Articles : The Ocean Tour Diaries – Part 2

Photo by Mark Hoffmann

The Factory Floor is a sweet venue. Once everyone is inside a myriad of lighting equipment is routinely spread out across the floor of the venue and put together with precision expertise. The drive back to Sydney was smooth. Geoff, Dave, Jim, Sam and Zac sully into the tour bus. It’s super early. Before noon to be exact. The air was brisk and the weather was a little bit chilly. They wore sunglasses and massive grins

Is that a Weapon of Death?! (Photo by Mark Hoffmann)

Loic had gone ahead in a separate vehicle with Ocean guitarist Damo. There’s an interesting story behind how he joined the band. Hailing from Melbourne and studying a Bachelor of Music (which he thought quite titillating), Damo lived in Europe for a number of years and was aspiring to become a member of The Dillinger Escape Plan. He sent through some video content. Resultantly, Robin saw the footage and invited him to join The Ocean. A seasoned guitarist, Damo practices in the polished backstage area at The Factory Floor running through complicated riffs from the Pelagial album. I thought I hear him run through Mastodon’s Divinations, but it turned out to be a riff from his other band. His fingers shoot across the strings and fret board. Damo has a chicken picking style similar to Brent Hinds. Both bands began in the 2000’s. Chris is next to his bandmate on a long leather couch.

This was a real fly on the wall shot by Mark Hoffman.

The Sydney leg was completely sold out. Openers Lo! Built up the vibes with some heavy three piece metal, boasting powerful playing and a talented front man they drew a positive reception from the crowd. Meanwhile, I walk backstage, literally to take a nap myself. Three of five Caligula’s Horsemen are asleep on those same leather couches, bad luck for me. Find somewhere to sleep on tour is always a challenge. We soon find out that the Sydney show has sold out. Scores of people smoke in anticipation undercover as rain pours.

As surely as Zac and Sam were previously napping they were now furiously warming up on their instruments before hitting the stage. Geoff was drumming like a monster, nailing every beat and drawing a centre of attention around him. The rattles of paradiddles and fast rudiments could be heard descending from the stairwell backstage before the band had event went on. Sam was very much in command of his guitar leads, raking in a night topping moment with the guitar solo to new song Rust.

Photo by Mark Hoffmann

The Ocean continue to be astounding. Pelagial is a dense album. It is taking me much more than the two shows I have seen to really breakdown the composition. I have the opportunity to see their every show during this Australian spell. If you’re only going to be able to hit one leg of the tour it would be regrettable not to experience their musical cohesion as a band. Loic’s voice is projecting like a steel wall tonight, and Damo and Chris are incredibly synchronised spewing riffs while on a simultaneous level. Paul is grooving hard. An astounding player if I ever saw one, he was really in his element in Sydney. I watched him from a direct sight line side of stage. The dynamics and whip crack of his hitting is so smooth, his ghost notes effortless. Someone needs to set up a drum cam for this guy!

Photo by Mark Hoffman

Photo by Mark Hoffman

Loic hits that pocket. (Photo by Mark Hoffmann)

After a monolithic encore the show is deemed a great success. Cartons of Coopers Lager are broken out and we all drink and celebrate heartily. If Canberra was an acclimatising period then Sydney has been the true launch party of the tour. Before we know it every last beer has been ingested. Robin, Chris, Loic and Damo leave our company to hit the town. As opposed to The Ocean, who are flying to Brisbane, we on the other hand have a long overnight drive to Brisbane for the show tomorrow. The crew – consisting of off kilter lights guru Will and dynamite sound technician Jay work just as hard as they party. Along with the Caligula’s Horse alumni and tour manager Tibor Gede, I join the touring entourage with photographer Mark Hoffmann.

The Ocean (Photo by Mark Hoffmann

Will jumps out of the tour bus to pick up four bottles of homemade Croatian wine. We toast and drink in hysterics, speeding along the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

2:03am (Photo by Mark Hoffmann)

It’s early in the morning. The scenery has transformed from the undulating concrete labyrinth of Sydney roads into the beautiful sub-tropical rain forest of outer NSW. Tibor tells us a story about Gypsy Christmas in July, where the hard rubbish goes out in Budapest and they swarm in to wait on street corners and claim what goes out. Tibor woes of times he walked home smashed and would have loved to drag home an exquisite pre loved couch, only to have a freaky Gypsy man demand him 500 Forints for it.

Having just passed Coffs Harbour we are heading straight to the venue. See you at The Brightside Brisbane.

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