The Weekly... Volume 34

logees - how are you? Nice to have all two of you with me again. I am assuming there that "Blogee" is the Oxford-English-Dictionary-Approved term for the reader of a Blog, but I haven't checked...

Here in the land of RHF, I am currently counting down the days till the commencement of the next decade of my existence. Those of you smart enough to join the dots will therefore be able to figure out how old I am, but that's cool by me. I dare say you might have been able to take a reasonable guess by looking at my hairline, which sadly decided to go into an early retirement several years ago. Well I say sadly, but it's saved me a hell of a lot of cash on hairdressers. And in a round-a-bout sort of way, I guess that has helped me afford to put together this next album. Which, by the way, is almost finished.... never thought I would see the day, but I am closing in...

For those of you who are interested, I have been posting another few sample songs this week. As with the prevous versions, these are Demo's of the new album before it goes into the final stages of production. This week, I decided to put a couple of favourites up - Molly Mae and the Birds. Both pretty different to the solo versions that have been in circulation to this point. You might be (a) Intrigued, (b) Surprised, (c) Confused. I am a combination of all those things myself, and I suppose a little bit proud too. Anyway see what you think.


THE SHOWS:

THIS FRIDAY 3RD APRIL - FULL BAND SHOW
THE SUPPER CLUB, 134 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst
Tickets available in advance on Moshtix - www.moshtix.com.au
Or at the door - $15.00.
This will be our last full band show before the album launch in the middle of the year.
Supported by James Blow from the Mischief in solo mode.
Music starts 8pm.

Note re this show:
This is also the first of Peregrine's "Late Sets" through April. They are one of my favourite local bands, and more importantly, a great bunch of blokes too. Peregrine will be hitting the stage after us at around 11pm. So it's a BIG Friday night of music for you all - come and be a part of it.
Check out Peregrine at www.myspace.com/playthings


SUNDAY 10TH MAY - SUNSETS AT THE FRINGE (Solo)
Fringe Bar, 106 Oxford Street, Paddington.
Supported by the Beautiful folk duo Ruby for Lucy.
www.myspace.com/rubyforlucy
Music from 6pm. Tix $8 at the door which includes a drink.


There may be a few more shows to add. As always, keep an eye on myspace for updates as they occur.


VIDEO CLIP:

We are in the early stages of putting together a film clip to accompany the release of the new album. It will be a fun sort of affair involving a pub and a crowd of some description.... Not really a gig, but sort of... Hard to explain. Anyway, without giving too much away, I thought I would check to see who would be interested in being a part of the crowd for the shoot. As I said, it's just in the early stages of production at the moment, but if you're keen to be involved it would be great to hear from you. Being independent an all, I can't offer any K-Rudd fiscal-stimulusesque cash handouts, just a chance to be a part of this little adventure, and probably a beer or two at the end of the day. Anyway please reply to this email if you think that's something that might interest you. More info to come.


NOTICEBOARD:

I am aware the noticeboard section has been missing for a while, but I am bringing it BACK. Just a small note this week about a show I went to last night at The Basement in Sydney. An Irish Singer-songwriter called Declan O'Rourke. A wonderful performer, and a really amazing songwriter - one of the best solo shows I have seen in quite some time. There is an intangible quality to Irish musicians that makes them real and engaging. A lack of pretence, a willingness to give themselves completely to their audience. He is big enough already, so I'm sure he doesn't need my help, but I reckon he's worth a listen if you're after some good new music for when you want to sit back, relax, and wind down:

www.declanorourke.com

TWITTER:

I have completed the final step towards online dependency. It is a sad day, but what can I do.....?

www.twitter.com/rennyfield

I'll try to post an update each day.


TALES FROM THE WEEKEND.
Bathurst and the Lost Tuxedo:

Friday night myself and my brother Matt (drums) went out for one of our Duo shows in Bathurst, which we play once every month or so. According to form, and in keeping with Field family tradition, we were late leaving the city and once again attempting to defy the Friday peak hour traffic gods in order to arrive on time for the show. As has been the case for all our gigs in Bathurst, the trip across the blue mountains was punctuated by a thick descending mist and a fairly decent amount of rain, not ideal for a 1986 Corona with severe traction problems and a missing headlight. Two thirds of the trip was also accompanied by a mysterious odour, something like the smell of coolant, being emitted from the engine of my car. Not fogetting the occaional burst of smoke, which I can't quite understand. This has been occuring for quite some time, but I continue to follow the "Ignore it and it will go away" theory for engine problems. To this point, it seems to be working. The going away part anyway, only it keeps coming back....

So anyway, we made it with 10min to spare. Which isn't really 10min to spare when you still have to unload the car and set up the PA and a drum kit, but the owner is an understanding sort of chap, and for that reason we love him, and we keep driving throught the rain once a month. As fate would have it, for some reason the microphone cable was missing. Not my microphone cable, the one belonging to the pub's PA system. And so ensued a wild goose chase round the streets of Bathurst to find a microphone cable, which we eventually borrowed from a pub up the road. Incidentally, I have accidentally returned to Sydney with said cable, and one of my tasks for this afternoon is to go to the post office and mail it back Express Post. Apparently the Sunday afternoon Bingo host was not a happy camper.

So the gig - when we eventually got away - was pretty cool. At least it started that way when the people were there... And slowly one by one through the course of the night they each departed. Until around 1am, when there was one person left, and we were still delivering the performance of a lifetime but at the same time wondering where it all went wrong...? It was halfway through the final song - to one person - that our audience member told us he thought the pub was closed. Not to worry, we finished the song anyway, only to discover that he was a friend of the bar staff, and in fact the pub had been closed for the last 15mins. Which roughly equates to 3 songs. I could spend I lifetime wondering why no-one bothered to inform the band that they could stop playing, but I'll just content myself with the fact that I have another great story to tell at my shows in the future (when they are attended by more that one person that is....). Was this the most tragic gig ever? No that would go to last year's solo show in Youghal on the South-east coast of Ireland, where for a period of 20mins I performed to an empty room. And I mean EMPTY. Not even the bar staff - they were serving people in at the other bar. Did I stop? No way. That was the best 20mins I have EVER played. Really. If only I had a way of proving it....

I should mention that my mother and grandparents attended the show in Bathurst, which was a nice surprise, and a nice opportunity to give them a rousing send-off when they left after the first few songs. There is something stangely fulfilling about watching your mother and grandparents waving to a pub full of wasted 20-somethings all going crazy for them.

So the gig finished, there was time for a few hours sleep at the Kings Hotel before a quick bite to eat in the morning and the trek back to Sydney across the mountains. The whole way back I was trying to think up a name for the new album (actually the whole way across I was doing that as well....) but to this point, I still haven't got it. Not to worry, it will come to me eventually.Taking suggestions...

So the lost Tuxedo... Well I didn't realise it was lost until 2.50pm when, after dropping my brother off and running a few errands in town, I arrived back at my house in Manly only to discover that it was not where I thought it would be. This was a problem, because the black tie wedding was due to start at 4pm. In the city.

It's funny, I had some sense that it would be missing on the drive home, but also some vague self-assurance from deep within that, even if it was missing, I would be able to get my hands on one somehow. This is another personality trait of the Field brothers - the ablility to make good in a seemingly helpless and chaotic situation. Most people would just avoid getting themselves into the helpless and chaootic situation in the first place, but that's not the way we work...

Anyway, I made a record of the sequence of events prior to getting to the wedding (in a Tuxedo). This might give you an interesting snapshot into a day in the life of Renny Field (it reads better if I describe it in the third person...).

2.50 Arrives in Manly and realises there is no Tux
2.55 Finds black pants
2.56 Miraculously discovers a formal shirt
2.57 Realises (tragically) that the shirt need cufflinks, but remembers that he used them at Shane's wedding and they might be in the same bag
2.58 Finds cufflinks in the last pocket of bag
2.59 Calls lifeline thrift store in Balgowlah who have black jackets
3.00 Shower, shave, change, including iron shirt.
3.10 Leave home in Manly
3.20 Find and purchase decent fitting jacket from the appropriately named "Lifeline" store amidst a sea of confused pensioners who think I have no chance of making the wedding.
3.21 Depart Balgowlah bound for the city for what should be a 30min drive on a good day.
3.21 - 3.44. Mark Webber is sighted on Military Road, Cremorne, attempting to attach cufflinks whilst speeding down the parking lane.
3.45 Arrive in city and get the last space in a cheap car park
3.55 Arrive at wedding in the Rocks with 5mins to spare.
3.56 Come to the realisation that I am an absolute legend.
3.56.02 Come to the realisation that I need to change the way I live my life
3.56.04 Come to the realisation that this is probably not possible.
4.00 - 12.00. Enjoy a great wedding. Looking like a millon bucks (or at least my version of a million bucks).

Sunday: ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Well done if you made it to here.

See you next week. Thanks for your continued support.

Renny

The Weekly... Volume 33

Volume 33. All the 3's. You know I was at a bingo night the other night, but I didn't play. Based on the look on everyone's faces, it didn't seem like I was missing out on a great deal. That said, I have played Bingo before and I have to admit I kinda liked. In a "I shouldn't really be liking this but I can't help be excited by the mind-numbing simplicity and why the hell can't you just draw my numbers already" kind of way.

Yesterday I bought a 10kg BUCKET of Acai. It's a Brazilian Fruit that you can only store frozen, so I have had to remove two of the shelves in the freezer just to fit it in. Why did I buy a 10kg bucket you ask? Because it's AWESOME. When I was in Brazil, I bought an Acai every morning for breakfast and never felt better. Then I didn't see it for years, and all of a sudden it showed up in Oz. So I found the wholesaler, and went and bought a bucket. And now I can whip it up each day for breakfast with a bit of Banana and Granola. Once you've tried it, nothing else compares. Seriously. It's that good. Try it for yourself. Or come round and join me one morning.

It would be nice if the Brazilian fruit also gave me a Brazilian sense of rhythm so I could dance, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen. I don't just have two left feet, I have about ten of them.

Album News - progress! Progress progress progress. Nothing but progress. Fast? Slow? I can't ever tell, but listening now it is getting pretty close. Aside from the Vocals of course which are all scratch efforts sung with the mother of all throat bugs. It had me for a while, but it's just about GONE. Which is a relief.

I am disappointed that my $900 bonus is under threat from a mad legal professor who has watched one too many episodes of the castle. But I am hoping that common sense prevails and the Hig Court will realise that paying for my CD's to be pressed is a sure-fire way to stave of the Australian recession.

Finally, if you're bored, you might want to log on to Mosthix, do a search for my name, and grab yourself a few tickets to our full band show on Friday 3rd April.

www.moshtix.com.au

And if you're not bored, you might want to do it anyway. Or you might not. Which is fine too.

Last full band show before the Album launch methinks.

See you soon.

Renny

PS - A new track up this week - "Jigsaw". If you listen at the start, you will hear that I do in fact throw a Jigsaw on the kitchen floor on the recording. And I really hope you like how it sounds, because after throwing all 1000 pieces in front of the microphone, it took me fricking ages to pick them up again.

