Kaney's blog (Newcastle to Byron Bay)

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Yo! what a mish! 

So we had a 180 flip buzz from Tempe (pronounced tampe in auz accent haha) when we got ta Newcastle the vibe was epic as and the local cats were super good to us. The top dog sound guy (or the Iain Sweetman of Newcastle) was awesome, he put in a sexy compressor for Mikey and was going to roll in the 21 inch sub bins from the truck but he had to set up for a Guns n' Roses tribute show haha! His accent was golden and he looks after all the kiwi bands! He showed us our accom situated next to the pigeons (that have been living upstairs at the bar since before it was even a bar) we got looked after! 

 Eddy 'Sovtek' Tait

Caught up with Invercargill legend Eddy Tait (who I bought my sovtek amp off like 10 years ago!!!) slugged coopers with him all night! The other band we played with in Newcastle was called Afro Moses! They were super sick (or sek if you have an auzzie accent) They were busting originals and old school Rasta tunes and were fronted by two African hype men! We loved the band and the coopers, slept with the pigeons and woke up ta stinking hot weather!

Back to Sydney (rat race!) had to pick up backline from Johnny Steiner (ex pat Dunedin all round total awesome dude) Then off to central Sydney to set up for an arvo/evening set at the Newton Hotel (which was also a rat race, they'd only been re open for 48 hours, the place was packed! it was the first time in 20 years that they had been open! Played a sekley sweet set and sold a bunch of merch.  The DJ after was wicked, pumping Boz Scaggs through the system. Nice music to do the triple paranoid gear check to! Then back ta Manly at about 9pm = OH MY GOG! sat night in Manly is nuts, the bar we went to called The Steyne had like 1000 people everywhere! Toooo much for this chicken kicker so I went to the beach and had the best chill time, played soccer with these cats and hada massive yarn to this guy who claimed he was "the baddest mutha funker in Manly and he runs the town blah blah" but he was the nicest dude ever and I reckon wouldn't hurt a fly, random! So I got "lost" lol. Wheres the first place you'd look, maybe on the beach aye? (add sound of a dying heat pump in here) Back ta Johnny's pad ta chill and was meant ta go ta sleep but we didn't (classically) great night!

Next day drove ta Wollongong = see video nuff said, Junkies and mental health patients in attendance so we fitted in nicely. Packed up gear after Wollongong & drove 10 hours overnight to the G.C = mish! I drove the last leg with everyone sleeping, Fu Manchu and Manly disco biscuits kept me cranking hard. Got ta Surfers finally,They should re name the place surfers vegas haha. The pub we played at was right in the thick of it, The support act "Switch Autumn" were mean and the other support "Cops and Robba's" led by lead singer Robba, were off the hook! Robba was a bit older than the lads and was coaching the guys through the riffs. He had to tell the gat players off for shredding their tits off! We loved it haha. The only thing they needed was cop uniforms for the band with a dash of Robba dressed like a Robber! They would sell a million records. Loaded out and had heart to heart yarns with the lads over a couple of Hahn's dry ales (the cheapest/finest auzzie buzz) 

 ROBBA FUNK! 

The man, the myth, the legend!

Sed az, next day, drove ta byron bay, checked out the SAE studios, didn't have time ta record anything but man the gears and facilities are epic, they have a SSL 9000K desk! Also checked out Griffith Studios in Surfers (because we had to drop a 1988 fender strat that we picked up by accident back to the support band from surfers who studied there!) Lucky bastards have an 1176 compressor in every fucking room! OMG (If you don't know the gear, their endorsed by 10CC so they are the bees knees)

The Buddha Bar in Byron was super epic, good people everywhere and a sick wee outdoor venue. Timbo (the bar manager) was a top dude and has worked with some epic bands and festivals. So a good buzz for the future. The bar had its own brewery and the beers were mean! Byron outskirts had a Branson Misouri (USA) vibe, haha they're all about the vibes over here haha. The others wondered how I got so slugged up, I was cheeky and gave the bar guy free download codes! 

 TIM STOKES BAND played support - mean!

Metz & Timbo (the booker)

So we've heard from NIMBIN!!! haha everyone google image Nimbin if you don't know about it. For all you die hard fans our show has been shifted from the Friday to the Saturday 27 Oct. 

