Tour Blog Notes

Massey

SATURDAY 1st MARCH 2008: Massey University.

Today we head over the Harbour Bridge to find and play Massey University... but first we must find the Harbour bridge. After doing a couple of laps of Auckland city we head North over the bridge. Find Accom and settle in. We rock down to the venue at 4pm - SOUNDCHECK - ACCOM - Lobby call at 10pm. We jump into the van and drive across the road to the Uni.

An ideal venue to play at, behind the building there’s an entrance to the lower floor which is where the green room (and drinks rider) is situated. An old skool Hamilton band ‘Ska Child’ ends their set. We katchup for a half an hour before we’re called onstage. 10:30pm KARAKIA - walk up stairs to the stage - GIG.

Played to a lively crowd and our final gig for Orientation 08 so, thanks to the organisers and everyone in the picture above... next gig will be in AUSTIN TEXAS.. Yiii haaaa!

Tuturu o whiti whakamaua kia tina! tina! haumi e, hui e! taiki e! 

FRIDAY 29th FEBRUARY 2008: Auckland Zoo.

Spending all day laxing out at the motel till 2pm. We head on down to the whare kararehe (zoo). Taking the backline, we set up in the familiar hexagon shaped gazebo looking stage. Some of the Band was invited to take a look at the endangered frogs (ARCHY Frogs) which we learnt a great deal about. SOUNDCHECK - we head back to accom for the usual routine.

We setup - GIG. The gig was absolutely out of this world.. Sold out, 5,000’ish reggae fans came out to party not to mention all the animals in the Zoo skanking away. a family affair it was too... a good time had. fun in the summer sun... time to put the Hippo to nigh nighs as the night came to an end.

THURSDAY 28th FEBRUARY 2008: Auckland Unitech.

Up in the morn, head to airport and fly to Auckland. once we disembark in Auckland we pick up our luggage from the carousel and instruments from the oversize pick up area. We pile everything into the van (and trailer). We look for the Auckland Unitech and it also going to be an early gig. we’re scheduled to play at 5pm after ‘the checks’.

SOUNDCHECK - GIG - this gig rocked, some watching from the comfortable shoulder of their peers...tuturu whakamaua kia tina.. mean unitech mean... We head to the Motel and settle in for the night. 

WEDNESDAY 27th FEBRUARY 2008: Christchurch University.

Another run of Orientation Week starts here in Christchurch. We flew down to a hot CHCH day, settling into the Motel for a couple of hours before rocking down to the venue for soundcheck. Soundcheck runs smooth. Tea in the green room - ACCOM - GIG.

 

‘Taos’ plays before us and we conversate and katchup over a few beers after our set (which is sounding quiet tight). We kick back in the green room and take a few photos with security who, by their generous hearts provided the brothers with a few fresh crayfish, fresh bread and butter which we delightfully scoffed down at 2am in the morning. Mean.

MONDAY 25th FEBRUARY 2008: Bahama Hutt Hamilton. 

Soundcheck at 5pm (just realised that this was our first proper soundcheck for weeks, possibly months). So there was a fair amount of time spent for refining the onstage sound. A home gig. Happy with the sound we headed home for tea.. back to the gig at 9pm... (humming kapa haka tunes from yesterday). ‘Sweet Echo’ opened up the gig and got the crowd rocking (again. big ups..). We repositioned our gears, karakia and played.... enjoying the onstage sound and the home crowd. 

Kia ora ano Kirikiriroa.

SUNDAY 24th FEBRUARY 2008: Tainui Kapa haka Competitions, Mystery Creek, Hamilton.

Tainui Kapa haka was held again at Hamilton’s Mystery Creek. It was good to catch up with whanau and absorb our beautiful culture and reo.

We played after the last kapa haka group and jammed while being broadcasted onto big screens to an enjoyable crowd skanking on the grandstands. Nga mihi ki nga roopu kua tohu kia haere ki te whakataetae-a-motu ki Tauranga Moana-a-tera tau. 

RAGGAMUFFIN 2008:

We 're away again on our little white van towing trailer, destination Rotorua, the Raggamuffin Festival 2008.

THE POSITIVE:

The roads of Rotorua were packed with hundreds of people making their way to the stadium all dressed for the hot weather, some dressed in festival colors representing the 'red, gold and green'... we stopped on the side of the road to pick up one passenger, Ara, he had our artist passes... we're are practically at a stand-still in the traffic so our driver ops to drive down the other side of the road towards oncoming traffic to our stage entry at gate 3 just 100 metres away, a bit of a risk but thankfully the on comers saw who we were and let us through.

