Tired Lion Tour Diary: Part Two

24 March 2015 | 5:25 pm | Tired Lion

The fun before the 'Post Tour Depression' kicks in.

I’m sitting in my room right now flicking through a pretty haggard tour journal we’ve all scribbled stuff into and picking out the parts to write about. It’s refreshing to be surrounded by familiar sights and a glass of wine in my bedroom, but at the same time 'Post Tour Depression' has definitely set in with all of us texting each other ‘I miss you’ and ‘take me back’. 

day 5: Melbourne
 

We arrived in Melbourne at a reasonable time and jumped into a taxi manned by maybe the most excited driver going around. With a huge grin on his face he asked us which Perth we were from and before we could open our mouths to answer, he explained there was two Perth’s in Australia and that he loved tricking people with that question. He then cranked the radio up and started singing along to Kiss - ‘I was made for loving you’. We wound up at a space themed hostel/hotel which brought a comfort we had longed for throughout the last few days… air con!
 

 
That night was a sold-out show at the Northcote Social Club which was pretty cool to play. A bunch of friends we had met over the last year from bands The Sinking Teeth, British India and Slowly Slowly came down to party. The fun really started when Matt, Nick and Ethan were invited to guest DJ after the show. The crowd went wild to classics such as Limp Bizkit’s My Generation and Bodyjar’s Not The same’. 
day 6: Melbourne… again.
 
The next [hungover] day we took some time out to play our own headline sideshow with Melbourne supports Brittle Bones and Outlines. We were absolutely blown away by the number of people who came down to check us out and who knew the words to our single ‘I don’t think you like me’. The sound guy snuck us some sneaky free whiskey and the hangover soon turned into party vibes again. Oh yeah and Sophie did a ‘Shoe-ey’ which according to Luca Brasi Guitarist Tom Busby is all the craze in Tassie [essentially you skull a beer out of your shoe]. 

day 7 – 9: rest up babies – Melbourne… again… again
 

So here is about the time we thought it would be a good idea to split up for a while and regain some sanity. Ethan headed to Hobart early and did his own travelling seeing wildlife and MONA [Museum of Old and New Art] while Nick, Sophie and I split up around Melbourne for a bit. After a full write-off day of strict bed recovery; Nick and I then ventured to the aquarium and made friends with the penguins. That night we headed out with a few friends from The Sinking Teeth and British India for dinner and many, many, many beers into the early hours. We made pacts to do spur of the moment open mic performances which never eventuated and talked about our favourite bands. All of us were feeling a bit strange from not playing but it was good to just go out with mates and relax for a bit. 

day 10 – 11: Hobart Simpson / Hobart

 
We finally left Melbourne and said goodbye to our friends so we could fly the furthest south of Australia any of us have ever been. Tasmania’s immediate standout things were: 1. Everyone was old; 2. There aren’t any Tasmanian devils wandering the streets spinning and spitting; 3. It’s pretty small. We reunited with Ethan and checked into our accommodation. We were warned while in Melbourne of what the accommodation here was going to be like but words could not describe how bad the room was.
 
 
Nick immediately went into a coughing fit from dust and claustrophobia and had to remove himself from the building. Sophie and I spent a long time debating whether the room smelt like urine or stale beer, we agreed on a sexy mixture of both. Ethan was puzzled as to why a statue of the Virgin Mary with six boobs was placed outside our door. Our way to get around the uninhabitable room was to write ourselves off at the pub and pass out in the beds, which seemed like the most appropriate thing to do. The best place to do this was at a cider house called Dickens Cider. This was a joke I have been busting out for some time now so the stumbling across of this place was absolutely priceless. The show was great as it was on home turf for the Luca Brasi dudes. Some girl decided to crowd surf and a roof grate fell onto her, which hurt her really badly. That was probably the only low point of the night, other than that it was good to finally see some young people in Tasmania. 

day 12: Adelaide

 
We flew out of Hobart at a reasonable time [thank god] and headed to Adelaide. Our good friend Kaurna [Vocalist, Drummer and Guitarist from Kaurna Cronin, Timberwolf and The Mirrors] picked us up from the airport and kindly let us stay at his house. With not too much time to spare we dropped our bags then headed to an event in Adelaide called Cats. The venue was pretty awesome with many floors of nightclubs and rooftop smoking areas. This show we also got to play with Grenadiers [who we’re touring with on the British India tour in May] who are a great band and rad dudes. We played then partied with the other bands until the early hours of the morning basically until the 5am Taxi we had booked picked us up to take us to the airport [aww sh*t]. 

day 13 -14: snap back to reality… Perth 

 
We flew into Perth at 7am… what the hell! Quickly went home, showered and did our own thing for the day. It was a weird feeling seeing as we were partying in Adelaide early that morning now we were home about to load our gear in for the Perth show. [Note: earlier I mentioned a glass of wine; this has quickly escalated into many glasses, therefore this journals quality may have deteriorated somewhat]. The 18+ show on the Saturday night had a pleasantly good turnout and it was good to see our hometown making our Tasmania and UK friends feel welcome. A cool turn of events happened during our last song [I don’t think you like me] when someone from the crown yelled “Dudes you just won WAM Rock Song of the Year”. We couldn’t think of a better way to kick into the tune than hearing that. 12am hit and Sophie, Nick and I had to leave before we passed out from exhaustion, Ethan apparently kicked on until 4am with Luca Brasi and Gnarwolves at the bar. 
 

 
The last day of tour cruelly popped its ugly head up and we all seedily rocked up to the midday all ages show. The gig itself was cool, playing to a bunch of kids that don’t get to come to shows often. Luca Brasi and Gnarwolves spent most of the day on the half pipe at the skate park with us sitting on the sideline watching [I don’t know how those dudes do it, mostly Max from Gnarwolves the energetic bast**d]. After the show we all said our sad goodbyes and took a tour photo and hugged like maniacs. 
 
The End: I have to say this tour has been amazing; it’s great to meet other bands that have the same passion for music and have the same band friendships we do. I’m looking forward to doing this more and meeting more amazing people. Next up we hit the road with the legends in Kingswood this week then British India in May. 
 
Cheers y’all 
Matt