 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Ray Back in NYC Thank you!!!it was an awesome week!!! Thank you for having us play Please say thank you to your wife too and enjoy the CD Rock on my friend!!! Bob Dee ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hailmary Tour Diary: Part One
Hailmary’s a “bi-coastal” band; three of us live in Perth - I (singer/guitarist), Vas (drums) and Cush (lead guitar) while Mick, our bass player, lives nearly 3000 kilometres away in Melbourne. Not the most normal of band situations, but we tour pretty regularly, so our time apart isn’t that long. It was great that Mick flew into Perth a few days earlier so we could get in some much needed rehearsals, and we got to celebrate with a killer Farewell show, so we were set and ready to go. Our flight to Abu Dhabi was delayed a few hours so we soaked up the ambience of the airport bar, getting primed for the two long flights ahead of us – 11½ hours to Abu Dhabi, two-and-a-half hours stopover and then eight hours to London Heathrow to arrive at 7.30am Wednesday morning. wednesday, 9 sept
“Bands for Vans” met us at the airport and handed over the keys to our splitter Van. Mick lived in London for a few years, so he’s designated driver for the trip and the first stop of the day is to the Ace Bros Headquarters, a backline and production company owned by two of Mick’s best mates – Charlie and Aleks. They’ve offered up their warehouse for us to stay in and rehearse for the next few days, seriously two great blokes who would give you the shirt off their back. So whilst most people spend their first day in London checking out Big Ben and having tea with the Queen, we spent seven hours crawling through absolutely insane mass traffic to various locations picking up and the amps and drums we’d bought on English Gumtree before we left Oz. A bit of a risk buying this way, but it all turned out sweet. We headed back to the warehouse after a ripper feed from the local fish and chip shop and unpacked our new banners and drum skin that had arrived today. They look awesome and will definitely add a better visual element to our set. Beers, bed, night! thursday, 10 sept
Weather’s been surprisingly good, nice and sunny, so time to play and chill out. Got to check out Wembley Stadium too; – what an amazing piece of architecture. First show of the tour is done and dusted! The 12 Bar Club is a really cool old school type rock bar that has a lot of character. T Clemente were great and it was cool to get a gig under our belts to blow off the jetlag and warm up before the Ugly Kid Joe Tour starts on Monday. Word keeps coming in that each of the UKJ shows are either sold-out or close to it, we’re pumped, gonna be epic. friday, 11 septTonight’s show was in Barnstaple, North Devon, a three-hour drive out of London. So much scenery and then more scenery, and yep, more scenery. We spent the drive with the volume cranked high listing to an advanced copy of the new Ugly Kid Joe record Uglier Than They Use Ta Be sent to us from Whit Crane himself, super cool. Sounding shit hot! Good show tonight at cool little venue called the Golden Lion Tap, and another good chance for us to iron out the set - it’s coming together nicely. saturday, 12 septToday we headed further north to Ilfracombe a cool little seaside town and spent the day doing a bit of sightseeing. The views in this place are amazing. We climbed to the top of Capstone Hill, definitely gave the legs a work out getting up to the top but it was worth it to see the beautiful hills and the city. Was a really fun show at the Chill Bar in the city centre. Definitely the best of the three warm up shows we have done, cool crowd turned out for the gig and seemed to really get into our brand of hard rock. We farewelled our new buddies from the T Clemente band, really nice people, In fact nearly everyone we have met so far has been super friendly and helpful including the young locals who invited us to a party they were having after the gig. We stopped in for a drink with them, cause that’s the Aussie thing to do. A big cheers to Ray and Jackie who not only promoted the two North Devon shows, but were also very generous in letting us stay in their second home for a few nights. Four nights in and no park benches required! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have had an amazing tour, and want to thank Ray and Jackie at FIRST STEP MANAGEMENT for their hard work and organisation. Jay at Shredder Live Lounge for his support and help with equipment, all of the venues, other bands, sound engineers and bar staff for looking after us...but mostly...thank you to everyone who came to the gigs...we love you all Hi Ray,
Just wanted to thank you properly for our tour last week.
The lads really enjoyed themselves and have some great memories from all of the venues.
Thank you to Jackie too for looking after us on Saturday night, although we didn't end up stopping over....as the lads didn't finish hanging out with some of the locals until 4am, we decided to head back home straight away.
A big thank you also to Lawrence and Isobel for making the final night of the tour so memorable.... The boys ended up playing a mixed set with more covers than originals, but went down a storm, and made many friends both with the locals, and with a few holiday makers who were in The Chill Bar that night.... Lawrence is fantastic, the boys can't wait to go back down and play there again....they loved the lunacy, and the friendliness of the place.....
All in all a fantastic week, so thank you once again..
