the Piper Downs Tour Journal

Hold your Horses! We're not there yet.

We finally made it! After a LONG f-ing flight, we lost Wednesday and showed up in Sydney on Thursday morning. Dave from Starky and Tracy (Starky's manager) met us at the airport - those are some cool Aussies... It's a little overcast but I'm already loving it here. We got a room at a place that claims it is a "motel-like-hotel". It seems more like a dorm room with 4 beds and a space that offers a toilet/shower in one. I love it. We've already gone to a pub down the street and downed some pints and we're ready for some Sydney night-life. WhoooHooooo!!

Boy howdy, 16 hours is a long time to be on an airplane! Not only were we delayed on the tarmac at LAX for 90 minutes, but it's a LONG flight to Asutralia...I'm used to flying from LA to Vegas, so I had NO idea... Our hotel is a bit less than we have become used to as Americans...We decided to spring for the private bathroom. Right now, we are seated in an Internet cafe on King's street...Our hotel room does NOT have a phone! I guess we didn't know how luxurious our recent tour to Colorado, Ariziona, and Chicago was. Many thanks to our friends Tracy and Simo from STARKY who met us at the gate this morning!

Oh yeah...Did I tell you that I was TOTALLY unprepared for driving on the left side of the street? Not only is traffic on the left side, but the steering wheel is on the right side...I was pretty impressed with the rest of the band, as they BARELY cried at all while I was driving. Oh yeah, we found a nice parking place where the van will stay until we leave...

So, ..... We aren't in America. Is anyone else worried? OK, just kidding. Except fpr the flight, This is wonderful. I love the Starkey guys. They rule for putting this idea in our heads. ROCKIN' Down Under!

Yep, this is Australia... the pay phones are blue and everyone drives on the wrong side of the road. I'm already anxious to get out there and play! Bobby pulled off a radio interview (via the blue payphone) from the Pub where we had lunch. Now it's about 1:30pm and feels like bed time already... you gotta love that jet lag feeling! Looks like the first few days we'll take in the sights and then we get down to bidness....YEAH!

Hmmm...What do Australian like best? It seems to be beer. And, being a kind guest of a fine country, I am only too happy to fit right in...

Being eaten by a Koala is no fun, but the upside is, free beer with every mauling! No really, this country is made of beer - we've been to every pub in the vicinity of our hotel room. And the Starky guys have been great - we're off to see some hard core football today and we might even drink some beer... Yay!!!

guess how many times we've used the rental van since my nearly disasterous first ride home from the airport... Go ahead...guess... That's right-I haven't moved the van in three days because I am so terrified of driving on the left side of the street. For those of you thinking to yourself, "That's can't be too hard...", well, you're wrong. It only takes one wrong right turn into oncoming traffic to make you realize that public transportation isn't THAT bad! I did a radio interview the other day, and out at clubs people seem to know of the Piper Downs, so I guess the word is getting out. I cant wait to play!

Greetings from Sydney! Right now it's Saturday morning but feels like Monday afternoon. Today we relocate to the house of Starky and they're taking us to an Australian Rules Football game! It's a combination of NFL/Rugby/Soccer... and NO PADS! ("It's a broken leg... walk it off!!") We rode the metro-train into downtown yesterday and got a feel of the city, checked out some of the tourist stuff. Got some good video of shoving Yell off the Train, and then shaving him and throwing him in the shark tank after Bob cut his wrists open. Good times, Australian-style!!!!

WOW!!! There sure is a lot of beer in this country! Well, Ellen was eaten by a killer Koala bear, and we are without a drummer onc again. OK, that was just a joke. Did I mention the Beer? We are off to see an Australian Football game tonight. Should be heaps of fun. This whole place is heaps of fun.

So we went to an Australian-rules football game yesterday - they call it Footy here. The Sydney Swans vs. the Kangaroos and the home team won in a close finish - great game. I now have my very own Swans beanie - it's very attractive. The Starky guys have been great - we're in the studio with them while they record today. They've been stealing our guitar & bass licks and drum fills left and right, but we figured since they're letting us crash with them, we'd let it go.

