journal

2008: September 30 : Coming Home

I like calgary. Went for a beautiful walk last night out in the cold with my mates Julie and Nat, and really its a great city. I leave Canada in 16 hours. NOt that i am counting! i get home in 48 hours! not that im counting!!

Its been a very smooth tour. 22 shows in all. No real problems. i had my last show on Saturday night at the Axis Cafe in Edmonton. It was solo. an i think that possibly it was my favourite show. to be playing to a room filled with people, with most of them knowing my songs, really filled me with a new pride. It felt really safe, and i actually enjoyed doing the solo thing. Its a great venue - very intimate, candles - the whole deal.

My other favourite show would have to be our show at Egans Pub up in Ft St John - again playing to a room totally filled, with awesome people - singing along, dancing along and really showing their appreciation. Thats all you want in this. Is to affect people. To get them moving, to make them smile or think. Anything is good right?

Well, im glad to be heading home. I cant wait to be back there with my family and friends and partner. Bring it on.

I love WA. I really do. I love my home.

Bye for now.

2008: September 22: I'm In Lurve

Its raining today in Fernie. Typical. Yesterday was about 35 degrees – so beautiful. And today we have a complete day and night off, we had planned picnics, canoeing, hiking and campfires with marshmallows!! But instead we are spending time doing nothing. I have bought a bunch of new books, so at least I can chill with a good read.

Its been a lovely tour really. A great bunch of people. Our new French Canadian percussionist, Ivan Burke is wonderful. A very talented and very special 20 year old. Such a pleasure to tour with him, play on stage together and a new friend!

Our gigs have been great. We've had some awesome ones and a few quite ones thrown in. musically this trip is fantastic. Playing with MJ again is so wonderful. I have never seen a better bass player ever. She amazes me. Jean-Guy of course is THE man on the harp, cant beat it. And now with Ivan – well it's a great mix of musos.

I am in love with Canada. This is my fifth trip here. And I fall more and more madly in love with this place every time I come here. It makes me smile. Even though the drives are long between gigs its well worth it. To see these pristine lakes surrounded by mountains – just wow. And the colours of fall – just like the movies, but so much better!

I am smiling. I am feeling good. And yes, finally I am writing. I have three or four half songs on the go. A new one in French. A new blues one. A new folk one. Its all happening. I am healthy for once (I haven't drank a sip of alcohol for 3 weeks now!) and I am also looking forward to coming home and heading to Broome on yet again another tour.

Life is good.

2008: September 14: Killer Cougar Attack (Canada Tour)

Hey there. Well I thought I would share a funny little tour story. We finally had a day and night off yesterday which is always a blessing on any tour! On our Friday night gig we were privileged to have local Prince George musician, Matt support us. His music is beautiful, moving and totally blew me away. The show was small, as there was a huge band playing at the local uni, but the show was still really enjoyable. Sometimes the smaller crowds can be even better – you tend to explore your music a little more at these shows. Anyway, after the show, we get talking to Matt about my obsession with seeing a bear. This is my fifth trip to Canada in two years – and still no sighting of a bear. So, Matt tells us of a spot half an hour away where we can go hiking and we would definitely see not just one bear, but several. So me being me gets extremely excited – and we plan out the next day with Matt.

So all night I am dreaming of meeting my bear (in my dream I don't get eaten – it's a happy smiley dream of bears). Our day off arrives, after checking out the local market and packing our gear we meet up with Matt. He decides to make a quick last minute call to the local ranger, who tells him we mustn't go hiking in that spot as there is a huge, very aggressive bear right ion the path. No one was allowed in that area. I was so disappointed, I cant even begin to explain!

So we end up going for a walk on this beautiful trail up in the woods – apparently there are cougars up there. Now, cougars are worse then bears, they are likely to attack you and possibly kill you. I am not so interested in seeing a cougar, but still the thought of them is very very scary. So off we go, walking along chatting the entire way about cougar and bear attacks. We see some bear poo. It was old bear poo. No bears around here.

After walking maybe an hour or so we are heading down this path and MJ is infront of me. She suddenly screams loudly and jumps off the path into the bush. My imagination saw it all – a cougar running down the path coming for us. My reaction was to scream and turn around and grab the nearest tree and for some reason hug it for dear life. Several second later, I turn to see the killer cougar ….. and it's a big labradour, floppy cute dog, tongue out, tail wagging, running down the path! It was the funniest thing I have seen. MJ in the bush, me and my tree, and the guys laughing themselves stupid at us! I hacked up my wrists from gripping the tree so quickly and so full on!

For the rest of the day Jean-Guy cant stop suddenly bursting into laughter – he keeps laughing so hard that he starts crying!! In four years of playing and hanging with Jean, I have never seen this! I will never live this down, ever.

There I was, such a brave warrior woman….. turning my back, grabbing a tree and hoping to hell the killer animal would eat someone other then me, if I just blend into the tree enough!

Hmm….. still…. No bears. Grrrrrr!

2008:August 17: Chilling Down South

Sitting on the verandah at my aunty's house in Balingup. What a magic little town, one of my favourite spots in WA. And her house is amazing. Its such a beautiful morning. Totally relaxed, feeling at peace. There's no internet which means I am not allowed to work for a few days!! And no phone coverage – so I am made to not sit here planning ahead!

Been listening to some great cds – Damien Rice Live, Fiest, Jeff Buckley, Cat Power – all perfect for this space. Feel like I haven't listened to music for ages. My CD player in my van is screwed, and well, sometimes the idea of having music on just drives me insane as I feel like I need no noise at all. But right now I am loving it.

Its two weeks until I go to Canada again. Its full on. I can't quite get my head around this one. I only really just got home and I suppose I'm not quite ready to leave again. I screwed up my flights which means I have to stay an extra week. So now 3 weeks has turned into 4 weeks, which means more shows. 20 in total this time. In 21 nights we have 18 full band shows. Then the band will leave and I will do a couple solo shows at my favourite music cafes. I just hope my health and voice hold out. That's really always my main concern. MJ has found a great drummer – so I am trusting her judgement and we will meet each other literally a couple hours before getting on stage. The risks we take!! Its always so odd to play with a new drummer or bass player – you get so used to playing with the same people, that when you hear something else it feels strange for a while.

We have a new bass player playing with us at the moment. Gavin Arnold. He is just lovely. So nice to be around good people. The hardest thing about having a band is keeping the band. Keeping everyone happy. Getting the right mix of musicians and personalities. If you're not touring you can get by. But as soon as you hit the road with each other everything changes, and the fact is you want to get along. Or t could be disastrous. I have been very lucky in this area. Generally we have a lot of fun.

When people ask me how was my last tour to USA/Canada/Euro – my first answer is “I had SO much fun”. Because I really did. Jess, Almin and I just laughed so much everyday. Every day was a new adventure and we loved it. It was a perfect mix of people. Traveling with people you love and respect is a complete joy. It makes everything g smoothly and the shows just get better and more fun. It makes you feel not so far away from home. You create your own little family and you learn to live with each other well. That only happens if you're with the right people. I have heard some horror stories about band fighting and breaking up on tour.

I think about all the touring I have done in the past 4 years and some of the memories I can now laugh at. What I thought was huge back then seems tiny now. No major fights, although I did fly one drummer home! It just wasn't working, and I was so over it that I booked a flight that day and did the rest of the tour without it, and it was the best decision I could of made. I imagine this happens a lot with bands. You take a big risk by getting in a touring van with people for several weeks! Such a small space, for so many long hours!

We have our live DVD coming out soon – its taking a while to get together, didn't realize it would take so long. Again, if feels too soon! Having just released Love Underground, and now I'm back in the studio listening for mistakes and trying to get the mix right with Shaun – it's a pretty intense process, but I love what Shaun has done with the audio. I really trust his judgement and like working together. You just get so over listening to your own songs and your own voice!

Well, I am feeling its time to get up and go for a walk in the sunshine. It was freezing last night, so its time to soak in a little of that heat and the sunshine's rays……

2008: July 17: The Global Update

Just thought i would say a quick hello

hope everyone at home is great!! we get home in 5 days..and what a trip its been

really, its been the best tour ever! so much fun, so much adventure, so many places... way too many flights and airport time aswell

im sure i wrote about america - it was really the 'rock and roll' type of week- hanging at the fest, sleeping in the day, playing gigs at night, hanging with old time rockers, playing at summerfest, radio interviews, and recording bad rock songs at 3am! summerfest itself was amazing. i was stoked with our show. we had victor join us on percussion (violent femmes) and the crowd was packed. loved every minute up there...was stoked with the full standing ovation from the crowd (2 thousand or more people!) on the last song. had fun out in the crowd. selling cds and meeting some great people. very happy overall. got to hang with gomez -they are lovely guys, really down to earth and fun to be with!

canada was amazing. 5 really great shows. mountains, and walk around beautiful lakes, chair lifts up to mt fernie, then hanging in canmore in our beautiful lodge! three nights in a row - with two beautiful shows...hanging in our favourite cafe drinking soy lattes and eating yummy food, driving to lake louise, and banff and enjoying every second of it! also getting to hang with julie of course - which is a highlight for me! oh, and jess and almin were so sweet - they organised a mini surprise party at the lodge with cake, balloons, wine and singing with a few friends, coz last time i ws in canmore i had my bday and it was shit!! so they re-invented it and it was sooo gorgeous! our fernie shows were a lot of fun - heaps of dancing and quite rowdy shows. the canmore shows were more intimate - a cafe with about 60-70 people both nights, such a differnt type of show - i love these shows. huge thanks to marnie and alex. your cafe is beautiful and we cant wait to get back.

then it was good bye to almin..... was a very strange feeling - felt like we were really missing something!