Churs

Kaney

Sydney & the Tempe Viiiibe

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G’day. Long time no writey. This blog recounts one of my rougher experiences on this tour, but I’m sure it’ll prove vaguely amusing, and possibly useful to folks booking dates over here in the future. Two things:

a)    This blog has been heavily abridged. The original was a lot grumpier, but possibly not fit for public consumption on this blog.

b)   The Sydney show’s nuggety nature has definitely been the exception, and 99% of the venue folks, bands and audiences we’ve met have been absolutely amazing. You may as well hear about the 1% though, right?

So, we arrived in Sydney, caught up with Jock, and headed to our accom; an apartment that friends of his had just moved out of. Dropped our bedding, which Jock had kindly provided, and went in search of food. All kinds of exotic ideas were had – supermarkets, pizza’s, anythingbutmoreMacca’s… it was 11.30. We ended up back at Macca’s. Anywho, their free wifi was much appreciated, and Seddon and I pushed our luck staying there until booted out catching up on internet missions…

Back to the accom. Furious inflating of air mattresses. Bit of a buzzy vibe here, for various reasons, but we all got some shut-eye, and awoke the next morning to get back into the swing of another run of shows. Lunch at Ikea (god, those places are a nightmare to navigate, but their super-cheap food and weird Swedish vibe [do the Swedish tourism board pay them a commission?] is pretty hard to resist). We then headed to the venue.

We rolled in super-early to say hi and check the place out, as the promoter hadn’t given us much info. Met the duty-manager and in-house engineer, Greg. He moaned about the lack of info from the promoter, for which we apologised. When I introduced myself as the band’s engineer, he informed us on no uncertain terms that the venue has a strict ‘no visiting engineers’ policy. We tried to negotiate. By the end of our negotiation I was still politely asking if I could simply plug a delay unit in and run dubs, while he ‘mixed.’ He continued to inform us that “when the Black Seeds and Trinity Roots played here it was the same, man” (I don’t know when the BS’s last played Valve, but having done a few of shows with them recently, [on functional PA’s, in front of several thousand people per show], I’m gonna guess it was a decade or so ago). You know the kind of conversation you have with someone in a minor position of power, where they do all the talking, none of the listening, and keep repeating “it’ll be sweet,” in a way that makes you very, very sure that it won’t…? That kinda thing.

Anyway, we left to fill in some time before load in with the following things clear in our heads:

A)   This wasn’t really the venue’s fault. Apparently, somewhere in the us-> promoter -> venue chain, someone failed to read the very, very clear message that, “this band ALWAYS brings their own engineer. This is IMPORTANT.” Anyway, apparently we need to make that clearer, somehow. Or start attaching vouchers for basic literacy courses to all of our emails. Christ.

B)   Nonetheless, this guy was choosing to be unnecessarily difficult about even our attempts to come to a workable compromise….

C)    We needed some distraction. Off to Bondi!

Despite the nuggety times at the venue, we managed to enjoy a good walk along the beach, played some hack, had a paddle, and felt a lot better about life. Can’t wait to get up to Surfers’ and Byron now. Great to get some time outside of a vehicle / other peoples’ houses / venues with idiots in them…

So, back to Valve. Another chat with our new ‘friend.’ More politeness from me, asking to do the bare minimum required to keep the musical elements of the band’s sound happening, while letting him do whatever it was that was so crucial to keeping the fairly amusing 80’s PA running to his satisfaction.

Venue guy takes very aggressive attitude. Like an overgrown child, begins throwing toys out of the cot, threatens to cancel show, keeps ranting on in his own super-dictatorial fashion. In the end, I acquiesce, decide to play roady for the night, and hope that this guys can at least do a reasonable job of mixing the band I’ve done 12 NZ tours, 300+ shows, an album and some very expensive flights to Australia with. Go on then, I thought, if you’re master of this particular audio universe, impress me. Make me believe that your terrible attitude is somehow compensated for by your ability to mix.

Out o’ luck, Mike. So very, very out o’ luck.

Anyway, I’m going to attempt to hold my tongue on the audio quality of this show. I don’t want to re-live it, and I’m not sure there’s much point trying to relate how the whole affair sounded from my perspective. I will say, however, that at one point a member of one of the support bands asked “can I have some more monitor, and some reverb on my vocal?” Member of band then realised that ‘engineer’ was not in the same room(!) and was instead, back at the bar, pouring drinks. Hilarious, but…

Anywho, I struggled through the audio experience, and really enjoy the musical content of Rufflefeather’s set, eventually retiring to the van for some rather irritated sleep.

