One bus, five bands, 15 shows, 18 days and 7500kms. It’s the inaurugal Up the Guts epic road trip, where the driver is in charge of the music, Pringles and energy drinks are a necessity and deodorant is strictly enforced.
The idea was conceived by Pretty Littles frontman Jack Parsons and James Clarke as a throwback to the grassroots touring Aussie pub rock was built upon and features ScotDrakula, Scott and Charlene’s Wedding, Ali E and Ben Wright Smith.
Leading the pack is Jack, Jo & Friends, a collaboration between Jack Parsons and Big Scary’s Jo Syme. A series of music development workshops will also take place. “It’s a celebration of Australian rock’n’roll with gigs in 15 towns across Australia. In addition to the shows there are 10 youth workshops along the way, giving this diverse collection of creatives the opportunity to talk about their own experiences in music.
On board the bus are a bunch of dead set legends who are putting their day jobs on hold and setting out on a good old fashioned adventure. The travelling circus will be stopping in capital cities, regional centres and some of our lesser known gems along the way.”
The Vine, Bendigo – July 26; The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine – July 27; and The Loft, Warrnambool – July 28. For full details, hit uptheguts.com.au.