The Weekly... Volume 32

Hello!

So I have put another couple of songs up this week. I have decided not to leave them up for any longer than a week - just a bit of a sample for the time being. I'll leave the tracks up there once they are released properly with the album. Anyway these are not "new" songs in the truest sense of the word. They are probably a couple of years old in fact, but they are new recordings of these songs for the new album. Because they've never been released you see - and that is sort of the point isn't it....?

Played a wonderful show on the "Woojam" stage at the Blue Mountains Folk Festival on the weekend. They really are a fantastic bunch of people those Woojammers. I am lucky to know them. One of those "right place at the right time" situations - who would have thought a tiny little underground bar in Kings Cross on a Monday night would be the source of so many hidden treasures.

The only problem with my show on Saturday night was that I had to drive from Sydney to Newcastle and back to Katoomba before hitting the stage. Not so much a problem perhaps but a minor inconvenience I think it would be fair to say... Anyway it was a friend's wedding so what could I do. It's not every day your friend get's married in Newcastle on the same day you have a show in Katoomba. I think I can safely say that was probably a one-off (fingers crossed...). Great wedding, great gig, not-so-great drive. To amuse myself in the car, I changed some of my old albums into brand new Jewel Cases. As I asked a friend earlier tonight, why do they call them Jewel Cases? Which part of the case is a Jewel? And why if they are such "Jewels" do they damage so easily? Anyway that is beside the point - I have new merch! Although that's a bit like the songs isn't it. Not "new" really. Just old stuff dressed up as new.

Alas, that appears to be the direction my life is headed.... Better find myself a decent fashion consultant.

Cheers for now,

Renny "Bringing back the ramble" Field.

x

The Weekly... Volume 31

Hello again everyone - not much new to report this past week, but plenty more done on the album, and I have posted a couple of rough mixes up for you. One of them you will recognise (Crossfire) as I have had it on my profile for about the last 2 years.... This version is with the full band.

The other one (The Edge) is pretty new - never been recorded before, but we have been playing it live for about a year or so. Anyway as I said they are just rough mixes, but a bit of variation there, and both fairly different to the song I posted last week. See what you think...

Sadly the throat bug is still lingering which is holding up the process a bit, but I am assuming it will eventually disappear. Probably would go quicker if I wasn't up late writing blogs on myspace... And on that note, I might keep this brief and hit the hay.

Thanks to those who came along and had a listen at the Sando - a quiet night, but really enjoyed it. Manly and the Blue Mountains this week. Might see you there...

Cheers for now,

Renny

The Weekly... Volume 30. New Songs!

(Wow the internet connection just froze, and I managed to copy the text a split second before the screen went blank... Good thing too because there is NO WAY I was re-typing this... Phew that was close).



Well hello again peoples... How you doing out there? My slow descent
into the world of madness appears to be gathering momentum up here in
recording land. I would say it's worrying, but I kind of enjoyed it.
You might remember a couple of weeks ago I set the "Volume 28
Challenge". Well I am pleased to announce that a song has been finished
for you myspace faithful who bothered to reply to the blog. And instead
of there being a "winner", I decided that you all deserved a place for
being the type of people who would respond to my bizarre ramblings in
the first instance. Muchos creditos to you all.



So, the song is called "If it takes all night". I've managed to do a
rough recording in between the album tracking - just acoustic guitar
and vocals. It began as a song about a busker (let's say his name is
Neil Diamond), then somehow progressed into a song about the creative
process, about writing a song in fact, and the good that comes out of
that - how the music can keep you heading in the right direction.
Coincidentally I also managed to finish the song in the first person -
not exactly sure how that happened, but when you're trying to
incorporate a cramped trip to Eastbourne into a rock song you have to
accept that the art is going to take you where it takes you. I do
remember someone asking me to write a song about writing a song about
Neil Diamond... Well I suppose this is sort of it... In a round-a-bout
sort of way. And for that person who asked for "A touch of random" (I
think that was it), well you could say this is exactly what you asked
for... Anyway here are the lyrics - see if you can pick up where your
suggestion came into play. (My apologies to the Vegan butcher - he had
to be left out. But then again he never really existed in the first
place, so I guess that makes perfect sense....).



"If it takes all night". Renny Field. March 2009.



Down on the corner, on the wrong side of town

you're singing the spare change blues for your next pair of shoes

making it work somehow

Up on the high road, they never look down

But you can play those fools, you can bend their rules

just by making your own sound



CHORUS

If it takes all night, we can make this right

With a little bit of hope and a little bit of love on our side.



Working the corner of some cheap-ass hotel

you're wearing your heart on your sleeve and the folks never leave

cause you got 'em under your spell

Yeah I've seen the fakes come and go, but if there's one thing I know

You'll never be worried about the Diamonds

when you're harnessing the gold



If it takes all night, we can make this right

With a little bit of hope and a little bit of love on our side.



Yeah I know the road is long, but you can see the world with just one song

It's a funny sort of beast that you're taming,

But the beast won't do you wrong.



Yeah you know the stars still shine

even when you're standing in the bread line

And that Eastbourne Express sounds like a hell of a mess

But I'm sure it was worth the ride



(Cool guitar solo)



Yeah I know the road is long, but that road is gonna make us strong

Through the wind and the rain, I'll drive all the same

Cause that shit keeps me keeping on.



If it takes all night, we can make this right

With a little bit of hope and the occasional bit of luck on our side

If it takes all night, we can makes this right

With a little bit of hope and a little bit of love on our side

On our side.



---------



And there you go - I suppose "we" refers to you and me. You being the
people who helped me write the song in the first place. Random it might
bem but who knows with some drums, bass and a few backing vocals we
could be on to something here.... If you need a more detailed
explanation of what's going on with the lyrics, please don't hesitate
to ask. I've got buckley's of being able to explain it to you, but I'll
try!



----------



IN OTHER NEWS....



Well after much deliberation, I have decided to start putting some of
the rough mixes from the album up between now and when it is released.
Seeing as we're on the subject of new songs, I thought I would start
this week. So that means 2 NEW SONGS in the one week! Sounds crazy I
know, but hey I'm a crazy sort of guy.



So this first sampler from the new album is called "Love Potion".



Stay tuned for some more samples in coming weeks. I won't say how
regular they'll be or otherwise. I'll just try to put a new one up for
a few days every now and then. If you stay tuned, then you won't miss
'em!



(And that way you'll be able to check out the upcoming shows as well... If you want to of course....).



See you soon,



Renny

The Weekly... Volume 29

The Weekly... Volume 29

So I continue to battle away up here in recording land. I can't figure out why it takes so long sometimes to complete the most inane tasks. Little doodling guitar parts, the takes, the retakes, the rethinks, the retrys... It's a bit crazy. I figure if you ever want to get someone committed, just send them off to a house in the country by themselves with a bunch of recording gear and tell them to make an album. There's a better than even chance they'll drive themselves insane. Fortuantely my slip into the land of madness is currently being tempered as a result of me being heavily sedated by antibiotics. This must be the first time in years that I have actually had two weeks "off", and then lo and behold I manage to get a throat infection. I don't need to tell you that this makes the recording of an album fairly problematic at best. Unless I was trying to do a Louis Armstrong tribute record of course. But unfortunately I am not. I am trying to do a Renny Field record. And I don't think I sound like Louis Armstrong. At least not yet anyway.

In more positive news, it looks like I will be receiving a cheque for $900 some time in the near future. And whilst I completely disagree with the concept of handing out cash to fix the economy, I would like to thank Kevin Rudd for paying for the first run of copies of the new album. Who needs a recording contract when you've got the Australian goverment.

So that's the buzz. Word out.

PS. Assuming I have recovered in time, there is a show this Wednesday which is worth checking out. Have a look at the gig guide.

PPS. Cough cough cough

The Weekly... Volume 28

**The Volume 28 Challenge**

I will be taking suggestions for the topic of a new song, and I need your ideas. The winner will be announced with the song in 2 weeks time. So all you need to do is comment on this blog with your suggestion, and I will post the new tune along with The Weekly Volume 30. Hey it might be terrible, but it will be good fun. Which is sort of the point. I am not sure if anyone will actually read this in time, but in that case I will write the song about a musician who posts blogs on myspace that no-one ever reads. That will almost definitely be terrible, but it will still be fun. Possibly...

Random ideas more than welcome.

OK moving on...

A story for you all...

The other day I was catching a bus into the city, and there were THREE cameras on the thing. Three! Plus there was a TV screen rotating between the three cameras just to remind everyone they were being filmed. Could someone please explain to me why it is necessary to film a bus-load of pensioners and out of work musicians at lunchtime on a Tuesday? It felt like a scene out of the movie "Speed" - you know the one where the bus has to stay at 50 miles per hour. Only there was no Sandra Bullock for me to save. Which was a shame really, because it was one of those rare situations where the out of work musician may have stood a chance. But yeah - three cameras. How about that. I suppose this is the sort of society we live in. Bugger.

Might mention a gig coming up at the end of the month - you should come along if you're free. It'll be great:

Wed 25 Feb. The Excelsior Hotel. 64 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills.
Supporting Sam Buckingham and Sarah Humphreys.
Solo show. Doors open 8pm. Tix $12.
Renny on stage at 10pm.
Sam and Sarah have been doing a residency each Wednesday in February. I went last week and it was a cracker. It's really nice of them to ask me to play the final spot of the month. Can't wait.

Not a whole lot to report this week (as you may have been able to tell). Recording is still ticking along pretty nicely. I'll start to put a few rough mixes up soon.

In summing up, it's been emotional.

I'll do my best to raise the bar for Volume 29. Promise.

Cheerio

The Weekly... Volume 27

Hola.

Again not so much of a weekly when it takes 3 weeks between entries, but there you go... It is now 2.30am and I have just finished a marathon day of recording. It feels good to be making progress, but I am not sure how effective I am at this time of night. And I don't have a clue why I thought it was a good idea to write a blog at 2.30 in the morning. But then again a lot of my ideas are like that - completely against the laws of common sense. That's just the way I fly sometimes. Take it or leave it.

It's been a fairly productive last few weeks. There was a trip to Tamworth for some shows with Sam Buckingham and Sarah Humphreys. Only Sarah got sick at the last minute, so it was just me and Sam.Which wasn't so bad was it Sam? (I have it on good authority that Sarah is now back to full voice!).

As it turned out, there were a bunch of other people we knew floating around in Tamworth so a few of them were able to join us on stage as well. Which was great. I managed to drive up through the night after a very important game of ultimate frisbee (of course they are all important that's why they call it "Ultimate"). As I was approaching Tamworth, it turned out that Barack Obama was being sworn in, so that was a little moment in history that I was able to enjoy at 4am in the morning somewhere on the New England highway whilst looking for the next 24hr servo with a coffee machine. I think that's one of those "Can you remember where you were" moments. The first black president of the US of A. Well Baz (that's what we'd call you here in Oz), I was with ya. You kept me awake through the lonely miles en route to the golden guitar. So already you have done me a great service, and that was before you got the green light on your financial stimlus package. Good on you.

