Day 5 - Wrest Point Casino, Hobart

31/7/2010
Kris, Phil, Nick & I get in the van at 10am for the 3 hour drive to Hobart. Joe goes with the crew to make a bit more room for the bags.
About an hour into the drive we stop for fuel and something to eat, we come across a servo that looks alright....


They are making some pretty outrageous claims at this place......


The girls working at the food section recognise us and ask for a photo. I tell them about the blog and promise to post the photo. I think i may have a career in food service if the band ever breaks up. I felt quite at home.......


Back in the Tarago and down the road we go. Tasmania is very scenic, but our drive takes us through a lot of pretty featureless farmland.
Nick is driving the speed limit, he has no points on his licence, and the drive is seeming to take longer than expected....


The scenery starts to change as we get closer to hobart, the flatland gives way to more hills and valleys, with the occasional lake thrown in.
About 50km's out we come to a little town called Bagdad...no shit!


We get out of Bagdad without being shot at, but i do see a strange looking animal in a field. It looked and moved like a dog, but was the size of a horse...weird.
We arrive at the Casino at 2pm and check into our rooms. We are staying AND playing here. That's good for us as no hassles getting to and from the show, and we can have a few drinks afterwards to celebrate the end of dry July!!
The view from my room is pretty special. It looks over the Derwent river, and there are yacht races happening....


Grab some lunch then i head back to my room and crash...
I wake up and look at my watch, it's soundcheck time.
The ballroom at the casino has a super high roof and is baically the shape of a box. Tony is gonna have a tough time pulling a sound tonight.
The guitars sound good coming off stage, so satisfied with the monitors i head back to my room to watch my team (The Roosters) take on the Parramatta Eels.
Awesome game! Spotted - the Hayne plane being shot down over Bondi!
Happiness is doing a gig after your team has smashed the opposition....
It's an earlier start than the past couple of nights, so i get down to the band room at about 9pm.
Tony's Auntie lives down here, and they are hanging out when i arrive....


The stage has curtaind wings, so i go and check out the Snowdroppers from side of stage. It's a big crowd and they seem to be having a good gig...


The show goes really well. As far as the crowd goes it's probably the best show so far. We rip through the encores and head back upstairs to unwind.
I have my first drink for a long while and it tastes good!
Rosso, of Merrik & Rosso fame shows up in the bandroom, he is doing some stand up gigs down here so he and his wife Michelle have come to hang out and have a few drinks.
We get kicked out of the venue at about 1am and head downstairs to the birdcage bar at the casino.
I talk to the Snowdroppers for a while, then head to the tables where Phil is playing Poker. I play a couple of hands then decide to find some food.
The resturant is still open so Rosso, Michelle and i sit down with a couple of beers and eat and talk shit for an hour or so.
I say goodbye to those guys and head back to my room for some much needed sleep.
Here is a look at the tour dates. A long way to go....

Day 4 - The Warehouse, Devonport

30/7/2010

Krisso texts me early, he's keen to get this set of tennis finished. I'm keen to kick his ass so I happily accept the challenge.

And an ass kicking it was. I'm now up 2 sets, 6-4 6-3.

I'll try and wrap it up in 3 sets when we get to Hobart. I think this no drinking thing might be giving me a slight advantage, it's usually pretty close.

Back to the hotel, and it's time to get ready to drive 95km's to the next gig in Devonport.

Joe jumps in the car with the crew as Nick, Kris, Phil & myself pile into the Tarago.

The journey is quick and uneventful.

Kris and I are sharing a 2 bedroom apartment. Settle in there and go for a walk around town.

Devonport must be the closest port town to the mainland. The Spirit of Tasmania car and passanger carrier docks here, and the river that skirts aroung the town center is littered with slipways and cargo container termials.

It's cold and raining today....surveying the windswept scene I feel like I could be in Liverpool, looking over the docks on the Mersey.

