The Little Stevies

House Concerts. What a brilliant concept.

2011-12-07T16:46:00.000-08:00

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?!

2011-09-27T02:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-09-13T02:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-04T04:55:00.001-07:00

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

2011-08-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-20T14:26:00.001-07:00

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.

2011-05-24T03:30:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-05-10T00:28:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

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

2011-02-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-31T14:37:00.000-08:00

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

Stevies clip of the Year

2010-12-20T12:31:00.001-08:00

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

2010-12-07T01:15:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-30T14:36:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-15T17:20:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-09T01:11:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-01T04:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-09-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-19T07:32:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-13T01:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-29T00:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-30T20:46:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-04-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-03T03:38:00.001-07:00

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'

2010-03-21T04:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-17T05:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-02-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-19T17:32:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-01-10T19:11:00.001-08:00

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...

2010-01-03T15:18:00.000-08:00

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

A night to remember...

2009-12-08T06:04:00.001-08:00

What a weekend and what a night!

When, just two months ago, we brainstormed the idea of putting on a show to help send us off to Memphis, Tennessee (where we will be showcasing at the International Folk Alliance Conference in February 2010), we knew that if we could pull it off it would be a night to remember. And man, it was.

It was at one of our band meetings in Nth Fitzroy that we sat down and made a wish list of artists/friends who we would absolutely love to ask to special guest with us on the evening. At first, we asked a whole bunch of people who we have either met and partied with at past festivals, shared line-ups with in Melbourne and around OZ or who have been mentors and been so kind in offering knowledge and support. Thinking that at least half wouldn’t be able to do it or not want to, we crossed our fingers and put our request out there. Well blind me dead, they all said YES!

Wally De Backer (aka Goyte), Bonjah, Sophie Koh, Jordie Lane, Liz Stringer, Austin Busch, Ryan Meeking, Sal Kimber and Michael Barker were our all-star line-up for the special night. We either did covers of their songs, they did covers of ours or we did brand new covers all together. The week leading up to the show was full-on, with back to back rehearsals with everyone, trying to find free time between everyone's busy touring schedules. I have to say that is was such an enjoyable experience rehearsing with everyone. For how many times we have played our own songs and are half sick of them, it was so nice to learn and play new songs and hear ours done a different way.

Cliff Bowden opened the night for us with his beautiful voice and funky-arse trio. Check him out if you haven’t yet! Andrew McClelland compered the night, handing over Port Fairy and Queenscliff Music Festival tix for 2010 to very excited raffle winners. Jono Steer, the bloody legend behind the sound desk who we stupidly forgot to thank from stage at the end of the night, did a mighty job. Hannah and Adrian for running the merch desk all night. And Tom Harris, who took on so many different jobs its hard to keep track of them all.

It was a huge success, lots of smiling faces when I could see out into the audience, and a personal highlight for myself was Jordie, Austin and Ryan’s harmonica battle in the ‘Dear Daniel’ all in grand finale. After an epic day, it was time for an after party at the Night Cat to relax, have a dance and a drink ….maybe two.

Thank you from the bottom of our collective Stevie hearts to everyone who was involved and everyone who came out to support us on a school night. We feel extremely lucky to have friends like you and to have such a strong support team around us. We can proudly say that we made some $$$ which will send us to Memphis for Christmas!!
Beth

Adventures at (and mostly before) the IF Awards, by Beth (with some interjections from Robin)

2009-11-19T22:40:00.000-08:00

I’m sitting at home with mum and dad, and yes, we are settling in to watch the 2009 IF Awards on SBS that we had the pleasure of attending only 24 hours ago in Sydney.

It was the shortest jet setting trip we’ve ever done (Wrong! We once flew to Canberra for a festival and flew home the same day! – Robin). This is how the day flowed: I woke with just enough time to race up to the shopping centre to buy some skin coloured stockings to wear with my prepared attire that I had packed the night before. Three pairs of stockings/tights (some for Byll as well) and $40 later (oh my goodness, stockings are such a rip off!), I got back just in time to pick Byll up and to catch our flight with our favourite airline, Tiger (I hope that was sarcastic – you know they’re the ones who smashed my guitar, right?! – Robin). I had packed minimal, one dress, one pair of shoes and make up. Byll on the other hand, looked like she had packed for a week.

