Hello out there in one love land,

I hope you are all enjoying the festive season so far this year.  I know I have been and I think it has something to do with the fact that I've been listening to, and making some Christmas music!  Our wonderful label in the UK, Lojinx, has put together a great little mini-album for the season, entitled 'Christmas Present'.  It features some great festive songs and has a little bit of a one love flavour to it with songs from Farrah, Nate Campany and our selves, as well as some of the other amazing Lojinx artists!  And perhaps the best thing about it, apart from the abundance of sleigh bells, is that it's totally free!!  So hop on over to the Lojinx website and download it!  It even comes with a nifty cover that you can print out and give as a gift to your loved ones!  Perfect.

Have a safe and happy holiday everyone!

Love,

Amy.

Doesn't the internet make the world an amazing place?  It seems like these days anything is possible. 

Yesterday, Nate Campany and I attended the Lojinx Christmas party.  The party was held at Farrah's studio in London and Nate and I tuned in, via the the world wide web, from our respective homes in Melbourne, Australia and Brooklyn, USA.  It was webcast on Lojinx's website and Nate and I chatted on ichat as we watched live sets from our Lojinx labelmates Farrah, Henrik, Caroline Lost and a few other guests.  It was a weird but cool experience even if it felt a little like Nate and I were the foreigners standing up the back not really talking to anyone but each other.  We even commanded a wave from the entire room via Farrah guitarist/Lojinx mastermind Andrew! 

It was pretty cool getting to see one of my favourite bands playing a show on the other side of the world, whilst in my pjs from the comfort of my own bed!  I don't think the internet will ever stop amazing me.

Love,
Amy.

i can't wait till the day that someone super smart actually invents teleportation and i can visit people and places around the planet that i love without all the hass and accompanying cost.  but for now music is the nearest thing we have. at least for me anyway.  it's amazing how putting some headphones on, closing your eyes and putting a certain piece of music on can instantly transport you to another place or time.  sometimes a piece of music is so intrinsically linked to that place or time that you can completely forget where you are when listening to it.  and right now as i sit at my desk back at work, after almost three months on the road, this is an absolute blessing.  i put on 'cardinology' by ryan adams and the cardinals and i am instantly on fifth ave and it's freezing cold and i just ate chipotle...

right now i'm working on writing a tour diary for the US tour we just did.  the other guys in the band have already written some from japan, spain and our brief visit to the uk.  check them out on our myspace.

love,

amy.

saturday nate and amy walked around brooklyn, over the brooklyn bridge, and through the lower east side.
nate talked and talked about all the history pointing out buildings and landmarks.
amy listened.

tired they went back to brooklyn and ate thai food.

the following blog is an actual AIM conversation that happened between amy of the wellingtons, and nate campany, as they sat next to eachother in his apartment watching saturday night live.

nate: hey
amy: hey
nate: so we are in my apartment watching saturday night live, how is that working out for you?
amy: i'm having a great time but i think this sketch is going a little too long..
i heard you kicked some ass in bocce ball last night, how was that for you?
nate: you heard? werent you there? or have the vodka sprites cleared that whole part of the night?
amy: perhaps.. though i blame your country's supersizing of everything.. including spirits in bars.. so totally not my fault
nate: well, we walked it off. did you enjoy the brooklyn bridge?
amy: yeah i did. it was glorious. nyc is the most amazing city in the world. what's your favorite thing about nyc?
nate: maybe the feeling that anything is possible, or maybe brooklyn, or maybe the crazy people, like that guy we saw today
so, whats an interesting fact about australia, besides the fact that water in the toilet spins counter clockwise when you flush
(waiting)
amy: well... we all ride kangaroos to work... so that's fun. got any plans for tomorrow?
nate: bluegrass brunch? you want to come?
amy: yeah sure, sounds like fun. what do you think of this band playing on snl?
nate: they arent nearly as good as the wellingtons is phil gonna wonder why you havent come home for two days?
you are distracted by the tv, but this skit is funny is this the end?

amy: i am, but mocking german tourists is so funny. maybe phil will think i caught the wrong subway and ended up in new jersey.
what's your favorite place to eat in brooklyn?
nate: for thai, joya, for pizza, sals, for tex mex, lobo, for bagels, court street bagels. but, you are asking the chubby kid im gonna have a ton of answers
amy: is there a chipotle in brooklyn? cos i'm not sure i can move here if there isn't...
nate: there is, how is the greencard search coming along anyway
amy: haven't found an nice american chap to get hitched to yet... the search continues... or i may become a doctor or something, they can get working visas
here. any good gigs to go to around nyc next week? like say, friday?
nate: well, im playing, with the serenade, should be cool, are you coming?
amy: well i guess i could go.. it will be amusing to watch the whole serenade (except luke) squeeze onto that little stage at rockwood.
nate: true. well, any last words?
amy: last words.... i wish i had the card reader for my camera!!

