Stevies clip of the Year

Thank you to all you wonderful people who came along to our Northcote Social Club show on the weekend – we had a HOOT thanks to you!

We made sure we were well slept and bouncing with energy come Saturday night, because some serious recovering was in order after an exhausting day on Friday when we shot our video clip for our new single ‘Feel It’. You may ask what we could have been doing to throw ourselves into such an exhausted state. Well, a choreographed routine whilst singing and playing our instruments (..well, pretending to play) in a one shot take to a 3 minute song is what makes one so damn out of breath and training. I can’t possibly do the clip justice by trying to describe it in type, so you’ll have to speak to the lucky ones at NSC who got a sneak preview on the weekend for what’s yet to be the Stevies clip of the year. But let me leave you with this – think a slightly 80’s inspired version of ‘Single Ladies’…. Yep, I think you have the right idea.

Beth

APRA Xmas Party

The lead up to Christmas is just the best isn’t it!? Tinsel, Christmas carols, Christmas parties… so much fun. Last night was the annual APRA Christmas party held at the always winning Fitzroy Bowls Club. There’s something so enjoyable about combining a low impact sport with a few beers as the sun is going down after a stinking hot day. Though last night I can’t figure out which was funnier; attempting to bowl those deceivingly difficult one sided weighted lawn bowls? Or literally being the only band to step foot on the dance floor and continue to practice dance moves for our upcoming video clip for close to an hour? Priceless. My only wish is that I had a video camera to capture us in ‘training’. Oh well, will just have to wait for the real thing in the new clip for ‘Feel It’. It’s going to be a scream, hehe

Wardrobe blunders

Isn’t it funny how exciting it can be preparing to go to a festival, deciding what outfits to take, trying to cover for all weather types, choosing comfort but also something a bit cool. My everyday wear is rather basic; I can’t seem to go past my yoga tights, jumper and my sneakers most of the time. That’s right, daggsville, and I’m reminded of that nearly every time I’m seen in this attire. Though on the weekend when I was packing for a fantastic time away at Queenscliff music festival, for some strange reason I decided to pack three different sets of clothes that hadn’t seen the light of day in quite a few months. Why do our brains work that way? Why did I think it was a good idea to pack the same clothes that have been sitting in my wardrobe for 6 months and think that maybe, just maybe the right occasion hadn’t come along yet? Well let me tell that a festival wasn’t that occasion. There’s a reason why I hadn’t let them on my body for all this time. Turns out they look and feel much better on the hanger than they do on me, so the lesson learned is that I know myself better than I think and I’ll definitely go for the tights, jumper and runners combo next time.

Beth

The Album cover

The weekend saw us play dress ups in front of the camera at a hidden away studio space in Fitzroy, taking photos for what will end up being the album cover and the face of what The Little Stevies will be for the next 18 months. The fabulous Simon Nicol was the superb photographer who put us in positions, told us where to look and where to put our limbs. I can’t say I’m particularly comfortable in front of a big black lens the size of a basketball, but with a little direction (…actually who am I kidding, a lot of direction) we managed to come up with some very cool shots. Meredith Earls, our amazing artist who does all our artwork was also there acting as fashion stylist, doing the tough job of being brutally honest when it came to outfit choices. Just in time for the mammoth storm that came Saturday evening, we ended up down at the beach to achieve our final shot. You’ve got to give us credit for persistence to get the perfect shot, because there was a whole lot of water soaking us from all angles. Ending up looking like drenched rats, there was no other way to finish up but by hoovering down some very tasty fish n chips by the waters edge. What a fun day.

