There’s something exhilarating about First Gigs. And there’s always an element of “just a little terrifying”.

I had my first gig with The Mark Saul Band last night, and JOISUS, was it a great night! Not only did so very many people show up to support us and play with us afterwards (play in the drinking sense, not the musical sense), not only did we have NO computer errors (that I was aware of!), but judging by the tapping feet and the nodding heads from the crowd, I recon they liked us!

I was having a ball, stressed only by the fact that I’m still not feeling totally confident with the effects pedal that I’m running the fiddle through. Ask me again in Mid August!

Shannon’s drumkit had most of the drummers in the audience, along with all the would-be drummers (and there were quite a few of each!) wiping drool off their chins – it’s a ridiculously cool set up, which I meant to capture in photo, but … forgot to. There will be a photo at some point in the tour, I promise. Guides honour. And yes, I was a Girl Guide. Once upon a time.

ETA: I now have some photos, apologies for the quality, it was dark in the pub and the lighting was not very “rock star”…

Here we are, the whole band.

Sorry I’m not looking at the camera, I didn’t know that Bev was going to take this one! Aiyah, I look at this and realise that I still have a ways to go at the gym. And I have to do it all without my Brad. Who knows if I’ll find someone in Edinburgh who can be as motivational as Brad – what a star.

Here’s me and Mark – see the look of intense concentration from me, which could easily be interpreted as terror of getting something wrong. Like I said, First Gigs are both exilarating and terrifying…

Stand out musician of the night, though, would have to be Simon the guitarist. In rehearsals, he’s just sat on his chair and played his music. Played it ridiculously well, but just sorta cooly played it.

“Whatever,” I thought during rehearsals, “Ollie, the guitarist in Lois (the last band I was in before I left for China) is one of the best players I know, but he rarely moved onstage.”

Then we started playing the set last night, and bugger me, but who should transform into Rock God before my very eyes, but Simmo!!! Slashing out solos which would have made any Guns & Roses afficionado proud, all but playing his axe behind his head with this teeth! (Figure that one out…) Oh how I laughed! The crowd loved it!

Brilliant.

Well, we finished our set (my one criticism with our performance – gotta work on that “ok, we’re done now” ending, I think… those who were there will know what I mean), and ventured out into our adoring fans, and then the party started! My incredibly talented older brother Michael took the stage with his lads, to rock out some classy covers, played with the style and flair to which we have all become accustomed. Christ, but I’m going to miss Wednesday Nights at Father Flanagans! I know it’s covers, and original musicians are not supposed to enjoy supporting cover bands (some kind of integrity thing goin’ on, I dunno) but The Baker Boys (Mick’s band) are just SO good, and they just create vibe.

Alas, Shannon had to go home and get some sleep courtesy of KPMG, who had obligingly asked that he be in Sydney today at some insane hour (who wants the corporate life, I ask you?), and then Simmo (aka Rock God – I think I shall start calling him that from now on) said that he’d stay for a couple of songs of Mick’s band.

But as anyone who knows Mick’s gigs will know, “a couple of songs” is never enough, especially when the crowd is pumped, when the band is playing at the top of their game, and the room is humming with electric vibe…

Rock God ended up staying almost till the end, along with Mark, who seemed amusingly bewildered by the wealth of… talent… in the room!

My lovely, beautiful gorgeous friends all seemed to be there (with one or two lamentable exceptions, alas! But I understand…), and it was just one of those awesome “full circle” nights. I remember the very day I came back from China, almost exactly a year ago, and I went to see Mick play at Father Flanagans that night. So many of my friends turned up to welcome me home that night, and last night just seemed to bring me round to the beginning again, only the feeling was more amplified this time.

*happycontentedsigh*

Also delighted to hang with the lads in the band on a more social level. Nothing worse than trying to do a road trip with a band you don’t like. Not that I’d know, of course – I’ve LOVED every person in every band I’ve ever been a long term part of. Roundstone? Road trip to all those folk festivals, BEST fun! Lois? Hey, that Victorian Tour kicked arse, even WITH Mik the Drummer’s toilet humour!

