Kate's big adventure - From Boston to Paris: Clint Hyndman and Stephanie Ashworth chronicle the adventures of a band on the road
by Stephanie Ashworth and Clint Hyndman
The Sunday Telegraph, August 24 2003

On the road with Stephanie Ashworth and Clint Hyndman. Members of hot Aussie band Something For Kate share their tour diaries on the road in the US and Europe. Page 102

CLINT HYNDMAN writes from Boston, USA:

ON our way to the Boston show we had to stop at a music store to get some equipment (strings, sticks, picks etc). There was a bit of a wait as the shop doesn't open until 11am, and it was 10.30. No problem, let's play some hackysac, I say. So seven of us get out of the van and play. As is the case with hackysac, it always invites people you've never met before to come and join in, that's the power of the HACK. So these four young "dudes" all get out of a rusty old Bedford, a cloud of smoke preceding them. They walk over and join in. They're great hackysackers, but they stink of beer. So we ask a question, as it is Tuesday morning, and they all looked 16: "Go to school?" "Yeah, but we decided to steal Jim's Mum's car and come hang out in Boston for the day."

They ask where we are from, and we reply. "Australia, dude that's the other side of the universe!" one says. Anyway, we hack until the shop opens. They give us high fives and leave, heading into the store. We do the same. While walking around the store (which is huge), I see a door with the sign drum room. I walk in and see the dudes all on separate drum kits with headphones on in their own worlds, bashing the hell out of them. I walk up to the guy behind the counter and point at the dudes with a laugh. He laughs back at me and says, "I Know, it's like Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure everyday here."

A funny way to start the tour.

Amsterdam, Holland:

WE played at a venue called the Paradiso. It's a beautiful old theatre-like venue surrounded by canals (as much of Amsterdam is). After the show Paul suggests as it is too hot and packed to watch Silverchair tonight, that we go on a canal cruise around Amsterdam. It was too easy, the boat was docked right next to the Paradiso. As we boarded, we saw Silverchair walking from their dressing room into the venue to play. Off they went guitars in hand and off we went beer in hand. The cruise was great, with the tour guide pointing out all the interesting facts you love to know. Such as showing us the narrowest home in Amsterdam, 1.5m wide!!! The cruise went for about an hour or so.

When we docked,we could see Silverchair walking offstage out of the venue, so we gave them a big wave (by that stage we were a little drunk). They waved back politely looking a little confused, but chuffed no doubt. Talking to Chris the next day, he proceeds to tell me how last night as he was walking off stage, some crazy drunk looking tourists on the canal were waving their arms about yelling out their names in very good Australian accents!

STEPHANIE ASHWORTH writes from Berlin,

May 30:AFTER travelling through four countries by plane, boat and car in one day, arriving was a relief and a blur -- but an incredibly beautiful blur -- of old and more recent architecture, windmills and waterways, coloured lights and crazy train systems, people everywhere on bikes and interesting bakery items! We arrived at our hotel in the new part of Berlin and didn't have much time to get to soundcheck where we would be meeting up with the Silverchair lads for the first show of the European tour with them. It's always great to meet up with people you know from home when you're in another country and so it was going to be a great night. We were playing in this fantastic, huge old warehouse-type venue which was in a very funky part of the older side of Berlin, and a crowd was gathering to witness the 'Chair do their soundcheck.

All was sounding great; we soundchecked and had a bit of catch up time with the lads and then met with some of our German record company people, who informed us that right next door to where we were playing that night, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds would be doing a secret show to a small amount of people. This was a very exciting prospect. It's great to have local knowledge! We ate, checked out the local area and played our first show in Berlin. It was awesome; the 3000 or so crowd was very responsive and it was great to see people singing along to some of our songs in what I imagined were German sounding voices!

After the show, we watched Silverchair play a great set to a very enthusiastic crowd and then all filed next door to see one of the best shows I've ever seen. Nick Cave was playing to an intimate crowd of mostly German people with a healthy contingent of Australians present in a very smoky room. They played songs we hadn't heard them do in years -- it was a very special thing to have seen. Berlin was one of the first places to embrace Nick And The Bad Seeds in a major way and to see them in action in that city was a privilege. Many drinks were had that night at various bars around the city ...

Paris, Theatre De La Mutualite, 

June 3:THIS was the last show of the European tour with Silverchair and everyone was looking forward to both the show and the celebrations to follow. It was in a very beautiful theatre in the middle of a very beautiful area (what part of Paris isn't?). Again, it was a sold out show with a great atmosphere. We soundchecked and ate very fine French cooking and played one of the best shows I can remember. Partly, it's that thing of being really warmed up after playing so many shows in a short period of time. We had already toured the USA and London so we were having a good time on stage. The 2500 Parisians (and a small Australian contingent) were again a fine audience who sung along and created a fantastic atmosphere for both bands to play to. After both bands played I think there was a sense of relief that there would be a small break for The Chair before they played the UK; and for us who would fly home after a few days off in Paris and London. Again, many drinks followed in many atmospheric bars around Paris.

Next was a day off and a Belgian friend of ours who had come from Brussels to see the show was a great tour guide. We went about seeing as much as we could. The Pompidou, The Moulin Rouge, The Louvre, The Eiffel Tower (of course) and I don't know how many other places. Later that night we met up with the Silverchair lads and crew, some other Australian friends and, our fine Parisian record company representative and took over a local restaurant on a hot Paris summer night. It was a beautiful and somewhat messy night to end a great tour!