Scott & Charlene’s Wedding are currently embarking on an absolutely massive tour known as Up The Guts – a slog that starts in Hobart and tears its way through the heart of Australia en route to Darwin.
One of our fave Melbourne bands, they’re joined on this adventure by some other great acts: Melbourne’s underground garage legends ScotDrakula, folk-punk upstart Ali E, melodic maestro Ben Wright Smith, and Jack, Jo & Friends (a new collaboration between members of The Pretty Littles and Big Scary) – a great lineup anywhere, let alone in the middle of the bush.
To give us an idea of just what it’s like trekking through the outback with guitar in hand, S&CW will be sending us updates on their travels whenever they can find a patch of internet out there in the wilderness. We checked in with the tour last week on the Tassie leg, and now they’ve sent us through another update covering a whole lot of Victoria and South Australia.
They aren’t slowing down once they return from this massive quest, playing The Curtin in their hometown of Melbourne on August 26 and Sydney’s Volumes Festival on August 27, before heading to BIGSOUND in Brisbane on September 6-9.
They’ve just dropped the above single from their forthcoming album, due out on September 9, which we’re sure will be getting played countless times along the way to Darwin.
Jack and Craig over the Loddon River at Bridgewater. After catching the ferry back to Melbourne and playing to a full house at the Gasometer, the Up the Guts tour rolled into rural VIC, where we played Bendigo, Castlemaine ad Warrnambool before rolling along the coast highway into SA.
There ain’t a lot to do on the bus, but there sure are a lot of cool Pokemon out in the bush. Here’s Gill Tucker equipped with a Pokeball donut she picked up in Adelaide. Don’t try chucking these at small animals.
After a good show in Adelaide, we rolled up the coast and things began to feel well and truly rugged. Here is the landscape in Whyalla – grey sky, grey sea, and a great pub! We loaded into the Spencer Hotel and performed to a small but passionate crowd, made up mostly of the North Whyalla Football Club.
Darren, a local legend at least a few pints deep, got up on stage to join the Guts band for a memorable rendition of ‘Wipeout’. Kids began jumping off the stage and tables, which resulted in more than a few ice packs being handed out after the show.
Desert. Once you turn north from the coast and head inland, it gets red very quick. We spent two nights camping at a roadside stop called Glendambo, made up of two servos and a pub.
On the second night the publican came down to our fire and asked if we’d play a gig in exchange for free camping. We did, and it’s right up there with best gig of the tour. The owner pulled out a guitar from behind the bar, and everyone jumped up and had a go.
A fellow in a BP uniform left the station unattended and ran over to play a duet with his brother. Our bartender got on the phone and before you knew it locals were showing up from remote outposts in the surrounding desert. Special mentions to Nifty for his bush poetry, and Wayne who invited us back for next year’s cricket match.
Let’s end this note on a selfie. We might complain about the drives, the long nights and early mornings, the boredom and lack of phone reception, but hey, touring ain’t all bad.