Yep, these next two months are gonna rock…

First gig tomorrow, at Father Flanagans in Melbourne. The Tech Run, as it were, where everyone who has heard me rabbiting on about this band can finally come and see what the big deal (or lack thereof, depending on your taste – I prefer to think of it as the former…) is all about.

In Melbourne Youth Orchestra, our esteemed conductor Peter Bandy always used to say, “shit rehearsal, great gig!” (in terms perhaps a tad more refined). Well, our gig tomorrow is going to be AWESOME!!! Which does not mean that we’re playing like shit now, I hasten to assure you, O Esteemed Reader. Rather, the technical difficulties stemming from grossly malfunctioning equipment – for future reference, laptop computers without power leads plugged in tend to go flat, and violins are better heard through headphones when the headphone radio reciever has been turned ON! (Many thanks to the boys in the band for resisting the opportunity to make blonde jokes there. Although I suspect they are just holding back till they know me better, at which point I’m going to become the butt of all the jokes, just like I was in the previous band, Lois. I knew the Lois boys loved me, but I was still the honourary little sister, and was accordingly teased incessantly) At any rate, these aforementioned and other technical difficulties which are too technical for me to understand, much less blog about, were the order of the evening.

So, tomorrow’s gig is gonna be INCREDIBLE! And SEAMLESS!!

Seriously though, when all the machines are a) charged, b) switched on, c) plugged in and d) functioning withing acceptable parameters (Majel Barret, anyone?) the sound is just fab. For any of the Melbournians who weren’t at my party for my drunken (and probably embarrassingly slurred) invitation to the gig, here are the details:

9pm-10pm
Father Flanagan’s Irish Pub
Cnr Smith St & Alexandra Pde (Top of Smith Street)
Collingwood

Once we’re done, my wonderful bro’s wonderful band will take the stage, playing tunes you know and can sing along to (as opposed to our stuff – none of which you know, and none of which you can sing along to, due to the copious LACK of words, lyrics, or vocals of any description!), and I’ll be hanging round so sign autographs after the show… *grin*

On that note, I shall leave you with one last thought – we’ve been confirmed for one last gig on the UK tour, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in The Famous Speigeltent. Right now I have to say, I. Love. That. Venue.

LOVE IT!! Can’t get enough of it! Every year it comes round to the Melbourne Fringe Festival, and I’ve never ONCE seen a dud show in there. The place has just the best vibe around. So if you’re in Edinburgh (all ONE of you from Edinburgh who reads this blog – MATT) come on by! The gig’s been marked in the Tour Itinerary page, along with a new gig in Southerland, Scotland.

More soon my darlings!

Charlotte

Had my going away party last night, drank far more than was healthy… Many thanks to all who came along to make it such a great night, youse all rock!

Have decided, however, that vodka is baaad for me. Woke up this morning and vowed that never again will I drink vodka – beer may have more calories, but I rarely feel seedy the next day…

However, the spa got copious usage (I think I was in there for 5 hours straight, with one toilet break), and I shall exude chlorine from every pore for the next week, I’m sure.

Highlights:

–Marie’s wonderful contributions – haggis, along with this amazing Scottish drink called Iron Bru, which has to be the best thing possible when mixed with vodka.

–Saul coming outside while I was inebriatedly attempting to barbeque sausages (with Maddy & Lorinda’s wonderful help), to exert his “Aussie Alpha Male” position. The barbeque must be the world’s most recognised Alpha Male Prop. Many thanks to him for confirming my belief that the sausages were, in fact, cooked.

–Cowboy shots. Need I say more?

