We got to the Denmark Tavern in the afternoon and had a leisurely sound check with our PA guy Andi (check out www.andimaps.com.au) while sipping on some great local chardonnay and then tucking into an amazing meal before going to our campground to get ready for the gig. We had a few hours to kill and were keen for a bit of a nanna nap so as Julz was plugging in the power I got to work setting up the bed. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the set up of the van, the lower bed is a table by day and a double bed by night, the table top dropping down onto the seat to create a flat bed surface. The table top is held up by a metal pole, so I pulled the table top off the pole and had a bit of trouble pulling the pole out of the floor. Why I thought it would be a good idea to lean over the pole and tug it with all my might towards my face I’ll never know… but to anyone reading this, please take it from me that it’s NOT a great way to go about it. When Julz hopped back into the van moments later she was greeted by a very shocked me – tears streaming down my face and blood streaming down my chin. Luckily all my teeth were still intact and apart from a split and swollen chin I was ok.
The Denmark gig was great fun, we met lots of great people and lamented the fact that we couldn’t hang around longer to really experience the beauty of the place. Our schedule was really tight though, we had to start our next gig at 1pm the next day in Ravenswood, 424 km’s away so we reluctantly drove past dozens of beautiful little towns, wineries and markets, not to mention the Valley Of The Giants Tree Top Walk in our quest to be on time for the show.
The gig was a nice chilled outdoor arvo session at the Ravenswood Hotel. It was a great little gig; Julz and I were in a very ‘Sunday’ sort of mood so the vibe suited us perfectly. After the gig we had to shoot up to Perth for a radio interview with the local independent station RTR on the Roots show with Simon Kelly.
On Monday we were asked to go into Radio Fremantle to do an interview on Derek’s Down Under Country show, so we did a pre-record of a few live songs and had a good old chat and when we finished up there we decided to hit the streets of Fremantle to soak up some of the great vibes. Freo is such a wonderful little place, awesome food, interesting shops, cool street performers and just a great place to hang out. We found a little café called Croissant Express which let us sip on coffees and access their wireless internet for a few hours to catch up on some gig booking and other ordinary everyday things and then we went to the river to meet our mate Oops who was a bartender we met in Broome when we were up there last year. Oops took us to a great little fishing platform under a bridge on the Swan River where we cracked open a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and watched the boats pass by as the west put on one of its stunning sun sets and we shared stories until the wine disappeared. Some friends we met on our last trip to Perth were going to Mojo's for the open mic night so as the night set in we decided to head down there to catch up with them. Mojo's is a funky little hole in the wall style bar that looks like it belongs on Beal St Memphis, and they have some great bands playing pretty much every night of the week. We hung out and heard some cool bands then crashed out in the van listening to the interview we recorded that morning.
Tuesday we were determined to chill out so we met up with Oops to hang out for the morning and ended up finding a cute little beach on the river and lazing in the water. According to locals it's not advisable to spend too much time swimming in the river, but I actually thought it was really nice and we got to watch a couple of black swans courting each other which was amusing. We wanted to make the most of the sunset again so went to the Oyster Bar in North Freo to meet up with Blue Drew, our harmonica playing friend to sip on Coronas and enjoy watching the day disappear. Drew assured us that we had to go to the burger joint next to Mojo's to try the best burgers in Freo so we eventually made it there only to find that we're dawdled to much and it was closed. Oh well, the best burgers in Freo will have to wait til next trip!
While we were at Mojo's on Monday we met a guy named Brad who hosts a blues and roots radio program and invited us into the studio on Tuesday night to co-host the show and play some live tracks. So we went into the station for the 11pm - 1am show, coffee plunger in hand! The show was great; we got to play tracks from some of our friends on the East Coast including Marshall & the Fro and Lecia. We also played a bunch of live tracks and Blew Drew came in to have a jam with us on his harp.
So today we're back up in Perth getting the van serviced and catching up on some more internet business. Tonight we're playing at the Indi Bar, which is a funky little bar at the bottom of the Indian Ocean Hotel in Scarborough. It's looking like a great night, with some local acts Simon Kelly and Bones also on the bill. If you're in Perth then come along, and bring all your friends! See ya tonight!
