Its frustraing being a mute!

Its quite frustrating being a mute! With 30 hours left until a planned live video (in which i sing.. details here)-

This is the note i wrote for the doctor in the waiting room  today (I always leave going to doctor as a last resort…

—–

Hello – I have lost my voice.

I  can whisper  but is important to rest my voice as I am a singer.

Have had a raw sore throat and been tired since last Friday.  I have been gargling with salt water and Betadine throat rinse and drinking lots of warm water with honey and lemon and the odd by of garlic.

My throat is feeling better today but now I have some phlegm and blocked nose.

I am a singer so my throat needs to heal as soon as possible. please help me.

Thank you!!!

Do you think I am contagious ? Will my wife and friends catch it?
—–

Thankfully the answer to these last questions were No!  As usual I found myself in another unfamiliar – new doctor surgery (I have not used the same doctor twice since I left home many years ago)

And the majority of patients and staff are speaking a foreign language. So after filling out the usual ‘are you dying of any of the following’ forms, the doc calls my name and I follow him through to his room in silence. He asks me a few more questions.. my silence is awkward as he is not looking at me. Unable to answer I gesture that I have lost my voice and pass him my iPhone. He reads the note, takes a look in my ear and my throat and says ‘yes you have de nasty virus,’ are you okay with penicillin?’I answer with a nod as he recommends an injection of antibiotics as well as a weeks dose of  tablets! I think to myself  ’holy shit!’ I avoid antibiotics at all costs and now I’m getting recommended it intravenously and orally! Not being able to discuss makes it hard for me to accept – but at the same time I have been on honey lemon and garlic for a week and am worse off than when this bug started.. I have no time left so I’m gunna go for it! After getting the drugs from the ‘farmacia’ i return to wait around for my turn again.. now the waiting room is packed and there is only one doctor on…  so here i am writing this blog on my iphone.   oh Oh my name is being called for the injection – in my bum – Ouch!

From the Gold Coast to the Snowy Mountains!

Wow! Time flies when your on the road!! Been way too long since we have had a chance to update our tour blog. So i’m making the most of some seriously good internet here at a good friends place in Sydney, and getting some photos uploaded from the past few months! check our facebook page (www.facebook.com/aprilmazemusic) and click on photos. Sivi and I have spent the last 10 weeks on the east coast (mainly in NSW) touring our most recent radio single ‘The Protest Song’ and what a ride it has been! It has been awesome to soak up some warmth and get our music to new ears. We are now on our way to the Snowy Mountains for the music festival there (www.snowymountainsofmusic.com.au).. so its time to get some warm thermals and i’m on the look out for a funky 60′s/70′s woolie coat!!!  We have some new songs on the way, and i can hear Sivi playing cello right now so i am going to go and join her! More soon,

Lotsa Love,
Todd (and Sivi)
xoxo

House Concerts are go!

We are back in Australia after a fantastic tour of New Zealand with Faye Blais (From Canada)! The micro brews, white wines and local hospitality everywhere we went were definitely amongst the highlights! Unfortunately our tour in the South Island was cut short by the terrible earthquake in Christchurch and we send all our love to the people of Canterbury and NZ. 

Now we look forward to playing the Port Fairy Folk Festival next weekend! And have just started booking a tour in May for our next radio single ‘The Protest Song’ from our debut Album ‘Recycled Soul’ and would love to include some house concert shows as these are always some of our favourite times! 

In Late March and most of April we will be based in Kangaroo Valley, NSW playing every weekend at The Friendly Inn Hotel (Sat 26th March, Sat 2nd April, Fri 8th April, Sat 16th April) and will also be hosting an open mic night for muso’s every sunday from 6pm).  During this time we would love to play a house concert or two in the south east part of NSW, so please get in touch if you would like your very own intimate show for you and your friends. 

Thanks again to House concerts Australia http://houseconcertsaustralia.ning.com/profile/AprilMaze)  for providing this terrific platform to introduce hosts to artists and vice versa.  We hope to see you in a lounge room some time soon. 

Big jubly love

The April Maze

bed intruder song takin us to the top! ha ha

Oh god, I can’t believe this clip has had over 1000 plays in the first week! Would have rehearsed it more than once if we knew it was gunna be the song that breaks us to the world!! (and sivi probably wouldn’t have worn a hat with two unicorns f#%king on it! ha – but i still would have worn the I heart Antoine tattoo! and the mum tat!). We did this at midnight after working on the film clip for Protest Song all day in Main Street Studios, Fairy Meadow, Wollongong, Australia. We joked about doing it and Murray and Adam said okay, “you’ve got one take”! the first one totally sucked so they gave us two! ha ha

If you don’t know the history behind the bed intruder song you have to check out the original news story at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ywbtMZRFo

and then the original autotune the news ‘bed intruder song’ at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw&feature=related

Our good friends James and Skye introduced us to it one late night when we were ‘Tubin’, then we had the idea joking round with Dev and Jane to do an aussie April Maze version! And Boom there it is!  Gotta love livin by the reins of spontaneity!

here’s the link to our version!

Todd xo

Don’t touch my moustache!

“I’m a pretty chilled dude, but DON’T TOUCH MY MOUSTACHE!” I had to say this to a drunk guy after my show last night that came up and pulled on my moustache saying “is it real?” and this happens pretty much every time I go out! Then comes the nicknames and name calling.. but at the end of the day I have realised that most of these guys want a moustache for themselves but either havn’t got the hairy lip gene, or don’t have the balls to grow a moustache for themselves… So I thought i’d blog a little about me and my moustache!

I have been sporting a moustache for quite a few years now. I guess it all started because hair grows on that portion of my face ridiculously rapidly and I am NOT a big fan of shaving… so… being the laid back person I am kind (I tend to put on the first thing that comes out of the wardrobe, and may often be found wearing odd socks) I am what I am.

As far as the moustache connection to The April Maze goes – well I guess it kind of stuck after the very first photo shoot for The April Maze.  Our house mate at the time (Fellow muso Damien ‘River’ Tapley – check out his Band ‘Me’) got a lucky shot of Sivan and I walking out of the outdoor shower of the old Coburg scout hall we lived in at the time.  We used this photo for the CD art on our first demo EP and it did us well as a poster and web image for the first 2 years of The April Maze journey.  I had many comments about the moustache and had a few close friends say “I like the mo – you can’t shave that now”.

Now almost five years since that first photo, the moustache has become bigger than ever!  I constantly have people at shows asking to touch it, and calling me George or as much as I hate it Thirsty Merc.  You know its funny how different people say I look like different famous people – and it is an every day occurrence! Some I must say are ridiculous and are just the first person with a moustache that comes to mind! The most common ones are:

George Harrison

Billy Cruddup (in Almost Famous)

James Taylor

Thrsty Merc (Apparently a friend of a friend went up to Rai Thistlewayte in a bar and said hey aren’t you Todd from that band The April Maze.. its nice to know the scenario can happen in reverse! ha ha ha)

John Holmes (Dirk Digglers character was based on him in ‘Boogie Nights)

and legendary 1970′s surfer Michael Peterson

So there you have it!

I’m gunna go trim my mo now!

Get your mo on and keep the dream alive!

Peace out!

Todd