off to holland.. after 18 hours of flights and airports again. this trip will involve over 100 hours spent on planes and being at airports. at least we were upgraded on one flight to first class - my first time ever...sweeeet!

holland was short and sweet. siz was the at the airport to pick us up - sooo good to see her (shes my old housemate) jess and i were so tired as we had again missed an entire nights sleep. we had our gig that night and it was great fun. got to catch up with some dutch family and friends. always nice. i feel right at home in Holland . My family is ducth , and it I feel strongly about my connection here. The room full and it went down well. Blues Cafe in Apeldoorn - really supportive, enthusiastic crowd. unfortunately we got lost on the way home and it took us nearly three hours instead of one. so we arrived home at 5am ! so, we wasted most our day sleeping! then off to amsterdam with jess and siz..just the usual amsterdam type of adventure. we had so much fun..walking through the streets, eating yummy crocetchas (spelling?) and laughing our heads off

off to switzerland very early the next morning (again we didnt sleep!- this is becoming the pattern of this trip!). We got to Zurich airport and was told our baggage was still in amsterdam , so we had to wait another 2.5 hours at the airport. so annoyed. but they put us up in the special lounge area for swiss air - and we got free food and drinks. i hit the coffee while jess hit the champagne!

as soon as we hit interlaken (after falling asleep and nearly missing our train stop!) i fell instantly in love again. here i was thinking canmore was again my favourite spot - but actually i dont think anything can beat this place. i love it!!

we quickly caught up with sandy, had an hours nap - then it was time to get on stage! so good to see some old friends - from inters, and also from home! the gig was jam packed. probably 300 down in one small room. very verbal crowd! always fun at teh metro bar! it went well. we then danced all night - mainly with hilarious korean boys!

next day we hung out and relaxed a little. i went and had coffee with sandys parents and sister pam, who i havent seem for about 4 or so years. it was great to catch up with them. we had dinner with stacey, jess, matt, dani , mark, kat and timmy. thai. yum. early night for once.

tuesday jess went to bern and it was our first day apart for nearly 4 weeks. kinda weird feeling. on these tours you live in and out of each others pockets. you learn so much about each other, and you hope to god it all goes well. this tour has gone just perfectly in the area of band mates. i couldn't of asked for it to go any smoother. i met up with all the aussie/brissy crew and did the ropes course again. you are 20 metres high in the trees, on this crazy ropes course, with only a little hook thing to save your life. really comforting! i enjoyed it more this time round - the flying foxes are mad! then 10 of us hired scooters and quad bikes and zoomed up the mountains for thee hours, stopping for a beer ...so much fun. stace and i shared a quad bike - we got it to 68 kms. good fun! that night we had a show...it was awesome. such a great big audience, really into the music. i felt jess and i played really well musically - very tuned in to each other and so much trust on the stage. again we danced...and then i became mum/nurse to a few drunken friends..great way to end the night!

yesterday was spent taking a long while to get out of bed, then hiring bicycles and riding to lake bergerseeli . and sunbaking and swimming! sooo lovely. dinner in the park and off to bed at a good hour!!

we are at gig 13 tonight. 2 more to go then home!

kinda looking forward to coming home..but it will be weird not being out and about in the world for a few weeks. poor jessy was sick as ever last night at 4am ... hope shes better today.

love always , tobes

2008:July 2: Two Days til Summerfest

Two days left. Well, one really. Til the big gig! Apparently our stage is huge! I haven't even checked it out yet – for some reason I want to leave it until the last minute. Not like me at all! We have our set list, our outfits, all exciting. This festival is pretty amazing. Just a massive showground – with never ending stages, and food stalls like Corn on the Cob, Weeners, Burgers, Mexican, typical American stuff. You really feel like you are in America . The people here have been incredibly hospitable – they go out of their way to help you out – to make you feel at home. We've been pretty lucky all in all – with our accom, and with having Tony just downstairs. Hes been a total trooper – love ya work Tones!

We are about to head off to our first ever USA radio interview. We have again been trying to sleep most the day. Amazingly our body clocks are still completely screwed. You sleep for a couple hours, then wake completely hungry for dinner. Its doing my head in. I still haven't seen any of the actual city. We seem to be nocturnal here. But I know as soon as we get to Canada all of that will change.

We went to the Fest on Monday night and caught some of matisyahu show – pretty huge sound – the crowd was insanely massive. Also caught one song from the Gin Blossoms – their main hit Jealousy – again awesome. Also got to see Bootsy Colins – from James Brown Band – they just funked it up for a very short set with a stage full of young and old musos – between 20-80 years of age! Crazy.

Last nights gig was interesting – not my favourite – it was a last minute show and unfortunately due to bad sound I struggled slightly. Still, it went down well, and it was great to play again to a brand new audience. Again, the bar tenders get drunk here while working and give you triple of anything you ask for. Dangerous mix really!

Well, I gotta roll..wish me luck!

2008:June 30: Running Amuk

so, usa , milwaukee ... interesting place - not that i have seen much!!

i really dont get my body clock. i cant fall asleep til like 8 or 9 am !! how crazy is that. its been going great really. the place is amazing. just a crazy house really. pity theres no furniture at all. you should see it - just huge spaces!! the kitchen is wicked! Did I mention the rock climbing wall..inside the house..

so our first gig was like, hmmm, ok. bad bad sound. the crowd liked it but i didnt really get into it. not being able to hear myself and being jetlagged , and feeling kinda deaf didnt help. then trying to sell cds at 20 bucks, not realising that is double what they normally charge! well, that was hard work! one guy said he would 'take me out ' if i was being serious about the price! was fun a night but. then of course slept all day the next day

then sat night we went to summerfest. it is bigger than anything i have seen. just huge. and at the entrance theres like 100s and 100s of harleys!! this is the home of harleys. and of happy days. they are actually getting the tax payers to pay for a huge statue of the FONZE! crazy hey. over here they use the word 'chache' for tryhard. or chachbag...or douchbag! weird!

anyhoo - we managed to score free tix to get into the fest - pretty cheap anyway - less than 20 bucks to see blondie! so we somehow got right down teh front - front row! we have made friends with this super american dork called tony who works at the recording studio below us. so we went in with him and his friend melissa. really fun. just danced a lot . blondie was awesome. her band were tight as. she just cracks me up completely! what a funny ass woman she is. but some of her songs are so priceless!

so, we end up at the studio recording a bad pop rock song... drums, violin and me. plus Bobby - the guy who owns this whole place on keys, jeff on bass... and a bunch of old time rocker stoners watching us talking us up when really we sounded like shit! lots of fun. we ate pizza and drank beer. and went to sleep again at 8am or so.

slept in til 5pm on sunday. then after a sandwich we went off to our show. our first song was to 2 people!! by a few songs in we 40 or so and it was a great show. sold lots of merch and the people here are sooo nice. so generous. they pour massive drinks... and offer up any help they can give. really nice crew over here.

i did however learn today that there are shooting every day in milwaukee . especially on july 3 and 4th. because there are so many fireworks that day people pre meditate murder - because gun shots just sound like fireworks, so no one finds out theres shootings going on! how crazy is that!

2008: June 28th or 29th: Very Confused??

Well I am super confused, we all are actually. It's the first time in my life that I have slept all day. Very weird. We had our first show last night. After 50 hours of travel. Well, lets start from the jetlag. Jess and I missed our flight from LA to Phoenix …it wasn't our fault (for once) so we had yet again another r4 hour stopover. Then we get to Chicago at around 3.30am . this is when we decided to jump in a car with two random men and semi-hitch hike to Milwaukee . And they were lovely (thankgod) I was so tired I could hardly speak, but Jessy – well you cant shut her up – so the conversation was flowing. Thanks so much to Skip and Grant – our saviours!

Anyway – we get to our place and sleepy Almin comes down to greet us and take us to our 'pad'. Holy shit!! That's all I can say about this place. Its massive, its luxury (but, we have NO furniture at all, just a bed- which we all had to share on the first day!) But t has this amazing bathroom – which makes you feel like youre CleoPatra – right in the middle of the entire studio – stairs leading up to a big spa bath – for everyone to see. A great balcony, a view of Milwaukee – one of the main streets, and a huge rehearsal space, a loft and get ready for it…. An entire rockclimbing wall!! You can imagine we all ran to it even though we were dazy and climbed to the top!! So so cool.

We managed to get a couple hours sleep – that's it , and then off to our first show. A bar called Up and Under – a blues bar. We asked for red bull each and they give us one with a triple shot of voddy just to get us going – then they began to feed us shots and drinks all night. They were told by Jeff to get us hammered. Well done Jeff! The bar managers completed their task quite easily. We lasted all night. We supported a band called Black Dog – a real mix of The Doors and Jimi Hendrix – pretty awesome band, so we had a dance, a few more drinks and headed to the local burger joint. Jess ended up on the wrong side of the counter – wearing their burger joint uniform! Back to the bar, where I found myself driving Jeffs new very cool moped up and down the pathways, I don't think the Americans liked me so much at this point! But, what a wicked bike! We finally got home and fell asleep at 7am .

We woke at yes….7pm! such a strange feeling to not know if its morning or night!

So now we are about to eat some pizza for breakkie/dinner and head out to the fest to see BLONDIE!! Bring it on!

