31/03/08

Hungry Feedback

Yello Everyone,

If you were a member of the audience last Firday night in De Barra's Folk Club, thanks for your attentive ears and kind applause.

We were quietly satisfied with our performance, a set of 10 tunes:

1-Two (Ryan Adams)

2-High Seas

3-I Took The Train To Rockdale

4-This Desert Air

5-The Letter

6-Harder Now That It’s Over (Ryan Adams)

7-Starting To Trust Myself

8-Miss Ohio (Gillian Welch)

9-Destroyed July - An Ode To Mundy

10-The Myall Creek Massacre

We are working on dates for future shows, so keep an ear and eye out for that.

Thanks again,

Tobs

25/03/08

This Desert Air

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night,

We have been quiet over the past month or two with this website, but we are going to our very best to keep you updated on a more frequent basis.

So we are building up to our support show with The Kanyu Tree this friday in De Barras. It would be great if you could make it.

Also we have up loaded some tracks that we recorded live last month at Connolly's Leap.

Talk again soon, SB

17/01/08

The Myall Creek Massacre (1838)

This is one of 6 songs that are getting their debut this Friday night at The Music Watchtower's First birthday Party. We will be taking to the stage some time after 10pm. We are very excited about performing the new material.The setlist is as follows: Lost Jesus/I took the train to Rockdale/This Desert Air/The Letter/Starting to trust Myself/The Myall Creek Massacre.

POCKET PROMISE are playing on the night also. You can listen to their newly recorded material on myspace.

If you appreciate fine original music, then De Barras, Clonakilty, this Friday Night is the place to be. 5 euro at the door.

News 2007:

Wednesday 14/12/2007

Rehearsals are going very well, plans are taking shape. The main back bone of the band is blending nicely. We have no plans for touring yet, a good support slot would be to our advantage in getting our name out there. 'Saint Bourbon' is the new black!

Wednesday 03/10/2007

NEW MUSIC, NEW NAME, SAME DUDE - I'm rehearsing with a new band. We are working on new material that I wrote when was in OZ. Very exciting, I'll keep you all posted, but remember 'SAINT BOURBON' is the new title.

Tuesday 03/07/2007

My troubles are little when I am still upset over The Rebel's 'so close but yet so far away' performance on Sunday Night (watched from Oz). But on a brighter note for anyone reading this in Ireland, the weather, here in Cairns, is fantastic, he! he! he! he!

Saturday 22/06/2007

In Cairns, writing mad, just submitted an application for this year's 'Hard Working Class Heroes', fingers crossed x

Wednesday 23/05/2007

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night

Back on the road this Saturday, with destination Byron Bay on our minds. Over 800km in one day!

It's gonna be great to get on the road again, but while we're leaving town, my good friend Denny Fitz is flying in for a kisses & cuddles with his lady friend, Lisa. We're not going to meet because we've got activities organised up the coast and on a tight schedule. I'm really pissed off, not only being a fellow champion golfer, I'd love to have a huge chat with one of the brothers over a few beers. Alas, we're just going to have to postpone it for a later date.

On a more positive note, my song-writing is going swimmingly. I'll have a truck load of new songs for everyone's ear when I return.

Onward and away

Thursday 17/05/2007

G'Day All

I've been living & working in Sydney for the last 2/3 months, and I think it's time to move on up the coast.

What can I say about Australia? Well, it's FUCKING HUGE. I would know because we have so far driven over 5,000km (Perth-Sydney) and there are thousands more to go, if we wanna see most of it! For it's size, people either live kilometers apart or on top of one another in the cities. Sydney has a population of 5/6 million (give or take a few). It's a world within worlds with so many different cultures. I'm still not sure where to search for the true Australia. Luckily, I experienced it in abundance on the journey here. The scenery and wildlife are spectacular. From driving through 40 degrees+ Nullabour Desert (with a dodgy radiator) to swimming with Sea Lions and dolphins at Baird Bay. The landscape is so so unique and simple beautiful.

Even though we breezed through Adelaide and Melbourne, I still get a sense of claustrophobia. Over populated regions, sprawling out in the countryside. We, as backpackers, only shoot in and out for our moment Down Under, but for people immigrating, they will find that it's not all sunshine and happy faces. The wages definitely do not reflect the standard of living, and as with every developed nation, the gap between rich and poor is growing considerably. Property is no different to Ireland, with real estate agents looking to fleece every last dollar they can. Politics is another grey area - with each state having individual government. There are water restrictions in place at the moment and each state have their own levels. There is a border-town between NSW and Queensland where the invisible state line runs through the town. On one side you've got people washing their cars, dogs and gardens, while across the street they can't hardly wash themselves. Just because they have the misfortune of building their home in the wrong side - The Wrong State. So you've got people running hoses across the street, feeding their home with the basics of water from another state (mmmmm............ developed eh!). LAW is LAW and LAND is LAND out here.

It's been an eye opener so far, not the adventure I expected, but there's plenty of time for that up the coast. I suppose I lived a sheltered life where nothing really bad has happened to me, and where I had no reason to doubt my fellow human. But JESUS, I've been naive on more than one occasion, don;t want to get into the details, maybe some day over a pint of the black stuff (oh, how I miss the black stuff!). While I'm on this mission of self discovery, I'm trying to document as much as I can through words and images, so roll on the East Coast!

Til next time, Al x

Biography

Photo Gallery

info@alantobin.com