Woodford Evening

Woodford Day 1 (Paul)

6am.

Things start early around here.

At first light, the trucks come 'round. The rubbish truck is particularly noisy. It's one of those big industrial things with prongs on the front that make it look like a mechanical mammoth. it picks up the car-sized dumpsters, hoiks them over the cab then with an almighty booming bang, empties them. King of these is the glass recycling version. As above, but the crash is followed by the sound of ten thousand shattering bottles. Great fun at 5am. Then come the water tankers, the food, ice, general traffic... But I sleep well here, always have. Not sure if it's exhaustion (not yet!), the gentle lull of the drums (no fecking chance) or just something aromatic in the air (most likely), and even the hue & cry of Woodford waking usually isn't enough to annoy me into getting me up at 6am every day. Usually it's just I start getting fidgety inside the tent. Mornings here are just stunning. The hills behind the valley are usually shrouded in this beautiful moving mist, and the colour of the light is something quite unique. So I'm sitting here, 'puta on my lap, looking out over the hills and just watching people drifting to the showers, chatting, rolling out of their tents with smiles on their faces. This truly is one of my favourite places on Earth. People here will stop to pick up the smallest piece of litter, they chat, ask questions of each other, share food, drink and tobacco, but most of all they're tolerant.

So, today. Big day. Mannie and Bridge arrive properly so the camp will become whole. Mannie also has the other eskie full of Sunas Apple Juice so we'll be able to stop spitting feathers with thirst! Work-wise, we have a gig tonight down at the Muse, which we're itching for, but before that we have the Opening Ceremony. Bridget, Mannie and I have today to learn the song and re-jig one of our tunesets (I was about to say 'no pun intended, but arse it, I'll let that stand. Re-jig a tune. Ha!). It's a great song, very funny and should go down a treat.

Right, I'll sign off here and come back a bit later.

Stunned.

That's what I am.

We just played in front of many thousands of people. Estimates are anywhere between 5 and 20 thousand, though one Woodford person told me he reckoned it was about 17,000. We played Sarah's tune, NightFaeries for the lantern procession, which was just amazing, then we played the Woodford opening song with Terry and finally a long tuneset for the firedancers. It was raining, but not hard, and it was just magic. We were on the huge Amphitheatre stage, standing in front of the huge backline setup for Ash Grunwald and That One Guy, playing our tunes. Every so often, the lights would lift, and we'd get the huge panorama of little heads and lamp-lit trees. It was truly magic, something that will stay with us forever.

The night gig at the Muse was great too. We were exhausted from the amphitheatre, but it was a great way to start our official program. Alas, party animals that we are, we were in bed a scant hour later. Rock and roll. We're playing at the Chai Tent tomorrow, on what is supposedly our day off, but the way we look at it, we're here to play and enjoy ourselves, and there's just no point sitting in a tent all day long.

Weather: Stinkingly humid. Scattered showers.
Byron Bay Organic Doughnuts scoffed: 2
Showers taken 4
T-shirts changed: 3
Ciders drunk: uncountable

Woodford Opening Ceremony Part I

By Sairey. I'm sitting backstage at the Woodford Amphitheatre listening to Ash Grunwald sound check using all sorts of guitar effects pedals. It sounds fat, full of bass and absolutely brilliant! We're patiently milling around waiting for our own sound check as we found out we're performing in the Opening Ceremony tonight. It's all very last minute & I have no idea what to expect, but personally I love the chaos of it :) Mannie is in his tune zone wandering up and down back here playing his mando. He won't hear anything we say to him for the next ten minutes now. I'm tempted to lay down some gaffa tape as lane markers! We're sound checking in five, back soon.

Woodford Day 0 (Paul)

Yep, day 0. Sarah and I actually arrived on Christmas day, so perhaps it should be day -1, and I was completely surprised at how many people there already were here. There are literally hundreds of people putting up tents, stocking toilets with paper, checking electrics, organising events (yes, right up until the day there are parts of the calendar that are fluid -more on that later), all manner of things. Bridget and I came up here last Saturday to set up the campsite (and it's amazing how quickly Sarah and Mannie can find life-threatening things of incredible importance to do when there are tents to set up). Despite a storm last night, all the tents were still up, so I set about putting the finishing touches to the site with streamers of prayer flags and paper lanterns. That's one of the things I love about the Woodford Festival -you're here for a week so you can settle right in. Bridge and I got a great site right near the Green Room. It's noisy but hey, you don't exactly come here to sleep!

We spent Christmas day just wandering around with our good friend Davydd McDonald who seems to have become our Woodford version of Dobby the Campsite elf, but without the politeness or even obeying of my orders. In fact he just turns up (out of thin air), drinks my coffee then buggers off, but he's grand value and knows more tunes than any six people I know.

Ok, the important bits. I'll keep a record throughout the festival (hopefully!):

Weather: It's hot, but not unbearable, very gentle scattered rain, but otherwise great. Evenings are just sublime
Number of Byron Bay organic doughnuts scoffed: 1
Huntsman Spiders around tent: 1
Ciders drunk: 5
Times I've fallen over a guy rope: 1

So, this morning (Friday) we received a mobile phone summons to meet with the Festival Director, Bill Hauritz. Bill met with a bit of an accident a few weeks ago so he's currently running the festival from a wheelchair while his terribly broken knee (and leg) heals. We were a tad nervous, after all, it's not everyday that you get a call from Katie, Bill's #1 asking if you're on site and would like a wee job...

We've been invited to perform at the opening ceremony, in the Amphitheatre tomorrow evening. Never would I have imagined we'd be playing the Amphitheatre here! We're going to be playing some of our own tunes, then backing an old mate, Terry Jacobs for a song before playing some more tunes. Should be a blast! The potential audience is massive.

Tonight there's a small session down at the Duck & Shovel, and although the festival doesn't really start until tomorrow, there's a surprising amount going on. I'm sitting in the Green Room typing this, one eye on the screen, one eye on the door watching the performers coming and going. It's such a great relaxing place, carpet, comfy chairs, constant curiosity wondering about the origins of all the people wandering in.

I've got to the point where I really have to stop and think about how many times I've performed here, both with Sunas and other bands, but it just doesn't matter. It really is something special. There's a phrase I used a few years ago to describe it; the same phrase once used by another guest here, Dougie McLean to describe his local ceilidh.

It's a privileged glimpse of how humanity can ac, given the right circumstances.

Sunas Christmas Message

In these serious times of political confusion and fear, we've decided that our Christmas Message this year should be uplifting, spiritual and in the full flavour of the season.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/fogxNVzeUn333OqgBEKU

Folk in the Foothills

Sunday 19th October

What a great day! Despite the exhaustion we had a fantastic time. The Folk in the Foothills festival is held in the small town of Jamberoo. The scenery is breathtaking! Huge thanks go out to Russell & Dave from the Illawarra Folk Club who invited us to play (and organised for us to have a shower, champs!). 

Our first gig was at 10:30am. Thanks to audience member John for the brilliant unrehearsed introduction! I particularly liked John's method of leaning over and whispering, 'How do you pronounce your name?!' The gig went really well and we played to a full house, so much so that extra chairs were needed! Afterwards we had about an hour to get some food before settling in for the afternoon program. We made the executive decision that seeing language-loving musician and comedian Martin Pearson and New Zealand based Maori Celtic group Pacific Curls was the way to go, particularly because we were playing after Pacific Curls and I love their sound. Martin rocked his show. It was just brilliant :) I love the fact that he rivals me in the hair department and forgets words to songs! Makes me feel less alone :)

Our last and final gig of the festival and our tour took place after Pacific Curls late in the afternoon. We video-recorded it especially for Mannie! At one point I asked the audience to file past after the gig and say 'Hi Mannie!' into my camcorder, but Bridgey had a better idea. She counted to three and the entire audience roared, 'HI MANNIE!!!' Even still, after the gig we still had people who stuck their heads around my camcorder and cheerily said hello anyway (we had no idea they did this until we viewed the footage taken after we'd gotten back home!). 

We were then asked to play two numbers in the Evening Show (Caledonia and the Ocean Set for interested parties) which was an absolute blast! It was roughly 7:30-ish at this point and Bridge & Paul's eyes were looking a tad glazed, so we said our goodbyes to the wonderful people we met throughout the day and headed off to Kiama in search of dinner, which turned out to be the largest serve of fish and chips we'd ever seen - although we were starving none of us made much of a dent in that massive lot of food! It was lovely chatting to Mannie eating dinner on the harbour.

The hospitable Monty let us crash at his house for the night, and may I say that we all slept like the dead. Festivals, as brilliant as they are, just kill you at the end of a long day, particularly since we'd all slept roughly 4 hours the night before, so a nice comfy bed was wonderful to crash in! 

And then the Big Drive Home was upon us before we knew it. A gruelling 12 hour drive from Kiama to Brisbane. Our intentions were to leave at 8am sharp, but we all *got up* at 8am, so that plan went to pot. After picking up supplies at the local Woolworths and taking hilarious video blogs, we finally hit the open road at 10am.

