The Launch

The launch was... a success. If you're pressed for time I guess you'd need read no further. For those interested in details, I will try to provide some. Try.

Unlike Tuesday, Thursday was one of those days where everything seemed to be going right. It started earlier than I'm used to - since I've been working from home my alarm goes off at a lazy 9am most days and hit snooze for a good half hour or so after that. But today I had things to do, so at 7.30am I woke to the beloved sounds of 3RRR's Breakfasters and hauled myself out of bed. My hair appointment was at 9am on Acland St (St Kilda) and I figured I would need to leave by 8.30 to make it, despite only living a few kms further round the bay. Peak hour in Melbourne is real, and very scary.

I shovelled down my Sultana Bran Crunch mixed with Apricot & Almond Natural Muesli, topped with low fat vanilla yoghurt and a sliced fresh pear. Not exactly a rockstar breakfast, I know, but I have been working extremely hard on my diet to help overcome my vocal nodules. I realise what I eat for breakfast seems somewhat unrelated to the callouses that have formed on my vocal cords but my singing teacher & naturopath assure me that they're very much related. Something about gastric reflux.

So... I bolted my breakfast, showered, dressed appropriately for the stunning late spring morning that was shaping up around me, and got out the door by quarter to nine. Late. No-one, including myself, understands how it can possibly take me more than an hour to get ready in the mornings. It could be the breakfast, but it was the same deal back in the 2 pieces of toast with vegemite days as well. Maybe other people just don't eat breakfast??

By some freak of nature I actually arrived in St Kilda before 9, parked my car, and powerwalked to Smik Studios, entering at 9 on the dot, before they had even had a chance to turn around the 'closed' sign on the door. It's a good day!

The stylist was an older guy with a large pot who looks like a rather camp hell's angel. If that makes sense!! Greying handlebar moustache, tattoos, tobacco smell that lingers... you get the picture. But a hairdresser... which changes the picture somewhat.

I've never actually had him for a stylist before but he's the one they always get to fix my fringe when someone else has mangled it. So I was extremely pleased that he would be doing my hair on the BIG DAY despite the slightly nauseating odour.

"What are you having done, darl?"
"The usual, just refresh the colour and a bit of a trim please"
"Looks like chocolate... have you been here before?"
"Yes, I always have my colour done here." I said rather curtly, miffed that he didn't recognise me although I was in his salon every 6 weeks without fail.
He disappeared and re-emerged with my chart, smiling to himself. "Chocolate, I thought so" he said smugly.

While my colour was doing it's thing, I whipped out a ziploc bag from my handbag, containing everything I'd need for an express manicure. Nail file, clippers, nail polish remover to fix the mistakes, a very red shade of nailpolish, and superfast drying topcoat. I was halfway through the left hand when a voice behind me said "do you want a hand?"
I looked up and there was a stunningly made up girl who I'd seen behind the counter, chatting to the other hairdressers. I'd assumed she was one of them.
"I'm a beauty therapist. Let me help you with that."

I gladly relinquished my hands to her and 15 minutes later was blowing on ten professionally manicured fingers. I thought it would be pushing my luck to whip off my shoes and ask her to do my toes (mental note, do toes later).

My colour looked great and the cut was expert. I was a bit worried when the stylist started drying it wavy, not straight like I'd asked, but he'd assured me it would be fabulous. He was right.

By 11am I was driving back down the coast on this glorious morning, ready to tick more items off my list. The day went smoothly, I even had time to take Chester for a walk down to the beach and eat my lunch there. I also scored a free upgrade on the car I'd hired, since my tiny Toyota Echo was no match for my fully weighted 88 key Roland keyboard and big mumma amp. They were out of Subaru Forresters, so I scored myself a gigantic Nissan Pathfinder for the same price. Adam joked (via sms from Brisbane) that he was picturing me riding round in a Humvee and the name stuck. I was a bit worried at first, but drove it like a pro - even in four inch heels. Makes me rather grateful for the four wheel driving course a previous employer (Landrover) had sent me on. Who knew it would come in useful for getting myself to gigs??

I managed to haul all my gear into the truck (on my own) without any tears or bruises (not always the case) and made it across town to the East Brunswick Club for soundcheck about 15 minutes late (not too bad for me). To my surprise everyone was there except Ric, the guitarist, who was working and only had a 30 minute window to soundcheck before going back to work. Our challenge was to have everything set up so he could just walk in and play. We didn't quite get there. Still, we did get to run through one song with him and it felt great. The East has a kickass new sound system, and we've never played on something that good before. The sound onstage was a whole new level of awesome and Tom's voice through the PA... *sigh*. I never get tired of hearing him sing.

Once we were set up it was time to get ourselves ready, and I realised I'd forgotten one thing. Undies.

Of course I was wearing some, but they were grey Bonds, not the sexy black I wanted to show if by some chance the audience should catch a glimpse under my black above the knee country/noir style dress.