Steve, Chris,Jake and Ash --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wow, back home from Synergy Protocol's first tour abroad! UK, it was... intense. The driving, meeting people, their unrestricted enthousiasm and extremely warm support, the playing, the cooperation with The Last Of Us,Ray Williams and the venues. All fantastic experiences. For me however very much overshadowed byLaura Guldemond's sudden announcement to leave the band. We were magic on stage, loved every second of it! So it really hurts me and it will take me some time to get over it. But always there was this hunch. And again my hunch turned out to be right. Unfortunately. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TERESSA MASCIANA Hi Ray, Just a note to say many many thanks for organising Teresa's wee tour. It was most successful and we appreciate all your work. I'm sure you'll be interested to know that the story's not over yet. I managed to persuade one of my old contacts to catch the Band at the 12 Bar Club and as a result Teresa was invited to go back to England last week to meet with the Production team at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studio near Bath. Preproduction is already under way on 3 songs and should the demos go well there's the chance to do the new album at Real World. So, in all probability Teresa will be spending more time in the UK and will be available to do more gigs..,,I know she'd love to do a festival or two. (hint, hint) I will keep you posted of developments and should be over myself next time. Many thanks again and best wishes to you and your family for the festive season. Merry Christmas. Charles. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Ray Just wanted to say thank you for an awesome tour! Sorry we couldn't talk longer last night but my guys wanted to get a jump on the drive home!We drove the whole way home to Newcastle Crazy!!git home around 8am Thank you to your wife Jackie too! You two rock please tell her Let's talk in the beginning of next year about next year's tour, now that you have seen us play live, great band!!! Rock on my friend! Take care!! Bob Dee --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We in Worhol can't thank First Step Management enough for spending this past week with us on the road and booking our UK Tour! We feel so blessed to have worked with them and can't wait to see them again for future tours. Jackie and Ray you are now family to us!! We already miss you x .----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- e good and the bad. Highs and lows. Let me start by thanking everyone who helped us on this EPIC journey in AUG's quest for UK Domination... Ray Williams and staff, TBFM and staff, DR Strings, Sarge, Matt Snow Rentals, Our friends who graciously lets us stay at there homes, ALL the Venues, the AWESOME people of the UK and everyone who followed on on FB. THANK YOU !! AND WE LOVE YOU ALL !!! Well I must say first that the people were fantastic and if you attended ANY of the shows you were not disappointed. As some of you know we did this tour as a 3 piece. This was not intended, but NOTHING can stop the freight train know as AUG. We persevered and went on and ROCKED HARD as the 3 piece. We have a new lead player who we will start working with immediately. Most of you know him as he is most definitely a seasoned player w/ everything needed to be the lead player in AUG. There were many shower less / sleepless nights, police encounters and such. Traffic like never seen before. But when the show started is was all business !! We've made many new friends and lots and lots of new fans. We most definitely left our mark on the UK !!! So once again THANK YOU our friends, families and fans for your support !!! WE LOVE YOU ALL AND WE"LL SEE YOU ALL SOON!!!! AUG --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So this first tour is over, I'm now working on some new stuff and hopefully we'll be back to UK in November for a couple of acoustic gigs!! I got many people to say thanks to, for many reasons...I'll start from the ones who helped us finding funds to do this tour, so thank you to: Daiquiri Lounge Cafè. Azienda Agricola San Cassiano, Osteria N2, Magma Strings, Love Shop, Sweet Recording, Pro Loco Castel d' Ario and Arte Estetica, we wouldn't have made it without your precious help! Il tour è ormai finito ma a Novembre torneremo in UK per un paio di date in acustico in attesa dell'uscita del nuovo EP e di un nuovo tour in elettrico!Ora è tempo di ringraziamenti e vorrei iniziare da coloro che hanno supportato economicamente questa avventura e senza i quali non sarebbe stato lo stesso:Daiquiri Lounge Cafè. Azienda Agricola San Cassiano, Osteria N2, Magma Strings, Love Shop, Sweet Recording, Pro Loco Castel d' Ario e Arte Estetica. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Well ! what a weekend it was. The rain was unrelenting but it never stopped the party and it didn't dampen the atmosphere. Party In The Pub rocked !! The bands were sensational, the people came out in their droves and everyone had a fantastic time. What can i say ! The Patriot has got to have the most loyal and hardest partying bunch of rock fans in the whole of Wales. A big THANK YOU to everyone that braved the rain and came out to party with us, It's you guys that has made Party In The Pub the fantastic success that it has become and year on year it seems to just get better. So thank you once again and see you all again in August when the party continues with PARTY IN THE PUB 2. We would also once again like to thank Ray and his team of First Step Management,Geoff our sound engineer and our extremely hard working bar staff without whom we could not do what we do. ROLL ON AUGUST !!!!!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi Ray
We’re all at home, safe after our 17 hours trip. We’re really satisfied with this first tour, even if the venues (except Ilfracombe) weren’t very busy, we’ve had our share of the life of British small bands and we’ve had a very good time with The Black Tears (we’ll try to organize gigs in our French venues for them). So great thanks for all you did for us, everything was so well scheduled and your choice of touring with this lovely young band was really a great idea.
