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Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th November, 2007
We made our way back up to Northern Victoria this weekend to perform to some of our favourite people living in drought affected communities of Rochester and Lockington in Victoria.

Over the past few weeks, Rob, Yorkie, Lee and I had started work on a song that I scribbled out. When The Dust Settles is a song dedicated to the wonderful people of regional Australia who are really doing it tough because of the drought. It was inspired by a friend of ours Kerrie Howell who is a volunteer with those angels of the bush, Aussie Helpers. Kerrie suggested we write about Aussie Helpers, but as it happens when writing songs, sometimes an idea can carry you away in a slightly different direction. When The Dust Settles is a song about facing adversity and not trying to change the things you can't control. More importantly its also about not suffering in silence and that the people who matter in your life are the key to help you rise above the tough times.

We couldnt think of two better places to play the song in public for the first time than Rochester and Lockington. I must admit I was nervous about doing it. I knew the band would play it well. But would the folks living through this drought believe what these city boys are singing? On Saturday night at Rochester we played to a great crowd to danced all night. We introduced the song and the audience were all ears. They listened carefully to the lyrics and then as the song finished, loudly cheered and applauded, some with tears in their eyes. Even I got a bit choked up.

Then came the best bit.... Just as the gig finished, in a way that could only be written in a Hollywood Christmas telemovie script, lightning started flashing on the southern horizon bringing with it thunderstroms and rainfall right over the Rochester/Lockington area that lasted throughout the night and until mid Sunday morning. Farmers reported rain from 10 to 15mm.

When we arrived at Lockington on Sunday morning, the rain was well and truly falling and farmers jokingly asked to book the band next week on their properties as they needed to irrigate. The outdoor event was moved indoors and no one complained as rain slammed down on the tin roof of the Heritage Complex. Needless to say it was quite OK to have it rain on our parade.

Later in the afternoon, the weather cleared and people turned out. They sat around, drank, had a bit of a dance and had a good time. We played When The Dust Settles where it was met with the same response by the people of Lockington. Once again a few tears flowed and the applause was heart felt.

So once again thank you to the folks in Rochy and Locky and a big thank you to Allannah Jenkins, Liz Wright and Kerrie Howell for their continuing support and for all the work they do for the rural community. You gals work your butts off and you rock!

They say one never stops learning and experiencing things and if there was ever a truer example to confirm it, our weekend in Deniliquin proves it.

We had the pleasure of performing at the Deniliquin Ute Muster on Saturday. We had a ball. We arrived at the site at around 11.30am, organised ourselves and then immediately set out to take in the atmosphere.

For those of you reading this from outside Australia, the Ute or "utility vehicle" is an Aussie invention. Basically a car version of a pickup truck. They range from old beaten up Toyota 4X4 to supped up V8 Holdens and Fords.

Each year the Deniliquin Ute Muster attracts people from all over the country who drive their utes to the showgrounds in an attempt to break the world record for the largest number utes parked in the one spot. They broke it again this year with over 6,300 cars. I'm not sure what the official attendance was, but I'd reckon it was up in the 20,000s.

People arrived in utes decked out with lounge suites strapped on the back for extra comfort, the cars were often draped in Aussie and other flags. The standard dress code was basically jeans, boots, a blue singlet and an akubra hat. In fact another world record was set for the largest number of blue singlets worn in the one place. Something like 1600 I think. The weather on the Saturday was alot better than the colder and windy Friday. But with car demos and people dancing and walking around, there was an ever present layer of dust that nobody really seemed to care about. Thank Christ it wasn't a quagmire....

We walked around and took in the different attractions but for us the biggest attraction was the people who attended. People of all ages from all over the country enjoying themselves in their own way taking part in the many activities, watching the bands or just lazing around the campsites. The bullshit meter was hardly working with this weekend as everybody we met had no pretences about themselves. They were there to have a good time and by the looks of some people, they were going to have a bloody hard time remembering how good a time they really had.

At 2pm we went backstage and started gearing up for our 3pm spot. Amber Lawrence was on stage. We'd never seen her perform before and she was great. She really had the crowd bopping away. Even Yorkie's daughter got into the act and got up on stage with her towards the end of her set.

Now by this stage the big screen behind the stage was firing up with the broadcast of the AFL Grand Final. We were expecting a bit of an exodus but people didn't really move. Especially since it had become clear early in the match that The Cats were going to p..... all over Port Adelaide.

