We jumped on a flight to Townsville and headed out to play some shows and camp out at Palm Creek Folk Festival.   Was a fabulous weekend - so nice to get a taste of the Sun and friendly people of North Queensland.  Big thanks to Casper for collecting us from the airport and putting us up, and to John and Cath for their hospitality and food, and to all the volunteers and crew that made this wonderful festival such a success - and making us feel at home!

Just spent a couple days refurbishing Shirley! After years of talking about it we finally ripped out the old fridge and stove to make more room for band equipment and clothes, so we will have some more breathing space in our camper van! So when we need to pull over for a nap we don't have to play tetrus for half an hour just so we can put the bed out!! AND its amazing how much lighter she is - so hopefully this will save a little fuel too! Tomorrow we continue on the open road.... its 9 hours drive to Adelaide, then 17 hours to Sydney and another 12 hours down the beautiful east coast back to Melbourne...  We plan to take our time and not drive more than 4 hours a day and make some video blogs of our life on the road, writing songs by camp fire and so on as a potential practice run for a much bigger journey up the West coast of Australia next year!  I will put some photos up now! xoxox Todd

Hello friends!

We are so excited! On Wednesday night we hopped on a Melbourne tram and recorded a LIVE video for Moustache Man! This is the song that we wrote to help promote Movember – and we are so happy that it is already up on the world wide web to share with YOU!

Here is the youtube link: http://youtu.be/35ecPHIUel8

Please Please Please check it out and SHARE it with all of your friends, forward it, like it, comment on it, tweet it…whatever you do best! It is lots of fun and promo for a really great cause!!!!

And now we are hitting the road again! See below for upcoming shows!

Lots and Lots of Love to you…hope to see you at a show very soon!!

Todd and Sivan
The April Maze
http://youtu.be/35ecPHIUel8
www.theaprilmaze.com

THIS WEEKEND!!! : Nov 18 - 20 - Commonground Festival, VIC

Sat Nov 26 - S.A. Folk Centre, Adelaide, S.A.

Sat 3 December - The Shack - Narabeen, NSW

Sun 11 December - Yarra Glen Grand Hotel - VIC

Fri 6 January - Gulgong Folk Festival, NSW

Mar 2 -5 - Nannup Music Festival, WA

Hello ello!

Hope you’re well – just a quick update on what’s been happening in April Maze Town!

We had an amazing restful visit to the northern beaches of Cairns QLD, where we slapped on our hats and sunscreen and enjoyed the perfect sunny days by the beach as well as slipping in a couple special shows – Yungaburra Chapel and the Cairns Acoustic Dinner Cruise – thanks to those that made it along both were funtastic shows!

We dragged ourselves away from the Queensland beaches onto a plane and into our jackets and here we are back in good ol’ Victoria with some exciting news!
Our NEW MUSIC VIDEO! We’ve decided the time has come to share our home-made clay animation video for Crystal Ball with the world! We made this clip at Sivi’s parents place 20 months ago on an extremely hot summers day. It was so hot the plasticine characters kept melting and we had to continually put them in and out of the freezer. Friend and family that came by had a go at making their favourite sea creatures and then we got out our $100 point and shoot digital camera and took LOADS of photos, banged them all together and walla – Wallace and Grommet do 6 seconds a day – we did the whole 2mins 40 sec’s in a day that extended into a very late evening!

Watch it here on our Facebook page and help us spread the fun vibes by sharing it with all your friends (via the share button below the video)! For non Facebookers you can see it on The April Maze youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/aprilmaze

For those of you in Melbourne – we are playing a set as part of ISLAND AID (fundraiser for early victims of climate change )– this Sunday afternoon at the Wesley Anne – more details below in our gig listing.

Till next time – be good or be good at it!

Lotsa Love

Sivan (and Todd)
The April Maze

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 lloook out for a funky 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

We flew to Wellington via a 90 minute stopover in Auckland where we received a very surprising gift (Todd’s new Ibanez electric guitar called 'La Tiger' due to serendipitous events) from a friend we named the ‘Auckland Angel’ that helped us we met on our previous tour back in 2009. This story was told at most shows and still puts a smile on all our faces!


Then We flew into Wellington quite late with no plan of where we were staying and ended up stayed at Rowena's Lodge. Had our hair Cut by Pagma at Willis York Hair Studio in Wellington. Craig Smith spontaneously played a support slot at The Lounge in Carterton and gave us a ride in his wonky donkey mobile! After a couple hours sleep we got the early ferry the next morning to Picton. Played on the interislander ferry for a free ride!