I make a quick stop by the gig on my way back. The crew are just starting to get set up. I ask Colzy to call me when the guitar rig is up so i can come down and work on my sound.

That call come about 4pm and i get Nick to shuttle me down there.

It's sounding good today, I adjust the clean tone a little, and try a few different pedals. Tony says he's happy! That doesn't happen very often, it usually goes more like..."IT'S FINE".

Kris & Joe turn up but Phil is crashed out. We run through Ace of Spades with our stand-in singer.....

We do a couple more and it's sounding pretty good, so it's back to the hotel and time to think about dinner!

I find an Indian place just around the corner from the hotel. It looks pretty authentic, plus we are on the water, so I order the fish curry..... BEST FISH CURRY EVER!

We watch the St Kilda v's Essendon game till it's time to go to the gig....

The upstairs band room is actually a bar that they are not using for the night. It's big and has everything we need, so the pre gig rituals begin (drinks, play some guitar, warm up the voice, watch the rest of the game)....

The Snowdroppers are sounding good tonight, and pretty soon it's our turn...

We go back out the front of the venue and walk round to the stage entrance. I give Colzy my camera and ask him to take some photos if he gets a chance.

The gig goes really well. The crowd were fun and really into it. Pedestrian went down particularly well! The band are starting to click now, it was a definate improvement over last night, and it's a good sign for the 30 or so shows to come.

Hang around for half an hour afterwards. Meet some people and sign some autographs, then back in the van and back to what's left of my fish currie. Hobart Casino tomorrow night. Should be a fun Saturday night....the last day of July......

Here are some of Colzy's photos....

Day 3 -The Saloon Bar, Launceston

29/7/2010
Got up and went into town for coffee. One large soy flat white later, and the fog is beginning to clear. Run into Phil & Kris on my way back to the hotel. They're looking for somewhere to have breakfast so i point them in the direction of the place i went yesterday.
Get back to my room and my phone rings. Shit, it's interviews for the tour that I've been putting off. Oh well, now or never.
"Do you prefer playing festivals or your own shows?" "So, where does the name Grinspoon come from?" Seriously, how many times do you think I've been asked those questions?
There must be a book of standard snoozfest interview questions out there, and both the guys i talked to had read it cover to cover.
I get a call from Kris and he's keen to play tennis.
We take our racquet's on the road, and if we get a chance to play we do. We are of a similar standard (shit), but the matches are always competitive...
Today was my day! We got through a set and a bit and I'm up 6-4 & 2-1. This will be continued at a later stage (i will give score updates).
Back to the hotel.....


Kris and i decide to head into town and grab some lunch, then swing past the gig and annoy the crew. Our sound guy Tony Brian (Brown Arm, Toby) has arrived from Perth. Tony has just had a baby girl so he's in good spirits, but lots more about him later....


The Saloon Bar has changed a lot since we last played it. Before it was a piece of kitch wild west fantasy, bar stools with saddles on top and wagon wheels strewn around the room. Now it looks like an RSL, abeit a new one, but the same harsh lighting and ringading of the poker machines. We'll still get a good vibe out of the place, but it's a shame, i liked it the way it was before.
After surveying the scene for a while Kris heads back to the hotel, and i decide to go for a walk around Launceston.
I head down to the seaport. Its an industrial part of town, but it's old, and has plenty of character.
The hill looking over the marina is crammed full of huge mansions. There must have been some money here once, fishing maybe, but the houses now look run down, the gloss taken from their former glory.
I make my way back through the city and down to the Boags brewery, then meander back to the hotel.
I have a new camera that I'm in the process of learning how to use, so here are some Launceston tourist shots. Trying to set the scene....


We all pile into the Tarago at 4.45 to head off for a 5 o'clock sound check. The crew have finished setting up the gear and we run through 3 songs. Everyone is pretty happy with the sound.
Meet the guys from the Snowdroppers. They are doing the whole tour with us and they seem like pretty cool guys. I think i will go check them out tonight.
The venue is providing us with dinner, so band and crew order, then grab a big table so we can break bread with our brothers. The food is actually pretty good!
After the meal we head back to the hotel to get ready for our 11pm show.....


