Loon Lake Diary: Macy D’s and KFC

Wollongong, Sydney & Newcastle

Hi everyone, it's Tim from Loon Lake again. This weekend we played three shows for our Thirty Three EP tour - in Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle.

Day 1 (Thursday) – Wollongong
The day started early as it usually does when you have to drive interstate. We were all a bit seedy as it had been a busy week for all of us with work/uni but we were still excited for the mighty NSW leg of our tour. This weekend our little touring party had extended to 7, with our good mate Rooney on board to help out with lights and our soundman Andy was joining us again. This meant that there were two cars and for me and Sime, one of the most comfortable drives to Wollongong ever experienced.

While Sambo, Nick, Dan, Rooney and Andy all had to squeeze into Sambo's van, Sime and I  stretched out and took turns in sleeping all the way along the Hume. I actually remember complaining to Sime that there was too much room! If Dimmies and garlic balls were the food of choice for the SA leg, Macy D's and KFC's were it for this weekend. 11 happy meals for me! Got the same toy 7 times too.

Wollongong, like the other regional shows on the tour surprised the hell out of us with how many beautiful people showed up even though there was torrential rain pumping outside. The show went really well and seemed like everyone was having a good time. After the show, it was straight back into the cars and the race was on back to Sydney to secure the bottom bunks at the hotel.

Day 2 (Friday) – Sydney

For me, day 2 started with one massive debacle! Our room was located on the second floor, but we had to use the showers on the first floor. I stupidly decided to use the fire escape stairs because I was too impatient to wait for the elevator to arrive. Once in the stairwell, I soon found out that you need your key to get out of the stairwell. I was trapped in only my towel!! After knocking on every floors door several times and after a good 30 min had past, it was Dan that ended up hearing me and saved the day. After a quick explore around the city and munching into one of the best burgers in Australia (it was called the OJ burger but can't remember the place I got it) it was off to the venue for sound check. Good God is an interesting venue; I wouldn't really call it a venue to see bands but more a venue to have a big party. The stage is only 30com off the ground and when you play it feels like everyone is on stage with you. Very intimate and such a fun place to play. The show was mental! There were bodies flying everywhere with people crowd surfing and on people's shoulders. There were a few times that we thought that we might lose our projector that was mounted on the roof due to a few stray limbs, but all the equipment and everyone in the room ended up unscathed.

After the show, we stayed at the venue until all hours of the morning drinking scotch on the rocks and dancing the night away, oblivious that we had to do it all again the next day.  

Day 3 (Saturday) – Newcastle

We managed to sneak in a sleep in till around 11am before we jumped back in the car and made our way to Newcastle. We got to Newcastle around 2 or 3 and checked out the venue. We had never played the Cambridge but had heard nothing but race reviews from everyone that has ever played there, so we were excited to see exactly what it was like. The room didn't disappoint - the sound system, the stage, the accommodation and the Parmies were all killer. I managed to sneak in another couple of hours sleep before we had to play which was greatly needed. The show was heaps of fun and although there were concerns about Sambo's voice holding up, it sounded awesome and Bert, who was the in-house engineer, was a champion and made us feel right at home. After the show we had another Warrnambool situation on our hands. By the time we had finished packing up we were eager for a drink somewhere, but the town was in lock-down. However, if you're desperate for a drink you will find a way. We found a couple of beers that were frozen in the back of the freezer in our motel -  that's all we had. If one thing was certain, those beers were going to be drunk one way or another. After several minutes of deciding how to thaw these beers out, we decided that popping them next to the little portable heater would work the best…. 4 hours later…. Tasty cold beer!