The first leg of the Slut Power Tour got off to the perfect start. No sooner were we aboard the plane that a flight attendant informed Keven 007 her t-shirt was offensive and she needed to cover it up. The word ‘slut’ is apparently very offensive and the crew member told Keven that the airline does not endorse such a message and cannot possibly be seen to. We should look it up in the dictionary and find out what it means - it’s nothing good. There were children and parents on the plane and under no circumstances was her Slut Power t-shirt to be visible. (NB. Virgins are fine, obvs).
We visited Jean at 8CCC for a guest spot on her show ‘The Punk Tree’. She was keen to discuss our song Spit Hood and many of the unresolved issues surrounding the over-representation of Aboriginal youth in detention, how that over-representation is particularly high in the Northern Territory and how the communities in Alice Springs were affected by the 4 Corners documentary. We talked a lot about allyship and advocacy around detained youth and the ongoing fight for justice - very few of the Royal Commission recommendations have been implemented and the fight is ongoing. Jean gave us a zine called ‘How to lock kids up better’ - a critique of the lack of action on Aboriginal youth in detention. We also chatted a lot about International Women’s Day, why we chose to start the Slut Power tour in the NT and we spun Pretty Like Drugs by Queen Adreena as Katie-Jane Garside is one of our heroines and a total legend.
After a few art gallery visits (including meeting the lovely Rick at Yubu Napa gallery, who blasted The Policy out of the speakers as we looked at the artworks and studio) we dropped in to the awesome House of Talullah [HOT] and met Ange and Efa. It soon transpired that they were coming to the show and challenged us to an arm wrestling contest: if we won, we got all their bakery treats and tea for free. If they won, they got free Slut Power t-shirts. This is how things are done in Alice Springs. It was Ange Vs Glitoris (with Jesus refereeing). We all lost because we were all piss weak compared to Ange, who is ripped and fierce as fuck. Efa gleefully picked up her t-shirt at the show later that night.
We met these awesome artists, Bianca and Evangeline Forrester, in central Alice Springs and got chatting about their stunning paintings and life in Arrernte Country. After a visit to the art store, the whole afternoon was spent listening to stories and discussing women’s business as Bianca painted ‘Glitoris HQ’ on the back of our boiler suits. The paintings are there to remind us of our time in central Australia, our meeting and discussion with Bianca and Evangeline and the solidarity and unity of Glitoris. The painting (as pictured on Keven 007’s boiler suit), depicts the four women in Glitoris (the U-shapes), the stage (the centre circle) and our instruments and the preparations and discussions surrounding our shows. The colours are metallic (because glitter) and red/yellow on black to indicate Arrernte land. Meeting Bianca and Evangeline and listening to their stories and experiences was the highlight of our trip.
This venue is awesome - it’s on a rooftop with a large corner stage. Thanks to our engineer Tim, our soundcheck was great and we ripped through Warriors and The Policy to get us in the mood. Thanks to CAAMA for lending us some backline. Then it was time for vegan nachos before warming up for the first night of the tour! It was a free show tonight and the venue filled up rapidly! A couple of G&T’s later and we were ready to slam the show. The Alice Springs crowd were wild and quickly drummed up a hectic mosh pit. Andrew introduced Spit Hood with some of the facts from the zine Jean gave us. The crowd went wild, a circle pit ensued and we played the fastest, frantic, most furious version of the song we could - it was clearly what the crowd had been waiting for!
Saturday day was spent loading gear, saying our goodbyes in Alice Springs and travelling to Darwin. We arrived to sound check around 4pm. When we got on the bus from Darwin airport, the driver said he’d heard us on ABC Darwin a few days before and told everyone on the bus to get their asses down to the show, We hung out with local bands The Ovulators and The Epi(c)Phannies during sound check (thanks Dan for lending your amaze Marshall amp and to The Ovulators for lending their gorgeous Gretch kit for the night!). After sound check it was back to our hotel for a swim, sleep and vocal warm-up before we broke out the glitter and boiler suits again. Once we got back to the venue, it was packed out and we caught up with a few friends and family who’d come to the show. Line check seemed to come around crazy quick and before we knew it, we were smashing out the set and the crowd went wild! Scott and Malcolm initiated a whole-venue arm waving when we played Theme From Glitoris. What a show! The following day when we picked up our gear from the airport to head back to Canberra, the venue managers told us we’d SOLD OUT the show. What a way to end the first leg of the Slut Power tour - a truly unforgettable trip.
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Check out theGuide for a look at all of Glitoris' Australian tour dates.
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