And we reached Brisbane at 5pm the following day! More on that trip soon . . .

Does This Look Familiar...?

I snapped this on our way up to play at the Woodford Festival Program launch.

A storm swept through, and as the rain cleared, the land began to steam. I took this out of the car window travelling at about 80kpm. It bears an uncanny resemblance to our album cover!

Listening to 'Something Randomly Generated by Bloom for iPhone', by Brian Eno & Peter Chilvers

Harrigan’s Gig/Upcoming Folk in the Foothills Festival

Sunday 18th Oct, 7:30am

Urg.

That is all.

Yesterday we woke up really groggily (ok, ok, I did). It was a shame we only stayed one night in Canberra as our motel was fantastic (go Bridget!). Bridge & I slept so soundly we didn't even hear Paul fall out of bed. We were on the road at 10am, and our goal was to reach Harrigan's Irish Pub in Harrigan Waters by 6pm.
Success!

It's a truly beautiful place. We all felt like plebs though, as we'd been travelling all day and arrived tired, sweaty and looking like shite (yes, it really does happen). We were hoping to make a good impression, but it didn't begin well. A lady approached us and asked me, 'What time are you starting?' Thinking she and her family were fans of Celtic music I answered, 'We start at 8pm', to which she replied, 'Oh good, I'll make sure we're gone before then.'

!

Fortunately the Harrington Waters gig was one of our best gigs of the tour, and the audience response was fantastic. It's always an interesting gig when you realise you're playing to a table packed full musicians. A very big hello to Nick, Charlie, Annette & Jeff and sorry for such a quick session after the gig!

We packed up fairly quickly, hit the road at midnight and spent the next seven hours gawping at the stunning fat waning yellow moon hanging lazily in the sky and lighting the landscape in the most eerie hue.

Half an hour ago we reached Jamberoo. Although Paul & I drove in shifts, neither of us has much recollection of the drive. What I do remember will be ingrained in my memory forever. I started driving around 4:30am, crossed the Harbour Bridge at 5am and drove over the Wollongong ranges just in time to see the most spectacular fiery sunrise spread out over the ocean at 5:45am. It was the most incredible sight! Bridget was awake at the time (the girl never seems to sleep, poor thing. Unlike Paul, who has the most extraordinary ability to fall asleep just about anywhere) and I was so glad to share one of my few sunrises with her :)

So now we're sitting at a little café in the town of Jamberoo, and all three of us are just shattered. We're either on the verge of tears or laughing hysterically at everything we hear, see or do. It's very quiet at our table right now, and we're clutching our coffees for dear life (double shot lattes all around).

Today we're performing at the Folk in the Foothills Festival & although I feel as though I'm walking through treacle I'm really looking forward to it. We've been told by quite a few people that it's a great festival. I'm hoping we can have a shower before our first performance at 10:30am, as I've never felt so manky in my life.

This is Sairey, signing off on one of many caffeine induced perk-ups.

A Night at The Folkus

So I'm sitting in bed in a motel in Armidale, a day after we were expected to be home in Brisbane. My lovely drivers are still fast asleep and seeing as they're the ones doing all the work I thought I might let them sleep a while longer.

I think we left off somewhere between Sydney and Canberra...

The gig at the Folkus in Canberra was great! We rolled up in Eddie to be greeted with a big hug from Billy, the organiser of the folk club who I have met many times before at the National Folk Festival. Not wearing his usual rainbow tights and tutu (as of course is standard festival wear), we got straight down to business and started soundchecking, meeting the other bands, running over the road for emergency coffees, and returning for emergency alcohol.

I was thrilled to see some of my friends turn up to see us play (Thanks Aleicia and Lachlan) and other unexpected guests (Hi to John and Di – who we randomly ran into during our coffee expedition, and Sair's friend Clint), as well as the ever supportive Canberra folkies and Ceili dancers. The other bands were fantastic and got everyone up and dancing. We then played a brief but successful concert before pulling all of the other muso's up on stage for a couple of mammoth tune sets.

We returned to our motel tired but happy and went to bed with thoughts of our disgustingly huge day the next day - we were driving 7 hrs North to Harrington, doing a 3 hour gig, then driving 6 hrs South to Jamberoo, arriving just in time to get on stage at Folk in the Foothills festival – and yes, we do know that we are insane!

Currently Listening to: "Cloudstreet Live" by Cloudstreet

Mon, 8:16pm (Eastern Standard Time)

Just a wee note to everyone who's been emailing and smsing us during
our epic 1200km trip today.

We're currently having a bite and a coffee in Tamworth, roughly
halfway. We're going on into the night, only 545km to go, but we're
all awake and perky

Cheers,

Paul, Sarah & Bridge

Sent by iPhone from somewhere...

An Introspective Hindsight Blog by Sairey

Right now I’m sitting in Eddie the sexy Tarago (sorry Mannie) munching on my favourite snack in the world, Herb & Spice Kettle chips. We’re listening to an interesting playlist consisting of Kavisha Mazella, TéTé, Paul Simon, Nancy Kerr & James Fagan, Dire Straits (1970’s stuff), the Poachers, Mark Knopfler and Martha Tilston. I have two of my best friends flanking me (and missing the other one terribly) and we’re on our way to Canberra in great spirits.

Last night we played at the Bald Faced Stag Hotel. In order to gain the best possible audience we did an enormous gig SOS mail out via Facebook, MySpace, emails and texts to all and sundry as well as to our wonderful folk contacts. Given the fact that we’ve never played Sydney before and we only had 24 hours notice before we played, we weren’t expecting miracles, but were secretly hoping to play to a fairly large audience.

We played to nine people :)

And I am not complaining! To Paul’s friend David, my cousin Aaron, his friend Daniel, my Uncle Mick, Aunty Alison, and Bridgey’s friends Ian, Joanne, Don & Diane – thank you for coming and supporting us!

We would also like to send out a huge thank you to everyone we contacted about this gig. Understandably most people already had made plans, but your well wishes for a great gig meant the world to us. And to everyone who spread the last minute word to friends, we are so grateful. At the end of the day whether we played to nine people or nine hundred, the support we have received is overwhelming.

The actual gig itself went really well. It was our first official tour gig without our beloved Mannie, and he was definitely missed. The Bald Faced Stag is a great venue, and we played a solid performance. Here we send out another thanks to our sound guy Drew. We felt bad that he broke a date with his girlfriend to do our gig, but he perked up after massive geek-out moment with Paul when they both discovered they owned iPhones (what is it about men with gadgets?)!

Tonight we’re playing at the Folkus which is held at the Serbian Club in Canberra. My voice has held up pretty well despite the fact that it’s still rough, so here’s hoping it will be clear for tonight. Paul & Bridgey keep asking if I’m upset with them because I haven’t been talking much!

One other thing that I’m really surprised about is how well we all get on. The three of us haven’t really had a break from each other for the past two weeks, and I imagined we would have our moments, but really all we’ve done is laugh and take the piss even more. This pleases me :)

So now the hills of luscious green are rolled out before us and we’re cruising toward Canberra. Onwards and upwards!

My First Gig in Sydney

So I'm sitting here by myself, on a drum riser on the stage of a venue in Sydney. The room is empty, there's an hour before the doors open. We've just sound checked and the girls have popped off to get changed. I have a cold beer, hot lights on my face and the smell of garlic prawns and old tobacco in my nose. The foldback speakers are humming with the ghosts of a thousand past concerts. My fingers and legs are tingling, as they always do before a gig.

We've no idea if they'll be ten or two hundred here tonight and I'm missing Mannie, my partner in pre-gig bullshit.

Damn I love my job.

Paul

Sent by iPhone from somewhere in Sydney's Inner East...

Sudden Gig

Righty-ho, we have a surprise, extra-special last minute gig in Sydney this very evening.

It's at the Bald-Faced Stag
345 Parramatta Road
Leichardt (10mins from Balmain)
Sydney

There's a standard $10 cover charge (and if we don't get enough people in we have to pay the sound guy, cashier and masseuse out of our own ''cider fund").

Doors open at 8pm and we'll be on for about two hours, depending on how saucy we're feeling and how loud you clap.

Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested, as we've not been able to do any publicity for this gig because it's at such short notice (though we are waiting on ABC Sydney about a possible live spot this afternoon...)

The Bald-Faced Stag has a reputation for live music and us getting in there on a Thursday was a real stroke of luck.

Fair Play to Yeh All,

Paul, Bridget and Sarah

Currently Listening to: "Two People Shagging in the Hotel Room Next Door. Eeeww''.

No Mannie

By now you may have heard that our beloved Mannie isn't on tour with us.

He is recovering from pneumonia right now, which developed from a terrible case of the flu. We'd had our suspicions during Byron & the Multicultural festival that Mannie was just too unwell to tour, and sadly on Sunday afternoon Mannie made the call that he needs to be at home resting rather than risk his health.