Beth

Sunday night in front of the box

The Aria’s are a celebration in our family household. It’s been an event for as long as I can remember. Embarrassingly we have been known to dress up, pour champagne, invite friends around and get a bit rowdy in a somewhat party type tradition. But that happens in the lounge room, on the couch, in the privacy our own home where there are not live to air cameras broadcasting it around the country for all to watch. I couldn’t help thinking though whilst I was watching the show that I had looked forward to so much for the past week, that this year’s Aria’s which are meant to be the biggest most celebrated awards for Australian music, were basically an extension of the party I was having at home; scattered, casual and boozy. Putting the performances aside which I thoroughly enjoyed, I couldn’t understand why the big boss in charge of running the show chose to present it with such little class. We Australians already struggle to get noticed on an International stage, so why make it harder for ourselves by forgetting to highlight our best qualities and bringing in the token International guest to make it all worthwhile? Oh well, fingers crossed it will blow our socks off next year.

Until then,
Beth

What has just been

Sitting at home in Melbourne on a Sunday afternoon, in a place where I’ve reconnected with all my everyday things that I have missed so much having lived out of a suitcase for the past two months, I’m collecting my memories of what has just been and am trying to make some sense of it all. Maybe in my wildest dreams I imagined moving overseas for a couple of months to make an record and then tour around one of the largest countries in the world, but not for a second did I actually think reality would present itself with such an opportunity. But it did, and we have had the best time. I’m not going to lie though, it wasn’t all ‘smell the roses’ type scenario; certain parts were more challenging than others. But that’s all part of it, and looking back on it now I wouldn’t of had it any other way because what kind of a boring story would that have made? Ethan Allen, our producer, was superb. As I listen to the final mixes of all the tracks on my I pod, its making me excited and proud and really appreciate what an excellent job he did with this album. So we’ve given birth to this album and now I cannot wait to show it off.

Beth

Midday to Midnight

It’s been 3 weeks since we started recording the album and now only 3 days until we finish. It’s definitely been an experience of a lifetime, and speaking honestly, has been one of the biggest learning curves I think I’ve ever had. Ethan’s studio out the back of a trendy suburban compound of Silverlake LA, has become our nest for this project, where our songs, abilities and creative ego’s have been stretched, challenged, nurtured, crushed, rearranged and celebrated to create a catalogue of music which I’m believing the further we get along with it has become something really special. We have been working six days a week, 12 hours a day, midday to midnight, becoming very familiar with the #2 bus and the local coffee shops along the stretch between home and the studio. On our couple of days off that we’ve had, we’ve ventured out and had adventures. The beach, the shopping strips, the parks, the bars…. And how could I not mention the Mexican food that has become a regular feature in our daily diets. Before, after and in between the music making, there has been lots of skype, pay tv, wine, facebook, yoga, runs around the block and a band viewing session of Fleetwood Mac’s making of ‘Rumours’. Our touring party has now grown to 6 people in a two bedroom apartment, with our sound engineer & manager arriving in the last week making for fun times, dinners around the table and creative sleeping arrangements. It’s been a truckload lot of fun so far and not long til we hit the road for shows.
Until next week,
Beth

Los Anegeles Baby!

So we touched down in Los Angeles just over a week ago to begin recording album #2 with producer Ethan Allan. Two months of recording and touring around the States is what we have ahead of us and I couldn’t feel more lucky, excited and anxious than I do as we speak. We began writing and demoing months ago and rehearsing our pants off whenever we could so we could be in tip top condition for when the record button was hit. After one day off after touchdown, filled with supermarket shopping, getting our bearings around our bright aqua colored apartment base in Silverlake and a visit to Guitar Centre (the biggest music shop in the world) to stock up on supplies for the month ahead, we plunged into five days of live tracking as a band at Red Star Studios, running on little sleep and intense jet lag. Our producer Ethan and engineer for the week, Jim Watts, were truly fantastic. Apart from their great skill in producing records, gee did they make sure we ate well – taking us to all the cool cafes and restaurants that line the streets of Silverlake day after day – quite a trendy neighborhood of LA we’re discovering.

So we have set up camp here for the next few weeks in a city that is so unknown to all of us – who knows what could happen. What I do know though is that this is an album which I am so proud of already and can’t wait to share.

Stay tuned..