We turn up 15mins before our stage performance, 'The Midnights' are onstage as we set up our gears backstage. It is our time...The crowd roared as we were introduced, we jam our set to a audience of thousands and set the mood for the afternoon...

The bass player for 'Arrested Development' asks to use my bass guitar for their set, his 5-string bass had technical difficulties... we met and talked to other acts and muso's and the boys took a photo advantage with 'Maxi Priest'. Kicked back with a few beers and enjoyed listening to all the artists for the whole event. My pick of the day, 'The Wailers' and 'The Black Seeds'. We missed Kiwi's own 'House of Shem' whom i also wanted to see.

Raggamuffin

THE NEGATIVE:

A couple of things that caught my eyes and ears while strolling around the park... comments that the festival could have been more better organized with the refreshment stands, there were people saying they had been standing in cue for over an hour... complaints from people who payed extra for the so called allocated balcony seating felt they were ripped off because anyone and everyone sat anywhere, even in the seat the ticket buyer payed for, 'in that case it should have been one price ticket sales only' was one comment... something for the organizers to ponder on for next years 2009 ragga. All in all, an awesome peaceful day.

WAKE UP:

Yup... its that time again, a 3.00am wake up to head for the Auckland airport to depart for Australia. Everyone is amped and are buzzing about touring with these international artists.

SYDNEY:

Ragga Sydney... First show of aussie tour... Caught up with Pi 'Damn Native' and Sara and laxed out at Sara's til' our hotel rooms were ready, the guys play a few games of tennis on the Wii... At the venue for soundcheck : we sat in on 'The Wailers' soundcheck, there was alot of line checks and shouting going on from the band onstage to the monitor mixer man.

Good turnout and great crowd support for us even though the organizers made a decision to cut back our stage time to a measly 30mins, half the people there were kiwi's... Met up with Josh and Lah at the venue... I got to meet one of the people who inspired me to play reggae bass, Aston 'Familyman' Barrett, of 'The Wailers', a humble guy he is, asks to have a look at my Musicman Sabre bass as he impressed of how worn out the fretboard was, we chat a bit, I grab a photo opportunity with him then we roll out back to the accom... Extra gig at Bondi beach road hotel with reggae band 'Red Eyes', the place was packed... 1hr set to a good turn out... 'Red Eyes' were awesome and rootsie, the lead singer and bassplayer hung-out with us in our greenroom after the show.

Aston 'Familyman' Barrett

PERTH:

Ragga perf... Best ragga food catering yet... Heaps of kiwi support, Jordy feeling ill so we were a man down, Leon jumps on drums and pulls it off (nice one bro)... The stage crew have a bit of a moan because they now have to pack away Leon's gear for he wont be using them, 'well its your job man, just do it!' one of the stage managers yells to his crew... onstage for a short 30min set but we pump it out hard... on our way to the catering we bump into 'Arrested Development' the ladies in the band were singing some Katchafire, the song 'Seriously', apparently they heard a copy of the dub version of the song and loved it... lead singer of 'Arrested Development' impressed with our performance and asks for our contact number... 'Arrested Development' are a very friendly group and always smiling...

Kiwi's John and Bronwyn good hosts at accom (thanks).

ADELAIDE:

Lay over in Adelaide for 2 days... Great weather friendly people, the people there are the most approachable aussies I've ever met... boys went shopping and to the beach... Accom a lil rootsie... everyone aware of the tree snakes.

MELBOURNE: 

Melbourne ragga... Jordy still under so Leon steps in to fill his role again (well done bro)... Accom is four to an apartment room but comfy; hotel is centre of Melbourne, punt hotel on flinders, parking sucked for there was a $25 per night charge just for our trailer... we meet up with some whanau and chat a bit about our tour with these big artists. A quick soundcheck then the boys scatter in all directions...I meet up with 'Fams' Familyman back stage and we chat about our bass gear we use.

Heaps of kiwi's turned up for our short set and chant us on, we change our setlist and play older tunes that are more familiar to the people, the crowd sings along... As usual all the artists kick ass and the night runs smoothly... 'Arrested Development' are opening up and really getting talkative with the boys now as well as members from 'The Wailers' and 'Maxi Priest' but as usual, UB40 were always absent until their stage time, i think it was their managements decision to lock them away from the rest of us folk, you know... The bass player for 'Arrested Development' thanks me again for the use of my bass in Rotovegas.

Melbourne 13th Feb... Checkout of Hotel and make our way to the airport... Logan has been our tour manager while Jordy was ill, he does a great job in arranging our transportation and accom details as well as navigating/driving us around (mean brutha mean)... Flight cancelled, second time this has happened to us here in Melbourne and ONLY Melbourne... DJ331 at 4pm... 4hrs wait next flight to brizzy.