–Gym instructor Brad, aka Life Of The Party, using an oft repeated phrase in a totally new context – “come on guys, challenge yourselves, step out of your comfort zone!” This in relation to drinking, along with, “come on, skull this one, and sip the next one!” – in relation to every drink. He had to stay sober, had to drive home for an obscenely early start the next day, so was enjoying watching other people make arses of themselves. With the same ease that he might have organised water games with his junior swim squad, he choreographed drinking games which seemed to involve ridiculously daggy dancing in line with the style of song. You had to be there, I guess. It was all exceedingly diverting at the time.

–Sarah & me in the spa, suddenly acheiving total mental clarity by putting ourselves into orchestral concentration mode (Sarah and I were in Melbourne Youth Orchestra together), followed by helpless laughter, and the quotable quote (yes, all of you who were there, I still remember) “transcendant!” (again, I think you had to be there!)

–Me waking up in the morning to discover that Brad had entrusted me with his collection of Body Combat and Body Pump CDs before he went home last night – I have had a blissful day (or at least as blissful as a day can be when one is nursing a vodka enduced hangover) of extracting my fave toons from these discs, and putting together new playlists for the gym. Yay! Listening to the tunes now, and feeling like I just wanna get up and dance around… That is, I’d feel that way if I didn’t feel like just curling up in bed. Which is where I will be shortly.

At any rate, this house has become a mini frat house – my going away party last night, and now tonight there’s the new housemates’ housewarming party! Two parties in a row is just too much for me, I’ve been hiding out in my room all evening, venturing out occasionally to top up my water glass. And now I have one body passed out on my floor, snoring away, utterly unfazed by the doof doof I have playing on my stereo.

The official countdown has begun – 13 days to go!

Such new lovely shiny things! I am now the proud owner of my very first travel backpack, with pockets and zips and all sorts of ridiculously fun stuff! Not only that, but me feet are clad in the prettiest of travel shoes, waterproof, Gore-tex, warm. If only I had these for China. Note to anyone travelling in China – don’t expect to be able to buy good shoes if you have big feet.

But I digress. Today was the day where I spent far too much money, but bought things which will hopefully last for quite some time. I finally bought a keyboard for my palm pilot, so I can blog on the go without having to buy a ridiculously expensive laptop. In fact, I’m blogging on my new palm keyboard right now. It’s all just so exciting! I suspect that this baby will give you more blog entries than any normal computer over the next few months…

Sincerest thanks must go to JenskiJen, fellow Browncoat and seasoned traveller, who accompanied me on my mission to secure the fab-pack, and shoes, and travel cubes, and all sorts of other exciting travel accessories. Jen sure knows her stuff when it comes to travel shopping. She knows when to say “good deal” and when to say “is it really right for you?” (ie, “you’d be a fool to get it”). Not to mention the fact that she has the 25% discount card for Kathmandu! Yay for cheap(er) shopping!

I was going to give you a picture of my new pack, but the batteries on my camera are flat, and knowing me if I delay this entry to accomodate the charge time of the batteries, then I’ll just end up not posting at all!! But to give you an idea, it’s a 75 litre pack, with sturdy sides, and long enough to take the thumpin’ big effects pedal box that Mark has lent to me for the tour – that was one of our specifications when searching for the pack – must be long enough/wide enough to accomodate a piece of sound equipment, the size of which I couldn’t quite remember. Turns out it was not as big as I was telling the shop assistants, but it’s all good – I now have a nice big pack, into which I’ll be able to pack many things. That is, I’ll be able to pack plenty of stuff once we’re done with the tour – most of our luggage weight allowance is going to be taken up with band equipment, and in the words of Mark, we’ll be able to take a “change of undies”.

Till next time,
Charlotte

PS, Check out the Tour Itinerary section – I’ve included links now for most of the gigs that we’re playing. Have fun!

I had my last ever fitness reassessment at the gym today, with my fave instructor (don’t tell the other instructors that I said that!), Brad. Some of you may remember him from previous blog entries on the AusBlog, such as “Comedy & Fitness – What a combination!”, and others will recognise him just cause Kaylene (former housemate) and I talked about him with such enthusiasm, cause he’s just a totally enthusiasm generating person!