Beth

Read more: http://www.myspace.com/thelittlestevies/blog#ixzz106cyJF9X

You've got mail

Something that our band is very good at, is replying to emails. When our manager sends us an email about something, you can bet that it will follow with an enormous string of conversational emails that fill up your inbox in no time at all. So it has become quite normal to log in every quarter of the day to find a bunch of dark blue, bold, unread, irresistible emails that could possibly hold the news that could change our lives at any moment….

What I’ve learnt is the act of patience and what I’ve realised is nothings for certain in this music world that we find ourselves delving deeper and deeper into. So it has become the norm to keep news, plans and achievements hush hush until we are quite literally living them as we speak.

So in that very fashion I’m not going to reveal the exciting details of where we will be recording album #2 just yet – this is just a tease – but I will say that I had a rush of excitement when I opened an email today and took an online guided tour of the Los Angeles recording pad that will become our home next month…

Beth

Welcome to Winter - Part 2

Last Friday was a huge day. We were lucky enough to have been granted a helping financial hand by Vic Rocks to make our 2nd album and the official announcement was held at Cherry Bar, Melbourne. It was very exciting but extremely nerve racking at the same time. Melbourne artist extraordinaire Dan Kelly performed and so did we, as we were both recipients of this round of grants. Dan was fantastic, a true pro. He began the day by so easily making a room full of politicians, media and music industry folk sing a long to his song ‘Bindi Irwin Apocalypse Jam’ – something I was so impressed with. Then it was our turn and I think we did pretty well. The Premier, Mr Brumby, seemed to dig it which was cool and we were asked to do a second song which I think is a good sign.

So after the huge nervous stress of performing in front of some impressive sized lenses and not your normal everyday audience, we headed to sound check at the East Brunswick Club in preparation for our last Melbourne show before the new album. We had the lovely Little Blakes who opened the night for us and the very cool Ben Wells & the Middle Names who we will be spending this week touring with around Tassie. Cheers to everybody who left the couch, the heater and the tv, and trekked out into the icy cold winter to come to the show. It really was such a nice way to say farewell to ‘Love Your Band’ for a little while, whilst we create something quite different and new for you all over the next coming months.

Will be sure to give you details of where the album will be recorded very soon – but for now think EXOTIC……

Beth

Welcome to Winter - Part 1

So I’m long overdue for another blog. It’s been a month since the last one & in the last week I reckon I have gathered enough material for ten more. But I’ll condense it into one, being careful not to bore.

Last Tuesday we embarked on the first leg of our ‘Welcome to Winter’ tour which saw us grace New South Whales soil for a whole week. As well as it being significant in the way that our ‘Welcome to Winter’ tour is the last before we head into the studio to record the second album and head back to the States for a return trip in October, it was the first tour that included our very treasured sound engineer Jono Steer, the newest member of the Stevie clan. I must say it is something like heaven knowing that whatever venue we arrive at, the sound will be perfect and familiar. There’s no going back now.

After a 6am departure and many petrol stops and driver swaps, we were delighted to play the Bondi Beach Hotel to a surprise group of Stevie fans who kindly cheered and sang along to our songs. The next day in Sydney was filled with press appointments and a really lovely show at the Vanguard with Ashleigh Mannix (what a voice!). If you weren’t there, you can read the review and see the photos here: http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/reviews/events/24383/The-Little-Stevies--The-Vanguard-Sydney-23610.htm

It’s my job to book flights, hire cars and accommodation. ‘It can be a bit hit and miss sometimes with Beth’ as my sister explains it, and when searching for the most cost efficient way of touring a group of five people, it can be very easy to fall into the trap of only looking at the price rather than reliability or comfort. One particular palace that I booked this time round, saw us arrive at the reception of a motel that you could say looked like it could be hired out for an hour at a time (if you know what I mean). We were handed the keys to our room by a very excited woman who was eager to explain that our room, and only our room, was used for the first ever episode of Underbelly and various other films in a similar vain. You can imagine our faces of surprise, shock and dread as we exited the reception and headed for the ‘celebrity’ room.