2008:June 26:Over It

So far we are buggered. What a long trip. Jess and I left Perth and then flew for 6.5 hours to NZ. Then a 14 hour stop over – we are about to board now to LA. Three more flights – 21 more hours til we get to Milwaukee . We ventured out today in our very tired states – didn't really see much. A cute town called Mt Eden. Ate some Turkish food and shopped around. Both pretty exhausted really. Feeling excited, but too tired too think really. I think once I wake up in Milwaukee the excitement will really hit. We are staying at an ex-NBA stars pad! Apparently theres lots of Italian marble in the apartment. I am hoping Almin will be at the airport to pick us up – midnight . Then the next night we have our first ever USA show at some pub in Milwaukee . Then the adventure begins. We are staying very close to the festival grounds – so we are hoping to catch as much music as possible. We get to hang out with a few mates from the Violent Femmes – I haven't seen Victor for 18 months – we have kept contact via email – so its going to be great to hang again and have a few bevies together. Well they are calling us to board now – so I must get going. Here we go…

2008: March 27: Back in Canada

Canada . Here I am back in Canada . Third time now. And I still love it. We drive along and I sit there looking out my window on the wrong side of the road and I really cant help but smile. Touring in snow. In minus temperatures. I like it a lot. Its so weird being used to your own audiences in WA – the audiences that come to see you, that know your songs, that dance and sing along. Bigger audiences. Then you com to a new place and you start again, trying to win over a new crowd. Trying to get your music out to anyone who will listen. What a challenging career choice!

Hugh's doing a great job on drums (first time ever with us) and of course MJ is playing amazing bass as usual. Another challenge – being a trio. Im so used to having Jean-Guy or Lucy or Jess next to me – so used to hearing that extra instrument. But as a trio who are forced to play better, to try out new things, its kinda cool.

We are definitely doing the budget tour! When touring internationally your budget is non-existent. We are used to going to cute cafes at home for breaky every morning and ordering the works, with GOOD coffee. Here, well, we are eating a lot of cheap yogurt and a lot of subway super specials! But I must say that Canadian hospitality is awesome. The food been great at the venues and you should see my room right now! We all have our own hotel room – huge – double room, kitchenette, lounge area, 2 tvs, bathroom with bath, fake fire place, 2 phones, the list goes on – all to ourselves! And this particular hotel gives you free breaky too – so you wake up and go and eat hot waffles with maple syrup, fresh fruits and cream, then mosie on back to bed for a while! Well, to be honest, I have been in bed all day today working (its now 3pm !) You assume I'm being lazy?? Nope, quite the opposite – I am working non stop with emails back and forth for the new album, the launch, the 18 players, song lists, tour bookings blah blah. The fun stuff. Ha!

Its such a weird life style. I like it, I really do, but sometimes I am so sick of living out of a suitcase. So sick of different beds, and you miss home too and your family and your partner. Sick of driving. The other day we had an eleven hour drive and then a show that night. Our hire car starting screwing up and that held us back as well. By the end of it I was ready to die! But it's all part of the big game – the big plan – whatever that may be.

Back to Canada …still no bears, no mooses. Its like a little game they play with you just to get your hope up and all excited – they have all over Alberta big signs of very angry nasty looking mooses (they aren't the cute ones in Alberta) so, you see the sign and desperately look around, just to be disappointed once again. I am beginning to think there is no such thing as a moose. I want my money back.

This weekend we are off to Edmonton – the city with the worlds biggest mall! We will be joined by my very good mate Julz – we have been mates now for 16 years. Its my birthday Tuesday 1 st , but that day will be spent driving for 8 hours and performing at night, so I have decided its my birthday on Saturday. We have the day and the night off, so it should be a pretty cool 28 th birthday. My first birthday away from home. How will the presents find me??

Next week were off to my favourite places Banff and Canmore. Maybe that's where our tour will suddenly turn into a national geographics tour and all the wildlife will start attacking our car and I can get some good youtube footage. Lets cross our fingers!+

Well, I really should get some sleep. I don't seem to sleep at night here. Too much work to do before getting home.

Thanks for reading…see you soon. x

2007: December : Euro

Europe . Another adventure. This time a lot more enjoyable. Cant really find an explanation why – maybe just a lot smoother the second time around. UK seemed a whole lot smoother. And this time no smashing the car and no car fines. So that was handy. Really loved our shows over there – Oxford , Debenham, Bath (love love love Bath ), Harrogate , Cambridge . Oh my gosh Cambridge – well, lets just say we had a very very big night. I ended up behind the bar and we got half an hour sleep before waking and stumbling to the hire car at 5am or some crazy hour and driving over two hours to the airport. Not a fun morning. Coffee did not fix it. Nor did any type of greasy food. It was just wrong. But, a very fun night was had, and a great show at that!

Holland . My first time playing there. And I loved it. Was a beautiful week. Hanging with my old housemate Siz, and playing seven or so shows, hanging in Amsterdam, meeting great people, performing at some wonderful venues with really wonderful audiences, not having to spend to many hours in the car and doing some shopping, eating, sleeping in….really cant complain about Holland. Cant wait to get back there.. The Dutch audience are awesome – they are so present and so enthusiastic. I feel right at home there....bring it on.

2007: August 31st : More On Canada

Well, another quick journal page about our tour in Canada. Only four shows to go. I cant believe I will be home in a week. Its weird, its felt like we have been here a lot longer than we have. I spose we have managed to see a whole lot of BC and now we are driving into Alberta. The land of the good steak, so we hear. MJ is driving, like normal. Its strange, normally in Australia I am the one who does most the driving and sorting of maps and itinerys, but this trip MJ has decided to be the boss!! And she loves it. And it suits me fine… most the time coz I get to sit back and take in the scenery, some of the best scenery I have ever seen in my life. Canada is amazing, it really is. Mountains, and rivers, lakes, woods, forests, ocean, prairies. All really quite stunning.

Well we have played twelve shows now. And they are going well. We plan to come back in March, April next year as a trio to do another short tour. I would love to make this place my second home. We loved our time on the island – an amazing place. Also Vancouver is a definite stand out for me. For all of us I think I can safely say; ohh, we just about had a deer run infront of us. Wow, that was full on. Normally it's a kangaroo. We are still on the look for bears and moose and elks, but no luck so far. Not that we would be that lucky if we came face to face with a bear – but we all worked out exactly how we will deal with the bear – we are such a tough gang in our own heads! We did chase a squirrel –that was pretty tough if you ask me.

We have found some beautiful spots –Joel normally gets out his flute and plays away – sounds so beautiful when you are in the fresh air and in the middle of a forest.

Oh did I mention we have had some of the best food ever!!! We found our most favourite shopping centre in the whole wide world – Whole Foods in Vancouver. It is like a food heaven. We could have lived there – well, we practically did. The best coffee, the most amazing selection of organic food, a bit of everything. I could safely say that I could eat there the rest of my life and I would be forever happy!!

Musically we are playing around a little e- a new jam with Run, and working on a new song of mine called Karma. Its kinda reggae, quite different to what I normally write. Its funny, I really cant fit into any particular catergory of music, I have tried, but I fail and in reality I really like having such a mix. I think if I played one style I would simply get bored. I love that we can go from a ful folk song, straight to a jazzy number, or latin. Keeps it interesting for us. Joel blows me away with his playing. He has really developed this year, if only he lived in Perth!

I feel like next year we will be doing a lot of travel again, We are already looking at doing 2 Canada trips and 2 Europe trips, and probably five east coast tours – if all goes well. Plus we must release the new album – Im excited and sacred!! Its going to be quite different form the last – I think I would like it a little more raw – more our style on stage, I suppose it will all develop as we go along – so who knows what the final product will be – but I am definitely keen to get back into the studio and start being creative again.

Well, we have just entered Alberta, another 45 minutes shoved in this tiny car with everyone. All I can say is lucky we all like eachother, or it could be very very messy.

I have five shows in Perth before I head on a north tour of WA – so I hope to see all the Perth crew at these shows – looking forward to doing some WA shows again. Bring it on.

Take it easy…cheers ….

Tobes

2007: August 24th: Canada ey

hey hey
well finally i have a moment to write. im back in vancouver - i think we are on day 15. 11 to go. well - its easy - i love canada. i really do. especially this time round. i didnt really see much last year in winnipeg - and now this time we are touring in BC and its magical. Great scenery, great people.

its been a very full on tour so far. mainly you have four people (some who havent met before!) shoved in a car with not much space to breathe. i couldve got a minivan, but it cost about 700 more - and its a budget trip. so joel and i have been pretty much sitting on eachothers laps in the back with all the luggage. this trip is a get to know eachother and get to know yourself trip. there is no space, no privacy. its full on. the hotel rooms are always two double beds for four people, or we get in a "cot". still no room to move and sharing beds - taking turns who you sleep with that nite. so yeh, not much sleep, way too much driving, way too many smelly boy farts, and a very loud and energetic bunch (well, me and the boys anyway!!)

our shows - well i have really liked a lot of them. the festival was really cool. we played both days alongside sarah harmer (awesome!), michael franti, xavier rudd, and som amazing funk bands, blues bands, acoustci folk bands. rwally great crowd - lots of hippies!! we got fed well, and even got free massages backstage - yes very rockstar!! we stayed at a local ladies house - she was so so kind - diana. but then i look up at her book shelf and i see this reptil - and its alive - yep she has a very large pet iguana - with no cage. a lil freaky - and way too many spiders!!

we were very festive that weekend - dancing and being silly and all that. sold a good bunch of cds which is great!

we spent a week on the island - so so cool. i could definately live in a place like this. weve done some hiking, picnics, shopping, lots of eating at yummy wholefood vegan places, great great food, loads of driving, loads of laughig and being dickheads, oh we stayed in a very flash cassino on the first nite (my accidental internet booking), seen amazing mountains, a couple of skunks ( i chased him - he didnt like it much), played so far 7 shows, met some cool people..all good. no bears..no mooses - yet ...quite upsetting

it gets really hard not having space. you just want your own bed, or at least your own room. you want some peace and quiet at times (yes, can you believe i am saying this), you gotta put up with peoples moods and weird behaviour!! its all crazy. mj has taken charge of maps and driving etc which is cool. coz i think the boys and i would be screwed.