(RUFFLEFEATHER)

Sadly, I missed BonesBonesBones, who were apparently very, very cool – Callum describing them as ‘a breath of fresh air’ (whatever that means). I did catch some of Bloody Lovely Audrey’s set, which was pretty cool kinda Indie rock, with a solid as hell bass player, some very buzzy guitar work, and a really impressive singer.

 (Bones Bones Bones)

(Bloody Lovely Audrey)

Anywho, business time. I begin helping the band pile things on stage, suggest to the house guy that the drummer’ll need a vocal mic(!), and that he might want to DI the bass (the very beat up pg58 pointed at the tiny bass amp doing nothing to inspire confidence). “It’ll be sweet, mate,” is now his standard reply. Every time, he keeps missing the word “won’t” out of that sentence…

Band on stage, first note of first song. Things are not ideal. I make a bunch of suggestions, some of which are acted upon, things get slightly better, and I go about dealing with the fact that the fact that the cable on the ‘expertly’ mic’d bass amp was bugging out, and I can hear a huge crackling noise coming through the stacks. Winning. At least the vocals were clear enough, and the decent sized audience are enjoying the band’s solid playing and near note-perfect singing. Talk about knowing how to fight when you’re back’s against the wall. Basically 40 mins of me wanting to kill myself, the band managing to play out of their skins, and still impress an audience, some of whom I manage to hawk some merch to (might as well do something useful!). We pack the hell down, and head to Johnny’s, where we’re now entrenched in the middle of a sleepy morning.

Johnny (from Rufflefeather) absolutely rules. An ex-Dunedin cat, whose favourite band is the Biff Merchants, he’s very kindly putting us up and arranging the loan of some backline for a few shows. His girlfriend is a puppeteer who operates life-size dinosaur puppets(!), among other things. Super cool people, and it was really good to sit down at the end of a nuggety day with a cold beer and some good company.

Thanks to the folks that came, especially those that bought merch. You rule! You’re also the reason we’re doing this, and you more than make up for us having to deal with the odd egotistical teabag. Same goes for the other bands that played that night – always a highlight meeting new musical people, and hearing some bloody lovely music (see what I did there?).

So, there you have it. All in all, we got in, we got out, we met some lovely people (and one less-than-lovely chap), sold some merch, and headed off to Newcastle, where further bizarre (good-bizarre, this time) experiences awaited us.

If only people could just be nice to each other…

Cheers,

-Mike.

The Tote & last days in Melbs

So our final show in Victoria was at The Tote or ‘Zee Tote’ as J-Lee and I like to call it. I’d been there in the past on a couple of other occasions whilst visiting Melbs. I remember thinking at the time I’d love to come back with the band one day and a couple of years on here we were doing it – pretty cool. 

 This show was our 6^th in four days so it is fair to say we were all looking forward to chilling for a couple of days after this one. We were 6^th band on a bill of 8 and the only kiwi band. The show was a charity event for Youth Services in Melbs. It was a real good opportunity for us to play to a good size audience + meet a whole bunch of local acts and to show off what we do. 

I think it is safe to say we played to one of the bigger crowds of the day – helped by the fact that a great bunch of expats & friends were on board for a Sunday session + the weather had turned in a corker for us. I managed to get a really good plug in for our merchandise whilst on stage and we sold a good amount directly after our set. 

All the other acts on the day had their own strong points and I think we were all pretty impressed with the final two acts of the day ‘Slow Chase’ & ‘My Dynamite’ – Mike certainly was ;) After things wrapped up at the Tote it was back to J-Lee & Ray’s apartment for some drinking + car park basement cricket & touch. We played cricket & touch well into the night – good times. 

Next day was a bit of a write off as we caught up on some much needed zzzzs after a pretty gruelling first few days. We were Koalas until well after lunch. We all took a trip to Smith st and hunted down some cheap clothing deals. We all did pretty well out of it. More beverages and basement cricket that evening + a photoshoot with J-Lee. 

 Tuesday we headed to Ash Officer’s first solo gig in Melbs out in Carlton for the evening. Great to catch up with everyone again and have a few jars. A pretty hazy end to that evening that involved Mikey pushing me around in a trolley on the streets of Melbs...

