South Island Acoustic Tour

• Th. 24 Apr: The Penguin Club - Oamuru
• Fr. 25 Apr: Arc Cafe - Dunedin
• Sa. 26 Apr: The Glue Pot - Invercargill
• Su. 27 Apr: Wharfside Cafe - Stewart Island
• Mo. 28 Apr: Old Schoolhouse - Okarito
• Tu. 29 Apr: Saracen’s - Karamea
• We. 30 Apr: Drifter’s Cafe - Granity
• Th. 01 May: Yaza Cafe - Nelson
• Fr. 02 May: Hot Mama’s - Motueka
• Sa. 03 May: Dux De Lux - Christchurch

All dates with Shaun K Anderson!

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Friday 28th: Gig with So So Modern and O’Lovelys

Friday night at Christchurch’s the Jetset. We go on 10.30 sharp. We’re playing one 20 minute song that you will never have heard before and will, most likely, never hear us perform again. Instrumental rock meets overly self-indulgent reality TV. Don’t be late.

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Camp A Low Hum “Solitaire” live video

Here’s a clip of us playing “Solitaire” acoustically at Camp A Low Hum 2008 last month. Thank you, Dan, for capturing it!

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Planning our acoustic tour for April/March 2008

Yesterday birthed a rather gloomy post; all apologies to you for having been such a killjoy. Lo and behold, however: the sun did indeed rise again this very morning (much, I am sure, to David Hume’s annoyance).

So, today I started work on organizing our next tour (yay tour!!! - ed.). The general idea is to play 10-13 shows, circumnavigating New Zealand’s South Island. If you happen to be reading this and live on the North Island: please don’t be cross with me or the boys for not being able to make it up this time around, but, unfortunately, we just don’t have enough time off between the three of us to make it happen (however, we will be touring up north at least once within the next 9 months: that’s a promise).

I’ve wanted to play some rather more unlikely places for a while now, and when Evan mentioned to me that he had never been further south than central Otago, nor seen much of the South Island’s spectacular west coast, I just knew right then and there that we needed to put exploration ahead of exposure and go have ourselves a bit of an old-fashioned adventure!

In fact, I am so rediculously exited about this tour it’s already bordering on mania! Haha.

Current plans include playing in Oamuru, Dunedin, Lyttelton, Invercargill, Nelson and Christchurch. In addition, I am researching possible stops in Timaru, Takaka and Motueka, as well as some more unlikely places like Okarito and Stewart Island (my favorite contender). Thus, most of this afternoon and night I’ve spent hunched over a map, googling countless towns I’ve never heard of, pillaging the various venue-directories for ideas, and calling and emailing a first handful of venues about availability.

There are still plenty of wildcards left to sort out… Greymouth? Westport? Queenstown? In terms of venues, almost everything is wide open. And where, pray, does one play on a Sunday or Monday night? Is anyone even open? In fact, have I ever bothered to go to a show myself on a Monday night? Oh dear. Haha.

I’m hoping that some of you might even consider inviting us to play in your home? Do you listen to our music and live somewhere where bands don’t play often? We are traveling with a tiny PA and are only using a small toy drumkit. Chances are if you have a livingroom, there will be enough space for us to play for you. Do you have ten friends who might want to come over for afternoon coffee or some late-night drinks and live music? Don’t be shy, don’t think I’m kidding… please get in touch with me (Mark) at “info AT theenrighthouse DOT com” or txt me at 0211028876. For serious!

Also, I really need your help if you have any ideas about towns or venues to play. I’m looking up venues online, but many of the venues have no pictures and not a lot of bands have played Invercargill, for example, so it’s often hard to find people who can share their experiences. If you live in or around any of the places that I mentioned in this post and have an idea about where our music (remember, it’s an acoustic set) might fit, please let us know.

Finally, if you have a place we could sleep at (we’re only three harmless boys), we would totally make you breakfast and play you a happy song over a glass of orange juice.

Ok. I’ve never done this. I’m excited. Any advice or suggestions? I could really need some help with this…

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Camp A Low Hum 2008 photos

Some of my favorite photos from camp:

More photos at photobucket.

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First impressions of Southern Amp

First of all, a big thank you to all of you who came out to see us yesterday! Like I mentioned on stage, we were really happy to see so many people gathered around the local stage, when, of course, all of you could just as easily have chosen to spend your time watching far more well-known acts on the main stage.

So how did it go? Well, usually I have pretty mixed feelings about a gig on the day-after, but this morning, I have to admit, I find myself in a total state of post-ecstatic equilibrium. I think we all drew enormous amounts of confidence and joy from all the heartfelt audience support during songs, and I, too, just felt really connected to the lyrics and the music. In short, yesterday was awesome, and for that all four of us are just plain grateful and happy.

Our Southern Amp setlist:

• Scattering The Sun Like Gunshot
• On The Banks Of The Rhein
• Solitaire
• Darkwave = MC Squared
• We Might As Well Have Stayed Young
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

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Southern Amp sneak preview

Drove down to the AMI stadium today to pick up artist and vehicle passes for Southern Amp. It’s actually a rather interesting vibe there. The stadium was absolutely flooded with sunlight, whilst the corridors and suites overlooking the grounds were calm, empty and air-conditioned to perfection. On my way out, I ducked into one of the vacant suites to snap a few shots of ground zero:

I couldn’t help but notice the fact that I only saw two stages, not three. Turns out I was on a fools errand, as the third stage was actually located right behind the stadium, and not inside it, as I had assumed:

This actually strikes me as an excellent solution, as it means that our more intimate set won’t be drowned out by the massive P.A. of the main stage. Furthermore, I am so relieved that they decided to place the CHART stage inside a tent, rather than just setting up a small stage in the middle of nowhere. The advantage, aside from being weather-proof, is that a tent helps create a much more intimate environment, which should be of great asset considering our sound and performance style.

I’m looking forward to this now! We’re on from 11.45 to 12.20 am, and although most ticket holders probably won’t be arriving until far later in the afternoon, we’ll be playing our heart and soul out for those 35 minutes. As the Germans say: “Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund” (”Morninghour has Gold in it’s mouth”).

The moral of the story? We’re excited about Southern Amp and German proverbs are the stuff of lunacy.

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