Returning this year is the Up The Guts National Rock and Roll Tour – the touring festival that heads right through the outback of Australia. Starting from Melbourne on August 10, the tour will be making its way through Bendigo, Castlemaine and Warrnambool, and brings with it a busload of artists, as well as local artists in each town. We chat to one of the travelling bands Dumb Punts.
Hi guys thanks for taking the time to chat with Forte Magazine, first things first, tell us a bit about yourselves.
We’re all from a little town called Bonny Hills in NSW. Jimmy’s my brother and Brent’s our best mate.
How did you get involved with Up The Guts 2017?
Jack [Parsons, The Pretty Littles] hit us up once over email and then we ended up getting a beer with him and talking about the whole thing. It sounded like a really sick tour to be a part of.
What was the driver behind wanting to head up through regional/central Australia, have you done this route before?
Nah, none of us have ever been anywhere up through the middle. I guess it really just sounded like the sickest idea! We thought to ourselves, how many bands get to do this kind of tour? I suppose also the opportunity to see some parts of our country that we’ve never seen before and playing in communities that don’t have the access to live music that we are lucky enough to have.
There’s quite a lot of logistics involved in the tour and a lot of driving, will there be driving ‘shifts’ or a deso driver (aka who drew the short straw)?
Yeah I forgot to mention that another huge winner was that none of us have to drive. Brent doesn’t have his licence so he doesn’t have to feel bad about never driving and Jimmy and I don’t have to fight over who does. It’s a win-win. Parso and the fellas are taking the reigns on the bus.
You will be touring alongside Loose Tooth, Neighbourhood Youth and a collection of hardened Guts veterans back for another year (Jack Parsons – The Pretty Littles, Jo Syme – Big Scary, and Joe Alexander – Scott and Charlene’s Wedding). Have you had much to do with them before?
Jimmy plays in another band with Jo from Big Scary and we know Jack now, but we don’t really know anyone else. That’s the beauty of it, a bus full of new mates waiting and ready to go – hopefully that’s how it works anyway.
You guys did some touring with Wash as part of your ‘Could be Good’ tour celebrating their new split tape! How was that experience?
WASH boys are our best friends and that tour was one of the funnest yet. It was ultimately sharing a tape and a car with them, the shows were really good and it was all ’round bang on.
For this tour, you’ll actually be doing workshops for students/young people along the way, what are the key things you’re hoping to distil into them?
I think mainly that music exists in far greater and more profound ways than they probably are aware of and that anybody can do it. Probably also that creativity is an amazing tool for dealing with life generally.
While on tour what are the best things to:
Eat: anything you get that’s free and not too much servo food. Salad sambos are where it’s at.
Listen to: anything and everything – we’re driving all the way to Darwin…
Wear: clothes that can deal with being worn for a few days at a time
Play (games etc): you’d have to ask Brent. But we’ll be playing shithead cause there’s a lil’ card table on the bus.
Positions in the car seat when your butt gets sore: I reckon it’s the worst when you can’t stretch your legs out so your butt is taking all the pressure, that can happen anywhere.
Places to stop off at for breaks: any cool signs or anything that looks cool, if you drive past some good oppies.
When & Where: Karova Lounge, Ballarat – August 11; The Vine, Bendigo – August 12; and The Loft, Warrnambool – August 13
