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
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Nash night time adventures
Last weekend’s visit to Geelong was full of surprises. We played at the National Hotel, a venue in Geelong that definitely has a slightly rough but cool vibe to it and one we haven’t played for a couple of years at least. So coming back brought back early memories of one particular night that saw us try to rock out with only an acoustic guitar, shaker and djembe to a bunch of old leather wearing, long bearded, scary looking bikers, who would have squashed us with one finger. Luckily, Byll somehow ended up charming them with her banter by starting up an on stage conversation with them which led them to even buying a few cd’s…Phew! Turned out they had quite a sensitive side under their intimidating exterior, so we ended up friends and shook farewell.
Now being a louder four-piece we feel much more confident when finding ourselves in similar situations. But Saturday was nothing like that classic gig that I speak of. This time it was quite different indeed, the room full of upbeat, happy, excited people who danced and clapped and sang along. Thank you hugely to The Evening Cast and Luke Legs for joining us for the evening and making it such an enjoyable night. We also must make special mention to our amazing sound engineer, Jono, who arrived a good two hours earlier than the rest of us to make sure the PA was sounding schmick, but then didn’t quite follow out his plan when he locked his keys in his car which had all the gear in it. After a couple of hours of Jono standing in the winter cold, we arrived to the rescue with some miniature novelty keys that went with our miniature novelty harmonica’s that have been on our key rings since America. Between the mini keys and some fine coat hanger work from a friend who obviously hadn’t broken into a car for the first time that night, we managed to retrieve all that we needed to play the show.
We had a great time playing and cheers to every dancer who hit the dance floor and waved their arms for the entirety of the show. See you next time G-town.
Beth
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
Monday, May 17, 2010
St Andrews gigging marathon
What a tops night at St Andrews on the weekend. It might just have been the longest and most tiring gigging day we’ve had in a while - two afternoon shows and two evening shows at the St Andrews Hotel – but it was awesome fun none the less. You can’t call us lazy, that’s for sure.
The day began quite early when Byll and I made plans to arrive at the market before the first show to hand out flyers to promote it. Byll has never been one to be able to put up posters or hand out flyers for something that she is involved in. Give her posters for another band, no worries; they’ll be up in a flash. But if she is in the band, and more to that is pictured on the poster that she’s putting up, no chance. Its definitely one of those things that you need to be shameless but proud in doing. However, she has no problem in hovering 5 metres behind me while I put them up/hand them out. So the very generous deal that Byll made was that if I handed out all the flyers she would buy me a present. I was happy with that so we continued on.
We began playing early afternoon for what was going to be a marathon of a day and we would like to make some special mentions to some people who made the day so enjoyable. Sisters Ruby, Holy and their legend parents who were definitely some of the best audience members we’ve had. We were delighted to find out that the girls recently took our album in for Show and Tell at school and played the whole album except for track one, hehe (…swear word..) And Chris who relocated his entire house warming party to the St Andrews Hotel for the evening sets, all of whom danced and sang all the words to EVERYTHING and then made us laugh hysterically when called for an encore of ‘Grandma’…..not what you would expect from a rowdy group of twenty something’s…. You guys are all absolute champs and really are the best part about doing music for us. So thank you.
By the end of the night my fingers hurt like hell and our voices had just about disappeared, but gee wiz it was fun. See you soon St Andrews, what a great part of Melbourne.
Beth
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
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Song chords, ahhhhhhh?
A challenge that I seem to keep coming up against more and more these days is fulfilling the requests of people who write to us wanting to know the chords of our songs. This may seem like a simple request and it is actually a huge compliment, so thank you to those who do request the chords to our songs. However I do tend to panic when these requests come through, because as a prolific songwriter and ‘highly trained’ Victorian College of the Arts music graduate that I am, I don’t actually know what I play on guitar.
Some would call this disgraceful, and others would call it brilliance. I like to think the latter myself. I originally learnt guitar so I could accompany myself (some advice given to me from my mum when I was younger – ‘learn an instrument so you never have to rely on anybody else to play your own songs’ she said). Dad showed me a couple of chords, I forgot what they were called nearly immediately and then I just made up what sounded good and what I could play easily. Every now and then a good song came out of my noodling on guitar and I wouldn’t give it another thought.