Kind regards to you and your wife. Hope to see you soon.
Steph and all the LADY FUEL band --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well...... THAT was interesting..... no-one died..... no-one got murdered (close).... no-one got paid (NO that's a lie!) no-one turned up (that's another lie!) ....it was marvelous fun! thanks to Ray and the venues/promoters who put the shows up but mainly a MASSIVE thank you to the Cowboys n Cowgirls up and down this jolly fine country of ours who stepped out and had a blast with us - we loved it..... I'm off to smoke some crack..... Check out The Bleedin Noses and Fireroad. (http://www.fireroadrock.com/ ) 2 great bands who supported us on the way. Love to you all. x PECKHAM COWBOYS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Charlie Cee Just like to say a big thank you for the tour but your a star . ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would just like to say a big thank you to ray williams and the first step management team for giving us the chance to play ... thoroughly enjoyed it great first gig --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello Ray, hope you are well! I just wanted to thank you for one more time for putting this tour together for us. It was a great experience and we can't wait for the second one , perhaps in the new yeer Thank so much for everything, have a great day! Many Thanks Jade Vine ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ray, Sorry it has taken me a while to find time to write. It has been a hectic return to life after the tour. We had a great time at the Party in the Pub, though the lads were a little tired by day 15. Your support was much welcomed and may be one day we will get to play in your neck of the woods, I still can’t get over The Chill Bar! I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the band for your assistance with Karhu’s May Tour. Times are definitely hard in some sectors of the UK music market and Metal would seem to be one, certainly at the introductory end. That said, just about every event was enjoyable, the band had a great time and Merch sales per head were better that expected. We are grateful that you gave us the opportunity to play when many others would not, that will not be forgotten. It may be quite some time before Karhu undertake another UK tour, and next time I hope we can provide a more lucrative return for us all. I feel we have made many new friends and discovered some great venues so I look forward to working with you again at some stage in the future.
Regards Mark Parry Karhu Management 01709 711195 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Such a kick ass weekend with BlackWater England gigging the shit out of wales at the PARTY IN THE PUB FESTIVAL AT THE PATRIOT CRUMLIN on friday night big thanks to the patriots for rocking out with us and also to Ray Williams at FIRST STEP MANAGEMENT for organizing the event we will see u again soon bud \m/ we then took on Ilfracombe and Live Music in Ilfracombe at The Chill Bar which was power epic its our second time there and we love it such good vibes in that place :) big shout out to all who came along and also too Lawrence N Isabel Cravings for inviting us back and through all of this we had great support from HellBent OnHeaven those girls know how to rock out and seeing hannah bouncing off walls was ace lol and last but not least big thanks to Andy Seymour (steele) for making it all happen ! cheers dude . so all in all great people great gigs , and please remember to give us a like and GET YOUR TWO FREE BLACKWATER DOWNLOADS NOW !!!!!! http://youtu.be/4devMIb-bBI — with Dom Seymourand 6 others. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Ray, Just wanted to email and say thanks for helping us set up the tour this month, it was a great week and we met a lot of quality people on the way round, avoiding sleeping in our van once. We recommended you and first step management to a few people that we know who play in bands and they said that they may contact you to help them sort out similar journeys! We hope you are well, and that we may be able to use your services again in the future!! Riggs Sweet Ether 07890460858 www.facebook.com/sweetether --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wow! What an insane night last night! BlackWater just wanna say a massive thank you to The Chill Bar for having us - Lawrence and Isabel you guys are awesome, you have a great Venue on your hands! Also Ray Williams - FIRST STEP MANAGEMENT for the gig. It was epic!! & to the people of Ilfracombe, you rock!!! - We can only imagine what next time will be like! See you all soon! BlackWater --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to Ray Williams for all the great Bands of 2012 and for all the Bands and Choir that have played The Rhondda Hotel so far this year ! There is still one more night left yet so bring it on Blackbyrd and hope to see you all again next year. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wishing Ray, Sue and all the team at First Step Management a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for all your hard work over the last few years and we look forward to working closely with you once again in 2013. And if last year is anything to go by then we can't wait to see what you have lined up for us next year. Sooty PMCUK --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just to say... |
After much planning, the day had arrived to make the 14,000km trek from Perth, Western Australia to London for 
Fast forward 24 hours and London Heathrow at 7.30am hits us in the face. Holy shit! Bags collected and off we go to find our sound engineer Paulie Tipping who has flown in from Melbourne to join the tour. Paulie’s one of the best in the business, a seasoned touring engineer, rad dude, epic bass player and we’re amped he’s here.
As a prelude to the Ugly Kid Joe Tour, we’ve hooked up three shows with a band who hail from San Francisco in the US called 
