Blog city mashing!!!

Posted on May 10, 2012 by fishoutofwatermusic

Pensacola Beach, FL 5 12

Well if you thought the last blog was interesting pull up a chair and grab some popcorn because the following two days were………..epic!! Epically strange, but kinda the stuff rockstar biographies are made of. For those of you who need an update see the last blog I posted( I really don’t have time to recap). So Boo and his partners in crime decided to hire us again for another private show at their beach house. This time instead of old skanks they flew some top quality female in from Key West( we’ll call her Candice for privacy reasons). She was an escort of some degree in her early 30′s, pretty sure she wasn’t sleeping with any of the guys, but definitely there to provide some eye candy for some horny older men. She was decked out in an outfit that complimented her very large breasts and was very excited to have a private band rocking the patio deck. We set up and played for the four of them for about an hour in a half when suddenly she demanded we go get dinner and that Boo take us with them. We ended up eating at an upscale place that we played at the weekend before called The Grand Marlin. Before we even ordered a drink or food Candice had ho wrangled 4 cougars in their early 40′s from Memphis to join our table and pointed at us and said “that’s the band.” The food was delicious I had some swordfish and Gary Wayne are roadie ordered Lobster!!! During dinner Boo handed Chino, Justin and I a hundred dollar bill each on top of paying for our dinner. It was a little tacky, but I think they wanted to let the ladies know who owned who. After the 1200.00 dollar bill was paid for in c-notes by Boo, all 11 of us rendezvoused back to the beach house for our second set.

Now I knew that our role was to look pretty and play music while the guys worked a little mojo on the females, but homeboys got hammered…………like really really drunk and shot themselves right in the foot. Fish out of Water left with four new fans from Memphis and cold hard cash. That night before I fell asleep I thought to myself how I felt like a rat being fed cheese and how I hated that I jump at the cash thrown in my face………..but when you come from where I come from it’s a little more difficult to deny and why should we. We provided a service and rocked those fuckers.

Fast forward to the following night 10pm. Justin, Gary and I went to a local bar hangout called Breakers in Pensacola. I made some comment that I didn’t want to see Boo for at least 24 hrs. Instead I offered our service to the bar tender because there was no band on Tue. and I just wanted to practice. Before he could answer I got the call I was half dreading and half expecting.

Me: Hey Boo what’s up?

Boo: (southern drawl) hey there electric……what do you say we get the band over at the beach house for another party?

Me: you want us to set up again?

Boo: yeah, we got some real nice ladies and they want to hear my band Fish out of Water( a cackle of hoots and hollering by female voices in the car).

Me: well……….. (Justin makes the hand motion for cash) sure we will be there in 45.

This time when we arrived there was just Boo and his Lawyer friend, Candice and two…………you guessed it Skanks. These were much older skanks and to make things even creepier Lawyer friend hands us all condoms and says “these girls are extra friendly.” First thought in my mind was hookers. Next thought was damn couldn’t they got hotter hookers. Ha ha ha sometimes I kill myself. Boo had hired a driver (because once again these guys were trashed) and he was a little strange but cool enough. After Lawyer dude motor boated one of the older woman’s breasts in front of us we kicked off our set. Now most of this blog is to glorify money and women, but damn we threw down some serious jams this time. Justin was on fire and was straight up smoking beats. The ladies exited after a few songs and lo and behold about an hour later two more girls (who were much younger) showed up that Candice had ho wrangled at dinner (I think one was their waitress). Another set and bing bang boom The Fish walked with over 2 grand in three days. Not bad for a bunch of nobodies. The moral of this story is music is the bridge between many polar opposite human beings. We couldn’t be more different than the crew we were playing for but music was the common thread. I suppose I could say money buys friends, and woman, but aren’t we all guilty of using it to our advantage? Girls go out on dates and have their meal paid for and bartenders wear lo cut shirts to get just a few extra tips. At least we love what we do and that will never change. Peace y’all. **A free show will be preformed for whoever comments first to this Blog (pending on current schedule).

