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The Mega Ming Tour

Well were do I start...

The tour only lasted 3 days but it felt more like a week haha.

I only just vaguely remembered most of the details even after the tour was over, let alone the fact I’m writing this 5 months later. But here goes and I hope you don’t mind my style of writing as written communication was never my strong point

It was the rebirth of the label (from Stray Expressions Productions to Cardboard Crown King Records) and the launch of both C.C.K Records signed artists “Stray and Skurgeone” new albums. We were looking to play three shows in two states in one long weekend and we planned to make the most of it.

MELBOURNE

The first night we would launch the tour at the infamously known “The Laundry Bar” in Melbourne. We Knew bringing a bunch of Tassie hip-hop artists to Melbourne to play on a Thursday night, was going to be a bit of a stretch. But we need not worry and was more than surprised when a who’s who’s of aussie hip-hop crowd turn out to support the night.

We had basically had the whole of Rawathentic Crew, a good handful of Rawlad Crew, Stevie Turner the infamously known FB Aus hip-hop supporter, Josh Stebbing the well known hip-hop and Valour photographer, 2014 Aus Dj champ Dj Relik and even Gutz turned up for the end of the night just to name a few.

It basically became a artists watching artists kind of gig, which is not uncommon at hip-hop events but tends to lead to a lot of free entry (which didn’t impress the ticket lady at all) but the aim of the gig was not to make a profit but more to the let the rest of the aus hip-hop scene know that Tassie hip-hop is not afraid to travel interstate.

Then a beat was dropped and the night took hold and the first set smashed out by the Tassie lads Releft,Vokal, Ziak and Dj Secrets was nicely received, getting the heads nodding and setting the mode for the rest of the night. Next came the Melb acts to give the tassie boys some comparision and certainly didn’t disappoint as Big T and Rorshank, Mc Tornado and Dj Relik showed why Melb is still known as one of the hearts of Aus hip-hop.

Also Tassie lad and Melbourne resident and new member of the Rawthentic Crew, Jestar hit the stage and had the advantage of knowing both the Tassie and Melbourne crowds and with Dj Relik on the ones and twos got the audience eating out of the palm of his hand.

Next up was the lads from Launceston “Those Guys”, consisting of Tyrant and Statik and brought there high energy and massively cheeky show. The boys are great to watch on stage as they bounce off each other well and not afraid to make a joke at each others expense.

Then came the head liners, First Skurgeone and backing man Juro and hit the stage with force, both guys showing the many years of experience of stage and hit the tracks on point, one after the other. Its never easy playing new tracks to an audience who haven’t had the chance to listening to them yet as it was literally released that night. But it certainly didn’t show as the crowd nodding there heads with kid like smiles

Lastly I was my turn to hit the stage, sadly by that time we had move a bit over schedule (as all good hip-hop nights do). So I wrapped (pardon the pun) up the night with a few of my better known tracks and ending the night with “Mr Stray” (to which Gutz commented I sounded like an aussie DMX.... I was fairly chuffed with that).

All in all it was a great night and it was a great opportunity for Tassie artist’s to get out of their home state and show the rest of the country that we are just as good as any aussie artist, wether it comes to live shows, recorded tracks or promoting.

Needless to say I didn’t get a great deal of sleep that night.

Most of the Tassie crew I had set up in a backpackers and we had booked an 8 man room for us all. Sadly the 8 person room never happened and I suspected never actually existed. But instead we were then told that we got “upgraded” to three different rooms we had to share with your typical foreign backpackers....Yeah awesome upgrade....

I guess it might have been fun if we had the chance to actually know them before we stumbled into a darken room at 3 in the morning trying to discovered which bed was empty..... needless to say we mostly just sat up talking crap and drinking until our flight the next day.

Except for Juro that is, who had managed to drink enough to sleep through a hurricane if the occasion called for it

Next was the seedy flight back to Tas.

Ironically both times (over and back) we were seated at the emergency exits and on our return we were informed by your stereotypical gay air hostess who then explained that we would be responsible to open the air lock doors in case of emergency. He then asked us do we agree to be alert in case of an emergency, we all nodded in agreement and at the first chance all three of us (Juro, Skurgeone and Myself) bowed our weary heads and proceeded to fall a sleep....

Finally we touched down in Hobart airport and all we wanted to do was go home to our dark corners and recover, as we knew that night (Friday night) we would be doing it all over again at The Grandpoobah in the main drag of Hobart.

We had booked the notorious “Kissing Room” which is only know to fit 60 punters but after checking the attention the gig was receiving online,we had to upgrade to the bigger room and nearly even sold that out. I did hear reports after that night that we had drank the bar dry of all Tassie made beers and was now force to start of the European beers.

HOBART

I got to the Poobah early for sound check and was told due to another gig in the kissing room we would have to mind our own sound for the night. Which I was stoked about. If I had a dollar for every unreliable sound guy I had ever worked with then I’d have enough money to hire a reliable one permanently.

Firstly I got stuck at the door manning the tickets and merch table which was the greatest idea considering I had no sleep at all by this time and the door just went nuts. I had to juggle ticket and Cd sales until my ticket crew came to finally take over. I was not expecting the amount of support the night would show the new label and concept of support its local artists and filled me with enough energy to take the night on.

