House Concerts. What a brilliant concept.

I must write something about the weekend that has just been, because it was just too damn good not to give it a special mention.

As you may know already, after having a blast of a time experiencing the beauty of the house concert over in Canada on our travels recently, we decided to steal the idea from a place where it is hugely popular, bring it home with us to a place where it is not so popular, and try and share the love of it with all of our loyal Aussie audiences, because we simply can't contain our excitement for it.

Last weekend marked the beginning of what will be a long line of house concerts that we will be doing over the next few months, all around Australia, and gee, if the weekend is anything to go by then we have got a bucket load of good times ahead, and will have more stories and memories at the end of it than we can poke a stick at.

We played on a gorgeous tropical farm minutes out of Lismore, up North, to a wonderful and lively bunch of faces new and old, we played at what felt like a small outdoor festival in its early birthing years in Brisbane to again one of the most enthusiastic and supportive bunch of people we've ever come across, and played at the most spectacular forest residence (what I like to call the 'treehouse') on an outdoor fairy-lit stage, surrounded by National Park, to once again a terrific audience. All our hosts were super fantastic and provided the perfect settings.

We've said this before and we'll keep on saying it, but being able to put family friendly shows on really does mean so much to us as a group and to be able to do this in an intimate space, to an audience of people who are a small community for each other; whether they be family, friends, neighbours or friends of friends, really just puts the cherry on top for us. Watching this, reminds
me so much of the endless good times we had as kids growing up being exposed to live music in a home environment and making it with our parents and friends of the same age, double, and triple our age. It didn't matter what age anyone was, just as long as everyone was having fun, enjoying themselves, felt safe and supported.

I must stop before I get all too mushy and sensitive, because if I ever wanted to try for a hipster cool image while I live out my twenties, confessing how moved I was by the whole thing really won't help my cause. But seriously, we had a mega awesome few days and cannot wait for the rest of these concerts.

Beth

Practice, say what?!

Apparently to learn a language or instrument when an adult, your chances of developing dementia is lessened dramatically.

You may ask what part of the brain is used in this scenario, so I’ll tell you. It’s the part that hurts. The part that has a direct connection to the outside of your face, that screws up in pain when using it. This is one of the first things my piano teacher told me in our first lesson, last week. So you can imagine my enthusiasm to get to it, so in the end my mind outlives my body.

Yes, I have begun taking piano lessons. After learning through primary school and somehow graduating from a music degree where I somehow passed ‘piano class’ three years ago, I am now at the point where I am ready to learn, because I want to. I have successfully not retained anything that I learnt when it was a task I had to do, but that’s ok. I have now become at one with the challenge of learning a new instrument and have the most important ingredient of self-motivation on my side. There’s one more essential ingredient when wanting something bad enough to do something about it, and that is green envy. I keep meeting these freakishly talented musicians who call themselves, say, a guitarist, but actually play five other instruments and five other variations of those instruments as well. I’m not going to lie, it makes me jealous. I can’t go to another jam session and just sit there, hoping I’ll get the chance to play one of my own songs and everyone will just play along with me. I need to be able to add some sprinkle to everything else.

So, wish me luck. I’m thinking I’m going to need it, because the thought of conventional practice is still swaying between making me feel sick, and making me feel sexy. And I need to get to the sexy feeling, period.

Beth

Bon Appetit!

It’s amazing how much time you can spend at home just doing a whole lot of nothing, thinking about how much you would like to be doing something, but have no idea what it is you might like to do. It’s also amazing how worthwhile it is to read your local neighbourhood paper or newsletter every once in a while, because every now and then you come across an ad for something that just seems appealing enough to move for. It also helps when it costs very little and is a whole lot of good quality.

Tonight, we Little Stevies took part in a 2 ½ hour Italian cuisine cooking class at the nearby community centre, and it was awesome fun. Byll found the ad, she needed a partner, I can’t cook, so I was the perfect candidate.

It’s definitely one of those things that I would have found extremely daggy a few years ago, particularly if it was something mum had of suggested during her quest to make us join clubs a while back. She said “It’s important to meet new people and spend time doing other activities as well as the band”. Maybe that was mum’s way of communicating concern for how much focus we had chosen to put into such an uncertain career path, having been there and done it herself when she was our age. But for whatever reason she said it, turns out parents aren’t always as crazy as you think they are in retrospect. The thought did occur to me this evening of why I hadn’t done something like this before now.