Thursday 24th came along next, and what better day to play in the capitol of our fine country but the day we got our first female prime minister. We had a great time at the Transit Bar in Canberra, again with the lovely local Miss Mannix, but getting there wasn’t as much fun. Navigation and driving in convoy can make for interesting times. This trip in particular made me realise that I must get an I Phone ASAP, as getting separated from the car which holds the I Phone google map in a completely unfamiliar city and sitting next to my rather distressed sobbing older sister, driving into the dark unknown is not something anyone should have to go through…

After a gourmet midnight pasta meal made by the boys in Canberra, we drove back to Sydney the next day to support the extraordinary Mr Percival at the Basement. What a massively fun gig! I didn’t know one person on stage could have such a huge presence and make such a huge sound. If you haven’t yet seen him, you must this Thursday 1st @ NSC in Melbourne. We were lucky enough to have a song written spontaneously for us (absolutely hilarious) and were welcomed back onstage for a combined encore of ‘Dear Daniel’.

The last stop was Maitland, The Grand Junction, a pub that you could spend all night just gazing at the hundreds of posters covering the walls. Thanks to Ben and Melissa for the fabulous introduction and such a warm welcome back.

After a 13 hour drive back to Melbourne, a must needed shower, a big load of washing and a good hearty meal, I must say that the first leg of the tour was awesome and I can’t wait for the Melbourne part now – The East Brunswick Club, 9th July – it’s the last one for a while folks!

Beth

Nash night time adventures

Last weekend’s visit to Geelong was full of surprises. We played at the National Hotel, a venue in Geelong that definitely has a slightly rough but cool vibe to it and one we haven’t played for a couple of years at least. So coming back brought back early memories of one particular night that saw us try to rock out with only an acoustic guitar, shaker and djembe to a bunch of old leather wearing, long bearded, scary looking bikers, who would have squashed us with one finger. Luckily, Byll somehow ended up charming them with her banter by starting up an on stage conversation with them which led them to even buying a few cd’s…Phew! Turned out they had quite a sensitive side under their intimidating exterior, so we ended up friends and shook farewell.

Now being a louder four-piece we feel much more confident when finding ourselves in similar situations. But Saturday was nothing like that classic gig that I speak of. This time it was quite different indeed, the room full of upbeat, happy, excited people who danced and clapped and sang along. Thank you hugely to The Evening Cast and Luke Legs for joining us for the evening and making it such an enjoyable night. We also must make special mention to our amazing sound engineer, Jono, who arrived a good two hours earlier than the rest of us to make sure the PA was sounding schmick, but then didn’t quite follow out his plan when he locked his keys in his car which had all the gear in it. After a couple of hours of Jono standing in the winter cold, we arrived to the rescue with some miniature novelty keys that went with our miniature novelty harmonica’s that have been on our key rings since America. Between the mini keys and some fine coat hanger work from a friend who obviously hadn’t broken into a car for the first time that night, we managed to retrieve all that we needed to play the show.

We had a great time playing and cheers to every dancer who hit the dance floor and waved their arms for the entirety of the show. See you next time G-town.

Beth

St Andrews gigging marathon

What a tops night at St Andrews on the weekend. It might just have been the longest and most tiring gigging day we’ve had in a while - two afternoon shows and two evening shows at the St Andrews Hotel – but it was awesome fun none the less. You can’t call us lazy, that’s for sure.

The day began quite early when Byll and I made plans to arrive at the market before the first show to hand out flyers to promote it. Byll has never been one to be able to put up posters or hand out flyers for something that she is involved in. Give her posters for another band, no worries; they’ll be up in a flash. But if she is in the band, and more to that is pictured on the poster that she’s putting up, no chance. Its definitely one of those things that you need to be shameless but proud in doing. However, she has no problem in hovering 5 metres behind me while I put them up/hand them out. So the very generous deal that Byll made was that if I handed out all the flyers she would buy me a present. I was happy with that so we continued on.

