Australian Phrases

07/05/08

So we got back last week from Australia, which came directly after Japan, as featured in the last blog entry.

We arrived in Sydney as jetlagged space cadets. I can’t remember if I got that far in the last blog, but for the sake of realism we’ll pretend (correctly or incorrectly) that I didn’t.

A wander around Sydney, after being picked up at the airport by our Australian tour co-ordinator, the lovely Charney, followed, and we were all feeling the vibes. It was the first time we’d ever been in the Southern Hemisphere as well. The water really does go the other way, though I think that has long been elevated out of the realm of ‘urban myth’.

We went 3 shows in a row down under, with Sydney, Brisbane (the most conservative part of Australia apparently, where animal rights are not high on the agenda, and there’s a lot of Brits, as it never gets particularly cold – this may or may not be completely true) and Melbourne. We managed to land in Melbourne on the night the taxi drivers decided to strike, leaving the streets gridlocked with yellow cabs, parked at awkward angles, so as to shut down the flow of traffic downtown. Effective. Thankfully our hotel was a couple of blocks walking distance, so we were spared the moral dilemma of being indignant about being stranded, versus supporting cabbies rights.

Australia was amazing. I feel bad for not blogging in depth about it, though I may at a future point, but it was really fabulous. Fucking great people. I don’t think we met anyone we didn’t love to bits. Especially the glorious Charney, whose enforcement of a military-strict lobby call both challenged, upset, and matured us in equal measure, and whose effortless patter has given us years of material to hold floor across the world. It weighs heavy on us that we broke her heart upon leaving, and that her eyes now sparkle slightly less than before.

And we coped with the spiders, and I touched a koala. And we didn’t visit McDonalds, nor did we eat kangaroo. A result all round.

After Australia, we went home for a night, and then on to Guernsey (Adam and I got the 6.45am out of Glasgow… Adam, myself, and the jetlag I should say… hoop-la.)

Guernsey was great, and we had a fuzzy night in the hotel bar with our friends and US tour compadres, Editors. Jamie, our lighting designer, almost caused the festival production a heart attack when they saw all the lights he’d brought. It was big.

And now we’ve just started a 3 week period of blissful, sunny time off. Look out for bearded musicians napping under rocks around the Ayrshire countryside. Or in James’ case, an Aussie-rules football shirt-wearing, bike-riding flash on the road, as he speeds by you.

Topics of conversation in the Biffy camp…

The next time the band play on a stage, they’re followed 6 hours later by Rage Against The Machine.

A "Punisher" is a term used by certain Australians to describe people (in this case, an exuberant punter at one of the Aussie Biffy shows) who are ‘relentless’ in their pursuit of interaction. They’ll talk your ear off, basically. The phrase cracked us up.

To "Man Up" is to be a bit more ‘manly’ in the non-gender sense. For example, instead of choosing to go to bed early, one should "man up" and have another beer.

What the fuck is going on in ‘Lost’. What the actual fuck. I’m serious, I want to know.

New weezer single. amazing. hilarious.

Seriously, what the fuck is going on in Lost. Whats Jin’s game? Jim from Neighbours changed the rules? Smoke on command? Whatever it is, its like beautiful dirty TV crack.

Hope you’re all well. We’re going to enjoy 3 weeks off. I’ll try and blog some photos in that time, from Japan and Australia