Australia Update part 3

Sorry we haven’t updated in a bit. Things have been crazy! We played Sydney Sidewave, Melbourne Sidewave, Medlbourne Soundwave and Adelaide Soundwave since we last updated. We’ve been all over this fine country since we last spoke. We Just got into Perth. I finally saw Trent Reznor, he was on our flight. Also, Pharrell is staying at our hotel so we tried to get a holding it down picture with him, but he flew away too quick.

On the Flight from Sydney to Melbourne we saw the fire wreckage. I can’t believe how devastating it is has been there. People were saying that it has destroyed entire cities. I also heard from a guy on the plane that the flames move so fast that if you see the flames at all you are probably going not going to make it, even if you’re in a car. It is pretty sad. We ended up doing a signing everyday to help raise money for the Red Cross and their relief efforts. Wish there was more we could do but we haven’t had much time. I just hope everything works out.

When we arrived in Melbourne, it was a mad house in the lobby. Literally every band were hanging out and waiting to check in. A lady who worked for the hotel came up to me and asked what was going on. I told her about Soundwave Festival and everything. Her response was, “Oh gosh, well I don’t think I’ve neve seen so many alternate people. So many alternates!” I thought it was pretty ridiculous. Never heard band guys described as “alternates.”

That night, we played a show with Goldfinger. Our rider was one of the best we’ve ever had. It was just random like gourmet like breads and delicious guacamole and the best fruit tray ever. This fruit tray had so many good fruits on it and 2 kinds of fruit that I never saw before, so I asked around what they were. One was Passion fruit and another was a spiky fruit called Rambutan. The Rambutan one wasn’t that bad, but the Passion fruit was pretty incredible. I never had one before and most people I know probably haven’t, but I recommend it!

The venue was in a pretty cool area and Kelly from Goldfinger showed us around. We went to all these sweet vintage shops and wished everything wasn’t so expensive here. We tried on some hilarious things and Kelly bought a sweet old school police jacket so he could pull people over.

The show was pretty fun, Mike Herrera dedicated a song to Shane. We played and it seemed like kids liked it. I didn’t have high expectations that Goldfinger fans would like us but it seemed to go pretty well both nights.

The next day was Melbourne Soundwave. It was definitely tied with Sydney for my favorite show of the tour. So many kids knew the words and were singing along and having an all around good time. It was definitely way crazier than I had ever expected it would be halfway across the world. We’re so grateful to be on this tour, it has been incredible.

During the day we decided to make a video of kids at the show to see who could do the best American accent. The most people things kids would say in their American accent was ‘I’m going to Wal-Mart’, something about guns or about us ‘silly Americans’ calling it MelBOURNE instead of Mel-Bin. People think that’s all we do in America, and they’re definitely right.

Later in the night we watched NFG and there were thousands of people on stage. Hodge was holding it down with mike Herrera and Chad (pictures to come) and it was an all around fun night. After them, we watched some good old Alkaline Trio and Saves The Day. Both bands played amazingly and picked some sweet songs. The setlist said they were going to play Stupid Kid twice. Unfortunately it was just a typo and they didn’t actually do it.

After the show I thought it’d be a great idea to stay up until the flight and sleep all the way there… it definitely wasn’t. I was tired allll day. Needless to say I won’t be doing that again. The show still went very well in Adelaide. Not as many people as the other shows, but still lots of fun. Everyone who was there was enjoying themselves and it was definitely cool. I also watched Nine Inch Nails full set and they definitely blew me away. They put on such a great show. They definitely copy us a lot, but I think I can forgive them. After the show I was so tired so I just sat on the web for a few minutes and then went straight to bed. I was so tired and needed to catch up on sleep. Today was yet another flight, over to Perth. It is really strange how standard flights have become to us. It’s like the normal thing that every other day we’ll be on a plane for a few hours. It’s very strange, but pretty cool at the same time.

Today we arrived in Perth and just kind of hung out at the hotel. Aside from a food run, we really have just been sitting around and taking it easy. We’re pumped for the Soundwave tomorrow, I hear it should be a good show and that Perth usually brings the rock.. NERD is staying at our hotel. We wanted to get a holding it down photo with Pharrell but we couldn’t because he ran away with his cape on.

Anyway, once the show is done tomorrow, we will have only a short time left in Australia before continuing on the Say No To Neon tour in the states. We’re sad to see this tour end but we are excited to get back and see all our friends in America. Wish us luck on our flight home, so that we don't land on the island from Lost.

-Brendan

P.S. Photos and videos are coming soon. It's just too slow on this internet here to do anything of the sort! ...adios!