Anyway, I’d mentioned to him that my fitness thing seems to have hit a bit of a plateau, and his answer to this? Let’s kill Charlotte!

He set me to do 20 minutes on the cross trainer (nothing for me – I usually do 1 hour), but then he put me on the manual bike, and set me to pedalling. “Faster Charlotte, faster!” he kept telling me, then stood around chatting with other mates from the gym, discussing his latest ideas for an aerobics class. Such a gym bunny. Anyway. I got to the end of the five minutes, and then he said “right, so NOW, stand up on the bike, and pedal even harder”. Then the little sadist dialed the resistance WAY up on the bike, and I was left pedalling for a minute (which felt like an eternity) with Brad pushing and pushing, and I was NOT going to give up, so I kept pushing. This slow-fast-hard-fast thing (sounds a little lewd, actually, especially when I was standing up on the bike!) went on for another 5 minutes, and by the end of it, I was almost crying. I felt like I wanted to throw up. I even went into a mini asthma panic. Had to send poor Brad (suffering from an ankle injury) downstairs for an asthma pump – which I didn’t need by the time he got back. Man, I have never felt like that in my LIFE.

And then 5 minutes later, after he sat me down and got me calm again, I could barely remember what all the fuss was about. It seemed like SUCH a big deal at the time, like I was going to die of asphyxiation. It really showed me that inbetween my current “comfortable” level of cardio work out, and where my ultimate top level is, there is this whole area which I’ve not tapped yet.

The other thing it showed me was to what point I listen to Brad against what my brain is telling me I should do. I was just NOT going to give up. One of the bystanders (who was talking to him as he was torturing me) told me that I shouldn’t have pushed it. Perhaps she was right, but by GOD, it showed me that I can dial this thing up another level. This is my goal for my remaining three weeks, to push beyond this plateau that I seem to have reached.

It had such potential, but alas, it was 20 mins too short. Ended when it should have built up to another climax. Pshaugh!

And Angelina was a stoney hearted bitch. At least Brad was melt-worthy, as usual.

*grin*

So I met the whole band a few nights ago. OK, granted, there was only one of them that I’d not met before, and there are only 3 people apart from myself, but it seems a little more solid now that I’ve finally met the Guitarist, Simon.

You’ve already heard about Mark, the other two are Simon who, if you weren’t paying attention, plays guitar; and Shannon, who plays… everything, I gather. But it appears that he’s sticking to drums and “The Brain” for this tour. The Brain – this baby is a machine which provides all the aforementioned sampled sounds that make this music so interesting, from the steamtrain sounds which become the basis for the rhythm (can you tell I’m intrigued by this idea?), down to the ridiculously complex (at least to me!) bass synth lines which make the music so interesting.

Simon’s got the same idea as me – he’s planning on staying around in the UK once we finish the tour, and like me, has no idea yet where he wants to settle down. So long as they have decent internet cafes and palatable coffee (and a job for me would be nice too, I suppose) I’ll be happy!

What blog of mine would be complete without the very important acknowlegement which is due to a long suffering, much put upon old friend of mine, Webmaster Matt. I feel like such a pest, continuously asking for Tech Support for this thing, but he somehow manages to fit me in with his busy schedule!

I told him I’d buy him a beer for his trouble once I got to Edinburgh, but have been unduly and unfairly foiled by the breweries, who need to start making hypoallergenic beer. However, perhaps I should stop talking about buying drinks for folk, lest I be accused of plotting to get someone drunk…

*grin*

At any rate, many thanks indeed to Webmaster Matt for all of his help. Perhaps (what with his degree in Artificial Intelligence) he can create a brain for me that will be capable of understanding all of this code…

Oh! It’s all new and exciting!