Pensacola party

Posted on May 8, 2012 by fishoutofwatermusic

Ok, So let me fill you in on some craziness that just went down in Pensacola Beach May 6th 2012. Names have been changed to protect the State Representative who was involved at this Fiasco. We were entertaining ourselves at a dive bar establishment called the Islander when lo and behold I see Boo, the owner of a bar we play at in Paris Landing TN. He was with a party of five or so and they walked into the bar did a once over of the bar and walked out. I ran out front and yelled his name “Boo!” He turned and with a huge drunk smile said “Hey y’all it’s my band!!!” Then it was show and tell. “Victoria come meet Electric,” a pretty older woman walks up and shakes my hand. I was a little embarrassed at being called Electric but in hindsight I really like the nickname. I met four other folks and one of them was a lawyer who lived nearby at a beach house. Boo must have asked me four times if we were playing anywhere that night and I kept telling him no, that we had a few days off. Finally he says “I’ll pay you five hundred bucks to play right now at my friends beach house.” Usually I think people at Boo’s stage of drinking aren’t serious but he proceeded to pull out 5 one hundred dollar bills and hand them over to me in front of the bar, ” follow us,” was all he said as he jumped into his associates car. We arrived at a fairly large beach house that was smack on the ocean front and had a nice deck on the back looking out towards a bright full moon and crashing waves. We set up and before we played any music we were introduced to a few other people one being a state representative who I believe Boo was trying to lobby because along with his bar in Tennessee he owns a few banks in Pensacola. There were no more than ten of us total at the party and we rocked about 6 songs until the cops showed up. It reminded me of my college days except the skanks were much older and the booze at the self serve bar was of much higher quality then that of our parties back at 3450. It was a weird feeling to be playing for some seriously high rollers, at one point I overheard the State Rep talking about how his buddy spends 8,000 dollars a week on prostitutes. After crunching the numbers that’s $32,000 a month and $384,000 a year on whores!!! We are seriously in the wrong biz kids. I was happy to take the cash, but part of me felt like hired help or a jester from the mid evil times. Money makes the world go round and puts gas in our van, so in one aspect I was very grateful for the opportunity to make some cash on an off night, but it is weird to sing about the injustices of the world to the people who are creating them. Just another night in the life of F.O. Dub. I just want all of you to know I have sacrificed some quality time with my favorite channel ESPN to bring you this blog, so I would appreciate if some of you kind folks could send some updates on the NBA playoffs and anything related to the Oakland Raiders is always a bonus. pump the funk and increase the peace y’all!!!

F.O.W. in western Tennessee!

