Lowlakes Tour Diary Part Four

Gwyneth Paltrow never replied to our attempts at swooning her on Twitter after Tom and Bill had run into her in Manhattan's West the other day.

However, we got another celeb-fix when we were fortunate enough to meet local icon Har Mar Superstar last night at Pianos (the venue where we will be playing our third and final NYC show tomorrow night). Har Mar is most famous for his hugely entertaining live shows during which he dances around in his jocks, provocatively flaunting his Ron Jeremy-esque physique whilst belting out his quirky pop tunes. Well worth a look (and a perve) if you ever get the chance!

Tom's substitute for not winning Gwyn over: Har Mar Superstar.

We've also been busy with several performances of our own. Although none were quite as rousing as Har Mar's, Brent (Wombat) came close with another standout Karaoke performance, this time at the pokey, grunge bar below our apartment. We were returning home from a night in Manhattan's West at the German Bier Garden, when some locals came out of the bar and got talking to us. When they found out Wombat was in the midst developing his reputation of 'Karaoke King of Manhattan', they easily persuaded us inside for “just one more beer”. After our new friends delivered a truly impressive rendition of Beastie Boys' classic No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn, Wombat took to the stage to take on Lana Del Rey's Video Games. Unbeknownst to Wombat, Tom had told the bar staff that this performance was in dedication to his new lover Jack, who went up on stage and embraced Wombat lovingly from behind as he sung the final chorus. The performance was met with exasperated sighs at the pair's romance, rapturous applause, and unified cheers of “WOMBAT, WOMBAT, WOMBAT!!!”

Wombat's name joins the list at the karaoke bar (our cameras went flat by time he got on stage).

In more serious news, we played our second show of the tour yesterday evening at the CMJ Aussie BBQ. It was a showcase of a large selection of the Australian bands here for CMJ and was held at The Delancey in Manhattan's Lower East Side. We were stoked to be playing alongside some of Australia's coolest young bands including Big Scary, Emma Louise, Teeth & Tongue, RUFUS, Jack Ladder, Kirin J Callinan and The Oyster Murders. Over twenty bands performed throughout the night so they were running a pretty tight schedule and set times were only 25 minutes apiece. We only just managed to set up inside the assigned 15 minutes and so didn't get to sound check. Thankfully, the set still went well and there was a healthy crowd by the time we finished. We were approached by a woman from Vancouver after the show who'd come all the way to NYC for CMJ, she even knew the words to some of our songs! We can't wait to get to Pianos on Monday for a full-length set, but we're also bummed out that it's our last show in NYC – we've loved our time here.

Other highlights of the last few days included seeing The Antlers perform at another CMJ showcase, checking out the fantastic Main Drag music store and eating Meatballs in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with Big Scary.

Jack and Jo (Big Scary) dreaming of a classic American drum kit.

Also, Bill and Wombat both got Tattoos today!

 “I wonder what Mum and Dad will think of this…”

We're just about to head out for dinner at The Sunburnt Cow with some close Melbourne friends of ours.

We get a photo with every cop we come across.