Battleships Tour Diary: Part Two

The second installment of the tour has taken us to Victoria, playing a show in Geelong at the very country-Australia-named 'Wool Exchange' and three shows in Melbourne's lovely Forum.

Flying into Melbourne always makes me think of beginnings. It's the first place we ever played outside of Sydney as a band about a year and a half ago. It was probably the first time it actually felt like we were a legitimate band. Back then, we took trains, buses and walked with our gear in support of Winter People. On our first visit, I made Jon walk with me from Southern Cross Station to Fitzroy with all our gear, it looked close on the map?! It wasn't.

It was curiosity and opportunity that brought Jono (bass) and Dan (drums) to Sydney from the Sunshine Coast, with much persistence and a flash of spontaneity I moved to Sydney to start something official and we met Nato (guitar) there also. Now that same band was driving from Melbourne Airport to Geelong (a four Seinfeld-episode-long trip, for the record), and it's feeling more and more like a band all the time.

Night number one was at the Wool Exchange, it's hard to know what to expect from a regional show. We are used to the vocal Sydney crowds and more considered Melbourne show goers, both have their own flavours, different again to Brisbane and Perth, but we enjoyed the vocal and enthusiastic Geelong Audience. By the time Dustin Tebbutt had finished and we were set to go on, the room had filled up well, as often they do outside of the cities. Geelong was a great night, with plenty of good responses. the green room was the place to be though.

Who would have thought that playing for a small time each night can be so exhausting? No one got up early. We headed to St Kilda and got hair cuts with the very cool Aidan Joseph, who we met by chance at a music festival some time ago. 

At the Forum.

We played our first night at the Forum on Saturday 2 November , it is a wonderful venue, it's great to play on such a big stage... bigger than the total size of many of the venues we've played at. It's also nice to not have my ear right near the cymbals as I stand next to the drum kit. It was also during this show that I noticed Nato's setlist, which documents moments in the set ideal for him to take a drink - I guess hydration is important?

A multi-functional setlist.

It's interesting the way different bands and their different music draws different crowds people. The Boy & Bear concert goers are a pretty mixed group of many ages, but extremely friendly and happy to listen to you. It's not always easy to play for someone else's audience, (perhaps as an audience member I can tend to forget that) when you know, and they know, that everyone is there for the band after you, and you're an obstacle in the way in many respects. 

Weather excluded, Melbourne delivered two more fantastic shows, and during the day; a number of Breaking Bad reruns - Jon has converted the rest of the guys. They are still watching it in our room as I type to you now. It does nothing for me, it strangely just makes me feel like eating rock candy. Each tour seems dedicated to a different show.

This week we're heading to Byron, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Brisbane. The carnival continues.