Hey world,

I want to be in the Hottest 100 this year. I am tired. I am old. I am sick. If you vote for us, you can have a bit of Dave’s kidney. It will be called Filthy Jack and live in an old Jameson bottle filled with green Listerine.

Does that sound good?

I thought so!!!

HOTTEST 100!!!!!!!!!!

YYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we have come to the end of our mini run of awards ceremonies. And yes we left with no pointy pyramids or glass blocks but we left with everyone’s hearts and as much cutlery as we considered equivalent to the value of the ticket price of attending said shows.

Highlights included:

* Playing in grandiose paper aeroplane costumes made by the incredible Robyn Wilson at View of Courage.

* The Penthouse party in the Philly Jays hotel room - yes! Since finishing their tour with us they now only stay in penthouse suites. It happens to every band that tours with us so line up to support us for 2010’s outing.

* Seeing some rad people take home awards: Sasrah Blasko, The Pykinator, The Steele and many other deserving folks.

* Alex telling Molly Meldrum not to keep it real. Bit of a confusing moment.

* Dave throwing a handful of dirt in his eyes for no apparent reason and ending up with a surprisingly strong allergic reaction and face swelling.

* My forty minute piano recital at the after party. Thought I tinkered a little too deep on the ritardando off that last work but all in all a fine performance. Thank you. Thank you.  No. Thank you!

So all in all good fun was had, heads were injured, Kieth Urban was shouted at and Alex chose the fish, Ned chose the beef along with me and Allan and Dave went for the salted cod.

Maybe when we release our next album (current working title: Blue Cheese), we’ll be considered again for the various nights of nights. Until then, thanks for voting, thanks for listening and see you at the beef and cheese stand at one of the many summer festivals we are playing.

Pankro.

Hey all

We are nominated for a couple of Smacs and it would be awesome if you voted for us here: http://smacawards.com/

We are in the categories of record of the year (for Zoundssssss), best Sydney song (the Price), neatest foot imprint at a local sydney beach (Ned at Bronte 21/10/09) and biggest wheel.

Danke.

If life in Dappled were to be represented right now it would surely look like this: All five of us, standing aboard the good ship Dappled, jetting streams of coloured success onto the river of life. Despite the Sydney music scene looking as healthy as the back end of the bain-marie at Eddies’ 24hr convenience, life is pretty good.

Next on the list of good things after ARIA nominations (and other award noms that I’m not sure if I’m allowed to mention yet (Emmy???)) is Laneways. Looks like we’re doing it. SICK! It’s probably the best line up I’ve ever seen for a Laneways and so come and along and cry.

In other news, check out Tired Hands. Beautiful singing and songs. http://www.myspace.com/24zzz

And I think we might change our name to Alfresco for the next album. We’ll hold a public poll closer to the time and see what you all think.

Kynd Ragards

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Hello everyone.

We were awoken yesterday with the exciting news that we are nominated for an ARIA in the category of “Best Independent Release” for Zounds. We were in a gallery of nominees with Keith Urban. We even had champagne at 10.30am yesterday. It felt weird. But good. But then weird again.

It is a great honour for us to be nominated for this award. We have put a long time into this band and, as hard as it is to believe, we still do it now because we love it. Yesterday I was a little underwhelmed by the whole affair but today I am feeling overjoyed. Not only for myself, for Tim, for Dave, for Ned, for Allan, and for Hugh but for everyone that has put time into this band. If we win, i’ll say “fantastic” and mack with the rest of Dappled.

As a Sydney band, the current situation in this city is freaking the shit out of me. The closing of the Hopetoun is heralding a new age in this city. The SMH reported today that the Annandale is a similar situation. This makes me incredibly sad. And worried. Dappled starting playing in the city in 2003. Our first gig was at the Excelsior in Surry Hills. If I remember rightly, it wasn’t too bad. My boss from Turramurra Pizza Hut came. He said it was ok. Whenever we had a show we used to get so excited. Our first show at the Hopetoun was over 6 years ago now. But I still remember the buzz and the thrill of hitting the city and playing our first inner city venue.

How does this fit in?

We wouldn’t be playing today if we hadn’t played small venues for years. It gave us the ability to get our sound worked out and get the confidence we needed to move to the next stage. We wouldn’t be nominated for an ARIA, we wouldn’t have made Zounds, we wouldn’t have played overseas and we certainly wouldn’t have the drive to continue to make records. There is a definite path that bands need to follow. You start jamming, then you play gigs and, as you move along, you start playing bigger rooms. The thought of living in a city without the Hopetoun and the Annandale frightens me. The pressure is placed on other smaller venues (of which there are barely any) to allow all of the up and comers to play. In a city ruled by awful shiny “modern” pubs, how long will these venues be able to last? And then what are the options? To get 400 people into Oxford Arts or the Factory Theatre is impossible for a band that has been around for a year.

I also fear for the warehouse venues that are opening (the CAD Factory in Marrickville for example) that will, no doubt, be targeted by council, licensing police and the police in general as more people begin to attend due to a lack of pub venues in this city. I worry that the whole closure spiral would begin all over again and then what? Who knows?

I think Sydney has (and will have) a vast array of super incredible bands. It is so important that this scene is continued. I wish I knew how. But fuck I hope something is done soon….

Sydney. I love you. But you’re bringing me down.

Hello all.

This is just a quick note to let everyone know, if you don’t know already, that Sydney’s Hopetoun Hotel has shut. There have been a number of council issues recently and management decided it would be better to close now rather than lose everything through council closure.

