Tour Diary

Melbourne January 2001
Tuesday 9th

Comfortable trip to Victoria for Tom, Adam (Wes) and myself (the C-Minus Project), plus our friend Bernadette. The other fellas did the driving. We had an incident just after the border, with our back right tyre blowing out completely. Luckily Adam's skills from playing Nascar on the Playstation steered us inbetween two trucks (I kid you not). W changed the tyre and were back on our way. Had a horrendous breakfast at a service station. Best not to talk about it.

The show at the Punters Club went well. A beautiful venue which was respectively attended. It was great to play to a different crowd and I am sure we made a good impression. Coindrop played first and rocked in a big way. Our set was:
Rub It In (solo)
Birthday (solo)
August 17 (solo Peabody cover)
Broke
Wyoming
747
Night For Rememberance
House Near Bridge
Tiger's Tale (with CC Hua from Carraway/Toronto)

Groundswell finished the night with a set of sweet power-pop reminscent of one of my favorite bands Teenage Fanclub. I met some nice people afterwards, sold some CD's and generally had a top night.

Wednesday 10th
Spent the afternoon with Aaron and CC from the band Toronto recording some vocals for them. It should see the light of day sometime soon on their debut EP. Also recorded a Blake Babies cover (The Train from Sunburn album).

In the night we went to see Klinger play in a suburban nightclub kinda place. Drank their beer and was most enjoyable. On the way home we tried to drive down Ramsey Street from the show Neighbours. I think it's real name is Patio Court or something. It was blocked by security. We had an amusing conversation with a cool security guard. He was up with all the latest gossip! Stayed up late with a friend and discussed the meaning of life.

Thursday 11th
Hung out with CC and Aaron again. Went to Ramsey Street again, but this time was a success. Rang my friend Ben from Peabody and told him where I was. He almost fainted. He is the biggest Neighbours fan I know. Around 6pm I said goodbye to my new friends. A little sad but hey, I am a sentimental bloke. Met up with Adam, Tom and Bernie at our friend's unit (Angie and Ewen). Had dinner at this pizza joint in St.Kilda. It was called 'La ....' something? Very cheap and tasty, though the look on Adam's face when his pizza lacked cheese was amazing! He is the king of cheese, the cheese king if you will. I think it was just a different kind of pizza. It still looked and tasted good. Had the view of the rollercoaster and the water. It reminded me of a Red House Painters cover. Adam and I gently argued about New Jersey. For some reason he thought it was no where near any water.

Our last stop was the Empress venue. It was inspiring to see so many people out for a night of quiet music. We watched Architecture In Helsinki. They were awesome. Met up with Miles from Art of Fighting who plays a little trumpet on the album. Straight after the show we made the long drive home. Sad to leave, wanted to stay and play some more shows. I left with a new respect for the city, though the roads and it's rules still confuse the heck out of me.

Thanks to CC, Aaron, Angie and Ewen for the hospitality.