We landed in Australia broken down, pulling broken bags and nursing tired wallets. In our stopover in Singapore’s airport, we still didn’t know our accommodations. But the promises were great.
After a push through Auz’s infamous customs, we stepped outside to paradise (albeit at an airport cab line). The sun warmed our souls. The green of summer soothed our eyes. The smell of nature instead of smog cleansed our lungs. The cab was packed to the ceiling, but we pulled up to a beautiful hotel in a stunning part of town (near King’s Park, Perth). Paradise.
Our shows were set in a famous Spiegel Tent, a mile’s walk up the road. We soon learned this was a walk through the poppy fields. The local mining industry drove prices as high as the summer heat we had yet to experience. Again, we performed in a tent, which in 110 degree weather, becomes an oven. And at $4 for a bottle of water, we lost weight. Our group stood outside to advertise and sang for anybody we could find: handing out free tickets, advertisements, and doing our best to fill seats. We later found that there was no advertising done for the show, posters were never printed by the advertiser, and we scrambled to set up interviews. To our dismay amidst heat-stroke, our 12 shows over 10 days were nearly empty! What a way to discourage a band specializing in crowd participation! But we fired up our engines and powered through shows with as few as 6 people. Even our amazing sound/tech crew Jack Lee and Zoe Hammond gave an Herculean effort to put heart into the lights and sound. Word spread and the shows filled gradually, but the lack of funds raised put a huge burden on the future travels.
Despite the dire situations, we were greeted with a beautiful friendship with the girls from Falling To The Top, another show at the Perth Fringe Festival. We hit it off immediately and found love on the other side of the world. Here I met Mariaelena Velletri. She and her friends Elizabeth Pattinson, Kimberly Harris, Ella Evans, Anni Biagioni, Jacquelyn Prosper, Kirby Bierty, Zoe Hollyoak, Erin Hutchinson, Scott Corbett, Tyler Jones, and Robert Woods took us in. They cooked for us, guided hikes through the “Bush,” took us cliff-diving, had a “barbie,” introduced “Goone” (cheap wine-like wine) to the group, gave us lifts home, showed us the beach, and made our lives better. I am forever indebted to all of them. Most importantly I fell for Maria, and we began a storybook romance. That story is not for a blog.
Amid our stay in Perth, we took a jaunt to Melbourne where we stayed with Amelia Alder (head of Vocal Australia) and began work on our first original songs. With the help of our friend Tat Tong, we wrote four songs and took the first step in our journey towards an album. We even put on a show with Suade, our amazing Aussie brother group, for a packed house in the city.
What followed were a couple shows in beautiful Albany and Geraldton for Outer Fringe. Some of the best audiences we’ve had and frankly one of the most moving pieces of mail we’ve ever received. Without detailing much, we learned that the love and energy and heart we put into this actually seems to show on stage…and translate to audience members.
We learned we can make a difference.
With such a bi-polar experience in the beautiful, dangerous, and nearly perfect Australia…we sadly hit the road again, this time for our Asian leg of the tour…