Oh yeah, and Krisso couldn't finish his steak.....


Back in the car and back to the hotel. Have a few hours to kill so i get organized for the gig, then watch a program about the Australian dream on the ABC. It's an interesting show. Part of a 4 part series, i will have to suss it out when i get home.
Lobby call is for 9.50, and it's back to the saloon bar.
Watch the Snowdroppers. There really good. People are loving it. They look like Elvis's love child being backed up by Mumford & Sons, but the noise they make is great. A real party band, they will be fun to have on tour.
It's our turn next, and we take the stage to rapturous applause.
The gig is good, a little rusty in parts but all in all a pretty good start to the run. I need to work on my sound more in tomorrows check, but apart from that it's an 8.
Joe broke his ribs snowboarding a few weeks back and looked to be in a bit of pain after the show, it's gonna be a tough first few gigs for him (not much jumping around!)....


We get a few locals backstage after the show. Everyone is heading to the Hotel New York for an after party...fucking dry July! I shouldn't really let that stop me from going out, but i do.
One of the guys from the poker night shows up (Chow) and I have a bit of a laugh with him, then it's back in the van and back to hotel.
At least i will be fresh for the drive to Devonport......

Day 2 - Rehearsal

28/7/2010
Got up early this morning and went into town to buy a new usb modem. After a couple of visits to the Telstra shop I'm finally online (and gonna stay that way for the rest of the tour).
Searched around the back streets of Launceston and came across what looked like a pretty good place to get a coffee and breakfast. I sat on a comfortable lounge, ordered poached eggs and rang my sister.
This afternoon she is heading to Salzburg in Austria to enroll in summer school , so wanted to have a chat before she left.
After breakfast i headed back to the hotel to catch up with the boys and head to practice. We are rehearsing at a club in town that the owners have been kind enough to give us for free.
The place is called "The Hotel New York". Not a lot of New York going on here....

Our stage guy Adam Cole (Colzy, Jesus) and our lighting/production manager Anthony Pertruzio (P-toots, Montana, A.P.) are busy setting up the gear.
A.P. drove the truck down from Sydney, and that includes putting it on a boat! Colzy flew in from Melbourne this morning.....

Colzy has been busy working on my new rig.
He has replaced all the faulty leads and broken bits from previous tours, and now i have all new cables, 2 brand spanking new Blackstar 100 watt amps, and a squeaky clean pedal board that's ready for action...

After half an hour we are set up on the small stage, and ready to start working on the new set...

We are throwing in some different older tracks this tour plus doing a cover as well, so we have a fair bit to work on.
Phil is still memorising some of the lyrics, so he has his laptop with him, and is learning them as he goes.
It's gonna be a good set i recon, but you will have to come to a show to find out what the surprises are!


There are a a bunch of guys who work at the venue hanging around, so we have an audience for the whole afternoon.
As the beers they are swilling start to add up, the applause gets louder, and their opinions of what songs we should be playing start being shouted.
It's actually a lot of fun and i think there are probably less arguments between us because of it.
We start playing REALLY old songs, and the crowd are loving it, and by the looks of the next photos, so are we...


With the set pretty much finalised we pile in the Tarago and head back to the hotel.
There is another poker night on tonight, so we head to the Gunners Arms Hotel for dinner and another shot at the title.
Our tour manager Nick Tkalac (Nicktallica, Neck) has arrived, and we get a counter meal and wait for the game to start.
Phil is knocked out first by Krisso, quickly followed by me! Krisso is the terminator tonight.
None of us get too far so it's back to the hotel and a reasonably early one.

First show of the tour tomorrow, looking forward to it...

