Link to our Facebook
Link to our Instagram
Link to our TikTok

From Caravan Parks To Glastonbury: Josh Pyke Recalls His Tough First Years Of Touring

17 June 2017 | 8:09 am | Staff Writer

"When I first started playing, there'd be 10 people there, and by the end of it, all the shows were sold out."

More Josh Pyke More Josh Pyke

Josh Pyke is in the home stretch of his soul-baring six-part web-documentary, with the renowned troubadour releasing episode four, detailing his early touring days and the moment that everything started taking off for him more than a decade ago.

"When I started, it was really, really hard, you know?" he reflects in the video. "It was super-low-budget, so we were crashing on people's floors, we stayed in caravan parks instead of hotels, sometimes we'd drive home for four hours after a show to save money. And it was hard, and we were also playing with bands that weren't necessarily appropriate, but once I had a couple of things kick off on triple j, more people would come to the shows.

"And, when I signed to Ivy League, I did a thing called the Tri-State Residency, which was a real big success. I did three states in three nights every week. So I did Melbourne, Sydney and then either Adelaide or Brisbane, every week for a month. When I first started playing, there'd be 10 people there, and by the end of it, all the shows were sold out. And it was a huge thing, and from that point things started to kick off."

Pyke reminisces about playing the Big Day Out in 2006 — "There was way more people than I was expecting to be there" — and the fact that the same afternoon as that gig, he went to #19 in the triple j Hottest 100 with his fan-favourite cut Middle Of The Hill, which he explored in last week's episode.

Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter

From there, there was no stopping the momentum; he was picked up in the UK, which saw his international profile — and time away from home — grow exponentially, eventually taking him to a spot at Glastonbury.

"In that first year, of 2007, I think it was, I calculated that I was away… I slept in hotel beds, I slept in not my own bed, for 76% of the year, and this was at exactly the same point when I'd just moved in with my girlfriend, who is now my wife. So it was a tough time, you know?" he recalls. "I was away pursuing this exciting stuff but I was kind of torn the whole time. And that feeling of being torn, I guess, is what influenced most of the writing for [2008 second album] Chimney's Afire."

The series, which concludes in two weeks' time, is all part of the preparation for Pyke's impending compilation album, Best Of, B-Sides & Rarities, which lands on 30 June via Ivy League Records befor he sets off on a national tour to keep him busy through July and August.