Me, Reen, H.W. and N went direct to Bunbury, where we stayed in this small caravan park. Now technically, the room we were in was only supposed to be for four, but we managed to sneak in by shoving N's face between her legs as we passed by in the car. It was... cosy.
We rose bright and early, and cold. I was cold. N wasn't the most generous with the blanket. But I was wearing thermals, so it wasn't too bad. I think ahead, you see. That's the thing with GTM. I remember last year... it was so cold. You had to mosh for warmth. I remember going into the dance tent for Bag Raiders just to keep warm... Luckily I'd learn't how to dance using every part of my body, including my 'gash', by KillaQueenz. They taught us all how to dance. Violently, and sexually.
Anyway, we rose bright and early. We supercharged on Nutella. Between our collective Nutella supplies, we could have constructed a toddler, or a small midget, entirely out of Nutella. Reen's mother is a doctor, and after analysing the contents of the Nutella... well, it's not exactly spinach. We roamed around the caravan park, where fellow festival goers were already getting their drink on. Here's a handsome pose of me, H.W. and N in the caravn park.
I'm not usually vain, but my shadow legs look insanely good in this one. But enough about me and my umbrific pins, because soon enough we were lining up for GTM. We entered Hay Park, and as I walked through the huge pink gateway, I felt a nice warm fuzz in my chest. A playful deja vu, a tasty nostalgia, a homecoming. just 364 days before, I was a young kid, innocence still untainted, existence still uninformed.
First up were acts that I was only semi-aware of, so I decided to go to the bathroom, because I knew I wouldn't get another chance. As I went, I heard at least four girls in the cubicle next to me, one of whom was passing drugs through her bowels. I think they heard me shitting myself (I mean laughing, despite the connotations of a port-a-loo) and soon 'closed up shop', so to speak. I think Drug Mule #1 was having some trouble with delivery anyway. I soon returned, and easily made my was to the front of the mosh, which was about 27 people at that point.
We saw San Cisco. They were really good. It was pretty sad, how they had to play so early. I don't get why people turned up late. If you pay $100 for a festival ticket, wouldn't you want to squeeze every last chord from it? Whilst enjoying them, Reen spotted a cool dude wearing a shirt which echoed exactly (besides obvious spelling mistakes which I wouldn't have made) my sentiments about today.
If I was in a band, I probably would prefer to play at huge gigs instead of small sets in Bunbury... but if I'd made a commitment, I would keep it. Oh well... fuckers, I feel less shit about illegally downloading This Modern Glitch. We went around the grounds a bit, memories flooding back. That small area of grass by the dance tent, where we'd found a tube of sunscreen, sunscreen we'd squirted in and around one of the multitude of free condoms we'd received. They were handing out nifty little square tins this year, I got one with a picture of a safe on it. Keep it safe, kids. When we returned to the stages, I honest to god don't know who was playing. The lead singer had a whiney voice, a high-pitched, Veruca Salt kind of voice. Tim and Jean were on next, at the next door stage, so I made my way to that side. It's a sign, how bad your band is, when there is a bigger crowd waiting for the next band than enjoying yours. We all cheered for them, though. When they finished. Tim and Jean are really cool. I saw them at Hyperfest and of course, O-Day.
They are so fun. Electro used to be more fun, now it's all acid and orgies. This comparison has been drawn a thousand times, but they remind me of Passion Pit. It's certainly not a bad comparison. They do this cover of Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac. I'm not the biggest fan of the Mac, but even I appreciate that song, and I danced crazy when they played it. This is a complete side story, so forgive me. But today, I was having my italian lesson (Si, io parlo italiano) and I showed my teacher the video for Come Around by Tim and Jean. It turns out she had met him at a party once, and has some huge existential D&M with him. Apparently he's an Aquarius. Small world, eh? Apologies for the photo, only me and H.W. were game enough to get to the front of the mosh for them, Reen and N wanted to ensure their prime position for Darwin Deez. Mind you, once Tim and Jean had finished, we managed to elbow our way back to some swell spots. Darwin Deez was amazing...
Quite apart from having some great songs, my personal hit of the day being 'Bad Day', his band were so so so cool. They were choreographed to geek perfection. And when Darwin took time between his songs to pay homage to certain classics, I was laughing and jumping.
This is Darwin as he 'whipped his hair back and forth'.
