We leave Auckland on a very early Thursday flight and arrive to a blistering hot day in Brisbane. As if we weren't excited enough, the boys just collapse in ecstasy when we discover our 2 rental cars are thinly disguised boy racer V6°s - yes big fat spoilers and everything….

Our DubDoubt (Brisbane) friends are outstanding, sharing their cosy homes with us, lending us a backline and then doing great support sets- thanks Zoe and team.
- 1st gig – Thursday 26th April - Brisbane – Shamrock
A bit risky as it is a Thursday night in Brizzy. Plus, the week before, the original venue we had booked closed down due to a licensing glitch! And, wouldn't you believe it, fellow Kiwi Brooke Fraser is playing 4 doors down from us on the same night. But hey! Brisbane comes out for us with a packed and thumping 150 strong crowd. Cheers Brooke!

- 2nd gig – Friday- Beenleigh Tavern.
Um..... Broncos playing that night, nuf said….

The next morning we drive down to Byron Bay taking in the Gold Coast.
- 3rd gig – Saturday - Beach Rd Hotel Byron Bay.
Beach Rd is a huge bar and restaurant with stage high above the crowd level and an awesome PA. Needless to say by 9pm it is PACKED. Over 550 people and a lot of them are singing along to dDub songs - so this is where all the Kiwis ended up! One guy comes up to me at the CD desk. He says he purchased the CD in Dunedin, moved to the Gold Coast and now has driven 2 hours to come and see us. Choice!

We barely set our heads onto our pillows when we are dragging ourselves out of bed again and back on the road by 7.00am! It is a long drive to Sydney interspersed with dramas of being tailed by NSW police, breathalysers and all at 7.40 in the morning - 10 hours later we arrive in Sydney and scramble all around town collecting backline gear for setting up at the venue.

- 4th Gig – Sunday - Landsdowne Hotel
It's a Busy little grungy student bar, which fills up surprisingly well for a Sunday night. The dDub boys are well warmed up after 3 gigs in a row and it ends up being a party. Lots of leaping around by punters.
At the end the Bar Manager says, "You guys are the best thing this bar has had for ages" –Yes we'll take that as compliment- 16 bands played Landsdowne that week alone. Luckily for us there are booking agents and music industry people all over the place and the response is sensational.

Then it is time for a short rest in the big smoke. Ben (the Sax man) shoots off 'on business", while 'Tha Boyz' (aka Matt - bass Dan - Sound, Tala - drums, Andrew and Duncan - horns) party it up in Sydney- doing some serious 'music research'.

It's a 10-hour joy ride Sydney to Melbourne on a Tuesday- woohoo! DW and myself shoot off down south to make a meeting with our Record Co: - Shock Records. In the mean time 'Tha Boyz' save time by cooking their snacks ala Matt 'Manifold' Shanks. Yes, wrapping pre-cooked sausages in foil and cooking them on the engine while driving. Come time for a stop - hot sausies are ready to go! Instructions soon to be posted on www.myspace.com/ddubnz

The Melbourne gigs are organised by Al from Alleykat Records who did a sterling job on promotion. I must say it's quite nice, on our first foray to Oz, to be walking down the hippest street in Australia in Brunswick and there are dDub posters every third step!
Simon Raynor (Publicist extraordinaire) has done a great job with plugging, so we drive around hearing dDub songs on the radio! How awesome is that!!
Some street coverage we see:

- The Beat – Graham Blackley -" The Auckland band's Debut Album "Awake at Dawn" certainly inspires the listener to tune in again and again"

- Inpress – Peter Chambers – "….dDub are a creation unique to New
Zealand. …. Our neighbouring islands seem to keep producing world-class mutations of ska, dub and reggae." - " What all this means is that dDub are, by all accounts, a seriously good live band"

And a review of 'Awake at Dawn' in The Age (Melbourne's largest daily)
- The Melbourne Age – Jonathan Alley – "…the musical ambushes and the impassioned vocals give the impression this record was written for the bands live show. Accordingly, dDub may also prove this weekend 's surprise live drawcard: catch them tonight at NSC or Saturday at the Espy"

Melbourne well and truly embraced the dDub sound.
- 5th Gig – Friday–4th May - Northcote Social Club
There are 140 presales, looking good. The Mighty Red Eyes do a massive support and set the scene. Less then an hour after the doors open we are SOLD OUT. - 350 capacity venue - Yahoo!

- 6th Gig – Saturday – The Esplanade, St Kilda.
Probably the most character-filled venue dDub has ever played. The Espy has several bands playing every day of the year, a maze of rooms and different genres going constantly. I'm doing the door and feel like I am wedged between two monster ghetto blasters on different stations - and different decades- dub reggae one ear, screaming Slade the other!
It is a big room, beautiful antiquey stenciling all over the walls, pressed metal ceilings, gi-nourmous stage. I hang the big dDub banner high above the band and with their suits and hats they all look fab. It is a dramatic entrance and the night goes off - another 350 crowd and one cooking band.
Everyone is on a high, what a great way to end a successful tour.
So, in true rock 2-star fashion we stay up all night to check in for our flight at 5.00am.

We arrive back to Auckland and the Immigration Officer quizzes Matt (bass player) on what he was doing in Australia. "Oh I'm in a band" "Which one?" 'dDub' – "Oh awesome! I saw you guys at the St James, you rock".

DW and I step up – Immigration Officer pipes up - "So how did the tour go? - I told all my mates in Melbourne to go and catch the gig"

Awesome


x V (Manager)