Speaking of stimulus packages, seeing as I mentioned you on my blog, do you think out of the 1 Trillion dollars that you might be able to throw me a spare $20,000 to go on a world tour once I've finished this album? I'll let you think that one over Baz, I know that times are tough.

So why have I started writing this directly to the US President anyway? Because it's 2.30 in the morning folks. Now where was I?

Yeah - Tamworth. I rather like the Country Music Scene. If you can get over the apparent fascination with backing tracks (which mostly sound like the Karaoke machine at the Pickled Possum) then it's a really great environment for music. I find the country music crowd is more inclined to find something to like about you before they start tearing strips out of you. Contrast that with a few other music scenes (sneaker rock perhaps), and it's pretty refreshing. Makes for a nice environment to play your tunes. Even though Sam and I are not really country, people appreciated what we had to offer. Just as they did last year. So whenever I can, I'll make the pilgrimage to Tamworth - that's the point I was trying to make. And if you haven't been, then I would recommend it. Even just once to say you did.

After Tamworth we played one of the more inspiring shows I have played in a long long while. A good friend of ours Kent Eastwood had set up a gig at the Chapel Theatre in Glen Innes - about 2 hours further north. Along the same highway, but without Barack Obama's encouragement this time. The Chapel theatre was, as the name suggests, an old Chapel that head been converted (into a theatre.... but I guess you got that already....), and it was just magic. Kent, Sam and myself all played a few songs each, then joined each other for a full set after the interval. Yes that's right there was an interval. How good is that. And in true country-style, there were home made cakes and biscuits to eat with our Tea and Coffee. Now that sort of stuff doesn't happen at the hopetoun. Say nothing of the feast that the Eastwoods prepared for lunch that day. Or the bullsh... accomodation that we were provided with. Too good for words. Soul food. Soul food. Certainly made the 8hr drive back to Sydney a lot easier. Gold Jerry.

So it's now 2.43 .And that's about all from me. The shows have died down a little whilst I try to concentrate on getting this record finished off. I can tell you that it's going to be 14 tracks. If you're interested that is. It's slowly starting to sound like something you would listen to. Which is I sort of the point I suppose. It's just that for a while there, I wondered if it ever would....

Goodnight. Adieu. See you soon.

Renny

The Weekly... Volume 26

Hello Blogees... I am assuming that's what you call the reader of a blog. Not a blogger, but a blogee. But I assume a lot of things. And you know what they say about assumptions, so I wouldn't be using that in your next thesis.

Friday night's show at Bar Me was a great night - probably the most I have enjoyed playing in a few months to be honest. Big thanks to Edoardo and Megan as well. It was my first show there in about a year, and it's great to see the venue back in familiar hands again. I really think it's an important room for the local songwriter scene. It's certainly got the opportunity to push different styles of music, and encourage a different type of audience to go and see live shows. One of the few places in the city that is promoting a music in a cultural sense, rather than a fashion sense. Works for me, because I always seem to be years behind the fashion trends anyway. Did I mention I found a great truckers hat the other day?

This is the part where I'd like to tell you how well the recording is going, and when it is due to be released. But unfortunately it is proving to be a difficult beast to conquer. I am learning to remove the obstructions, but it is taking time. When I decided to self-produce my album, I had no real comprehension of the challenges it would create. The concept of self-producing is beautiful to me, because it is the opportunity to create something that is truly your own. But acquiring the necessary amount of "Creative bravery" is proving difficult. I am not sure if this blog is the correct forum to be spitting out this type of stuff, but I always try to be positive so I figure it can't hurt once in a while to give you all a snapshot into the other side of the artistic process. The darker side. The "I can't do this" side. I wish it was easier to cast aside the doubt, but then I suppose that's what makes the light at the end of the tunnel so much more inspiring when you get there.

On a more positive note, i did manage to write a song the other day. It's the first one I have written on the piano for about 2 years. Hard to believe it's been that long when so much of my early music was driven by the keyboard stuff. Anyway I kind of like it. Feels good to be back on the horse.

I hope you find somebody's hand
To guide you to that sacred promised land.
Where the hour glass is chocked full up of sand.
And it won't run out.

Who's coming to Tamworth? Go on. You'll love it.

See you soon,

Renny

The Weekly... Volume 25

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So it's 2009 - Two thousand and Divine I have heard some people say. We'll wait and see about that.

Just got back from a few days at the Peats Ridge Festival. It was great to see so many local artists doing so well. As a festival, it's as good as any going round. Maybe I'm showing my age, but it's nice to be able to walk around and enjoy yourself rather than having to edge your way through 5000 wasted teenagers so you might, if your lucky, be able to catch a glimpse of a band you wanted to see. There is always a front row seat at Peats Ridge - that's the best part. And the music was world class. A big thank you to Kent Eastwood who joined me on stage for my set on New Years Eve - mate it is always a pleasure. Not to forget the Mischief of course on the Kazoos, and Richie Cuthbert deserves a mention for adding a touch of Choas to proceedings. What a good laugh.

Before Peats Ridge, we had time for a mad dash to Tathra on the South Coast of NSW. What a beautiful spot. Untouched when compared to travelling a similar distance north. If only I was able to stay down there a bit longer. The show was great fun, and once again thanks to Mort and Sue for your support, and helping us get down there to play from time to time.

So this one is a short one - I am about to pack my bags and head off to the studio. Plenty to be done.

Wishing you all every success in 2009.

Much love from me

The Weekly... Volume 24

Hello subscribers. All three of you. How are you? Good to hear! (I am guessing there, but hey it’s Christmas so I figure you’re probably doing pretty well. Being silly season and all…). A few days late courtesy of the show on Sunday night, but you know what they say about late vs never. And I am a big believer in that theory. This may have something to do with the fact that I am often slightly behind schedule... Not always in a "fashionable" way either. But I am working on it...

Coming at you from the Internet Cafe in Manly. I am yet to get the internet connected in my new place here. I am wondering if I really need it? Maybe I can just get by on wireless hot spots and internet cafes. That would be a lot cheaper... And you get to meet more backpackers. AND they give you free frisbees. Seriously - I got one the other day.

First things first – a huge thanks to everyone who came along on Sunday night to the Christmas spectacular spectacular. We had a great time, and there were moments in the set where I thought the band sounded as good as we have together all year. So hats off to everyone who was involved – a nice one for the last band show of 2008. Special thanks also to Liz on the Viola, who my brother recruited the night before whilst slightly intoxicated – turns out she could really play!

Not to be forgotten – Brett, Felix and the Stringettes – wonderful to do another show with you.

And Holly Austin you are a genius.

Happy to report also that we had a nice little collection of goodies to give to the Smith Family yesterday. I managed to find the “Base Camp” in Homebush, which is not the nicest drive from Manly it has to be said, but compared to what some people are up against at Christmas, I suppose a few cars on Military Road is hardly something to complain about. Thanks to all of you who put presents under our little tree at the Excelsior - it was a wonderful display of generosity. In case you were wondering, by Grandparents raised over $500 by selling raffle tickets for one of my grandfather’s paintings. That money also goes to the Smith Family, so it’s nice to know we’ve all played a small part in helping a few less fortunate folks. I spent some time with the Volunteers yesterday out at Homebush and seeing the amount of presents that had been donated around NSW was quite amazing. It seems the spirit of giving is well and truly in the air.

A bit of a break for me on the run-in to Christmas, but then I am down the South Coast for a couple of shows before heading up to the Peats Ridge Festival. Such a great lineup – can’t wait to settle in there for a few days and take it all in.

It's an interesting little period I am going through at the moment – the word “transition” springs to mind, but I won’t bore you with clichés. It hasn't been easy to settle back in here after my travelling this year, but I was reminded on Sunday night about the healing powers of music. I hit the stage feeling pretty stressed and left it feeling more or less at ease. A bit more than just the post-gig glow, more a feeling of contentment that at the end of the day, no matter what is going on in my life, I'll always have my songs. And I am not one to get all spiritual and touchy-feely on you, but I do believe that the creative process can be a very powerful thing as long as it's not neglected. Mental note taken...

Anyway after a very busy year of tours, tours and more tours, it might be time to take a little breather so I can actually get this new album finished. Rest assured however, there’ll still be enough going on to operate this rambling blog of mine for a while yet.

Merry Christmas to you all. Make sure you eat a lot. That is the whole point. You can worry about the spare tyre next year… On your way to the Peats Ridge Festival. Then you can add to it with some home made Gozleme. That's what I'll be doing.

Cheers for now.

Renny

The Ultimate Christmas Spectacular Spectacular. Sun 21 Dec

WAY more spectacular than your average spectacular.... I promise!

THE RENNY FIELD BAND - FINAL SHOW OF 2008

At the moment, we have 8 people playing with the band on Sunday. This number could grow depending on who I manage to round up in the next few days. We also have a suggestion for the band name - "Renny Field and the Beautiful Shambles". Because I like to have lots of different people playing with us. Makes things interesting. What do you think?

Like the Baby Shambles, but without the crack habit.

SUN 21 ..HE EXCELSIOR HOTEL
64 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills
Doors open 5pm. Music from 6pm sharp.

With Brett Winterford (Peregrine).

and a Special Mystery Guest!!

No I'm not telling you who he is... Or she... You'll have to come and see for yourselves.

Tix $10 at the Door. Food available at the venue. And drinks of course. Pubs usually sell drinks.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT APPEAL:
We will be setting up a Christmas Tree at the venue, and we are asking people to bring a Christmas present for a small child to put beneath the tree. The presents will then be given to the Smith Family for their annual Christmas present appeal. It's not much, but it might help Santa get to a few more homes in time for the big day. The Smith Family have asked that each present be labeled with Male/Female and a rough age group. This will assist with the distribution. Doesn't have to be a big present, but anything you could manage would be great. Thanks!
(And thanks to my brother for that great idea).

ARTWORK RAFFLE:
Just when you thought it couldn't get any more spectacular, my Grandfather has decided to run a raffle for one of his famous paintings (well they should be famous). How good is that? I reckon you'll love it. And all the proceeds from the raffle will be going straight to the Smith Family. That was mighty nice of him I thought, so if you don't particularly like my music you could at least stop by to have a chat with Gramps and buy a ticket in the raffle. You might even get a new painting on the wall for Christmas!

I am excited!!

But I will stop using exclamation marks now...

Hope to see you there.

Cheers,

Renny

The Weekly... Volume 23

OK so I counted back - we have returned to the Numerical system. This means that I am going to write one of these things once a week again - that was sort of the point when I started it up (hence the title...).

Anyway the week that was - another trip out to Bathurst for a show at the Kings Hotel. I really must thank Angus and the team out there for making us feel so welcome each time we go out. Normally I do a little Drums / Acoustic show with my brother, but this time around it was Han Solo. For some reason, the last three trips to Bathurst I have had to drive through the Central West version of Cyclone Tracy just to get there. Let me tell you - by yourself in a 1986 Toyota Corona, this is NOT cool. Even if you have 2 new tyres. Good thing it doesn't leak like my Old Dual sun-roof Tarago touring van. Is someone trying to test me? Trying to see if I REALLY want to be a musician? Do I REALLY want to put up with a 3hr drive to Bathurst through a Monsoon on a Friday night? (you see it changed from a Cyclone - I am working on my storytelling...). Well the answer to all those questions is YES - and whoever is testing me can keep doing it, because I ain't giving up that easily.

