On The Road With Horrorshow: Backstage Barbers, Literal Green Rooms & Fan Tats

Well, we made it! … Through the first week anyway. We just completed one of the biggest weeks of our lives so far which included a run of four sold out shows in Canberra, Wollongong, Newcastle and our hometown of Sydney. Not much sleep but a whole lot of fun and good vibes. Omar and B Wise have been killing it each night and it’s been great reconnecting with our fans and drawing on the crazy energy they bring. 

Hitting the merch desk after our Sydney show at The Factory. A lot of merch sold that night and especially vinyl which was great to see. We were at the desk signing for an over an hour, at one point there must be have been 150 or so people lined up!

We’ve never done the big group shot on stage before but just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to capture this moment. We’re constantly blown away by the support and energy we get from crowds in our hometown – much love to everyone who came through. Can you spot yourself? 

Rocking our tour jam Right Here with B Wise and Omar Musa at The Cambridge in Newcastle. This track is something we put together especially for the tour and it’s been going down a treat – a highlight of the set every time. 

A fan’s tattoo in Canberra. This guy said he had our logo tattooed on him many years ago before getting it updated to include the pen/sword motif in reference to the lyrics from Dead Star Shine. Seen a few Horrorshow tatts this weekend… always a humbling thing to see. 

Urthboy wishes me luck just minutes before taking the stage in Sydney. Forever grateful to have Urthy in the house keeping an eye on things – Elefant Traks all day. 

Adit seizes a rare opportunity to catch up on some Z’s in the van. We put a lot of kilometres in this week and with us driving back to Sydney after the Wollongong and Newcastle shows, sometimes you gotta grab these chances despite the risk of extensive photographic documentation. 

Chopping it up backstage at the Uni Bar in Wollongong with the legendary Ozi Batla and our two tour managers Gary and Seb. The décor of this room makes it one of the more unique (and kinda nauseating) band rooms in Australia. 

Stopping in for some tourist action at Lake George en route to Wollongong from Canberra. After years of driving past this place and wondering about the name it’s great to finally see it with some water in it. 

Crowd getting their hands high in Wollongong. Shouts to the Bulli Wolf - Ong on brutha. 

Solo getting laced with a sharp blade by B Wise’s DJ and all round legend Klasik before the show in Newcastle. First on-the-road barber experience – hopefully not the last. 

Adit descends from the band room at The Cambridge to take the stage just before our Newcastle show. This place is an institution – lot of legendary bands have passed through here – and this show was our first ever time selling it out! 

Congratulatory hug immediately after the Sydney show… riding on a pretty massive high in this photo. 

Signing a poster for Transit Bar in Canberra at the end of the night. Canberra was super live, you would never have known it was a Wednesday night! 

Kicking rhymes live on stage in Newcastle. I accidentally left my suitcase in Sydney that night so had to don our new merch instead. Lucky it’s so fly! 

Backstage momentarily in Sydney while the crowd calls for an encore. Here I am hyping the crowd up before we return to play our last couple of songs for the night. Time flies when you’re having fun. 

All photos by Cole Bennetts.

Horrorshow, B Wise and Omar Musa have nine shows left on their If You Know What I Mean national tour — head to theGuide for full details.