Tumbleweed Tour Diary: Part One

DAY 1

Awoke before the milky light of dawn. Scrambled through crinkled shirts and odd socks, bundled them into a hastily packed bag, picked up the band and made the early morning rush to the airport. The oversize baggage cue swelled with a motley crew of scruffy looking musicians hiding the night before behind mirrored shades.

We were about ten thousand metres above the Great Australian Bite, heading west and if this plane goes down, we go down with The BellRays, Mental As Anything and an American hardcore band by the looks of their tatts and their penchant for chewing gum.

First show is at the Rosemount Hotel in Perth, I met Kadavar in the car park, longhaired bearded giants! Tiger had to pick up sticks so I bummed a ride across town to a radio interview while the band set up. The Devil Rides Out started the night off but we were upstairs. Blues Pills were amazing, Kadavar were astounding but backstage neither band was happy with their show tonight, they had just arrived in Australia a few hours earlier and were still spinning, but I thought it was great.

We had one of those shows that just didn't click, we just didn't lock in, and I would prefer not to mention it, we ended up talking about the gig for hours, about what went wrong and vowed to redeem ourselves tomorrow.

Some downtime in between the mayhem.

DAY 2

Lenny can't walk past a good book shop without going in, Steve's the same with records. Paul hangs with Riss at the pool, me and Jay do this and that and before we know it, it's time to head to Mojos in Fremantle. A cool little bar reminiscent of an Amsterdam café, with cool art around the place and an Elvis Pinball machine, Kadavar and Blues Pills stretched out on lounges in dark corners catching up on z's, but, when it comes to show time they are on fire and the crowd love them. The room is packed and it is buzzing with electricity. It's a hard act to follow, but after last night we were gonna give it everything we had. From the opening chords of Daddy Long Legs, the rest of the night is a swirling kaleidoscope of sound and colour.

DAY 3

The harp alarm at 5.30am means an early flight to Adelaide. I'm surprised we made it, down to decrepit Hindley street, the derelict end - we've skirted trouble here in the past and its memory lingers. We find sanctuary in our room between schoolies and heroes and after getting lost in a dream, head to the UNI. Our band room is a theatre and it's cold. We share stories backstage about dead roos and desert highways. Blues Pills and Kadavar are driving to Melbourne right after the show and they are dreading the journey, so we rub it in a bit. The atmosphere in the crowd is building, it feels exciting out there. Screaming and humming in the cold theatre, No matter what happens on tour it all comes down to this moment, the hour you're on stage, everything else is either preparation, waiting or recovery.

Sign your life away...

Written by Richie.