Big Day Out - Melbourne Australia!

Can you believe that Melbourne had an extreme heatwave for today's show! It was over 110º outside and over 125º on the stage surface. Tape melted to the ground and it was just plain hot! :-) There was a record set for heat today.

Show was great and the crowd was insane! Not much to say except it was night and day better that my experience in Sydney! Finished the day a little after 6pm and headed back to the hotel. We are going to be here in Melbourne for 5 days...tomorrow is another headline show, then two full days off!!! Goodnight! 

Big Day Out - Sydney (Day 2 of 2) and Headline show...

So, the second day at the Big Day Out in Sydney went very smooth! The sun was such a scorcher and, wouldn't you know it, the clouds came out minutes after we were off stage. I couldn't believe it...the weather cooled down about 10 degrees as soon as we were finished! haha

The next day we had a headline show in Sydney as well. This was first full set show we've done since we left home. It is always odd when you are playing festival shows all the time and are done by 6pm everyday, then have to go play a headline show. The band played from 9-10:50pm, which was when we were all used to being in bed! Such a strange thing to adapt to. 

Everything was going great during the show and everyone was having a great time. When we were all done, I was packing up all the gear and then I noticed something made me furious...

I was packing up my workbox and Stef's pedalboards, turned around to grab another case and when I turned back I noticed that someone had stolen all my notes from the lid of my workbox and took my miniature guitar decorations.

So, some punk ass drunk a-hole out there has every single note and setting I've made for Stef's guitar rig since I've been working for him in June. What is wrong with people...I just don't get it. Hope this kid gets what's coming to him for taking everything. 

After this I sort of had a melt down and yelled at the security that was supposed to be guarding the backstage area. There was no one there at all and people were walking wherever they wanted to. I just don't get it...if they wanted a set list, I would have given them one if they just asked. But to steal everything I need to do my job, thinking its a setlist, is just the worst thing someone could have done.

Moral of this story...don't turn your back, even if it is for 20 seconds because there are some crappy people out there who will take whatever they want when you aren't looking.

Goodbye Sydney...and good riddance! 

Off to Melbourne, which just so happens to be my favorite city in Australia!

Big Day Out - Sydney (Day 1 of 2)

What a HOT and SWEATY day Big Day Out was here in Sydney!! It is extremely hard to keep 8-string guitars in perfect tune when it is 100+ degrees on stage and 95% humid at the same time! haha. The guitars held tune quite well given the circumstances they endured yesterday! 

The show was completely sold out and most people were already there when the Deftones took the stage in the middle of the day! 

Here is a little idea of the gear I have been building as of lately...I have re-wired and all the pedalboards, racks and made all new cable looms as well. Everything in this system has been re-done since I came in to work for Stef. 

I have a total of 36 guitars I look after, depending on what rig we are using. These are the A Rig guitars, the B Rig guitars are currently in Jakarta waiting for us and the C Rig guitars are in Los Angeles waiting for me to set them all up and do some fret work! 

4 Days in Sydney!

We arrived in Sydney yesterday around 5pm, which was smack in the middle of rush hour in downtown Sydney! The ride from the airport was supposed to be about 30 minutes, but ended up taking over an hour and our driver was seriously a maniac on the road! haha

Got to the hotel and immediately went out to catch the last few hours of sunlight left in the day. Walked down to the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Bridge. Always a fun little spot each time I'm here for sure!

Today we are playing the Big Day Out here in Sydney. It is going to be a hot and humid day out here! More pictures to come tonight from the show!~ 

Day Off...

Had a nice and relaxing day off in the Gold Coast (Surfer's Paradise) Australia yesterday.

In the morning i went to eat at a little café near the ocean with my buddy Side-Phil. Later on I went down to the beach and put my feet in the water and walked in the sand just for kicks. Today we are flying to Sydney where we will be at for the next few days. I remember when the Australian dollar was worth about half of the US dollar...now they are nearly 1 to 1. Crazy how things have changed over the years.

Big Day Out - Gold Coast, Australia

I have been feeling a bit under the weather the past few days and there is nothing worse than running a fever when you are doing an outdoor festival in the Australian summer heat! My plan is to sweat out whatever funk is going on inside my body! :-)

Flew in from New Zealand on Saturday with 25 pieces of gear, plus all our luggage! It is crazy how much stuff it takes to actually do a show when you are flying with guitars, pedalboards and also have to rent amps/cabinets. 

The Gold Coast was our second show on this run. Things went much smoother than the first show...due mostly to the fact that we had our own monitor boards and our own gear which was very nice to see once again! 

Big Day Out - New Zealand!

Made it through the first Big Day Out show in New Zealand with a few minor technical difficulties due to the stage patching not being wired correctly and the monitor board channels acting up. All in all, ended up being a good show and the crowd loved it which is all that matters in the end anyway! ;-)

Heading off to Brisbane, Australia this morning. Excited to get my main workbox back in my possession to try and make a few electronic miracles happen, even though on paper they are scientifically and mathematically impossible. That is the world I live in as a guitar tech...always trying to be innovative and trying to conquer the realm of mathematics, voltages and theories! haha.

Auckland New Zealand

Made it safely out to the land where the air is clean and people are called Kiwi's! :-)
Slept for most of the long journey, however, I woke up just in time to see the sunrise on top of the clouds.

Its not everyday that you get to wake up to something like this, so I had to take a picture. I'm missing home already and everything is just starting out here now. Going down to the Big Day Out site in a bit to take a look at what rental gear I am going to have to use and see if I will need to fix anything for tomorrow's show. Good to see the rest of the crew/band guys and now it is time to go work!

Goodbye Sky Harbor!

So, I am sitting here at the airport in AZ waiting to get on my plane to Los Angeles. I'm meeting up with everyone there before we hop on another plane to Auckland New Zealand! It's roughly a 13 hour flight so I'm glad I have my iPod fully charged! It was very hard leaving my family at home today. Probably the hardest it has ever been since becoming a dad! My son is getting so big and he has his own personality that makes me smile every time I look at him. Lots of flying ahead so I am hoping to get some sleep and land completely rested!

In the year 2011...

Just gearing up to start back up with the Deftones in this new year.

First stop is New Zealand, Australia, then all around the Pacific Rim. Should be a busy trip, but I am ready to get back to work and fix some guitars! :-)

I will try my best to post updates as often as I can while traveling around. Hope to include pictures and funny stories as they come. 

Happy New Year y'all~