We were halfway through recording High Side Of Town when Jarrod hit me with some news.
​
"I've got to tell you something."
​
In the milliseconds before he said it, my mind raced—was he leaving the band? Moving away? Heading off to travel the world?
​
Nope. It was much bigger than that.
​
He and his partner, Morgan, were having a baby!
​
We hugged. Then I told him that my partner, Maddy, and I were also expecting.
We hugged again.
​
Once the congratulations were out of the way, a few seconds passed before I threw out an idea: "We should go on tour before the babies arrive."
​
And that was it.
Saying we wanted to tour was one thing—actually making it happen was another.
​
Our first move? Data.
We pulled numbers from Spotify to see where people were actually listening to our music. Then we looked at CD sales to back it up.
After a couple of hours buried in paperwork, we narrowed it down—Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne looked like our best bets.
​
The next few days were filled with phone calls to venues.
​
"You need a bigger following to book here."
​
"We only take bands with XXXX amount of followers and listeners."
​
"You guys might be a little too heavy for our venue."
​
But finally, we locked in four shows:
​
The Hamilton Station Hotel (Newcastle), The Lord Gladstone (Sydney), The Basement (Canberra) and The Tote (Melbourne)​
With dates and sound engineers sorted, the tour was officially booked!
%20(1).png)
Newcastle was the first show and our first time playing outside the Central Coast and Sydney. It was the real test—were people actually listening to us beyond our usual spots?
​
FIST and Long Distance warmed up the crowd before we hit the stage just after 9:30 PM on Friday night. Playing to a new audience on the first night of our tour was unreal.
We even tested out a couple of brand-new songs—Oscar Bravo and Blame It On Me—for the first time.
​
The rest of the night? A bit of a blur after I agreed to a mid-set shot of Southern Comfort. No regrets.
The next night, we hit The Lord Gladstone in Sydney.
​
To this day, it’s still one of the best gigs we’ve played. We were packed into the downstairs corner bar, and it was standing room only—the place was absolutely chockers.
​
Blake Cateris opened with his smooth acoustic tunes, then FLORA pumped the crowd up with their high-energy rock set.
​
It was a proper DIY setup, which suited us perfectly—it felt like one of our rehearsals back home, just with way more people.
​
And for the first time ever, random strangers showed up just to see us. They’d either bought a CD before or found us on a streaming platform. That was a surreal moment.
Before booking Canberra, I was warned to keep my expectations in check—not because of the city or the venue, but because we were still a relatively unknown band.
​
We made the three-and-a-half-hour drive to the capital, not knowing what to expect. Would anyone show up at all?
​
We set up, sound-checked, grabbed some food, and knocked back a couple of anxious beers.
​
Parrots With Piercings opened the night and absolutely crushed it. For a duo, they make a lot of noise!
​
Then we hit the stage—and to our surprise, we were playing to a full room. Phew.
​
We blasted through the set, got the crowd involved, and celebrated with another drink. But with a seven-hour drive to Melbourne the next day, we kept it tame and tried to get some rest.
There’s no place like Melbourne. It’s a city where I always feel relaxed and welcome—arty, colorful, and deeply rooted in the punk scene.
​
After a mad dash through Victoria, we arrived at The Tote less than an hour before showtime.
​
We linked up with the legends from Outtaspite, who were stoked to be playing the corner bar with us.
​
This was the last show of the tour, so we made it count—we announced the name of our debut album, played a couple of new tracks, and wrapped up the night in style.
​
After packing up, we celebrated with dumplings and beers.
We spent 22 hours in the car that weekend.
​
By the end, we were tired, a little hungover, and running on fumes. But we’d done it—we’d finished our first-ever tour.
​
And we can’t wait to do it all over again.