they are great a great bunch to travel with - we are always beng silly and running amuk which is cool. we found this awesome bar in victoria - with peanuts all over the floor and hundreds of bras hanging from the ceiling. i kept mine on!! for a while.

oh my favourite show was in kelowna. really awesome bar/restaurant - beautiful crowd - sold lots, and met again some wonderful supportive people

im really glad i took the risk with this trip..looking forward to next year already!!

we have another 3 nites now in vancouver then head north to real country !! wish us luck


tobes xx

2007: AUGUST 22nd - Review on Toby at Cumberland Music Festival (Canada)

review on toby - canada

Jules S. Xavier
Record Staff
It was a love at first sound when the audience was introduced to Toby Beard during her second of two high-energy performances during The Big Time Out.
Despite having sleepy vocal cords, the lead singer of West Australia's most energetic and vibrant roots act was in her element during Cumberland's three-day music festival.
Performing at high noon Sunday, Toby found the dampness and early rise from slumber curtailed what music lovers would have witnessed if she was on stage later in the day.
"I was struggling to hit the high notes that I'm usually double what you heard," she offered afterwards in The BTO media tent. "I'd much prefer a night slot. Like the audience, we were all just waking up."
Still, once Toby and her band mates Manitoban MJ Dandeneau on upright bass, Melbourne's Joel Plymin on sax/flute and drummer Adrian Van Praag, also from West Australia, warmed up they had the audience focused during a 60-minute performance.
"Festivals are my favourite," said Toby. "You've got the people and you can work with them."
And work she did. Drawing on songs from her latest CD Renaissance and new tunes for a yet untitled next album, the singer/songwriter quickly piqued her audience with her dynamic guitar playing and an array of emotive and untamed lyrics.
Renaissance offers a perfect fusion of roots, blues, jazz, reggae, Latin and rock. With lyrics being important to her, Toby said the creative process sometimes leads to writer's block.
"For eight months I'm not writing anything," she said. "Then something happens and I can write five songs.
"In my teens and early 20's, I'd take my guitar everywhere. But when you do 160 shows a year, I don't anymore. I've got friends who will ask me to play, but sometimes you need to be away from your music."
Used to three sets a night and performing Down Under five nights a week, Toby said coming to Canada to perform felt right at this juncture in her music career. It has been stressful of course, with Van Praag filling in when her original drummer begged off flying here three days before departure.
She met Plymin and Dandeneau last year in Melbourne at a music fest.
"It was an odd meeting," she recalled. "We exchanged numbers. We get along … I flew them over to Perth and we'd perform together."
With her band only together a week prior to arriving in Canada for her inaugural mini-tour of B.C. and a few stops in Alberta, they had a chance to perform in Kelowna in an intimate setting of a pub.
"I was in my element there like I am back home," she explained of long road trips and a hectic pace that leaves little time to work on a video. "I can take notice and look to see that the people are listening or dancing. There's interaction."
While some BTO goers danced off to Toby's right, Plymin escaped the stage and performed with his sax much to the appreciation of relaxed spectators capturing the moment on their digital cameras.
"For me, coming to Canada was good. It's time to take some risks," said Toby. "This is going to cost me money, but this is also good. My band changes a lot, but I like to mix it up. Change is good for me and my audience."
She added, "If you're going to be a performer, you've got to get off your ass and do it. I'm going hard this year … when I get home I've got 70 gigs already booked."
While she receives radio air time back home, Toby concedes her music is not mainstream, or pop. She covers a variety of genres for good reason.
"I just can't fit into one. Sure you might want to be more commercial, but that's not me. If you can add a jazz or latin sound it's just expanding your audience. I write what's natural to me. I like blues, but I can get bored sometimes. Mixing things up is great."
Does she have a favourite song?
Breathe, she said. She loves the lyrics, which is a part of the writing process she excels at when there's free time or a subject like love comes up.
"It's easy to write about love. Everyone does, whether it's a sad or feisty song. It's easy. No, it's easier to write a song about love actually if you think about a situation."
Like Breathe, it's a song that she can relate because she drew on an experience to create it. The lyrics and how she tackles the song do garner the attention of an audience: "There's no escape/Well I can't sleep when I'm next to you/I lay there watching you breathe/ Well I can't keep my hands off you/you make me feel so beautiful."
Describing herself as raw, passionate and natural, Toby admitted she writes what comes naturally from life around her.
"I only do what's natural. I'm not something I'm not and that's what you get. I know a lot of my songs are written about my own experiences and that's something I'm trying to do differently."
With her exposure to Canada and its people, Toby said she's enjoying the experience. Australians, she added, tend to have a sarcastic side that takes some getting used to after a first meeting.
"Canadians are super friendly. You've got a good-looking country. In my country, we are sarcastic. People think I'm being rude or nasty when I'm just being sarcastic."
And for the three boys who asked that she sign their arms with a pen, Toby is still not used to being a celebrity and signing autographs.
"It's a funny feeling because they think you're bigger than you are. You have a line of people wanting your autograph. But you have to give of yourself because they're supporting you."
Just like the BTO fans sipping on their morning java taking in Toby's performance on a warm summer morning in Cumberland.
arts@comoxvalleyrecord.com

Jules S. Xavier Assistant Editor

2007: JUNE 12th: BALLS AND BUMCRACK TOUR QLD/NSW

why balls and bumcrack - really can't answer that. i think we just got so used to seeing julz' bumcrack that it just stuck and unfortunately with all of us being so mature - it become to butt of every joke.  

what an awesome tour. i can say that in all honesty. i mean, there were a couple dud gigs in there, but generally the gigs were great - playing with almin and michael - and one night with joel - really loved our time on the east coast

julz - well shes a winner all around. the best tour manager you could ask for (other then when shes a bossy shit!) - waking you up with hot cups of teas, making your bed all snuggly at night, driving around her beloved van (harry by day, hazard by night), putting up with us singing harmonies over and over again to music she apparantly once used to like! giving us her portion of the drinks, and of course getting her crack out on demand. love you julz.

it was quite the touring party - al, mik, julz, kera, kat and our support band nightillion - krissy, marz and luka. great band - very jazzy cool. very cool to hang with after a gig. they forced us to drink. and it was fun.

also we can't miss out kath and sach and thomas who does the best actions to goodbye baby. nasty - but funny :)

we arrived brissy wednesday and performed that lunch - at the queen's mall. i really enjoyed it this time (last time here i was so hungover i couldn't stand up!) really great crowd - good start to the tour. that night we had the pleasure of seeing nightillion perform at barsoma. very enjoyable. then up we went. felt good to be performing a couple new songs with the boys "so tired" and "favourite day". always a good feeling to try something new

next day we had off. shopped a little. drank lotsa coffee. went to a wonderful restaurant and caught the end of mick harts show. not a bad day at all

friday we played in the freezing cold mall in the valley. and i mean freezing. funnily enough mike woke up with a flu - which is strange coz he was wearing all of a bonds tshirt. hmmm, clever! despite the cold it was a fun gig. al got a dollar seventy-five thrown at his head - that was a compliment alright! julz got her head patted. and we had crazy men running past several times in tights with socks as balls. good look.

next day we set off to malaney - the lovely upfront club. i had really enjoyed our last show there, and it was great to see some familiar faces back again. again we very much enjoyed nightillions set, then on we went. i loved this show - the audience were a very appreciative crowd - they listened, the danced, they enjoyed. so that all i can ask for at a show. i had fun. we felt like teenagers sneaking vodka into our drinks. but it was worth it.off to the pub with the nightillion gang, where i decided not to be a nanna on tour anymore. yes - i am no longer nanna toby, and i am proud!

we all felt a lil seedy the next day - and luckily the next gig was kinda empty. so empty infact that i got on the drums and al on guitar and julz slept in the van. yep - that good!

monday - byron. yipeee! i love byron. we had four nights in byron. two nights off - to chill, go to the movies, watch sunsets, eat amazing food (way too much), get tattoos, massages, have jams on the beach, go to the lighthouse, nearly get weird piercings, and of course play at the rails. we had the absolute pleasure of having mr joel plymin join us - which of course was awesome. we also had the pleasure of watching his shit hot band - frankie wants out. nine piece swing. so so cool.

i really enjoy the byron shows - again some familiar faces and a supportive crowd. oh, and the best salad i have ever eaten in my entire life. julz will back me on this one.

i got my first (and last) tat. it hurt. but i felt tough. and i managed to not cry. since i am now not nanna toby, i had to not cry. that would be just wrong. so only a tear or two. thats all. really. kinda.

poor kera got sick. bites and puffiness and the poor thing ended in hospital. so that was the huge bummer of the tour. somehow she managed to still be a party girl and make us laugh and be as gorgeous as ever. love to you miss kera.

so, it was a week of playing music and watching other play music. went to the beach hotel and saw dejagroove play. and we danced. like we've never danced before. so good infact that almin and i were asked if we were dancing partners proffessionly. i think maybe, just maybe the person asking was blind. or intoxicated. or both. but we thought we were amazing. and we rocked our piece of the dance floor. the band were brilliant - so full of energy - really enjoyed it.

our tongue and groove gig was a really fun gig. ofa behind the bar was more then generous with filling me up on jagers. thanks ofa. nightillion did their best set - very fun and energetic and smooth. our set was great fun- cool crowd, up and dancing and a wicked group of girls who knew my lyrics better then i did. turned into a crazy night filled with shanatagans. ..but, what goes on tour stays on tour.

