Week 12 - Tomb For Two

So my last blog this week isn't quite music related but it came from a musical experience. Firstly I need to apologise, I didn't realise our week 12 blog needed to be in by business today but it's in today non the less.

The other day I got home from New Zealand which was an awesome experience. I have been before but not for music. I imagine it's the equivalent of a UK band playing in France, it's not super far away but you still need a passport. The shows went really well and we actually ended up making money and covering our trip. A country of so few people turning out to watch you play is pretty cool. We got looked after so well. Free accomadation, free booze and food the whole time. Literally nothing like I have ever experienced here.

One thing I noticed though was how nice country New Zealand is. Not in terms of scenery but the towns along the way. The petrols stations in rural NZ are nicer, the public toilets are nicer, the roads are nicer, the people are nicer. No one looks like they are flat out battling with the thought of hanging themselves in the hay shed. It's because nowhere in New Zealand is bypassed on the highway. You MUST drive through locals towns, which connects them to the greater cities and also means that these small towns have an economy. Australia just drives right by these places and we end up with shit rural communities where the young people leave and the older population wait to die on their pensions. Towns I used to drive through as a child almost no longer exist and when you leave the highway to see whats there all you are met with is closed petrol stations and old men in high vis work clothing sitting at the pub (regardless of the time of day).

Rural Australia is depressing. It's no wonder the suicide rate in the bush is through the roof. People in the city seem to think we have this beautiful rolling expanse of land to explore but I am not sure that many of these people have ever actually done any travelling of Australia to see what waits for you when you leave the safety of your local tourist spots. One town we stopped in was literally in the middle of a desert near Mount Ngauruhoe. I didn't even know Aotearoa had a desert. But it was probably a couple hours worth of driving through hills covered in black volcanic sound with thermal steam pouring out of cracks in the ground. Still nicer than Ballarat.

I didn't take this photo but you can seem what I mean. There is nothing around but rocks and dirt and even the roadside toilet was more modern and clean than anything you would find in Melbourne.

I am lucky that I have had a chance to travel Australia and now New Zealand because of music and as a result I have seen some really awesome places but it's also highlighted how incredibly blind a lot of people are to country Australia. So many that take our Bach of Audio course are from country Australia and none of them will ever go back. From a music perspective it makes rural touring pretty hard. I have played some pretty rough shows to some pretty rough crowds where in years past these towns would have been full of young people wanting to see music. Now these towns are just people with gambling and alcohol addictions.

Second last record for the Tri. Lebanon Hanover's Tomb For Two.