Hit The Road, Wasp!

To quote great Australian songwriter Don Walker, “I measure my position to the obstacles we crossed, the territory covered and the parties that we lost. Those were the days.”

Here is a small selection of photos from 10 different countries and 5 different tours, both solo and with Sean M. Whelan & The Mime Set, Water Music, Remarkable Shipwrecks and Lady Danger.

I think the photos show that, more than the shows themselves, touring is about the people you’re with, the fun you make and the amount of crap you have to carry.

Tour packing down to a fine art

The kind of packing that goes into touring a full band in Australia

Found in our hotel room in Canberra

House Concerts are mainly about the lovely people

Firenze House Concert photo by Frederico Porceddu

Live at Frau Frisor FOSCA by Kate Seabrook

Frau Frisor FOSCA, Firenze photo by Kate Seabrook

Blaison House Concert photo by Jordane Chaillou

Sam and Olga by Jordane Chaillou

Lady Danger and Wasp Summer at Prinz Willy, Kiel by Gabi.

Brussels House Concert. Photo by Sam Rasschaert.

Water Music and Wasp Summer at Cafe Retro, Copenhagen

Our stage under a Stockholm railway station by Eric Lindstrom

Oslo Tour Elk photo by Matty Barker

Every merchandise table needs a protective dinosaur

Juniper style! Bratislava band photo by Kate Seabrook

On a cold December day in Dresden

This lady, on her hen’s night, correctly deduced that we were touring rockstars

Wasp Summer Australian Tour Gallery Part 2

Hallo Dearhearts,

Here is part 2 of Wasp Summer’s Australian Tour gallery, spanning Melbourne to Brisbane to Meredith Music Festival. In these photos, I had a magic time with the following amazing people: Damian, SJ, Ari, Cam, Tams, Sally, Chez, Naz, Phil, Nicho, Bek, Patrick and Lisa. x

I needed my blanket-jacket for a 2am gig in the Botanic Gardens.

Got some quality rolling on the floor time in with this chunky little man and his amazing Mum.

Sally Browne wrote a feature on me for the Sunday Courier Mail that was much more extensive than I realised.

Adventures in poetry at the Brisbane Powerhouse watching Scotty Wings’ amazing Icarus Falling.

For music nerds.

Cool, misty Summer’s Day outside Woodford, QLD

On the front of a boarded up bakery.

Magnolia at a Sunshine Coast Hinterland winery.

Roadtripping with dear friend to MMF

Riding the Nick Cave Rockinghorse at Meredith Music Festival

Naz & Phil in the legendary arch of love.

Admiring the new windfarm behind Bush Camp at MMF

My dream car

Some of the accommodation options at MMF

This was the ‘LIttle House on the Prius’, complete with letterbox

Photo by Bek Duke. After last night cocktails, Bek, Nicho, Lisa and I made a pilgrimage to Amplett Lane to see one of my heroines.

Wasp Summer Australian Shows 2014

Earlier this year, I got an email out of the blue from Geoff, the Editor of Going Down Swinging, the long-running and innovative Australian journal of poetry, writing, graphic novels and art.

He requested that, for one night, we reform Sean M. Whelan and The Mime Set, the 2005-2008 collaboration between my former post-rock band and one of Australia’s best spoken word performers. They had funding to fly me back to Melbourne from Berlin for the show. I actually cried.

So, Sean M. Whelan and The Mime Set will perform their One Night Wonder on Friday 28 November, 2014 at the Mission To Seafarers Chapel in Docklands, Melbourne. Click here for tickets. We’ve also picked up a Canberra show on Sunday 30 November, for the Bloody Lips night held at New Acton.

Sean M. Whelan & The Mime Set
Friday 28. November – Mission to Seafarers, Melbourne
Saturday 29. November – Bloody Lips @ New Acton, Canberra

And while I’m in the country, why not show people what Wasp Summer’s been working on in Berlin? So I’m organising solo Wasp Summer gigs in Victoria and Queensland. Here are the confirmed dates.

Wasp Summer
Thursday 20. November – The Old Bar, Fitzroy, Melbourne
Friday 21. November – The Eastern, Ballarat
Saturday 22. November – The Bridge, Castlemaine
Friday 5. December – Couplet @ Brisbane Square Library, Brisbane
Wednesday 10 December – Skukum Lounge, Brisbane

Last Berlin shows for 2014

Wasp Summer has three gigs Berlin gigs coming up in October and November, the last before the Wasp Summer Australian shows.

Sunday 19 October at 14:00, Sam is doing a solo show at Donau 115‘s Donaufrühstück, If you’re Sunday Mornin’ Coming Down, this concert series presented by Cow Hearts and curated by the amazing Emperor X is for you.

Friday 31 October at 21:00, Sam and Simon are playing a Wasp Summer duo Halloween special at Moabit’s best Musik Lokal, Kallasch &.

Thursday 6 November at 21:00, Wasp Summer present their first full-band show with new drummer Ben Johnson (that’s him on the right above ^^) in a live recording at Culture Container.

This excellent band photo, in Ben’s rehearsal space, was taken by Kate Seabrook Photographer.