Posted on April 28, 2012 by fishoutofwatermusic

(Go to end of blog for video links) Back by popular demand is the Fish out of Water blog!!! I really do like documenting this stuff, but in order to post quality blogs I have to make time to write and there just isn’t much time in this world. Lately I have been trying to prioritize my life and between band booking, rocking and driving there isn’t a lot of me time. That being said the events of last night at Meo Mio’s in Paris Landing KY need to be documented. We have played Kentucky a few times before over the years with mediocre response from the crowds, but last night everyone was really into the music. We had a dentist named Bob drop two one hundred dollar bills into our tip-jar and proceed to hum every melody we played. It was quite funny to see him get pretty drunk and then ask me if I was christian……oh Dr. Bob. Then there was the dance floor covered in cougars, eventually a few of the ladies actually got their husbands to join them. We haven’t been changing into the bathrobes every show, but this was a must change performance. Justin had a sick drum solo and when I was walking back on stage to join him a woman grabbed my arm and said ” Tommy Lee doesn’t got shit on this guy.” The night just got better and better and we put forth one of our best efforts to date. I heard multiple people say we were the best band they had heard and that they appreciated the fact that we were all original. After the show Justin got so many girls phone numbers they were falling out of his pocket ( Mark the owner should have just handed him the employee phone list because I am pretty sure J Sass has all their digits). All the employees bought a t-shirt or a cd and in general were super cool. We took photos with Shelby the hostess and Meo Mio’s best customer Kevbo (the equivalent to Norm from Cheers). We ended up at our friend Nathaniel’s for a monster jam session that night. He lives out in the woods between Paris Landing and Murray KY and has a full recording studio. I played drums for three hours while Chino jumped from piano to organ to a midi drum pad that was plugged in. Our new roadie Gray Wayne even played alittle piano and Nathaniel played some mean guitar licks. It was a great feeling to play for fun, no money or crowd just jamming to make music you want to hear. I hope we can get some of the stuff we did recorded because I think a lot of people would dig it. We hit the hay around 5: 30 am and woke up to eat at the greasiest spoon cafe I ever been to called The Hi Burger Inn. I ordered a heart attack and now I am writing to all of you from Breakers Marina in Buchanan TN. It is the venue we play tonight and the whole reason we even know about this area. The owner Rookie saw us play in Key West and had to have us, pretty sure he put a one hundred dollar bill in our tip jar last night too! We really are some lucky guys to get to do this. I want all of you to know it wouldn’t happen without you and that one day I hope we can return the favors and support you have all passed down to us. Pump the Funk and Increase the Peace. There are a few clips located under this blog from the show that Gary was able to capture including Sassy pant’s drum solo, enjoy and pass along to friends and fam. I will try to keep this blog thing up but can’t make any promises. Love all of you funky fishes!! Squeeze by Fish Out of Water -Live in Paris Landing, TN // Biddy Biddy by Fish Out of Water -Live in Paris Landing, TN

Key West blog

Posted on March 20, 2012 by fishoutofwatermusic

My original plan was to blog after every show……..obviously I can’t live up to these standards and decided to summarize for you, but not blogging about Key West is somewhat of a sin in my opinion. The place is crawling with blog material every night, it’s where adults go when they don’t want to grow up. The start of our tour was a little rough because we were trying to play shows with limited material due to having Justin on drums in place of Russell. Chino and I were playing much more acoustic and besides Prescott, AZ, most of the gigs were on the quieter side of things. Making our way to Florida we had a few interesting stops, but nothing to write home about. Then there is the Florida Keys. Our Marathon key gig at the Hurricane was slammed pack with locals and spring breakers. Justin and I watched Something About Mary and Happy Gilmore on VHS in the band room until 7 am, then we drove to Key West and played a 4 hour acoustic show at Blue Heaven for brunch. Sleep deprivation tour begun!! This past week I have got about as much sleep in a seven day period as I get in a day. We averaged about one in a half to two hours a night. It being Justin’s first time in Key West and Blue Heaven gave us the keys to the townhouse attached to the restaurant……. we had to be proper tour guides. Unfortunately for our liver, we over indulged. Despite our late night heroics, we came to play every day at Blue Heaven and did exceptionally well. The music started to really gel mid way through the week and we created three or four new jams through improv. The acoustic set was enhanced with our good friend Mary Speer on percussion and backing vocals. We will truly miss the Keys and the magic that is Blue Heaven. We posted a video of some of our set click link below to view. Now on to South Carolina!!!! Rhythm Hand by Fish Out of Water -Live in Key West

House of Blues blogging like it’s hot!

Posted on January 24, 2012 by fishoutofwatermusic

(Go to end of blog for videos)

I guess I should make an official announcement at this point and let whoever reads these blogs know we have begun the process of replacing longtime F.O.W. drummer Russell Lundgren. After three plus years, five national tours and one international tour Russell Beats resigned from his position citing personal reasons and wanting to concentrate
on his health. The task has not been easy and Chino and I have auditioned several drummers this past couple of weeks. That being said we did have a great show at the House of Blues two Fridays ago with Brian Davis on the Kit. We met Brian through some mutual friends in San Diego and after only one hour of rehearsal we put together an
amazing show. Brian looks like a rocker and rocks like one too! There was quite a lot of improvisation and one of the best renditions of our song “Salsa Magic” I have ever heard. All in all it was a lot of fun and as usual I did some table jumping (to the dismay of H.O.B. management). We had a lot of folks come out and support us. The highlight for me was when our good friend Cory San got an ovation while dancing with three girls on the dance floor (that dirty dog). Of course we weren’t as tight as we are when we play with Russ, but the energy was great and everyone enjoyed themselves. I have to thank Dreamgirl, Mary, Kevbo, Cory, Corysan, Dustin, Sarah, Cristiana, Curt and his OB posse……….round em up Curt! Thank you all for coming out and supporting our music. Spring tour is right around the corner and we are looking forward to seeing all of you out on the road come March. Take care Fish friends // Table jump by Kyle at House of Blues San Diego 1/13/12