So please send get well wishes to the Mannoire, it's just not the same travelling and performing without him.

We love you Mannie, yes we do :) Get well soon or Bridget will take up the mandolin!

Things I Have Learned on Tour, By Paul.

So, things I have learned so far on tour, a brief interlude, by Paul.

Lentil burgers on the opening night are a bad idea. It’s amusing for the first hour of the next morning, then it turns nasty.

Toyota Taragos are great, and speedy. Too damn speedy. 60km/h feels way too slow. I wonder how many tickets we’ll get posted?

Sharing a room/car with two gorgeous girls may sound like fun/fantasy/dream/once-in-a-lifetime etc, but it’s not. You can’t do anything remotely manly without being accused of being terribly manly and then made to feel bad for extended periods.

Never let girls choose the iPod music. Ever.

Always add an extra half-hour to the estimated leaving time to allow for packing up of multiple make-up and wash bags, random, unnecessary and repeated checking under the beds for ‘forgotten things’ and general faffing around.

When driving, girls tend to squeal when passed by a semi-trailer. It’s kind of cute yet oddly terrifying at the same time.

Sleeping is not generally an option as there is just too much to see.

The entire road from Brisbane to Sydney is ‘under construction’, and we have been thanked for our patience so much we feel very loved.

Napping in a moving car, eating jelly snakes, drinking diet coke and Garlic & Parmesan Shapes are not conducive to a healthy bowel motions

Dear Mannie

Dear Mannie,

It’s the end of the first day of the rest of the tour.

How dramatic is that??

We already miss you :( Damn you for getting nasty pneumonia! You had better be resting or I’ll kick you up the date and Bridget will give you her infamous Teacher Eyes. So rest up, bish!

It’s funny, I hadn’t realized how much you actually talk during long car trips. You’re a regular comic chatterbox and we didn’t even know it (about the chatterbox part)! Sadly, I haven’t been able to do you justice as my own voice is a bit broken right now, but Paul is doing a splendid job. Since my voice has died I’ve never seen Paul and Bridget so happy. Hmmm.

The Tarago vs The ManVan

The Tarago is so *quiet*, the van sounds like a jet warming up for take-off and that’s just when it’s been started!

The Tarago doesn’t have the awesome petrol smell when you fill it up. The van does (which I love!).

The Tarago has windows on all sides!!! We are extremely gleeful about this :)

The Tarago goes from 0-60kms in roughly 20 seconds. The van goes from 0-10kms in 30 minutes.

It’s pretty feckin’ cool :) And may I add that I LOVE cruise control?

We arrived in Byron for a late lunch and were carefully guarded by Nigel the numpty no-foot seagull. He was extremely cool. While driving to Coffs Harbour we hit the most apocalyptic storm I’ve ever witnessed. It was mental! We were ready for the storm, though (a ha haaa). At one point we had debris and I was convinced a cow was about to fly past our windscreen a la Twister.

Omg, we pulled up outside a motel outside of Grafton that looked like something out of the Shining – seriously! We wanted to go inside and see whether or not ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ was plastered all over the walls. No maze, unfortunately, but there was a genuine ‘Stralian flag!

Paul is being extra manly in his farting to make up for your absence – it amuses him no end. Bridget is still maintaining her ‘ladylike’ status. We’ll just see about that :)

So now we’re at the Toreador Motel in Coffs Harbour, which is down from the Matador Motel, the Taco Motel, the Sombrero Motel and the Carlos Santana Motel. We have the smallest kettle known to man – Paul’s travelling coffee mug is bigger than this little piece of crap.

And now we’re, to quote my eloquent sisters, getting maggot on cider and Malibu and pineapple juice.

We just spoke to you and you pretty much know the story now, but we want you to feel extra special by writing publicly to you :) Rest up, that’s an order.

Love you long time my little strudel!

Nuala xxx

Qld Multicultural Festival

So... it seems like such a long time ago now but I have been given the task to write about the Multicultural festival on Sunday. And seeing as they (Sair and Paul) have threatened that they won't feed me if I don't do it, here I am.

Sunday started off really early... actually that's an understatement. Paul wasn't joking when he posted that photo at 6am in Byron. After a lovely (but very expensive) breakfast, we piled in Mannie's van to head back to Brisbane. Mannie was looking much worse for wear at this point which was not good considering what we had ahead of us this week.

After a quick detour to Mannie's to pick up Cheryl (my much loved but much paid out little car), we headed off to Roma St Parklands. After a few attempts we found where we were supposed to be, and wandered off to the amphitheatre. What a beautiful stage! And overlooking the beautiful stage... was a beautiful bar. The boys wasted no time running (very athletically) up the hill for a quick drink before the gig.

Half an hour later, as the boys rolled back down the hill (really - they had races!), we got ready to go on stage. We were still quite worried about Sarah's voice but she once again managed to pull something out of her arse and delivered a great show. Special mention to Mannie who managed to remain standing (only just) despite a few staggers (due to illness not alcohol), but things are not looking good for the rest of the tour.

Thanks to Martin for videoing the whole concert, Mil for taking the photos , Charley for the comic relief and dancing in front of the stage, and to everyone else for showing up and supporting us as you always do.

More soon, its cider o'clock right now :)

Day One: Byron Bay

From Sarah

We arrived in Byron Bay with relative ease (only saw one combi - incredible!), and since we had about an hour to kill before checking in at the Great Northern Hotel, Paul directed us to the infamous lighthouse at Cape Byron. The resulting photos are us with only a camera, time and our imaginations, and are pretty much self-explanatory.

Mannie wasn't feeling particularly wonderful, the poor thing, but perked up considerably after seeing a whale and was on a constant lookout afterwards. Conversations went a bit like this:

Mannie: *gasp* Look, it's another whale!

Paul: That's a rock, Mannie.

Mannie: No, it's moving, see?

Paul: That's the tide.

Mannie: But I saw it come to the surface and breathe!

Paul: That's the ocean spray.

We discovered that Bridget really does have some crazy hair under all that product (all the straightening in the world can't match a strong easterly salty gale!), and she channelled her inner Medusa for the afternoon (I was so proud).

After much merriment was made (and Paul trying to be all arty with the camera) we checked into the Great Northern with a view to shower before getting dinner and having a wee leisurely drink before heading over to the Railway Hotel.




All our best-made plans went completely to pot after we discovered daylight savings was now in full swing! We weren't in Kansas anymore, Toto. Oh the rushing around. Mannie had to eat something before he passed out from exhaustion. Setting up was interesting. I nearly had to physically harm Mannie as he was being very naughty and lifting heavy gear and then wondering why he was nearly coughing up a lung. In the end my most effective tactics were simply sitting on speakers/other gear so he was just unable to move them.

The gig itself was just fantastic. Hello to Dylan, Les, Barrie, Alasdair, Sam, Mick, Ben, Eric, Darren & Rachel!

A special hello to mine & Paul's lovely housemate Denae & her partner Glen who happened to be staying in Byron on Saturday night.


What a great way to spend a weekend! I've decided I love Byron :)


I threw some massive tantrums at Mannie as we were packing up because he just couldn't help himself and kept lifting the heavy gear. He got angry back at us after Bridget gave him the Teacher Look and insisted he was on an adrenaline high and that we were treating him like a cripple. Uh huh I thought, as I sat on yet another speaker . . .

It was at this point that Mannie *crashed*. We all knew he wasn't well, but I've never seen someone physically tire out like Mannie did. He literally ping-ponged off the hotel corridors going back to our rooms. I didn't sleep very well either, I coughed the night away. Sorry Bridge!

I didn't want to get up the next morning. We had a 6am start. Gross.

And then it was off to the Queensland Multicultural Festival. Paul had to drive the van. We're a bit worried about the Mannoire, must admit :( More about our Sunday antics soon . . .

Byron Bay, 6am (argh)

Our beautiful wild gypsy fiddler girl

Mannie's New Hat

We love Byron, especially Mannie, as seen by his purchase of a
'Lighthouse' hat!

Tour Diary - Byron!

From Sarah, blogger extraordinaire (also because I'm not talking to save my voice, but still on a huge high after Travelling Man was played on Triple J on Thursday night!) Once again we've piled into the magical van of the Mannoire and we're heading to Byron Bay for the first gig of our tour. It's been an interesting week for myself & Mannie, as he is battling the flu & I lost my voice completely toward the end of our gig at the Meadowbrook Hotel last Friday. This week has been very touch & go with chest & throat infections & a stern lecture from my doctor that I'm not allowed to speak at all (something I've *tried* to stick to!). I've been acutely aware through my medicated haze that, as lead singer, unless I get well the tour is off. No pressure, hey? Fortunately, after a week off work & lots of rest, the cocktail of medication I've been on is finally working and I should be ok to sing tonight. I haven't attempted to sing at all this week, but I got busted by Bridge yesterday singing Eddi Reader's song Perfect & I hit the high notes at the end, a very good sign! We're performing at the Railway Hotel tonight - I'm so excited as I've never been to Byron before. We just passed the official You Are Now Entering NSW sign, woo hoo! Time to go and shift in my seat before my behind goes numb (I do love the van, but the back seats aren't the most comfortable things to sit on). One of us will blog from Byron later on . . . I'm going to try to bribe Mannie into blogging, wish me luck! :)

Neurem Creek Part Two...

