Spitshine Week 3

Launceston 6th Oct

After the bizarre ride of last weekend we reach the airport and I’m nervous. My voice has taken a turn for the worse and it’s scratchy as hell and it’s painful to swallow and I’m supposed to do 4 headline shows in 4 days? My normal strategy when I get crook is kick into denial and today is no different – so business as usual, strictly that is.

Syd Airport en route

Launceston is a crazy town. We came here once during the 2004 election and a panel van drove around the town in circles with the phrase ‘Fuck off Mark Latham’ emblazoned across the whole vehicle. From memory Latham was attempting to scale back old growth logging. This time however, it’s all roses and the town is in fine form – tomorrow is show day so even though it’s wednesday, there’s party in the air. Well, a sleepy party. Our show turns out to be fun and we get a healthy crowd and I somehow splutter my way through despite a croaky voice. Had a few good conversations with local folks – shoutout to Ashley our street teamer who helped put posters up. We pack out of the venue and Launny shows her wild side…girls in high heels stumbling head first onto the road, fellas heckling anything that moves; late night pizza shop doing serious business as punters rifle through their wallets and purses like looking for lost jewelery in sand. Beautiful.

Hobart 7th & 8th Oct

The Republic Bar

I wake to find my voice has deteriorated more so I start enquiring about GPs and miracle cures. I drop into Launceston hospital who inform me I’ll have at least a 4 hour wait. I visit chemists and Coles trying to get a hookup – no offence to chemists but pharmaceuticals are the last thing I resort to. The drive to Hobart is a great one though, littered with old colonial buildings and classic green Australian landscapes. We’re squashed like sardines into our Tarago and we’re short of road music so we bounce to Outkast thru the speaker of an iPhone.

View from the front

We arrive in Hobart and I head to a GP that Colin Daniels (Inertia) recommends. He originally tried to tee me up with some celebrity vocal doctor that Pink uses but (probably fortunately) that falls through. Col has been a huge help – he’s the one that lent me his house to record half of Spitshine in. Once again I’m sent to a chemist – this time for 2 prescriptions. Crap. The show is great tonight even though we’re taking a risk doing two Hobart shows, and we sell a truck load of merch. Our motel is modest… yeah, that’s all I can say.

Next morning and I’m back on my concoctions though my voice has taken a turn for the better. We headed up Mount Wellington and kicked around in the snow before rolling back to a soldout show – and what a crazy gig. A few guys gave Polo Club a surprise when complimenting them on their gig, by punching Urban Monk in the balls, “Mad gig mate, you deserve a nut tap! Yeah NUT TAP!” I’m serious, these guys were trying to pay them a compliment. Another bloke regaled me with his thoughts on the show and then revealed it was one of his best experiences tripping ever, although he thought “we were playing a joke on him for about 10 minutes in the middle”. Awesome!

Little do they know we have 3 hours at best, before waking to catch connecting planes for our show the next day in Adelaide. Sorry guys, we’ve gotta leave.

___

Adelaide 10th Oct

An early flight after a late gig is always enhanced by 4 hours transit before the connecting flight and though 10 hours seems too long between leaving your hotel in Hobart and arriving at your hotel in Adelaide, we pull it off. Tonight is ill, we sellout Adelaide and we get mad love – I’m warming to this city every year. There are 100s of zombies walking the street in some kind of zombie festival and I’m ok with that too.

This feels like triumph to me and this tour is killin’ it now. After a day & a half on this prescription I dump it against doctors orders. Fuck it, I’m feelin better.

Tomorrow morning Jane and I wake up at 6am for a 14 & a 1/2 hour video shoot for Shruggin’.

Mama Chu's!