And Weds saw us drive Melbs to Sydney. We all took turns to drive and rolled into Sydney at nightfall. A few beers with Jock at his pad before heading to our accom. We were still awaiting more news for the Sydney show from our Hungarian based promoter...

Back to a Mikey blog after this - trust me you'll wanna read it ;)

Seedaz

I.D.G.A.F.F.

I.D.G.A.F.F.

[“I Don’t Give A Flying F*ck”].

We shall be returning to this acronym, later.

Since a few weeks before leaving for ‘straya, we’d been pre-warned about Footscray. First I heard was R1 breakfast host A-diddy Hawkins posting on Facebook, “I can’t believe you’re going to Footscray.” Believe it. We did. Wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, to be honest. We arrived in the afternoon to discover we were playing in the back bar at the Reverence Hotel. Great in terms of having plenty of time to set up without getting in anyone’s way, and the tech spec was really pretty decent [EV Rig, old A&H with some O.K. outboard at FOH]. These back room spaces, however, do miss out on a bit of punter traffic by being pretty isolated from their parent bars. Even an audio nerd like myself would rather battle a few punters in the main bar while setting up, in order to have more traffic around come show-time. Nonetheless, a bunch of expats (man, LOR have some faithful fans over here!) and a good crowd of fans of the support bands rocked up, and we had the customary big-loud-rock-themed party.

First band ‘Seven Hearts’ rocked up and started pretty well on time at the hair-raisingly early hour of 8.20p.m. Apparently Aussie liquor licensing is equally, if not more f*cked up than NZ stuff when it comes to music venues. Nonetheless, lovely female / male vocals and acoustic guitar, and a weirdly cool RATM cover in this kinda downbeat-acoustic-format worked weirdly well.

Next to take the stage (and accidently, our hi-hat clutch, haha[!]) were Qlayeface. Prog-rock in the vein of Karnivool, according to one of the band members. In the vein of many Aussie bands, they brought their own engineer, and a fair bit o’ their own backline. More on this later. Cool ambient guitar-work, and an interesting approach. Random addition to the bill, I must say, but that’s been the joy of these shows, seeing who turns up to walk on stage, having a beer with them, and enjoying the lack of genre-specific rubbish one encounters in certain sectors of the NZ music scene…

Next on stage, unexpectedly, were Cotton Sidewalk. I’d chatted with their drummer, Luke, who rolled his own kit onto stage for their set, and he explained that:

A)   They played melodic Indie rock. Or something along those lines.

B)   They had been moved forward on the bill (from last to third-last on), as the band that were supposed to be playing in their slot were running late. Fair enough.

What he failed to mention was that:

C)   They had their own engineer, played with all their amps facing the back of the stage(!), used a weird variant on in-ear monitors, and sounded great.

D)   The rhythm section, (Luke + female bass player), finally exemplified what we often find missing in bands in this genre. Aggression, commitment, and solidity. All very well to play music with a certain type of sensitivity / sensibility, but if you can’t nail it in a way that sounds AUTHORITAVE, please, go home, kids, ‘cos we’re all wasting our time. Fortunately, Cotton Sidewalk’s rhythm section know exactly how to hammer it home, and I really, really enjoyed it.

Cool songs, too. A kinda Verlaines-meets-Oasis-and-uncomfortably-talk-aesthetics-in-a-shady-back-room-bar-in-Footscray, kinda thing.

 LOR did their usual thing, Stevo’s bro Andy Marshall helping out on lights making a significant difference, and we all enjoyed making a bunch o’ big loud noises. The band previously known as the-guys-who-weren’t-around-when-they-were-supposed-to-be-playing arrived, LOR cut their set a bit short, and they jumped up and played their particular brand of stoner rock. Cads of Yore were great, although they were playing their last show together, instead opting to devote more time to the lucrative country band they apparently all play in. OK(!). A great bunch o’ guys, and a good way to end a night that was really, really random. We threw everything in the trusty X-Trail, and hit the road to St Kilda to check out the Friday night ‘Espy Vibe,’ and grab some Jalapeno-laden Subway sandwiches, which we enjoyed on some public seating across the road from a very loud, very good covers-band’s show. Classic stuff.

 Right, so, IDGAFF.