New Year’s Eve 2011 Napa, CA

Posted on January 2, 2012 by fishoutofwatermusic

(Go to end of blog for videos) Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope you all had a funkilicious NYE. We sure did. Downtown Joe’s was off the hook and we had the joint jumping from the down beat. Our good friends Kat and Chris came up from S.F. and brought some great ju ju as well as Dreamgirl and Corwin. I want to thank all the fish fans out there for supporting us through the years and 2011 was no different. With our first international tour under our belt and our 6th national tour on it’s way in February, 2012 will no doubt be a whirlwind. I am keeping this blog short, but you can check out some video of the night including the tail end of Chino’s epic bass solo and some classic table jumping . Take care and live 2012 to the fullest! Chino Bass Solo // NYE 2011 countdown // Table Jump by Kyle

Wrapping up Aussie Tour!

Posted on December 27, 2011 by fishoutofwatermusic

(Go to end of blog for videos) Hey fish funkbots!!! Australia tour is finished and I just wanted to fill y’all in on the last couple of shows. If you have read the last blog you’ll remember I mentioned Mike the manager for the Floating Bridges(band that opened for us at Sol Bar). Anyways, he is a great guy and truly someone I can call my friend in Australia. We had a few days off during the tour and he was kind enough to let us crash at his pad and hang with his awesome family. I am really fond of his step daughter Georgia and his son Jack. They were super cool to us and near the end of our stay I convinced them and their friends to make a short skit based on what Lunas productions(our booking agency) would look like if it were ran by Aussie kids. The skit was hilarious and I can’t believe how good of actors and actresses they were(see video). I already miss Georgia and her smart ass facial expressions. It was as if we were part of the family for a few days and it meant a lot to me that Mike took us in like he did. We went to a park and checked out Kangaroos and had a delicious bbq, played Marco Polo in the pool and had a movie night, it was so nice to be included and get a taste of Aussie day to day life. Thanks again Mike for showing us what Aussie mates are all about.

After our stay with Mike we headed to Coffs Harbour for two shows. The gigs were booked last minute because they liked us so much the first time we played there and they wanted us back before we left for the states. We had a good time and according to our favorite bartender Luke we did better than expected. The club is mostly a DJ type club that holds up to a 1000 people and we were rocking a section by the main bar and people were dancing and enjoying they music. Luke said that if we didn’t get booed we were doing better than most bands they have had in the past. Sam the owners son and entertainment manager loved us and said we could play there any time. After our shows there we headed to Peregian Beach back up north near where Mike lived. The drive was 6 hours and we had to leave at 7 am to make sound check at 1pm that afternoon. Of course Chino and I decided to stay up and drink the night before so you could imagine we were a bit hungover for the drive up. The other factor was because the show was an outdoor event on the beach rain could cancel or postpone it. As in most decisions we make as a band sometimes you just have to have faith and jump. It was kind of a metaphor for this whole Australian tour. There was no way to predict we would be as successful as we were, we just had to believe in ourselves and understand that no matter where you go in life passion and hard work is recognized universally. The weather held up and as they say in Oz we “smashed,” it. It was such a cool grass roots event that is held every second Sunday of the month. It is original music only and they put on four acts from 1pm to 5pm for the community. There is no cover charge and it is solely funded by donation and raffle tickets. The event has been going for over ten years and was started by a Californian native named Jay Bishoff. Jay is a spontaneous, high energy, ball of musical love. The crowd was in the 3 or 4 hundred range and it was like playing a mini festival. After the show autographs were requested and we got tons of killer feedback from young and old alike. I couldn’t have dreamt a better ending to the tour if I tried. We are definitely coming back to Oz and I will miss it dearly until our return.

