Reviews
Bing Turkby Ensemble Tour Diary: South Island Tour - April 06
Bing Turkby,
NZ Musician, 09 May 2006.
Marking 10 years of Turkby ('96-'06), the Bing Turkby Ensemble embarked on
a quick South Island tour at the end of April. Mr Turkby himself filed this inspirational
report on their return.
The Bing Turkby Ensemble comprises Tyrone T. Blowhard on sax, Snatchlock Cutpenny
on drums, and me on 'Backless special' guitar and trombone sometimes. Funded by
Creative Turakina, we were supplied with a thermos and a $50 book voucher. Luckily
all the members of the BTE have jobs at the Palmerston North City Library, so we
just saved up and took care of the rest ourselves. I'd like to encourage every band
to have a bash at it if you've got the money, because it's awesome! It cost us just
over $400 in petrol, just so's you know. If we'd had a vehicle that runs on used
cooking oil we would have been self-sufficient...
We got up early before the ferry crossing but still managed to almost be late at
the terminal in the morning. The gods of rock and roll were just trying to make
it interesting I guess.
Thanks to Blink of Low Hum fame we were booked to play on the Interislander.
This is one of the coolest things I've ever done. Playing to people in a bar on
a boat as the hills slip past the windows is an amazing feeling. Especially playing
songs like 'Acid Casualty' to early-morning drinkers. They were blown away by Tyrone's
sax and Snatchlock's snare drum as we left the North Island behind.
I should point out here, just in case Ngaire is reading this - we played
some blues and jazz too, and didn't scare the punters away!
My awesome organisational skills meant that once we left the Interislander we had
a huge drive to Christchurch, where we stayed with friends in Lyttleton. Then like
the Titans of old we rose next morning with the fair isles in our jumpers and a
spring in our clockwork. We were off to Oamaru - land of milk, honey and the morning
paper.
We were booked at the Penguin Club. I firmly believe that every band should play
there at least once. It's a 10.5 out of 10 on the rock-o-meter. Where else can you
see penguins outside the door when you've finished the gig? (Seaworld maybe?)
We got there after the region had been hit by floods. We had to paddle the van across
a lake just to get there on time. But it still rocked! We gave out the first of
our fabulous prizes for our now-legendary thumb dancing competition.
Warm up those thumbs, Dunedin, cos the next day we were off to the Arc Café. Its
fame had been beckoning to me for some time, and I'm so glad we finally got there.
The staff are great, the venue's great, and the café's great too. The guy who looked
a lot like Markham but wasn't Markham gave us a wicked feed - cheers. We
played with Soul Seller and Ampulla, and they really did the business.
Go and see them soon. Frank from Riff Rats had offered us a place
to crash, but they were having a party/gig at their flat and we needed an early
start, so it was off to the backpackers for us.
We cajoled the van up the hills out of Dunedin and headed to the venerable Esplanade
Tavern in Christchurch. It's the first time I'd played a venue with a crowd barrier,
but perhaps it was there to contain my wandering accordion solo. If so, it was very
effective. But we had a great show nonetheless. Once again, meeting other bands
was a great buzz, and you have to go and see Tragedy of the Commons and Kudos
as soon as possible. By the way, there was some great thumb dancing in Chch. Well
done.
Another day, another huge drive in the old Mitsi L300. No power steering - best
exercise I've had all year. We took the Lewis Pass and headed for Nelson. The scenery
outside the van was beautiful, which contrasted with the scene inside. By now, tour
rules dictated that we were unshaven and smelly, but our spirits were high. Sadly,
we were halfway to Nelson when I found out that Manic Anne had cancelled
due to illness, so we had no support band at Yaza café.
But we persevered, and had a bloody great time anyway. Thanks heaps to Chris
from Johnny Christ for the PA and photos, and big ups to everyone who came
to see us - you know who you are! Also, Tyrone had a nice curry down the road.
Weary but cheery, we got to Picton the next morning for our final show of the tour
on the Kaitaki. This time we were on a midday sailing, so the punters were a little
more interested in the band, and we even had a couple up dancing. Snatchlock's cardboard
box kick drum went down a treat. As I write this a week later, I'm still a little
dizzy from trying to stay upright next to a mic stand with a slow roll going on
underneath, but what an experience! Thanks heaps to Ngaire for booking us.
So now I've learned that it's possible to organise your own tour I'll definitely
be doing it again, and I'll possibly be able to do it better too.
To everyone who hasn't toured before, you should get out there and have a go, cos
all the bands, venues and punters are keen as. There's an amazing musical community
in New Zealand, and it'll inspire you to keep rocking.
Thanks to Britta, Mardy, Helen, Jeff, Blink,
Ngaire, Clarkie and the Penguin crew, Sean at Arc, Forbes,
Paul at the Esplanade, Craig the soundguy, Chris Christ, Kelly
at Yaza, and all the people who came to see us. I hope the music, the lolly scrambles
and the fantastic prizes made it worth coming out!
Cheers from Bingxxx