Goldfish Smarts

So this weekend we finished off the travelling element of the Deadman’s Trousers tour. We still have the Boatshed in Manly on Friday but more on that later. On Friday night, we headed down to Unanderra near Wollongong to play at The Seeker Brewery. The Seeker is deep in an industrial estate with the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple looming in the background. It also happens to be a venue very much to our liking run by our kind of people. On this tour, we have come across so many publicans and brewers making their venues work without the scourge of the poker machines. Hats off to that. Seeker is a perfect example. Any special thanks to James who came in to do the sound and had it dialled in as well se have ever had. Next stop was Club Narooma. Half the school made their way directly down from Wollongong while the other half headed back to Sydney. The direct travellers got to enjoy the beauty of Narooma for a couple of days. Mark was unable to get to Narooma while Phil and Stu flew down for the day. That rolled off the tongue quite easily but it truly was a bucket list moment and yes, we did ham it up and act like rockstars, cos why the hell not. Massive props to Smitty, our pilot for the adventure. It was a treat. Narooma was fun and it was great to catch up with Lori and Murray, to meet Greg who organised this tour for us and also to make some new friends. Occasionally we are lucky enough to get feedback from someone who has felt a true connection to our music. When this happens, it truly ages mean the world to us. Thank you.

So for the uninitiated, Gundy is nestled in the upper Hunter valley and is elite horse country. The surrounding countryside is stunning and the Linga Longa is the kinda pub you walk into and start nodding with approval. When we got there, it was fairly quiet but propped up by a baby shower that was in progress. Aside from that, there was the odd group hanging mostly to see the Tyson Paul fight. We set up prior to the fight and started soon afterwards. We got chatting to some of the locals and they were legitimately the nicest people and let’s face it, their kids were our first dancers and a couple of them showed a real interest in learning the harmonica, which was probably the sweetest thing that has ever happened to this band. We started playing and managed to get a few folk up dancing. Then we noticed that up the back of the yard, there was a big table of maybe 20 people minding their own business. I was wracking my brain on how to bring everyone in so I announced that I wanted to get a photo to send to my mum of the crowd in Gundy. After a bit of gentle encouragement, they all came in and the complexion of the evening changed from then. The far table was full of internationals who were working at a local mega horse stud. They were from England, Germany, Japan, Italy but most importantly Ireland. As is the case, when you bring the Irish into a party, it hits the next level and this was definitely the case. Irish dancing, sing alongs, and the resultant Craic. I often say that this gig is the best ever, but this was right up there. And the sing along that continued after we stopped playing was all time. Incredible venue set in an amazing part of the country that we would never have ventured to if not for the Deadman’s Trousers tour. Gundy we would love to come back. You were awesome!!

We stayed in an Air BnB and kicked on afterwards with a bit of a laugh and a singalong, which earned us a bad review. We thought that was a bit unfair, but it was a bit rock n roll.

This Deadman’s Trousers tour continues as a voyage of discovery and It is about time that I pay some props to our promoter, G.a. Gregory Productions. If there are any bands that are looking at taking it to the road, we would highly recommend seeking him out. He really has managed to deliver against the zeitgeist of Goldfish Smarts and ‘Live At The Polo’ Live at the Polo was a continuation. This is a legitimate music venue and obviously has been for a very long time. The stage was twice the size of what we’re used to, the room was acoustically treated and the equipment (plus Jasper on sound) were awesome. It’s funny how when you get put on a bill with other bands, you don’t know what you are going to get. In Napoleon Ice Cream Napoleon Ice Cream and the Filthy Darlings The Filthy Darlings, we got two of the coolest bands getting around. Both completely musically unique ( and I don’t say that lightly) and all made up of wonderful and incredibly talented people. They are both based in ACT but I have the feeling this won’t be the last time we play together. Anyway so the bar had been set ultra high so we just went out and played out our Little Rock n roll hearts. Such a great night and one where we earned some new fans and also became fans of new band at the same time. PS This venue has been proudly free from poker machines since 2009 and we love that.