Arriving at the ferry terminal we spent a few hours trying to find a dirt cheap hire vehicle, and in the end pushed all our band gear on a trolley to La Cafe. Played a wicked show, got on the micro-brew booze with Peter then stayed in his bach. Got the boat to Lochmarra the following morning played lunch, dinner and another lunch show there. Ate amazing meals and soaked our bones in a herbal bath to die for, patted the pigs, jammed by the fire and slept in the workers cottage at crumpy's camp! We got the boat back to Picton, picked up a hire car from Apex/Roadtripper and drove the 4 hours to Golden Bay and played the best Monday night of our lives to a packed house at The Mussel Inn. Stayed the night in a beautiful hand built log cabin and had more amazing food and brewed-in-house beers and ciders during an epic scrabble battle at The Mussell Inn followed by some running pong! Heard about the Earthquake in Christchurch but were yet to know the significance and depth of the disaster. We then made our way over to the Shambala Guest house on the beach to sleep and woke to a delightful swim in the sea. Jumped in our car and wound our way back over the mountains out of Golden Bay and towards Nelson for a last minute show at The Playhouse Cafe for and spent the night with some lovely Woofers/backpackers. Jumped back in the car and drove the beautiful windy road by the iridescent sea to the knock out vibe of Abel Tasman. Met some amazing groovy locals that offered to put us up for the night and hit the infamous Park Cafe to join the muso jam night to a packed house! Was a vibrant mix of local music lovers and backpackers that were hungry for beer and live music after their hikes and kayak trips in the remote wilderness. From Abel Tasman we took the breathtaking 12 hour drive
along the west coast to Queenstown, noting the pancake rocks and long white clouds we had been told to watch out for! We stayed a night at the base of the mountains in a gorgeous little tourist town called Franz Josef Glacier.

Back in the car we continued south to Queenstown via lunch in the lakeside town of Wanaka. Arrived to a bustling Queenstown to find out that venue did not now we were coming due to a change in management! To add to the crazy circumstance we discovered that almost all the backpacker hostels were booked out.. but we luckily got the last 3 affordable beds in town! Dux De Lux ended up opening their ears to our music and stories and we played a fun show to end the tour on. Unfortunately due to difficulty of getting our flights changed out of Christchurch we had to cancel our show in Dunedin which would have been tonight Mar 2nd. Also, the venues we were scheduled to play: Wunderbar (Lyttleton) and Al's Bar (Christchurch); remain damaged and unopened and the entire CBD is still closed, so it goes without saying that these shows were cancelled. All our love and strength to the people of Canterbury and NZ during this difficult and heart breaking time. We are positive that the People of New Zealand will have the resilience to bounce back and rebuild their city to its former beauty and look forward to returning when next we tour NZ. Our tour was constantly highlighted by the generosity and helpfulness of the New Zealanders and we hold a very special place in our hearts for your beautiful country. Thanks so much to everyone that helped us on our NZ adventure! Till next time. Todd and Sivan, The April Maze xoxoox

Yeahhh! What a month of shows. Our Tuesday Movember residency at the Espy front bar with Collage arts has been phenomonal! Its places like the Espy that earn Melbourne its name as the original music epicentre of the Southern Hemishphere, with over 100 music lovers coming out week after week and getting into it on a TUESDAY!. Huge thanks to our supporters that came each week and had a good ol boogie on the dance floor. We really enjoyed playing the Burrinjah Folk Club and Grind n Groove too! So many great moustaches and so much enthusiasm for Movember, all the donations and Mo-Merch purchases were much appreciated - we raised over $400 for Mens health via Movember Australia! See the Movember album for a bunch of fun photos! I'm over the moon to have Saved my Moustache, we had so much fun i think we'll do it all again next year! Now we're off to Folk Rythm and Life Festival, then back to Melbourne for a show at Northcote Social Club next Wed 8th of December, before making our way back up the coast for a Woodford New Year before setting off on a 11 week tour with the fabulous Faye Blais (Canada), taking in the east coast of Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand!!!!  See you out there! Big love Todd (& Sivi) xxo

Wow! what an amazing month of touring! We picked up a couple of beautiful backpackers (Nina and Peter) and made the 5 hour journey from Cairns to Cooktown. Cooktown is a good 30 mins north of the turn off for Wallaby Creek, but being semi local I got in my tour guide mode and absolutely insisted on taking Sivi and our new friends to this historic part of Australia, and specifically to the Grassy hill lookout (which I have fond child hood memories of). As luck would have it on our way up the hill we were stopped by a council worker who says "the roads closed, it will re-ope next tues-dee". “First time its been closed in 30 years!”! Noooo! Oh well so defeated we ate our corn chips and salsa right there on the side of the road.
Rolling into Wallaby Creek was a hoot in the kombi as it is a 4WD rated road and Shirley did well to conquer the corrugated dirt road and dodge the pot holes. We arrived on sunset and received a classic hippy solute from Kombi lovers and found a prime camp nice and close to the stages and amenities! What a beautiful location for a festival. Camp Rule is set in a field surrounded by pristine rainforest bordered by the crystal clear flowing water of Wallaby Creek. Great music, friendly faces, yummy camp cook ups, late night jams at the chalkboard stage and the swing at the swimming hole were just some of the highlights of the long weekend. This is a festival not to be missed for Far North Queenslanders!