So after what we hoped would be a good night of sleep went utterly to pot.

I spent the majority of the night on Snore Patrol, making sure Mannie didn’t purr loudly and wake anyone. He was like a jet engine warming up. Every time I heard him start to hit full throttle I leaned around the tent door and whacked him on his feet, making him whuff in his sleep and stop snoring immediately. Despite what Paul said at our concert, there was no stick involved! Seriously though, I think this may have happened six or seven times throughout the night. Bridget told me she didn’t sleep at all, poor thing. This is because unfortunately there were a few other purring persons close to our campsite and we could hear everything!
 
Come morning (yes, 8am, poor me) we awoke and immediately made coffee. That’s what I love about this band – we get our priorities straight. None of this instant tripe, either – the ground beans were proudly supplied by Cel at Abrisca’s coffee in Wooloongabba (gotta love that product placement! Sunas is also sponsored by the letters S, B & P and the number 52). Soon we were joined by the lovely Helen Rowe, Chuck & Chris from Stockade, and John from the Pirate Brides and had ourselves a morning party. The main topic of conversation was Mannie’s beautiful mandolin, which was made by Davy Stuart. People just can’t believe we bought him one for his birthday. It was passed around between them all (I think they’re secretly addicted now). What a great group of people!
 


The rest of the day passed from watching the incredible acts at the concert tent to mooching at our campsite which was roughly 20 metres away, so we never actually missed a performance as we heard everything. Aah yes :) Highlights for me were Women in Docs (as always, God Roz knows how to rock that guitar!), Helen, the Barleyshakes & Little Creatures. Pretty soon it was our turn to perform, and to everyone who hung out watching the evening concert, thank you for making our gig so memorable! I can’t ever remember having so much fun on stage. The positive feedback was also very much appreciated. Paul mentioned the Mannie snore story while we were onstage and the next day complete strangers were passing us and asking if we slept ok. There’s nothing like letting your hair down after a great gig, so we hit the *delicious* mulled wine and settled in to enjoy the rest of the night. Note: Never let Mannie attempt to build a fire. His idea of getting a fire going is to heap big chunks of wood together, douse the lot in petrol and throw a match on (reminiscent from his Belfast days, perhaps?). Mannie was so proud for about 5 minutes until the entire thing died and went to the big incinerator in the sky. We had John from the Pirate Brides, Alan from the Poms from Oz, Mannie, Paul & Dave all trying to revive the fire with different techniques, but to no avail. So we moved chairs and sat around an already glowing fire with Martin Pearson and drank the evening away listening to the *fantastic* singing session going on. Martin and I shared Hallelujah stories, which proved amusing (my story is the one where I copped attitude from a very knowledgeable 6 year old girl who insisted the song was specifically written for the movie Shrek; his is more authentic as Rufus Wainwright contributed to quite a few of the ‘darker’ verses), and then I crashed again.

 

Sunday morning came far too early, so the others got up early and buggered off to buy organic food and walk by the creek. I got up to a completely empty campsite and dirty dishes. Morning! Mannie didn’t snore quite as much the night before, which was rather nice, but he also didn’t sleep much, so that explained why. We packed up the majority of our campsite and wandered over to relax and enjoy Cloudstreet’s gig. I’ve seen them many times, but they truly are great performers. Laughed up a kidney listening to the *mental* Hydrangeas (next time I forget the words I’m just going to say ‘penis’ and see where it takes me), and then had a wonderful relaxing afternoon sharing our picnic blanket and having laughs with Little Creatures and Cloudstreet while listening to the beautiful guitar playing of Ewan Mackenzie.
 
The Neurum Creek festival was fantastic. Big thanks to Angela Kitzelman for the opportunity to play and to everyone who helped make Neurum a brilliant experience. Now if only I could stop Mannie snoring . . .
 
 
Listening to Him-Bo by Capercaillie

Neurum Creek Part One . . .

Thursday 11th & Friday 12th September

We absolutely love festivals :) So we were particularly excited about performing at Neurum Creek and being part of a festival that boasted such a fantastic line-up of talented people. We had everything planned out. Bridge, Paul & I would share a tent and Mannie would sleep in his van thus ensuring no snores would come through and keep us all awake. The week before Neurum Mannie decided his van needed a service as he didn't want it to break down on our way up there. All was well and we were busy. Bridget had organised herself into a cardboard box, Paul had procured enough coffee to keep us buzzing for the entire weekend, and I received a phone call from Mannie on Thursday afternoon telling me that his van wouldn't be ready until the Monday after Neurum and he would have to share the tent with us . . .

Oh Mother above, this is not good.

I, like pretty much everyone else who has crossed paths with him, adore Mannie to pieces. I just don't adore sharing a tent with a snorer! Mannie can pull walls in with his purring - this is no joke. But there was nothing else we could do, he needed a place to sleep (a typical complaint from Paul - 'Can't he just sleep outside?'), and so we changed plans to accommodate the lovely yet silently-sleep-challenged Mannikins. So after transport preparations that would have made a tactician proud (Bridgey's parents Paula & John took the tent, air mattresses, food and most importantly, the alcohol; and her sister Georgia took our bedding and some instruments) we loaded up my RAV with snacks, instruments, gumboots and most importantly, alcohol, and we were off.

Well I have never laughed so hard during a car trip in my life. Whoever was the loudest got heard and laughed with/at, but I must say Bridget was in particularly fine form, delivering zingers that made both Mannie & I cry from laughter. We all arrived slightly intoxicated (except for me as I was driving. I rectified this immediately by cracking open the biggest cider I could find) and ready to put up the tent. For those who have read past blogs, when Paul, Bridgey & I went to Woodford to put up the tent it took us nearly 3 hours. This time around we had Bridget's army of a family helping, and our entire campsite went up in less than half an hour. It was absolutely amazing and we were so thankful! I proved to be utterly hopeless at putting the tent pegs in, all I did was mash the grass with the hammer. Mannie eventually took it off me and couldn't stop laughing, I have no idea why!



For those who haven't visited Neurum Creek, this place is absolutely amazing. Situated at the bottom of spectacular mountain scenery, the campsites are huge and you don't have the feeling of living in people's pockets that can sometimes happen whilst camping.

Friday night was brilliant. After a healthy dinner of vegie burgers courtesy of Bridget we caught a few of the acts and then Bridge & I decided to check out the surrounding areas by going for a walk in the moonlight. It was so clear under the full moon, which I was extremely thankful for as Bridgey nearly walked onto a snake during our travels! Once we came back at 11pm we all decided to pike out on the session and get some sleep instead. The weather was blazing during the day, but damn cold when the sun went down! Armed with extra blankets & with some trepidation, we all settled down to sleep; Sunas style.



Listening to: The Wonderful Session going on not 50 yards away

Slack Arses

Just a wee note to say sorry that we've not been posting much lately.
There's been a fair bit going on behind the scenes and we're also in
the process of shifting the entire website to a new server (so if we
go down for a few days soon, that's why)

And of course we've been wonderfully busy. The Neurum Festival was
just magic; old friends, new friends, past tunes, fresh songs, cider,
mulled wine, lentil burgers, bush fires, snakes, sunburn, snoring...

We're off on tour soon, and that really will be an adventure. A whole
bunch of interesting gigs starting with the massive Queensland
Multicultural Festival and culminating in an appearance at the Folk in
the Foothill Festival near Illawara (and we can't wait to finally play
in Byron Bay. Tequila and tattoos!).

Then we're heading away deep into the studio to ramble through some
new stuff in November. The next album is very much on our minds at the
moment, and the new tunes and songs that we're writing are sounding
wonderfully together already.

December brings heat, and that means Woodford. We're delighted to say
that we've been invited to perform again, and are just fizzing in
anticipation.

We're back down in Tasmania in January, playing at the wonderful
Cygnet Festival, then staying on to give a special day-long
MasterClass (details soon!). We might be lingering in Tassie a while
longer too. More info as we confirm it.

And later in the year comes our first appearance at the Wintermoon
Festival and hopefully a few others.

Like I said, sorry for bring slack arses!

Listening to: 'Room to Roam, the 2008 Collector's Edition' by The Waterboys

Tasmania...

No specifics yet, but I can most assuredly say that we will be back
down in our beloved Tasmania in January, in a nice big way :-)

Listening to 'Melody' by Sharleen Spiteri

Sent by iPhone from somewhere windswept & interesting

Childers

What a weekend!
 
Despite me getting sick and developing a mild case of narcolepsy...