We moved accom from Andy and Kate’s place on Saturday morning, to J-Lee and Ragey Coote’s apartment, where we’re currently situated. Unfortunately, the GPS wasn’t our friend on this trip, and we found ourselves running a bit late in dropping our bedding and clothing and getting to IDGAFF in Abbotsford (no, not the previously mud-slipped suburb in Dunedin, you schmuck, the run-down punk venue in Melbourne).

 First time in a good while I’ve found myself standing outside a venue an hour after the scheduled load-in time, wondering, “is this show actually going to happen?” A bunch of phone-calls later, Seedy had the owner on the phone, someone turned up, we set up the fairly less than ideal vocal p.a. plus some backline, and we had a show on our hands. Opening band Jalapeno Punch (whose name we found pretty hilarious, given last night’s spicy-sandwich exploits) were hilarious. Punk / Ska kinda stuff, but with the most awkwardly amusing redheaded front man you can imagine. His stand up routine was second to none, to the point that even Seedy wondered how he was going to top his on-stage banter. 

 Oddly enough, the venue packed out pretty nicely for LOR, and we put on a bizarre sort of daytime-café-reggae-meets-sludge-rock kinda show. Refreshing to work with just a vocal PA again, and a great reminder of why I tour with these guys:

-       Without all the big-production stuff, the band can really play. Really play. And really sing. Haven’t run across another group who can do so with such proficiency and reliability, doubt I will in the near future.

-       Regardless of circumstance, we all know how to get in, get out, and give the audience what they came for, even when there are two shows in one day (five in three), beggar-all sleep, and a schedule that most bands’d need to sit down to have read to them, let alone attempt to keep up with. Good times.

 Following the show, Seedy sold a bit more merch, attempted to leave half his worldly possessions behind, and Kaney, Mets and I threw everything in the vehicle, rounded up all Orlando’s stuff, and got us on the road out to Hopper’s crossing.

I want to be pissed off about IDGAFF. The promoter had asked us if we wanted to bother with the show, so we knew we were in for something random, but we thought we’d give it a crack, and it actually turned out pretty well, all told. We all saw the funny side of a venue that take their name / mission statement so very seriously, and it was a pretty cool experience for all the LOR fans, and random passers by, that came out. IDGAFF.

Gapping it out to Hopper’s crossing, I had a fair idea what to expect. If anyone from the Auckland Metal scene, or the MIC crew is reading this, they’ll know what I mean when I say the place reminds me a lot of Coda lounge in West Auckland. Awesome people running a rehearsal space / venue in an isolated warehouse location. Dean, the owner of the joint was amazing. Hooked us up with backline for the entire Melbourne leg, and had all the P.A. stuff set up on our arrival. I simply swapped a few mics, we shuffled some gear, checked, and headed to Red Rooster(!) for dinner. A bizarre but great night. Kaney enjoyed chatting to the guitarist from the Divine Fluxes, who apparently ‘had the right idea,’ most of us missed the first support band, ‘Goodbye Galaxy,’ who Mets categorised as ‘decent heavy rock with synths,’ and we prepared to do our thing on a stage in a warehouse in the middle of nowhere for a bunch of committed locals. Cool show, a great venue, and we all left blown away by Dean and the crew’s work, having sold a bit more merch (this has been our mission and our a huge asset on this tour), and ready for some late-night Macca’s and a good sleep. Five shows in three days, done.

 A few general thoughts on the ‘Melbourne Vibe’ before Mikey signs off:

-       Some great bands. A lot of bands in general. A pronounced ‘way of doing things’ that’s a bit different from how we do things back in NZ, particularly at pub gigs (what is this everyone rolls in a completely new backline, line checks everything all over again and takes half an hour in the process, when they’re not exactly playing at a 3000+ pax festival!?).

-       Great to see some familiar faces. Louis Smith and the cats are bang on with their track ‘I am Dunedin.’

-       [LINK]

-       Everyone f*cks off to Melbourne. And it’s been great catching up you all – thank you, sincerely, for making the last few days an amazing, exhausting, party.

-       I’m working on growing some kind of moustache. I’ll let you know how that goes. My money’s on a terrible failure…

Churs,

-Mike-orth.

The Espy & Pony

Yesterday was a maaassive day. 2 shows in the one night and a bloody mare in the morning with our rental pick up. Was again epic to get back to me bros and chill at the end of night.