There are a few people who I need to thank before I finish this blog, there is no particular order so bear with me. Liz and Ben Harris in Cashiers NC who donated funds and love…Thank you. Russ Levitan who is and always will be the man. Dreamgirl for being the dream and inspiration behind all my thoughts. Brandon “Chino” Moon for being my partner in crime,soul and music we did it bro!! thanks for driving the whole f’n time. Russell Beats for playing every show like it is your last. Cherry Street Cowboys for helping us set the table and do what we are meant to do. Couch surfers across the globe who invited us into their homes. Mike and the Floating Bridges for a killer show and some of the best days I have spent. Georgia for her amazing spaghetti and awesome drawings. Jack for cooking up some dogs on the Barbie. My family for instilling all the love and confidence to express it. Gennelle and Dylan for all their help, laughs and gps(love the aussie accent on that thing). Fish out of Water fans for believing in us. J mother fuckin Sneez for being a soldier. Fletch, Layla and my Island Bar crew for being just flat out amaztic human beings. Coffs Harbour Hospital for helping a brother out and the folks at Sol Bar for running a venue like it should be run(music first). There are a million others I could thank, so please if I failed to mention or acknowledge you send me a personal email to kmoonrocks@gmail.com and I will send you a specific email listing why you rock. Pump the funk and increase the peace my friends, happy holidays and we’ll see you in 2012!!!!! Fish Out of Water Company Lunas Productions Aussie Style // Fish Out of Water look at kangaroos in the park // According to Them by Fish Out of Water @ Peregian Originals

Big big big shows………………………

Posted on December 12, 2011 by fishoutofwatermusic

(Go to end of blog for videos) It is official. We are Aussie superstars. I believe I left off in Coffs Harbour so let’s just pick up there. We had a beautiful drive through north New South Whales to Byron Bay and let me just say this about Byron Bay……………f’n get there! Do whatever it takes to get your ass out of the U.S. and to this magical, majestic, utopia. Gorgeous mountains surround the road as you come into town and then it hits you, perfect head high peeling waves ( see video) and beautiful people of all walks of life sun bathing, surfing and cooking up a bbq on the grass next to the oceanfront. It felt like we were in heaven. The venue we played at was called Beach Hotel and it was fucking epic. Huge stage, 4 open air bars ( the whole venue was open air ) great food and packed to the gills with back packers from Norway,England,Ireland, etc…..I headed to the beach and played some guitar and soaked up some rays. A random homey on the beach temporarily traded me his surfboard for my acoustic and I got some bombtastic waves. We kicked the show off at 9:30 and from the get go we had a dance crowd. Apperantly high school kids are called “schoolies” and the schoolies were out and about and ready to party. Legal drinking age in Oz is 18 and this is just one of the many genius facets of this country, along with having toilets that have the option of half or full flush ( half for pee full for…..) and speed cameras on the highway with warning signs that say speed camera ahead!!!! Wow what a concept! They don’t pay highway patrol man a full salary to monitor speeding they just really want you to be safe on the road so they install these cameras every 10 or 15 kilometers. Money hungry America wants us to speed so we can pay the wages of cops and the gov. Back to the schoolies………they were pushed up against the stage and I would say there were at least 300 to 400 in the audience. It was by far one of our best shows we ever played