We began playing early afternoon for what was going to be a marathon of a day and we would like to make some special mentions to some people who made the day so enjoyable. Sisters Ruby, Holy and their legend parents who were definitely some of the best audience members we’ve had. We were delighted to find out that the girls recently took our album in for Show and Tell at school and played the whole album except for track one, hehe (…swear word..) And Chris who relocated his entire house warming party to the St Andrews Hotel for the evening sets, all of whom danced and sang all the words to EVERYTHING and then made us laugh hysterically when called for an encore of ‘Grandma’…..not what you would expect from a rowdy group of twenty something’s…. You guys are all absolute champs and really are the best part about doing music for us. So thank you.

By the end of the night my fingers hurt like hell and our voices had just about disappeared, but gee wiz it was fun. See you soon St Andrews, what a great part of Melbourne.

Beth

Song chords, ahhhhhhh?

A challenge that I seem to keep coming up against more and more these days is fulfilling the requests of people who write to us wanting to know the chords of our songs. This may seem like a simple request and it is actually a huge compliment, so thank you to those who do request the chords to our songs. However I do tend to panic when these requests come through, because as a prolific songwriter and ‘highly trained’ Victorian College of the Arts music graduate that I am, I don’t actually know what I play on guitar.

Some would call this disgraceful, and others would call it brilliance. I like to think the latter myself. I originally learnt guitar so I could accompany myself (some advice given to me from my mum when I was younger – ‘learn an instrument so you never have to rely on anybody else to play your own songs’ she said). Dad showed me a couple of chords, I forgot what they were called nearly immediately and then I just made up what sounded good and what I could play easily. Every now and then a good song came out of my noodling on guitar and I wouldn’t give it another thought.

Until now! I wouldn’t have a clue what most of the chords to our songs are or how to describe the picking patterns. I’m sure there is proper ‘guitar talk’ that can be spoken, but I don’t know it and my gut feeling is that I probably won’t learn it for a long while. I am yet to decide whether deep theory knowledge clouds the creative writing process or enhances it. Either way, I know what’s worked for me so far and you know what they say, don’t mess with something that works. So I will continue to do my best with chord and picking pattern requests that come in and try to communicate these in some kind of a common universal language that can be understood by people from all musical backgrounds.

Adios!
Beth

Some advice from fan on the weekend

Following my blog last week mentioning that I think Byll and Rob are very funny on stage with their banter, I have a story to relay that happened at a gig on the weekend.

This particular show, Byll was totally ‘on’. She was shooting out the lines, she was quick, clever and perfect in her timing. I on the other hand endeavoured to tell a story about ordering coffee and milk in America that in my own mind was ridiculously funny, but in reality when the words flowed out of my mouth didn’t really have much coherence what so ever and didn’t quite get to the level of funny that was in my mind and experience. This difference between Byll and I is something that regularly occurs between us both on stage and off. I create a never ending pool of material for her, and she flogs it for all its worth and turns it into ‘funny’. I tend to do a lot of stupid things that so beautifully lend themselves to having the piss taken out of them. So like any older sibling she grabs it and runs with it, and I love it.

So after the show as I was at the merch stand, someone who came up to buy a CD said something that completely backed up what I mentioned in the last blog. He said ‘my mate is putting together comedy nights and your sister would be perfect at it! She should put a routine together!’. Well I nearly died with laughter. That was right up there with the time when we were out dancing and a girl came up to her on the dance floor and asked if Byll was a professional dancer.

You can imagine the look of both delight and disbelief that soared across her face as I mentioned this to her. So look out people, next year’s Comedy festival might just see Byll leave the band to launch her solo stand up comedy career ;)

Beth

A month of 'firsts'

What a whirlwind of a few weeks it’s been, and a time of many ‘firsts’. February saw us jet off to the States for the first time for a couple of weeks for a Nashville to Memphis to LA tour, then we flew straight over to beautiful WA to play Nannup Music Festival, and just last week we have been at the very awesome Blue Mountains Folk Festival and supporting country legend Nanci Griffith for her Melbourne and Sydney shows. Wow! I am loving 2010, bring on the rest of it!