So we made pasta. Now I know what you’re thinking, pasta, pretty easy dish right? But we actually MADE the pasta. Got the flour, eggs, oil, and salt, kneaded it, thinned it, put it through the machine and ended up with a big plate of fresh homemade spaghetti that we devoured with a cold glass of bubbly rose, under a spell of Italian Oprah. I couldn’t believe how proud I felt and how satisfying it was to eat pasta that I had made with my bare hands. I was really doubtful that I would ever be able to do that. But as good as it was I’m also doubtful I will ever have the impulse to spent hours making a meal with that much detail again. Bless the people who are naturally talented chefs and whom I can simply buy their creations from. Sometimes I think we are just wired a certain way. But I’m still hopeful I will one day be able to cook a meal for my children when I one day have them… Maybe a meal… Maybe… We’ll see…

Beth

The end of a great time

I was watching what looked like a handful of glitter that had been thrown onto black paper, from the small aeroplane window as we flew into LAX last night and thought of the way Conner Oberst from Bright Eyes explained coming home from tour.

“It’s like everything turns from techno colour to black and white. You’re no longer a super hero anymore.”

That’s exactly what was happening right in that moment. That was the last glimpse of techno colour that we would see for a little while and I couldn’t help but feel a small amount of fear and discomfort about that. Why did I fear coming home to the place where everything is familiar and comfortable? That didn’t seem normal at all. But I guess that’s what is so romantic about touring. Nothing about it is normal; nothing at all.

In our last two weeks in Canada, we continued playing shows all over the place. We had the very best time playing Summerfolk and Ottawa music festivals, did our own headline show at the legendary Hugh’s Room in Toronto and began to fall in love with that city which is so comparable to Melbourne. It’s an extraordinarily exciting feeling when you see people reacting positively to your music in another country. Whether it was in a moment of looking out into a festival audience and seeing tears in peoples’ eyes during Grandma Song, or having one of our own songs requested by a youthful bunch of girls who sat out in the pouring rain just to see us play, or hearing the kind words people would say to us after a show as they bought a CD, every single time it was thrilling and moving, and gave us that much more confidence and motivation for what we are doing.

I’ve spoken about first times before in previous blogs, but truly nothing compares. The first time of anything tattoos our memory like life chapter headings that are willingly or unwillingly used to compare everything else we do against from then on. I can’t wait to get back again and watch the seed that we’ve planted grow. Thank you to every person who played a major or minor role in making this trip what it was – a true success.

Beth

Toronto bound

We have arrived in Toronto, in a gorgeous little house, in a totally trendy hipster central part of town where we will be living for the last three weeks of the tour. We have come to the part where we have a base and venture out of the city on various smaller drives to surrounding towns to play, but get the comfort of all those little homely appliances that are missed so much when moving every day.

In the last three weeks we have seen so much of Canada, its ridiculous. We drove from Vancouver all the way to Toronto, a fairly decent chunk of Canada if your geography is up to scratch. We have had some terrific shows. Highlights have included The Streaming Café; a show that was streamed online live as it was happening which was interactive with the audience (online and physically in the room) who could ask questions, make comments and that sort of thing. What a blast we had and such a nice thing to do the middle of a big trip away from home.

We worked our way through to Winnipeg and then onto Lac Du Bonnet which is where we had one brilliant weekend at Fire & Water Festival. All the artists were put up at a lakeside paradise, with cabins, camping, canoes, diving boards, a host who cooked the most amazing meat dishes you could imagine all weekend and big bonfire jams which was a nightly occasion usually finishing up at sunrise. And that wasn’t even the festival itself! We met and hung out with some fabulous bands. The Crooked Brothers, The Weber Brothers, Low Flying Planes & Oh My Darling, so check them out because you wont be disappointed. We went water skiing and tubing too, but that’s a whole tour diary in itself, so I won’t spoil it.

Before we hit Toronto, we stopped to do a house concert in Orillia ON which was the best fun and could not have had a more gorgeous setting. A big high multiple level balcony was the stage that looked over a gully type backyard with high trees stooping down to frame the area as the sun was going down. What fun, what a place and what great people!

So much more to come and so much more that hasn’t been mentioned; otherwise you’d be up for a novel length read.