We arrived at the hotel, that Byll had boasted was only a 10 min walk from Luna Park, where the ceremony was being held, and it couldn’t have turned out to be a more stressful afternoon. I was super excited about the evening and getting to dress up. I hadn’t dressed up like this since my year 12 formal. Only three days before I was convinced that my chosen retro style black and white checked dress was perfect and that I looked sensational as I strutted around the lounge room giving mum and dad a fashion parade. But as I watched my big sister get into her outfit, I got that feeling that you never grow out of as a younger sibling, which was a mixture of admiration, jealousy and disappointment, because she looked absolutely amazing, and I wanted to look just as good. I quickly realised that my only retro black and white checked dress that I had brought needed to be immediately tossed.

This is when the stress kicked in. Their were a few tears when I went to put my never before worn stockings on and immediately pulled a ladder from my ankle to my knee in literally a second, and then to realise that because I couldn’t wear my wrecked stockings I would reveal my atrocious freshly painted grape fruit toe nails, that for some weird reason I thought looked good the night before. So Byll came to my rescue, wiped those tears away and offered her numerous other dresses to me as an alternative that she had come prepared with. I went for the classic black number, and thank the lord all was peachy again.

We met the rest of ‘team Sunshower’ (Robin, Stew and Lorin) by the red carpet. We watched closely while the celebs rolled out of the circling cars doing the drop offs. After chickening out of approaching the red carpet ourselves, we strolled down along side the red carpet to pick up our tickets. It went something like “Hi, we are The Little Stevies, we’re nominated for Best Video Clip tonight”. To our absolute delight and surprise the woman responsible for the tickets immediately responded with “The Little Stevies? Why aren’t you in a car?” Wow, we were meant to be in one of those cars that drop you off at the red carpet and then you get your picture taken! Well we weren’t going to miss out on that! In true Stevie style, ‘team Sunshower’ turned straight around, trekked all the way back to the beginning of the red carpet, embarrassingly found ourselves being the very last group, but walked that carpet like it was only ours.

The ceremony began and our award was second up. We try not to be a competitive band when it comes to these things, but damn we wanted to win. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to take to the stage in the following minutes, but we watched a grab of our clip up on the big screens and I have to say that I was particularly thrilled and proud to see our clip up there for all to watch.

We hit the after party, drank more champagne, danced a little and fed ourselves. I had such a great time and would do it all again in a second…… but I’m never again in my life wearing high heels!!!

Over and Out,

Beth

Check out this video!

2009-11-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

The Little Stevies - Dink You: A Musical Journey

The Little Stevies | MySpace Video

'Dink You' has landed

2009-11-17T14:38:00.001-08:00

The new video accompanying our new single 'Dink You' has arrived on YouTube!!
It's kind of half music video, half short film, and it's all about The Little Stevies becoming the first band to circumnavigate the globe by bike.
You can find the long version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn_jIvcDkF8
and a shorter version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdGrtemecgA

If you like it, please spread the word! Post it on a blog, on your Facebook, Tweet it, email it! We want EVERYONE to see it!

Take care,

Robin

Our IF Nomination Thank You List (just in case we don't win)

2009-11-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

So it’s with heartfelt thanks that we receive the Inside Film Awards nomination for Best Music Video. How did we get this far? Well, there’s a hell of a lot of luck involved, let me tell you. But wait, I’m not saying it’s the kind of random luck where we got picked out of obscurity from all the other bands - I mean let’s face it, it’s not a bad lookin’ video. No, I’m talking about the luck of knowing and being supported by some of the most amazing people in the solar system. For that, we’re INCREDIBLY lucky. So now it’s time to thank them.

First of all, the star of the show, without whom there would be no video at all, Australia’s hottest Auslan interpreter, the one, the only, Simone Ellen. A round of applause please. What a champ. Need I say any more?

Equally ‘hot’, but in a cinematographic (as well as aesthetic) sense, is Stewart Thorn, who was the director of photography on the shoot. Not only has Stew donated his amazing skills to the band on numerous occasions, but he’s also the band’s unofficial publicist, constantly harassing people both digitally and randomly in the street with his strong views about the band. What a way to make us feel loved. L E G E N D.

We should also thank Lorin for lending him out so often, and for being another L E G E N D.