yamba was a stand out - what a beautiful place. awesome pub overlooking the ocean. sooo yum. good sound. good people. good fun. mike was on fire with his new hat. a very fun night of music and silliness.

all in all a great tour. with a bit of holiday time in there - a good touring group - uncle albert, cussin dubby, aunty crackerjack, little micky-dee, mutha kat, mutha mary and cousin kera-billie. oh, and who can forget harry - the love of julz' life.

big thanks to the boys, to julz and to the nightillion crew. love your work. x

www.youtube.com/tobybeard

2007:May 29th: LET IT SNOW

I woke this morning to MJ saying "quick get up, look out the window". It was snowing. Real snow. Real, pretty, white snow. I have never seen actual snow falling before so I did a happy dance on the balcony. And then realized after a couple of minutes I was freezing, and I looked like a dickhead in my pyjamas getting wet doing the happy dance. 4 degrees. We got all rugged up and walked into town. Singing 'frosty the snowman', 'walking in a winter wonderland' and 'let it snow let it snow'. Then I quickly realized I again was losing my voice and should really shut up and get back indoors. Anyway, the mountains look even more incredible now covered in snow. It looks like a postcard, the mountain, the woods, covered in white fresh snow. I love Switzerland !! Let it snow let it snow let it snow

Tobes xx

2007: May 27th : TREE HUGGER

It's midnight , and we just did our second show at Metros. Wow, playing to a bar filled with about 300 very loud, very drunk backpackers – mainly American, mainly football players – well that's kinda "special". It actually somehow went pretty well, especially since I have been super sick for here days now. I spent today in bed – literally all day. Watching Sex in the City and House and trying to sleep. I had one quick break – to check my bank account details – I have been charged over a grand for car issues. Quite possibly we got way more speeding fines then we ever realized. I hate the England road system!!

So, being this sick, I am surprised that any voice came out at all. Lets just say it was lucky I learned a Johnny Cash song a couple days ago – I think we could of played that all night and they would have been stoked. I haven't seen so much bumping and grinding in a very long time. Is this what I used to do when I worked at Balmers???

Well we've spent our time here so far hiking, bike riding, driving the scooter up mountains, relaxing, being sick, and yesterday we went and did an amazing rope course. It's a new adventure course over here, so we thought we'd give it a shot. MJ being a climber was stoked, me, on the other hand was shitting myself as I am no so good with heights. You are up in these SUPER HIGH trees over 60 feet high, and the only thing that is saving you from falling is a couple of tiny metal clamps. Which you are responsible for yourself. So if you stuff it up, you fall. Pretty scary if you ask me. You go on all these hanging logs, flying foxes, thin ropes, repels etc.

The flying foxes were bloody scary. My first one was insane. I was so scared, then finally I get the balls, and off I go. I didn't make it the whole way – so there I am hanging off this rope 60 feet high screaming, and MJ is on the other side filming me and laughing. Apparently its really funny to be hanging there waiting to fall and die on the rocks below. Not funny. But once you start there's no turning back, and it only got worse. After a while I was so mad that I even tried to overcome my fear of heights. I mean, what a stupid thing to do – climb huge ladders, and find yourself in the tree tops, pretty much crying like a baby, desperately wanting to be back on the ground, telling yourself "you can do it, you have to do it,you are a brave warrior princess!"I officially at that moment became a tree hugger. I have skydived, paraglided and hang glided, but for me this was much scarier. But I got through it and felt pretty damn good after. I think I will stick to staying on the ground from now on.

Well time for this nanna to go to sleep. Nitey nite. Sweet dreams.

Tobes x

2007: May 23rd : CAR ISSUES

Well what a great week. We had our final week in the UK was fabulous. Bath was a stand out. But our gig in Cambridge was probably my favourite - great country pub bout 100 or more in the audience and they were payers which always means you will have a responsive, attentive crowd and these guys were awesome. We had to do a three encores and we ended on Blue, which we never do as a duo but the entire crowd started clapping along and stomping and it was great fun having that involvement. We sold out of CDs which was great, but a bugger as we would've sold another 20 or so albums that night. If you are in Cambridge check out the Elm Tree  - very very cute

So back to Oxford for a super fun gig. The crowd were up and dancing the entire set and people had come back from our gig there three weeks before and they knew the words – a pretty cool feeling! MJ was going off this particular night, pulling out the most incredible bass solos you can imagine and the crowd loved her! We were also joined by a local violinist who played before us. She was pretty awesome and a lot of fun to be on stage with, so hopefully when we are back in the UK she will join us for some more shows.

After our show on Sat in Norwich we drove back to London arriving at 3am, so tired. We just about had our 2 nd crazy accident. The first was my fault – I am driver and MJ is in charge of directions ...works way better this way. So, I'm happily driving along, dancing along and singing along to my new Patsy Cline CD and suddenly MJ leans over and grabs the wheel and swings it toward her. I was on the wrong side of the road (yes I know England is the same as Australia and I really don't have any explanation, maybe I was too involved in Patsy at the time) and we just missed an oncoming van coming at us at around 100kms per hour! Really quite scary. Well the second accident was slightly more scary. I fell asleep at the wheel, which I have never done with all the driving I have experienced. I don't know who woke first but we were about to hit the side railing again at about 120 kms per hour. And MJ saved the day once again. Talk about a heart attack - bloody scary stuff.   Oh, and did I mention how I smashed the hire car!!! Yep, I have never smashed a car in my life (actually I lie, I did back into a car once) So we are driving along and I notice how incredible the sunset is I get all excited and pull over and the as I am backing up to get the best position we hear a smash and bang, I hit a huge rock and it scrapes the hell out of our very brand new car. So it cost like a minimum of 500 aussie for doing this. Add this to our two parking fines worth over $400 and our speeding fines and the bank situation is not looking so good. Big ouch.

So – us, being so 'clever' drive to a Ford company and purchase some Apple Green paint – yes apple green. And we attempt to paint over the many scratches ...hmm not pretty at all. If we get a blind person checking for smashes, then we will be just fine. Fingers crossed.

Our third near accident (well now our fourth really) was on the way to the airport at 4am. Again , the wrong side of the road this time I blame MJ  - she told me to do it. Simple as that really. So I simply believed her and off I went and as I get to the corner a car whizzes around it and misses us by a metre or two. Fun I tell you! Really fun. Especially after only three hours sleep.

Anyhoo, after nearly missing our plane here we are in my all time favourite place - Interlaken, Switzerland. We had our first show last nite. Huge crowd, pretty cool nite all round. Today MJ and I went for a mountain hike, but didn't quite make it to the top. But he, “ we tried. Then we went for a scooter ride , much easier way to get to great hights. Loved it. Love being back here. It is my heaven. The most beautiful place  - a town in between two amazing lakes, surrounded by the amazing Swiss alps. We were given last night a ticket to the top of Europe by the owner of Balmers. Very nice prezzie, so we will hit the Jaungfrau in the next few days. We also want to go water rafting, canyoning and rope climbing.

Should be a great couple of weeks.

Bring it on!

Tobes x

2007: May 16th - TOO FAT TO PLAY BRITTNEY

So the second part of the tour. Right now MJ is driving and we are heading back to Brighton. We will stop at Fiona's houseboat for a well needed cup of tea and then head to our gig in Hastings.

Friday night saw us at the Cherry Tree Inn, Debenshire. Just near Ipswich. Pretty cool country typa pub. We got there and were told there was no PA. Luckily local lad Smiley came and saved the day by taking us to James house. Yep James is a winner and leant us his PA...thanks James, you're a star!

Back to the venue and after some nice home made pasta we start the show. Well, it was definately 'interesting'. 400 people in town headed to a footy three coarse dinner and dance, so we weren't left with that many people. We did however get a big bunch of young guys ...very rowdy young guys who obviously are into their top 40 shit and not original roots live music. So, as were trying to play one lovely guy calls out "why don't you play us some Brittney", he follows the request with yelling out "actually, no, you're way too fat for that". Oh I really liked that guy...so sweet, so caring, I'm surprised I didn't feel the urge to go home with him. Then five minutes later I get the next lovely comment. This time another guy who calls out "My first dog's name was Toby". I don't think you want to know my response to this guy. The owner Zoe ends up coming up and politely asking them to shut up or leave. So they left. Which was awesome, coz then we had a lovely crowd who wanted to hear the music. So the last set was great, a good bunch of people enjoying and having a dance.

The next day was lovely, we headed into this beautiful little town, I forget the name, but the streets were gorgeous and crazy to drive on, all big enough for one car only, in the most stunning countryside. Anyway we spent the day looking at the little markets and stalls and this amazing castle. How cool is it that you can be driving along and you look over and there stands a medieval castle. And again we seemed to spend the most time in the gourmet cheese shops. We found James in there and again he was a winner and gave us some yummy brie for free ...thanks again!!

Saturday night back in Norwich (this time a lot more fun as local guitarist Ross joined us for the two sets – nice work!), then Sunday Harrogate. What a cool town. I loved this place. And we loved the venue too. The blues bar/cafe. Totally our type of crowd and set up, really enjoyed the gig. This gorgeous young boy came and sat on the stage and after a while hands over this piece of paper saying "Hi Toby, my name is Hamish, I'm nine." A while later he hands over another paper, this type this drawing of a guitar on fire, he named is Fireuitar, It was a very sweet moment -he even became our personal roadie as well for the day  - even sweeter.

We had a few interesting things happen on the road too. While MJ had to stop on the side of the road – I stupidly go walking through a bush with no shoes on and my pants rolled up and then suddenly I have this crazy itching and stinging sensation over my legs and feet and these lumps start coming up!! Some sort of poison plant. It was the last thing I needed while we were lost and late once again! Luckily the pain only lasted for under an hour. Another lesson learned.