Signing off,
Beth

The Little Stevies vs Canada

Hello! We are in Canada. Actually, I think I’m in a Twilight film and will be disappointed if I don’t come face to face with a vampire before this two month tour is up. Right now we are in a town called Kamloops which is situated a few hours out of Vancouver, and it is reminiscent of the town Forks in which the vampire trilogy is set, much like a lot of these regional towns we have found ourselves in on the east side of this country so far. A few days ago we caught a ferry across to Vancouver Island which was breath taking, to play three shows, and drove highways through some of the most spectacular mountainous landscapes that I have only ever seen in travel broacher pictures. I won’t lie; I was floored and intimidated by how small I felt next to these huge lush snow capped beings fencing us in and carving the way through the patches of cloud that lead to the next town on the map. I have most definitely found a whole new respect for the landscape which will always be bigger than us no matter how much we try to control it, and I sense of guilt for any foreign traveler visiting Australia who has to survive our somewhat less impressive and dull Hume highway drive up the east coast.

We are though on a pretty big adventure though Canada where by the end of August we will have seen more of Canada than some Canadians would see in a lifetime, so we’re told by the locals. We arrived last week in Toronto, and being the no time-wasting band we are, got straight to doing our first show the following night at the Drake Hotel supporting the very cool Ron Hawkins. We then started our road trip to Sudbury, five hours out of Toronto, where we played the first of five festivals that we’ll be doing, called the Northern Lights Festival. This festival, which was situated next to a huge fresh water lake, was a beautiful setting and our time and performance there couldn’t have been more enjoyable. Our show happened to be snapped and stuck on the front page of the local paper which was quite hilarious and we were even lucky enough to be invited out sailing by Jorge, a local Geography Professor who showed us a great time and the essence of living and enjoying yourself.

So our adventure continues. After tonight we head back to Vancouver for a couple of shows and then begin the drive back across the country to Toronto over the next three weeks, playing along the way, in our ridiculous jet black SUV. Hopefully we get to see a bear, or an elk, or a moose along the way too, though from a distance and the safety of a human-made structure preferably.

Until the next blog,
Beth

Canadia

Today I caught myself having an ungrateful moment when I was complaining to my folks about how bored I was. I should always remember that its never a good idea to say that to ones parents, as their response every time is without fail ‘well I can give you lots of jobs that need doing…’. Truth is, there are always a million things to do or that need doing. Like attending to that pile of important papers on the floor of your room that each few days grows a bit taller and collects a bit more dust. Or that other pile of clothes on the floor that need hand washing… They’re like piles of problems that you think if you ignore them long enough they will just kind of vanish. Sadly they don’t ever seem to vanish, but just become bigger problems with a stronger stench.

I worked out that my ‘boredom’ came from no other but the ‘travel bug’. Yes, I’d heard about it but I never thought I’d get it. It seems ironic I know since the nature of being in a band is that you tour, a lot. But honestly, it’s never quite hit me like this until now. It’s been three weeks now since we were away with the band and I feel like a simmering tomato based pasta sauce about to bubble and pop onto the clean white stove tiles just to cause some kind of a surprise and reaction.

Luckily, in fourteen days exactly we will be boarding a big V-Australia jet plane and heading for the stars! (CANADIA!!!) Yes, we are about to embark on a mammoth tour around Canada performing at four festivals, playing 35 odd shows, driving an estimated 3000km, stopping at 25 different locations and all in a whirlwind seven weeks. Can you believe it?! I’ll admit, I nearly can’t. ‘Attention Shoppers’ is being released through our Canadian record label, 45 Records, and will also be released in the United States also. But before we hit the road again and conjure up many more tour videos for y’all, we have two massive Melbourne shows that we are lucky enough to be involved in.

1. Heart of St Kilda (Sacred Heart Fundraiser Concert) Monday 27th June @ The Palais, with some of Melbourne’s finest and funniest artists – Paul Kelly, Tripod, Jimeoin, Jon Stevens, Wolfgramm Sisters, Des Dowling, Cal Wilson, Billy Miller, Russell Morris, Adalita, Dave Thornton, Brian Nankervis and Even.