Until now! I wouldn’t have a clue what most of the chords to our songs are or how to describe the picking patterns. I’m sure there is proper ‘guitar talk’ that can be spoken, but I don’t know it and my gut feeling is that I probably won’t learn it for a long while. I am yet to decide whether deep theory knowledge clouds the creative writing process or enhances it. Either way, I know what’s worked for me so far and you know what they say, don’t mess with something that works. So I will continue to do my best with chord and picking pattern requests that come in and try to communicate these in some kind of a common universal language that can be understood by people from all musical backgrounds.
Adios!
Beth
Some 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
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Some advice from fan on the weekend
Following my blog last week mentioning that I think Byll and Rob are very funny on stage with their banter, I have a story to relay that happened at a gig on the weekend.
This particular show, Byll was totally ‘on’. She was shooting out the lines, she was quick, clever and perfect in her timing. I on the other hand endeavoured to tell a story about ordering coffee and milk in America that in my own mind was ridiculously funny, but in reality when the words flowed out of my mouth didn’t really have much coherence what so ever and didn’t quite get to the level of funny that was in my mind and experience. This difference between Byll and I is something that regularly occurs between us both on stage and off. I create a never ending pool of material for her, and she flogs it for all its worth and turns it into ‘funny’. I tend to do a lot of stupid things that so beautifully lend themselves to having the piss taken out of them. So like any older sibling she grabs it and runs with it, and I love it.
So after the show as I was at the merch stand, someone who came up to buy a CD said something that completely backed up what I mentioned in the last blog. He said ‘my mate is putting together comedy nights and your sister would be perfect at it! She should put a routine together!’. Well I nearly died with laughter. That was right up there with the time when we were out dancing and a girl came up to her on the dance floor and asked if Byll was a professional dancer.
You can imagine the look of both delight and disbelief that soared across her face as I mentioned this to her. So look out people, next year’s Comedy festival might just see Byll leave the band to launch her solo stand up comedy career ;)
Beth
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
Sunday, March 21, 2010
A month of 'firsts'
What a whirlwind of a few weeks it’s been, and a time of many ‘firsts’. February saw us jet off to the States for the first time for a couple of weeks for a Nashville to Memphis to LA tour, then we flew straight over to beautiful WA to play Nannup Music Festival, and just last week we have been at the very awesome Blue Mountains Folk Festival and supporting country legend Nanci Griffith for her Melbourne and Sydney shows. Wow! I am loving 2010, bring on the rest of it!
Thanks to everyone who came to our shows at the festivals. What a great time we had. There’s nothing I enjoy more than having some serious laughs on stage throughout a show and that’s definitely what the last bunch of shows have been like. I’m lucky because I get to stand in the middle of Byll and Rob, who I must say I think are comedic geniuses. They would probably, actually most certainly, beg to differ on that statement and call it ridiculous, but for me, as far as the youngest sibling is concerned, they are two of the few people who can make me laugh uncontrollably and whom I’m very jealous of their wit and delivery. It’s like being in a nest for me having Josh, Byll and Rob all around. I scored a good spot in the middle. When we are doing our thing all together, it’s so easy and comfortable. Remove one of them and it feels like the mothers left the nest. I turn into an anxious little chick!
We must say a big huge thank you to Nanci for having us on her OZ tour. What a totally inspiring lady, one of the best storytellers and entertainers I’ve seen. We will be forever aspiring to have as long and as successful career as Nanci has had. We were chuffed when she generously asked us back up on stage to close the show with her singing the classic ‘Hammer Song’ which was a tune everyone could make a noise to. Look out, you might just hear that one slip into one of our future sets.. Cheers to Phil Kaufman and Thomm Jutz also who were so good to us.
We are off again to Sydney this week to do our very own show at the beautiful Raval (above The Maq Hotel) this Wednesday 24th. Would love to see all you Sydney and Blue Mountain folks there to share the evening with us.
That’s it from me.
Beth
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
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Home sweet home
It’s been a week since we landed after the first most fantastic, exciting and memorable tour of the States that we have had as a band, and its only taken a week, maybe less, to miss the places and the people who we met along the way more than anything. It was everything we hoped for and more, and I must say that I think we have all indulged in the idea of moving there one day.
....
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!
....
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.
....
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!
....
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
....
Beth
....
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!
....
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.
....
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!
....
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
....
Beth
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