From Chitty to Qantas

Late last month the band was selected to play at the largest music industry showcase festival in the southern hemisphere.  In October, we will head to Perth, Australia for a performance at the One Movement for Music Festival.

This will be the band’s first performance outside North America.  Though one of our goals has always been to travel, it’s still a little shocking we are going to get the chance to play on the other side of the world. 

Because the festival showcases 80 of the world’s top emerging/export ready artists, we feel honored to be chosen.  Most of the artists traveling to Australia already have hits in Asia-Pacific countries.  As of now, we are one of six North American artists making the trip, others include Fefe Dobson (Canada) and Meiko (USA).

Most of the artists have the backing of their labels or government; we have shinny credit cards and tip jars.  But money isn’t going to stop us; we are ready for the Down Under and want to thank everyone who has made it possible for us to get to this point.

I was talking about the trip to a few friends this past weekend who have been around since the beginning of the band. We were reminiscing about the days when Sam and I would jump in my Volkswagen and start driving east, determined to play somewhere outside of Ohio.   Thinking about that progression -- from leaving home not knowing exactly where we were going to checking on the status of our visas for the 18-hour layover in Hong Kong is… interesting.

To the Kristoff and Urycki family:  Thanks for being cool when we took Chitty and the Gladiator to the east coast.  We are finally using that plane you kept referring to.