November 4th, 2010
An almost capacity crowd of 11 000 fans packed into the Rod Laver Arena to see the Crustys tear Victoria a new one. All the riders were on fire after a monster practice session, the whip competition blew more minds than just mine and a crash free night was keeping everyone in high spirits.
The half time break came to a close, Barbie Q and myself strode out into the arena to rousing applause and knocked ‘em dead with a masterful rendition of “Jug jug, bucket O squid”, with me almost losing the mohawk due to Barbie’s over enthusiasm with her flame canon.
The crowd stood in silence as Jacko Strong warmed up for the front flip, three passovers came and went before he decided to go for it, in the end he came up a bit short, landing on his back wheel and being bucked off in true Crusty style. Jacko wasn’t too badly injured, came to his feet slowly, removed his helmet and received the crowd’s jubilation.
November 4th, 2010
Tension was high at The Entertainment Centre as popular fmx star Mike Mason crashed in practice ruining his ankle and sporting a massive purple and yellow bruise the length of his thigh.
The other riders seemed shaken by the crash and all were tentative when the show started. To everyone’s surprise superstar Seth Enslow even took a tumble and had to be stretchered off to hospital.
The Badpiper and Barbie Q came out after half time to a standing ovation and blasted their way through another killer performance.
With the Superstar in hospital and Mason on ice the riders were very tense for the second half but young gun Jackson Strong put everyone through the roof when he nailed the front flip in absolute breathtaking style.
The after party was held at the Austral pub and to my surprise, when we arrived there Seth had checked himself out of hospital and was one of the first at the bar for a well earned bevvy, what an absolute champion. The next day we all headed to Melbourne for show number 3!
Check out the highlights from the Adelaide show here!
November 4th, 2010
The Crusty Demons opened their Australian account with a bang at the Burswood Superdome on the 16th of October with an almost capacity crowd of 12 000 people. The crowd went mental for all the back flips, whips, crossovers and trains.
The Badpiper and his new sidekick, Barbie Q set the crowd ablaze after the halftime break with all the locals screaming for their local hero, escorted from the arena in Bubbas famous four wheeler to a rousing applause to assume the position at the Woodstock Crusty bar for the rest of the show.
The finale saw 18 year old Jackson Strong attempt his first front flip on WA soil and would have landed it if it wasn’t for the thickness of the crash mats laid out for him. The night ended with an explosive fire works filled finale and the Crusty gang headed to “The Shed” for the Perth after party, be sure to check out the highlight reel for all the Perthy action.
October 19th, 2010
Here’s the highlight reel from the first Crusty show Downunder, freakin sweet!!
Check it out here!
We promise that you will be seeing more of The Badpiper and Barbie Q as the tour continues…
Make sure you come back to check what else they set on fire during the Australian tour with the Crusties.
October 19th, 2010
On the 15th of July the amazing Ashlee and I were afforded the opportunity to travel North to Derby in the Kimberley region of Western Australia to attend the annual Boab festival and I must say it was a truly magical experience.
Having never traveled further north than Kalbarri, it was an opportunity for me to see some parts of Australian culture that I’ve not been exposed to. We visited an Aboriginal community and saw the latest offerings of art and culture whilst having my flaming red mohawk attacked by about twenty local kids; the culture shock was mutual on that day.
On the Friday night I got to meet Kimberley legend, Colin Pigram and he was nice enough to lend me his PA to play at the local pub. Meeting Colin was an absolute eye opener, local music legend and public icon, and local produce legend as on the second night in town I was treated to my first ever feed of chilli mud crabs prepared by Colin’s daughter Kristie, it was a messy yet memorable meal.
I was awoken on the Sunday morning with the news that we had been given permission to go to the local air force base which had been turned into a detention centre for 150 Afghan men, the women and children had been housed somewhere else. Upon arrival we had to sign in, the women in our group were given rape alarms in case something went wrong and we were instructed to be nice to the ‘Clients’. Yes folks, they were once illegals, who graduated to refugees and are now given the title of ‘Clients’.
I found the shade of a nice big tree, it was 34 degrees after all and a massive group of men surrounded me with nothing but looks and a few smiles, the occasional ‘Hallo’ and ‘Welcome’ was also heard. I played a few tunes to the guys and after about ten minutes a little guy came up to me and motioned something like,“My friend can play this instrument?” not wanting to offend I offered him my pipes thinking this may be the ice-breaker we all need. This man was huge and wearing a powder blue tracksuit like some young London speed dealer, who could say no? To my surprise he popped my pipes on his shoulder, started them up and proceeded to march up and down the compound playing almost flawless Scottish regimental tunes.
We asked his little mate where he learned to play and the answer was in Pakistan during British occupation, so I immediately assumed he had some military training in the middle east, who am I to judge. It was a hard moment saying goodbye to these men, as I honestly didn’t know how I felt, I’m not a big fan of people smuggling etc, but I’m sure if my country sucked that hard I’d want to get out too! So it was farewell to the clients and back to town for the evening.
The highlight of the trip was the Multicultural evening on the Sunday where I’m pretty sure every single person in a 200km radius turned up and it surely was Multicultural, there were Balinese women, Filipino women, Islanders, Kiwis, Aboriginals and Euros all crammed into the sportsman’s club. It was inspiring for me as it was the first time I’d ever been involved in a party where white and black Australians ate, drank and danced together, I wish there was more of this in our southern communities.
Before leaving Derby we were presented with a carved Boab nut which had an Aboriginal elder emblazoned on one side and turtles on the other which was especially magical as the turtle is my chosen spirit animal.
Leaving Derby was a sad event as it was 33 degrees when we flew out and about 8 when we arrived back in Perth. I can say we will return to Derby one day and hopefully next time get to see the local mud football and crab racing events, the pinnacle of Northern Desert culture!
June 8th, 2010
The Badpiper AGT Semi Finals Video – THUNDERSTRUCK!
Watch the Badpiper as he takes you back with some good, hardcore, cranking, Australian pub rock… using a Scottish instrument.
AC/DC’s Thunderstruck as you have never seen it before. Rock on Australia!
June 8th, 2010
AGT Audition Video YouTube
Watch The Badpiper as he wows the judges and crowd in the Perth audition of Australia’s Got Talent.
June 8th, 2010
May 7th, 2010
On the 31st of March 2010, at 9 am in the morning I waltzed into the Perth Convention Centre fully Kilted, to do what I never thought I would do, sign up for Australia’s Got Talent.
Upon arrival I was given a clipboard and asked to fill out some forms, several minutes later I was ushered into a room with maybe 200 very nervous looking people who had come to audition. The young, the old, the talented, the not so talented, everyone had come for their one shot at $250 000.00, a chance at national exposure and hopefully a chance at fame.
Having performed for over 15 years in roughly 20 different countries I thought I was immune to nerves and anxiety. Then came the cameras, a whole different story. I knew I was panicking on the inside and my inner voice was maniacally screaming at me, “Calm down man, you can do this!!” I came to the conclusion that this is what TV is all about, they don’t want to film nervous people having a panic attacks so I put on my game face and got set for hours and hours of interviews and questions.
By about three in the afternoon I was ushered into the backstage area and was told I was going on soon, my mouth dried up and I wanted to go pee every two minutes, I knew it was crunch time, on the other side of that curtain was a live audience, a bunch of cameras and right in the middle sat Dannii, Brian and the dreaded Kyle.
After a brief interview in the wings with Grant Denyer I was sent out onto the stage to face whatever response was waiting for me, the rest, as they say is history!