Flight delayed yet another 30mins... New motto for the airline 'fly virgin blue, at least you'll get there'... And to top it off we are made to sit and wait onboard an extra 15mins for them to sort out some luggage that's not meant to be onboard... 'virgin blue, we'll put your luggage on the wrong plane, delay and cancel your flight, but at least you'll get there' LOL... No spare seats this round.

BRISBANE:

5.30 wed Feb. 13th... Apparently a 1hr 45min flight to brizzy... Weather looks good... Paul and Andrea meet us at the airport and lead us to our Hotel... Awesome hosts put on a massive kai for the boys, steamed hangi, bacon and egg pie, sea food salad and deserts... Accom very cool and private. Final show of raggamuffin in Brisbane... Full force again so it will be a relaxing gig... Jordy feeling heaps better after a few days rest and the guys are hyped to wang out this last ragga performance.

NO sound check as the production manager rang Logan to let us know that things were a bit of a mess onstage, one of the trusses that holds the lighting up buckled and gave way, luckily no one was hurt and none of the artists gears were damaged... started our set with collie herb and pumped out our 30min set to a great crowd, awesome response... Finished our set with reggae revival then the night went on as normal with acts UB40, wailers, maxi priest and arrested development... the crowd roared as Katchafire were called onstage by Maxi Priest to join in with the rest of the artists to jam a Bob Marley cover 'I shot the sheriff', it was the perfect photo opportunity and a most memorable moment.

TOUR COMPLETE:

16/02/08... Checkout of our hotel at 6.30am departure for Auckland about 9.00am flight DJ186, arrive NZ 3.00pm... We say our farewells to our friends and new friends and board our plane... The staff on Pacific Blue were the friendliest i've seen, the female crew ask to have a photo taken with the boys, we say yes and we all cram up in the service area of the plane to pose for photos... a sigh of relief overcomes Haani, he's seated next to me on the plane and he's anxious to see his daughter, we're all keen to see our whanau again but before we get to rest, its straight from the Auckland airport to a performance at the Soundsplash in Raglan. Raggamuffin Rotorua NZ 2008... 35,000+ crowd... First ever NZ Raggamuffin.

All the international acts call it their best and finest concert in years... biggest and best ragga to date... big news in Aus... way to represent Aotearoa. Katchafire would like to thank everyone involved in making the Raggamuffin 2008 Tour a success, the organizers, the artists, the production team, the caterers and the accommodation, but mostly, we have the biggest and highest respect and thanks to our whanau, all our fans and all our supporters.

 Well done bruthas for all your effort and strength in make this tour a complete and smooth success. Bless Tere ... Later that same day, Raglan Soundsplash From a huge night in Brisbane we head back to Aotearoa to play at Raglan’s “Soundsplash Festival” a gig that has become, a sort of tradition to play at having played at every one, anyway we end up getting into Hamilton around 6pm. The call is to ‘meet backstage at 8pm’ which means we could get an hour or so with the whanau (who we haven’t seen for the last 2weeks). We make our own way out to Whaingaroa and assemble backstage. We start our gig, we give thanks and play comfortably. Nga mihi ki nga Festival Organisers Brian raua ko Naiomi from Motherland Collective for another mean year.

Sly Dunbar

FRIDAY 25th JANUARY 2008: Wake-up.

Some of us meet in Hamilton to leave at 4:30am... yes, 4:30am... two stops, first in Ngaruawahia then Huntly... waking up at 3:ooam in the morning to travel has become quite a regular thing lately. The usual festival backline is loaded into our trailer and van plus luggage for the weekend, some of us packing lighter than others. Flight 1 NZ123 departs Auckland for Melbourne round 7:00am so we have to be there at least 2hrs early to check in... its a huge 747 jumbo jet so it will be a comfortable flite with free meals, drinks and entertainment onboard. Flight 2 Virgin Blue (originally cancelled due to 'technical difficulties') to Hobart.

We question the lady at the check-in desk why our flight was cancelled and if there is another available to get us there today, she tells us the next available flight to Tasmania is 7:00am... yes 7:00am the next morning and she'll have to book us on that one... we ask her if their airline will arrange accommodation (most airlines do) for our inconvenience which was replied "No sir, we dont do that sort of thing"... standing there with a look of dissapointment and with all our gear almost blocking the aisles Logan scurries off and searches for a solution... 30mins pass and Logan returns, he's booked us flights on Jetstar Airlines that is ready to leave in 45mins.