I can totally get behind the concept of a summer holiday.  We arrived in Tokyo 3 days before the first show of the tour, just to get our feet and have a look around Tokyo.  Those three days felt like about three weeks.  The weather in Japan at the moment is quite warm, but not too unpleasant.  It's easy to forget the freedom that summer brings when you're in the middle of a Melbourne winter and it's impossible to leave the house without a scarf and jacket.  Anyway, we wandered around Shinjuku, Shiuya and Harajuku, caught up with old friends that we made on the last tour, bought a few Japanese versions of some great records and sang a spot of karaoke.  It was a nice chance to relax after a few stressful months spent planning this tour.

Now it's down to business... or as down to business as a tour gets!  We played a super fun show in Tokyo at Shimokitazawa Shelter (which I still don't know how to say).  Then after a few Cassis Orange's we headed off to Osaka getting our sleep in 20 minute doses while trying to get comfortable in the van.

The next morning we arrived in Osaka and headed to an Onsen where the boys nuded up and went to the hot baths while Kate and I opted for a swim in the rooftop pool, followed by a nap.  Feeling something closely aproximating refreshed, we played our show at The Clapper.  Another fun show where we again got to catch up with some friends made on the last tour.

After the show in Osaka we went to an amazing bar called Club Wonder.  I'm struggling to work out whether this was all just some crazy dream or if it really happened.  Club Wonder is a bar that plays exclusively powerpop, and it's open every night of the week!  We walked in and on the big screen they were playing a video of Mike Viola and Bleu playing at The Living Room in NYC.  My jaw hit the floor.  I had heard about this place for a few years but I never thought it could really be this cool.  Then I turned around and saw about five autographed Fountains of Wayne posters as well as Ivy, Matthew Sweet... the list goes on...  So we drank, danced and bought limited editions of some great records.  Weird but amazing.

Last night we playing in Nagoya, the night before in Hiroshima and the night before in Fukuoka.  Both shows were great, the audiences were so warm and friendly.  In Hiroshima we had some oishii (delicious) okonamiaki, which is kind of like a vegetable pancake with this awesome kinda soy sauce and mayo on top.  I eat Okonamiaki at every opportunity back in Australia but it's 1000 time better here.

So we have three more shows in Japan then it's off to London to play with Farrah!

I always used to keep a diary when I was younger.  Partly due to my teen angst and partly due to my love of stationary.  If I saw a cute note book in a store I could rarely resist the temptation to buy it.  I always felt so daunted when it came to writing on the first page, like I needed to write something amazing or profound on that pristine white page.  But I never really had anything profound to say in those diaries, so I usually skipped the first page and wrote on the second!  Anyway I've been feeling the same kind of anxiety towards the first entry of this blog for the past few days, but I thought I'd just throw caution to the wind and say hi.  So hi.  

A giant thank you goes out to Mr. Ben Romans for inviting us to be a part of this amazing place, we feel very honored to be in such esteemed company, so thank you Ben!  If you don't know us, we are a powerpop band from Melbourne, Australia and you can check out all our particulars on our myspace page.  I'm wondering if we are the only One Love bloggers in the southern hemisphere?  

In just over a weeks time we will be throwing off the shackles of our full time jobs and touring the world for two glorious months!!  Traveling the world playing rock shows with a bunch of your best friends is pretty much the best thing you can do ever.  We'll be visiting five counties playing in about 30 cities, and with some of our favorite bands, a few of them One Love bands!  We'll be starting in Japan for 8 shows, then heading to the UK where we'll be playing with the wonderful Farrah, then off to Spain for another 5 or so shows.  Then we hit the US of A where we will be playing a run of shows on the east coast with Atomic Tom and Mitch Hood.  After that we head to the west coast for another run with Boston native turned west coaster Bleu and one very special show in LA with The Major Labels which we are super psyched about!  After that we are going to six flags then having a couple of weeks off!

So it's going to be crazy, fun, exhausting.. the tour is something like 30 shows in 40 days, 12 flights, thousands of miles in various vans.  I don't think we've ever played more than about four or five consecutive shows, so it will be interesting to see what we are like on the other side of it all.  But it's going to be great, I can't wait to see so many amazing places, so many great bands and meet a loads of new people.  And some great shows of some of our other favorite bands are starting to pop up in our time off in the USA after the tour is done, so it's really is going to be a great couple of months.

We'll endeavor to blog as much as possible during the tour, so I'm glad we have a place such as this to keep you updated on our adventures.  Please come out and say hi if we are visiting where you are!

Now I must go and make some heavy decisions such as which color chuck taylors should I bring and which should I leave at home?

See you in Tokyo.

Love,

Amy