AND

2. BATTLE OF THE BANDS - ALL AGES SHOW @ The Malvern Town Hall, Friday 1st July with Oh Mercy and more.

We seriously can’t wait for these couple of shows and hope you can make it along too for some good fun times during this outrageously miserable winter of ours.
Over and out,
Beth

It never ends and that's the way I like it.

The album launch tour is officially over! Well, according to the tour poster. Last weekend in WA as we finished up after a great show at the Indi Bar in Perth, we toasted to the tour that has been for our sophomore album Attention Shoppers. It was a beautiful moment. As we sat with our poster in one hand and a form of bubbles in the other, we laughed, remembered and ranked… (ha! no just kidding, it was draw across the board) all the shows and their individual quirks that has made the last two months so enjoyable and which have formed a wonderful overall memory of how we introduced this album into the world. I’m not sure we can emphasise how much we appreciate all the people who have come to the shows and then told a handful of friends and then come back again, to the extent that we would like. Word of mouth is the one position of power that we can truly rely on and therefore exist as a band and keep touring. So here’s a sincere thanks from us, and no doubt we’ll be back very soon to play again.

Though as one adventure comes to an end, another one begins, and come July we will be boarding another plane over to Canada for two months to release Attention Shoppers over there. We will be rocking a few festivals over there amongst other things which we can’t wait for, but more about that another time.

In the meantime, we head up to the Gold Coast, Byron and Brisbane one last time this week, then scoot across to Adelaide once more the week after that and then hit Melbourne, Monday 27th June, at the Palais Theatre to take part in the Heart of St Kilda Charity Show to raise money for the Sacred Heart Mission. We are lucky enough to be joining a mega line up of performers including Paul Kelly, Tripod, Jimeoin, Jon Stevens, Wolfgramm Sisters, Des Dowling, Cal Wilson, Billy Miller, Russell Morris, Adalita, Brian Nankervis and Dave Thornton. We cannot wait; it should be some serious fun.

Well that’s enough from me for now, its time for some tv and a cup of tea.

Ciao
Beth

It's a launch party, that's for sure.

Ararat, Ballarat, Adelaide, Warrnambool, Hobart, Launceston, Canberra, Newcastle, Sydney, Cronulla – Tick! Done and dusted are these fabulous places which we have played and launched our album in over the past three weeks. Cheers to everyone new and old who have come along to support us, every show has been uniquely different and enjoyable for all sorts of reasons and I’m so glad that it’s kept interesting by not knowing what to expect for each show.

We’ve enjoyed Adelaide songbirds ‘Darling Street’ doing a cover of our song ‘Making My Sweetheart Smile’ at our Adelaide show, pressuring our sound engineer Jono to jump up on stage to play bass for a ‘Land Down Under’ encore in Hobart, us actually attempting the dance moves on stage to ‘Feel It’ in Cronulla, and popping champagne and birthday cake for yet another birthday in our touring party whilst being away. We had the gorgeous Gossling join us for the last few days as we drove around NSW. Even after four consecutive nights of watching her show I could still listen many more times. Her songs will be driving me nuts for days I’m sure.

We are now home for only a couple of days where we can eat some real fresh healthy food, wash our clothes, do some work and try to get some sleep before we head off to WA for our first bunch of headline shows ever on Thursday. We will definitely be packing our swimmers and a book to read (or a trashy mag in my case) for any free time we can find, lying on the beach in the sun pretending we’re on a holiday…

We can’t wait to get to the last few places on the tour schedule and thanks again to all who have come to the shows, come to say hi, shared some lovely words, purchased some Stevie stuff and spread the word for us.

Stay good,
Beth

The Album release launch parties thus far

Well it has been such a brilliant couple of weeks. As I write this blog, we are literally smack bang in the middle of our Attention Shoppers Album Release Party Launch Tour. Wow, what a title! And we are having the best time. I must make special mention to the Blue Mountains Music Festival who had us a couple of week’s back which was so delightful to play at for the second year in a row – thank you! You blue mountaineers seriously rock. We then followed BMMF with our two Melbourne/home town launches at the Toff in Town which were too so much fun and where Byll made her debut of the trumpet live. Such a funny moment I wish we could go back to just once more. On ya sis, it was fantastic. We’ve had the fabulous, funny and totally inspiring Anika Moa with us for the Melbourne and QLD/Brisbane leg who has been a scream to hang out with. We sadly farewelled Anika and her guitarist Tim goodbye at the end of the weekend as they headed back to New Zealand, but not without her jumping up on stage in Mullumbimby for a combined effort of ‘Feel It’. We’ve become cosy and comfortable in the 12 seater touring bus and look forward to welcoming the lovely Georgia Fields into the van this week when we head south. Thank you to everyone who has come to the shows thus far and supported us – it makes a little independent band extremely happy.

