Bloods Tour Diary: Part One

Fri 16 Aug Day 1 – Sydney 

10AM

The big day is here! Release day for our debut EP Golden Fang and we are all feeling a little like we are about to explode with excitement! It's also the day of very first show of the Golden Fang tour and we get to play to our home crowd and celebrate with all our pals! I get out of bed and see a string of excited text messages from our manager Jess (AKA the best lady ever!) and VZ and Dirk. So much love - we can be pretty corny sometimes!

5.30PM

I meet up with Dirk who is always there to help me lift our insanely heavy Fender Twin amp. As we're loading in we bump into the lovely guys from Major Leagues who'd just arrived fresh faced from Brisbane. We all give each other a big excited hug and Dirk, Sweetie and I set up for soundcheck.

7.30PM - 1AM

Time to re-fuel.

PIZZA TIME! We eat a bunch of pizza (Sweetie ordered the Spaghetti meatball) and quickly head over to the venue to make the first set of the night. On the way to the venue we're all a little scared, what if no one shows up?! This was our first headline show for quite some time and the fear has finally set in! When we get into the venue we see the two girls and two boys who make up the lovely Fabergettes and... PEOPLE! People we don't know! We start to feel a bit better and the Fabs play an amazing set.

Major Leagues were up next. We were so stoked they agreed to go on tour with us. Ever since I first heard the song Teen Moms on Unearthed Radio, I instantly fell in love with their sound. They have this dreamy pop sound that reminds me a little of the band Pony Up, who I've always loved. They were amazing, as expected.

Major Leagues, killin' it.

By the time we got on stage the room was pretty full – massive relief. We play through our set and everyone in the front starts dancing along. It's always such a trip for us to see people getting into it, so we are all like little hyperactive kids on stage. Playing the EP songs felt particularly satisfying. We decided to play through the EP in its entirety and it seemed to go down ok.

When we wrap, our friend Angus told us that he had to blag his way in as the door guy had told him that the show was at capacity. We are glad he got in, but also really stoked to hear that our first show was a sell out. That's never happened to us before and it feels like the cherry on top!

Playing to some hyperactive fans.

I go upstairs and hang out with the Major Leagues babes and their friend the lovely Alice from The Go Violets who'd come along for the ride. We all hug and get photos and then we load out and leave Sweetie (our resident party dawg) at the venue, wine in hand in the middle of the dance floor. An amazing start to the celebrations!

Sat 17 Aug Day 2 – Newcastle 

Saturday 11AM

After a sweet first night of the tour, I wake up feeling pretty stoked about doing it all again. I get a text, like clockwork, from Sweetie with the game plan – she's coming to pick Dirk and I up at 2.30 for our road road trip to Newcastle.

2.30PM

Sweetie shows up with a huge smile on her face and a car full of road snacks. She's also brought along her friend Eva for the day, who is lovely and full of great stories! This is essential in a road trip situation. We pack Sweetie's mum's car full of our gear and get on our way. See ya later inner west!

4PM – 5.30PM

A bag of jelly babies, rice crackers and a bad Spanish pop CD courtesy of Eva's dad later, we've been driving for a while and see the Australian Reptile park sign. Naturally, we MUST stop. We arrive and realise that the place is actually where Old Sydney Town once stood. We all cheer and make a plan to explore on the way out of the reptile park. We are like kids at Australia's Wonderland when we get out of the car and see the giant frill neck lizard that adorns the entrance of the park. We run in, ready to explore the wonders of the reptile world and quickly realise that the admission fee is more than we can afford. We do a round of the gift shop, get a pic in front of the giant crock, check out some sweet tadpoles they have at the counter and get back into the car. Despite not actually seeing any reptiles in the park, the detour was still totally worth it.

Kinda hangin' with reptiles...

Potential band promo shot?

When we drive out, we choose to ignore the 'No Trespassing' sign and go into a very old and abandoned Old Sydney Town. It looks exactly as it use to, only some of the windows are boarded up. It's so weird! It's like they just up and left the joint – the offices still have files and there's even a sunscreen pump pack and portrait of someone's wedding that were just left on a desk. We get back in the car and Dirk and Eva share memories of brighter days for Old Sydney Town.

5.30PM-1AM

We made it! We load our stuff into the venue and go get ourselves a steak dinner at the local pub. When we come back, they're playing Neil Young's Harvest through the speakers – an amazing record, but slowly putting us into steak comas. We pep up when we see the Fabbergettes pile through the door, beaming with awesomeness.

First band of the night was locals Royal Chant. They were a drummer down, so their sound was stripped back and excellent. The Fabs play another corker of a set, looking and sounding amazing.

The Fabergettes playing another corker set.

When it's our turn to get on stage, there is a good crowd of legends ready and waiting to hear our tunes. We bust into it, not wasting any time. Halfway through the set I realised that the sound guy was checking his facebook and accidentally laugh out loud, definitely a first for us but hopefully not a reflection of how the crowd was feeling. We wrap it all up and load out, a group of awesome dudes wave us off as we drive away. It was ridiculously cute!

On the drive home we make the painstakingly difficult decision to not stop for apple pies, but instead gun it straight back to Sydney. We finally hit range for Jukebox Saturday Night and sing the whole way home. Two down, four to go!