9th Dec 2006

This was written for www.mapsmagazine.co.uk so focuses on the playing side of things, might write something in more detail at some point, dunno… Had a lot of fun and some great times, met some great people…

Been offered some good work opportunities that will keep me in the Uk for the next couple of months, after that I don’t know, I may go elsewhere… Let’s wait and see ;-)

As always, see photos at www.chinchilla-music.co.uk/chinchpics

Brisbane
Brisbane is a cool little city, very easy to navigate and figure things out, if you really wanted to, you could walk across the city in a few hours. Likewise the music scene is centred mainly around one area, Brunswick st in The Valley, kind of like Camden, Shoreditch and Leicester square all rolled into one, but all quite happily coexisting. Music genres seem to fit mainly into two categories, Hardcore Punk and mellow, tuneful acts, so with Abdoujaparov and myself not really fitting into either of those categories, it was going to be hard work.

28/10 @ Rics Bar - www.ricsbar.com.au
An afternoon show, entitled ëThe Cheeseboardí, it was possibly a little too early for a gig and the room was half full with friends and friends of friends. It was my first solo show for a while, I felt strangely nervous and stupidly decided to try a load of new material which didnít work particularly well, struggled through it though and sold a few CDís so it canít have been that bad.

28/10 @ The Jubilee Hotel - www.jubileehotel.com.au
Chris Chinchilla plays 4 songs sandwiched between four hardcore bands was always going to be a tough gig, and suffice it to say I felt uncomfortable, awkward and at several points like pulling out. Instead, I took to the stage in an aggressive mood, ready to prove a point, cranked up the amp a little and put a lot of balls into it and in the end the show went down fairly well, had a good chat to a few people after the set, including a girl who had a great badge ìHugs not Drugsî, my sentiments exactly.

Sydney
Sydney was a little harder to figure out than Brisbane and after one radio show appearance, a gig and a riotous DJ slot I still am nowhere nearer to figuring out if the city posses a healthy scene or not. Fun and games is centred around several main areas, Surrey Hills and Darlinghurst

01/11 @ FBi (Radio session) - www.fbi.org.au
After nearly missing my flight, to then discover that I had booked the wrong flight and finally arriving at the radio station half an hour late, I was a little stressed out. Fortunately all the staff and presenters (The Wonderfully entitled Peach and Shag) were extremely helpful and friendly so helped me prepare for the interview and session. It was a little improvised as they micíd up my electric guitar and I have no idea how everything sounded, but it seemed to progress well, the interview was fairly successful and all involved seemed happy with the result.

02/11 @ The Excelior Hotel - www.excelsiorhotel.com.au
I was starving hungry by the time I took to the stage at The Excelsior, and the stage being located next to the Kitchen wasnít helping, but after my experience in Brisbane I had learnt that rocking it up a bit worked very well and adopted a similar attitude. The set went well, people enjoyed it, and it turned out that the night was reviewed by Drum Media, one of the biggest street papers in Sydney, so thank god it was a good performance, though strangely the reviewer was English and a friend of a band called the Late Greats, who Macaca Mulatta have played withÖ itís a small world!

03/11 @ Spectrum (DJ Set)
My DJ slot tonight was after the Scare had played, which is another odd UK coincidence as I had seen them play in London and reviewed the UK release of their EPÖ The venue wasnít as busy as I hoped it would be and it emptied quickly after the band had played meaning that it was pretty empty by my slot, however Iím pleased to say that not only did I keep everyone in, I encouraged a few from the street. I had people impersonating Liam Gallagher on stage and even a few dancing. After the set, myself and a few people Iíd met in Sydney over the past couple of nights relocated to a very cool bar upstairs that was laid back with great music and games to keep your attention.

Melbourne part 1
My travelling companions had promised a lot of Melbourne, it being their favourite Australian city and full of friendly faces. The drive down from Sydney was an experience for me; my first trip outside of major cities and it took us through some wonderful small towns with made up tourist attractions like giant wooden sheep.

