Freshly back home and excited to see parts of Australia’s hardcore community that have grown since I was last there. Joined by Speed on this run were two of the Bay’s finest - Sunami & Scowl. The interesting thing about this tour was that both bands and Speed are on a similar trajectory and have experienced almost the exact same spike during the pandemic. Three bands on the same wave - an important time that I think will be looked at in future as a defining era of modern hardcore. 

I drove for two days from Sydney to Adelaide with the van and trailer filled with merch and gear. Thank you to Phoebe for accompanying me! In front of us Candace was on a solo mission and we’d occasionally catch up at servos and for dinner in Hay (a staple stay for this route). 

Adelaide was a crazy show, it probably felt the most intense in terms of stage dives and the pit besides BOTM. I’ve been doing shows at Lion Art’s for years previously as Fowlers Live and to see it without a barrier and packed was something I never thought was achievable. Props to everyone holding it down over there - Winnerz Circle, Pig Pen Records… shoutout Gymbow! 

The day after I woke up and lasted about five hours into the drive before I was hit with a crazy wave of an illness. It lasted about three days and all I could do was lay down and try not to get the cold sweats - It wasn’t covid but whatever it was had me fucked up. I don’t remember much of the next three gigs between Melbourne & Newcastle.. Stay Gold was AA and I met a few kids out the front from Albury who were stoked to see their first hardcore show - they even ripped the posters off the inside venue walls at the end! Canberra surprisingly had one of the best energies out of the whole tour - I normally do shows in different genres at The Basement so this crowd of people were completely new to me. I think its going to be a place to keep an eye on the next two years.. since then there’s already been a few new bands pop up and DIY AA shows. 

To make things even worse for me… I broke my foot moshing to Ill Natured at the Newcastle show and drove on it for a few days after. I still think it was pretty sick. Alas! I made it through to the end hopping around. Dope shows, plenty of new and excited faces and new friends I’ll have forever. The best parts of this run were hanging with Jaffy, meeting the rest of the Bay crew (Chris, Justin & Danny), Condition One at the Crowbar side show, getting some good van time in & non stop epic riders thanks to Candace (Pepsi Max & Sugar Free Red Bull).