The next morning we had to head out to Maroochydore on the Sunshine coast to play a venue called Sol Bar. This was the first show on tour where we were getting paid the door and I admit I was really nervous no one would show because they didn’t know who we were. The sound guy was this really cool cat named Brian and he seemed so confident we were going to smash the place that I thought he was going to jinx it……….well he didn’t ,we sold the mofo out and not only that we double f’n rocked it. The opening band was this killer act from Maroochydore called Floating Bridges. I rarely see a band that can match our energy and these guys brought it. I was really impressed with the vocals, stage presence and Manager Mike. Holy shit this guy was on the ball and super cool. You can check them out at http://www.floatingbridges.com ( your welcome Mike). By the time we hit the stage the crowd was amped and ready to rock. The capacity of the place was 250-300 and again the hotties were pressed up to the front like little sardines. To put things in perspective, Australian woman are much more reserved when it comes to approaching guys when compared to the states. Chino rocked it so hard a girl in the audience threw her number on stage ha ha ha ha ha fucking classic. After the set I was handed a boat load of cash and for the very first time felt like we had been paid like we deserve. All the work and effort and countless hours of busting our ass paid off!!! It made me a little sad that in our own hometown of Slo we can’t fill Slo brew (the best venue to play in slo) but we come to an entire different continent and Bam!!! Rockstars (see video). They just value entertainment different and the live band is the main attraction not the DJ. Hell the Dj from Sol Bar asked us to play an encore and bought a cd. That wouldn’t happen in a million years in the U.S. I’m not blaming our fans in Cali or insinuating that Aussie music lovers are better it’s just that Slo Brew doesn’t give you much of a chance because they expect you to pull people between 7-11pm (who goes to a show at 7pm unless the band is uber famous). One day and it won’t be long, and we will be able to pull it off. Fans in Oz pay a 15 dollar cover for good music (I consider us to be at least “good,” music) and don’t even blink. In the U.S. good fucking luck. I don’t pay $5 dollars to see anyone, but I think that will change when I get back (gotta keep the karma on the up). I hope you enjoy the footage we have, I also included a song from the after party at Mike’s house who was gracious enough to provide us with beer and “jamcrack” aka sweet mary jane (see video). I have to give credit where credit is due Jimmy from Floating Bridges inspired the line about “ I like ham.” What are you waiting for fish friends the videos await………………….. see you soon. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Surfing in Byron Bay, NSW, Australia // According to Them by Fish Out of Water @ Sol Bar – Australia

Heavy Metal and lots of booze…………….tour is underway!

Posted on December 8, 2011 by fishoutofwatermusic

(Go to end of blog for video links) This is a long blog but well worth the read, I haven’t been able to use my right hand to type for a couple of days, I will explain that later. We finally got our first taste of the live music scene in Australia and in turn, aussies got a taste of FOW. Our first show was at a dive bar in Wollongong called the Patch. We played with three heavy metal bands and the headliner Distract, was celebrating it’s 1 year anniversary. They had a cake and balloons( I was impressed). The frontman and guitarist Davey, gave Russell a spare drum set to use for the tour so right off the bat I felt like he was a gracious guy. He kinda looked like the lead singer from Blink 182 but played music like Ozzie Osbourne. The sound system at the Patch was horrible and the vocals sounded like the teacher in Charlie Brown, “whah whah whah whah.” We had a lot of energy but overall I would give myself a 2 out of ten and the rest of the band a 6 or 7. It feels really weird playing a half hour set when you are used to marathon shows. A few people bought cd’s and overall everyone was really nice to us. One cat said our music was a hybrid, which I thought was a good description of our sound.

Our next show was in Newcastle at the Great Northern Hotel. Newcastle used to be a thriving town, but an earthquake in 1984 destroyed a lot of it and they didn’t really rebuild. These days they are just now getting businesses to relocate back to downtown. The beach is beautiful there though and Russell and I had a killer jam session with some local kids( check out video). The Great Northern was a really cool venue and reminded me of a venue in San Luis Obispo called Slo Brew that we play at. They have a lot of big acts come through and the sound system was leaps and bounds better than the Patch. We played with another handful of bands and had another short set but killed it, or as they say in Oz “smashed it.” The headliners were these funny guys from Brisbane called the Strums and they looked like something out of a Spin magazine, tight jeans and cute little leather jackets. They actually played really well but it was your typical pop sound………..surprise surprise. After the show we had a room above the hotel( I included a video tour in the blog) however, the building was condemned and they hadn’t rented rooms to anyone in ages. Needless to say it was a bit creepy and disgusting. They also said it was haunted right before they locked us in until the cleaning guy got there at 7 am. Another bummer was they wouldn’t let us have anyone up in the room besides us and according to Russell they were “cock blocking.” What kind of venue doesn’t understand that rockers need after parties? I mean come on!!! It is the life blood of rock. It’s okay though, we tied up a bunch of the nasty sheets they left us and had the girls climb up through the window three stories up………..just kidding. We actually took a shot of rum and stared at each other until we got sleepy.