The drive back down the coast from Wallaby Creek to Kangaroo Valley is 3050km’s and google maps estimates it to be a 1 day and 16 hour drive if you take the coast road.. So in Shirley it’s a little longer again. Luckily we had a few weeks and we took our time and played just a few shows to break the journey which included gigs at Coolum, Macleay Island (Moreton Bay), and Port Macquarie. The long drives gave us plenty of time to reflect and I found myself writing a couple of songs. We camped free where possible thanks to the Australian Camping guide (highly recommended if your camping round Aus www.campsaustraliawide.com) and made the most of local products and cooked up yummy pasta’s and curries on our camp stove.

Luckily the weather was mostly good, but we had some shitty days and nights with rain when we were wishing we had a bigger van to be living in! Don’t tell Shirley but man are there some amazing Winnebago style campers on the roads! One day… ha ha.

The changes in conditions, humidity, and the bouncy roads had taken there toll on Sivi’s Cello and after a month of Sivi doing her best to get a decent sound from her slowly dieing instrument something had to be done! We managed to find a lovely and talented Luthier in Sydney (Vince at Vivaldi’s - 34 Beecroft Rd, Epping (02) 9868 6711) who breathed life into the Cello! Some re-glueing, and bridge shaping and a set of new Larson strings and the Cello is a whole new beast again!!! YES!!! And just in time for the Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival!

Kangaroo Valley is to die for. The weather was perfect on the Friday and after crossing over the most gorgeous old bridge (Hampton Bridge) we have encountered in Australia we rolled into a very sweet English style cottage village built set right in a ridiculously beautiful lush valley! And there at the town Hall is the Festival! A true folk festival, the weekend was a sublime treat of seasoned performers sharing their storeys, songs, dance and poetry in a very relaxed and open atmosphere. We were honoured to open the festival after a heartfelt opening from Russell Hannah. We played to a full house in the Friendly Inn on the Sunday and had Mal Webb Jam his Big Trombone on ‘I Love This Life’! What a blast and such a great way to end our festival performance on!! We went back for a delicious pub meal and ended up being the last to leave after a good ol’ jam. We had such a great time that we may just be back in Kangaroo Valley to play the Friendly Inn again soon! Watch this space!

Todd (& Sivi) xox

Last night was so much fun! – We had a huge night in the rainforest! Loads of crew rolled up for this show at the Cairns Bungy Tower Bar. We had an awesome night playing songs from the newly released Album ‘Recycled Soul’, and were surprised and elated to hear so many of you singing along! Big thanks to everyone involved! We went back into AJ Hackett, Cairns, this morning to pick up some stuff, and they convinced me and Todd to have a go on the Minjin Swing! (the fastest jungle swing in the world!) was such an awesome rush!! Woo hooo we are thinking about going back to do a bunjy :) xoxoox

Woke up in a quaint little town called Old Bar, still exhausted after long nights sleep at the very relaxing Namaste Guest House (previously Badgers Beach House), thanks Stu! – we’ll be back!. The rain is coming down quite hard, so we lay in as long as possible cuddling our shared hot water bottle (I popped Sivi’s when I accidentally stepped on it the night before last!). We have a big day ahead of us. A five hour drive to Yamba, where we have a house concert style show booked. We arrived early to check into our room that was kindly donated by Calypso Caravan Park! Sivan is over the moon to find it’s a gorgeous apartment with a beautiful view, a self contained kitchen and an ensuite!!! Wow!

OMG!! The old kirk concert in Yamba was off hook! What a fantastic night of live entertainment! The old kirk hall is a tiny old church hall that sold out at 50 music appreciators, all timber floors and walls we decide to go fully acoustic apart from the stomp box and a tiny bit of guitar through the Amp so that it can keep up with the monster sound of Sivan’s Cello! Sound check done in a jiffy! Time to chill back with a bowl of Marco's traditional italian meat balls and enjoy the wonderful entertainment that is Dom and Friends.

Dom started the night solo with some beautiful gypsy inspired instrumental pieces, as he said, just one man, one guitar and some devil pedals… he is a master of loops and his music was the perfect way to set the scene for the night. He then invited Peter to play Tabla, and Rose on Flute and together the 3 of them wove a magical web of music that took me to that special place.

Next came the local a Capella group ‘Synchronicity’, run by Kath and featuring the voices of Liz, Gazza, Jane, and Dom. Their gospel songs had the entire room beaming, we couldn’t wipe the smile from our faces the whole way through – happy vibes all round, singing from the soul is what its all about!

After some more charismatic MC’ing from Dom The April Maze take the stage and we opened with the album opener – Will I Ever, and continued to roll out songs in from the new album ‘Recycled Soul’. With a lounge room vibe in the room Sivan and I found ourselves introducing every song, and my body was buzzing through the majority of the set that followed. We ended with Crocodiles and I love This Life to a standing ovation and got that feeling of elation, the audience beckoned us to play another so Sivi chose to settle the audience down on this Wednesday night and we played our version of Dave Rawlings song – Ruby. Turned out to be the perfect end to an incredible evening! Most of the audience left with a copy of the album and have made us promise to return when we come through again on our summer tour with Canadian artist – Faye Blais! See ya again soon Yamba!!!!!

Big love, Todd (and Sivi)