Day 2 of Childers was incredible. Once again we caught up with our panpipe friends Walisuma, who just get better and better every year. The boys just couldn’t pronounce the name properly either. Mannie called them his friends 'Wally Su' and Paul called them 'Walimasuma'. Note to my sister Hayley who came with us to Childers last year –the shakers they have that look like peanuts on a string are actually goat toenails (pointed out by my percussion expert friend Kristie)! I wonder if they get the urge to paint them?
 
Mannie was feeling fine despite the ‘enormous’ gash in his nose. Shadow the female 5 pound puppy attacked him with an unprovoked vengeance. I offered to camouflage it with concealer, but Mannie declined -I think he wanted to arouse sympathy. The first gig went really well –despite playing at the inexcusable hour of 9:45am! Mannie was ready to cry because his foldback was so loud, but he slipped the sound guys a tenner with sweet whispers and soon got his way. It was a tough gig, playing outside on a cool winter morning meant our hands were freezing and we couldn’t play very quickly. Hello coffee! Between gigs Bridget & I abandoned the boys and explored the markets. It was brilliant –there’s nothing like two gals on a serious shopping mission! We came away with jewellery and more clothes –Mannie tried to enforce a rule that forbade us to stop spending our hard-earned band money on gig outfits, but he immediately backed off when we both stared him down, with Bridget giving him her best Teacher Look and me nearly freezing him out of orbit. Don’t even go there.
 
Our second gig was, using the wonderfully-coined term, a corker. Playing at the much better time of 12:45pm (I was actually awake here), the street was packed and we played massively overtime at the request of the audience. I must mention my wonderful friend, Brisbane Sunas photographer and salesperson extraordinaire Kristie who at every gig walked around selling our album like hotdogs at a baseball game. We’ve never seen anything like it –a big hello to our new fans and thank you for buying an album! She was also the groomer, fixing things like my unruly hair and adjusting the boys’ collars on their shirts. Thank you Kristie for your help, it was greatly appreciated. You are a champion!
 
Afterwards, we crashed and had a healthy lunch with the lovely Jan & Col (who looks so much like the guy from Jim’s Mowing it’s incredible) and Kristie & Brad. Little Shadow was so tired out at this stage she just snoozed in Brad’s arms. We like her when she’s tired, she’s very cute and far less bitey. Thanks especially to Jan & Col for letting us take over your house again –that massive fry-up breakfast won’t be forgotten in a hurry! All in all it was a wonderful festival, and catching up with great friends made it all the more special. Our next festival is at Neurum Creek from the 12th – 14th September. We can’t wait!

Listening to 'Les cousinages' by Genticorum

Mannie Mauled by Savage Puppy!

You can't really see it here, but poor Mannie was SAVAGED by a terrible, fearsome, fangy, 8-inch long puppy. He was cuddling Shadow, the new baby belonging to our friends Brad and Kristie, when it decided that it would attach itself to his snozzer. It was like a baby crocodile, and no amount of screaming, slapping, pencils in the ear, fingers up the bum, Steve Irwin 'Crikeys!' or even wailing like an utter red-haired stepchild would help. He flailed around the house, knocking over vases, bookshelves, small crystal duck ornaments, the plasma TV, the rare Brett Whitely prints....Shadow clamped on his face like a heavy brown sock. Eventually the vicious, furry, cute-yet-deadly creature released him, and Mannie fell to the ground, writhing, hands to his ruined face, blood almost spurting from the incredible 3 millimeter graze on his nose. It took us a long time to coax him out of the corner he dragged himself into, whimpering and trembling with fear, hackles up. Shadow merely wandered off, licking her chops.

Sick Sair

Well after my blogging efforts last night I promptly came down with a cold. The boys & Bridge filed an injunction against me & it is now illegal for me to come within five feet of them :) I'm on cold & flu tablets and the pseudoephidrine has kicked in, so I'm feeling no pain! We're currently sitting in a little cafe chilling out before our first gig in a few hours. Our sound check consisted of me, Paul & Bridge yelling at the sound man to turn the mando down. Unfortunately it didn't work. We're sticking to our healthy eating plan & Mannie is still on his anti-chicken crusade. It's a gorgeous day today, lovely and cool. Hopefully it won't be too windy during the gigs otherwise I'll have to invent really peculiar ways to play my flutes! Time for a drink :)

A dark & coldy night . . .

It's my turn to blog noi :) I'm bouncing around in the back of the van with Bridgey. This is through no fault of Mannie's, he's a very safe driver. It's the bloody roads! They seem to get worse the further north we go. So we're coming up to Maryborough now, and my backside has pretty much upped and left. Yay, break time! Back soon . . . ok, on the road again. Paul insists on having the window open & we're all freezing. Bridget is camped under my blanket & Mannie has been grumbling since Brisbane, so he's just stopped the van, rummaged around the back and come back wearing an All Blacks beanie. He looks like a Belfast thug! Ok, now he's pulled it off and decided to pump up his tyres. Maybe it'll look a bit suspicious :) Paul has taken this opportunity to clean the windscreen with the beanie :) Back on the road. Again. Mannie went to turn in the direction of Brisbane, leading Paul to say, 'Left, Mannie!' because left is the way the iPhone told us to go. About an hour ago the boys were geeking out to a Ricky Gervais podcast (thanks to the everpresent iPhone!), while Bridge & I turned on the iPods (listening to Eliza Carthy & Kathryn Tickell respectively). There really isn't much chance of resting back here, which is annoying as we desperately need it. It's been a long week. I think I'll settle in with some Lior and see where it takes me :) Til later, Sairey.

Childers Festival, Day 0.5

To quote the Levellers: white lines, red lights, black tar rivers.

We're on a rainy Bruce Highway, heading north with 2 hour old foccacia, fresh coffee (or tea in Bridge's case) and loud *loud* music. The sun has just set, leaving behind squid-ink clouds, and we have about 4 hours before we reach Bundaberg, where we're staying with friends tonight. We've already decided that this trip will be named the Súnas Health Retreat Weekend. Mannie is suffering serious chicken withdrawl, and keeps muttering "Damn you, Jamie Oliver, damn you to hell.."

The only thing I have to report so far is that Mannie already has the squirts with Bridge and Sair for them pointing out that he looks like a nodding dog when he drives. Mannie just blames it on the boogie.

Right, my turn to take the wheel for a spell...

Listening to "Wired" by Mike McGoldrick

Sent by iPhone from somewhere windswept & interesting

The Anatomy of a Gig

So, last Sunday morning I was on the phone to a friend when I realised time was creeping onwards and that I'd have to go soon to start getting ready for the gig. When she expressed surprise that I'd be getting ready for an evening gig so early, I explained about how long it took to pack, drive down there, set up, sound check etc, and it got me thinking. . .

And here it is. The Anatomy of a Gig. A Gold Coast gig to be precise.

I’ll start off with the basics. The gig was due to start at 5pm down in Surfers Paradise, and was the usual 4 hour affair.


Mr Van and his...Van

I started getting ready at 1pm, sorted out clothes (Súnas has a moderate dress standard of no gigging in jeans, T-shirts or runners. Luckily enough this is something we all agree about, so we go to an effort –you have to look at us as well as listen after all!), checked through all my gear and retuned a new string that had broken the night before. I arrived to Mannie’s place at 2pm to find he’d been a very good boy and already loaded the van. We had a quick cup of coffee, waited for the girls to arrive then managed to set off about 20 mins later. The iPod was hooked up, and a truly bizarre play list of everything from Trad Irish to Bowie to Tom Petty to Roxette to Rachid Taha was soon thumping. After a frantic phone call from Mannie’s house, we returned to pick up the forgotten bodhran (my bad) and eventually got to Surfers just after 3.


Bridge tests my theory about blue lights, right before she kicks it over....

Set up take a fair bit of time. It’s usually quite a laugh, but there’s a lot of gear to lug and plug, and this generally takes about an hour, or a bit more if we’re mucking around. Basically, there are two sets of speakers to run, the ones you hear, called front of house, and our ones, which are called foldbacks (if we didn’t have those speakers on the floor in front of us, we wouldn't be able to hear each other, even in a fairly quiet room). Four microphones and the accompanying leads and stands, then four different instrument feeds and the assorted effects boxes and gumph for them. Hang the banner, arrange the lights (running power for everything from the central box too), a round of ciders, instrument stands. . . Then it’s time for the soundcheck, and this can take anything form 15 minutes to half an hour depending if there are any gremlins. Everything needs to be clear, tone-set and levelled with everything else, with care on the fiddle (which is a twitchy instrument at best) and the vocals. These settings vary from gig to gig, so we can’t just set and leave, oh, and they sometimes have to vary between what we hear and what you do (and believe it or not this is also dependant on what’s at our backs, be it a window, a wall, or a wooden panel). It sounds really farty, but one thing a sound engineer friend told me years ago is that most audiences don’t differentiate between simply bad sound, and a bad band. That’s to say if you’re a very tight, great band, but you’re badly mixed, a lot of people will still just think you’re bad. Unless you’re Lunasa, then you can play in the Concert Tent at Woodford in the middle of a powercut and still sound shockingly good. So we always take our time. Then it’s off to get changed, put on make up (Mannie) and have another cider (Bridge and Sair). I, of course, sit in a dark corner and meditate on life, the universe and my chords.