2.50pm! It was now our turn! We got on stage to plug in and the crew doing the PA system were terrific. They were efficient and great to work with. Everything went like clockwork. The gear kicked arse and we were all set to go. As soon as Rob counted in, we ripped into it and immediately a cloud of dust came wafting in from the front of the stage as people started boogying. We were stoked to be playing to a receptive, dusty audience and we had a bit of fun with them as they sang along with us to a couple of tracks. It was truly an easy gig and we were all relaxed and having a good time on stage... (two cans of bourbon always does the trick). We ended our set and got a really nice, warm response from the crowd. We were rapt.

We then hung around and watched The Pigs do a bloody clever set of top 40 covers played bluegrass.

Fast forward to the evening where we spent the night hanging backstage and watching the big show. We had the pleasure of meeting Troy Cassar-Daly and having a brief chat with him. On stage we were treated to Travis Collins who played an impressive nu-country set. The McClymonts came on and man those harmonies... "Bloody hell its the female Beachboys" was my first reaction... Awesome.

Troy Cassar-Daly came on and man that dude was sensational. The crowd loved him as one would expect. Now during this time our mates from Melbourne, the band Ruckus showed up back stage. They performed on the Friday and were hanging around for the weekend. We hung out together for most of the day. The backstage area was filling up as muso's began to mingle and get into the gig on the main stage.

Lee Kernaghan arrived and as soon as his set started, the crowd went nuts! He had a presence about him and you can see why he's the biggest name in Aussie Country music at the moment. Being a Melbourne band, we're not often treated to such a star studded country music line up and we were treated to the just about the best line up one could go and see. We were just as stoked to be there to watch as we were to play.

Another Melbourne band, The Distance wrapped up the night and we hung around to watch their great set. We got back to our motel room and I called John Nutting on the ABC Saturday Night Country program to report in. We had a good chat for about five minutes about the Muster, our set and the artist who performed over the weekend. I had no hesitation in telling him and the whole country that the event was a bloody ripper.

I don't know how much panic went on behind the scenes, but it all seemed smooth sailing from where we saw it. We were happy that we sold a few CDs on the day too considering who else was selling theirs.

Full credit to the organisers for running such a mammoth event. Everything from traffic control to PA and lights was well organised.

We drove home on Sunday. It was a four hour drive home and we talked about the weekend and what he had seen and done. It was a very different gig to what we have experienced in the short time this band has been together. It was a pleasure to have been a part of it.

THANKS ROCHESTER

Sunday, 5th August, 2007

G'day

We just wanted to say a big thank you to the people of Rochester for putting on a great turn at the local Golf Club for the Rochester Recharge on Saturday. It was a real pleasure to play for a bunch of great people and we hope to see them all again really soon in more rainy circumstances. Once again despite the tough times, it was great to see people turn out and catch up with each other and have a good time.

The evening was a great success with over 100 people in attendance. It was a real family ocassion. It was so cool to see kids being called up to receive some pretty awesome toys that were donated. Seeing their faces light up and showing their Mums and Dads what they got brought a smile to everyone's face and was a real highlight of the night.

Most importantly, drought relief and outreach workers were on hand and gained a few new clients who acknowledged they needed some assistance. For that reason alone, the night was a resounding success. To Allannah Jenkins and her team of organisers, a big thank you for a job well done.

Thanks Rochester...

Cheers
Yorkie, Tony, Rob Lee
The Prairie Oysters

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PRAIRIE OYSTERS VOTED MOST POPULAR BAND 2006-2007

Friday, 3rd August 2007

Last night, the Country Music Guild of Australasia awarded us the 2007 Les Keats Memorial Award for most popular band as voted by its members. We were genuinely surprised to even be nominated and were delighted to receive the award. Given the other bands who were nominated we were certainly honoured to be in such good company.

The Pascoe Vale RSL was the venue for the Country Music Guild's Annual Les Keats Dance and the place was packed. Entertainment was provided by Mustang, The Dalton Gang, us and special guests. A great night was had by all and it was great to see country music being so loyally supported.

We would like to thank The Country Music Guild and its members for their continuing support and of course the members and non-members who follow the band around and voted for them. They are truly chuffed to be the recipient of such a special award.

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THE LOCKINGTON RAIN DANCE

Saturday 10th March 2007

We played to around 200 people at the Lockington Community Centre at an event that can only be described as a great success. Lockington, (population 400) is a quiet little dairy farming community, located in Northern Victoria about 30kms south west of Echuca.

Liz Wright is a farmer and member of the Lockington Development Committee who was been liaising with us from day one to organise the event. When we arrived, she told us that the whole town new about the gig and that 8 tables of 10 were already reserved. Thats one-fifth of the population. People from Mathoura, Kyabram, Rochester and other areas were also coming.