Anyone know what grading is? No, it doesn’t happen at schools, it happens in big computers, and it can make your movie look dull and overcast one minute and gloriously sunny the next. And it’s damn hard! So we were incredibly lucky to have Cail Young and Pete Wells at Inspiration Studios, fast becoming THE production house in Melbourne, making the clip look fantastic. Is there anything they CAN’T do? Call them and find out…

When you’re co-ordinating a tricky shoot like this was, you need a great beard on-hand, just to keep everything under control, and this was provided for us by the chin of Cam Matheson. Cam’s skills on a film set are so great that it’s rumoured he once 1st AD’d two shoots SIMULTANEOUSLY, IN DIFFERENT STATES, WITHOUT ANYONE NOTICING! Luckily, we had his full attention for this shoot, and would no doubt have been up the creek without him.

General legend Thom Holt was on-hand to carry the blow-up boat up and down the pier. Thom’s skills extend far beyond this though, and you can see has amazing handiwork on YouTube in our live Toff In Town clips, which he shot with his very cool mate Shelley. My debts to Thom go far beyond this video – it’s just another great example of his work.

So obviously Stew had to be walking backwards in order to film us all walking up the pier, right? Well the reason he didn’t end up in the water was that my dad, Steve, was marching behind him, guiding him along and out of the way of passer bys, poles and dog shit. Unglamorous, but absolutely vital. Thanks Dad!

Also marching up and down the pier was my mum, Ingrid, who is about the most reliable and dedicated person on the planet. “Hey Mum, come and march up and down St Kilda pier in the freezing cold for two hours!” “OK”. “Oh, and learn this sign-language” “Sure thing”. Where would I be without her? Nowhere. Literally. Thanks Mum.

Mitchell Ward, aka Mitch Paxton, aka M.Pax was on-hand to weave his suave and debonair aura into the video. As well as being an incredibly faithful supporter of the band, Mitch is also an amazing singer, guitarist and songwriter and you should get along to one of his gigs if you can.

Also Auslaning it up was my sister, Hannah, another invaluable supporter of the band, and general all-round cool person. Still dragging you along to be in my silly movies, hey? Nothing ever changes.

Then of course there was the OTHER Hannah, whose contributions to the band also go far beyond marching up and down the pier in the cold. Hannah can also be credited with getting us some of our first gigs and, most importantly, with introducing us to our first manager, Orvo, who is next on the list.

Orvo’s hard-work and dedication to the band was awesome and The Little Stevies are incredibly lucky to have had, and still have, his amazing support. Without him, we’d never have been in the position to be making music videos, or touring around the country, or dinking each-other home from the Queenscliff Pub. But that’s another story...

We shot this video while Josh Barber was still easing his way into being a Little Stevie – a damn shame, although he still made an amazing contribution to the video by suggesting, right after we’d met him, that we contact Cameron Louis-Gleeson (another massive thank you), who put us in touch with Simone. And now we’ve come full circle.

I’ve probably forgotten someone, although hopefully I’ll remember and get to update it before they notice. Now it’s time to start putting a list of thank yous together for our new video for Dink You, which comes out NEXT TUESDAY, PEOPLE!!! Mark it in the diary! No, don’t bother, you’ll probably get spammed about it.

Lastly, I’d like to thank Dog.

Goodbye!

-Robin

Musical memories from a generation past...

2009-11-10T20:43:00.001-08:00

It’s funny how certain music can become the soundtrack to your life without you even realising it until years later.....

It is a Sunday night in September and I am sitting in my room, doing some band work on my bed, and my mum decides to re-discover the pile of old cassette tapes which have made a comfortable life for as long as I can remember next to the half broken CD player in the lounge room. They are all recordings of mum and dad in the band they had for so long before we were born and then grew into toddlers. There’s ‘Jimmy Mac’, ‘Afternoon Delight’ and then comes ‘Message to my Girl’, all songs that I know all the words to - not because I’ve sung them before, but because I’ve heard them sung by mum and dad so many times at band rehearsals over the course of my life from the next room. They called it the ‘Thursday Night Social’, and damn it was fun! I mean, I didn’t understand at that age why it was so fun for all the adults, and what all the jokes were about. But it was fun as a kid watching a whole lot of people laughing and having live amplified music in the house that I could dance to in my PJ’s. ....

These songs; ‘Blame it on the Boogie’, ‘Ride Like the Wind’, ‘Ticket to Ride’, ‘Boy From New York City’, I will always remember fondly. They represent a time in my parents’ lives that is closer than ever to what stage I am at in my own journey now. Call me daggy, but I’ve decided it’s kind of nice to get an insight into what your parents were like at your age. All of a sudden, there is an explanation for why we are the way we are…..and never before quite known why.