So the most amazing thing happened today - we had beer. My God, nearly 12 hours went by and I was like, Hey, we haven't had any beer! I don't know what they put in the stuff, but Touhy's New now makes up a significant portion of our daily diet. What on earth will we do without it in the States? I figure we'll just have to stock it up in our liver so we can live off it when we get back....

Well.....we still haven't played our first show Down under yet, but we plan on tearin' it up!!!!! The Australian football game was so fun. Ellen made up with the Koala that mauled her, so all is well. I still have trouble getting used to people driving on the wrong side of he road, and I have yet to try Vegemite. But I will. They have a deadly spider here called the funnel web. I think that I see them all the time. And then someone will say "that's just a raisin." I am really worried.

Hmmm...Surprise surprise...Last night I drank beer. We met at the Town Hall Pub for beers, then we took off to watch the footy (Australian Football). The hometown team won the game 106-102 in a wierd sort of thing that seemd a little bull-shitty...Sort of a hometown call...Even the hometown fans seemed confused as to how they'd won with a score AFTER the clock had run out. But it was great fun. Beers were $4.90 AU, which pissed off the locals (used to paying $3)...We drank about 40 beers between us. Then after the game, we went to a pub and drank 40 more $3 beers. We met a LOT of friendly Australians, and handed out a lot of flyers. We also met a couple of Americans who were really nice, but they were from Kentucky or something, so we didn't have much to talk about...so we ordered some beers and talked about that.

Okay...off to drink beer.

The boat tour was definitely cool - the only downside was the damned rain, but it was still pretty phenomenal. We are super-tired today since we did so much walking today. Not to mention we didn't have any beer at all today to sustain us during our travels. Are they keeping it from us or did we drink it all? Well, tomorrow is our first gig on the official Australian "Buy The Band A Drink" tour, so I have a feeling I'll be drinking my words... I'm going to go take a nap with all those cute Starky boys now - if I can tear Garner away from them.

Hmmm...Australia's beer supply must be drying up, because it's been almost a whole day, and I haven't even finished a six pack! Visiting with our friends STARKY in the studio...their new stuff sounds great, and there's talk of us releasing a split single. That would be great! Today we went on ferry cruise of the Sydney harbor...Pretty nice, but the rain was horrible...Didn't they know we were coming? Hmmm...Tomorrow we gig!

Is it just me or did Ellen repeat herself? Oh well, enough with snuggling next to the Starky boys. Tonight, we finally play our first show! It's about damn time! We shall rock the walls and blow off the ceiling! Don't worry, USA, we'll reprezent with a "z"! I gotta go tune my guitar for the show... see ya!

Last night's show was our Australian debut! It was a success, we won the hearts of many an Australian. There was "Jimmy the one legged Dancer" who wasn't really missing a leg but danced as if he had. It was SOOOOOOOO cool to finally ROCK again. It took a few songs for them to get used to our special brand of humour, but we broke them with a certain crude joke involving Funnel Web Spiders and Bobby's private parts...(works everytime)

Hello again from Sydney. Last night was more of the same, rocked the Aussies and had a great time doing it. We played with some cool bands (Michael Carpenter & The Scruffs). I'm starting to get used to driving on the left hand side of the road. When we get back to the US it's going to be awkward switching back again. Today we celebrated ANZAC day, a national holiday (similiar to our memorial day) by eating BBQ, going to the beach, and you guessed it... drinking beer (rootbeer in my case). Tomorrow the rock will reign down on Australian again... after we visit the Koala Park.

Today is ANZAC day...Sort of a Veteran's Day meets Memorial Day...We had a cookout with the STARKY boys, and, you guessed it, drank beer. As a side note, we actually did throw "shrimps on the barbie!" There was about 7 pounds of large prawns, and we grilled them up and peeled them, and chased them with some Victoria's Bitter. The first two shows were pretty good. We played well at both, but the crowds were a bit lacking. We had a nice story written about us in the local music magazine, Revolver, and we're told that the next three shows will probably sell out with the bands that we're playing with...Can't wait!

Today we visited Crunulla beach. Absolutely beautiful. Everyone has been so great to us here-taking us in, coming to the shows, helping us out with information...It's easy to see why people love it here.

Just went to see the koalas...Uh...Not to exciting, really, but they sure were good eating! Just found out that we're playing tonight with a band from America-New York, to be exact! Hope they are good...It sucks to have to lie to bands...

