GET IN THE VAN // Dear Seattle: Thrashed Bodies Go On Tour

Dear Seattle vocalist Brae Fisher introduces us to a thrashing good time on the road with Columbus in this edition of Get In The Van!

To Dear Seattle, touring is like that childhood holiday with your best mate and his divorcee Dad, where anything you wanted to do was always all gravy cos your mate’s papa was always fighting for to be your ‘favourite’.

Sucking down Chicken Big Macs every second meal, ciggie breaks at every servo, having the most inappropriate and batshit insane conversations, overnight drives on no sleep, and huge nights on the piss after rowdy shows. In mind, it’s the best time of your life, but your body fucking hates you for it.

There’s tour stories, and there’s tour realities. Here’s what really goes on during a tour, this time with good mates Columbus.

Dear Seattle in Melbourne + Shoeys // Photo: Pat O’Hara

​MELBOURNE

There’s always a huge amount of eager anticipation and anxiety heading off to the first show of a new tour, especially as a support band. You question a thousand times what the crowds will be like, how the venues will be, how you’re gonna play, what you should say between songs (photo below shows how bevvies can fix this), how much merch you’ll sell, if you’ve remembered to pack all of the gear you need and of course, if you’re even gonna make it there alive on this 11 hour overnight drive. Its a rollercoaster for your head, but you just drown it out by slapping on some Chingy and singing along to “Stop, drop, kaboom, baby rub on yo nipples”.

There once was a man named Enis… // Photo: Michelle Fish

​​Despite the anxious lead up and long journey, we made it to Melbs. The show went fucking off! Ruby from The Football Club opened up with one of the greatest acoustic performances we’ve seen. She was solid in warming up the deep feels of the crowd, getting them eager to cut loose and toss some beer around – and they did just that. They didn’t stop all the way through to the end of Columbus’ set.

Rockin’ // Photo: Michelle Fish

It really is the most heartwarming feeling to head to another state and have kids singing along to lyrics you wrote in your bedroom when you were in a pretty dark place. It makes you feel like you’re making a difference for some kids, so I made a conscious effort to take a moment to breathe it all in during the solo at the end of The Meadows – ultimately bumming me out that our set was ending, but getting me so fucking amped for the shows to come.

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Following a masterclass in onstage execution from Columbus, we went out and got trollied around the streets of Melbourne, soaking in a lack of lockout laws. We’re just gonna move on here, no need for photos of that. (Sadface.—Ed.) Next stop, Sydney!

SYDNEY

Get home at 5:30am with a gutful…

Duzz’d and Confused // Photo: Pat O’Hara

…get up at 7:30am for an 11 hour drive back to Sydney to make it to the Frankie’s show on time (still missed load in but who’s counting?).

There’s no bigger test of character than sitting in a metal pod for 11 hours with five hungover dudes, all battling to keep the contents of their stomach in at either end. Getting back to Sydney was rough.

It really is the most heartwarming feeling to head to another state and have kids singing along to lyrics you wrote in your bedroom when you were in a pretty dark place.

I spent the better part of the trip saying absolutely no words to try and soothe my ciggie-ridden throat for the next show, which was almost enough to send me insane. I needed some serious quiet time before the set.

Meditation // Photo:

Some may say that this was the calm before the storm, because Sydney packed some serious hometown heat. Crowdsurfing, stage-diving, beer chugging good times; it made the whole shitty fucking day before entirely worth it. We have huge love for the kids in Sydney cos they’ve been with us every step.

Goes alright // Photo: Pat O’Hara

(I think this is my favourite shot of the whole tour.)

Thank fucking god, after this show we had some time off before we were to head to Brisbane. Enough time to scrape some more pennies together really.

BRISBANE

Brisbane has always been such a big question mark throughout our time as a band; we’ve never really been able to track what kind of crowd we would have up here. But holy fricken hell, this tour has blown that shit straight out of the water, changing the ??? to a fat old !!!

Again we had another overnight drive – even longer this time and even more insanity-inducing.

When will my husband ever return home from the war? // Photo: Pat O’Hara

​We got to Brisbane at around 8am, with no place to stay and about 20 minutes sleep under our belts. Walking into motels asking if they had early check in was like walking on set of Monsters, Inc and talking to that weird slug thing that goes “Always watching, Mike Wazowski”. We were so fucking desperate for a bed that we ended up staying in some dingy motel that looked like a scene from Breaking Bad. Nevertheless, it was a bed and we were finally able to catch some zzz’s.

Prior to the show we caught some true Brisbane culture over a beer—Amateur Wrestling. I can’t even explain how funny this shit was.

Sofa King Wrestling // Photo: Pat O’Hara

​As the room filled up before the show, we realised this audience was so amped for a rowdy set, more so than we had seen anywhere else on the tour. It seriously got the willies tingling. Literally, from kickoff we knew this was gonna be our favourite show. People were getting into the unreleased tracks hard. As soon as we hit the known tracks, the place felt like it erupted.

Not the Van Halen song // Photo: Pat O’Hara

And then I somehow ended up there too..

Hey, touching my ass is a two drink minimum // Photo:  Pat O’Hara

Following the set we copped some of the nicest and most heartfelt words from members of this crowd. It seriously meant the world to us. It made every single one of us realise that this is what we want to be doing for the rest of our lives and that we’ll be back on the road as soon as we possibly can.

Until next time, adios from DS <3

WATCH: Dear Seattle’s new single, Afterthought