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Woodford, Falls and N.S.W. North Coast part 1.
written: 27th January 2003
By Clay

Hello beautiful people, I trust we have been well?
I certainly have been but i still have Woodford dust in my throat and i know i speak for the other boys when i say, we are so tired.

Its nice to have been chilling out at home for the past few days because The Girls have just finished the most exciting, and also, hard working tour that we have done to date. It doesnt sound like much in words and numerals but 12 days, 9 gigs, 3 states and 4000 plus kilometres was a truck load of action for the fellas.

It all started midday Christmas day. We all dragged ourselves away from Christmas lunches, friends and free booze and drove the Winddragon 7 hours north to Coffs Harbour were we stayed at our friend Jess` house.
This years Christmas dinner was chicken kebabs all round at Lucky Kids Kebabs in Coffs. That was a beautiful moment right there. Kebabs in hand, we all turned to each other and said, "Merry Christmas boys". Later on that nite as we all started drifting off to sleep. The loudest and most powerful thunder storm rolled over the house. It was seriously awesome. Almost scary. so loud but so beautiful. Then the heaviest rain i have heard in a long time came down around us and we all drifted off, peacefully, to sleep.

The next morning we checked Coffs for surf but there was no joy, so it was off to Yamba for a surf, still no joy there so we cruised up to Byron where the boys had a little wave in the rain. I couldnt join them as i had friends and booze to visit at the top pub. A few hours later we were on the the Gold Coast, party capital of Australia folks. We weren't there for a gig that nite so we didnt exactly party, but we did bump into Big Kev. That was a big moment for this band. We couldnt have found him without our friend Micky guiding us into his lair though, so thanks for that Micky. I speak for the boys when i say it was an experience.
The next day was the first day of the Woodford Folk Festival. the 27th of December. What a great day, driving into that place was just so cool. We checked in and they sent us in the right direction. We drove across thru the entrance gates, down thru the masses of tents in the paddock, up over this little hill, and to our amazement, down in the valley below there was this hive of activity. People, music, more tents and action everywhere.
Thats a recipe for a good time if there ever was wouldnt you say?
It was a small town set up over the past weeks by the organisers and volunteers, so that people of all shapes, sizes, colours and ages, could come and get loose. Correct me if im wrong but someone told me that there are 3000 musicians and 7000 other folks. Thats massive huh? anyway, after we got there we were ushered down to the big top where we played all of our four gigs at the festival, that was just amazing to walk into this huge circus tent and think, we're gonna play in here tonite! we played to about 1000 people that nite. Our biggest crowd yet, and also one of the coolest.
We felt dwarfed by the setting around us. Here were these thousand people dancing and jumping and carrying on in this massive circus tent with lights flying and spinning all around us and them, and there we were playing away on this great big stage we could have driven onto. It was a very uplifting feeling and i know the boys feel the same.
That was our introduction to Woodford.

That nite we partied with friends and strangers, we saw bands and people we knew and heard music we'd never even thought of and after we had done all that, we slept like logs.

Saturday, 28th of December. Dry, dusty and hot but a welcome change to the
rains that had drenched the valley just before we got there. In the morning i went cruising with Neil (mate/manager), he had a grin from ear to ear, Neilo was truly in his element. How couldnt you be. We checked some music and we had some food. The food, oh my God, the food. There was so much good food there. We went and sat in the Chai tent which is this great little place that has all these pillows and sacks and these little foot high tables, and anyone who wants to chill out and have a tea can just waltz in and plonk themselves anywhere. Theres people talking, people sleeping, and theres random performances throughout the day and well into the nite on the Chai tent stage. That was one of the best places to be, you could wander
around the festival and find all this amazing music being performed, or you could kick back in the Chai tent and let it find you.

The afternoon was a sleep in sweat, not the highpoint of the festival, but you can't have it all your own way can you. We all hooked up at 8:30 for our 9:30 gig. Same tent different time. When we started setting up we noticed a bit of a buzz out there, and when we came back out front and greeted the audience, we could see twice as many people as we played to the night before. Now that was truly amazing. Approximately 2000 people came and got down to our music. What happened? were there no other performances on or what? We didnt care, we ate it up and gave it back. Everyone had the best 50 minutes, what a moment. the feeling amongst our
crew after that gig had lifted. It made for another excellent nite out there in little Woodford town. I wish i never had to sleep, even though it was nice to drift off with the sound of drumming and singing in the distance.