Closer to home, I had a couple of shows in Manly this week. My first 2 shows in Manly as a Manly resident! This is exciting. If I could get 5 gigs a week in Manly, then I'd never have to go anywhere. (But I'd still go to Bathurst of course... ).

I am keeping this Blog brief, because it's my "Get started again" blog, so it'll take a few weeks to get back my full blog fitness. I'll leave you with this one little story / rant.

Earlier this week, I was moving some more of my things to my new place. It was Monday, it was getting late, and I still hadn't had any dinner. So against my better judgment I stopped at the old faithful late night Indian diner on Oxford Street. God knows if the food is actually "Food" as we know it, but a bit of Rice and Naan bread is at least enough to keep the hunger pains at bay. I noticed a guy about 10m up the street doing some busking - in fact he was playing some old Elton john tunes on the piano, which I thought was pretty cool. Doing a great job of it to.

Well that's what I thought anyway - it turns out it wasn't cool at all. I had only just sat down outside to eat my dinner when the local rangers turned up to tell the guy to pack up and move on.

Why? Who was he bothering?

I couldn't quite believe it. Sure it was a Monday, but this guy was playing pleasant piano music. Nothing offensive, and certainly not as loud as the Buses that kept gong past every 2 or 3 minutes. Yes for some reason, the Rangers had to come and shut him up. Apparently someone had made a complaint... More likely it was a Monday, they were bored, so they decided to pick on someone. Just because they could. And they seem to like easy targets.

Oxford street is meant to be one of the all night "Strips" in Sydney. Even on a Monday, there are bars open most of the night. What on earth is wrong with a guy playing Piano on the footpath? The problem here is that it wouldn't have mattered where this bloke set up, he would have been cut off anywhere in the city... It's seems such a trivial thing to get upset about, but I was pissed off. If art and music is not allowed to exist at that most basic grass roots level, then what hope is there of it ever gaining a reasonable footing?

On my way to Bathurst I heard a guy call in on talkback radio to suggest that people go and check out some live music on a Friday night. The host, a fairly prominent media personality, asked the caller "Is there still live music in Sydney?".

It might have been said in jest, but it's hardly a laughing matter...

Sorry to drag that one down like that, but occasionally I think a mini-rant is in order.

Why not check out a gig somewhere this week - you might just enjoy it. I can think of at least one option...

SUN 21 DECEMBER.
THE CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR SPECTACULAR.
More Spectacular than your avergage Spectacular.
RENNY FIELD BAND
Supported by Brett Winterford.
Plus a Mystery Guest!
Bring a kids present for the Smith Family!
Plus raffles and more!
The Excelsior Surry Hills.
64 Foveax Street.
Doors open 5pm. Tix $10.

But hey - there are plenty of venues, and plenty of bands.

Get amongst it folks. It's Christmas.

And if you see a guy playing Elton John on Piano, give him a few bucks!

See you soon

The Weekly... Volume..... Um.... December

Well this is the monthly group email - I will work out exactly which weekly I am up to next time round. For now, I'll leave you with the following show updates:

WED 10 & THURS 11 ..THE MANLY DOUBLE!
No I don't mean two blokes - I mean the suburb of Manly. And a manly suburb it is! (Sort of, depending on how you look at it).

WED 10/12 - The Old Manly Boatshed
Solo show - On stage 9pm.
www.songwriterslive.com.au
Free Entry

THURS 11/12 - In Situ, Manly
18 Sydney Road (Just off the Corso).
Solo show 7.30 - 10.30pm.
Three hours of power - can you handle it?!
Free Entry. Great tapas menu.


FRI 12 DEC - BATHURST - THE KINGS HOTEL
Solo Show from 10pm.
Another 3 hours of power!
60 George Street, Bathurst.
You might want to do a road trip and check out Mt Panorama. It's cool.
The last two trips to Bathurst, there has been a brawl in the pub on both occasions. To this point I have resisted the urge to enclose the stage area in chicken wire a la the Good Old Boys / Blues Brothers, but I might get a few quotes from the local Bunnings this time round just in case...


If anyone makes it to both In Situ AND Bathurst (that would be 6 Hours of Power), I will pay for your appointment with a therapist the next week.


SUN 21 DECEMBER - THE INAUGURAL RENNY FIELD BAND CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR SPECTACULAR!
Yes I did use the word Spectacular twice. And no it still doesn't even come close to describing how Spectacular this will be. I will be trying to feature a whole host of people who have played with the band over the past year. That means a lot of people on a fairly small stage, but it'll be fun.
Celebrating the year that was, and ushering in the better year that will be. (Or just chilling out after a big Saturday night - it's up to you).
Early show, so you'll all be able to get your beauty sleep.

THE EXCELSIOR HOTEL
64 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills.
Doors Open 5pm. Music from 6pm.
With Special Guest Brett Winterford (Peregrine).
And another... but you'll have to wait and see..
Tickets $10 at the Door.
Food available at the pub.


31 DECEMBER - NEW YEARS EVE
I'll be performing at the Peats Ridge Festival.
On stage 10pm at the Chai Tea Temple.
(Yes there is a Chai Tea Temple, and yes I am playing at it).
Mainly solo, but with a few to help out. Should be fun.
A great lineup of local and international artists - just over an hour from Sydney.
You could do worse!
www.peatsridgefestival.com.au


2009.....

BACK TO BAR ME
FRI 9 JAN - SOLO HEADLINE SHOW
Looking forward to returning to one of my favourite venues in Sydney.
Nice grand piano, and a great little room.
Book for Dinner and a Show - www.barme.com.au


TAMWORTH TOUR:

WED 21 JAN, THURS 22 JAN, FRI 23 JAN
THE LONGYARD, TAMWORTH
Round Robin Show with Sam Buckingham and Sarah Humphreys.
Singing songs, sharing stories.
10am - 1pm Each Day.
Next to the Golden Guitar.
FREE ENTRY

SUN 25 JAN - JUST CONFIRMED..
GLEN INNES!
With Kent Eastwood, Sam Buckingham, Sarah Humphreys.
More info to come.


FOR REGULAR UPDATES (and there will be a few), log on to www.myspace.com/rennyfield


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THANKS THANKS THANKS!

To everyone who has been to see a show in 2008, offered their encouragement, bought a CD, helped me out in a distant land, told a friend, signed the mailing list, or did something that made my little journey here more enjoyable. That goes out to all of you who ignored me whilst I was busking at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (because now there is a great little video on youtube which I find very amusing), and in particular it goes out to the Jehovas Witness dude who tried to give me a flyer whilst I was in the middle of a song at a show in Ireland. My friend, you may think I had the sh..... s at the time, but I will be using that story for the rest of my life. So really, I can't thank you enough.

It has been a pretty crazy sort to year (in a good way), and I am looking forward to more of the same in 2009.

Best wishes to everyone for Christmas and the New Year, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Much love,

Renny


-----------------------------------------------------


PS.

The astute observers will remember that I was recording an album. That is still happening - in between all of the above. A bit crazy, but we're getting there.

But the plan is for a release early next year, so hang in there... Thanks for bearing with me.

In the mean time, grab yourself a great deal on some Christmas Presents:

www.rennyfield.com

(Hey you can't blame a guy for trying).

The Weekly... Volume LONDON, HELSINKI, TOKYO

(Yes, yes, the last installment has been a while coming, but here it is…. )

LONDON

Well folks I don’t know what it is exactly about London, but it certainly doesn’t ever seem to make too much of an effort to welcome me back. Without fail, every time I fly in there I am greeted by an impenetrable black cloud hovering overhead, usually spitting out something colder than rain but not quite as cold as snow. The type of weather which might normally lend itself to extended periods on the couch in front of the TV. (Or as the case may be in London, extended periods in the pub getting royally wasted – that seems to be a popular choice too). It’s not that I mind particularly, but it’s just an observation. Moving on….

I can’t really say there was a lot to be achieved second time round in London. It was more of a transit point for a few days. I did however play one show at a place called the Regal Room in Hammersmith (www.theregalroom.com). Great little venue, and a really nice crowd for a rainy Friday night – an unexpected surprise, and somewhere I’d like to stop at again in future. The show was actually webcast live, not that I knew that until I got there of course. Otherwise I might have made an effort to tell a few people. I wonder how many people were actually watching? My guess is you could probably count them all on 1 hand, but I did remember to say hello anyway. So “hello again” if you have found your way over to the blog post which is 2 months later….

Quite a lot of Aussies in the venue for the show, which was pretty cool – at least some of them seemed to understand my strange sense of humour, which was by this stage of the trip making very little sense whatsoever. I should mention another girl I played with, who was fantastic – Azadeh… Worth checking her out if you get a chance - http://www.myspace.com/azadehmusic . She was selling badges. I’m sure that was an extremely relevant piece of information for you.

I had one more day in London after the show, which included two unsuccessful attempts at busking. The first of these was at Kings Cross station on the underground, where I managed to play one song and make 2p before I was asked to leave. It turns out you need a licence and a booking to play on the underground, which seems to go against the whole concept of “busking” in the first place, but there you go.

My second effort to court the funds of the unsuspecting London public was at Covent Garden – a bit of a tourist hotspot and presumably a place I might have been able to make at least enough cash for a dodgy burger and a coke. Alas, I was halfway through my second song (having made a grand total of Zero/Zilch/Nada) when it began to rain, at which point I also noticed that the pickup in my guitar was buggered. So not only had I potentially made the worst return in history from two separate street performances, but I had also managed to damage the only thing that could generate me any income for the rest of the trip. Ah well, at least I still had time to get the thing repaired before departing for Helsinki…

London is a big town, and there is plenty going on, but it’s not my favourite city in the world. Millions are drawn to it year after year but if I was being honest, I have never really been able to find my peace there. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy catching up with a lot of good friends whenever I return, but I struggle to find any real connection to the place. It’s not because of the weather, and it’s not because of the shitty exchange rate. One day I’ll be able to explain it better with a song or two.

HELSINKI:

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Helsinki, but I was excited to be making my first foray into Scandinavia. I think I mentioned before that the cheapest ticket I could find from Australia was with Finnair, which meant I was allowed a free stopover in Helsinki. A “FREE” stopover. Mention the word “Free” anywhere near an independent musician, and you can bet your life that they’ll be pretty damn interested in what you’ve got to say. (Excepting of course if it involves giving their songs away to Britney Spears. Or worse – Paris Hilton. That would be hard to take….).