I think that's Patrick. Mannie insulted him and now they're brothers. It's an Irish thing.

The actual gig is kind of the easy part, though down at Surfers we pretty much play flat-out for four hours, with three breaks. We used to use set-lists but these days we just call it depending on the gig. Sunday was no exception. The usual bunch of mad buggers were in the house, so it was shouts and cheers from the get-go. It was great fun though, especially seeing Connor doing his dancing again! By the time we finished we were our usual 20 minutes overtime. Don’t know how this happens. I think it’s just because we enjoy ourselves so much.


Signing stuff is fun!

So, there’s a longish period to wind down, sell cds, meet people, sign them up to the mailing list, have a drink etc, then we have to start on breaking down the gear. Unlike setting up, this only takes about half an hour. We have to make sure all the instruments are cleaned, leads are free from cider spills (baby wipes are a godsend), and anything that’s given us trouble is marked before being put away. We see that the light that Bridge punted halfway across the stage is marked for replacement, and the appropriate fee removed from her apprentice's wages.

Then, food time. In Surfers on a Sunday night, we’re spoiled for choice. As long as that choice is takeaway and involves deep-frying something of dubious origin and biological status. We opted for a grilled chicken burgers, and because it was such a mild night (for Midwinter) we walked up and ate it on the beach. Ironically, we’re all on a health kick at the moment, so most of the food went half-eaten. Even Mannie left a bit of chicken in the bag (but that might have been more because the enormous Buddha of a man in a puffy jacket and a jewelled Raj turban was making eyes at him). Then we hit Starbucks for our usual tipple and it was back to the van and the ambient music cranked up for the drive home ('Winter’s Embrace' by Altus, this time, a lovely, hour-long piece of beauty -he gives his music away for free from his site, so go and enjoy!).


Bridge reflects on a manky chicken burger. Sarah oogles seagulls.

We stopped once at the deserted Yatala Pie Shop so Mannie could ‘stretch his legs’, then it was back to his place to unload the gear. By this time it was usually way past midnight, and Bridget still had another 40 minute drive home ahead of her.

Sunday was about 12 hours. 4 of which we were paid quite well for.

Wouldn’t swap it for anything. Seriously.


Listening to 'Regret Over the Wires' by Matthew Ryan

A Medieval Tale

So first of all I should apologise for the delay in this blog. Unlike some people in this band, I don’t have an iPhone attached to my hand so it has taken me a little longer to find time to sit down and write this.

Our medieval tale started quite a few weeks back, on a Saturday morning in the Queen Street Mall. We were playing at centre stage as part of Brisbane’s Fete de la Musique, a brilliant day of multicultural music all around Brisbane city. We had a fantastic time and were happy to see a few familiar faces in the crowd, as well as lots of unfamiliar ones (some who even bought CDs!). We were un-phased by the photographers and film crews... until we learnt we were being shown on a big screen somewhere in France, at their own Fete de la Musique. Bonjour to any new French Sunas fans :)

Ok, moving on to our first medieval experience. The costume shop. What a great place! We tried on just about everything slightly medieval in sight, and are please to report that the Romeos found their Juliets.

From here we piled back into Mannie’s van for a trek up to Brendale, and Megan’s birthday bash. Now there are many stories to be told here... let's just say Sair and Paul were very inebriated (and quite vocal about it!). We handed over the set list to the birthday girl, made friends with the ‘balcony people’, who even ended up joining the party, heard some interesting MC work from our very own Sarah (ask Mannie about that one!), and saw a spectacular display of Paul’s strength (dropping an entire carton of Mercury cider – how very very dare you Paul!). 

So that was a typical Saturday in the life of Sunas... then one week later...

The Medieval Faire. Once again jumping into the Mannie-mobile, we headed North, this time to Caboolture. What a sight! The room was gorgeous, with long tables, banners and lots of velvet, and the high table up on the stage. Of course we figured that’s where we should be, so we wandered up (in our jeans and t-shirts) and found some tapestry-clad people to direct us to our performing area. All jokes aside, everyone looked fantastic and we met some really great people that night. And Mannie discovered that Spatchcock does taste like chicken!

We were also lucky enough to have the ever lovely Helen travelling with us, so we have her to thank for many of the pics through the night (which hopefully Paul will be putting up soon!).

Well that's the end of ye olde blog for me, and back to the real world for another week (until Childers Festival of Cultures this weekend...)

Bye for now

Listening to: 'Town of Athlone' by Karan Casey

Thoughts...

We're getting busy.

It's been a fair while since we've been in the position where we're
having to turn down work, but at the rate our calendar is filling up
for this year, it won't be long. What's got all of us excited is the
variety of gigs. We've got the fresh local venues like the refurbished
Irish Club and Fiddler's Green down the coast, but it's the festivals
that have us excited. Next week is the Childers Festival of Cultures,
which we loved last year, then there's Neurum Creek and the Folk in
the Foothills way down on southern NSW, which will be part of our tour.

And to say we're excited about that...

Actually, while I'm here I have to point out that Bridget and Sarah
are putting the whole thing together by themselves, in a way only the
female contingent of the band could. Mannie and I are left pretending
that we know what they're doing and occasionally contributing thoughts
on poster design or miles per gallon of the van.

We're in good hands :)

After the tour comes Woodford (fingers crossed) then in January it
looks like we'll be heading down to Tasmania again for some *very*
special gigs. More on that soon.

Like I said, we're getting busy...


Listening to 'A Song for the Rosy Cross' by Sharon Shannon & Mike Scott

Sent by iPhone from...somewhere

Ode to Mannie

Such a lot has happened in the past week.
 
There will be a blog posted about our experience at the Medieval Faire soon, but for now I must dedicate this blog to wholesomeness that is . . . Mannie.
 
Last Tuesday we were due to rehearse, however due to Bridget having the Black Lung we decided against it. Besides, Tasmanian legend and all-star Sunas member Helen was in Brisbane, so plans were made for Mannie, Paul & myself to catch up with her at our favourite venue, the Three Monkeys.
 
Anyone who has visited the Monkeys knows that sometimes you have Buckley’s chance of finding a vacant table. Fortunately we managed to find one in the beer garden next to the water fountain. The moment we all sat down, the laughs started. They always do. For some reason the boys are extra immature when around Helen (don’t be fooled, she’s just as naughty as they are). Our laughter attracted a lot of curious stares from people using the water fountain. Mannie gets particularly animated when retelling a story, and was in his element all night. We let him go; Mannie loves nothing better than to be the centre of attention.
 
Tonight was no different.
 
While we were waiting for our beverages, we were entertained with a dramatic retelling of naked Tassie moonlit frolicking fuelled by 8 ciders (it’s true!). Mannie paused to what appeared to be to catch his breath. But no. Instead, a look of intense concentration appeared on his mischievous face. Mannie looked directly at me, took a deep breath, leaned forward in his chair . . .
 
. . . and farted.
 
This was not your standard fart. This was a long, loud, split-your-pants-to-kingdom-come fart. We’ve never heard anything like it. As is the usual reaction to Mannie’s arse performances, we fell about laughing hysterically. What made it even more hysterical was that a man was standing directly behind Mannie at the water fountain when it happened, and without even revealing he’d heard this abomination, continued stoically filling up his cups with water while we were crying with laughter. Let me digress. This fart was so loud that several tables of people not only heard it, but laughed along with us, then stopped and watched the four of us nearly fall out of our chairs with hilarity for the next 10 minutes. One guy called out, ‘Gimme 5 minutes and I’ll match your efforts!’ Our waitress chose this exact moment to bring us our drinks – she had heard it too!
 
It took us quite a while and a second order of drinks for us to calm down.
 
I know I’ve said it before, but damn, I love this band :)
 
 
Listening to: ‘Santiago’ by Loreena McKennit

Flying High

Here’s an odd little snippet of news:

We’ve just found out that we’re on the Lufthansa Airlines playlist for September/October.

Odd to think that somewhere, 50,000 feet above the twinkling lights of Berlin, someone might be listening to Sunas soon...

Listening to: ‘Daybreak’ by Altus

A Wee Update

Well it may seem like we’ve drifted off the radar entirely, but I assure you we haven’t. We’ve been busy writing and rehearsing new songs and tunes for the next album and are looking forward to unveiling the material in the next upcoming gigs. Watch out for some songs sung by the lovely Bridgey, which I’m profoundly thankful for!
 
From a creative perspective it’s nice to plan the next album with four individual inputs from scratch (not to say that Bridget wasn’t involved with the creative concept of A Breath Away From Shadow, but a few of the tracks had already been decided on before she joined Súnas). Of course, we’re still coming down from finishing the first album; the second won’t be out for a little while yet!
 
