced to the a
brave new world of culinary delights in the form of Peking Duck and sugar cane juice.
Heat is stifling. Sam seems oblivious to the heat and orders a bag of roasted chestnuts.
Christmas in Denmark by the fire it is not.
Band is amused by a shopkeeper dude who's fallen asleep face down in a plate of rice.
Joel has a spew outside tour van. Tour manager Juhn inches van fwd so we can get better pics.
After laughing at Joel for 30 mins - the situation becomes funnier when a chicken literally crossing the road is spotted.
Chicken seems oblivious to the surging traffic around him.
18:30PM - Dinner @ Jalan Alor
Rob has a spew in Starbucks.
11.30pm - flight home.
Dream is over.
Back to reality.
Winters play an SAE showcase that night in the city.
Monday night gig in Perth - suddenly the bright lights of KL seem light years away.
Band makes a vow to return to KL by end of 2009.