I had tentatively arranged a show on Sunday 7/9 at a place called “The Aussie Bar”. (I shit you not – Helsinki has an Aussie Bar). Why on earth there would be an Aussie bar in Helsinki I have no idea, but come to think of it they probably do a pretty well out of the backpacker market alone. There is certainly no shortage of displaced Australians who seem to be in Europe for no real purpose other that to complete the biggest multi-national pub crawl they can afford. I am happy enough to say I have grown out of this particular phase of my life. Whether this is a good thing, or a sign that I am becoming old and boring – well that’s a matter for another time. (Working in my favour is the fact that I was willing to travel to Finland to play my own music, despite the very real possibility that no-one would be able to understand a word I was saying).

Anyway – the Aussie Bar – at the very least, I figured there would be a few people in the room who I would be able to talk to, so that was a good starting point. Unfortunately my email communication leading up to the show had been fleeting at best, and when I called the Bar Manager from the airport, he had somehow forgotten that I was coming to play. What a bugger. I had been in Europe for 2 months, and this was the first time that a gig had fallen through. A disappointing development in the “Tour de Renoir”, not so much because the gig was cancelled, but mainly because I was looking forward to be able to tell everyone back home that I played at the Aussie Bar in Helsinki! And that certainly doesn’t sound too boring. I’ll just have to figure it out next time round.

So I contented myself with a fairly decent curry and late-night stroll round Helsinki, which as it turns out is a fairly sleepy sort of place when compared to other major cities in Europe. Still, it was nice for that reason. And they do boat tours. (Yes I went on a boat tour. It was cold. I had some time to kill).

My disappointment about the Aussie Bar was fortunately short-lived, because the following night’s show at Club Liberte, my last gig in Europe, was one of the best shows of my entire trip. A Monday night, and I was performing to a room full of people who barely made a sound for my entire set (and appeared to understand what I was singing about) – another example of the fairly significant cultural difference that exists between Europe and Australia when it comes to live music. We have a great little music scene here, and there are some pretty nice rooms around for independent artists like myself, but a show like this on a Monday night would never really happen. (Woo Jam – you are the only exception to that observation…). To be able to perform a full set as a complete stranger on the other side of the world, and be shown that level of respect, is something I will never forget. It was a perfect way to finish off a pretty amazing trip, and only served to strengthen my resolve to tour again in Europe next year. And if I could bring the night back to a basic business level, I also managed to sell 5 or 6 CD’s, which gave me enough Cash to get to buy lunch and get to the airport the next day! Gold.

I should mention that the headline act that night was perhaps the best band I came across in Europe – the Sara Sayed band. If you search myspace she will pop up – great songs, and some pretty amazing musicians. Better still, a few of them offered to play with me next time I am in Helsinki! A full band show in Helsinki – I reckon I could handle that.

TOKYO

Another “Free” Stopover courtesy of the kind people at Finnair, and the final destination before my return to Sydney. Tokyo was every bit as crazy as I had expected, and well worth a look for a few days, even if I was barely able to scratch the surface.

I had been in touch a few weeks earlier with a guy called Mac from the Mac Blues Band, who had offered me a short set supporting him at a place called “The Dogs Bollox”. If you’d asked me what I would be doing a year ago, I can assure you playing at the Dogs Bollox in Tokyo would not have been on the list of possibilities. But there I was, in front of about 10 people, guitar in hand, belting out some tunes at 10pm on a Thursday night in the basement level of some old building, and loving every minute of it!

The Dogs Bollox wasn’t the best venue, it didn’t have the biggest crowd, it was nearly impossible to find, and it certainly wasn’t going to make me the next foreign superstar in Japan. But if this trip had taught me anything, it was to appreciate the journey, and be thankful for the opportunities I would have along the way, whatever form they might present themselves in. This was a great chance to add another chapter to the story, and was well worth it for that reason alone. As it turns out, I got to meet a few other local songwriters – a nice added bonus.

With the final gig all done, I managed a 20min spot of busking at the Ikebukuro train station on the way home – a performance that didn’t exactly stop the masses in their tracks, but then again that wasn’t really the point. How often do you get to busk at the Ikebukuro train station?! Let’s just say that the locals were slightly bemused by the random Australian singing songs by himself at 1am in the morning. Nonetheless, it was working for me at the time.

It’s always a bit difficult writing these things retrospectively, because the moment has passed, and all the emotions that were with you have often been replaced by the different energy that exists when you are back at “home”. So I won’t say too much more, but this is just a little paragraph I wrote when I got back to the hotel on my last night in Tokyo. I think does a pretty good job of summing up how I felt at the time:

What to say when you’ve just done something you’ve always wanted to do? Something which seemed so difficult, but that now you feel like you will do again and again whilst ever the circumstances allow it. What an amazing trip. I’ve been places I never thought I’d go, met people I never thought I’d meet, done things I never thought I would do. I couldn’t really sum in it up in a sentence. I couldn’t really sum it up in a paragraph. So instead I’ll just say thanks. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way. The artists, the venues, the friends, the audiences, and even those of you who stopped to give me directions to the bus stop from time to time. Three months ago I said I wanted to do thirty shows, and now sitting here in Tokyo with the tour complete, it turns out I did exactly 30. Hard to believe, but you know what they say about putting your mind to something. It’s a good lesson I think – I’ll have to aim for double that next time. The hardest part will be where to start….

Who would have thought a guitar could help you do all that?

Till next time.

Renny

The Weekly... Volume GERMANY

GERMANY

Where to start here… well you may have figured out that this is a retrospective blog on account of me having arrived home about 2 weeks ago. But Germany – yes, I was there too at some point. Cool sort of place, and nice to see it this time around from a fairly different viewpoint (as opposed to the inside of a beer tent at Oktoberfest). In fact, on reflection, last time I was in Germany I didn’t really see much of anything. Not that I can remember with any great clarity anyway…

From Paris, it was necessary to negotiate a rather uninspiring excursion to “Orly” airport. Ah the world of cheap airlines… Well may they call it “Easyjet”, but there are many things about it that are far from convenient. Even less inspiring than Orly was the airport at the other end - Berlin Schoenefeld. Now I don’t speak French or German, but I think if you translated Orly and Shoenefeld they would probably have a fairly similar meaning – something along the lines of “Hastily erected oversized metal structure a great distance from the intended destination”. But that’s only my guess…

Berlin, once you actually get to the city itself, is a great town. Especially for music. It’s easy to see why it’s become quite the trend for musicians from around the world to head to Berlin to write and perform… although I use the word “trend” for good reason there. Because at times recently I have wondered if the fascination is as much for the city itself as for what it appears to represent. Something of a creative badge of honour in a way… I must admit that my initial decision to go there was largely to see what all the fuss was about, but I am happy to report that the “fuss” is for fairly good reason. There was a sense of freedom in Berlin that is a long way removed from what we are used to in Sydney. I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way, although let’s be honest I probably don’t mean it in a good way either.

Case in point. I met a singer one night who told me that the previous Friday, her band had walked into a bar and asked if they could use the power. Having received the OK from the manager, they then ran an extension cable out of the bar and half way across the street, plugging in on a nature strip and performing a 45min set of Rock’n’Roll to several hundred people who were drinking in that bar and the bars on either side. Remembering this was in the middle of the street. With cars passing in each direction. Awesome. Now do you think that would fly down under? A more likely scenario is the paddy wagon rolling up just as the band struck their first chord, and 5 or 6 people from each bar trying to sue the band for creating a public nuisance. It’s one example, and I haven’t done the best job of describing it, but it’s fairly indicative of the stark divide that exists between the performance environment that we are used to here at home and the corresponding situation in Berlin (and to a lesser extent, Europe in general). The only rule is that there are pretty much no rules, and if you’re half decent, people will listen. There’s a good chance they’ll even give you some cash too.

FRI 29/8 – GIG CRAWL, MAGDEBURG

This was the most random night of my tour, but without a doubt one of the highlights, if not THE highlight, of the whole trip. Lena, who had organised the night with about 2 weeks notice, had never met me before. Never even heard of me in fact. But it turns out she knew a friend from Australia, and that was good enough. Not just good enough to meet me for a beer mind you, good enough to organise 5 gigs in the one night, a poster to promote the event, an article in the local paper, and a local duo (Once upon a Rooftop) to play with. Not to mention a decent crew of people to follow us around from place to place, and a DJ to finish off the night – spinning tunes till the wee hours as I tried to figure out at what point my life took the required “twist” that would eventually lead me to a gig crawl in the German city of Magdeburg. I still have no idea, but am pretty bloody happy about it I can assure you. Madness.

The trip to Magdeburg began in Berlin of course, where I had to find the Hauptbanhoff in order to catch a train. Not a difficult proposition when it’s the biggest train station in Europe! And Europe, as you are probably aware, is blessed with its fair share of train stations… Upon seeing the Hauptbanhoff for the first time, my reaction was more or less the same as when I walked into Notre Dame in Paris. (For those of you who missed the previous blog, I think the exclamation was “F….ing Jesus!”). The station has a glass roof and it’s one of the more spectacular modern buildings you are likely to see. Even more spectacular would have been a minor incident they had when the thing was being built – that being a massive glass panel falling to the ground and being smashed to smithereens. Fortunately I didn’t have a glass panel fall on top of me when I was there – may have made the performance in Magdeburg a bit of a challenge.

90mins after boarding the train, I had reached my destination. A rather nice journey punctuated by the absolutely ridiculous trumpet “announcement” music that was played at each station along the way. Upon my arrival, I was greeted in Magdeburg by Lena – full of smiles, and enough positive energy to power a small European nation. What a legend. An early dinner of quiche was prepared by my fellow gig-crawlers “Once Upon a Rooftop”. Steffen, you outdid yourself. Almost made me want to try making quiche as well, but I’d prefer not to watch my house burn down. So I’ll leave it to the experts…

The Gig Crawl – what an idea, what a night. Lena had billed it as “Sydney meets Magdeburg – Part 2”. (Part 1 had taken place a few weeks earlier atop a Double Decker bus in the main square – featuring Brett Winterford from Peregrine, amongst others). At some point in the not too distant future, we will try to do the return leg in Sydney, so stay tuned for that! At the first 3 bars, we actually set up outside on the pavement – on account of the locals keen to make the most of the last official “summer” weekend in Germany. Each place we played, we picked up an extra few music-lovers, and by the time we left the third gig we had a fairly big crew wandering with us to Café Central – which was for mine the pick of the venues. A beautiful candlelit room, perfect for acoustic music. Pretty sure there is a photo up in the tour shots somewhere. At each new venue, Once Upon a Rooftop would open up and tell everyone what was going on and why there was a funny dude from Australia following them round. A good thing they were able to explain the situation to the general public, because my knowledge of German does not extend far beyond “Bratwurst”.

By the time we got to the last bar (the biggest of the evening), the night was well and truly in full swing, and it was great to have the final performance on a stage through a pretty good PA System. Let’s just say that by gig Number 5, the unamplified acoustic tunes would barely have stood a chance against ever-increasing din – brought on by the rapid consumption of far too many wheat beers. By this stage of course, I was beyond the point of caring about the din, on account of my own efforts to keep up with the locals in the wheat beer department. Can’t say I matched them drink for drink, but by my normal standards I certainly put in a personal best performance. Seemed to cure my allergy to dancing anyway. Where were the producers of Dancing with the Stars?! They would have signed me up for sure.