Enjoy yourselves,
Beth

35th Port Fairy Folk Festival celebration

What can I say, other than what a thrilling weekend we had at the Port Fairy Folk Festival. It surpassed any expectations that we had leading up to it and we must say a HUGE thank you to the festival for having us once again, this being our third and biggest year yet at Port Fairy. After months of slogging away day and night, pulling this album together, we officially launched it over the weekend to some of the biggest crowds we have ever played to. I’m really not quite sure if I’ve ever felt that level of excitement and nervousness all at once before; the nervous pains I hope to never experience again in my lifetime but the excitement and enjoyment – bring it, bring it on! As it was to be expected, we ended up being so busy that we didn’t get a chance to see any other acts properly, as our only afternoon off saw us spend five hours down on the beach shooting our next video clip. But I was genuinely chuffed to be billed on the same line up as some of my musical heroes that Byll and I have grown up singing along to and striving to be as good as. Kasey Chambers, The Waifs and Vicka & Linda, who have been and are the most fabulous musical female role models to us. Having said that, I still didn’t have one ounce of guts to go and say hello, so I guess that proves that confidence on stage doesn’t always translate in an off stage in person kind of way… But what I did watch side of stage of their sets, didn’t fail to remind me why they are as successful and respected as they are and lit the fire once again inside of me. We gladly left the festival utterly exhausted along with the other 35,000 dedicated folkies, and have come home to do some washing for a couple of days before packing up again to head to the Blue Mountains Music Festival this weekend. If this is what ‘living the dream’ means, then it’s a pretty bloody good dream if you ask me and one I hope I don’t wake up from anytime soon.
Signing off,
Beth

One Fine Birthday in Hobart

The weekend saw us land in Hobart, Tasmania and what a blast we had. We were there to play at the One Fine Day festival on Saturday and then a beautiful little winery show Sunday arvo. It just so happened to be Robin’s birthday also which meant we had reason to celebrate! We try and make birthdays special when we’re away on tour, which means you have to be a bit more creative with the ideas you think up, but also mean its way more fun than the normal birthday at home. We’ve been to Graceland in Memphis, stuffed ourselves with champagne and seafood at Diver Dan’s Boathouse in Barwon Heads, woken up to the blearing sounds of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Happy Birthday’ in the bush at hippie fest Folk Rhythm & Life, and of course the big birthday cooked breakfasts that go without saying. But this time we decided to do something a little intellectual and visit the Mona Museum in Hobart which if you are one to find a regular museum a bit, or very, boring….this ones for you. If you’re like me and struggle with the pace of walking around the multiple floors of a museum and the unavoidable claustrophobia with all the people and not being able to predict where they’re going to move next, you will still feel this way, BUT, this place has revolting stuff, shocking stuff, bizarre and totally fascinating stuff. It’s awesome! For example, ever wondered how a solid can be processed by the body into you know what?! Well you see it at Mona; actually see it happen. So totally recommend to any Hobart visitors who haven’t yet had the Mona experience and guess what? It’s FREE!

Beth

Happy New Year

So it’s about bloody time I wrote another blog. A lot has been happening as you’ve probably noticed with the release of our single ‘Feel It’ and the ridiculous piece of performance art that has accompanied it. We are thrilled that everyone has enjoyed the clip so much. We had a huge amount of fun making it, but I won’t lie, a stream of concern did come over us at one point, dreading the chance that people would actually take it seriously. But we are delighted to find out that you all share the same sense of humour as us, and now that we know what rocks your boat we will be sure not to disappoint with our next piece of ridiculousness to accompany the album release…

After a good little holiday, some beach time and some serious sleeping in over January, it’s nearly impossible to believe that it’s February already. I’m ready though; ready to take the year on and driven as ever. Every year brings with it change; something brand new and something to let go of, and it feels good to be finally at ease with that unavoidable truth. So cheers to a new year everyone, hope it’s fabulous for you.

Beth