DELAYED REACTION: Blogs

OK trendsetters, what happened in the last 12 months?? New faces, new places, and some old favorites...

Eaton Tavern and the Crown in Collie were the venues we haunted the most this year. Some big nights were had – t-shirts were given away for wardrobe malfunctions, ladies swapped lingerie for band hats & beanies, bar taking records were set, booties were shaken, hook-ups led to......, and the after-parties were always good! We also sneaked a couple of shows in at the Burly – and surprised the bar staff with the crowd at the start of the night! (Hey Kellie, DR fans start early so they can drink all night!!)

March saw us heading down to Manjimup to play at the Ag show down there (Mr Horse had his own entrance gate). The night was looking good with the crowd building to the 2000 mark for the fireworks & us cranking straight after... until the power pole feeding electricity to the showgrounds caught fire!! The fireworks came & went during the 2 hour wait for Western Power, the lights came up & we played to a rabid crowd of about 50!! Just wait 'til next year.....

Manji got the full DR force after the 15000 again, no dog squad this year.... and our last show down south for the year got a write-up in Audio Technology magazine (Cheers Graeme – when he said he’d make us famous he meant it!! now go buy his books!)... this years run to Boddington was later than usual, and made memorable by Amy and Cindy for their run back from their xmas party in Northbridge to catch the last set!! We also managed to squeeze Relay for Life in between two other gigs for a full-on weekend, and we couldn’t start the Camp Quality fundraiser until Dion’s family bought everything at the auction!!

Birthday parties galore this year - 21st's, 40th's, Hayley's (just coz it deserves it's own mention), an 11^th and a 90th!!! (actually a combined 40th / 50th)... christmas parties for Verve Energy, Bunbury Polercise (thanks Dr Dion the amateur gynocologist for "just having a quick look at it" for the ladies), and we woke up the Public Works Engineers (& most of Abbey Beach Resort – oops!!).

Some changes in the lineup this year. Pete and Gary retired after a monster send-off show - hope you're enjoying your free weekends gentlemen. Wozza came in & had a go at vocals / guitar, but decided DR wasnt what he wanted to be doing (he writes a good song - we may slip a Wozza original or 2 into the set sometime in the future). We picked up Luke and his collection of sunglasses & hats to fill the bass-player position. With Wozza gone & a gig a week away Dallas stepped up to the mic & a reasonable 3-piece show followed!! Vocalist problem solved, we grabbed Slammin' Sam from the Stratz off his surfboard & put him on lead guitar - he hit the ground running & the word "Samnotized" was invented to describe his effect on the young girls in the crowd. The only spot to stay the same in 2010 was the drumstool, with Dion sounding better than ever bashing the skins. New heads, new songs – some we stole the ideas for (thanks Dave Gleason!!), some we’ve always wanted to do!!

As usual there were our fair share of clowns, dickheads & other memorable  punters out and about... No thanks whatsoever go to: the waitstaff who turned the houselights back on during an encore (venue shall remain nameless but not shameless), the staff member at another venue who insisted we “turn down the frequency at the back”, the gentleman who stole Dion’s jacket during load-in at a certain local venue – then re-appeared later in the night wearing it, or another gentlemen who (after we had ripped thru 3 CCR tunes in a row) insisted we were shit because we didn’t know their most obscure B-side.

Still, for every Darwin Award nominee, there’s a ton of people who make it worthwhile for us: the ladies who show their appreciation with their areola, the barstaff who keep the drinks coming, the ladies who show their appreciation with their areola, the venue managers who look after us awesomely, the ladies who show their appreciation with their areola, the usual suspects who show up to shows & dance the night away, the guy who paid us $50 to play Sweet Home Alabama for a second time, and let’s not forget the ladies who show their appreciation with their areola!!

Delayed Reaction merch was everywhere this year – there were signs on Eaton Drive, posters were everywhere, t-shirts were worn to AC/DC, Screaming Jets, Status Quo, Metallica, Powderfinger, and Muse gigs... (great for getting served at the merch tent or bar!!) and bumper stickers graced everything from 1-speed Navaras to ample & not-so-ample breasts to a bar in Phuket (we’ve got photographic proof!!) Speaking of proof, DR are now Bunbury’s best rock band – it says so on the internet (click on www.bunburysbestrockband.com to find out).

As always the band would like to thank the significant others: Shea, Marie, Del, Trish, Liz, Jade, Joanne.... we got thru a few of them this year!! Special thanks to Ron & Deb for having our warm-up show at their place - & giving us a reason to get our act together. Special thanks to Tara & Katherine in Collie for always going one step more. More special thanks to Ron Skinner – still the No. 1 fan (who else would sit thru rehearsal after rehearsal while we get it right, then cook snaggas??) And finally thank you thank you thank you to Hayley, Michelle and Krystle for always being there (& taking photos – our facebook page & website would be pretty bare without you) – Manji, Collie, doesn’t matter where, they’re there with their dancing shoes on!!

 Finally thanks to all the DR fans, rabid or casual out there - it’s for you we keep it rocking!! See you same time next year!!!!