The following day we headed to downtown Sydney to play at an amazing venue called the Gaelic Theatre. This is a top notch club that hosts huge acts. Davey from Distract set the show up and said he wouldn’t have been able to book it if we weren’t on the bill. Unfortunately we didn’t bring a single soul and played to the bartender and the sound man from 7:30- 10:00. There was another band who played with us and according to Davey they had 4000 friends on facebook but only pulled there girlfriends out to see them. Where would rockers be without there girlfriends? Apparently having a lot of friends on facebook doesn’t always mean you have a lot of dedicated fans………you just have a lot of time on your hands and someone in the band who is addicted to facebook. The night really kicked off when we met up with our couch surfing host Ingred from Norway. She agreed to let us stay in her one bedroom studio and said there was floor space, even though she had a couch surfer from Brazil who was already staying there. He was not a happy camper when we showed up at 2 am with Davey, Jason( Distract’s bass player) and a bottle of Bacardi. Yep it was 19 year old Ingred and 6 guys drinking in her tiny studio. Eventually Brandon and I keyed everyone in on our plan to watch the Raider game at 5 am in the only spot we thought would have the game on………the Casino!!! Oz is one day ahead, five hours behind, so at 3:30 am Monday morning Davey, Jason, Ingred, Brandon and I took a taxi to the Casino leaving Russ and the Brazilian to find a cozy spot to crash. Once we arrived at the Casino I was told to take my hat off several times and was literally followed around by security to make sure I did so. The Casino only had two football games on and said no bar in Australia has access to CBS, weeerooo weerooo weeerooo ( sirens going off in my head) obviously I could never live in Australia. After some delicious mango daiquiris( Davey was talking about them all night) we headed back to Ingred’s and Brandon and I watched the game on the internet………well Chino made it through the 2nd quarter and then fell asleep in the sitting position and I soon followed after the 3rd. I think we impressed our new friends with are extreme fanship of the best football team on earth, unfortunately they got their teeth kicked in by the Dolphins.

We returned to Newcastle Tue. Night and stayed with one of the coolest couch surfers I have ever met. He was a 23 year old Australian named Qu(pronounced Q). He had a crazy look in his eyes, more of an adventurous look then crazy. Immediately I knew I was going to like him. We had a few beers at the Great Northern Hotel and then he showed us where all the good beer was located. After talking to many Australians we thought they were crazy for thinking that Oz had better beer than the states. The closest thing to decent was this brand called Coopers, but it wasn’t even close to the craftsmanship of U.S. beer. If you are in Newcastle the Albion is the spot to go. This is a lesson on life, until you meet the proper tour guide, don’t assume you know a place. Qu was so proud of himself for directing us to heaps( that’s my aussie slang coming out) of good hand crafted beer. I decided I should return the favor to Qu and offered to make a steak and mashed potato dinner. His apartment was a bit infested with cockroaches and the shared kitchen was not much better but for some reason I just didn’t care( 4 or 5 beers can do that to you). We had a great time and a couple of people in the complex came down and had some cocktails with us. Qu recently traveled across South America with three other guys on motorcycle with two side attachments………..all dressed in Telli Tubbi outfits, yeah he was a class A nutbag. His stories were hilarious and we just kept laughing and drinking and laughing and drinking. The drinking finally caught up to us however and the night ended very poorly. Russell and I got into a shouting match that that resulted in some man violence. The next day he had a lumpy head and my hand was the size of a grapefruit. I decided hard liquor is not going to be part of my steady diet anymore and I wish we could have done things different, but living on the road together for over three years can really affect your attitude and we were both hammered drunk. Last night we came together to play music at Coffs Harbour( so good they offered us a couple of paying gigs on our off days) and had a great show, funny how music can take you so far away from the situations that are uncomfortable or hard. We are only six days into this tour and I already feel like it has been a very educational experience. Something tells me that you have to go low just to get higher, don’t worry fish fans we are headed on the up and up. Until next time………..Barrack Dance Moves // Jam Sess w/ Barrack // Newcastle Accomodations