Speaking of albums, A Breath Away From Shadow was recently reviewed in the Courier Mail and we were thrilled to have been given 4 out of 5 stars! We’ll post a copy up soon. Some other exciting news is that Travelling Man & Turn That Boat Around has been added to the BBC Radio Wales Celtic Heartbeat program playlist. We got some lovely comments from the host, Frank Hennessy and his show can be streamed from here. We also have special events in the pipeline, so keep an eye on the gig listings; we’ll update everyone as soon as we can!
 
Thanks again for your support, much coffee to yeh ;)

Listening to: ‘Mercy Street’ by Peter Gabriel

Thanks

Just a quick note to say thank you to everyone that came out on Friday to support us at the Queenland Irish Centre.

The gig was really great and it’s wonderful to be back in a central city location again. Makes it much easier for our northside friends to come and see us (and for us to grab coffees at 1am! ;)), and the recently refurbished Bunratty Brasserie is great now it’s on the ground floor with direct street access. We’re going to be tweaking the stage location over the next few gigs, to try and get an optimum sound/viewing level.

We’re back at the Irish Club on Friday 13th (and working out dates for the rest of the year) so please, come on town and have a sup of the best Guinness in Brisane.

Listening to: ‘A Deeper Silence’ by Steve Roach

The Appendix (cue scary music...)

Ok so here’s my side of the story… as far as I remember.
 
Sair and I had just come back from the National Folk Festival and were starting to think about when to have the launch. My friends George and Davydd had suggested that we do a joint event, as they had just recorded their first album also. After seeing them perform at the National, Sair and I were set on the idea of a double launch (seriously – these guys are amazing!) and were ready to discuss our options. We had a list of venues to consider and were throwing around a few different ideas when George announced that he was leaving on a 7 week tour with his family band, before leaving for America. This meant that to do a double launch, we had 1 available date, and it was in 2 weeks time.
 
From my knowledge of the function world, I figured that most places would simply laugh at us for suggesting that this type of even could be pulled together in under 2 weeks. But the Jubilee Hotel came to our rescue, and through many many emails, lists and ‘teacher moments’, I managed to squeeze some preferences out of the other 5 and convey what we wanted (quite specifically) to the Jube.
 
This would have all been fine… until the day before the launch. I woke up feeling ok. Had some breakfast, went for a walk… and had a bit of a pain in the stomach. Within an hour, I couldn’t move and off we went to the GP. He barely looked at me before sending me off to the hospital and another hour later I was in surgery. Of course I took it all very well…. Or maybe not… My poor family had to deal with a very distressed daughter going through lists and details just in case I wasn’t able to make it to the launch. My surgeon was extremely supportive (Thanks Dr Adib!!) and said that he would put it on my chart to have me discharged in time for the launch. (Mind you at this stage he thought I was just attending, not playing). The nurses however, thought I was totally insane for attempting to go out, let alone play in a concert less than 24 hours after surgery….
 
Anyway, as you all know, I made it. Very tired and sore, loaded with painkillers and possibly still a little sedated, I made it to the launch about 15mins before the doors opened. From here, I remember very little. I know that there were a lot of people there (thank you and I’m sorry if I was a little vague), there was food and drink involved (which I was not allowed any of), and there was music (some of which apparently came from me!).  Mannie followed me around making sure that I was sitting down and not doing anything too stupid, Sarah was equally concerned stopping me from lifting things, and Paul… sent me a tray of mini-appendix-looking sausage things and told me that I could be easily replaced! (Feel the love)
 
Ok, well that’s the end of my launch experience. I am now almost fully recovered and will be back to gigging this weekend at Fiddler’s Green. Thanks to everyone for looking out for me at the launch, and I hope you all had a great time. I think the others have thanked just about everyone else, so I’ll just echo what they said and leave you there until next time…

A CD Launch of Sorts...

Well it’s been an absolutely mental few weeks for Sunas. Paul came down with the Black Lung (*cough cough*) and I developed laryngitis and promptly lost my voice completely! It was the first time in a while the boys could get a word in! Meanwhile throughout this Bridget was busy organising the launch for everyone as we were all out of action. We were on track for what promised to be a stellar although hastily arranged double CD launch with George Jackson and Davydd McDonald. My voice came back on the Friday beforehand, so Bridgey and I got together and learnt a few tunes to play with George & Davydd as a finale. We were joking that it was her turn to get sick, and she faithfully promised that would get sick on Monday – AFTER the launch.
 
Saturday midday. My mobile rings, it’s Bridget. I answer, but it’s not Bridget, it’s her father John telling me Bridget was on her way to hospital with appendicitis. I felt my stomach turn to ice, and after 15 ‘Oh my God’ proclamations, I let the boys know we would be playing Meadowbrook sans our beloved fiddler! The launch was still going ahead. Saturday, 2pm. Bridget’s mother Paula called me to tell me that Bridgey was in emergency surgery having her appendix out. The surgeons said she should be able to make the launch, weren’t sure if she would be able to play, but were forbidding her to sing. They also wanted a copy of the album! Paula was utterly wonderful, and before saying goodbye, forbid me to panic. OH MY GOD, WHO’S PANICKING???
 
Cue 4pm. I’m in the van travelling with Mannie to Meadowbrook discussing Bridgey and hoping she’ll be ok for the launch. My mobile rings again. It’s none other than Bridget herself – straight out of surgery, may I add! Mannie was so excited he nearly drove us into a ditch. She was calling to let me know that she wouldn’t be gigging that night, but would do her damndest to be at the launch the next day. Meanwhile, she was sending the wonderful Georgia to come and help us out ‘with a list of a few things to do’. Ok then! Fortunately we managed to secure my sister Hayley (with an hour’s notice) to gig that night, it was wonderful to sing with her again!
 
Sunday dawned bright and early. We arrived at the Jubilee Hotel and got stuck into setting up. Georgia arrived shortly after and handed me the clipboard. ‘A few things to do’ turned out to be an entire A4 page filled with things to confirm, do and check off! Well Georgia and Davydd turned out to be my right hand people. Big thanks to you legends! They kept me sane by helping getting things accomplished while the boys sound checked (Mannie: ‘One, two, buckle my shoe!)and did secret men’s stuff (Paul holding the mic and slapping Mannie on the top of his head so it came out through the speakers. Mannie: ‘Ow, my head!). George’s family were also invaluable helping us setting up – thanks guys. I kept a stressed wary eye on the clock, and by some miracle we all managed to be ready by 2:30pm.
 

Not only did Bridget manage to turn up (held together by stiches and Panadol), she also looked absolutely stunning AND managed to play fiddle! I asked her if she would be ok to play tunes and she brushed me off, giving me this ‘I’m fine, my arms are a long way from my appendix’ look. She lasted the entire launch, what a trooper! (although I have it on good authority that by the end of the night the Panadol was replaced by Nurofen with healthy slugs of whisky). The launch was packed to the rafters – thank you to everyone who came along and supported us! We had the most incredible time. I am especially proud of my sister Hayley, who once again came through with the goods (and vocal talent), literally driving straight from work to the launch and running on stage as we were about to start. I was so thrilled to have her there! Huge Sunas thanks to Georgia the Door Minion, Ben & Kristie the CD Minions, and Paula & John AKA Bridget’s Minions. It was a privilege to play alongside George & Davydd for our big finale tuneset – these boys are incredibly talented. I was so elated I wanted to play it all over again!
 
To all of our family and friends, well-wishers, minions, groupies and stalkers (please circle one): We couldn’t have done this without you. You guys rock!
 

This is Sairey, signing off with freshly diagnosed glandular fever. Seriously! According to my doctor, I’m nearly over it (apparently). I’ll get through it. We’ve started calling it ‘Doing a Bridgey’.


Listening to "The Scientist' by Martha Tilston

Bridget the Mighty

So, the cd launch that very nearly didn’t happen.

To start off, I need to backpedal just a little bit, about ten days or so. Basically, I got a bit sick. Pharyngitis and sinusitis. Nothing too deathly, but the night before I was due to go to the doctor I had my first asthma attack for nearly 14 years. So, that knocked me out for the time leading up to the launch. Then a few days later, Sarah was struck down with serious Laryngitis, so much so that she lost her voice entirely. Exactly one week away. We weren’t panicking. There was still a enough time to get better.

But then came the phone call. A few hours out from our regular Saturday gig, the night before the launch, we found out the Bridget had been rushed to hospital with suspected appendicitis. Yes, we were the band of 'itises' (except for Mannie who is immune to everything except chicken). We decided to carry on as normal, after all, what could we do? Everything was arranged, paid-for, invites had been sent out, interviews given, reviews and publicity received, then there was George & Davydd, our partners in crime to think of.

But we were about to find out what our fiddle player was made of.

