Posted on Monday, February 7, 2005 by phil
well well well, another big day out has come and gone and here i am counting back the minutes, days and trying to remember all the important bits and then forgetting them as i write...
auckland was, well, auckland. the first night in the bar i had the pleasure of meeting money mark and as it will be revealed later it was quite fortuitous on my behalf.
i did not know what to expect from the auckland crowd as we have sold zero records there and the last time we toured i was drunk off my brain and trying to grow a beard. but, they were really nice! i watched slipknot side of stage and looked to my left and there was jack, last name black, first name jack. i said hello, my name is philip and he replied, hello my name is jack. we watched pondering the importance of masked metal for a while until i had an urge to hear the carpenters so i ran away whistling superstar.
the flight to brisbane was stimulating and atrocious all at the same time.
arrived & was greeted by jim our driver, he lead me to a big black bus.
i think once slipknot saw our bus they became very jealous and wanted to join our band.
gold coast gig was great and hot and i met the donnas and kathleen hanna and all was good.
eskimo joe wore matching singlets.
they looked hot.
after party at gci was filled with sponatious human combustion. i got abused at length by ellie from the tremours about how much grinspoon sucked and how she never liked anything i have ever done musically. personal highlight number one.
bus trip from gold coast to sydney was pure hell on wheels. loved every minute of it.
sydney big day out passed in a blur. it is hard to communicate to a stadium that big but i think we went over ok. walking from stage i offered mike d a spray of some evian mist to rehydrate and moisturise the skin. he told me to fuck off. personal highlight number two.
had to play waveaid with the wrights so i missed the bus trip to melbourne. waveaid, or the adult contemporary big day out as i liked to call it was filled with self-congratulatory managers slapping themselves on the back. i felt sick so i hopped on a plane to melbourne after john watson ordered me around a bit.
melbourne was nice. i like melbourne. caught up with damo from motorace and nic from jet and went and watched a taping of rockwiz. saw dan brodie there and he has a high speaking voice.
melbourne was a strange day. everyone seemed to be on valium/xanex/heroin/extacy.
oh, i forgot some good stuff. touring a big day out with international bands is kind of like going back to highschool. you have your cool kids, your nerds, your outkasts & your try-hards and it has a whole class system going on which is very interesting to observe. who relates to who, who wants to be part of their gang, etc. money mark was like school captain. he was very popular and introduced everybody and made sure that the nerds and the metalheads didn't feel too left out. the cool gang on this tour was made up of le tigre, beastie boys, the hives and the blues explosion. the nerds were powderfinger, john butler trio & frenzal rhomb. it was interesting watching system of a down having fancy hair and slipknots crew roaring to be mad and crazy. it was fun watching the donnas try to kick me out of the cool gang, not that i was ever in it.
davey lanes birthday party was one of the greatest nights of my life. bernard fanning punched me in the face not once, not twice, not three times but... count me in cogsy! 4! on the floor! i caught up with tim rogers and we had a long chat about love, life and the beauty of being a fuck up. god bless him.
adelaide. pre show drinks. ian haug decides to pick up where bernard left off and punches me in the face. luckily ben ely is there and threatens to knock him out. ben ely is a superhero. he should wear a cape and fly. quan and i have serious discussions about literature and its relationship with modern art. i am reading the new jt leroy and recommend it highly. watched save the last dance and that was so bad it wasn't funny. that film had no relationship to modern art. it was kind of on a ken done level.
the gig the next day was my favourite of the tour.
spent the after party trying to avoid punishers and talking to scribe and p money, or scribble and pocket money as kris affectionately calls them. drinking verve with hip hop makes you feel good. the d4 are the best bunch of guys and i kept promising to see them but never did. my bad.
perth, pre show drinks. lots of sycophantic metal fans. slipknot crew being tough and nibbling girls earlobes. listened to machine head and metallica and ministry and it was fun.
gig was good. fell over a lot and forget most of the words to our songs but, you know, artistic licence. by this stage pat is really sick but he puts on a great gig as do joe and kris.
i get tangled up in blue.
so peace be with you big day out followers and readers of the news.
i know i have forgotten a lot of stuff. i am sure i will remember it one day.
hope you all are good.
take care,
phil