My Disco's Top Ten Moments Of Their First Ten Years

As they prepare to celebrate their tenth anniversary this Friday night, the three lads of My Disco took a couple of minutes to run us through ten of the best things they've experienced in the past ten years.

1.      SOVIET TRAINS

One of the most intense journeys we have ever encountered whilst on tour was between St. Petersburg and Moscow via Soviet era sleeper trains. I'm not sure why they are called “sleepers” because we found it very difficult to get any rest whatsoever! The bunk style single rock hard mattresses are very ex military looking, and the heat constantly on full really aids to the claustra vibe of the whole experience. Also, travellers are forbidden to use the restrooms 60 minutes either side of the stations, due to ablutions going straight onto the below tracks J

2.      RECORDING WITH STEVE

A living legend, a prolific engineer and a fierce musician, it was quite amazing to actually walk into Electrical Audio on our first time recording with Steve Albini. After a day or so though, it really began to feel like home, such is the relaxed atmosphere at EA. Kind of a dream come true for us, it was so good we decided to record there twice!

3.      JAPANESE ONSENS

The most striking thing a foreigner notices about Japan is the cleanliness. And the ritual of getting clean is best noticed when visiting a traditional Japanese bathhouse – or Onsen. Nothing quite relates to how unique these places are, especially needed the morning after a night of heavy post gig drinking and smoking indoors. Note: Cover up your western tattoos with a towel or else!

4.      BLUE CORN TORTILLAS, MEXICO

On one tour of North America, we visited the Mexican border town of Mexicali with our friends from San Francisco, Numbers. We played two shows whilst in Mexico, one of which was in the yard of our promoters Grandmother's house. The border fence to the United States was visible whilst we played. In the morning, we had breakfast at a local food stand that served tortillas from the south of the country, made from blue corn. The husks were a purple colour, pretty vividly so actually. They were absolutely delicious and we have never seen anything quite like it since.

5.      DEERHOOF ARE NICE PEOPLE

We have toured with them twice throughout Australia. We've even stayed at their tiny apartment in the Mission district of San Francisco. At one point, we hung out with them in Japan, but that's a whole other story. Great band, excellent peeps.

6.      RAKIA IN THE BALKANS

One of the reasons that the former Yugoslavian countries such as Serbia do not wish to become part of the Economic European Union (or EEC for short) is that they will have to start producing and trading Genetically Modified foods, and perhaps more importantly, stop making homemade distilled alcohol. One of these traditional brews is known as Rakia, and it is delicious. Traditionally served chilled, and often as a welcoming drink into someone's home, or an aperitif after a huge Serbian feast. We drank plenty of it and many different varieties whilst we were in the region, most of which cost about 2 euros for a one-litre bottle. Prost!

7.      SLEEPING IN THE DESERT AND IN THE MOUNTAINS

At times whilst on the road, sleep doesn't come easy nor does it come in the traditional sense of bed / room / mattress etc. We have slept in the Mojave Desert, more specifically between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, on the pacific coast highway between Portland and Northern California, and perhaps most interesting of all, on the cliffs next to a lighthouse in Byron Bay. Van sleeps are not comfortable, but when you wake up surrounded by beautiful deserts and crystal clear waters, tiredness subsides pretty quickly.

8.      INDONESIAN NIGHT DRIVES

We have toured rather extensively throughout the Java region of Indonesia. One time we hired a driver and a beaten up 8 seater Volkswagen (with AC thank God) to get us around. The driver was in his sixties and was an absolute machine. He drove all night, waited for us all day and never stopped bar fuel. He never needed the bathroom, he never ate, he simply drove. He is the greatest road warrior we have ever known, and the shameful thing is we cannot remember his name L

9.      TEMPORARY RESIDENCE

My Disco is a hard band to find a suitable label for. These kind folk from NYC took us onboard and let us do whatever we want, which is amazing and rare in this industry. We are proud to know them as friends and work with them as partners.

10.    SERBIAN ROOFTOPS

In late 2011 we played a show at a gun club in Belgrade, Serbia. It was an actual gun club / firing range during the day, then a music venue at night. Pretty strange huh. After our show we went to an old warehouse on the outskirts of town, and watched a Serbian band rehearse on one of the top floors. They then showed us to the rooftop of the building, which was actually and outdoor bar with a live jazz band playing! We were amazed, as it was 2am by this stage. As a joke, I asked Rohan to fill in on a song or two with the band, and unbelievably he did! He has a degree in improvised music from the VCA, so he had no trouble jamming out some jazz standards with the friendly Serbs. It was quite amazing to watch, and a defining experience of some of the great things we have achieved as a band over the last decade.

The band play the Corner Hotel on Friday night with HTRK, New War, Standish/Carlton, Max Crumbs, Absolute Boys and Brain Children.