A sigh of relief is bought upon our faces so we all head down to Jetstar with our gear in tow. FLT: JQ707 Jetstar Depart Melbourne 12:50 Arrive Hobart 14:00 The Old Woolstore Tasmania: We head to accommodation, settle in, grab a feed at a local bar and grill 'Hogs Breath', excellent food i might add, then back to accom for the night to rest for the big day. There was a massive concert on the mainlaind for it was Australia day and there were celebrations everywhere... there was also news and dedications to Aussie actor 'Heathe Ledger' all over the tele whom just passed away.

  SATURDAY 26th JANUARY 2008: Tasmania Soundscape Festival.

'Soundscape' is the name of this festival. Friendly folk in the Tazzy, real down to earth. The organisation was excellent... the meal tent was awesome, the chef really knew his stuff, oysters from the east coast, smoked salmon, wallaby sausages (which i didn't want to eat even though he tried to tempt me) salads... everything seemed to flow, band after band, two stages, one outdoors and one under a huge cover... stage crew shuttling bands to and from the venue from hotels... etc.

We had an easy time setting up onstage and relaxed while we did the ritual line check. A 55 minute show came next... the crowd welcomed us and we filled out our area nicely... those that knew our tunes sung along, those who didn't made up their own words or had a quick lesson from the ones who did. It was hot onstage and sweat was dripping from my elbows around my feet making it a little slippery on stage but i soldiered on.

 The onstage mix was clean and there were also cameras that projected our set onto a huge screen so that thousands may get the opportunity to view and hear our show from afar. Satisfied, we played most of our new tracks from our 3rd album and ended the gig with the tune 'Reggae Revival'... oh yeah, we also had time to see the bands 'Red Eyes', 'Blue King Brown' and American hard rock act 'Spoon' which was my favorite band of the day. The music flowed into the night and the boys were getting keen to head back to accom to rest for another long journey home to NZ the next day.

SUNDAY 27th JANUARY 2008: Check-out.

7:00am: Gee (my roomy) and myself decide to go for a bit of a roam around Hobart City for an 'eggs benny' breakfast, we bump into Haani & Leon just as we're leaving the hotel lobby, they've just returned from a breakfast café around the corner.

They give us the directions and Gee and i head off with stomachs grumbling... we find the café but my roomy ops not to eat there due to the fact that the food was pre-prepared and we both wanted to eat freshly cooked meals so we walk to a little café just three doors down for a look at their menu. We're greeted with a 'G'day' and a big friendly smile from one of the staff, we take our seats and browse at the breakfast menu. The usual chit chat from our curious waiter... 'where are you guys from?'... ' NZ?'... 'yes'... 'we're kiwi's in Tazzy'.

My smoked salmon and poached eggs was more than satisfying. 11.00am: Its time to check out of our hotel rooms. Our vans arrive and we load our gear, with time to spare we head down to the venue and have a yarn to some of the festival's organisers about yesterdays festivities... shake hands and wave goodbye. We head to the airport... check in and fly back to Aotearoa. 

Cheers to the festival organiser Joe for inviting us, looking after us and for a great gig! Flight 1. JQ 707 Depart: Hobart 14:15 Arrive: Melbourne 15:25 Flight 2. NZ726 Depart: Melbourne 6:30 (Oz time) Arrive: Auckland 11:50pm (NZ time) Flight 3. White Van pulling Trailer Depart: Auckland 1:00am Arrive: Hamilton 2:30am MONDAY MORNING 12hrs later. I drive home with Leon on his wagon, he had to drive to Auckland Airport departure day and left his vehicle at the airport over the weekend, because he missed the original 3:00am wake up call. Ch'cher... Tuturu o whiti whakamaua kia tina! Tina! Haumi e, hui e! Taiki e! ....................

FRIDAY 19th JANUARY 2008: The Big Day Out (NZ).

As usual everyone meets in Hamilton, load the gear into our van and little trailer, the rental company still wont give us a van with windows due to a "who broke the van door window?" accident incident... deadline departure time 2pm destination "The Big Day Out" ... two stops on the way, one in Ngaruawahia and one in Huntly. The traffic gets a little heavy around that time so it will be a slow trip through the Auckland motorway to Mt.Smart stadium.

Big Day Out has been around for a few years now since the 90's and this event will be no different from the others, heaps of people, great bands and extreme heat. After a few stadium drive-bys and random directions thrown from our van load of backseat drivers, we finally stop and ask the info desk for directions to our stage gate... we arrive 4hrs early and collect our wrist passes from a backstage co-ordinater, Gee negotiates the tent ropes which are streamed everywhere and parks our van in a shaded area, we unhook our trailer and roll it under the stage for storage. The first person that meets us is Che Fu, a hongi round with the boys and a quick korero as he is scheduled to perform with Supergroove at 10.30pm then off he goes and that's a last we see of him. Some of us meet up with friends and musicians backstage while others indulge in the free BBQ going on in the food tent.

