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When other bands are wrapping up warm, staying home by the fire and drinking their milos, dDub are getting out there, getting hard and generally getting fricken freezing – braving the Queenstown Snizzell (snow), the Christchurch Frizzel (frost) and the Wellington Drizzle (drizzel) – AKA the New Zealand Winter Tour circuit.
It means 6 band members, 1 soundman and 1 intrepid tour manager cohabiting, driving and snowboarding together for 2 weeks starting with ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />deep South Island.
Flying into Queenstown is hairy at the best of times. Add to that, you've just heard that all other flights have been cancelled and yours is the last one they'll get in for the day before it gets too icy and dark. Plus Pluto and Shihad were Helicoptered in for their gig yesterday because of treacherous conditions.
Staying chilled is not easy when you look out the window to see the side of the hill rearing up mighty close (pilot just saying they're trying a 'new' approach). Welcome to Queenstown for the WinterFest after a huge snowstorm and a town full of stranded partygoers!! Wahooo.
dDub are booked to play the main stage at the Mardi Gra and after a horrendous 3 days of howling gales and postponed gigs, the weather decides to settle itself down and the evening emerges cold, crisp and clear as a bell. 10,000 people wrapped up warmly drinking mulled wine and local ale and it's all on. dDub do their cranking set and the ski bunnies all get warm bouncing around. Heaters on stage ensured we didn't have a repeat of the Ohakune Festival experience (Trumpet players who's lips get stuck to icy cold mouthpieces get very ugly).
One of the benefits of the Winterfest is being given ski passes, your average musician having been left far behind in the winter sports game, due to cost. So it's with jubilation that the dDub lads hit the slopes the next day– Pristine days, new snow, swishing down the slopes on their boards – touring never looked so good. Well we won't mention the first 2 1/2 days on your arse, bruises on bruises - crying in the night. The PAIN.
Back to earth and rental cars and long haul to Christchurch, hotel replaced with backpackers, flexibility being an essential trait for the touring band.
We also left behind the crisp weather. We were greeted with a torrential downpour and we knew this would really test the dDub fans, generally a hardy lot. The first really crap winters' night can send even the staunchest dubster onto the couch for a quiet one.
Hey but don't you love them! They came, taxi loads, promptly getting soaked in the two steps it takes to get to the door, but they kept coming. Maybe it's the cold, or camaraderie of venturing out on a god awful night, but winter tour crowds always seem friendlier. They're in it together, they're darned well determined to have a damn fine time.
The following week onto National Park, another Ski resort (in the North Island). We're stoked to discover every single ticket has been sold and there is a waiting list for the next show. (Impressive considering we are talking 270 tickets from a population 300). It's a loud, happy, fairly plastered crowd, keeping the duty manager on his toes as they start climbing in the windows! Really.
Then onto Napier to discover they are still finishing off the bar. Some 40 tradesmen swarming around, soundcheck 3 hours late, still pull off a good show. Then back in the rentals to Wellington.
Wellington is renowned for its staunch loyalty to their local roots/dub acts, so can be a fairly harsh critic to outsiders (especially arch rival Auckland). Well it seems the dDub vibe has finally infiltrated the hearts of the capital city, record presales greeted us and a big queue up Cuba St. Dogged perseverance (and a great show) seem to have paid off.
Then it's home to sunny Auckland, chucking away the jumpers, long johns and beanies and launching into the suntan lotion. Next stop - Melbourne.