My thanks to Lena, Once Upon a Rooftop and everyone else I met in Magdeburg whilst I was there. I felt welcome from the moment I arrived till the moment you all pushed me onto the train… (That was a joke…). I was even given a short historical tour of Magdeburg the day after the gig crawl, and joined a few folks on the banks of the river for a Birthday bash the following night. When you get to a new town, so often the experience is shaped by the people you meet. And in Magdeburg Germany, I really lucked out.

If you’ve got time, check out www.myspace.com/onceuponarooftop

WED 3/9 – RICKENBACKERS MUSIC INN, BERLIN
Supporting “Me and the White Rabbits”.

I’m not too sure what the “White Rabbits” referred to exactly, but I did meet the “Me” part of the band, a girl by the names of Johanna with a superb voice who it turns out used to play in the German National Softball Team! Of course I met the rest of the band as well, but I just wanted to get that story about the softball team in there – I thought that was cool. It was actually the guitarist Hannes who had been kind enough to let me open the show after I found the band on myspace. This was basically the way I booked most of the gigs on my trip, and I was very fortunate as I worked my way round Europe to find so many other musicians who were willing to help me out. I will always try to make an effort to do the same whenever there are independent artists coming to Australia.

Rickenbacker’s was a cool sort of room – appointed in much the same way as an old Irish pub. (That’s where the people of Rickenbackers are reading this thinking “that’s because it is an old Irish pub you idiot”). There was a small crowd, but they gave me the time of day and as a touring artist that’s all you can ever really hope for. It was nice to sit back and listen to Me (and also the White Rabbits) when I finished – a great way to end my time in Germany in fact. Certainly glad I decided to extend my stay in Berlin for a few days, although to be honest after a week I was still only scratching the surface. Managed to get home by 1am, giving me roughly 4hrs sleep before having to get up and make my way to Schoenefeld airport in the morning. Easyjet or otherwise, I will be heading back to Berlin again for sure. About the same time next year if all goes to plan.

THE OTHER DAYS, BERLIN…

So you may have noticed there are a few days missing there… Well that’s because there was no gigs, and I figured I wouldn’t bore you with too many general ramblings. For those of you who are interested however, I did manage to achieve the following few things during my stay:

*A trip to the top of the Berlin Tower. Not exactly the most impressive tourist destination I have ever been to, especially when no one had bothered to clean the windows for several years. The view of Berlin through a thick layer of dust was unspectacular at best.

*Riding round and round and round (and round) Berlin on a rented bicycle. Berlin is a lot bigger than Amsterdam… Bugger me. Like, seriously, a LOT bigger.

*Playing an Open Mic night at a place called The “Artliner” Café. A short trip on the subway and many a wrong turn, but it was cool. They also sold bottled beer mixed with Grapefruit Juice. Hmm….

*Checking out the Checkpoint Charlie Museum – quite a fascinating place if you ever get the chance, and a rare opportunity to see a part of the world with such immense historical and political significance. (Although the documentary about the third Reich, despite being advertised in English, was in German with no subtitles. I tried listening for 5 minutes to see if I could understand anything, but not once did I hear the word “Bratwurst”. Bummer).

*Finding my way to “Grosse Hamburger” Street, which if you translate the first part and not the second gives it the impression of being the premier fast-food location in all of Europe. Alas, a German rival to the Whopper with Cheese was not found, but I did get to devour one hell of a Lamb Kebab. For just 2.50! (That’s Euros – still a screaming deal).

*Busking. Again, it appears this is a legitimate way to make a living. Nice not to know anyone in the town as well, therefore you don’t feel like too much of a hobo when you play a song or two and pass a hat around in front of the pub. But it works! Made enough for a few meals anyway. (Although I didn’t enjoy quite the same reception at the airport train station when I had an hour to kill on my way out of town).

FINALLY….

I must say a MASSIVE THANKYOU to Manuela, who despite not really knowing me from a bar of soap was happy to have me crash in her spare room the whole time I was in Berlin – a big big help! Respekt.

Back to London, and then on to the last week of the trip. How nice of Finnair to give me free stopovers in Helsinki and Tokyo on the way home.

Back soon with the final installment…

The Weekly... Volume PARIS

So despite my assurances, that last blog was not exactly brief. Surely Paris will achieve brief status – there were no shows, and I am going to do this one in point form. A highlights package of sorts. I figure there's enough information on the internet already – you don't really need me telling you about "the beautiful this" and "the wonderful that". People tend to do that with their group emails. Yawn. Instead, here's a series of observations… from my first trip to Paris…

Renny's Paris TOP TEN (In no particular order):

1. Bugger me the coffee is expensive. And pretty shit.

2. Is it perhaps a mark of its religious significance that the first two things I thought when I walked into Notre Dame were "Oh my God" and "F….ing Jesus!". Man that is one impressive church. And I was about to head straight on by because it looked like a tourist trap. Here's a tip for other first-time visitors to Paris – get there.

3. On the scale of shitness, the Eiffel Tower at night is at the opposite end to the aforementioned coffee. Take the stairs, they are cool. (There is a photo up in the tour shots…).

4. If you are brave enough to order a plate of Pate with a Sprite because you don't feel like drinking, then you can expect to be laughed at by the guy that takes your order, the other people behind the bar, and half of the customers in the café.

5. Bicycles. I am loving this bicycle situation in Europe. I don't mean to harp on it, but the pushbike is king. What a great way to see the city. In Paris, there are bike "stations" where people park communal bikes that you can pick up from one station, and drop off somewhere else. For just 1Euro a day, I could use a bicycle to get everywhere I needed to go. Including a trip up the Champs Elysees a la Le Tour de France. Not sure if I was meant to be in the middle of the road taking photos, but I survived…

(In any case, I was hard to miss on my bicycle – word had spread that I was the guy who had ordered a Sprite with my Pate).

6. After two days procrastination, I did manage to get my guitar out of the room for a spot of busking. In the Latin quarter in fact, which was great. No licence required, paid for my dinner. Even sold a few CD's. Gold.

7. Who did I run into at the top of the Eiffel Tower? My Bass player, Pat Savina.

8. No I did not just make that up. I know – crazy.

9. On my final morning in Paris, I made myself get up and see the Mona Lisa. Just so I could say I did. I was also hoping to find out what on earth Craig Mclachlan was singing about...
Well the louvre was certainly an impressive joint, but I don't get the fascination with ol' Mona. Having said that, I am pretty sure she was winking at me. Someone must have told her about the Pate.

10. I did not purchase a Beret. In case you were wondering. Not that you would have been…

Next stop Germany!

The Weekly... Volume AMSTERDAM

I am assuming that I'll be able to keep this brief (ish…). Also, I am sitting in Berlin Schoenefeld airport waiting to catch the plane to London, having had about 3hrs sleep after my show last night – not the type of circumstance that lends itself to the most articulate or informative musical travelogue… Plus my battery is running out. So moving on…

Farewell Scotland, Hello Amsterdam.

Well I'll be damned. (Maybe even Amster-damned…. Oh dear did I just say that? I think I did…). This is actually a really great city. I like the way it's laid out along the various canals and waterways, I love the slightly crooked traditional Dutch apartment buildings, I can enjoy a good coffee (rather than whatever it was they were giving me in the UK and Ireland), and I can get EVERYWHERE on my bicycle. Ah yes the bicycle – ruler of all the earth – the bicycle. How nice to ride around for a few days knowing that with the "tink" of a small bell you can exert a power greater than the forces of Communist China. Awesome.

Now in fact I had been to Amsterdam before, but the last two trips had been with Rugby tours from London. Rugby tours that departed – with a great many cases of warm beer – at 7am in the morning. So as you can imagine, my previous impressions of Amsterdam were somewhat blurry… There wasn't a lot of time to "take it all in" – I was too busy being marched off to the next bar in between brief moments of running onto a football field and attempting to play for 20mins (it was a 10-a-side tournament) without touching the ball or tackling anyone. (As a Fly-half, I had mastered the no tackling part very early in my career…).

This time around I am happy to say I managed to last 3 days without going to a club in the red light district and without getting plastered, stoned or any other derivation of the phrase "making a mess of ones self". Yes I hear you, I hear you – not very Rock'n'roll of me to have a sober, clean 3 days in Amsterdam, but I never said I was cool, folks. I never said I was cool. And instead of feeling like crap each morning, I was able to check out a lot of the city on my trusty two-wheeler. Even got to and from my gigs each night using good old pedal power with my guitar tucked under one arm! Had a great time.

THURS 21/8 – CAFÉ 'SKEK
I was intrigued by my initial invitation to play at 'Skek. Any place that puts an apostrophe before the start of the name is surely a little strange… Is this the reverse of the plural for I wonder? What would that be? Half a café perhaps? Well obviously we are dealing with a different language here yes, but thanks for pointing it out. It turns out that 'Skek is in fact a whole café, and it even has a nice little upright piano on the stage – an unexpected but very welcome surprise.

Good little crowd in for a Thursday night, including a few people I knew from back in the homeland. In fact, there was a table FULL of Aussies who had all made the trek down from The Hague that night especially for the gig! (Thanks Kate). And wouldn't you know it, they weren't on a fanatics tour, they didn't have their faces painted with green and/or gold zinc cream, and not once did they ask me if I knew the words to "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi". Thank Christ for that. In the world of patriotic national war cries, I do believe Australia can lay claim to having the most boring, uninventive, and down right annoying of them all. New Zealand, for instance, have The Haka – an ancient tribal tradition passed down through generations in which participants are required to perform a carefully choreographed routine, demonstrating timing, agility and precision. We have a song with 2 words, each repeated 3 times, usually led by the dumbest person available, preferably the person with the biggest mullet who is more often than not selected because he is also the most intoxicated, and therefore the one with the least chance of saying anything else. Failing that, somebody pays John Williamson a lot of money, and 80,000 people try to sing our rugby team to sleep with an old folk song before the match kicks off. And we wonder why we keep losing the Bledisloe cup!

This was my first show in a non-English speaking country, so I was never entirely sure if half the people in the bar actually understood what I was singing about, or indeed what I was saying in between songs. And as I may have mentioned, or as you may have picked up, I don't mind a bit of a ramble in between songs. (Much like when I am putting together tour blogs in fact). That's how I keep myself amused anyway, for better or worse. Fortunately as I looked around the room I did notice a few heads nodding here and there, so I am assuming that for those that didn't have any idea what I was talking about, there was at least someone nearby to translate what I was saying. Be that a literal translation, or one which made me look like a complete muppet. Come to think of it, there were a few more laughs than normal…. Hmmm….

The night over, there was time to catch up with a few old friends and meet a few new ones at the open mic night, which runs each Thursday after the "feature artist". If you could call me that. Really I was just the bloke who kicked it off and played for the longest time…

FRI 22/8 – CAFÉ BLIVERTJE

Ok first of all, I have no idea how to pronounce the name of this café. In fact, I really can't pronounce anything in Dutch at all. It's like the alphabet has been thrown into one of those big lotto barrels and someone has drawn and re-drawn hundreds of thousands of times over to create the national dictionary. It seems quite common for the average Dutch person to sound like they are choking on flem as they order a beer, or a coffee, or anything really. So I give up on "Blivertje". Say nothing of the fact that, like 'Skek the night before, the "café" advertises itself as 't Blivertje. Again with the random pre-word apostrophe mark. I don't understand, but I was happy to run with it.