Next stop was my favourite ...Bath. What a place. Filled with so many amazing heritage building and churches and cute cafes. And of course the Roman Baths . I went in and explored for just over an hour – really quite amazing. And the gig was great, the Porter. Love this place. Really intimate setting, cool little round tables and round chairs, lovely people, fosters beer!! What more could you want. The manager said it was the happiest audience he'd ever seen at the Porter, so I was pretty stoked to hear that comment!

We got to have a day off in Bath which was beautiful and then here we are ready for another Hastings gig – could be interesting, lets hope we don't get lost, and have more people there than last time!!

Ciao for now.

Tobes x

2207: MAY 10th - GETTING LOST IN THE UK

Well, it's been two weeks since we arrived, and it feels like forever ago.

MJ and I met up at Heathrow airport after a pretty shitty long flight (MJ only took six or eight hours, lucky girl!). We jumped in our hire car, a lovely manual olive green ford, pretty much brand new. Experienced my first bad coffee in a plastic cup ...the machine didn't give change either.

Off we headed to Oxford . Our first destination. The trip went really well considering I haven't driven before in the UK – so I thought this was a sign of how sweet and easy and non-stressful our driving would be. I have never been more wrong in my life!!

I think we should have got a sponsorship from panadol, or red bull, or Nescafe, or, well who knows.

Our bed and breakfast on the first night was really a shithole.It smelt like dead nannas, and once in the shower you couldn't seem to get out, mainly because the sink was in the way and you had to very tightly suck in your tummy, rub up against the wall, and hold tight to squeeze past. Lesson number one, the English B&bs are rather different from our B&Bs. Oh oh, am I complaining already ...yupget ready for it!!

Well our first gig was on the Friday night at the X in Oxford . It went down really well, we were placed in between two very heavy rock-punk chick typa bands. Well suited hey!! HA! I was again a little stressed, but in the end it was all good, and we managed to sell a lot of cds which is great, and we were invited back to play a couple weeks later which is a bonus. Thanks AL , lovely lovely lady who runs the place.

We also go to catch up with my aunty, uncle, granny and couz in Oxford . They were in London a few days and came and visited. Pretty much we had six people in the car, all our luggage and instruments, and we drove around what seemed to be all day looking for parking. Lesson number two, there is NO parking in England . None whatsoever! We also kept driving alongside police cars, and then even tried to find illegal parking at a police station. Poor old Gran couldn't move in the back, sitting on someone's lap with a bass and a guitar on her lap. Always treat your elderly with respect and kindness, oops.

So on to our next gig. Won't mention any names or places here. We drove over four hours to this gig. We had got lost. It should've taken us maybe two hours. But the road systems are crazy. I mean, WA touring is hmmmm should we go north to Broome, or south to Margs. Hard really. Well you get to UK and there's M25, A1525 then more Ms, more As (thousands it seems!) and meanwhile you are driving over 130 kms per hour trying to keep up and there's no speeding signs, yet there are warning signs for speed cameras EVERYWHERE. We have been honked many a time in the past two weeks.

Lesson three. . .we hate the roads in the UK .

So…. Moving on with the story. We get to our next venue. And the guys have no clue who we are they have never heard of us ... the past owner had booked us (he had told us all was cool with the new owners), but apparently not. So, we hunted down the past owner in another pub, to say he looked slightly frightened when he saw me, is an understatement. But, we were told no gig, no accom, no nothing..¦.so back on the road for another 4 hours. This time heading to Brighton .

We arrived after midnight, totally exhausted. My very good mate Fiona lives in a houseboat. Hmm…sounds interesting?? Well it is. I will post some photos for you to see. It's crazy. And a little smelly. Yep, one of those toilets you can't flush you put your bog roll in an itty bitty bin next to you – so yes you get to breathe in other peoples shit while you are trying to relax on the loo. Lovely! But, the houseboat is cool in many ways lots of artwork, crazy nik-naks and tiny rooms. Plus I got to hang with Fi and I miss her so sooo much, so it was awesome to see her. The low ceilings proved quite difficult for me however, and I nearly knocked myself out several times during our three nights there!! Brighton - I love Brighton . Like an even better version of freo. Great pubs, cafes, shops, people, awesome vibe. So we looked forward to our one Brighton gig at the Joogleberry Playhouse – a beautiful theatre. The gig was really awesome. Great crowd, really responsive which was great. Would play there again anyday. Thanks beautiful Fiona for spoiling us and making me laugh!

Tuesday we headed into London , for our one off London show. We arrived feeling pretty smelly as we hadn't showered for a few days due to the off smelling toilet. It kinda felt dirtier showering then not showering, if that's possible. And no amount of lavender spray can get rid of that. Or nag champa incense.

So we arrive to meet my sister's best mate Jade in Mayfair . Jade greets us with a huge smile and informs us she has a 'little treat' for us!! Well, the little treat was a HUGE treat, the top suite in a hotel room for two nights! With all free alcohol and food! It was lush. The most perfect treat I've ever had! Thank you Jade- our complete hero! We love you!

The London gig was pretty spesh. Well, it was spesh to see lots of my mates who I hadn't seen for ages. So the gig was very short and sweet but the night was great. Thanks to my mates who rocked up - thank god for you guys -you rocked that tiny pub!

Staying in London was sweet due the fact Jade spoiled us rotten. She took us to one of the top five restaurants in London called "Sketch" and wow it was just incredible. Never seen anything like it. It was a few days filled with luxury and great food!

Next stop…Leighton Buzzard. We got lost again. Funny that. MJ was on directions may I add. Yep, not my fault. Completely hers. Of course. Nothing is ever my fault right!?

Cool pub in Leighton. Great crowd. Great curry. Very country pub like. But we liked it a lot.

We managed to get very lost the next day too. See any pattern here?

Off to Norwich . A very cool venue. The gig was pretty packed out- several drunkens, but some cool people too – didn't get much sleep however since Donavon Frankenreiter CD was playing downstairs loudly from 3-7am. To think the day before that I had actually enjoyed Donavon. Shame really. We also had the pleasure during our sleepless night to hear someone having sex right next to us – and not just any typa sex the sex where either she was really enjoying herself, or she just liked to fake it so loudly that all of Norwich could here. Time to get outta there we thought. So we were in the car by 7am heading to Manchester to perform at the "Girls Got Blues" Fest. The countryside was just stunning during the drive up there. The gig was cool. Got to see some great artists perform - my favourite being GeekGirl - check them out - very cool.

Since then we have been hanging in London again with my mate Jas (been mates for 20 years) and her fiancé Louis. Having fun. Did a gig last night near Hastings – well, it was our second smallest gig on record – total people at one point in the room was 11 including us! But it turned out really quite fun – luckily the people there were a lot of fun.

Back in London now just chilling until tomorrows gig. Getting spoiled once again by Jas and Louis. Bring on the Spanish tapas.

Well, I know that by the end of this tour, I will have gained so much knowledge on overseas touring. We are definitely having fun, but it's a lot of hard work. Word of warning don't ever ask a touring musician "how's your holiday going". This is not a holiday at all. It's a huge learning experience, new venues, new audiences, new road systems, new rules, and at the same time I think we are managing to keep our sense of humour with the whole thing.

I take my hat off to any musician who is out there doing this – the likes of Carus – well done!

Anyhoo we have another six or seven gigs here, then four in Switz and maybe a few in Holland . Bring it on!! And thanks to any crew who have come and watched our shows and also to the people who have bought an album! We love you!

2007:April 18th - Life and stuff

Bit of a time for writing. Maybe? Not sure what about. Feeling pretty tired. I am so over organising this UK tour. Its my first time, and its yep its been bloody difficult putting together so many shows. I have just paid for car hire, some accom, let all my mates know we will be doing some couch surfing while we are there (thanks guys!) and well, just trying to work out how to get from one destination to another. MJ is meeting me there. Haven't performed together for six months – should be good. Then Miss Lucy Fisher will join us for a few shows. Luce has been over in South America – so we haven't seen each other for nearly six months. Will be great to see Luce and hear all her stories.

I feel like this year is whizzing by. I counted and in the first four months of this year there has been 58 shows. Quite a lot really. And I look at my plan for the next six months and its crazy – UK , Switzerland , south west WA tour, QLD/NSW tour, North/West WA tour, Cross Canada tour, then a full WA state tour. Plus a new album and a Red Rooster single. All in six months!

I have moved home. Back with my fam , and actually its going quite well. I get to cook in a nice clean kitchen (not so clean after I have been in there), be with my fam who crack me up most the time, do the Home and Away thing, and most important spend time with my very beautiful sister. So its all worth it for me.

Everything seems to be happening around me right now, mates getting married and other pregnant, people travelling, friends dealing with family illnesses. Its all happening and its all kind of overwhelming. And still, I cant seem to write. Probably because I am stuck behind this computer organising tours and car hire and trying to get my name out there. If you know of any good managers please send them to me!

Looking back at my last journal entries I have missed some major things!! Like CANADA !! Yep I went to Canada for a month last September. Pretty awesome. Did about ten shows with MJ in Winnipeg – funny little town, but had a ball. I especially like Calgary – and while staying in Calgary with one of my best mates Julz – well we had a few adventures. We did Banff and Canmore (stayed in a beautiful motel, spa bath, late nite bbq, mountains – amazing)– could you get anymore beautiful!??!? Also did Lake Louise which is honestly one of the most beautiful sites I've ever seen. We went on canoe for an hour or so. The water was so incredibly cold, just so yummy. …

And we did a road trip across the border of America .

