or so i’m told.
on a non ramps related note, i made a music video for pikelet. it was filmed in the pacific somewhere, and we gave the camera acid. here ’tis.
we’re playing with crayon fields at their ‘welcome back from the US!!’ show at the Northcote Social Slub on April 24. we haven’t played in ages, so it’ll be rusty.
oh, and celebricheese
BAM!
We’re playing at the Order of Melbourne this Sunday December 20 (after a “design” “market” “thing” earlier in the afternoon there) with NAmericans Castanets and Tiger Saw, and Novocastrian church organist Alps. Come see! Extreme Wheeze’s beard is going to turn bright white. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Hey, boring internet. We have a show on Saturday. Halloween, so get scary!
Thanks heaps to Darren, Leigh, Anne, Sarah, Hannah, Tom, Lou, Tutts, Cam, Katie, Greg and all others who accommodated us in Sydney and Brisbane, tolerated our middle-of-the-night spider hunts, witnessed police brutality with us and so much more!
We played at Oxford Art Factory in Sydney last night. It was okay. The security wouldn’t let people in so not many got to see us play. Best things about the night were Megastick Fanfare and Annehelena’s 20th birthday.
Today, we’re in Brisbane, getting ready to play at the Valley Fiesta tonight. We have spent most of the day freaking out in a mad hurry, toasting in the sun, designing posters and writing stuff and busting deadlines. A bit stressful. Preparing for our single launch next week, you see. Saturday - Halloween - night in Melbourne.
Anyway. There’s no daylight savings here. I’m typing on my phone. Very sleepy. Missing home. More later, I say.
Thao Du took some photographic measurements at Friday night’s show, the results of which can be viewed here on scientific research site “Flickr”. An unexpected outcome of these measurements - consistent however with previous findings - is that the entity ‘Black Wasp’ is undetectable in the compounds Ramps (Ra) and Mixylodian (Ml).
Here we are at the end of the Midnight Believer national launch tour extravaganza. It’s a little hard to figure out what to do with yourself once the show is over and the party has died down. Go back to work I guess, try to remember a few good stories for your colleagues’ entertainment, start planning the next tour, next gig, next rehearsal, whatever keeps you feeling like a productive and worthwhile member of society.
Ugh, that’s all a bit boring though isn’t it? Better you believe that post tour The Ramps climb into their interstellar spacecraft, put on little tighty-whiteys and singlets like in Alien and enter hyper-sleep for the long trip to the next gig…..
Of course we did just perform in Adelaide for the first time and for a lovely, psyched and adoring hometown crowd here in Melbourne. So let’s hear about that!
Thursday morning at 615am I awoke and got the bus to Ramp HQ. I was the only person on the bus not wearing Hi-Vis work wear and felt decidedly out of place. There was also no heating on the bus and I was not properly attired for such frigid conditions as space in the van was paramount to the warmth and comfort provided by extra clothing. Upon arriving at Ramp super secret headquarters I found Aleks and Janita gone(to get the hire car – GOOD), Joe and Mike asleep(BAD) and Jon non-existent(in a quantum universe existence is a tenuous thing!). After much haranguing I managed to get everyone up, pack the gear and we hit the road(and the western ring road traffic) at about 9am. We made good time to Adelaide, listening to Neko Case, Je Suis Animal, Paul McCartney and episode after episode of our beloved Radiolab.
Upon arrival in Adelaide we sought out the Backpackers we were booked to stay at, and then FOOD! While Jon and I were driving about town to pick up a drum kit, the other Ramps found a halfway decent sushi train on Glenelg street and we ate many tiny plates of sushi, sashimi, edamame and chocolate pudding. We also used the train as a makeshift camera dolly, Best. Idea. Ever.
The show was at the Jade Monkey, one of the nicer venues we have ever played, with Zeal(aka Bob) as support. Sound was great(thanks J), Zeal was awesome, playing his guitar hero guitar as some kind of USB controller. We played okay, but were so god damned tired. I hope it didn’t show(apparently not, see review HERE . The crowd seemed to dig it and we made a few new friends.
We managed to get about 4.5 hours sleep before jumping back in the Tarago for the drive home. Breakfast was inedible muffins from IGA, followed by Subway(for Joe and myself). The rest of the day was spent with varying degrees of restless leg syndrome and gastric pain in the cramped confines of the van.
Thanks to A 630AM WAKE UP, BUT NO THANKS TO A 25 MINUTE (accidental caps) potato cake stop 60kms out of Melbourne(WTF guys!) we made it to Roxanne in reasonably good time for sound check, which took hours……. But by the end things were sounding great and we were all ready for some serious showering, eating and general chilling out before show time, which was….
Bloody Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Best Melbourne show yet! Thank you so much to everyone who made it along, sung, shouted, danced and spazzed the fuck out! The smile plastered across Mike’s face after his and our sets was priceless. I’m so happy we managed to play one really mega show while he was here.
So from me, Flying Diamonds, and the rest of The Ramps,(who may well write their own entries) massive hugs, kisses and well wishing to all those people whose houses we invaded, gear we molested, food we ate and minds we destroyed. Until next time, adieu!
We have made some special friends and brand new BIGGEST FANS EVER on our tour so far. Meet them!
The Tasmanians:
(Trav) Hiphop from Queensland:
Meeting people can be amazing and incredible. In extreme circumstances, it can make you feel like you have pink fluffy fairy wings on your back.
He isn’t called Flying Diamonds for nothing. Sushi!
In far more important news, we play at the Jade Monkey in Adelaide this Thursday night with Mixylodian (duh) and Zeal… and on Friday night, in our hometown, at Roxanne Parlour - the last show of our album launch tour! We’re joined by Mixylodian (DUH), Parking Lot Experiments, Peter Escott (Tasmaniana) and Slo-Mo Speedboat (Brain Cobra + Denim Owl’s house). Please come. Save our Ramps!
WOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH shit.
We’re now halfway through our Midnight Believer album launch tour. We are also all the way through the available funds to undertake it. Yay! Still, we’re having super ultra fun times. How about that Brisbane eh? We spent 3 days being squired about town by one Nick Smethurst, he of the most excellent hair and pedal collect (he doesn’t actually collect hair.) Still yet to find a decent meal in Brisbane and while The Forest may provide edible sustenance, it does not in my book constitute well executed food. What can I say, Vegans, MEH.
Top Floor on the other hand does constitute a well executed venue thingy; BYO booze, reasonable PA for room size, big backstage room and nice people running the joint. Though why we had to mop the floor at the end of the night I do not know, we did pay for the place after all. Not that I mopped or cleaned up in any way, unless you count cleaning up all remaining booze and screaming petulantly for McDonalds CheeeezzzzBURGERS on the way home. Which I didn’t get, but which Brain Cobra and Black Wasp DID!
Lion Island are great as are Big Strong Brute, though their name is very misleading.
Mixylodian seemed to be the most well received of the two sets this evening, people were up and dancing straight away and Mike was having a really great time, what with his shirt off and cape a-flowing.
The Ramps set was very fun, with equipment flying about the stage in all directions, old songs being thrown into the set without warning and probably the best mid song bump and grind with random audience members yet.(thanks Moonie!)
All in all a very fun weekend, though my enduring image of Brisbane for a while is going to be this:
So it’s on to Hobart and Belgrave next weekend. Yow!
Brain Cobra and yours truly both got magically sick during/after Newcastle and Sydney shows. I’m presently under quarantine. I sure do hope they let me out of jail before our Brisbane show!
hahahah apotenitala falcon you have bene punk’d hahaa nah not rly just stolye ur title hkekekekeke
