Thursday morning:
Somehow I didn’t feel too rock’n'roll loading in amplifiers and setting up gear at 8am at The Toff In Town after only heading to bed a mere 2 hours beforehand. The after, after, after party from completing the bus trip seemed to be the greatest idea at the time.

The whole EMI team drifted indoors at the ungodly hour of 9:30am and there were some great keynote speakers, discussions and all round team bonding. We were extremely well looked after at The Curtin House complex being treated to some of the loveliest food from Cookie. Certainly hit the spot and wiped over any thought of a hangover whatsoever… leading it back into beer o’clock and time to watch some live music!

First off, very recent signee to the Peace & Riot label Papa Vs Pretty humbled us all and it was amazing to see how much the band have further developed their sound. After national tours with Paul Dempsey & Surfer Blood their live chops are now through the roof (if not higher) and they delighted us with tracks off their recently released Heavy Harm EP and a bunch of new songs for their debut album looking to be released early 2011. Once singer Thomas Rawle yelped “I don’t know if it’s right or it’s wrong, I just know that it’s heavy” – you could see and feel that the music was really taking the people somewhere else. Frightfully good.

After some heavily needed R&R time (ie a nanna nap back at the hotel), we assembled in the hotel foyer for what was to be a spectacular (and very long) night. First stop, nourishment on Lygon Street, followed by a mystery stop…