Three towns in a few hours –Very memorable. It involved the mission to find huckleberry pie. It included the greatest love of all from Whitney Housten. (on repeat) It involved twangy accents. and crazy dogs. and towns called Shelby , Kevin and Sunburst. It was funny. We had set off with our country hats to America in our hire car, Whitney blasting from the speakers. Met some strange Americans. Went to three very weird, very backwards, very redneck towns.

First stop - (we were in Montanna by the way)  Sunburst. Nothing sunny bout this town. We find the one shop - it has a big sign saying fresh hot donuts and an ATM inside. So i ask the girl kindly for some donuts. She stares at me blankly. So I ask again. maybe she has a hearing problem?? I ask again. Then again, this time in my best american twangy accent. Finally she says back to me without smiling, total monotone –“ the boss ain't cook any today.”  We ask to use the ATM – three times and again she looks blankly and says “Ain't working today” . Very special girl… wander what she does for entertainment??

Next stop. A town called Kevin. Yep. A pub that had closed down, some houses and cars that belonged in a time wap. Not a person to be seen. A playground and the Kevin city hall. And flags. Everywhere they have that blue red and white flapping around in your face. Kevin is the perfect town for a murder. This Wolf Creek .

Next stop. Shelby . We were on a mission for huckleberry pie.We had no luck. Instead we settled for a few budweisers in a tiny pub filled with pokies, old popcorn machines, pizza and loud Americans all wearing football jersies. A 65 year old man tried feeling me up. That was nice. He was slightly pissed, and began telling me about his battery operated guitar which was missing a few strings and missing a battery. He even told me how you can actually record yourself these days – on a cassette. “have you heard of a cassette Miss Toby??' (he was serious) I replied “why, no sir, I don't think I have”….so John told me all about cassette tapes and how you can record your voice and listen back to it. He then was kind enough to try and kiss me while singing one of his own originals called “it hurt so bad” And trust me, it hurt so bad just listening.

And that was that. Back to Canada . I drove. Wrong side of road. 3 hours. 140kms. Nice ey?? It was such a fun day. So many funny moments and lots of laughs and silliness. Yvonne-Rae, Julie-Mae and Toby-Fae had a toot hootin day in America .

Well yeh,. That was Canada . Came back, with my new bass player MJ – ready to hit WA. MJ had done the east coast a few times with her old band Nine Mile. They were supporting the likes of Ben Harper, Pete Murray and Xavier. So she thought she knew what touring was like in Australia . (you know, hotel rooms, huge concerts, great food, only half hour sets, good pay) Well, she thought she knew until we took her to our first stop – MARVEL LOCH? Where the hell is that I bet you are aksing. On the way to Southern Cross. And yep – its another one of those Kevin, Shelby typa towns. A little scary. We were not allowed the steak. Costs too much – don't wanna waste that good cow on tourists like us! But the gig was fun. The crowd were pissed. And after an hour or so they had decided we weren't the smelly hippies they had decided we were when we had arrived. ‘Bloody hippy music shit!”

Well, we began to teach MJ what WA touring is like. Endless hours on the road, early mornings, bad road house food, biltong, unpacking your own huge PA system, doing tour own sound, playing for three hours, selling your own merch, packing up your PA system, getting to bed late, and waking up a few hours later to do it all again. Driving through 40 degree heat – with an non-airconditioned van – not much foot room, a cd player that jumps every four metres and red dirt. Easy!

But – the tour was great – Elliot, Lucy, MJ and I. Sold huge amount of merch, played some new places – Port Hedland, Marvel Loch, Murrin Murrin Mine. Was all pretty cool We were late to our Pannowonicka Gig. We get out the car there at about 8.15pm . Thiking we were on stage at 8.30pm . The bar manager “bastard” (yes that's his name) comes out to ‘greet' us. I tell the gang to start unpacking while I deal with getting told off. And boy, did I get told. I got told we had 15 minutes to set up the sound and be on stage or we don't get paid. And did we do it- sure did! And did it go off – sure did! Our gig turned out heaps of fun – and Bastard and I were buddies once again. These are the memories that make our touring experience interesting and memorable.

You can make it big in the industry in two different ways – you tour and tour and don't stop touring for years until the venues become sold out and you become a household name. This is independent. Or, a big label puts shitloads of money into you and you get a great album, a few top quality video clips and you become a house hold name. Now of course we may want the second option – but I would never give up the memories we have created in the past five years.

I remember our first tour. The excitement of packing. Of hitting the road. New audiences and venues. And you get some of that excitement every time you hit the road. You learn so much too. Lucy and I, for example, learned that you cant drink half a bottle of Sambuka and jugs of Illusions and keep standing. We learned you can fall off the speaker you're standing on. And its embarrassing! You learned that you cant be stoned when your driving because you believe you are in a video games where all the kangaroos are your enemy and you must kill them. We learned that some people are harder to travel with – some don't shower, some don't like wearing clothes, some like lavender way too much, some are escaping the law, some have several personalities, some like to shag in your bed, some like to cry a lot.

But we also learned more about our culture, our people, and their way of living. We learned about our land and how huge it is, how our roads are endless. We leaned how to look after my van (well, not really) We have had one van explode on us years back which burnt Lucys arm – we missed a gig because of it. Elliot and I, years later learned how to get lost in the desert (again think Wolf Creek ) at midnight with all of the lights flashing on the car. We decorated the van again with hot coolent from the over heated radiator. We then did this again recently in Exmouth – Joel was being the brave one – and BANG – he was covered. So actually – we haven't learned anything here other than its time I buy a new van.

I learned about friendships. I have the most amazing friends within this band and I count myself very lucky. My main boys – Almin, Mike, Elliot and Jean. Couldn't ask for better mates. And all the wonderful people I play with – Jess, Lucy, Joel, MJ etc. Such beautiful people.

We have had our times –( no names mentioned) where I have screamed across a lonely car park in Derby – screaming “you're walking home” (so, maybe I should have thought about that one first) – or band members telling other band members they need mental help!! Yep – it all happens on the road. But you just breathe it all in and keep driving

We have done so many miles together and we keep getting in that van – so something must be going right! Wow, I am babbling on here – maybe I will stop for a while.

All this car talk makes me stress about driving in the UK ! God help me!

Thanks for listening. And thanks for all the support. It means the world

Tobes x

2007: February 8th -On stage with the Violent Femmes

2006: August 14th - back from tour

The tour is over. It was smooth. And fun. And the gigs were really quite awesome. Well, some of them. Normally on tour I am ‘nanna' . The boys know this. Every night after a gig, little nanna goes to her room by herself and rests her little throat. Boring hey. But its just the way I do it. Well, did it. This tour we all decided it was best to drink. And we did it well I may add. Always so much more fun to sit in a van for hours at a time with a hangover right? You would think we would learn after a few days, but you just don't. It was a chirpy little tour really – lots of laughs and lots of beautiful places and people.

We had a guy from Melbourne come on tour with us – Joel. The story goes, when I was in Melbourne doing this festival, after many beers I heard this sax player playing with the Rob Sawyer band, I watched him for probably less than thirty seconds and decided he was great and went and asked him if I could fly him over for the tour. And he said ‘yeh sure whatever'. And then I sobered up. And took the risk, and flew him over, and he is awesome! Great musician, great entertainer and a great guy to be around.

We also took along Maera as our support act. Which was a wonderful choice. It meant we were blessed with her voice and songs every night, and then she would join us on stage for a few songs which is always fun. We all travelled really well together on this tour, which definitely helps!

Favourite spots? Coral Bay and Monkey Mia of course. The Karratha festival was pretty huge. We played to a crowd of over three thousand which was cool. But just before the gig I somehow managed to smash the boot of my van on my head, leaving me with a huge lump, and a massive headache. Somehow in Mad Man, I totall lost the plot, forgot the chords, the words, the guitar solo – I went all dizzy and we caught it on film – pretty embarrassing to say the least! Pannawonica was hilarious! What a funny town! Good food but – there's a plus! Dongara was fun as usual – got the crew going on that tiny dance floor. Oh, and we spent a day at the farm/dam with our beautiful Gerro friends again which was just so nice and relaxing. We have the best group of friends up there – we love you guys!!

We got to swim in Coral Bay . So yummy there. Best view ever from our room. What a great spot. We played there on the Wednesday and the gig went so well that we went back on the Monday and played again – you couldn't get us off the stage that night. We finished the tour on a huge night in Coral Bay . I had no voice, yet we managed to play four hours non stop of music – thanks Maera! Then headed to the beach with many wines and beers and started fire twirling. Beer and fire not so good together. We were meant to wake up nice and early but kinda ended up leaving later than we expected with very sore heads. Fifteen hours later we were home once again.

It was also awesome to have Pippa, Stace and Sis come visit! Three of my favourite people ever! Heaps of fun all round.

Thanks again to everyone who made this tour so much fun, and such a success – we sold more cds than we ever imagined – so I hope you are all enjoying them!

I am off to Canada in two weeks – for a few gigs over there. My first time and I cant wait!

See you all soon

Tobes x

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2006: June 28th - wintertime blues.

Bring back the summer time. I can only handle the winter when I am in bed with many dunas, or when its raining and I am warm inside, or even better when I'm up north and I'm sunbaking! That's when winter is okay with me. Soon…. we will be back up the west coast, soaking in the sun and the ocean.

I'm really looking forward to the next state tour. I have taken a risk and invited a guy called Joel over from Melbourne to play with us on the tour. I heard him playing sax after our set was over at the Warm Up For Winter Fest in Melbourne . And his stage presence really grabbed me, so me being me, grabbed the chance to play with someone new. That's what I do love about our band, so many wonderful dedicated soloists to perform with, all whom I love and admire in so many ways.

Haven't posted a journal page for ages. Sorry about that. Lots going on. I spose since the beginning of the year I have been so busy and haven't really put aside any time to write down my thoughts. So here they are.

