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A squash court sized bandroom with ever-changing art splashed all over the walls.
We’re featuring Australian band Halcyon Drive’s diary entries from different Australian cities every week. Now turn up their latest single “The Birds” to set the mood, and let’s head out on tour with them!
Friday 13th October: The Record Crate
Picture your favourite sticky-carpet, layers of posters on the walls bandroom and then shrink it by about 400% until you can at most fit 80 people inside, and voila, you’ve got Record Crate! Situated on top of an awesome little record store in leafy Glebe – this is definitely one of our favourite venues in recent memory. The night was started by local trio Aikonawena – who put out some serious Safia-esque vibes, and got the tiny room shaking to the point I was worried the room’s wearied floorboards might actually finally give in. For us, the show was an awesome reminder of why we love playing live no matter what size shoebox the room is. The vibe was mega, and a big shoutout to those that travelled to see us especially. We love it when folks come up, request songs and tell us the story behind why they started listening and what the tunes mean to them. It’s that kinda thing that really makes it worthwhile for us. So much love. Thanks!
Saturday 14th October: RAD Bar Wollongong
One of the main reasons we chose to drive these shows from Melbourne is because when we can, we love to explore the local area when on tour. Today’s drive from Sydney to Wollongong was the perfect opportunity to do so, and first stop was Wattamolla beach in the beautiful Royal National Park. For anyone who hasn’t been here before, this beach is a beautiful little inlet cut off from the ocean at high tide, and surrounded by bushland and a bunch of natural rock rock formations that happen to make the perfect diving platforms for loose British backpackers. I would highly recommend a trip here just for the high quality spectator sport.
Later we reached Wollongong and set up in one of our all-time favourite rooms, RAD bar. A squash court sized bandroom with ever-changing art splashed all over the walls, we’ve played a number of shows here over the years and love the vibe. It was a shame to hear it may be closing soon due to new developments being planned in town- a super shame for all the local kids that call this place home on the weekends. Speaking of which, opening the night was local lads Good Lekker, who despite being pretty new on the scene absolutely smashed it out and took home the award for the favourite band I saw all this weekend. Thanks also to Sampson for playing, and the legends at Rad for having us again. Hopefully we’ll be back soon!
SEE ALSO: Australian Band Halcyon Drive’s Travel Diary Part 3: The Front In Canberra
