Ahem. Totally out of sequence, here's a moment from the festival as Mike 'Fettler' Kerin, Steve Passfield, Andy Toombs and Brad Bergen jam it out at the morning gig at Diggers
Skies over Tamworth on Day 1
The boys will (hopefully) post their own blogs and pics, so you may need to check a few different perspectives to get the whole picture. I was on Kitchen Patrol for most of the tour (gotta keep them costs down) so I didn't get out to as many bands as the guys did, but I did get more sleep...
Another note, thanks to an Early Birthday Present, our new blog camera is in HD (oooooh! Nerdalicious!) which means all the videos are huge (filesize) so its taking me longer to blog, and sometimes, lower resolution is a little nicer (think of soft focus).
Right, so as per usual, we started with a Location Scout mission up to Tamworth 2 weeks (i think) before the festival, so we could get a handle on the venue. As my station wagon is starting to be held together by prayers and gaffer tape, I opted to hire a car for the journey. I was thinking a mid range standard sedan, something built for Australian Roads, so duly I used the online boooking thing and voila, sorted.
Unfortunately, they didnt have the car I wanted. In fact the only thing they had left was something that could have been out of Top Gear:
Mr Wizard after a long arduous sleep in the car.
Despite driving what appeared to be a Speeding Ticket magnet, cruise control and a total dislike of large fines kept me safe and within legal limits. Mind you, that thing handled like a...a...I don't know car stuff. It was good. 'nuff said.
We made good time up to our venue, the glorious Oxley Bowling Club (Hi Ron!), sized the room up for technical specs and then did a quick visit around prospective accommodation (which was at a premium). From there, with a good grasp on what we were in for (well...sort of) we headed back to Sydney in the Red Rocketmobile.
As the day of departure approached, like all road trips, we were busy packing, making sure gear and amps were in place (huge shout out to GC for the loan of the PA!) and eventually, with two cars and a van packed to the rafters, it was time to head for our first port of call, the Wickham park Hotel.
Carl has his own unique packing system...
On the freeway up towards Maitland - in HD! Wait until we go 3D on you! lol.
Day 1 - The Wicko Goes Off
The Wickham Park has always been a signature venue for Blues and Blues related stuff and sunday night there was no exception.
Across the road is a huge park and oval with my favourite australian tree, the Moreton Bay Fig (if any arborist wishes to correct my attribution, please email).
Gorgeous eh?
Right, back to the music stuff. The Wicko draws an enthusiastic crowd and is int he middle of being modernised, so the stage is slightly bigger, the PA nifty and the bar tables now are surfboard shaped. Very trendy.
My new phone cam does High Dynamic Range stuff. Here's Repo setting up. Warning, I am still getting used to this camera so not everything went right ...
We started with a big crowd and it just got bigger.
That was a huge night.
A big shout out to Sandi M and Suzi J for visiting with us, and to all th Novocastrians who came out on a Sunday night.
We finished up late at the wicko and went in search of Sustenance.
Late night kebabs. Now we're really musicians.
With 3.5 hours from Newcastle to Tamworth, we thought, what the heck and decided to drive straight through the moonlit country roads, with only the occasional interruption:
Until we arrived at Camp McGary, named in honour of Val who organised some accomodation.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't be available until the following day so the first night was spent on Val's floor:
Theo settling in
We were up bright and bushy tailed the next morning (we had to get out of the way, Paul was sleeping in the kitchen) and we found ourselves in bright, sunny Tamworth.
Day 2 - Settling In and gig 1
Peel St early morning.
After a wander through town, we had to pack up and get to our first gig of the tour.
We were playing a week of gigs with Los Cabarets Del Oxley, featuring Lesley Avril and the very talented Ally Harper and the Senile Deliquents (who won this years talent comp and also a songwriting award!).
Our first gig had a small crowd, but it was our first trip and the turn out at the festival was (understandably) affected by the Bad Weather that has plagued Australia this summer.
Jeez this blogging takes it out of you. Stay tuned for part two, I need a break!