10/11 @ Rob Roy - www.therobroyhotel.com
The brilliant Gels from Adelaide (www.thegels.com) opened the night to a fairly empty room, but gave the general impression that rock out was what they were here to do and that nothing was going to stop them. The venue was filling up a little by the time I took to the stage and by now I was settling into a good rhythm for the set, not really making many mistakes and working the audience (even if there werenít that many of them!) I attempted some sort of stage leap at some point but on the way hit my head on a speaker, which put me off. After the gig we patronised a couple of pubs with such endearing names as ëLabour in Veiní and ëPerseveranceí before returning home to see the Gels still up and drinking heavily, something they do quite often on tour, the two singers were up until 10am the next morning.

Adelaide
I immediately warmed to Adelaide, much like Brisbane it is small and easy to navigate, I think it also helped that we stayed in a really cool house with a host who as well as making BBQ also seemed to play an endless amount of good music.

16/11 @ 3D (Radio session) - www.threedradio.com
3Dís studio looks a little like a house, in fact it probably was at some point in the past. However the interviewer for the show had some extremely well prepared and researched questions and it was perhaps one of the best interviews Iíd done in a solo capacity.

16/11 @ Crown & Anchor -www.pubscene.com.au/Venue.aspx?ID=108
The Crown & Anchor is the first of two free gigs we were to play, which is a great idea and something we could do with doing more of in the UK. Entry is free, there are three of four original bands playing, the bands get paid from the bar and everyoneís happy. Theyíre usually held in slightly hairy venues though, were everyone has the tendency to get horrendously drunk and shout a lot. I went on first tonight and did a short 20 minute set, cutting out all the slower songs, it went very well, with shouts from the audience and despite the lights being right in my eyes and not being able to see most of the room, a fairly healthy crowd.

Fremantle & Perth
Perth and itís surrounding suburbs in Western Australia are about 2000 miles from their nearest neighbours in Southern Australia (Adelaide), this gives the city a fiercely independent outlook and perhaps a more aggressive feel than other Australian cities.

17/11 @ RTR (Radio Session) - www.rtrfm.com.au
The ever-so-helpful Marc English at rockus.com.au had arranged this session; he even picked us up at the airport and took us to a great pub opposite the station for Lunch. The interview went very smoothly, again with some well-researched questions and a well-prepared presenter

17/11 @ Mojoís - www.mojosbar.com.au
Tonightís gig was different from the outset, Richy, Abdoujaparovís other guitarist had missed the flight from Adelaide due to some drunken debauchery, so I hastily crammed a few Abdoujaparov songs and worrying about remembering them made me slightly nervous as I took to the stage for my own set. Mojoís is also an odd venue, an Oasis of life on a dead road in North Fremantle, the burger shop next door being the only other place even open past 8pm, not even a cash machine could be found within walking distance. Again, my set passed without any major problems, as did playing guitar for Abdoujaparov.

18/11 @ Hyde Park Hotel - www.hydeparkhotel.com.au
The second of the free pub gigs and even more hairy than the last, my set went exceedingly well despite an irritating group of people stood to the side of the stage who never ceased their inane chatter, very distracting and riled me somewhat, making it hard to interact nicely with the audience, causing possibly the nastiest rendition of ëCheesy Love Songí Iíve ever played. The Old School Punk band who played after me bought an interesting element to the crowd, someone got concussed in the small mosh pit (requiring an ambulance), a fight ensued outside the venue and the bandís Bass player decided to chuck his beer (that heíd just spent half the set swearing at the bar staff for) over the audience. After Abdoujaparovís storming set we patronised Perthís only ëalternativeí night, the choice of music was different, which was refreshing, but not particularly danceable, so we didnít hang around long.

