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Archive Sunday #39

Added 2024-03-10 16:00:07 +0000 UTC

So we woke up pretty groggy in this apartment style hotel in Sydney, and I remember wandering about the neighborhood to search for some coffee. Eventually I found a spot, but quickly noticed the chalkboard menu didn't include my usual order of an americano. I didn't want to seem like too much of a tourist, so I opted to copy all the people in front of me and order a flat white. I was pleasantly surprised when it was just a less foamy latte, and it kinda became my go-to when we were in Australia. It helped me wake up a little because a little later we were scheduled to hop back on another flight to meet up with the Laneway festival in Brisbane.

Luckily it was a short flight, and we grabbed a cheap rental van to head the rest of the way. I remember it was kinda a shock to go from an overcast winter in Seattle to Brisbane where it was super humid and in the middle of summer. But it was nice to join this traveling festival that always had waters and snacks stocked in the artist area, plus a bunch of other artists to check out. We played our first show in the afternoon and then had a scheduled record signing session at one of the record vendor tents. I remember skipping the first few minutes of the signing to catch the rest of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard's set with our tour manager Jay. He seemed to know a bunch of people everywhere we went, probably from working with Tame Impala and a bunch of other bands around the area.

The next day we had another early flight to Melbourne in order to play a small venue show before the rest of the festival arrived the following day. This show definitely made us feel feel how lucky we were to have the festival resources for most of the tour. It wasn't anything unbearable but the longer day combined with the sweaty venue with no good place to cool off kinda zaps all the energy out of you. It was a fun show though, and great to play to a room of fans eager to hear the music.

We had another apartment style hotel room we all shared in the heart of downtown. I think it was around the lunar new year because I remember hearing fireworks by the international district. We met up with the festival again the next day and played a short set in the afternoon. I think I had a bit more time to catch some more acts because I remember seeing Whitney, Aurora, and Tycho in between frequent trips to the catering tent. We must have switched hotels in order to take advantage of some festival discount because were in a different part of the city when everyone was working on "Saturday's for the boys."

The following day was mostly a travel day as we flew to New Zealand. I remember Andrew and I shared a hotel room and everyone was super hungry once we got in. We looked at places to walk to, but everything seemed at least 20 minutes away. So Andrew asked what the chances were that room service would be comped since we checked-in under the festival's block of rooms and weren't required to put a credit card down. Eventually Andrew and I agreed to give it a shot, and ordered a couple entrees to room mostly out of desperation. After tip and everything it ended up being way too much for some sub-par pad thai and curry, but we still held that maybe it would be part of the festival hospitality. Unfortunately, the front desk caught us on the way out and we had to settle the bill while the other guys laughed at us for thinking we could get away with it.

Auckland was a super beautiful city and it was cool to walk around the harbor and downtown when we had some free time.The next day we loaded-in to the festival park and played another mid-day set in some gorgeous weather. Later that day I checked out some more acts like Clams Casino, Floating Points, and Tame Impala. I'm pretty sure this was the time a few of us were watching the Tame Impala set together, before Andrew sneaked off behind the stage to take a leak. He came back right before the encore and told us he accidentally walked-in on Kevin Parker when he was taking a piss in a port-a-poty. He said the door was unlocked and just kinda bumped into him before he went out to finish the set haha.

We played a few more festival shows back in Australia including Adelaide and another back in Sydney. They were all pretty laid back once we knew what to expect, but it ended up being a lot of flying due the distance between cities and the tight schedule. We ended the run in the city of Perth all the way on the other side of the continent. The last festival show had this after party thing for all the artists that Kevin Parker was gonna dj. I remember we all checked it out together, but the club atmosphere and loud music made any kind of conversation impossible. So we had a drink or two and all just opted for wandering down the streets of Fremantle and ended up at an empty arcade for a bit. We had three back-to-back flights the next day to make our way home. It was pretty brutal but thankfully everything was on schedule and we were tired enough at that point to sleep some on the flight.

WT: Look at this. I'm freezing my ass off in March right now. Take me back here! You know a tour was good when you have zero memories of it other than lounging by a pool.
Andrew's got some shirts in this era that didn't make it into his long-term rotation, which is noteworthy, because most of his wardrobe gets worn until it's unwearable. Apparently "The People Vs" is an Aussie-based fashion company. Wonder what happened to that tank.