tasmaniacally weighted stuff/ stuffed

Now if a musician is talking in a public space about what they're doing, you have to bear in mind that whatever they say, its said within a realm where perception is the whole of the law.
I mean if you want "truth" or anything resembling it- you might get a whiff but its all smoke , reverb and mirrors- dig? Shit comes from us coated in primo fairy dust . The cadence is real but its weighted! Because we gotta talk our stuff UP . Its gotta be pointed that way.

So we flew to Launceston, Clare, Stu Thomas, Stu Perera and myself. We were having a backline provided for us at the shows so we carried a few guitars and a set of cymbals and a snare.
Two of us were getting over that persistent Melbourne bug that has taken peoples voices away and given them stuffed heads for the last five or six weeks. The two others, Stu Perera and myself,were just entering into that state. It was wet and drizzling in Launceston. I wore my clothes coz I'd been here before. leather pants, waistcoat and jacket and a pair of ripples.
Before the gig we went and spoke to some "troubled kids" in a youth social work centre. they had a kit and some instruments set up. Talked to them about music and the life. Played a song and got them to strum some chords. One was really good and one was painfully shy and one was a wise guy. i told the latter to be the singer.
The venue was to be in a beer garden so as to let people smoke I guess. It was a tough gig. And if we find a gig to be tough that means most musicians would die as they stepped onto the stage.
I took the Vox amp and Stu took the Fender.
Playing music was, as usual, the easy part. A small crowd including some good friends from melbourne who were in town to pick up a picture one had done for an art exhibition.
We played about seven or eight songs from the Devil Drives (1997) and "the soft n sexy sound" (95) and "night of the wolverine (1993) . Then we stepped off and played a lot of unrecorded stuff and other songs from our two most recent discs, "we wuz curious" and "knock yourself out".
Launceston is a beautiful looking smallish city built on spectacular hills and rises.Compared to melbourne and Sydney, most Tasmanian joints look olden as their has been fuck all development or tearing of old shit UP.
It is also a pretty blue collar scene. Trucks laden with logs of wood pass by at every corner. Guys in fluorescent semi official working over jackets everywhere. the Greens party also had five members elected in the recent election. In Tasmania, everybody rubs up against each other.
So at this gig the venue had a large tv screen in the next room blasting out some video music hits all night as we played and a dj in another room played the worst and the loudest doof type disco prog sludge all night as well. If I was in melbourne I could have made a noise complaint, arguing that I was both a newly arrived resident and that i was the most deserving of heritage listing and so, be treated with all the care and regard that would befit my most elevated status and unarguable importance . If I was in Melbourne. Here, we just had to sort it out. We won in the end. People even danced.
A fellow and his wife approached and asked the traditional Dave Graney question, 'what are you doing HERE?". I replied that I weren't no snob etc. Turns out he is a timber union worker and next time he'll bring a whole crew down. Its almost enough to make me think about visiting Launceston again. Being a genuine blue collar hero. But no.
There was also the noise from the pub across the road which played nothing but bad techno versions of classic rock songs at massive volume all night. I mean until 7 am. In our ears, as we tried to sleep in the rooms above. Conveniently easier for the sounds to swell out and totally envelope us.
We left early and didn't look back. A friend had recommended a bakery in a town along the 200k drive down to Hobart. We walked in and were served by a funny old maid in a bonnet and dress that were straight out of "the old lady who lived in a shoe". The food was less well dressed .Nice and ordinary, though pretentiously priced. I stopped at a supermarket and lassoed some neo wild apples.
The Hobart gig was immensely enjoyable. We played late to a crowd of people who were helpless when confronted with our skills and power. We played the same kind of destroy and step off set. We killed it.
This time I had a smaller , solid state Vox and Stu had a Roland JC 120.
Met many people, none of who were locals. A mature beauty in a Pashmina from Byron , a rich couple all dolled up as if for the Opera from Melbourne , a crew of wild surfers on a safari from Adelaide, a woman from poland. We had slain them all anyway.
Our band is supreme. Though we exist so far off from the known maps of the old music land mass known as rock n roll. We really play it as it should be played. Clare Moore and Stu Thomas lock in on those grooves and their minds and hands are supple from all the shows and gigs they are doing with their own music and with other bands. Stu Perera plays every week in melbourne with a reggae dance act. Everybody who hears him wail is amazed, nobody hears licks like he throws anywhere on the scene. He is a fuckin' NINJA!
When we come together like the wild bunch its an amazing sound. Its funny, the two guitars are getting close to that west coast San Francisco sound I've always loved but always thought was separate from the actual music I was making . Its getting closer and closer now, after all this time.

Probably won't be recording these new tracks until next year. I want to have a period outside of recording world for a while. Playing songs for a long time before putting them down.

Got on the plane to come home. There was a dopey 60s looking young band on the plane. They looked very straight in their winklepickers and cardigans.Like a whole band of Ringos, or Georges.


We felt guilty about leaving Stu Thomas there but he had a solo gig to do. He survived. We are all sitting back in Melbourne , totally wrecked. Tasmania kicks the fuck out of you.