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TAMWORTH CMF 2010
| A very deserving thankyou................. I want to kick off my 2010 Tamworth Blog a little different than usual. I'd usually start off with saying how great the festival was, how we had ball and cant wait to do it all again, how hot it was, how much I love it when Gav 'squiddles' on the guitar etc, but there's plenty of time for that later. I want to jump straight to the chase and thank the guy who filled the |
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| gap on the big fat strings of bassdom. The guy who kept the train a rollin when it was looking like running outta steam. You see when the chips are down there are some that say they are a 'chips are down' kinda guy and others that dont say it, but just do it! And Col Leadbetter just does it without a blink of an eyelid. You see 'The Distance' found themselves a band member short just before our trip, and only one name came to mind when we all got together to discuss a short term replacement. For those that dont know Col, he is Gav's younger bro. Col has filled in on bass in the past, also on drums and even on lead vocal when Gav had the flu. So no shortage of doing us a solid favour in his time, and by the 2nd gig there was also no shortage of blistered fingers. Hope you dont mind me saying Col but you were fantastic, and the band cant thank you enough for lending your super talents to fighting the good fight! So pour yourself a Jamisons or three.............you deserve it. |
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Now onto the trip, the frivolity, the gigs, the fans, the squiddle and the festival..........
Its always hard trying to remember the days up there, as it all sorta ends up a big blur of gigs, Catherine Britt posters, packed bars and take away food. So I have to consult the photo's to try to place which day certain things happened. So lets try to piece this thing together.
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| Lets' kick off with a nice group shot taken outside the Longyard hotel. It was about 3am and it looks like it must have been a full moon as Gav is starting to turn a little crazy! Well I cant blame him for feeling pretty darn happy as I think he had just belted out the greatest 2nd set known to man. Literally he ate the micophone and gave the lucky few who had stuck it out to the wee hours a real performance to remember. Hats off to you Gav! If Bob Seger had been there he would have taken his hat off too after the greatest 'hollywood nights' rendidtion I've heard Gav sing in all my time in the band. The boys from Simply Bushed were converts from that day. I'll get back to those guys a little later in the blog. I sorta jumped the gun a little with this group shot, but I need to introduce the guy on the left who belted the keys and the accordian for the band throughout the festival. Say g'day to Simon Leverett. |
| Not only did he dominate the boards, but showed the way when it came to the after hours activities (pub crawling). A true best on ground performance! It was like watching Gav on his first trip to Tamworth all those years ago! Actually I should say all of us. Thanks Simon for putting up with Gav's snoring. Actually now it makes sense why he'd stay out all night drinking the town dry of Bundy! |
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The boys from Simply Bushed...... We've met these guys before in our travells, and they are fantastic blokes. But I think we truely bonded on this trip. These guys are a crowd magnet during the festival, and it's not hard to see why. Great songs, great muso's and just great guys who love a laugh and a drink! The guys came out to our Longyard show after catching us at Joe Maguires earlier that day. I think we must have gone to watch them about 3 times too, we all hope we get to do some shows with them one |
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day! If you havent caught them yet make sure you do - they've been making their way to Tamworth for eleven years now, probably the same amount of time Pauly has been growing his hair - very impressive Paul!
Now I'll try to not put too many pics of us on stage (you've seen a million before!) - but I need to put at least one just to prove to you all that we were actually there playing music, and not just running naked around town being filmed by some Norwegian Ninja! Speaking of the Ninja, I better find a pic of him for the Blog! This is the band at the Albert Hotel under the marquee. All I can say is........... 'IT WAS HOT' !!!!! The days up there were in the 40's! And under the marquee it felt like 90 freakin degrees!! Does looking at this pic make you want to drink a certain type of alcoholic drink? They're not so subliminal in Tamworth - it's in your face everywhere you turn! DRINK OUR BRAND OF ALCOHOL NOW!!!! Bundy is better than VB. VB is better than Jim Beam. Jim Beam is better than XXXX. I'm so confused.......
