Meredith 31
Just a little rundown of the Weekend
before that I got a gig at the Old Bar tonight for Palestine. 15 bucks on the door. come raise some funds.
also xmas show with Porpoise Spit is selling so slow its got me thinking I should get a haircut and a real job so buy one or two of them.
Set up at camp porps. It was hot and muggy and I was pissing sweat from my beautiful head, sat down for a can and a scoob and we were off for the Sup. Welcome to country was lovely as always the
Uncle Barry and Meninyan laid down some hard rock before Gut Health came out looking and sounding fabulous. Mika on drums is nothing but a treat, id go close to saying the best I’ve seen and lucky for me Miss Kaninna is up next with Mika on the drums once again. So it’s 5pm on Sunday and the crowd is starting to warm up and Miss Kaninna comes out all fire, fuck the cops, fuck the government, land back, free Palestine. Pinnacle Bitch and Black Britney are the standouts and it’s time for a wander and a chat.
Find a spot near the pink tree and sit back for Pigsx7. Nice to hear some sludge in the Sup but they didn’t quite hit for me. Got down for Shorty on housekeeping to see the wrong “Our” get the rubbish pick up song and a stage invader. Very nice but the joint would have been spotless if ya went with Cappo Dog but that’s that.
Floodlights. Here come the tears. Bigggggest soft spot for this lot, we played a bunch of shows together when I was starting out and I love them and the music, they looked turbo cool but just side glanced each other every now and then just to say stay cool but I just want to know that you know that I know and we know that this is fucking going off right now but stay cool, stay cool and they did. Huge amount of people singing back and then Ash crowd surfing on the harmonica to end was perfection and im almost crying now.
Time to get out of the Sup cause Alex G sounds like Weezer for people who don’t like hard rock. Copped a song of Souls Of Mischief and it sounded hot but I was on a mission for cans and ya just can’t watch every act. Caroline Polachek sounded good but I thought the songs were week so I went on the hunt for mates. Flowdan was an absolute standout. Flow indeed, I really need to do some work if I wanna get to that level. Dameeeela is on the decks up next and yeah we love her but im up the back to the right a bit and im jostling for a spot but having a dance until finally I get a glimpse and she is DJing from a fucking bed (this is how she started learning to DJ so very nice touch) dance dance dance, great booking, great slot, Blawan was blawan the fucking speakers out, Gabba with fuck all groove just blawan ya fucking head off. I was going pretty hard and looked around to see a hell of a lot of others going hard and I thought there is about 7 people who genuinely like this music here but thousands going off to it. I’m done with about 20 mins left, a few quick goodnights and a pash and its a sludge up to bed. Shot Meredith. Interstitials were Clara and DJ Earl Grey who did a Stella job. Im wet but im happy. Towel off and get in the tent.
Day 2 and it’s wet it’s muddy and would someone tell that brass band to shut the fuck up but oh well guess we better get going. On go the oil skin pants, jacket and akubra and Gumboots but technically they are wellingtons cause they are Red Bands (if you know you know). Anyway im down for Mary Lattimore and her harp is bigger than my ego and she seams genuinely beautiful, think music for airports but just a harp with the acasional electric guitar, one boot goes into the air and she says to the guitarist “its the boot they are doing the thing, thank you so much” I am falling a little in love but now its time for Watty Thomson, A man that’s been to the last 28 consecutive Meredith/Golden Plains and is finally hitting the stage with his guitar to play his songs. His lead up was nervous, we had been chatting during the week, he was looking for hot tips, not sure if I helped or not but I was shaking in the mud as 15 or 16 or fucked if I know how many people came out to play with the most Ernest and genuine men I have ever met, Men need help, lots of help, we are raised to not feel and not cry and not express ourselves but Watty is the total opposite to this so much so that if it wasn’t so genuine it would be cringe as fuck. anyway they open with a beautiful Watty ramble before kicking into his biggest song Beauty That Surrounds Ya and im fucking gone, singing with tears rolling down my face with witty looking me dead in the eye as he sings. Honestly playing Meredith is absolutely amazing but watching ya mates play is even fucking better. I could really go on and on