Got back out to the airport in the morn to pick up our rental but classically there was a problem with the loaded for travel card - didn't have my name printed on it so they wouldn't accept it. After a bunch of internationals call to Kiwibank and NZ post, and trying to juggle funds etc, Mauz had to bail us out in the mean time. It was a great moment when the transaction cleared.

Headed out to Hoppers Crossing next (on way to Geelong) and went to pick up our backline for the Melbourne shows. It is also the venue for our Sat night show. A real wicked venue and Dean who runs it is a champion bloke. There is even a dart board there - as you can imagine Kane and I were fkn rapt (bought the darts over with us). Headed back to my bros to pick up the rest of the gears. Kate made us brownies to wish us luck - faaark!

Cruised out to St Kilda in the arvo and loaded in for the first show of the tour @ the world famous Espy. Managed to fit in our first tour hack before this too - so phat. Joe Bonamassa was also playing down the road on the same night at the Palais - would have been way cool to go to.

We played first on a bill of 4 bands. Carved it up in a tight 35 min set and I'm sure we left a sweet first impression on Aussie ears and eyes. Great to catch up with sooo many familiar faces! Chur to J-Lee for taking photos & Ray Coote for taking vids. Sold a good swag of merch which was mean. If we can keep that up over this whole Melbs wkend, we'll get to Sydney!

We piled all our backline back into the rental and cruised back into the city and loaded into Pony for our 1am set. Such a phat Seedy wee venue. From what I gather there is are just a bunch of different bands that play on a night and each use all their own gear and then load it out straight after their set. Us being last mean we didn't have to rush afterward which was sweet. The band before us were a fkn phat canadian rock band called Reverse Grip. They had the Guns n Roses thing nailed. 150% energy levels and I think it rubbed off on us. We played a real loud boozy set and smashed it up.

Playing in Footscray tonight with 4 other Aussie bands @ The Reverence Hotel - going to be sick.

Touring rules - great to be back on the road!

Seedaz

We're in Austraya!

Gogg.
We made it to Straya! We'd been thinking of this moment all day - getting to my older bro's apartment in Melb city and slugging a cold beer. Andy didn't disappoint - cold Chang on arrival. Kate also ensured the M&Ms were separated already - or Kaney wouldn't go on stage that night... We met our first tour pet, Tutti Frutti - the indoor apartment cat.

So we had a bit of a mare with overweight issues with our ol mates Jetstar in CHCH earlier on today. Kaney had to ditch one of his lefty strats and Metz has had to go on a drum diet whilst over here. I hacked it up and should've got us all a 40kg weight allowance. Seedaz to know for next time. Our combined allowance was 120kg and we were clocking in @ 137. Managed to get it down to 119. All I could think of was darts - GET AWAY FROM THOSE 18s!

Maaasive day tomorrow with our first two Melbs shows back to back on the same night. We pick up our rental from the airport first thing in the morning and head out across town to pick up our backline.

We are playing an early set @ The Espy - we are on first @ 9pm so get there sharp cobs! We have jumped on some local Ska bands bill for this one. Gonna be phat to play the Espy and can't wait to kick off our Aussie mish @ such a wicked venue.

We'll then be hooking back to the centre of town and playing a late show @ Pony. It's a 1am start @ Pony, so it's gonna be pretty filthy but equally fat!

Below are links to all our Melbourne shows. We are going to be working farkin hard over this first weekend, 6 shows in 4 days! Can't wait for Sunday eve after our final Melbs show to do some serious slugging of beers.

But I couldn't resist a couple o Vomit Bombs on the flight today ;)

Chur for driving us today Spay!

That's it for now - gotta get 40 winks! Gog

Seedazzz

THURSDAY 11 OCTOBER - THE ESPY (FRONT BAR), St Kilda
w/ Admiral Ackbar's Dishonourable Discharge, Feed My Frankenstein & Euphoria
8pm doors
LOR @ 9pm

THURSDAY 11 OCTOBER - PONY, Little Collins St 
LOR @ 1am (Late show)

FRIDAY 12 OCTOBER - REVERENCE HOTEL, Footscray
w/ Cotton Sidewalk, Cads of Yore, Qlayeface & Seven Hearts
8pm doors
LOR @ 10:30pm

SATURDAY 13 OCTOBER - IDGAFF (I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK), Abbotsford
w/ Jalapeno Punch & National Airlines
2pm doors (arvo show) 
LOR @ 4:20pm

SATURDAY 13 OCTOBER - THE SOUNDBAR, Hoppers Crossing
w/ The Divine Fluxus & Goodbye Galaxy
7pm doors
LOR @ 10pm

SUNDAY 14 OCTOBER - THE TOTE, Collingwood
w/ 7 other local bands
2:30 doors
LOR @ 7pm

Australia, Buzzy & Craft Beers!

