First show of the tour is opening up for Melbourne's Whitehorse, an intimidating prospect at the best of times with a full-band behind me. Tonight it's me, Page Hamilton (my laptop) and a bunch of bearded doom fans. It works somehow. The Old Bar PA helps.
Whitehorse are an unrelenting fucking beast of a thing. I am WELL attuned to the bleakness of this music, I love it, but Whitehorse never fail to bum me out. I've seen them twice now and I've never made the distance either time; I need a break and take one. They've got to be one of the best doom bands this country has ever produced, got to be.
The rest of the weekend is a house show, Coopers, Nadia, Steph, Jem and everything in between.
# PERTH
First impressions of Perth: street toughs, Toowoomba vibes and fucking cold. First show is at The Velvet Lounge under the auspices of Greg Taw. Accompanying Ambrose Chapel is Jane Harris, Mystic Eyes and Erasers (none of these names are our real names). Mystic Eyes is a total Perth-bogan annihilating drone fuck you and it happens before I play and so I just relax and let the doom out. It's sharp and short. Afterwards I go to The Moon.
Show two is at 'Whopper' (always my favourite Hungry Jacks option when I ate meat), spelt WAAPA and home to a lot of diligent and awesome performing arts student. I play their Sound Unbound festival and it's a good, loud time. After, I meet up with new friends and see a bad band and at night's end I accidentally order two gin and tonics when I only wanted one and then I drink them both and stagger towards the hotel.
My merch is sold, my shows are gone and my brain is a liquid so I fall blissfuly asleep in my hotel room. The tour can be a beautiful thing.
# DOCUMENTATION
Enjoyed this. Want more. Good to see you doing your bit for Tourism Australia.
ReplyDelete