The next day, the 29th. As above. What can i say. We'd found our rythme. Eat, see music, sit down in Chai tent, visit friends, eat, see more music, go back to Chai tent. We'd settled into our new home and a colourful and comfortable home it was too. I'd like to list all the cool bands, performers and assorted freaks i saw but the list would be too long. It seriously is an orgy of sight and sound. Then again, fuck it. heres my four favourites.

Conan the bubbleman: bubble blowing wizard extrodinaire
Rumplestiltskin: street performing jester, freak, human meltdown
Tenzin Chogyl: Tibetan chant and Tibetan guitar playing legend
Skin: best percussion group i've ever danced to

There you go. You have to see these people do their thing. Where was I? Thats right, Sunday night. The last gig before we flew down to Falls in Victoria. We were really psyched after the last nites performance and we were just hoping that tonite could be half as good as last nite. Low and behold the people came and did it up for us again. We got to play to 2000 people in a fucking circus tent 2 nites in a row. We were very happy to say the least. It really was too good to be true. That nite was huge in tent town. Everyone hit the top stage to see the dance bands. There were about 4 to 5000 people all getting down at the stage up the top of the valley. It was this wicked big open air gig and people were everywhere dancing and drinking and having a great time. It would be cool to play up there next year. We'll see what happens.

We went to sleep to the sound of people having fun again that night. Then in the morning it was off to Brisbane airport. Two hours on a plane and boom, we have travelled 2000 kms and we are in Melbourne. Later that nite we were sitting in a pub on Acland Street in St. Kilda and it felt so strange sitting there amongst cigarette smoke and the smell and taste of beer. To think that that morning we were in a sun drenched valley full of music and performers and crazy people. Don't get me wrong, I like cigarettes and beer and i like that pub. It was just an observation. Two completely different worlds in one day. I felt privaliged. We stayed in St. kilda that night.

In the morning, we drove south towards the Great Ocean Road and Lorne. it was New Years Eve and we were off to play at the Falls Festival. The rain was heavy and we couldnt help but wonder what the vibe would be at the gig. We drove on past Torquay which was the furthest any of us had been down that way. Soon after that we came to the Great Ocean Road. What a beautiful part of the world. It was all dark and gloomy, the sky was grey, the ocean was grey and as we looked further down the coast at the road winding in and out of the hills and gullies, you couldnt help but be reminded of something out of The Lord Of The Rings. Another 50 kms or so down the jagged coastline and we found ourselves at the Falls festival. We pulled the van up outside the tent we were playing at to load our gear out and have a look around but it was absolutely bucketting down with rain, so we stayed in the car for a
while and checked everyone out. What a cool scene it was. Here we were in the middle of some of the worst weather you'd ever want to have at a festival, but theres bands playing and theres people dancing and theres people running around in the mud. People are drinking and people are laughing and basically, the rain wasnt stopping anyone from having a good time. So before too long, we got out of the car, we got changed into what ever we could find, and we went and joined the crew. It was good to get amongst it.

For anyone that was there or has been to the Falls in the past. How good is that valley? The actual farm and its surrounds are so beautiful. It actually reminded me alot of the Glenworth Valley Festival which is held just north of Sydney. Speaking of Sydney, how many people at Falls were from Sydney? and while we are on the subject, how many people at Falls were from Queensland? we saw and bumped into alot of people that we had seen and met before at other gigs and venues and they werent all Victorians. Its good to know that when theres a good gig on, folks will travel 100's and even 1000's of kms just to be a part of it.

After catching some of the other bands, catching up with friends and downing the festivals finest pumkin soup. We went up to the top tent to play. It was 5 in the afternoon, everyone was drenched to the bone, but to our amazement, when we got up on stage, there in front of us was the biggest crowd we have ever had the pleasure of playing to. I remember turning around to the boys and seeing grins from ear to ear. It was completely overwhelming. It was great to look into the crowd and see friends from back home and different groups of people we had met in our
travels around Australia. It was new years eve at Falls, it was the biggest crowd we had ever seen, old friends and new friends were ther among people we have not even met yet, and everyone was into it. That 45 minutes we all had in the top tent at the Falls Festival, would have to be just about the best 45 minutes of my life. So anyone that was there, i speak for the boys when i say thankyou, your enthusiasm and your appreciation of our music on that day, was very, very special and as for the craziness in the last song. That just topped it off. Mat invited some people up on stage to dance with us, but naturally the security said no. About 10 seconds in to the song we already had a few people on the stage with us, and once we had a few, it was an invitation for the rest of the crew to jump up on stage aswell. That was seriously out of control. I couldnt see Mat, Mitch couldnt see me. God only knows if we were even playing in time or what, but i think youd be safe to say that everyone in the tent that afternoon had alot of fun. What better way to end the year...