Fish Out of Water in Australia!

Posted on December 4, 2011 by fishoutofwatermusic

Click link for video (Go to blog page for photos & video link). Russ gets caught w/ kangaroo Hey everyone we made it to Australia in one piece. It was a 14 ½ flight, but let me tell you what…….Virgin Australia is the SHIZNIT. Russell took full advantage of the free drink policy and I took full advantage of the endless supply of free movies. I was going to give you a full review for those of you who enjoy a good flick. Captain America should be re-named “every nerds dream come true.” Skinny nerd is used for army experiment turns into hulking stud that has supreme powers and surprise! Saves the earth. Brides Maids yes I chose Brides Maids and it was kinda funny but I was interrupted by a chat notification on my screen that said “seat 24 d wants to chat with you.” Kinda creepy and funny all at once. Russ was talking to her from his aisle seat and after awhile I guess she wanted to reach out. Technology has really come so far. Now you can chat with fellow customers on board your flight. I tried to be as slimy as possible and told her she was interrupting my Brides Maid movie and to ask Russell to show her an airjack. Unfortunately if I wanted to finish my movie I was going to have to re start the beginning so it’s on the come back to list. Funny People should be re named “that fat guy made it into another movie.” I don’t know his name but he has been in Super bad, take him to the Greek, saving Sarah marshal, and countless other movies that utilize his “I am a bitter fat guy,” routine. Little laughs and boring storyline equaled lame, lame, lame movie. Crazy Stupid Love was okay, however if I see Steve Carrell play another “wholesome nice guy who needs the help of cooler people,” role, I am going to puke in my mouth. The Change Up winner, winner chicken dinner. I liked this movie even though the completely unbelievable storyline was written by a perverted 12 year old. Even though dreamgirl secretly fantasizes about him, I think Ryan Reynolds is a decent comedian and Jason Bateman isn’t too shabby but seeing them reverse roles was interesting. Crazy Heart hit way too close to home and I couldn’t finish watching a drunk musician completely ruin his life and career…….when I can watch Brandon do it live. Ha ha just joking. 10 hrs of movie time was about all I could handle. As a whole I think we combined for about 1 hour of sleep. We arrived in Sydney at 6:25 am and after customs, we got picked up by our amazing, super cool friend Gennelle who has lived in Australia for seven years. We grabbed some breakfast at a cool café in “new town,” which is a section of downtown Sydney. Right off the bat I noticed a few things that differ from the states. Number one- the food is fresh and the bacon is not a crisp piece of artificial crap you get in the states. Number two- you don’t tip for food service. Minimum wage is 18 dollars an hour in Australia so everyone is paid a livable wage…….imagine that. I hate tipping a dollar every time the bartender opens a beer for me, but I know they depend on it. After breakfast we headed to the van rental company in Sydney. This was a fucking nightmare. The company was cool, but renting vans is not cheap and we were there for two hours trying to work everything out. We finally got to Gennelle’s place around 4pm and headed to the beach with her husband Dylan. Holy crap Woonona Australia is beautiful!!! It’s like Hawaii without the people. The beach by their house was completely empty and went for a few miles. Everything here is so clean and quaint, it reminds me of what California must have been like before everyone and their mom moved there. After being awake for 36 hours straight we crashed at about 9:30 pm. Today we have a show in Wollogong and I know we are all excited to start the tour.