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G love and the Special Sauce tour and the Byron Bay Blues Festival
written: 30th April2003
By Clay

Cool.
thats the word.
i think thats all i need to say,
but i`ll tell you more anyway.
before we went up to Byron for the Blues fest we played a three date
mini-tour with G love and the Special Sauce.
in the last year we`ve had the pleasure of playing with some of the most
incredible musicians and bands you could think of, and these guys certainly
fall into that catagory. i dont want to write a review of all the gigs, you can find them in your local press.
i just want to simply say that, apart from being just about the nicest crew
of people we`ve toured with, Chris(sound) and Jason(manager) included,
theyre musicianship was truly inspiring. ive even considered practicing my
bass. im still considering though.
we had three of the funniest nites just hanging out and drinking and
carrying on and paying out on each other. and by the way, you know the myth of all the girls back stage after the gigs? these guys play that right up.
its nothing short of funny to watch.
funny guys, insane music. thats a good combo dont you think?
we did Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne and then we all flew up to the Blues
fest.
Sydney was sick. a few hundred people got in early and cheered us on. that
was good fun. you probably heard Jack Johnson and Radioactive (Spearhead)
got up on stage with G love that nite. i consider myself a very lucky boy to
have been there to see that.
Adelaide was really good for us, but maybe not so good for those guys.
selfishly we were stoked because there was only about 300 people there so we got to check out one of our favourite bands in an intimate environment. we had a good gig and they had a killer gig. it was just really chilled you
know? Melbourne was cranking. there were obviously heaps of Beautiful Girl fans there because crew were backing us up so that was awesome. there was about
600 hundred people in the room when G love played and it fucking rocked.
that was a really good fun nite had by all. youve never seen so many people
crammed into a dressing room after a gig. funny shit.
that was a good tour.
then it was off to the very beautiful, but very wet, Byron Bay.

Blues Fest.
what a heavy scene. so many incredible musicians on one small football oval. sometimes i was standing there in silence and in awe of the music that i was experiencing. sometimes i`d be rushing or getting goose bumps from the sounds that were penetrating my ears, and other times i found myself
laughing because what i was hearing was just too fucking amazing to be real. ive never been to the Blues for more than a couple of hours before so i am just so stoked that i got to hang there for a few days this time around.
we got there on the saturday and we werent playing that nite so we just
cruised around and caught up with friends and checked out some cool music.
we were all staying in different places so im not sure what the boys did
later on that nite. i`d tell you what i did but i might end up in gaol.
youll have to ask Clive.

the next nite we played in the Blues fests smallest venue. the infamous Juke
Joint. what a heavy place. i got there late and as i ran past i could see
people hanging out the windows and all these poor people stuck outside. we
jumped on stage thru this tiny doorway that you had to duck down to get
thru. it had a really low roof, it was hot and sweaty and my fucking
amplifier wasnt working properly. we were a bit shattered but that shit fell
into insignificance pretty quickly. we got our equipment running and looked
up to see about 400 hundred crew jammed into this little hot box infront of
us and we were instantly psyched. they were psyched, we were psyched. we
played, they listenend. we moved, they danced. and together, we all made
alot of sweat. it was a fucking lot of fun to say the least. i even got to
have a crowd surf.
to anyone that was in that room that nite. thanks so much for being there.
it must have been hard work but we all had some fun didnt we?
alot-alot-o-fun for sure!
the next day we played on a much bigger stage. it was much earlier in the
day too. 2 o`clock to be exact. that was a spin out because i definately
would have still been in bed. we were a bit worried that no one would be
there but we soon found out that there was no need to be worried. we were
getting ready out the back and we had a peek into the tent to see if anybody
was there. there werent many people just yet. everyone was in watching
Xavier Rudd do it up next door. a quarter hour later and 2 o`clock rolled
around. we walked up to the back of the stage where we could see the crowd
and it was like, "what the fuck?".
where did all these people come from? there was about 3000 or more people out there. we were losing it. we all walked on to the stage and everyone cheered us. that was a pretty amazing feeling. i got to my side of the stage and put my drinks down, then i thought to myself, "where is my fucking bass?" i left it out the back. i was so excited about getting on there that i had left my bass out the back in the dressing room. youve never seen me run so fast hey. i ran out, grabbed it out of its case, put the strap on and
ran back on to the stage and to my surprise, Matty was still fucking around
with his guitar and no one noticed i was even gone.
looking back on it,
it was some pretty funny shit!
looking out onto, and playing to the few thousand folks that were out there
that day was just truly amazing, its something that i will not ever forget.
we`ve never played to that many people in our lives and it was really
special to all of us to have that many crew rally around us and cheer us on.
very, very special. so thanks to all the people who dragged themselves out
of bed early that day to come and support us. i sincerely hope that you had
as much fun as we did.
and as for Radioactive getting on stage with us. he`s a legend isnt he?
for those of you who werent there. Radio, who m.c`s with Spearhead, jumped onstage with us in the last song and geed everyone up. that was some good shit. it was the icing on the vibe cake so to speak. thanks again for being there guys. that day is forever etched in stone.
who had an awesome Blues Fest?
you did?
so did i.
by the the time Ben Harper was finishing up that nite, i was about to
collapse. it was a massive few days and it was a massive musical overload.
i`d lost Mitch, Matty and Neal and so i decided to cruise back to the Great
Northen with some friends and wind down. we caught the bus into town and
then we hitched a ride on a rickshaw down to the hotel. damn theyre good
fun. we had a couple of beers and we were chilling out in the front bar when
it dawned on me that Downsyde were rocking it out in the back room. it was
actually meant to be the after party sought of thing. i looked in thru the
window and everyone was dancing and going off. then ive looked up onto the stage and who do i see? Radioactive on stage, for about the 20th time that weekend, mixing it up with the boys from Downsyde and a couple of lads from Resin Dogs. i was like, "fuck yeah". so i pinned it around the back. they were just jamming so i convinced Cheeky to let me up on bass and we just made shit up until they turned the lights on and told us to get off. what a
wicked way to end the Blues. everyone was in good spirits and everyone was stoked. some awesome jams went down and there was a good vibe in Byron town that nite. youve got to love that place dont you? take me back there now
please!!
despite all the rain and all those nasty late nites.
it was such a good weekend.
if you werent there this Easter, dont miss out next year.
if youve never been, treat yourself to an awesome experience.
if you were there, you know what im talking about.
thanks for caring about us boys and girls.
we definately care about you.
stay tuned for news about our forthcoming album.
we are in the studio right now.
and stay tuned for the word on the Mason Jennings tour.
its just a few days away.
bless your hearts.
stay real
and stay fresh.
much love.
from Clay and those other girls.
peace.