Thanks to everyone who came to our shows at the festivals. What a great time we had. There’s nothing I enjoy more than having some serious laughs on stage throughout a show and that’s definitely what the last bunch of shows have been like. I’m lucky because I get to stand in the middle of Byll and Rob, who I must say I think are comedic geniuses. They would probably, actually most certainly, beg to differ on that statement and call it ridiculous, but for me, as far as the youngest sibling is concerned, they are two of the few people who can make me laugh uncontrollably and whom I’m very jealous of their wit and delivery. It’s like being in a nest for me having Josh, Byll and Rob all around. I scored a good spot in the middle. When we are doing our thing all together, it’s so easy and comfortable. Remove one of them and it feels like the mothers left the nest. I turn into an anxious little chick!

We must say a big huge thank you to Nanci for having us on her OZ tour. What a totally inspiring lady, one of the best storytellers and entertainers I’ve seen. We will be forever aspiring to have as long and as successful career as Nanci has had. We were chuffed when she generously asked us back up on stage to close the show with her singing the classic ‘Hammer Song’ which was a tune everyone could make a noise to. Look out, you might just hear that one slip into one of our future sets.. Cheers to Phil Kaufman and Thomm Jutz also who were so good to us.


We are off again to Sydney this week to do our very own show at the beautiful Raval (above The Maq Hotel) this Wednesday 24th. Would love to see all you Sydney and Blue Mountain folks there to share the evening with us.


That’s it from me.
Beth

Home sweet home

It’s been a week since we landed after the first most fantastic, exciting and memorable tour of the States that we have had as a band, and its only taken a week, maybe less, to miss the places and the people who we met along the way more than anything. It was everything we hoped for and more, and I must say that I think we have all indulged in the idea of moving there one day.

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We went to attend the International Folk Alliance, which was held in Memphis, Tenneesee. It was a four day conference where bands and artists from all over the place showcase to industry types and each other. The unique thing about this conference is that 95% of your showcases are held in hotel rooms and are absolutely acoustic. This was something we were feeling a bit uneasy about prior to arriving at FAI, but by the end of the conference couldn’t get enough of. We were performing 3-4 times each day during all hours (showcases ceased at 3am each morning), surviving off very little sleep and forgetting to eat a lot of the time. Our vocal chords got quite the work out indeed! Our manager, Tom Harris, did an amazing job at organising and running the Australia room which was sponsored by Sounds Australia, and hosted a bunch of extremely talented and awesome Aussie acts who we became a little family with throughout the conference. We would get up every morning (late morning), arm ourselves with postcards and business cards, sling our Little Stevies bags over our shoulders and go off to meet and greet for the rest of the day in between shows. All the shows were fantastic and awesomely attended, and on the final night we played our official showcase with a full PA to a big full room. It was an absolute blast! We met some incredible bands, saw some magical music and songwriters, made lots of American and Canadian friends and fell utterly head over heels for one band in particular, Tripping Lily - http://www.myspace.com/trippinglily - you must check them out!

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Prior to the conference though, we spent a week in Nashville where we did a bunch of shows at venues including Norm’s River Roadhouse, The legendary Bluebird Café, The Basement and an impromtu gig at Red Rooster on the night we arrived. We were lucky enough to meet some pretty cool people who extended some pretty awesome invitations our way. First and foremost, Ray Di Pietro, who we met on the plane to Nashville who took us under his wing right from the beginning, showed us the real Nashville, took us to where the locals eat and drink and told all his friends (some very cool friends in the industry….if you know what I mean…) about this great band he had met on the plane and that they should check out our music and video’s. Needless to say, I think a few had a good laugh at our ‘Dink You’ movie. Norm, from Norm’s River Roadhouse, who gave us the best first gig of the tour, also gave us the most amazing live sound we’ve probably ever had and showed us how you’re meant to drink whisky in the States. Allen Parker, another superb sound engineer who mixed us at the Bluebird Cafe and who also works at the most beautiful studio in Nashville – Ocean Way Studios – who invited us over to have a tour of the studio big enough to fit a full orchestra and later took us out ‘honky tonking’ in the capitol of country music.