And of course, when he finally played Radar Detector, I went a bit crazy. That reminded me of being a youngster too. As we emerged from Deez, we saw E, and his sister. E was acting all crazy, he was on a new diet, and we caught up. I got to reminiscing about Groovin the Moo last year. Me, N, E and Ju (who couldn't make it this year, being in France). I remember being so excited for it, counting down the days, three months in advance. I remember seeing Jonathan Boulet and Voltaire Twins early in the morning, Miami Horror in the afternoon. Soon, I headed over to the dance tent, because up next was the Go! Team. I never really knew about the Go! Team for long before GTM, but they are good. If you take anything away from this blog, it's the suggestion to go and search YouTube for 'Twin of Myself - Go! Team Remix'. Ninja, the lead singer, has such energy, she was busting moves like an electric wasp, you should have seen.
Anyway, we rose bright and early. We supercharged on Nutella. Between our collective Nutella supplies, we could have constructed a toddler, or a small midget, entirely out of Nutella. Reen's mother is a doctor, and after analysing the contents of the Nutella... well, it's not exactly spinach. We roamed around the caravan park, where fellow festival goers were already getting their drink on. Here's a handsome pose of me, H.W. and N in the caravn park.
I'm not usually vain, but my shadow legs look insanely good in this one. But enough about me and my umbrific pins, because soon enough we were lining up for GTM. We entered Hay Park, and as I walked through the huge pink gateway, I felt a nice warm fuzz in my chest. A playful deja vu, a tasty nostalgia, a homecoming. just 364 days before, I was a young kid, innocence still untainted, existence still uninformed.
First up were acts that I was only semi-aware of, so I decided to go to the bathroom, because I knew I wouldn't get another chance. As I went, I heard at least four girls in the cubicle next to me, one of whom was passing drugs through her bowels. I think they heard me shitting myself (I mean laughing, despite the connotations of a port-a-loo) and soon 'closed up shop', so to speak. I think Drug Mule #1 was having some trouble with delivery anyway. I soon returned, and easily made my was to the front of the mosh, which was about 27 people at that point.
We saw San Cisco. They were really good. It was pretty sad, how they had to play so early. I don't get why people turned up late. If you pay $100 for a festival ticket, wouldn't you want to squeeze every last chord from it? Whilst enjoying them, Reen spotted a cool dude wearing a shirt which echoed exactly (besides obvious spelling mistakes which I wouldn't have made) my sentiments about today.
If I was in a band, I probably would prefer to play at huge gigs instead of small sets in Bunbury... but if I'd made a commitment, I would keep it. Oh well... fuckers, I feel less shit about illegally downloading This Modern Glitch. We went around the grounds a bit, memories flooding back. That small area of grass by the dance tent, where we'd found a tube of sunscreen, sunscreen we'd squirted in and around one of the multitude of free condoms we'd received. They were handing out nifty little square tins this year, I got one with a picture of a safe on it. Keep it safe, kids. When we returned to the stages, I honest to god don't know who was playing. The lead singer had a whiney voice, a high-pitched, Veruca Salt kind of voice. Tim and Jean were on next, at the next door stage, so I made my way to that side. It's a sign, how bad your band is, when there is a bigger crowd waiting for the next band than enjoying yours. We all cheered for them, though. When they finished. Tim and Jean are really cool. I saw them at Hyperfest and of course, O-Day.
They are so fun. Electro used to be more fun, now it's all acid and orgies. This comparison has been drawn a thousand times, but they remind me of Passion Pit. It's certainly not a bad comparison. They do this cover of Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac. I'm not the biggest fan of the Mac, but even I appreciate that song, and I danced crazy when they played it. This is a complete side story, so forgive me. But today, I was having my italian lesson (Si, io parlo italiano) and I showed my teacher the video for Come Around by Tim and Jean. It turns out she had met him at a party once, and has some huge existential D&M with him. Apparently he's an Aquarius. Small world, eh? Apologies for the photo, only me and H.W. were game enough to get to the front of the mosh for them, Reen and N wanted to ensure their prime position for Darwin Deez. Mind you, once Tim and Jean had finished, we managed to elbow our way back to some swell spots. Darwin Deez was amazing...
Quite apart from having some great songs, my personal hit of the day being 'Bad Day', his band were so so so cool. They were choreographed to geek perfection. And when Darwin took time between his songs to pay homage to certain classics, I was laughing and jumping.
This is Darwin as he 'whipped his hair back and forth'.