Even though this is totally bullshit and absolutely devestating for a music scene already struggling to provide alternatives for bands, it is important to remember that this option has been taken to ensure that the pub survives. For me, the worst thing would be the pub losing their entertainment license and selling to Meriton, keeping the facade and building another 40 apartments that look no better than something you’d find in your toilet after 400 beers, 80 kebabs and 55 cheeseburgers.

I have a million and one awesome memories of that place. And hopefully some of you do to. Sorry to anyone I ever abused. And thanks to anyone who ever was part of the pub.

Here’s our form letter to the Council requesting their support. Everyone should sign it.

www.dappledcities.com/savethehopetoun

Sad days! For the pub, for the community and for anyone who thinks culture is a valuable part of society.

ps. This is my view of it all (Alex) not Dappleds. But I think they’d all agree with me anyway.

Any guesses as to what this is?

If you said Beyonce, dressed in a dramatically oversized wedding outfit that required four stage hands to fit it from four different angles before she launched into another beautiful ballad at Sydney’s Acer Arena last night then you’d be right!

If you said puffy smegma in a sink, I’d forgive you but you are wrong.

I pretty much had the NIGHT OF MY LIFE last night. I haven’t had this much fun since I single handedly ripped out the rear seats of an abandoned Ford just off the M4 a couple of weeks ago.

To sum:

* Oh my fucking god she was good! I’ve never really been a fan but I can honestly say it was the best gig I’ve ever been to in my life - beating out Bjork, blur, grizzly bear and the Wondermints.

* It made me feel that a life of glitz and glammer, moustachioed, stomach-ripped men in vests that cover pretty much only their shoulders and spandex clad backing dancers is a life I could take part in. I want to play gigs where I walk down mechanically shifting stairs; where I fly over the crowd in a gold lame outfit and land with grace on an extendi-stage; where I sing a cover of Alanis Morisset’s “Oughtta Know” and end a show being lowered into a hole in the stage that is actually meant to be there unlike the hole that’s in the stage at most places we play at.

* Even when we started singing sop christian ballads in the first third I was transfixed. And her all female band was incredible! I even screamed at the slap bass solo!

* And to seal the deal, she brought out a seriously ill young child from the crowd at the end and sang her Halo and pretty much everyone  of the 20 000 strong crowd was crying their eyes out.

Enough said but just had to share that with you. Quote of the night (althought it was only relayed to me) comes from Flo-Rida: “this next track is from my self-titled new album, Roots.” um….

In the style of Alex Moore here are some more creepy photos. And in the words of Beyonce’s oddly communicative video show: “I AM … YOURS”

p.s. the title of this blog is somewhat taken from an excellent dance work by an excellent Sydney group call Post. Check them out when they next do a show.

Hello again,

On Tuesday the 29th we are playing at the Metro theatre for the opening of the new Virgin Mobile members lounge. You can get to it by clicking HERE!!!!

The Virgin Members lounge gives you access to a whole bunch of great stuff. And the cherry on top is that you get to see us bang out a 35 minute set at the Metro which will include our new single “The Night is Young at Heart” and other hits such a “All the single Ladies”, “Dimension”, “Roots Bloody Roots” and about 9 songs from Pink’s Welcome to the Funhouse record for FREE!!!!!!!!! We will, of course, not be playing any of those. Except our song. And some of our other songs.

So please come down. Join us!!!!

Dappled.

Hello Internet.

Thanks to everyone who come out to see us on the “Wall of Zounds” tour. Apart from the Metro show being the best show we’ve ever played, every gig was absolutely awesome. Even Kanye agrees! And we know how hard he is to please….

Thanks Kanye, and yes, I think 2 thumbs up is a very fair way to sumarise the tour.

I could sit here all day and write about how great it was. But i’d get bored. And you would too. Unless you were locked in a room for 4 hours and all you had was this blog. In that case, you would want me to write an EPIC blog so you would be able to read something to pass the 4 hours. But I am assuming that most of you aren’t locked in a room for 4 hours with only the Dappled blog to keep you company…..

A moment from each gig? Sure, why not…

Frankston: We left a quad box there. Highlight for us. Not for you.

Ballarat: I think I left about 45 IQ points there. This is me.

Melbourne: Best show we’ve ever played there. Thank you. Did you like the fans? Me too.

Hobart: Ecstacy. Pure unbridled ecstacy. I think it’s in the water.

Newcastle: I met a lovely tall blond guy who loved the Dappled Cities. Very nice.

Canberra: Some dude drank our Jamesons. Thanks for that…. If you see him, let me know.

Sydney: You know what happened! Come on! Fun? Come on!

Byron Bay: Great pasta. Chicken and rocquet. YUM!

Toowoomba: My bed smelt weird. And Ned was in it.

Brisbane: Sorry about the visuals.

Adelaide: Hey, you rule! What a show!!!

Perth: Again, you rule! So much better than when we played to 30 people for the Granddance release!!!

Fremantle: Sweaty and smelly. Just the way we like it!!!!

See you next time!!!!!

Hi team. A little while ago Ned, Tim and I pulled together a little lo-fi set of 3 Dappled pearlers for MTV. I think we scrubbed up quite well, and this little session actually inspired us to undergo a more extensive project that we’ll be launching later this year.  Anyways, these videos have just gone live, and well, here they are.  I think they’re pretty rad.

Wooden Ships:

Answer Is Zero:

The Price:

Or head here to see it in the flesh and send to friends and blah blah blah…  Enjoy!