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On our final night of the tour we stopped over in Los Angeles, walked down Hollywood Blvd, visited the stars, saw the Hollywood sign and played a show at the very cool Hotel Café. Thank you to all those people who saw us in Nashville and made the trip along again to see us in L.A. You guys totally rock!

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It was the most wonderful 3 weeks of immercing ourselves in and discovery the quite unique country/folk music scene over there, and experiencing first hand the enthusiasm that everyone has for music. We definitely have plans to go back again in the next year as there are some exciting possibilities and opportunities in the pipeline. Will have to wait and see!



To feel like you were there, check out our 8 tour video blogs: www.thelittlestevies.com

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Beth

America... Folk Yeah!

So we are nearly ready to jet off to the U.S.A! We have our working visa’s, International driver’s licenses, itinerary, new hair cuts and colour, and stacks of merch and promotional material for the Folk Alliance Conference including Little Stevies business cards, flyers and 4 track CD’s. We have been rehearsing like crazy both electric and acoustically. Half our shows over there are electric with proper PA’s, but the other half are acoustic hotel showcases. The top three levels of hotel rooms at the venue where the conference is at are transformed into small live music venues where no drums, mics, amps or anything loud can be used. So to practice for this, we played a mini concert recently for our biggest critics and fans (parents and siblings) in the lounge room and got a critique for our acoustic set. You might have called it character building in some ways, but never the less, the acoustic set is sounding great now.



There is definitely an art to packing for this kind of trip, especially when there are weight and space restrictions, and especially when you have to think about ‘stage’ clothes as well as ‘everyday’ clothes. A typical suitcase for going on tour would include: underwear to last a week, thongs for the shower, tiny travel towel, sheet to sleep in (to avoid any nasty beds we may come across), one pair of jeans, trackies and jumper for the plane, boots for stage, cons for day wear, bunch of tops, maybe two outfits for stage to alternate between, couple of cardigans, coat, selection of jewellery, toiletries and grooming products, charges, tuners, leads, spare batteries, guitar strings and of course guitar or required instruments. For the plane, a backpack full of trashy magazines, a book, I-Pod, journal, neck rest and eye patch are also essentials, along with scarves, gloves and beanies to survive the weather we’re heading to. Try and fit that all in a suitcase, weigh it on the bathroom scales, and if all goes well you’re then ready to go to Memphis!



We are over in the States for two and a half weeks, doing shows on either side of the conference, spending our time in Nashville, Memphis and LA. If you had of asked me a year ago what I thought I’d be doing in twelve months time, I wouldn’t have guessed I’d be going to America with my band. I feel extremely lucky to have the opportunity to do this and could think of no better bunch of people to travel with. Keep your eyes and ears out for I’m sure some hilarious and ridiculous video blogs which will appear over the next couple of weeks while we’re are away, and a massive online photo album which will document the entire trip.



Farewell Stevie peeps, see you upon our return!



Beth

On the road with... us

A good fun weekend away we had at the Summer Cherry Festival in Adelaide. It’s a tough drive to do in a weekend, a lot of sore bottoms, a lot of nasty roadhouse food, and a lot of open spaces, pink lakes and road works.

It’s interesting; I’ve noticed there seem to be road works on every major highway every time we drive them. It’s like by the time they fix the highway all the way to the end of it, it’s time to go back to the beginning and do it all again. So there are always those painful 110 zones that have been altered to 60 for a good 10kms in between towns that test your patience.

The drive to Adelaide is usually much better than the drive home. We always start early on the way over, getting the first 3 hours over with before the day seems like it’s really begun. But the way back always sees us sleeping in after a late night, and the day getting to 3pm in the afternoon and knowing we won’t be home for another five hours.

