7th October 2010
We’ve got 3 more gigs left on the tour and then we’re home. I’m really itching to get home now because we’re so close – ha ha. We had our interview on ABC Canberra with Genevieve Jacobs on the morning program a couple of days ago to promote our shows here in the ACT and it went very well. I really enjoyed the interview and her questions were interesting and a little different from the usual. I’ve got a few quotes I can use too :) The more I do it, the better I get at being a bit more natural and not so nervous.
We got to play ‘Red dirt Wanderer’ first, the new one - which I totally stuffed up the words in the first bloody verse too! … I was kicking myself. I was holding on to grim death as I was searching for words to fill in the verse that I forgot…. Nobody noticed, I just sang right through it as if that’s the way it was meant to be : )
A nice thing that Genevieve said about the second song ‘Don’t Forget Me’ was that she felt that I was singing from the heart and that I wasn’t just another girl writing about cars, boys and money using “cookie cutter” formula’s (her words). That really made me feel good. We were invited back again anytime we were in the ACT. I’m really forming some strong relationships in the ABC in certain towns around Australia, and I’d love to strengthen that.
That afternoon we headed off to our friend Jane’s place, who lives in Amaroo about 20 minutes from the city. We met Jane for the first time at a creative focusing workshop a few years ago, we didn’t really become friends, we just kind of spoke to each other a few times. Then on our earlier tour in February in Canberra she saw my face in the paper and turned up at one of my gigs and we’ve kept in contact since….so we’re staying at her place for 4 days (4 days in a house! Wow!) and we even have a house concert at her place on Friday which I’m really looking forward to.
Last night on the 6th Oct – we played at the Hippo Bar in the city. It was a cocktail bar! We carried the PA up two flights of stairs…shish! The Hippo bar is kind of like ‘Ruby’s Lounge’ in Surry Hills. Very upper class and swish and a bit too ‘cool’ for us. It was clear that the audience was a bit too cool also, although they clapped most of the songs.
We did 3 sets with all our original songs and I don’t think they’re were really appreciated fully, considering the words were probably not heard. The background music between sets was Rnb and Top 40’s type of music, so we knew we weren’t in the ‘clique’.
At one point I called ‘Cats in the Cradle’ as a fill in song. As soon as Stew started to sing, we both looked at eachother and thought “Oh shit, not here!” This wasn’t a ‘Cat’s in the Cradle’ gig! I leaned over and I said to Stew “I think we’ve been in the country for too long”….haha.
I don’t think we’ll play there again. Although the audience was polite and the actual bar was beautiful; our songs seemed to be a bit too ‘Happy’ or ‘uncool’ for that environment. Oh well another lesson learnt.
7th October 2010
Tonight we’re playing at the Front Gallery Café and Bar. We played here earlier in the year on tour. A fantastic venue. It’s kind of like Mars Hill Café in Parramatta, but a little smaller and The Front serve alcohol. Last tour we had a quiet one, so we weren’t too sure if the same would happen.
Bad shot of the Front Gallery outside
When we set up ready to go for 7.30 pm it was looking rather quiet – uh oh, just a few people milling around. As soon as we started to perform people started turning up and actually sitting and listening, you could’ve heard a pin drop….aaah this is what I’ve been waiting for.
I’ve been reading a book I bought on the tour about how to be your natural self – be the wild woman – ‘Women Who Run with the Wolves’. The one thing it says is that to find that wild woman (or man, I guess) within yourself you need to be creative, through things like singing, dancing, painting and storytelling or whatever inspires you. Well, I think I’m actually becoming an okay storyteller! … not just through my songs but even through my explanations of the songs. That ‘shy Snez’ is almost gone and the wild (wild as in ‘natural’) woman is becoming stronger and stronger. I hope this doesn’t sound a bit new age, but it’s the only way I can explain it and I wanted to share it.
We played on till about 9.30 pm and then sat around and got to know our audience, it’s the best experience I’ve had in a long time.
Sorry haven't had time to take pics over these days : )
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