Shit.

Going home wasn't the best option, as I live on the other side of the city and it was now peak hour. Our drummer Wes needed to find batteries for his metronome, and Tom came up with the answer. Kmart.

We took my truck the short drive to Barkly Square, with Wes all the while asking "can I drive it?" No. "Can I drive it on the way back?" No!

We arrived at Kmart & both made a beeline for our requirements. We must have looked rather odd going through the checkout, with two bottles of Lemon/Lime Powerade, a pair of black lacy knickers, and a ten pack of Double A batteries!!

We went back to Tom's house as he lives locally, and I got dolled up while the boys played Guitar Hero on Playstation. A great way to get amped before a gig!!

I emerged from the bathroom a different woman and we headed back to the venue where Adam was waiting for us (YAY!) at a table with Ric, Will (the bass player), Paris (our new manager), and her parents. I almost walked right past the table because I'd never met Paris' parents and didn't realise they were with us!!

Dinner was pretty uneventful and then it was showtime!! The doors opened at 8.30 and the first band, Winterpark, went on shortly after. The next two hours was a complete blur, with more and more people arriving, hugging & kissing me and me trying to have 50 conversations at once. It felt like I knew everyone there. Our merch table was set up and the badges I'd had made up were selling well, my friends kept coming up to me to show me they were wearing one. Cute!!

Winterpark were great, I really liked their set and thought they were the perfect opening band. The Beings came on and were much rockier. I'd been worried that they might blow us off the stage, but when it came down to it, most of the people in that room were there to see us, and by the time we went on I was pumped!!

I went to the loo twice before the set, reapplied my very red lipstick and was ready to roll. We walked onstage to what felt like a roar and played a massive set. Immediately when we'd started I needed to pee again. Anyone who knows me knows this is not unusual. I also realised that I'd left my minidisc out the back in the band room. Bugger. I was hoping to record the show for posterity. Never mind, there were plenty of cameras and video cameras around, there should be plenty of posterity.

The set seemed to go very quickly, and there was a weird silence following the applause for each song. This was not a rowdy crowd. To be fair, we are not a very rowdy band either, so that makes sense. But their appreciation & support was genuine, and the odd "we love you Cara", countered by "we love you Tom" from the other side of the room was entertaining.

The set was a little rougher than it should have been for a launch, since we have stopped rehearsing twice a week (due to the drummer living in Bendigo - 2 hrs from Melbourne) we can sometimes be a bit sloppy. It's weird because in a way our live show has improved a lot in the last year, we look better and play with more confidence, a bit more swagger. But every now and then a gig feels under-rehearsed, we screw up tempos or just make mistakes that shouldn't be there. Anyway, it wasn't terrible but it wasn't our best performance. But regardless it felt great and by the final song we hit our stride. This song, Onslaught, has recently evolved so that it starts out very small, with just Tom singing & strumming gently, then i join in with piano & harmonies, and at the end of the song the band joins in and we jam it out. It has become a bit of a showstopper. And we played it very well that night.

We quickly left the stage and were brought back for an encore, a triumphant rare performance of Down the Road. Making my mum & dad very happy - it's their favourite song and we never play it!

After the encore we had a group hug in the band room (possibly our first in over 3 years of playing together... awwww) and went out to work the crowd. It's always fun lapping up the praise after a gig like this, and there were big smiles all round. I made sure I went straight up to Paris to thank her for all the work she's done. In her short time with us, she has achieved a remarkable amount, and I really think she will help push us to the next level. She and I work well together, we bounce off each other and push each other, and I love having another person who's so committed to making this happen as I am. It can be exhausting pushing when you're the only one doing it.

The venue were really impressed with the numbers, apparently it was great for a Thursday night. I was happy, we (just) exceeded my estimate. Trying to sort out the money with Paris afterwards was the funniest thing. She had had one too many drinks and we were just not getting anywhere. In future I think we should just take it all home & sort it out the next day.

Adam my wonderful partner and roadie extraordinaire packed up most of my gear for me while I was chatting to people and I helped him load it into the hummer ready for home. He was flying back to Brisbane for work in the morning so no partying on for us. Paris badly wanted us to go out to Pony or somewhere... apparently "the band" turning up somewhere after their launch is the cool thing to do. But Wes had to drive back to Bendigo, we had to go home, it just wasn't going to happen. I hope she doesn't leave us when she realises we're just not true rock stars! I thought she already knew that but maybe she thought we'd change...

So overall it was a successful night. Taking into account everything we spent on advertising, etc, we just broke even, which is not bad for us! Definitely could have gone worse! It turned out Jess, the brilliant sound guy, borrowed a minidisc recorder from the chef at the venue, so we even have most of the set on tape! Now we just had to hope someone was there who might write a review, and that the photos worked out ok so we would have some decent live shots to give our publicist.

The next day I would be on a plane to Brisbane for a week in the sunshine...