Time in the car is always quite hilarious though. Habits and behaviours of people who you spend half your life with really become engrained in you without realising. Let me share a little light. Rob does this weird teeth clicking thing that is constant. He doesn’t even realise he’s doing it, but I notice it the entire time. Byll will have these intermittent abrupt awakenings where every 15mins or so she’ll half yell ‘do you want me to drive’ while she’s basically still asleep. Josh will always drive the car like he’s kicking back on the couch, one hand on the wheel, head back, cruising. And I will to everyone’s absolute frustration put on the same couple of albums on repeat, until Rob claims the Ipod with a Triple J Dr. Carl or John Saffran podcast.

There’s always a lot of sleeping in preparation for your 2 hour driving shift, a lot of seat swapping, discoveries of new unknown public toilet locations, food stops and long conversations about producers and their work. So there you go, an idea of what it’s like being on the road with us!

Beth

A new year, a new album...

For every January of my 2 decade and a bit life, I have been in a place called Mallacoota holidaying with my family. Mum, dad, my sister and I in the same house, on the same hill, over looking the same amazing view of the Inlet year after year. It’s the best place I know, a typical small coastal town scenario where it’s quiet as a mouse throughout the year, and then come summer it doubles in size and activity. But this year is the first time I am not there.
Instead, we are spending January writing and demo-ing for our second album in Josh’s home built studio in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It’s a bit strange being in Melbourne at this time, I had no idea how quiet this city becomes and how awesome it is driving around streets with half the usual traffic. I like it. So far, we have put down seven tracks with a bunch more in the pipeline. They are all sounding great and it’s making me more excited by the day about the year ahead.
Having said that, demo-ing is just the beginning. First you have to write and finish the songs, then you have to arrange them, then you demo, then you talk strategy for how the album will actually be made, with who, with what money, when, where, etc, etc. Then there’s working out who and where to mix it, master it, how you will be releasing it and so on. But this time at the beginning of such a project is probably the most exciting, or at least it is for me. It’s the creative part. There’s nothing more exciting than writing a new song. You never know when one will come; it’s usually at the most inconvenient times. For example, when you have to be somewhere, late at night and you have to get up early or when you just don’t have enough time for whatever reason. So when that little wave of inspiration comes, you have to ride the wave for as long as it will go and that’s when something great comes out. Songs come from experience. Life on a day to day basis can become so routine and boring if you let it, it happens to me all the time and that’s when the inspiration stops. It’s when we do something crazy, out of character, new and unknown. That’s when the spectrum of emotions starts pouring out and falls into songs.
So I want to say thank you to any person or place who may have inspired this next bunch of songs. Whether we loved or hated you at the time, or were put through a positive or negative experience because of you, you are all little treasures, and invaluable.
Beth

Reflections on a year...

The days leading up to time-marks such as New Years, Christmas, Birthday’s, etc, never quite seem to sit well with me. You would think that one would look forward to them as a chance to celebrate, party, let loose, use them as an excuse to do something out of character, or as an excuse to do nothing at all. Some use them as an excuse to spoil themselves, over-eat, spend a lot of money or indulge. Some see them as a reason to be well behaved, a reason to keep the peace or swallow words that would much rather be spat out in full force. And others see them as a chance to reminisce, reflect on what has been, treat someone else, write something from the heart, be honest or catch up with neglected family or friends.

For some though, it seems to be a time when they spiral into a subtle state of anxiety, uncertainty and nervousness. Seeing it as a small reminder of what they haven’t done, haven’t ticked off their ‘to do’ list for the year or what they ‘will’ or ‘will not’ do in the form of a new year’s resolution for the year to come. It’s not the best feeling when it gets to the end of another year and the little piece of paper that you stuck up on your mirror which lists ‘things to buy for 2009’ and ‘goals for 2009’ only have a couple crossed off the ambitious list of ten or so! Neither is it encouraging when your New Year’s resolution is the same as last years because you didn’t actually resolve what you wanted to resolve the first time around…

But at least we can cherish the fact that with each new year that goes by either marked by a birthday, Christmas or New Year we get that little bit more intelligent, learn a few more new things, expand our vocabulary a bit more and meet a few more varieties of human. That’s good enough for me!

Beth