Day 1 - Travel Day

27th July 2010
I wake up at a friends house in Sydney. Feeling pretty clean and healthy at the moment. I have been under the rules of Dry July for the best part of a month now, and have only lapsed once. I get the feeling all my hard work maybe undone over the next 2 months, but we will see.....
Packed and ready i head to the airport for the flight to Launceston. Joe & Phil are on the same flight as me to Melbourne where we will meet up with Kris and get on a 40 minute Virgin flight to the Apple Isle.. (you like that?).
Don't see anyone till we get to Melbourne but its good to see the guys when we all get together. The jokes are the same....but there still funny!
The flight is easy and we arrive in Launceston around 5pm. We grab our bags and our hire Tarago and head into town. We are staying at the Hotel Grand Chancellor hotel. We have stayed here a lot before, and its affectionately known to us as the Shihad hotel, due to a night we had in the lobby bar with those guys a few years back. That night ended with me trying to pass out in the wrong hotel room (i was drunk, it was dark)...but that's a story for Phil to tell, i don't really remember it, but it affected him quite badly.....
Back to the present & Phil has found a pub which is running a poker night! The 4 of us get back in the car and head off to the TRC, which we think is an acronym for Total Retard Club!
This place is kinda cool. A happy bloke named Mark registers us to play in the tournament, and asks a lot of questions, wondering who these strangers are, "Oh you guys! I've heard of you dudes!" Pretty soon everyone in the place knows the poker kings have arrived!
We grab some food then make our way to our table to get the game on.
I have played a little, as has Kris. Phil has played heaps but Joe not much at all so the first few hands were about relearning the rules. Apart from the 4 of us we had 4 more locals on our table. They went buy the names of Beefy, Leroy, Chow and Damo. These guys were hilarious, and i think they were pretty happy to be playing with us. The game was going along nicely, lots of dangerous betting from Krisso, and plenty of mum and wife jokes being thrown around. Then just before the half time break some wanna be Paul Gallen lookalike sits down at the vacant spot left by Damo, and places down his short stack of chips. Hmmmmm...
We play out the last hand and have 20 minutes to stretch our legs.
Back to the game and this Paul Gallen muthafucker is the terminator! He takes out me and Kris with ease, then sets his sights on the rest of the table.
Joe and Phil both survive the onslaught and get moved to separate tables to fight it out with the rest of the players for a spot on the final table. Joe has the terminator sitting across from him and they are locked in battle. The terminator takes Joe out, much to everyones' disgust!
Phil has been calling himself "final table Phil" since we arrived, and he duly makes it there, but so does the Paul Gallen lookalike wannabe muthafuckin terminator! We are really hating this guy now...
Boom! The terminator is knocked out! Followed with much laughter and applause!
But Phil is under pressure now...he goes all in!.....and loses.

Fun night. I drive home (it's still July) and head up to my room to crash. Those guys go to the lobby bar. As i'm drifting off i can hear them stumbling around outside my room and goes a little something like this..
"come on Davvo ya f__king pussy .....hahahahah ....f__king whatever ........pussy .....hahahaha .... f__k this i'm going to bed...."
Rehearsals tomorrow.

The tour begins...

Well here we go again! Back on tour! This one takes us from Tasmania to Byron Bay, a 2 week break in the middle, then back down south, and across to Adelaide. All in all we will do 30 shows in 60 days, thus saying goodbye to our album "six to midnight" for our Aussie fans.
We are hitting a lot of regional places that we haven't visited for a long time, and will no doubt clock up some serious miles in the Tarago.
I'm writing this blog to keep you up to date with our travels, and hopefully share some funny stories and photos. I will try not to edit too much out so you can get a first hand account of life on the road with Grinspoon......who am i kidding, there is no way i will reveal everything....that is unless i get drunk at a show and get back to hotel and start posting.......and as if that's gonna happen!
I would appreciate your comments along the way and if you want to know anything in particular, i will try to accommodate.
I am gonna try and keep it real, so keep checking as i will endeavour to post daily.
Pat