A few screaming fans coming from the other side of the fence "Raggamuffin Yeeah!!!, we got our tickets bruthas!!!" were returned with a friendly wave from the boys. The guys all take off in different directions to wander through the heat and the massive crowd of sticky sweaty bodies only to return soon after with comments that "its too hot out there". The hours pass and we all start getting anxious to jump on stage, we're set to perform after "Dam Native" at 9.00pm... we can hear "Scribe" goin hard in the distant who had his audience wrapped around his finger, they were loud and involved and his performance was great. Its 8.00pm and a few of the boys wander back to our van, they've just been to catch a bit of "Bjork" doin her thing, we finally get to move our gear from our trailer to backstage access ramp.

Leon and Jordy get to setting up their percussive instruments, Jamey warms up on the saxophone, Haani and Logan warm their vocals while i wander about setting up my bass rig to roll onstage, Gee sits at stage side while strumming his guitar. Its our turn now so we all quickly place our gear onstage ignoring the cheers from the crowd... plugin, switch on, line check, ready to go but wait... calls for a karakia from Logan standing on the opposite side of the stage... off we go, karakia. We start our set with a track from the album "Now Girl" and run a change into "Sensimillia"... a short pause for Logan to acknowledge the audience and give thanks for their support... knowing that "Rage Against The Machine" was performing same time as us we we're surprised to see so many supporters gathered to watch our show, we went hard and the crowd got bigger to where there were bodies even standing outside the designated area cheering us on.

I was stoked to see "Tiki Tane" former "Salmonella Dub" skankin' away just to my left behind me, the smile on his face showing he was enjoying our set. People with camera's clicking away and the involvement of the audience was indeed a cool vibe with cheers that eventually turned our set into an audience sing-a-long event... we ended our night on a high with the tune "Reggae Revival".

We did our thing now its time to pack down and load our trailer and head back to Hamilton but before that, a cold beer... we're greeted by friends and fans and theres a Korean girl backstage talking to Logan... a big fan of Katchafire, we pose for a photo with her and all sign the back of her singlet, we can hear "Che Fu and Super Groove" pumping out the sounds in the night... we do our farewells and pile into the van for the drive home. Big aroha to everyone that supported us and we hope that you enjoyed our show as much as we did performing. Tuturu o whiti whakamaua kia tina! Tina! Haumi e, hui e! Taiki e! ....................

SATURDAY 12th JANUARY 2008 Parihaka Peace Festival. 

Our Agenda says that we have to meet in Hamilton at 10am, Saturday.. This week... Parihaka. Here we go again, white van and trailer... four or so hours drive from Hamilton. After checking into Accom we head to 'Festival of Peace' i Parihaka. The festival has been going now for 3 years.. and we've rocked them all.... and it was mean to be going back to Parihaka and feel the good vibes and messages of peace and aroha. So, using the'e-ticket' that we were given from organisers a week earlier we collected our wrist and artist passes at the entrance of the festival.. we drive through the car and camping area then continued toward the right hand side of the stage.

 

Eyes looking at the smoke from the continuous hangi pits while hundreds of people listen to music play over the front house speakers. The stage crew clear and prepare the stage for the next act. Ddub had just finished their set and the Opensouls will be next. We're on after them. We drive the van behind the stage and unhook the trailer. Take a few minutes checking out the stage before taking advantage of the vegetarian cuisine.

For the next hour we listened Open Souls and chatted to the organisers and helpers of the festival.. the call came from stage crew that it was our time... So, we set up... the time was limited and we felt a bit rushed... so having the dream monitor mix would be hard to achieve. We lined checked everything then went outside to karakia then straight on with 'Now Girl - Sensimillia - Say what You're Thinking... etc' The monitor mix did come halfway through the set and it felt way better when it did.... we gelled.. and sailed through another set... we ended after 'Reggae Revival' on a high, amping.... and even wanted to play another song or 3.

The crowd was urging us on with calls of 'encore'. But we only had had 60minutes to play, so we had to pull the plug ... aahh well... We exited stage left. and put our gears in the trailer... Then kicked back and enjoyed the soulful sounds of 'Hollie Smith'. Leaving the festival after midnite, back to New Plymouth Accom. Much respect to the organisers of the festival and everyone who enjoyed our set as much as we did. Tuturu o whiti whakamaua kia tina! Tina! Haumi e, hui e! Taiki e! ....................

Bless

Tere