One of the things I've been meaning to note about Australia, almost all of their venues are attached to old hotels. For example; tonight we played the Varna room @Maroubra Junction Hotel. This is basically a bar with a few video poker machines, and a basement(the Varna room). I asked one of the bartenders if there are any rooms, he said there were about 10 rooms available for the occasional renter. Weird. We rocked the Aussies again tonight, they're catching on to our style of stage banter. Soon they'll be chanting that middle part of "Cold Day in Hell"... wink wink...

3 down, 2 to go...Tonight was, I think, the best of the three shows that we've played so far. Had a blast, felt great, and felt like I souned great. Simo from STARKY has been a real trouper, helping us out with equipment at all the shows...Jeez...He's a great guy. After the show, Simo took us to his favorite K-Bab place (sort of a cross between a Gyro and a burrito). He ordered us all lamb K-Babs with extra chili sauce...They tasted like heaven, but I wonder if we'll all regret it in the morning...

Today was my favorite day so far here in Australia - I got to pet Koalas and Kangaroos!! They are soft and cuddly and I nearly got away with a Koala in my backpack, but the boys said I might have a little trouble at Customs... Oh well... Yesterday was a day off - an Australian holiday, so we had BBQ by the pool and drank HEAPS of beer. Yum. Tonite will be our 3rd show here and we're really looking forward to it. It seems that the Australians are having a tough time adapting to our sense of humor, but we're breaking them in little by little. All they need are some pubic hair jokes mixed with some Funnel Web Spiders and we've won their hearts. We'll let you know if that recipe works tonite...

...Yep...starting to regret it...

I have most of the day off today (Our last in Sydney)...the other three went off to the zoo...I'm finally driving again, and not doing too badly (Not to jinx myself!). One more show tonight, and then we push off. Tonight our show is supposed to be the best attended, and I'm looking forward to leaving with a bang.

The show the other night with STARKY was a lot of fun...I think that the Vic On The Park was my favorite of the venues we've played. STARKY rocked out, and it was great to see Garner rocking out with them on the drums...

I can't believe we're headed home already - seems like we just got here! We had such a great time here - all the bands were so fantastic to us letting us use their equipment and welcoming us to their clubs and pubs. (Big thanks to Nikolai from 78 Saab for letting me break his bass drum head... more on that one later!) I'm the last man standing up here, so I'd better get my coffee while I can before we leave. Sydney has been awesome and I'll only say this: see ya next time!

Soooo...Tonight we played at Vic on the Park with STARKY. Man, they are a great band...they were at the top of their game...Their drummer couldn't make it, so with ONE three hour rehearsal, Garner filled in for them and tore it up...I heard AT LEAST three people say that it was the best STARKY show they'd seen...That just proves how good Garner is. Sometimes it kills me how good he is at everything! We played a good show, but had some technical difficulties. After the show, we went to a late night Sydney dance club called Pash. There was a good crowd and some very hot chicks in the place (all into me, of course!). The one good thing was that I was recognized by the singer for the great Sydney band Peabody (his name is Bruno), and we had a good time sharing broken nose/bone show stories... Tomorrow we're off to a Chinese food brunch, and then to another footy game...then our LAST show in Sydney on Monday! I don't want the tour to end!

It's time to say goodbye to Sydney. It's been a great time, The Simons have been so gracious letting us stay with them this whole time. We're going to miss all our new friends. Our final show was quite a doozie, a great way to end a great tour. All the Starky guys and girl were there, all the friends we accumulated were there to cheer us on and to say goodbye. We played with another great band, The Camels. A there was a very special guest at the show, but I'll let Bobby tell you who, Anyway, to any Australians reading this.. THANK YOU FOR MAKING THE PIPER DOWNS TOUR a success.. "C'mon Buy The Band A Drink". See ya next time!

Garner "Go Sharks" Knutson

The time went by too fast. We had a fantastic show last night! We tore it up. I have loved everyone here, and haven't had one bad experience. All of the bands have been great to us. We went to the Townie last night for one last drink. A bunch of our new Aussie friends were there. The Townie is our new Local, and we love it. We said good-bye to Billy, Garaldine(she is Hot), Dave, and everyone else there at arond 3:30am. Australia Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!