So as the crowd filled up the open space in front of the stage and the first acts hit the mics we knew we would be in for a hell of a night. We also had another special Tassie act joining us for this show as it was their official first gig as the new duo,“Dead Fermatta” .

The members Phex and Aimz (well known Mc’s and producers in Tas) had been keeping the new group secret until the show...(well at least until I released the Launch tour poster with their name on it....so sorry bout that guys). The new group was a highlight of the night for me. It’s like old dogs learning new tricks and these guys know their tricks, both guys been well experience on stage and in front of a mic.

I’m really looking forward to a release from these guys and know they have some cooking up and can’t wait till they get it out there.

Sadly Tyrant from Launceston’s Those Guys couldn’t join us for the Hobart launch as his Security job in Launceston took priority. So Statik hit us with a solo set (most Tassie artists are solo acts first and crew members second) and even nailed the odd “Those Guys” track by himself.

The night then became a bit of a blur of beats beers and Mc’s and we even had a little freestyle appearance Dunn D and Mr Muller who filled in a gab before Skurgeone and Juro ended the night in high energy fashion (which was not easy to do by this time with so little sleep and the level of dopeness all acts were showing on the night). All in all our HQ of Hobart was the most successfully of all the 3 continuous night and very nearly sold out completely.

LAUNCESTON

Then it came to the last night of the tour.

Now by this time some of the older heads were starting to realise what a real 3 months tour might consist of.. and drinking every night would not be on of them....(as if we didn’t know that already). But seeing it was only a 3 day tour, we were set to make the most of it.

So it was now Saturday night and the venue we were set out for was the newly form and place to go in Launnie, Club 54.

Club 54 is basically home base for “Those Guys” and are always well received there plus we also had another local Launceston artist Mr Lucky joining us for the night as well

Dead Fermatta also joined us for the launnie leg of the tour and I even bought along my metal band “Fear the Fall” to end the night off with something different.

Now Club 54 is quite a large venue and brings in a diverse range of people and they also have a green room were its encouraged for bands to mark the walls with their presence. Jedi the guitar from Fear the Fall took no time in cementing Fear the Falls logo on the wall with artistic flair, so if you ever make it Club 54 and sneak into the green room, check out the roof.

First up for the night was our special guests Mr Lucky and Paulie, both well know for their good vibe hip-hop and singing styles and certainly had the crowd nicely relaxed.

Slowly the night progressed and we went through the tour line up and Launceston soaked up the old school Hobart flavour of Hip-hop they hadn’t seen for so long, with the exception of Reflekt and Ziak who can be found playing shows in Launceston on the regular.

Then Finally the crowd got what it wanted with “Those Guys” hitting the stage and magnetising people to the front of stage. If you ever need to find Statik and Tyrant just head to Club 54 on any given weekend... they’ll be there.

And just to finish the tour on a completely different note (again no pun intended), I lead the mighty Fear the Fall to the stage.

Guitarists “Zero” and “Jedi” plugged in their axes as Drummer “Wombat” adjusted himself to yet another slightly unfamiliar drum-kit as Bass played Nick make sure his bass was still well tuned. Then Wombat counted into the first song and we proceded to onslaught one track after another. I knew we’d be fine at a mostly hip-hop gig as most hip-hop artists are usualy metal fans as well and we soon had a few heads moshing away.

And then just like that it was all over.

Slowly the crowd left one by one, leaving behind only the smell and after marth of what was a very enjoyable night, leaving only the artist behind to talk about the highlights of the tour and drink a few in a quieter environment.

And by 3 am all we’re tucked nicely in there hotels beds, eagerly awaiting the drive home to their own familiar beds. Sadly that wasn’t the end of the story for me....

My lady had driven to Launceston that night to meet up with me and brought out little 2 year girl (Billie-Grace) with her. The morning after the gig we then proceed to drive home to Burnie (which is roughly about a 2 and a half hour drive).

But as we got closer to home we started to realise our beloved little Subaru was sounding a bit off and a curious white smoke could be seen coming from the muffler. Both of us not really be machanical minded was really sure what was happening but we both had that feeling we already knew she was dying. We made it to Devonport, which was still some 40 mins away but my lady’s sister lives there, so we thought we would drop in and see what the hell was happening to our car.

Sadly we then found out... yes it was dying if not dead already and it was not going to make it the 40 minutes home. By this time I had around 10 hours sleep in three days and being the person responsible for everything on the tour I was near burnt out. But lucky after a bit of searching we found a van for sale literally around the corner and seeing I had all the takings of the tour we had not choice but to buy the van there and then.

It took me a bit to part with that hard earned cash, fully knowing I’d have to pay the label back myself, which I did as soon as I was able. And even though we had bought a new car and nothing feels better than buying a new car, it didn’t feel quite the same as we drove home in our new soccer mum van we had just purchased off a Pastor who lived around the corner from my lady’s sister house...

I guess the moral of the story is a good promoter/Performer is always prepared for anything and your tour is never fully over until everyone gets home safe and sound and in one piece.