The Basics tour story continues!
Tim - Saturday 8th NovemberIt was supposed to be a surprise - yet having seen her on Wednesday night and Thursday, my girlfriend spilled the beans and told me she was coming to Darwin for the weekend. And so I spent a beautiful day with Misty. Not doing much all day - except staying in the hotel room for "private fun".
At night-time we played our last gig with the Sunshine boys for this tour. It was at a hip little venue called Happy Yess, which could only hold 50 punters, but 110 came in to sweat it out with us. We played acoustic instruments and did a set of old classics and new avant-garde 'underground' Basics material. The crowd seemed to love it and when we sang 'Hey Rain' it started raining outside. Bliss. If there's two things I love in this world - it's rain and my missus.
Misty and I left the venue and retreated into our last night together for another little time apart from each other.
Bugger.
Wally - Sunday 9th November
Another day off in Darwin. Three days ago, on our last day-long sojourn, I spent the day in our sickeningly humid hotel room (broken air-con) trying to whip a grant application into shape. This morning I'm back doing the same thing. It's effectively just twisting turns of phrase around the basic thrust "give us money!", isn't it. Still, we needs da big bucks to release our next record properly so it's worth doing well
But I can't stay here all day. Hell, it's our first trip to Darwin and I'd better see at least a little of the town besides the interior of a coupla clubs and hotel lobby. Our friend Leah has invited us on a boat cruise this evening, 4pm pick-up for a 4:30 departure. Kris and Tim are going elsewhere though, so in the arvo I'm wandering down Mitchell Street on my lonesone. On the way to the supermarket for a quick grocery shop I bump into a new friend, "G" (also a good mate of Leah's), loading his car outside a pub. "What are you doing this arvo G?".
"Goin' out on a boat. You should come with!".
I tell him I'm already in, and it occurs to me that G lives closer to our hotel than Leah does, so I ask him if he can swing by and pick me up; save Leah some time I'm thinking.
It all seems like the perfect plan until I'm standing out the front of the hotel waiting at 4:30, and Leah's calling me a little distressed. "We have to leave. Where are you guys?". I call G for the third time and he assures me- the boat leaves at 5pm. NOT 4:30. Leah's got it wrong he reckons.
I call Leah back
"Nah man. It's definitely got to go now. 4:30! G's wrong"
Another call to G. "Wally...it's cool. I just called the skipper. He's definitely leaving at 5".
It's around this time that it starts to dawn on me- Darwin may feel like a very small city, and Leah and G may be part of a small circle of musos that I know in these parts, and they hang out together a lot...but ...ASS!
Different boats!
Dammit!
Leah ends up on a catamaran with a few oldies and their grand children.
I actually come out of the mix-up alright. On a pearling boat with G and his partner Anne and a heap of their friends. There are beers and nibblies and flowing conversation. It's a great evening, watching the sunset from the middle of Darwin harbour with a cool breeze blowing over the deck. I meet a young Somalian lad who is mad for Michael Jackson and demonstrates his popping, locking and moonwalking prowess. Brilliant!
I suggest we try to make it up to Leah for her unintentionally isolated boat cruise by heading out to Monsoon's for dinner. Leah is playing a gig there tonight and we all hang around and have some drinks afterwards. All in all, it's a great night off in the top end and I'm glad I put that grant aside for a while.
Kris - Monday 10th November
Back to school today! Katherine High was our next stop, a short 350km trip down from Darwin. I got the feeling that Wally and Tim were a bit nervous heading back into the fray - school kids can be quite intimidating when in packs - and even the presence of teachers didn't necessarily allay that uncertainty altogether.
We'd set up in their cavernous Gym, and Wally was sitting placidly on his drumkit when a bunch of young lads straight out of Summer Heights High started at him with "Hey drummer - Wipeout, play Wipeout, go on - do it. Just do it and we'll leave you alone." The following couple of minutes saw a growth in anxious banter as Wally attempted to maintain his dignity and demonstrate a mature handling of the situation, but it was to no avail - he wasn't going to give in to their pubesent demands, and neither were they going to let him get off that easily. Thankfully for him and those observing the awkward exchange, a large gym teacher appeared on the scene and the young lads gave up the chase.
The rest of the day at Katherine High was similarly inspired by the afore-mentioned Summer Heights High. The kids definitely enjoyed the music, they clapped and cheered loudly and often, and that definitely gave us a bit of status in their sometimes-fickle teenage minds.
The only problem was when it came to the "workshop", we really didn't have much direction on what to talk about and it was a bit of a struggle. Most of the kids were either non-musicians, or at least too young to have made any sort of "I want to find employment in the Music Industry" commitment. So Tim sat in almost complete silence and Wally tried a few "does anyone want to make music a career" sort-of questions which were mostly ineffective due to the lack of response. I spent the rest of the time crapping on about who we were and how we got together and that had some more luck, particularly when one of the kids asked whether we'd met anyone famous and I started reeling off some names including Kevin Rudd and Ricki Lee. They were also impressed when I mentioned that Wally had won an ARIA, so there are some cheap tricks I've now got under my belt when things seem to be floundering in the classroom.
We finished nicely by doing a version of "Hey Rain" on their classroom piano which they seemed to love, so much so that a couple of the kids got up and showed us their interpretation of "Enter Sandman". It was a real school experience this one, and we're not even halfway...