The astute observers amongst you will notice that I put the word "cafe" in inverted commas. This is because it is not a café in the normal sense of the word. The Blivertje – say it again, Blivertje – is in fact a squatters house! Yes, you heard me correctly – a squatters house. Someone had mentioned it to me the night before, but to be honest I hadn't really taken much notice, and when I arrived I was, to be fair, a little surprised. I think the same could be said for my friend from Australia, who last saw me play at the Hopetoun or the Cat and Fiddle or some other Sydney venue of that nature…. A slight contrast here…

Apparently squatters are fairly common in Amsterdam, and this is not the only place of this nature that exists. The Blivertje more or less serves as a headquarters of sorts where the various squatters in the neighbourhood gather together to eat dinner and catch up over a beer or two, as well as check out a bit of live music. The venue itself changes location roughly once a year – whenever the owners reclaim possession of the property. But after speaking to Hank, its seems that they are usually able to find a new spot fairly quickly.

I felt uncomfortable for all of 5 seconds, but I quickly began to feel like part of the family, and part of the furniture. It turns out that Hank, the man in charge, is a big supporter of independent music, and a number of the local singer-songwriters in Amsterdam often come through here to play. He's also an artist of sorts - so there was a great little cartoon of me that he had prepared for a flyer. I will have to post it in my tour photos when I can work out how to scan it in - very cool. Apparently they also have bands here – the last one was a 10-piece! I don't know where they would have put them all to be honest in between the old couches, computers and whatever else has been accumulated over the years, but Hank tells me it was an awesome show. And I believe him. At any rate, a bloke who's willing to give a random Aussie his own show on a Friday night at a week's notice is alright by me! I should add here that whilst the Blivertje didn't pay me any money, they did provide the best vegetarian curry I have EVER had, and beers were also on the house. Not that I would have minded paying – turns out they were selling them for the princely sum of 1 Euro.

The show itself was quiet, but really enjoyable. Potentially a slightly bigger language problem than Café 'Skek, but people clapped from time to time so I am assuming that was a good sign…. Also performing that night was a guy by the name of Frank, originally from France, who had recently moved to Amsterdam to be with his girlfriend and was just getting started on the local scene. Frank was an exceptional guitarist, and after speaking to him later that night it turns out he had toured Europe as a bass player several times over with a well known French artist – Yanne Matis (www.myspace.com/yannematis). These are two of the things I like most about music – you never know where it might take you, and you never know who you might meet. Apparently Frank has set up a "Rhythm section for hire" with a local drummer, and when I return to Europe next year with my new album finished, I may even be able to arrange a couple of full band shows in Amsterdam! Now that would be cool. (This is assuming of course I still can't afford to take my own rhythm section from Australia, who I wouldn't replace for the world. One day fellas, one day…).

Left to head home with a pretty good feeling about the Blivertje, particularly Hank who had booked me the show. So often it seems to be the case that the people with the least in this world are also happiest. Sydneysiders take note (myself included). I will definitely be stopping by again the next time I am in town.

So after one more day in Amsterdam, and a hell of a lot more cycling, it was time for me to bid farewell. Onwards to Paris, the city of love, or at least the city of "love"ly things…. if you're travelling solo like me… Oh Molly Mae, where art thou?

Time for a new blog I think.

(Turns out that wasn't so brief after all... What a surprise!)

The Weekly... Volume SCOTLAND

Ok another long one here folks, but I am spending a whole lot of time on trains... Enjoy!

SCOTLAND…

Whoops, I was reading back over that last blog and all of a sudden noticed my over-enthusiastic use of the exclamation mark as I neared my not-so-dramatic conclusion. I’ll try to be a bit more sparing this time… Incidentally, I am still trying to patent the “in-between” mark (I have mentioned this before) – that being half way between a full stop and an exclamation mark. Because there really needs to be a middle ground. (I could have used it here you see – by using the full stop it seems like I don’t really care too much about it, but if I used an exclamation mark then that would make me way too excited, or mad, or some other inappropriate emotional state).

I would show you what the “in between” mark looks like but, obviously, the symbol does not currently exist on the standard computer keyboard. Hence the constant full stop / exclamation mark conundrum that we all go through. Come on you know what I’m talking about. (Insert here again).

ANYWAY…

Where am I? Scotland. I like Scotland. In particular Edinburgh – such a great old city. The people are nice, and there is a strange sense of familiarity about it – almost like coming home, in a way. I’m not sure if I feel that way because I have been here before, or because of the welcome that we all received from the airport express bus driver which, from what I can remember, went something along the lines of:

“Good morning and welcome to Edinburgh. It’s wonderful to have you here with us. So glad you could come. This is the airport express bus, and I’ll be taking you into the middle of the city. If you need anything at all on our trip today, please do not hesitate to come up and ask and I’ll do my absolute best to help you out. For those of you who wish to get off at any point, please just press one of the many buttons you see throughout the bus and I’ll gladly pull over for you at the very next stop. If you have any other questions, again please feel free to come up and ask me. Ok then, I hope you have a fantastic stay in Edinburgh.”

“It really is wonderful to have you here”.

“Really really wonderful. Marvelous.”

(OK that last part was possibly a slight exaggeration).

All of this delivered with the warmest of warm Scottish accents. Like that cup of tea that you put your hands around on a cold rainy afternoon… that’s the type of comforting effect it was having on the airport express passengers that day. I may have even picked up a collective “Aaaahhhhh” as the driver finished what he had to say. This whilst I am smiling and thinking to myself:

“Thanks mate. You know what, I am glad to be here. Too right. And I think I really will have a fantastic stay”.

And it turns out I did.


THURS 14/8 – BLOC BAR, GLASGOW
The astute observers here may have picked up that this was the night after my final show in Dublin… which made for a pretty big day when you consider I had to wake up at 4am to catch a flight to Edinburgh. I think by the time I actually got to sleep after my show it was around 2am. That’s 22hrs if I remember correctly the addition/subtraction thing they taught me in my Commerce degree…

Arriving in Edinburgh, there was enough time to grab a coffee, dump my bags at the place I was staying for the next few days, and return to the “Royal Mile” (or the High Street as it was also called) to play my first busking spot. Several weeks earlier, I had managed to secure a busking “pitch” for 20mins each day on the Royal Mile, which is the main street performance area for the entire festival.

Now I’ve never been a huge busker, but I don’t mind doing it from time to time. Having said that, I could sense things would be difficult as I arrived and noticed two opera singers - in full costume - singing away to a fairly large crowd in the same spot I was about to play. Hmmm….. Then glancing up the street, I noticed the other busking pitches, which consisted of a Magician, an Illusionist duo, and a pair of Contortionists from Ghana. This is to say nothing of the Acrobats and Japanese drummers that were waiting to perform… Nor the selection of the worlds best street performers who were constantly rotating on the larger pitches in the middle of the street, performing to crowds numbering in the hundreds.

So you see I had my work cut out for me trying to compete with all that – bearing in mind I had just my songs and an acoustic guitar, and no real desire to paint my face or adopt any sort of ridiculous costume... That said, I thought I gave a pretty good account of myself, and managed to collect enough loose change in 20mins to pay for a sandwich, which I was fairly happy with. I am quite easily pleased.

(If you’re keen to see some busking footage, there is now a bit on Youtube – thanks Amanda – just do a search for “Renny Field” on www.youtube.com)

The Royal Mile is the central focal point for the entire festival, because that’s where everyone comes to check out the street performances, and it’s right in the middle of town. It’s also where all the other performers come to promote their shows (Comedy/Theatre/Dance/Music/Whatever!) that are running for the duration of the festival. At times it seemed like there were more people handing out flyers that there were members of the general public. Literally. (And the flyer-hander-outerers included myself for a few days… courtesy of my upcoming show). It’s practically impossible to make a choice – invariably you end up basing a decision on a friend’s recommendation, or taking a chance on something because it’s on at a time you happen to be free. I favoured the latter option for the main part, and saw a pretty diverse range of shows in the few days I was there. The scale of the event is quite amazing – hundreds of venues, thousands of artists and performers. They say the population of Edinburgh triples for the festival, and it wouldn’t be far off. From sun up till sun down and to sun up again. It basically runs right through the day and night. Madness, but great fun.

Anyway, I lost track there – I am meant to be discussing a show in Glasgow…

Glasgow is just under an hour from Edinburgh on the train, and is the bigger of the two cities. Turns out you actually head west to Glasgow, not North as I had originally thought on that first train journey. Which left my sense of direction completely askew. And I struggle with the North/South thing at the best of times. So understandably, I did the safest thing possible when I got in to Glasgow – sat down at the restaurant in the train station and ordered dinner. How very adventurous of me. As luck would have it, the waitress spoke a peculiar Glasweigan brand of English that I was more or less able to understand – hence I departed the restaurant with a full stomach and a rough idea of the directions to the Bloc Bar. 20mins and a few circles later, I was there. If there is one thing this tour has certainly taught me, it is to embrace “the backtrack”.

Despite arranging the gig at late notice, this was in fact my own headline show (a rare opportunity on this tour…) so it was nice to play for an hour or so and not have to stop after 5 songs. Bar Bloc is a great little underground bar. I say ‘underground’, but it’s more like ‘half underground’, as are several bars along the same street – sitting a few stairs below street level, almost like they don’t really want people to know about them… but people do of course know about them... Turns lots of the bars were pretty packed that night, which ends up giving the street a really cool atmosphere.

The Bloc Bar wasn’t exactly sold out for my show, but there were still a few people there to play to, and a few of them even seemed vaguely interested in what I was doing – bonus. I forget sometimes when I am playing the songs ALL the time that the people I am playing them to have NEVER heard them before. So I imagine it’s difficult to get through a full hour of original material…. Perhaps I should learn a few Elvis covers? (Or perhaps not).

A nice girl by the name of Paula opened up for me in Glasgow, and not only did she do a fine job of performing, but she also brought a friend who was able to give me a lift to the train station when I finished the show! A mad dash ensued (as per my usual method of being “on time”, and I bolted from the car to the train – sneaking through the closing doors just in time to get back to Edinburgh. Phew. After a day like that, I really didn’t need to be sleeping in the Queen Street train station for the night, as impressive as it may be… But I did quite like my first trip to Glasgow!

Zzzzzzzzzzz…. Taxi……… Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

FRI 15/8 – THE 13TH NOTE, GLASGOW
A nice sleep in was followed by another stint of busking. I think my crowd numbered about 3 at its peak, but hey at least I can say I was there! Another trip to Glasgow on the train – this time heading West, not North… And voila! I was there again. Needed to find some guitar strings, and noticed a group of 14yo Emo teenagers on the street corner who, of course, knew exactly where the nearest guitar shop was. Excellent.

