Battleships Tour Diary: Part Three

Week three of the Boy & Bear tour took us north. We played Byron Bay, Coolangatta and The Tivoli in Brisbane, as well as a festival in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast. It was a weekend of contrasts, sometimes on our own and sometimes around a lot of familiar faces – being a band partly from Queensland. Actually, life on the road and in a small band is full of contrasts.

One minute you'll be unloading your own mountains of gear at the airport or into a venue, wondering if anyone will turn up, the next you're getting photos and signing CDs. We've played shows with 15 people present, and then on this tour, Boy & Bear have sold out nearly every show, if not all of them! It really keeps you honest, whilst also testing your ego having such starkly contrasting environments to deal with. I feel as though my friends don't know if I'm stashing some serious cash or if I'm a couple of days from begging. I guess some people assume you're on the radio sometimes so you must be doing well, and others think you just need to get a real job.

This leg started in Byron Bay, it's a colourful part of the country. The venue; Beach Hotel, was lazy and relaxed in the afternoon, but bustling and full by the time Dustin Tebbutt started playing his 'icy-cold-gentle-warm' indie ballads. We received a great reception and our first time in Byron was a good one, the crowd was boisterous but receptive. The night for me was stolen by a character I ran into after the show. As I went outside the main entrance to load my gear, I happened to notice a short-ish fella with a beat-box strapped to his back. He wore leather sandals and held a sign which read 'Iain's Free Hugs'. I'm not sure if this was a regular feature of Byron, but it certainly made me smile, I really wish I'd gotten a photo for you!

Co-existing...

After a good sleep at a house we stayed at in Tweed Heads, we took the next morning to relax and not be too busy. I don't know if we've found a good mix of sight-seeing and preparing for a show yet, it always seems to be too much of one or the other. The band had a great big-breakfast before eventually succumbing to that 21st century thing where everyone sits around – co-existing on their mobile phones.

Most of the venues on this tour have been medium/large sized theatre venues but the Coolangatta Hotel was much more of a pub venue, although a big one for us. There must be a lot of bands around who hold their alcohol well and/or get as smashed as possible before going out. We were delivered a plastic create with 24 beers, 24 waters and ice. Dustin, who operates on his lonesome for the regional dates was allocated 12 more of his own. Do people actually need this much beer? Jon usually has a couple - 3 at most, Nato might have one or two, Dan can't do gluten and I don't drink… what were we supposed to do with the remaining 19 beers? The crowd here was the most vocal by far, noisy, but it seemed to go really well, it seems the further north you travel, the louder people tend to be in their appreciation. They also seem to have different things they want to tell you or ask when they speak to you...

We'll take the remaining 19 beers, thank you Battleships...

This has got me thinking, if I could sum up in one sentence what each city of people seem to say, this is what I've come up with so far: (NB this is not the result of quantitative research)

Perth: I heard you guys on the radio, so glad I got to see ya!
Sydney: Where in Sydney are you from? (As a regional Australian I'm not used to the importance of the postcode!)
Melbourne: Are you guys a Sydney or Melbourne band? (Sydney) Do you like Melbourne? (We love Melbourne!)
Sunshine Coast: Do you reckon you'll ever move back to the Sunshine Coast?
Adelaide: Yeah I was thinking about moving to Sydney or Melbourne (Seriously, don't do it, stay in rAdelaide)
Brisbane: Welcome to Brisbane, mate!
Canberra: Thank you so much for coming to Canberra, no one ever comes here (In a kind of a 'sorry this is all we have to offer you' way… Canberra is beautiful; don't listen to Sydney-siders.)

Anyway, back to the weekend: After a tiring late night and long drive we woke up on Saturday for Golden Days Festival in Coolum. The festival had a rather eclectic line-up, with some established acts like Grinspoon, some very trendy current offerings like Sticky Fingers, some local up and coming talent in the way of Alys Longmate and Sahara Beck as well as a mix of genres too. We followed local hard rock band Drawcard, but preceded hip hop group Jackie Onasis. It was a hot day, and the festival was really building, but we had about 60 minutes to make the 60 minute drive to Brisbane for our next Boy & Bear show.

The Tivoli is a great venue, and possibly my favourite yet. The medium sized former theatre-restaurant has great viewing and looks beautiful. I've seen a lot of bands here and had a lot of great memories. It was significant for us to be able to return to Queensland to play here. I was able to recall a few stories, one of a time a friend dropped a drumstick tossed to her by the Hives' drummer, it fell off the balcony and someone else made away with it instead, I may never forgive her.  As with a few of these shows we saw some familiar faces who'd come along, and I should mention a quick thank you to those who came to any of the tour on account of us supporting. The warm Tivoli crowd seemed to really enjoy the whole night, and I'm starting to really notice some more great things about the Boy & Bear set too. It's funny how you pick up on different things every show.

Group shot!

This leg was a bit of a return home for us, being able to stay with family and see some old friends along the way. It was significant I think because there's some legitimacy in the size of venues and number of show-goers, even if it isn't our crowd perse.

We are well over half way in the tour, but the remaining legs are rather exciting. We play Wollongong on Friday the 15th and then travel to Hobart on Saturday the 16th - our first time as a band. The following weekend we are hitting favourites in Adelaide, Fremantle and Perth! 

Written by Jordan Kane Sturdee.