Welcome, my good friends, to the new resting place of bloggage. D’you like the address? D’you get it? It’s how I get people to remember my name – “Hi, I’m Charlotte – like the spider”. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you had no childhood, you poor dear.

Anyway, new trip, new blog address, I think. After all, this trip, I’m not exclusively going to China. That’s for the second leg of the journey. This time, it’s the big rock tour with a band which I’m becoming more and more excited about, then a year in the UK or Ireland (I’ve not yet decided, as many of you know) followed by a short amount of down time in Australia, then another year in China.

In the last blog entry, I believe I promised more information about the band that I’m touring with. Question is, where to start? OK, firstly, the band is called The Mark Saul Band, or some variation thereof. I think it’s billed at many of the festivals we’re playing at as just “Mark Saul” – Mark being the front man of the band. Lovely bloke. Easy to work with, but more about personalities later.

The band style itself would best be described as … ummm … Techno-celtic-electronica-folk-dancey-fusiony-something. It’s this cool mix of bagpipes, guitar, fiddle and drums, interspersed with all sorts of whacko samples – from some old dude talking about how bagpipe players should treat their pipes as a musical instrument, to old school steam engine noises which become the basis for a drum beat. Too cool.

You might ask why I’m joining the band at this late stage – I was brought on board just nine weeks before the tour was set to leave. They already had a fiddle player – Hamish – who I’d regard as being one of the best bluegrass musicians around. Top player, and top bloke. Unfortunately, (but lucky for me!) his university seemed to think that taking time off to tour with a band might not exactly provide him with the extra credit that he’d need to pass his degree. Educational establishments these days. So demanding. They expect you to actually SHOW UP to CLASSS?!

So, long story short, I’m going to Scotland, wearing Hamish’s very big, very shiny boots. Boots that are hard to fill…

The music itself has forced me into an altered approach – usually, rock and folk music has been a matter of me learning a set of folk tunes (no difficulty whatsoever), or just noodling along, improvising with the main music. But this music is a bit more thought out than most bands I’ve played with, a bit less free-form. I’ve had to learn music from charts, from sheet music, something that I’ve not done since playing with the Melbourne Youth Orchestra years ago. Most of the music is not technically very difficult, but some parts are not obvious in the beginning. One night weeks ago, as I was first learning the music, I made a frustrated phone call to Hamish, attempting to get some sort of guidance as to how to approach the music. He laughed at me, and told me that I’d eventually learn how Mark’s twisted mind works when it comes to writing and arranging music, and not to sweat it – “you’ll be fine,” he said.

I think I’m getting the hang of it, Hamish.

As for personalities – I’ve not yet met the entire band, only Mark and the drummer, Shannon. I’ve been rehearsing with Mark now for weeks, and I’ve gotta say, he’s just ridiculously easy to rehearse with. He has a good idea of where the music is going, and so it’s a bit less of “music by committee” and a bit more “music by benevolent dictator”, or at least that’s my initial impression (bearing in mind that I’ve not yet had a rehearsal with the full band). Past bands that I’ve been in (though I love ‘em dearly – you guys know who you are!) have often been bogged down by the age old problem of too-many-cooks.

On the subject of not yet having had a full rehearsal – well, I only have myself to blame for that. Something happened last week that I’m still frightfully embarrassed about: I actually FORGOT about a rehearsal. We were set to have one last Monday, but in my usual vague way, I toddle off to my usual Monday night gym session, and forget that I’m supposed to be at my first full practice with the boys. I got home from the gym to have my current housemate tell me that I’m in BIG trouble, cause Mark had called a while back, asking where I was. How terribly embarrassing. I have NEVER forgotten a rehearsal before. I may have forgotten to tell someone that I could GET to a rehearsal, but I’ve never planned on going and then just forgot!!

Yep, greeeaaaat start.

Mmmhmmm. Good one Charlotte.

More following the next full rehearsal on Thursday night. If I remember, that is…