The first clue about Bridge’s chutzpah came when we got a call on the way to the Saturday night gig. It was Herself, just ringing to confirm it had indeed been appendicitis, the 'stand-back-it's-about-to-blow' kind and that oh, she’d just got out of surgery and was fully intending on being there tomorrow. Well, we were astonished, to say the least, even just to hear from her. Before she succumbed to the painkillers, she’s written out lists and given Georgia, her sister, specific instructions for each of us ( “…Mannie: DON’T PANIC! BREATHE...").

Well we still convinced she wouldn’t be able to make it, after all, she’d spent the night in hospital and wasn’t due to be discharged, sedated, until a few hours before the gig.

Not only did she show up, but Bridget played the entire gig, and with the exception of a couple of songs where she didn’t sing (and here I have to say thanks to Hayley, not only for stepping in at the last moment –she literally ran in just as we were about to start- but also because her being there was just so great, as she sings on the album too). It was an amazing night, and we were truly humbled by the turnout (we honestly had no idea people would be standing five-deep at the entrances. It was said by no small number of people that perhaps we should have booked Customs House or City Hall -next time!) and I'm sure one of the others will blog about everything in more detail later. Just finally, I'd like to say thanks to Davydd, George and Beth for being musically brilliant, Georgia for holding down the door and Ben, for stepping in to be the storekeeper at no notice, and of course, everyone who came. Thanks All!

Listening to: "Mirror Sea" by DeepSpace

The National Folk Festival

Hi all,
 
Bridget & I spent Easter bashing about at the National Folk Festival in Canberra, and we had quite a weekend. Bridgey was invited to play with the National Celtic Fiddle Rally and I went along firstly as a punter and secondly to play sessions and catch up with lots of friends.
 
The weekend passed so quickly, but Bridge & I were lucky enough to play two chalkboard gigs. Can I just say that Bridge is a wonderful addition to this band? I was so proud of her. We are indebted to Davyyd McDonald and Mackenzie for backing us on guitar and bodhran. Davyyd did an admirable job considering both times our rehearsals went like this:
 
Bridget: ‘Mr Thompson’s, two reels, first in D major, second in F major, three times around each, I’ll call the changes’
Davyyd: ‘Yep’
Bridget: ‘Slow song, jig in G minor. Follow Sarah’
Davyyd: ‘Yep’
Bridget: ‘Acapella song, Sarah sings, then we sing with her’
Davyyd: ‘Yep’
Baidget: ‘Triple A set, all in A, starting with a jig then two reels, fast’
Davydd: ‘Yep’
 
And off he went!  Poor Mackenzie, he was literally dragged up by Bridget in the second chalkboard gig to back the Gravel Walk tunes on bodhran. All I got to say to him was, ‘One, two, three, go!’ Spontaneous chalkboards are so much fun. Cheers lads, job well done.
 
Eddi Reader was headlining this festival. She is absolutely nutty and completely adorable. Her vocals on My Love is like a Red Red Rose was just spine-tingling. Actually, the entire performance sucked me in and left me breathless. Due to popular demand, she also played her most well-known song ‘Perfect’ – and was better live than the recording! Definitely one to see when she tours.
 
I had the most brilliant moment meeting Irish singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy. She’s the type of person who is cool without having to even try. What an amazing performer. From guitar to bodhran to fiddle; I’m not kidding, Eleanor plays everything and has such a dry sarcastic sense of humour – that’s my kind of woman! I bought her album Out There and asked her to sign it and she then asked if I was a musician? I replied yes, I’m in a band, but we’re not playing at the Nationals, I’m here to enjoy the music. So then she asked me if I had a CD (which I did – always carry one, you never know who you’ll bump into!), and I gave her a copy, which she ordered me to sign, and then swapped our Sunas CD for her latest album Love Must Be Tough. Instant fan here.

 
I have a crush on Pascal from Quebec folk group Genticorum – who wouldn’t when he speaks French and sings so beautifully? Oh, he also plays fiddle and uses his feet as percussion while singing. Disgustingly talented. Bridgey has stars in her eyes after spending a mammoth 7 hour session learning fiddle tunes from him – you go girl!
 
The rest of the time Bridgey & I were girl bonding, ie, drinking cider (terriblyterribly important!), watching performances, spending far too much money (as was in my case) or just hanging out at Mike & Beth’s Celtic stall (the coolest one, I might add), sometimes doing all four things at the same time. It was mental and we had a blast.
 
Nationals aside, home grown news here: We have some gigs coming up starting in mid April on the 12th at the Meadowbrook Hotel, but I’m waiting on a few more to trickle in before that, so check out the Gigs page over the next few weeks. Hope you all had an amazing Easter and stayed safe on the roads. We look forward to catching up with everyone at our next gig.

Bridget's Fleadh Ceol Tale

Thursday
 
I’ve finally managed to close my suitcase (not an easy task with a very awkward shaped fiddle stand taking up much room) and I’m waiting for Sarah to finish work and pick me up. I’m listening to Dougie McLean, my Christmas present from Helen (who we’ll be seeing in a few hours). I can’t wait. I’m nervous about a few things – our live to air session in the morning on ABC radio, meeting Rabbit (Helen’s husband who I’ve heard many interesting stories about – but no idea why he’s called Rabbit) and, the possibility of Mannie and Rabbit running around naked (apparently this is quite a regular occurrence –something in the Tasmanian air I think). But despite all that, I’m starting to get excited. Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anything essential. I have my fiddle and my boots… what else would a girl possibly need :)
 
Friday
 
We woke up at Stanton, Helen and Rabbit’s beautiful home and B & B. We only had time for a quick cup of tea and a flying stop in at Passions café before heading off to ABC radio for a live spot. Apparently Sunas was made famous last radio appearance by Sarah being the second person to ever say ‘arse’ on the ABC (second to Kate Miller-Heidke I might add – one of our idols!). This time the language remained kiddy-friendly and we managed to go for a full 30 minutes without saying anything too stupid… Well except for my declaration again classical music, which wouldn’t have been so bad if the person interviewing me wasn’t Christopher Lawrence! Oops. He took it well, and was seen later that night enjoying some of our non-classical music at the New Sydney. Helen was ever helpful, holding up a ‘classic ABC’ sticker to point out my mistake – thanks Helen!
 
From there we headed off to Jackman and McRoss for lunch which the others had been raving about since I joined the band. I wasn’t disappointed! We finally arrived at the New Sydney, picked up our room keys and lugged all our stuff up the many stairs (which will later prove to be a problem for one band member in particular….)
 
With no rest for the wicked, we went straight down to the bar for a quick cider and session, where I was surprised by my good friend Beth, as well as meeting some of the long time Sunas friends, The To Rags and Brian Owens. One cider turned into another and before we knew it, it was time for our 11pm gig.
 
Now here I would like to point out that Sarah and I were sharing a room at the hotel, and before we went to bed, Sarah warned me that she occasionally mumbles in her sleep. I didn’t think anything of it until about 3am when I very distinctly heard from the top bunk “Go team, we can do it! We’re nearly there”. Go team Sarah!!!
 
Saturday
 
Saturday morning we awoke nice and early to head off to the markets for a bit of busking. On our way, we decided to stop for a bite to eat – bad move! Sarah described the coffee as ‘arse in a cup’, Mannie was fairly sure that he was given a used tea bag, and the toast was a charred black piece of cardboard with something vaguely resembling egg on top. Paul was nearly crying at this point, having missed his morning coffee, so he followed his nose off to Starbucks.
 
The story of our busking became quite well known throughout Tasmania, and I’m sure the others will describe it in their own blogs, but lets just say there’s a very unhappy unicyclist somewhere in Hobart now. Sorry!!! We just wanted our 20min spot to make our $17.
 
The rest of the day was spent eating, shopping and drinking before our gig at 9.30 that night. I had a great gig and enjoyed a few quiet ale’s afterwards with Sarah. Despite what others may tell you, we were very ladylike, remained coherent for the remainder of the night and even managed a few tunes.  Well… that was me at least. Sarah on the other hand become very good friends with everyone in the pub, was carried upstairs and proceeded to collapse on the couch before informing us she was just going to head back down for another drink with Mick before bed. To her credit, she managed to get herself onto the top bunk and wasn’t even all that seedy the next day!
 
Sunday
 
Sunday started with a late greasy breakfast at Harbour Lights, with a very-friendly-but-slightly-too-happy waitress. The afternoon concert was very relaxed and we took the opportunity to try some of the more mellow songs and tunes. Sarah got everyone singing The Yorkshire Couple (I may be making up the name of that song – but whatever it was I really enjoyed it and was thrilled to see the entire audience participating!).

 
We then had to say our farewells before heading off for a final night back at Stanton, where we sat and looked at the millions of stars (I swear there’s not that many in Brisbane!!).
 
Overall, I had an amazing time and everyone involved in the Fleadh Ceol should be really happy with how everything went. The organisers, MC’s, musicians, hotel and bar staff, sound guys and audience were all fantastic and I can’t wait for my next Tassie trip.