about this set but we still have a few to get through. They end with Coming Home, the tale of a suicide, of being there for people and of saying goodbye, I’m crying, everyones crying, im crying right now, I’ve had more than my fill of suicide and its all coming out of me as I reach down and pull my muddy boot off and raise it in the air. Top darts Watty, Top Darts. Kinda spewing I missed Bumpy but I needed a rest and we ended up meeting later and she was very sweet and said she is a big fan so that pretty fuckin cool. before C.O.F.F.I.N, some classic oz rock for the mud pit and yeah the pit opens right up and they fucking slayed, ya won’t see me backing to many boy bands but this ones gets the tick from me, Riff Riff is probably my fav AC/DC track (maybe Ain’t No Fun but) and they smashed it. Time to restock some piss. Missed They Hate Change but people raved then Kuniyuki played a live set that toyed with the crowd, pushed, pulled, build and destroyed, he even recorded the crowd “singing” and chucked it into the set. Is rock king or is doof king? At this point I do not know. He tried to get a few more “melodies” out of the crowd but we kinda sucked at it and it made the end flatter than it could have been but I loved that, the more you put in as an audience the more you get back. Top darts.
Off again for some chit chat and some networking before Cable Ties and its time for the water works again, another band I’ve had the pleasure of playing with fucking heaps, A band that has supported my project and my mental health, friends and heroes, comming off and oz tour with me as support then a whip around the world to warm up to play the Sup, a band I have so much time for and they ripped, I would like to carry Jenny McKechnie around on my shoulders on stage, in the supermarket, the sauna, fucking everywhere. Sorry Kraftwerk but a Buch of fellas standing still was always gunna struggle after Jenny, Nick and Shauna. Top Darts.
I love Sneaky Sound System and you could say I literally lost my shit but that’s another story anyway they were fucking sick but finished quite abruptly and a little early so hope everything is alright and they play some more. Milo Eastwood had em moving almost as much as him before the one I had been waiting for, the mighty Moktar who has been on fire for quite sometime now, I sent him a msg on Friday saying destroy em and. He said he had a dream he was at a show watching me the night before, surly a sign of good things to come. A Palestinian flag storm through the crowd to dead centre and starts waving side to side for the whole set, arabic voices over some smooth fat bass, the political climate is just right for Mokkas and he’s flying until 30 mins left and the music stops and a spotlight goes onto the crowd. Someone is in a bit of trouble but it seems they have gotten out and off to the sick bay, Makkas gets on the mic and lets everyone know to look out for each other before storming into the last 30 mins before ending with some well received Palestine chat and fuck me Mokkas is hot on the mic. Public speaking aint easy especially at the Sup but Moktar is like a fish to water.
Eris Drew & Octo Octa close out Saturday with a very impressive and fun set on wax, a few have gone to bed and there’s a bit more room to shake ya hips and I finally bump into my Son Vince who is in standard high end form, all the heads and freaks are left and I fall into both of those categorys so were here till the end. The music stops and I lean over and say “is it bedtime Son?” “No Dad, Couches, Ketta” and my fucking god didn’t we bust through to a demension inside of a demension and so on. I can’t go on about this too much because I am still processing it all but having a Son and being able to go to things like this together and experience something like that is really out of this world, after some time Vince stands up and yells “Bart, where is”? And 5 mins later Bart shows up and we go to Inspo point for some laughs.
Couldn’t bring myself to go to bed but I got down to legends No Fixed Address who were fucking great. Nice to cross that off the bucket list then copped a bit of Patchy Man who is perfect for a Sunday in the Sup, now I’m not sure about how everyone else feels but the gift is a bit fucking stale, maybe move it to the end? Dunno but I struggled through that and the “jokes” from the MC before Dragnet hit the stage and came out with more fury than I’ve every seen from them, a very very catchy band that also does some stupid shit so yeah that’s kinda my bag. Lovely end time to hit the road. Plug the phone in and the screen no longer works. Photos are on it. May get them one day.
Thanks Aunty. I needed that.