Well, I wanted to say a massive thank you for the 500 plus people who came along to the launch on May 20. What a night. So much of a build up, stress and anxiety, and in the end it all ran so smoothly. We didn't even manage to have a full rehearsal, which is kinda crazy when you are about to perform with 14 people on one stage! Lucky for me my musos all learnt their parts and stepped up for the night. I was sooo impressed!

I remember when I first stood up the stage and looked out to the crowd – and wow! I wasn't expecting that many faces staring back at me, all so supportive and all smiling and having fun and enjoying themselves. So to be honest I think my only nervous bit was the first line of the first song, and then I stood back and thought “Yes, this is awesome. This is what I have worked so hard for, time to have fun!!” And that's exactly what we all did. It was one huge party for all. The musos not only looked hot but played brilliantly.

My highlights of the night? I loved the strings verses brass bit down with the audience. Heaps of fun. Also loved the impromtu performance of Nina Simone's ‘Sea-Line Woman'. Permission was a winner with all the soloists going hard at it.

But my three favourite songs on the night were definitely Dream of Me, Breathe and Blue.

Dream Of Me I decided to put down my guitar and sing without my little safety net! Never done this before, and it was fun dancing around the stage and having that complete freedom.

Then Breathe….well….I had in my head how it would sound, but it was so much better on the night. As I stood side stage and listened in the pure darkness as this wonderful mini orchestra slowly and beautifully introduced Breathe, I actually had tears rolling down my face. Hearing Sarah on the cello by itself in the silent room, then Mike on the guitar, then Pete on bass, then Almin on drums with that strong heart beat, slowly Jess and Fiona joined in on violins, Pen on the flute, Dave and Lucas on brass, and Maera's powerful voice, Mo's keys, and Arun's percussion with Jean-Guy finally playing on top of it all – it was a magical moment. It felt like the stage was lifting as the sound built up. I could've stood there for so much longer just listening, but it was my turn to go on stage, and I loved every moment of it. The build up was beautiful and intense. Easy to get lost in the music.

And then of course the finale, Blue – with all fourteen players on stage. I was quite worried about not being able to pull it off – but we all did, and I don't think any of us were ready to leave the stage!

So there you have it a great night. Sold a huge amount of albums which was a great feeling at the end of the night – so again, thank you everyone who helped out, performed, came along, danced, smiled, bought the albums and had anything at all to do with the night. So much gratitude to you all! Five hundred and thirty people! Sweet!

Whats going on theses days? Well, our time with Almin is coming to an end – although he will ALWAYS be a part of the team, and I know he will join us whenever possible. Elliot is returning from South America next week and will be back with us in full force which is also very exciting. I just wanted to say a massive thanks to Almin for the past five months – the drumming, the support and the friendship. Its been so much fun, so chilled, and many many laughs. You are a wonderful drummer and I love what we have together on stage – you are a champ Mr Fulurija!!

And of course a massive welcome home to Elliot – we have missed you and your funny one liners! And cant wait to be playing together again!

Its about one year now that Pete's been on bass with us – and the more I play with him the more I realise what a talented guy he is. Not only can he funk it up, but he can find these perfectly beautiful melodies/riffs at the exact right moments in a song, which I love. Not bad at all.

Well, that's really about all that's going on. Gigs, organising upcoming tours, trying to get gigs out of Perth, trying to flog the cd – we need all your help with making requests to all radio stations- It only takes a few minutes! We have a new song that I'm enjoying. It's called Missing You – its fairly universal in the way that all of us can relate to it in some way or another. Look forward to recording it in the near future.

Well, that's about enough computer time for me. Hope to see you all at a gig sometime soon. Thanks again for all the recent support. Much love.

Toby

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2006: April 5 - Little stressed.

Hanging at mum and dads place. Good place to be. Good company. Good advice. Mostly.

My head is everywhere as the launch comes closer. So much to do- so much to organise, so much to criticise, So much to be happy about, so much to be nervous about, arghghgh I’m think I am going a little crazy about it. I look at my bank account and there’s nothing there- all is bare. How do I come up with the funds for such a project. But I do trust it will work. Deep down I trust my own ability and my songs, and I really trust my musos. God they are great.

The recording is nearly done. The graphics are on their way. Photo shoot is happening on Sunday. Songs are nearly in order. MGM are on board. Venue booked. Musos booked. Tickets starting to sell. Exciting really isn’t it.

I have named the album, “Renaissance”. Why you may ask?? Well, a few reasons. It means re-birth – a kind of new journey. And for whatever reason I feel this is it for me. The journey is really beginning and I’m enjoying the ride. New tunes, new ideas, new band name (it is now just TOBY), new musicians, new sounds, new European influence it seems, I think we have times in our life our re-birth and maybe this is one of those times for me. And really, I just like the word “Renaissance” – has a nice ring to it. You can play around with it and it works.

Life is going pretty well. Its just a rollercoaster I spose all the time. Now that Elliot is in South America (and loving it) we have Almin back on drums. It all takes time. New songs, old songs, getting them on track. No rehearsal time. I’m lazy when it comes to that. But I like the way its going so that’s cool.

March was fun. About 15 gigs all over the place. Katanning – well, that was interesting to say the least. Stepped in to the tiny smokey pub thinking ‘oh shit, we drove all the way to end up here??’. But it was fun. And the people were fun to watch. That’s the good part about being on stage – you get to observe a lot! Dunsborough was awesome. I love it there. Great crowd. Great sound. And Nannup Festival – awesome! Really beautiful, fun, frollicky crowd, all up and dancing having a great time – about 500 or more people in the crowd just enjoying the music. Great feeling.

Then of course there was Dongara. What a ripper. We were running late. The police then pull us over. We are driving with an un-registered trailor, with lights and brake lights not working. We all get out (six of us) stand on the road, acting dumb, for about twenty minutes. The policeman gets out his screw driver and rips off the number plate. Sorry uncle Steve. Your trailor is ruined. But off we head. Now so late. And worried. We were meant to start at 8.30pm. We arrive 9pm. A huge crowd. Biggest we have had in Dongara. They are cool, coz they see us running around like maniacs being the feral looking roadies that we are at that point. We set up and I shower in one minute and thirty eight seconds. Then the sound system I hired doesn’t work. The company gave us the wrong leads. We are totally screwed. Meanwhile the owners aren’t too happy. And they let me know of this. My police story doesn’t seem to cut it. Finally Lynn, a lady in the audience runs home and gets us a PA. Hoorrraaa for Lynn. Go Lynn. Thankyou Lynn. And we start. We were meant to perform on the big outdoor stage, but we play inside. And all the many people who would fit comfortably in the beer garden are now shoved into this tiny intimate room. And we have no stage. So after a while, the owner is slow dancing it up with another guy, and they fall, right onto my guitar. They hit the guitar, and I keep on singing and strumming and simply step aside so they land right on the drum kit. Almin keeps drumming. We keep playing “Pass me another vodka and lime…..” and they scurry around on the floor then finally stand up with bruises and cuts on their faces. Pretty funny. But no so funny when twenty minutes later another man comes crashing down. This time he rises, with blood dripping down his face. Does he notice? Not at all. Does he spill my wine. Certainly does. Am I impressed. No. Not really.

But the gig was awesome. Really good fun. Really silly and fun crowd. They all seemed to know the words, which always makes me smile! We like Dongara! We also like Geraldton. We always do. Love the people! Love the food! Just love it.

Next weekend we hit Ravenswood. Then we play at Williams Narrakine Winery. With a seven piece band. Because the year before I drink too much wine and promise the owner I will give him a seven piece. Oops. But I am glad I did. Heaps of fun. Outdoor show. Lots of wine and cheese. The electricity went off, and in the pitch black, Lucas starts belting out an awesome sax solo. Crowd loves it. We steal a lot of cheese and bring some wine back to our cute cabins and make a night of it. All good. Next year we are booked for a nine piece band. I cant seen to keep my mouth shut!

Freo gigs have been fun as usual. Especially our last gig at Clancys. What a super crowd. Heaps of crew wearing “Toby and Code Red’ shirts and some guys wearing “Toby and Code Red’ undies over their pants. Always a hot look. Always a way to pick up. Other guys that is. Or maybe superwoman.

I’m off on an east coast tour in May. I think nine gigs in ten nights. With Nathan Kaye, Carus, Epicure, and a few others. First time in Adelaide and Byron. Also doing Victoria and the Sunshine Coast.

Cant wait. Although it is kinda really bad timing as the launch is five days after I arrive home. That scares me slightly!

Anyhoo, its time for me to go drink another cup of tea with my fam, and then head back to my cute little messy home. Thanks for reading. Thanks for the support. Thanks for buying your tickets – now! That’s a hint!!!

Nite now!
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2005: December 31 2005 - favourite bits

Hey there. Just a quickie. Thinking about 2005. Now that there’s only one day to go.
So, the highlights. A few spring to mind. Wignalls Vintage Wine festival was a definate stand out – maybe even number one. Doing our first show in the day was great, but then playing straight after Tex Perkins, and just before the Waifs, was the ultimate spot to get. So we were very happy with the show and with the response.

Fremantle Blues and Roots was another highlight, took me a while to settle into the show, but the crowd were so supportive and enthusiastic that soon I forgot how shitty the fold back was and got into the groove. And had a ball. And of course the Bridgey Blues Fest stands out as a total ripper.

As for tours, the October tour up to Broome was wicked. The shows went off, but we got some time in Monkey Mia and Coral Bay so that made it even better.

East Coast gigs were pretty cool. I loved the gig in Brissy at Three Worlds with MJ Taylor. Such a beautiful intimate show. Cody and I went