Time for a quick beer with a friend (who was also having me to stay that night – fortunately no midnight trains to Edinburgh…), then back to drop off the gear and onwards to the 13th note… What a cool venue! This one is underground (ie fully underground, not partially like the previous evening), and old, dirty, grungy, small – all those things you would expect of a really great old rock venue. Which is apparently the type of reputation the 13th note has in Glasgow. Sadly for me, there seemed to be a problem…

Upon walking down the stairs, guitar in hand, I was greeted by slightly bemused looks from the band that was already there. I had been in contact via myspace with one of the guys from the headline act, “Local Tour Guide”, and the last correspondence I had received was telling me to come along as I would be able to do a set to open up. Apparently I had failed to receive the following message, negating the previous one, which informed me that the support spot was no longer possible… Which made things slightly awkward as I strolled in to perform! Fortunately, a series of frenzied negotiations managed to persuade the powers that be to let me play a few songs anyway… on account of the fact that I had come all the way from Australia… and I am not the sort of person who usually arrives to play at places that aren’t expecting me… (Having said that, if I was that sort of person, then the tactic would have worked. Maybe we could all try it a few times and see if we end up getting a gig – we can call it the “Rock up unannounced with guitar in hand” project).

So a big thanks to Stevie and Local Tour Guide (www.myspace.com/localtourguide), and thanks to the venue for being kind enough to let me play – and kind enough to invite me back, but next time with a more definite booking please… if at all possible…

Went to a cool bar after the show called the Pig and Butterfly, or the Butterfly and Pig – I can’t remember. Another example of the British tendency to couple two unlikely animals / objects together and decide that they would make a good bar name. But it was a great bar, and plenty of 60’s/70’s swing music to dance to. (Or watch people dancing to if, like me, you are allergic to dancing yourself). Anyway worth a look – I recommend it if you’re ever in Glasgow. (However I do NOT recommend eating a MacDonalds chocolate brownie on the way home).

SAT 16/8 – EDINBURGH
Returned to Edinburgh early on the train, and got talking to a bloke who was playing guitar for a few different bands. Nice enough chap – keen to impress with his virtuosic guitar skills which he was displaying for most of the journey… Wasted on me of course, because I just write songs and play chords. Scales and arpeggios were never my thing…

More busking today. 3 down, 3 to go. Also tried busking on a street corner just off the Royal Mile for something different, but the crowd numbers were about the same. My biggest source of income was in fact from a bloke who wanted to play my guitar, just so his wife could take a photo of him “busking” at the Fringe Festival. This achieved, he promptly dropped my guitar onto the pavement. Cheers mate – great job. But I still will always try to allow people to play a song if they ask, because I remember what it was like to be that bloke asking to play… so in some ways now I feel a sense of responsibility… if that makes sense…

No show in the evening, instead went to see a dance performance by a Californian theatre company. Very interesting. The piece was mainly performed on stilts, and it was outdoors, which was quite a nice change from the small theatres in which you are watching most shows in at the fringe. Anyway it was a beautiful show – and something very unique. Glad I got to check it out. If only I cold remember the bloody name.

SUN 17/8 – THE VILLAGE, EDINBURGH
Well my time in Scotland had really been building towards this show, as I had booked this one first, and it was my only headline show in Edinburgh. I was not officially part of the fringe program but fortunately happened to be passing through at the same time of the year, which was a nice mistake on my part. (Whoops did I just say that? Ah no-one’s reading). Ahem, I meant perfectly arranged by myself to coincide with one of the largest arts festivals in the world! Incidentally, I had again taken part in the festival that day with another more-or-less undetected busking performance on the Royal Mile. I don’t think “flying under the radar” is really meant to be the idea, but sure enough I found a way. Anyway, again it was a good laugh – this time there was at least some assistance from the organisers, who were apparently doing their best to try and get the over-enthusiastic bongo / conga group next door to play softer on account of the “acoustic guitarist who is barely audible”. Ah thanks for trying fellas, but little did you know that I was kind of enjoying being barely audible… in a funny sort of way. Gave me something else to write about in the blog.

The Village is a beautiful little pub in the suburb of Leith, which as luck would have it was right where I was staying. Just around the corner in fact. How convenient. I thought walking to my gigs in Surry Hills was cool, but being able to walk to my gigs in Edinburgh? Well that’s just taking it to a new level entirely!

The performance room was everything you might expect from a “beautiful little pub” in Edinburgh – an old stone interior recently refurbished and beautifully appointed – just perfect for a solo acoustic show. Couldn’t have asked for anything better really, and I will definitely have to return one day. I will post some tour photos when I get a chance.

Opening up for the night were a duo from Aberdeen on Guitar/Harmonica – Nicky Powell and Neil Evans. Nicky being a boys’ name of course, not the girl version… I feel I should make this distinction because, after all, my own name is somewhat sexually ambivalent. The guys performed a great set to a small but appreciative audience.

What’s that I hear you ask? Why did I get people from Aberdeen to support me when I was in Edinburgh?? Well that’s easy – because I met someone on myspace of course… in one of my many late-night internet sessions whilst trying to book shows for the tour. A girl by the name of Amanda had been trying to help me get a show in Aberdeen in the North of Scotland (which was eventually achieved) – and it turns out Amanda was actually a poet, and was going to be in Edinburgh for a few days around the time of my show. Hence, Amanda was actually booked in to do a short set of poetry in between myself and the opening act… the opening act that had not yet been arranged due to my limited knowledge of musicians in Edinburgh…. And so Amanda asked Nicky and Neil if they would like to do it… and VOILA! So not only is Amanda a great poet, but it turns out she also doubles as a booking agent and part-time tour manager. Legend. And her set of poetry that night went down a treat too. I must try to do that sort of thing again – it was nice to hear something different.

(Did you follow that? I lost myself about half way through – I am too busy looking out the train window – I think I just entered France. Will be in Paris soon…)

As for my set, well I thought it went OK.

Actually bugger that – it was awesome!

I wouldn’t normally go to those extremes, but to be honest I think it was my favourite show of the whole tour. A lot to do with the room and in particular the crowd, who I must thank for making the trek out to Leith – not exactly in the middle of the city, and certainly a big call when there are several hundred venues which would have been a lot closer. So thanks for making it such a great night – hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Another few points to Edinburgh in the favourite city stakes…

MON 18/8 – EDINBURGH
20 more minutes of invisible busking negotiated after what was, as expected, a fairly lazy morning. I forget that the rest of the world goes to work on a Monday. But then again the rest of the world doesn’t work till 1am on a Sunday night, so I don’t have to feel so bad…

Took a trek up the hills that overlook Edinburgh – a great walk if you have the time. The view of the city from Arthur’s seat is spectacular. The view from the second peak, the higher of the two, would have been even more spectacular if it wasn’t for the thick Scottish fog that closed in just as I approached the summit, hence leaving me staring at what I assume would be a life-size version of the Cumulo Nimbis clouds I read about in my year 8 science text book. Another day of balmy summer weather – I guess people get used to it. Anyway my attempt to wait out the fog didn’t appear to work, and I had to be content with a slightly less impressive viewpoint when I had climbed back down a sufficient distance… Ah not to worry, at least I had given myself that sense of achievement that makes any traveller’s day worthwhile.

Saw a few shows later on – some free comedy, a musical, some drama, dance. Got lost a few times. Also noticed another several hundred venues and rooms which I never knew existed, and I was really only scratching the surface. I have said it before, but the festival, and what it does to the city, is really something to behold.

TUES 19/8 – THE TUNNELS, ABERDEEN
Well despite briefly contemplating retiring from the world of busking (at least from busking at the Fringe Festival anyway), I managed to keep my place each day – at 1.35pm on “Alcove 2”. That’s what they called my location. And even if the crowds weren’t 5-deep to hear my tunes, it was still a great experience. If for no other reason other than to say I was there. Along the way I met some interesting people, some even more interesting performers, and it gave me an opportunity to experience the festival in a very unique way. The last two days I was preceded by “The Rock Wizard”. No idea what the actual stage name was, but picture and old man with a very long beard dressed in a purple cape and a wizards hat whilst furiously strumming an acoustic guitar and singing in a barely audible manner. I briefly contemplated asking him if I could borrow the cape, but thought better of it… Hence I was able to finish the week off with my artistic integrity intact. For what it was worth. (Not a great deal, but enough for a few lunches).

The trip to Aberdeen was around 3hrs on the train – the East Coast Express or something similar. Turns out they have free wireless internet which is worth remembering if you’re ever touring in the UK – will save you a lot of cash in the internet cafes!

Aberdeen upon arrival was, how shall I put it…. Grey. Very grey in fact. The buildings were all grey you see, and the sky that afternoon appeared to be more or less the same colour, which made for a surreal other-worldy experience. Almost like I was wandering around in George Orwell’s 1984… if that makes sense. Anyway I did manage to find the venue and have a brief look around the town, but on account of the lack of colour and the imminent storm that was brewing (I assumed) I retreated to the nearest pub for dinner and – you guessed it – some grade-A Aberdeen Angus Beef. Turns out the Aberdeen Angus Beef isn’t as Aberdeen-Angus as you might expect. (A bit more like “Fell off the back of the truck driven by Angus somewhere near Aberdeen”). Can’t say it was a memorable meal (I was warned), but it was filling, so that at least ticks one box on the starving artist checklist.

Well it turns out that, as is often the case, first impressions count for little, because the show that night was a great way to finish my time in Scotland. The Tunnels is tucked away beneath the street somewhere (in a Tunnel – funny that), which made for a really good “rock” room. Fortunately for me, Tuesday nights are singer-songwriter nights, so the lack of an amplifier didn’t hurt me. Having said that, I must make a note that in future when I play these types of places, I think it would be worthwhile investing in a few more black T-shirts. The blue one seemed out of place – almost like I was a surfer who went to find the beach, but took a wrong turn somewhere near Cairns and ended up on the other side of the world. Still, I really enjoyed the gig, and my “colourful” attire didn’t seem to count against me. Actually the Aberdeenian Musos were very welcoming, and the next time I come to Scotland I will certainly be taking the train up North again because there are a few good opportunities to play your songs up there. Apparently the sun also comes out from time to time and you do actually feel like you are in the real world.

My thanks to Craig, whose help make the show possible. Also to Amanda who was generally helping me the whole time, and finally to Collette – who offered to put me up in her room whilst she stayed elsewhere. This on account of there being no available rooms in Aberdeen… on a Tuesday night… Something about the oil rig changeover day apparently… Good thing Collette was around, because otherwise I was heading back to the benches in the train station!

Managed to make my early train back to Edinburgh in the morning, then it was a one-way trip to the Airport for the flight to Amsterdam. (I did notice the bus driver on the way out of Edinburgh was no-where near as friendly as the one on the way in. If it was that guy, he might have been in tears at losing so many visitors all at the same time… ).


So farewell Scotland – I do really like you. Quite a lot actually. I’ll be back soon.

Next instalment – Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin. Good to be on the road!

Stay tuned…