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| The Norse Ninja...............yes we took the always amazing and dedicated doco maker Dan Stoud with us on our trip. Just try to stop him. The guy is everywhere whether we like it or not. Filming the good, the bad, and definately the ugly! Some things just shouldnt be filmed in High Definition! You'll all have to wait for the doco to see what I mean by that. Even the fans of the band (Mandy our number one fan who drove 6 hours just to see us play!!!) wanted pics with him. |
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Dan has become one of the Distance family. We love him and it will be sad when he says 'thats a wrap'. Jenna we looked after him and brought him home in one peice as promised. The trip home with Dan was something to remember, the lack of sleep caused some kind of Jeckyl and Hyde personality switch! Note to self - dont upset the Ninja! |
| There is this little 24hr take away shop in Tamworth that does a great burger or the bacon and egg breaky bun. I just thought I'd throw in this pic to show everyone how we achieve our amazing physique's. You too can look like this! |
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The man on the merch stand...........Guy - all the way from Sydney, caught the train up to Tamworth to hang with the band. When he wasnt selling our CD's he was busking down the main street! I met Guy a few years ago while traveling around to some Black Crowes shows and we've kept in touch ever since. Thanks for coming along Guy, we all hope you had a great time. And going by all the dancing you were doing it was evident you had a ball. Catch you soon mate! |
| Here's a pic of Didy and Geoff from Wildseed. We got to hang out with them a few times over the festival. We met these guys during our 2nd trip to Tamworth and have been annoying each other ever since. Really enjoyed seeing them again, and loved listening to them at the Fitzroy Tavern. Their original music is top notch stuff. |
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| (Left) The Seed in action - and (below) the greatest self take EVER!!! (you know it is Col). |
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Whitey and Co.............He hasnt missed a trip to Tamworth with us yet. And there he was again to support the band. I know this isnt the best pic I have of you Mark, but just be thankful I chose this one! Mark didnt come alone this trip, he brought a pack of wildmen who drank the town dry. Always fantastic to have you along Whitey. And big thanks to Simmsy as well who has always gone beyond the call of duty to see the band in far away places. I cant remember the names of all the madmen in your clan, but if you send me their names I'll put them under these pics below! |
| Now back to the music! The band played three shows at the Albert, one at the Longyard and two more shows at Joe Maguires Pub. I have to mention the PA meltdown at Joe Maguires during our 1st show for the festival. 3 songs in and the PA gave out a sound like an A-bomb being dropped from the sky.Never heard anything like it. And that happened not once but twice during the show. The guys running the PA had to totally replace the desk for us to continue! Our best show may have been to the smallest audience, I am going to say the show at the Longyard. Gav sang the paint off the walls (in a good way). The wierdest show or performance was singing 'Country life' in a dark auditiorium to about 60 people as part of a live radio show. That was almost spooky. This silent crowd of die hard country fans all looking at us, not saying a word. Dan I'd love to see that footage! Gav strumming away while I was standing there like Art Garfunkel. I think we won them over. If they didnt give us an applause we'd set the Norwegian film maker onto them! (yes he was everywhere). |
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We have a new term for someone who over plays their guitar just because they can. It's called 'squiddle'. We love a bit of squiddle every now and then. I love it because I cant do it. And Gav loves it because he can. But Col isnt so hip to the land of squiddle. So he tried to cut that outta Gav while on our trip. It didnt really work. It sorta got Gav all squiddled up and he just had to let it all out in one massive squiddle infested solo at Joe Maguires on Pauly's telecaseter (Paul from Simply Bushed lent Gav his guitar for a song). It was a great moment in squiddle history and I still have the smile on my face remembering that solo. BRING ON THE SQUIDDLE!!
I have about 100 pics to put up on our photo's page - so please check back tomorrow for them. There is some absolute rippers in there!
Now before I sign off I better put a nice big pic of Mandy on here or she'll hurt me! Here is Mandy and the band outside The Albert Hotel. This was our last show for the festival. We were absolutely stuffed by this stage! I think Mandy is holding us all up! She is a serious party girl. Heart of gold. Thanks for all your support - we really appreciate it.
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(Left) Mandy and the band. (above) John Kendall playing with the Screaming Jets. What a great show that was!
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Here is a few more of the many pics we have from the trip.
Remember to check the photo page over the coming days!
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