The local media coverage was excellent thanks to the ABC, local newspapers and "tanker drops". Flyers were being circulated via tankers as they collected milk from farms in the district. A good turn out was expected.

The band arrived in the afternoon heat to find a town centre which was all but deserted apart from a group of little kids who came up to ask if we were any good (god love 'em). However, by 6pm, the town transformed with people going out for walks or making their way to the hotel for dinner. Kids were out and about riding bikes and the place started to buzz. The doors to the community centre opened at 7.30 and people came from all directions. The venue was very impressive, with a huge stage, heaps of dancing room and excellent acoustics.

At 8.45pm we kicked off our show and the dance floor had people on it from the word "go". Once again, Cadburys came to the party with two massive boxes of chocolates. A line of kids (of all ages from 4 to 70) lined up as our two "Fairy Oysters", Cheyenne and Claudia handed out armfuls of choccies.

We couldn't have asked for a better night. During the breaks we mingled and chatted with people and had a terrific time. We even had a group of local muso's join us on stage with mandolins and banjos for an impromptu jam. That was awesome!

As one would expect, the people were wonderful and we were heartened by the enthusiastic response. As Liz remarked at the end of the night, "people were smiling". That was confirmation that we achieved what we set out to achieve. From the band's point of view, it was a great gig but it was also much more than that. We had a ball making new friends and just like Mathoura a month ago, the people of Lockington just keep on keeping on in these difficult and worrying times and despite that, they all contributed to making the night the success that it was.

At present we don't have anymore Rain Dances planned but we would be more than happy to speak to anyone willing to work with us. To the people of Lockington and Mathoura, we thank you for your hospitality and for giving us the opportunity to see, learn and understand what many in the city don't see. We hope we can help send the message out. May it rain buckets!

Cheers

Tony

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THE MATHOURA RAIN DANCE

Saturday 3rd February, 2007

This will be a day that we will never forget. Our very first rain dance in Mathoura NSW was a great success but successful in a way we couldn't really imagine until we saw it with our own eyes.

Back in December 2006, we put out an advertisement with the Victorian Farmers Federation looking for organisations willing to hold social evenings with us providing free entertainment. Not long after our ad was placed, Helen Gray contacted us. Helen is a farmer's wife and a local midwife from Bunnaloo in Southern NSW who had been trying to organise entertainment for the local community and incorporate it with an information evening with key people to talk about assistance and entitlements available to farmers doing it tough from the affects of the drought.

As soon as Helen contacted us we immediately went to work on saturating the local media with press releases and organising interviews with local radio stations and newspapers. The biggest coup came when ABC Radio in Melbourne invited us on air to perform live to promote the event which we now called The Mathoura Rain Dance.

It was the height of the hottest and roughest summer on record. Victoria was also in the grip of some of the biggest bushfires in history and 300kms away, the Melbourne skies were coated in a semi-permanent brown haze from the smoke pluming from the North and East.

The big day had arrived and we drove from Melbourne in the morning where the temperature was pushing the low 40s. We dreaded the extra couple of degrees as we crossed the Great Dividing Range. Rob and Lee drew the short straw and took the van which had no air-conditioning. Yorkie and Mick Burke (pedal steel player) drove together and I had the job of transporting 60kgs of chocolates kindly donated by Cadburys to give away on the night. I headed off with the air-conditioner turned up to "antarctic".

By 4pm we all arrived at the Mathoura Bowling Club. When I pulled up I saw the guys roasting from the heat. I had been driving with cool air blowing in my car and was wondering what the fuss was all about. When I got out of my car, the 46 degree heat belted me in the face like a cricket bat. It's no surprise that in that first hour we consumed 24 glasses of beer between the five of us.

By 7pm, the club began to fill up. Kids were running around doing what kids do and people began to mingle. We got up on stage and people who chose to listen moved forward while people who chose to talk hung out towards the back of the club. From the outset, we never wanted these Rain Dances to be The Prairie Oysters Show. We put on a full gig and we had a great time. Most importantly, the locals came out, socialised and listened as people from Centerlink, Primary Industries and other organisations talk to them about their rights and entitlements during thedrought. We were part of the whole event.

At the end of the night we met many of the Mathoura locals and chatted with them. They were as rapt as we were to have had such a good night. All that work and preparation by all concerned was worth it.

Thanks Mathoura

Tony

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SMEATON RAIN DANCE FOR AUSSIE HELPERS