We're back!

So over a year ago this blog ran out of petrol and came to a grinding halt. Back then we were just beginning pre-production for our second album ‘Buzzy' down in Invers. A lot has happened since then. In May of this year we released that new record (see below) + buy it here...

'Buzzy' went really well and it even managed to sneak it's way into The Official NZ Music Chart - Top 20 NZ Albums and remained there for 6 weeks which was pretty much the duration for the NZ Release tour. It reached as high as #11. Yeah boi!

We also released our first music video for the debut single off the new record called 'Looking for a Tennis Ball' which is a track based on a re-occurring dream I used to have when I was younger. The backyard cricket scene was filmed at our beloved Fea St with a little help from our friends + using a rubbish bin for a wicket, hur hur ;)

But one of our big goals for 2012 was to work toward some international touring and in October it's all going to start happening...

It's official - we're going to Australia! 

After busting it in NZ for the past 5 years we're finally making the trek across the ditch to play for meol mates the Aussies and hopefully a bunch of old cobs! We'll fly into to Melbourne in early October before spending 3 weeks travelling up the East Coast and flying out of Gold Coast at the end of the month. 

Joining us for the mish will be long time friend and faithful soundy - Mr Michael Edward Holland

Here is a link to the full tour: coming soon ;)

There are still a few shows to be added to the tour but we just really had to get this thing off the ground. Many thanks to our main man on the job Mr Tibor Gede for helping to lock in a such a sweet run of shows.

OK and in news of equal importance, we are stoked to announce the following two shows which will likely be our last NZ shows for 2012.

INVERCARGILL DETAILS - CLICK HERE!

DUNEDIN DETAILS CLICK HERE!

So here is how you can help us on this Trans Tasman mish! 

Especially if you live in Invercargill or Dunedin...

COME TO THE GIG!

COME TO THE GIG!

 COME TO THE GIG!

COME TO THE GIG!

We need to raise all the funds we can to ensure we can drive from Melbourne to Brisbane and eat food along the way!

There is a super special added incentive to come to the Dunedin show too...

Mr Oli 'Oleh' Cameron will not only be playing at the show but his sensational new brewing company Hoptimus Prime Brewing is laying down a couple of special limited edition brews for the event. These craft beers are themed on our first two records 'Nuggety' & 'Buzzy' and are suitably named: 'Buzzy Bitter' & 'Nuggety Ale'.

 LEFT OR RIGHT: BUZZY BITTER

 LEFT OR RIGHT: NUGGETY ALE

 FIRST 50 PAYERS THROUGH THE DOOR RECEIVE 1 FREE LIMITED EDITION HOPTIMUS PRIME: 'BUZZY BITTER' or 'NUGGETY ALE'

Ok and in the final news of importance and let me tell you this is massive news for us and for those of you who have been waiting it out like absolute champions for the last 6 months since pre-ordering a copy... 

Our beloved Buzzy Fruju Orange Double Vinyl are soon to be on their way to AOTEAROA! 

We will be sending out an official email update in the next couple of days to all those who have pre purchased their limited edition copy of the vinyl with all the good news. Records should arrive next week in Dunedin and we will ship them straight out to you or deliver depending on where you are. 

For those of you haven't yet purhcased and waited till now - check out these puppies and to secure a copy, flick us an email to: leftorrightnz@gmail.com

We'll be taking a bunch of these to Aussie with us plus sending a bunch off shore + up and down the country for local and international distribution so get in quick if you want to secure a copy...

That's it for now.

It's great to be back, we've kept our heads down for the last couple of months after the NZ Album Release Tour finished at the end of June. Bring on spring and summer! Oh and work is soon to begin on tracks for our third record - fun!

Much cheers, churs and SEDDAZ!

Seedy