Melbourne Part 2
In which it felt like we were returning home, I had a busy week planned, several DJ slots, a gig and some distant Family to visitÖ

22/11 @ Cherry Bar (DJ Set)
The arrangements for tonight had always been somewhat vague, all I knew was that Cherry Bar is usually quite busy on a Wednesday, I had no idea what crowd to expect, how long I was DJíing for or even if I was the only DJ, I turned up to be told that there was a small contingent of the usual ëYoung Crowdí in tonight, but that the vast majority of the crowd were in fact in attendance at a 40th Birthday party, and that I would have to make sure the Birthday boy was happy, this was going to be interestingÖ However, despite having to DJ for over 3 hours (split slightly by a band) I held my own exceedingly well, people liked what I played, they danced, they made requests and all left pretty much after I finished, marvellous.

24/11 @ RRR (Radio session) - www.rrr.org.au
A final radio session, including a fairly hastily set up rendition of ëDancing on a Weeknightí in which I decided to dedicate the song to various disparaged groups who might be listening, it seemed like a good idea when I thought about doing it, but I lost the drive and passion somewhere along the way and it didnít come out quite as well as I was hoping it would.

24/11 @ The Tote (DJ Set) - www.thetotehotel.com
Another slightly vague arrangement, I knew who the bands were but no idea what they sounded like, not that it mattered as I only had my usual mix CD collections anyway. I think the music I chose to play was generally completely unlike the bands playing, but I wasnít a massive fan of any of them anyway. It was an odd night, I turned up, played whatever the hell I felt like playing, I had no obligations to make people dance, no one questioned what I played, it was all very indulgent, then I went home.

25/11 @ Ding Dong (Weekender Club Night) - www.myspace.com/weekendernights
Our last gig in Australia and I think everyone had high expectations of the night, expectations that were perhaps not entirely realised, especially on stage. I tried a new song that went a bit wrong, the stage also felt very sterile, it was hard to put your finger on it, but something just didnít feel right. However I got some brilliant reactions from the crowd, as did Abdoujaparov, met and chatted to some great people and the night continued long into the night, and the next day, so in the end a memorable finale to our Australian tour.

Tokyo
After the relatively relaxed atmosphere of Australian cities, the pace was different from the second I stepped off the plane at Narita airport. Whilst a large amount of people speak English and a majority of signs are in English and Japanese, getting around and understanding whatís happening around you is still very hard, it was a mentally exhausting few days.

20/11 @ Lush
Japanese venues and the Japanese music scene operates very differently from anything Iíve experienced before. For a start they commence and finish very early, secondly the sound crew (even at the smallest of venues) set everything up with precision, including your pedals, guitars and microphones and wouldnít hear of you doing it yourself. Itís not all good news though as venue hire is very expensive and every source of income goes into paying for this including from the traditional bread winner of smaller touring bands, the merchandise. The two support bands for the night were incredible (donít ask me who they were as they both had Japanese names), we started with a guitar and drums two-piece who in the grand tradition of recent duos were mental, noisy and flung themselves around the stage like there was no tomorrow. The next act was the polar opposite, a well presented young man, sat at a piano who played several beautiful compositions and spoke some (what he described as) ëproseí, I couldnít understand a word of it, but it was very engaging. Then came my set, after an exhausting few days and some weighty dinner I wasnít quite as energetic as I wanted to be, but I played well and the set was well received, I even got some call and response going in the audience, iDou sounded great and were extremely well received, crowds dancing and everyone having a great time. Melbourne was good, but tonight was really the icing on the cake to an awesome tour and a brilliant Experience.”,“2006-12-09 09:52:55” “After last years roaring success, I’m organising another Christmas Party for those who do/don’t have the privilege of working for somebody and thus being invited to one…

15/12/06 @ The Green Man, Berwick st (Nice and cheap!)
From about 8pm…

You’re more than welcome if your self employed, unemployed, a student or if you can hide your work status by not mentioning all the work parties you’ve been invited to!

See you there :-)