EXCLUSIVE: No Bragging Rights Australian tour recap

California’s No Bragging Rights enjoyed their first tour down under this October/November.

The band toured around the country with Dream On Dreamer, A Skylit Drive and Hellions.

With the ‘Loveless’ tour now complete, vocalist Mike Perez provides an exclusive tour recap for Killyourstereo.com.

Oct. 30

Sydney

So after about 18 hours in flights/lay overs, we finally landed at noon Sydney time. We were greeted at the airport by our buddy Chris [Shaw] who is going to be our driver. We met him earlier in the year when we toured Europe together. He played guitar for House Vs Hurricane. Now a 10-hour drive to our first show in Brisbane!

Oct. 31

Brisbane

We arrived in Brisbane at about 1am. I was half asleep the entire drive. Saw a lot of countryside. So far Australia looks a lot like San Diego. The house we stayed at had beds ready for us, which was awesome after about 30 hours in transit.

The Dream On Dreamer boys picked us up around noon. It was great seeing them. We met them on the same European tour we did in March. We picked up gear and grabbed quick lunch before load in. It was good meeting the Hellions dudes and reconnecting with A Skylit Drive. We've crossed paths with the A Skylit Drive guys a couple times before but have never toured together.

Couldn't ask for a better first show. All the bands killed it! Especially DOD, shit! The energy was awesome. Met a lot of cool people. Australia is going to be fun.

Nov. 1

Gold Coast

With our first Australian show under our belt and still super jet lagged, we were ready for round 2.

Before the show we stopped at a Koala Park to pet Kangaroo's and hold Koalas! Easily one of the coolest experiences of my life. One of the Koala's shit on Daniel’s thumb, I think it’s a sign of good luck.

Gold Coast was a little smaller crowd than Brisbane but the energy was still really good. Also, sushi from the grocery store is actually really good and surprisingly cheap. Now we have a 10 hour or so drive to Sydney for our bands first ever double set (All ages 1pm, 18+ 7pm).

Nov. 2

Sydney

I don't know where to start. Worst drive of my life (laughs) Martin, Ryan and I road in A Skylit Drive's van. I maybe slept an hour? My voice never repaired from the night before so I lost it during the first set. It was non-existent in the 2nd set. Pretty disappointing. From what I was told, my speaking was somewhat audible which makes me feel a little better. If notes weren't there, at least the message was. It's hard to stay upset when I'm in Sydney and meeting a lot of awesome people. I just owe Sydney one (two actually).

Nov. 3

Newcastle

Got much needed sleep but the damage has been done. My voice is shot. It's hard to say if my voice was better than the 2nd Sydney set. Despite my voice, Newcastle has been fun. Definitely a bonding show since there's not a whole lot around the venue. Side note, Zach from DOD is a machine. He's gone hard every night, pretty sure he's even gotten less sleep than me and his voice is flawless. I need his youth, as well as these next days off.

Nov. 4

Sydney (Day Off)

Normally not the biggest fan of days off but we got to do a little sight seeing in Sydney. It was real nice.

A Skylit Drive and us crammed in one of the vans and hit up Bondi Beach. Pretty beautiful but also pretty windy. Everyone got some good selfies despite the wind.

Next was the Sydney Opera House. It was cool, got some pictures but the highlight was probably the gift shop across the street from the opera house. There were hats, boomerangs and jackets...I'm sure our best attempts of looking like "Aussies" offended everyone in the shop. It was all in good fun. Side note again, sushi in Australia is good and surprisingly affordable. The night ended with most of DOD and A Skylit Drive partying at the house we're staying at.

Nov. 5

Sydney (Day Off)

Still wanting to clean my pallet from my last three performances, but taking the days off for what they were, needed. I spent my day off differently than the rest of my band. The guys had a barbeque and had kangaroo burgers. I took a 2hr train ride to visit family friends in Morisset. They took me to an insane asylum that has been over taken by wild Kangaroos. Hundreds of them. This was one of the coolest experiences of my life. It was great catching up but I couldn't stay too long since I needed to catch the train back to Sydney. I got back around midnight and everyone seemed to be taking it easy. I went to bed straight away since my voice still needed as much rest as possible.

Nov. 6

Canberra

Canberra was tight. Kind of a drive but as soon as we got into town we went straight to Parliament. We literally snapped a couple photos then played frisbee on the lawn until load in (laughs).

You could really see the difference two days off made for the US bands. Everyone had great sets, lots of energy. Everyone is finally acclimated! And for it being a Wednesday, Canberra brought it. Side note, my voice is back! Not my best performance by any means but I'm just happy that my voice is back.

Nov. 7

Melbourne

What a fun but long day. Even though it was another overnight drive, I actually was able to get a little sleep this time. I needed every ounce of rest because we had another double set. Melbourne is a really cool city. I might be partial because it was the first city where I finally found a Starbucks! Our first show was at a huge venue called the Hi Fi. Our set went over well but we had to bail early to get ready for our second show. The second show was at a venue called Next. Our second set has been our best set of tour. We played half NBR songs, half covers. Aussies like 90's rock we discovered. It was a really fun set, by the time we started most of the tour package was there partying with us. Definitely a night that will stand out in my mind for a long time.

Nov. 8

Melbourne

So Chris has a beach house and that's where we stayed and will be staying tonight. Still stoked on how well last night went! Tonight was pretty great too. Especially for DOD, they killed it today! Their best set of the tour in my opinion. Can't thank those dudes for making this whole trip possible. Can't believe we only have one more show.

Nov. 9

Adelaide

What a way to end an awesome tour. Kudos to whoever decided that Adelaide should be the last show for Hellions and us. The energy was great from the opener all the way to DOD closing out the night. Our set was crazy, so much fun. The tour package forced us to encore, so we played Bon Jovi ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’.

Tonight was DOD's best set of tour. Adelaide loves DOD! It was great to have tonight end the way it did. Best show of the tour, at least for us. A Skylit drive and DOD still have two more shows in Perth, we head to Sydney to return the van and catch flights Tues. Saying goodbye sucks but I try to see it as a positive: made new friends and strengthened existing friendships. Definitely cannot wait to come back to Australia. By far my new favourite [place].

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‘Cycles’ is out now via Shock.