And of course, when he finally played Radar Detector, I went a bit crazy. That reminded me of being a youngster too. As we emerged from Deez, we saw E, and his sister. E was acting all crazy, he was on a new diet, and we caught up. I got to reminiscing about Groovin the Moo last year. Me, N, E and Ju (who couldn't make it this year, being in France). I remember being so excited for it, counting down the days, three months in advance. I remember seeing Jonathan Boulet and Voltaire Twins early in the morning, Miami Horror in the afternoon. Soon, I headed over to the dance tent, because up next was the Go! Team. I never really knew about the Go! Team for long before GTM, but they are good. If you take anything away from this blog, it's the suggestion to go and search YouTube for 'Twin of Myself - Go! Team Remix'. Ninja, the lead singer, has such energy, she was busting moves like an electric wasp, you should have seen.
The was doing jumps and kicks and getting the crowd in a frenzy, it was frenetic, kinetic, insane. T.O.R.N.A.D.O. was my personal favourite, and by that I mean it's the only song I know the name of, and they were all so fast paced, all so amazing, they blurred into colourful tapestries. And her normal talking voice, as well... I'm such a sucker for her accent. Then came Nina Las Vegas, weaving tracks like a mother-bitch. It's fair to say I'm a little bit in love with her. In fact, I'm listening to her on Triple J now. Today was supposedly the Rapture, so she started by play a song by the Rapture... what a honey.
Here's Nina with another famous face you might recognise, if you know your Aussie music. Next on was Architecture in Helsinki. I was wondering around a bit, at this point, and only caught the show from the outskirts of the dance tent. They were still amazing. There's something about 'That Beep' which gets me smiling. It's cute and bouncy. Now, Reen and N, being the Drums super-fan-girls, took me to secure a front of mosh position for them. Problem, there were two acts before the Drums came on. To be totally honest, I wasn't completely fussed on Pez/360, seeing as I'd already seen them before at, you guessed it, Hyperfest, so I was happy to secure my spot. We waited through the Panics, which was a really nice band, and then Gyroscope, which was a really loud band, until finally the Drums began to play. And they were awesome.
I've never been so excited to hear someone start talking about their best friend dying, because I just knew it meant a great song was coming up. They had such energy, such sex appeal, my one criticism was not being able to hear properly because of all the screaming bitches. Oh well, tis' the price of popularity. I hung around a bit more, after they'd finished, then went to the dance tent. AC Slater was playing, and it was a proper ravefest. I was dancing like I was having a seizure in a vertical coffin, and a guy in front of me casually pulls out a small zip lock bag of MDMA, dips a finger in, and savours his drug. The lights were going crazy, and I was getting that tight throat, constricted lung, secondary high feeling. Then, after his set, we elbowed our way to the front of UNKLE, one of the bands I'd been most excited to see.
The sound was so loud, so raw, it gave me a splitting headache and I was glad to rest up against the 'front-of-the-mosh' fence, but my oh my were they fantastic. Their panoply of sound intertwined with complex black and white visuals and made a beautiful AV experience. Runaway is a classic hit, even without Lupe. I left the dance tent with a happy head, and I relaxed, sat down on the cold grass, and I watched Cut Copy from afar. My feet were aching, my calves ripping, and I took pleasure in the simple act. I remembered the last acts of last year's GTM. I remember the neon jellyfish visual which blobbed along to Empire of the Sun. And I remembered the wonderful sense of elation as Vampire Weekend played, as me, N, E and Ju danced KillaQueenz style to Diplomat's Son, running through the mosh with E to dance to a few last songs, nearly being killed as I shoved my may forward. Groovin' the Moo turned me into a ruthless musical machine, a man who sweeps derros and hipsters aside like a modern Moses, a man expecting the worst, hoping for the best, and always, always having a good time.
Ale
I think I've changed, maybe, the shirt's the same.
The sound was so loud, so raw, it gave me a splitting headache and I was glad to rest up against the 'front-of-the-mosh' fence, but my oh my were they fantastic. Their panoply of sound intertwined with complex black and white visuals and made a beautiful AV experience. Runaway is a classic hit, even without Lupe. I left the dance tent with a happy head, and I relaxed, sat down on the cold grass, and I watched Cut Copy from afar. My feet were aching, my calves ripping, and I took pleasure in the simple act. I remembered the last acts of last year's GTM. I remember the neon jellyfish visual which blobbed along to Empire of the Sun. And I remembered the wonderful sense of elation as Vampire Weekend played, as me, N, E and Ju danced KillaQueenz style to Diplomat's Son, running through the mosh with E to dance to a few last songs, nearly being killed as I shoved my may forward. Groovin' the Moo turned me into a ruthless musical machine, a man who sweeps derros and hipsters aside like a modern Moses, a man expecting the worst, hoping for the best, and always, always having a good time.
Ale
I think I've changed, maybe, the shirt's the same.
