Celebrating July 4th while abroad is an interesting experience. Our professor invited us all to a local establishment that was reserved specifically for the occasion. It was was pretty amusing watching all the Sydney-side Americans descend on this one location all dressed in star-spangled garb. We all settled into a large booth together, got our food, and ordered some beers in preparation for the evening’s first event, trivia! Alex, our professor, and I were excited to play. The three of us together? That’s the trivia dream team. All things considered we did quite well, our team won 2 of the 4 rounds and accumulated over $500 (AUD) worth of prizes, mostly in the form of restaurant coupons and event tickets.
Alex and I left after trivia to go out on the town with some of our friends. Apparently there was a club that had free entry and one free drink for anyone who could prove their American citizenship. So we went out and got our free drinks and then it hit us, clubs are really, really lame. After coming to this conclusion we finished our drinks and looked up the nearest establishment with live music. What came up was a place called ‘The Valve”, and it was less than a quarter of a mile away. So with a new heading we left the club in search of some live tunes.
Arriving at ‘The Valve’ we opened the door and heard the sound of live drums and guitars. We looked at each other with big grins knowing we had found a good spot to be. Going inside we saw a band of young college age guys playing punk music and a small but excited crowd. It was nice to be at a local show in Sydney, it reminded us of the music scene in Omaha. We both miss the music community back home and attending this show was infinitely more fun than any club we could have gone to. It was nice to jump around and let my hair down, literally, for a night.
After the band’s performance, we talked with a couple of the guys about their musical backgrounds and our own. We told them that we actually were in a band together and were looking for a gig while in Sydney. The band’s bassist, Josh, who was particularly fond of us, told us that he would be more than happy to help us out. They would be having another show the next week and there might be a time slot available in which Alex and I could perform our own band’s music. We were excited to hear that and we swapped information with Josh, eager to hear if we would actually get the opportunity to play in Sydney.
I figure its about time I told you the real reason I traveled across the planet. It wasn’t to study, it wasn’t to go to the beach or see the sites, it was to see King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard perform at the Sydney Roundhouse. There it is, that’s the whole point of the trip, I’ll be coming back soon now. … … … Okay maybe it wasn’t the sole reason, but it was unequivocally a highlight of my time in Australia. For those of you who are unaware, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard may be the greatest thing to come out of Australia since Steve Irwin and Vegemite. If I had to describe them in as few words as possible I would say they are psychedelic, progressive rock, but even that feels like grows over generalization as they are constantly experimenting with new sounds and styles.
Alex and I arrived early to scope the area out and secure a spot towards the front of the line. We got there so early that we could actually hear the band performing a sound check! Joining us early in line was a group of local guys that we immediately became mates with. We were all swapping King Gizzard related stories and discussing favorite albums and coordinating who would secure good spots and who would go to the merch stand first. They were quite surprised to hear our accents when we started talking with them and we explained to them what we were doing in Australia. The conversation pretty quickly turned to local slang and culture.
The doors finally opened and we all rushed inside to secure a good spot close to the stage and get the good merch before it sold out. The first band to play was B!@#h Diesel (you know what the word is) and they had a doom-y punk sound to them which was up my alley. The second act was Mildlife, a super groovy and funky jam band that got the whole crowd dancing. Finally, what we were all waiting for, the King, the Lizzy-Wizzy, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard was gonna take the stage. When the lights went down and they appeared on stage, the crowd went absolutely rabid. The venue was in a literal frenzy, especially since King Gizzard opened with a batch of their new thrash metal songs. After that, they delved into their previous catalogues treating us to some bluesy tunes, microtonal sonics, and psychedelic punk rock before book-ending the set with another selection of shreddy thrash bops. We caught up and hung out with our new Aussie friends for a while after the show and exchanged social media information for future memes and shenanigans.
The day after, in the midst of our concert hangover, bruises and all, we headed down to Wollongong to meet some of our professor’s friends. His friends were kind enough to let us students try out their standing paddle boards. I have pretty good balance so I took pretty quick to these paddle boards spending a considerable amount of time out on the water. It felt incredibly relaxing floating on the water and feeling its buoyancy below me. When we were done paddle boarding, Alex and I wanted to check out the Buddhist temple in town, the largest in the southern hemisphere. The temple was up in the hills adjacent downtown Wollongong. The grounds were exceptionally serene, scattered with trees and Chinese architecture. We spent a good hour walking through the various buildings and paths of the temple, admiring the shrines, and even try our hand at calligraphy.
The rest of the week’s highlights consisted of musical endeavors. Alex and I were confirmed for the Sunday gig! We’re excited to take our band ‘sazcha’ (pronounced sasha) to an international stage and play for our new Australian friends. Additionally we’ve been continuing our practice sessions at the local music store and even writing some new material. Matt, our friend from the music store even spotted us a few hours worth of practice at the store, paying for our session one day. We then went out for drinks and pool with him afterwards! Alex and I are definitely gonna miss him when we return to the States. Until then though we’re gonna keep practicing and we’re going to shred at our first gig abroad!
I'm in Australia, Everything is Upside Down, and I'm Scared 