We’re now into the 4th week of living out of a suitcase and it’s starting to get a little old.  But that’s a pretty small complaint when put into perspective.  In the last month we have recorded some new tracks in our little studio space in London, played 2 shows in New York, 1 in LA, quite a few in Australia (including Splendour In The Grass!!!) and now we’re in South Africa.  Crazy.  And I mean proper crazy.  It has been the most surreal experience we’ve had as a band and we’ve done lots of stupid stuff before.

The US leg of the trip convincingly confirmed that we love New York a lot more than LA.  But at least this time we were able to give LA a chance and be there for more than 24 hours.  We managed to get some sightseeing in as well; and checked out Venice Beach (which has the most killer skate park ever) and the observatory, where we saw the most melodramatic presentation at the planetarium.  Even though we were shushed constantly for giggling at the whole experience, it was pretty awesome.

MC Bad Genius overlooking LA from the Observatory

When we finally got back to Australia, we basically stepped off the plane and onto the stage for an FBi fundraiser show at The Metro.  In two words:  jetlag sucks.  But it was a fun gig anyway and it was the only gig we’ve ever played where we knew where Calvin was the whole night (ie: sleeping backstage).

Our next little adventure involved heading up to Brisbane to play at a house party for the winner of the ‘I Don’t Want To Party (Party)’ film clip competition (a lovely young man by the name of James!).  Check out his winning video and a few other entries HERE. On a whim, we decided to film the whole thing for a live DVD that we may release later on in the year.  This whim proved to be pretty difficult, as we had to organise the backline, PA, lights, camera crew, a live recording rig, and then direct the whole thing.  Luckily the people living at the house were completely cool with us taking over every spare centimeter of space that they had.

Turns out James makes cupcakes almost as good as film clips!

We just plugged stuff in wherever it fit.  It mostly worked

Most bitching house party.  Ever.

Then … SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS!!!!  We stayed in an apartment in Caloundra on the beach because it was cheaper than camping on-site (and more than slightly more comfortable).  The downside was that it took over an hour to get to the festival and every minute we spent in traffic lead to an extra feeling of tension in the car.

The view of the beach from our apartment.  Probably would’ve been better to tent it at Splendour though…

The smiles hide the nerves pretty well

But we got there just as The Drums were starting their set, which meant we only had about half an hour to make sure everything worked and that we looked as pretty as we possibly could (ie not very pretty, but not too ugly).  And when we finally walked out onto the stage, it was a bit of a buzz to see so many people there waiting for us.  By the time we started playing 99 Problems, all the nerves had left and I was getting a huge adrenaline buzz watching the crowd go nuts.  That’s an addictive feeling right there!

Berkfinger works the crowd with a virtuosic guitar solo

MC Bad Genius actually smiled during the set!

The crowd was freaking insane. Thank you thank you thank you!

After catching some great sets (highlights were The Strokes and Passion Pit), we left Splendour with the task of packing up all our stuff again in less than a day before getting on a flight to South Africa.

So here we are, hanging out in a B&B in Johannesburg with amazing views across the whole city.  I’ll let you know how it all goes!

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