Fast forward 24 hours and London Heathrow at 7.30am hits us in the face. Holy shit! Bags collected and off we go to find our sound engineer Paulie Tipping who has flown in from Melbourne to join the tour. Paulie’s one of the best in the business, a seasoned touring engineer, rad dude, epic bass player and we’re amped he’s here.

“Bands for Vans” met us at the airport and handed over the keys to our splitter Van. Mick lived in London for a few years, so he’s designated driver for the trip and the first stop of the day is to the Ace Bros Headquarters, a backline and production company owned by two of Mick’s best mates – Charlie and Aleks. They’ve offered up their warehouse for us to stay in and rehearse for the next few days, seriously two great blokes who would give you the shirt off their back.

So whilst most people spend their first day in London checking out Big Ben and having tea with the Queen, we spent seven hours crawling through absolutely insane mass traffic to various locations picking up and the amps and drums we’d bought on English Gumtree before we left Oz. A bit of a risk buying this way, but it all turned out sweet.

We headed back to the warehouse after a ripper feed from the local fish and chip shop and unpacked our new banners and drum skin that had arrived today. They look awesome and will definitely add a better visual element to our set.

Beers, bed, night!

thursday, 10 sept

As a prelude to the Ugly Kid Joe Tour, we’ve hooked up three shows with a band who hail from San Francisco in the US called T Clemente and so we spend the morning getting things sorted for tonight’s show at 12 Bar Club in London.

Weather’s been surprisingly good, nice and sunny, so time to play and chill out. Got to check out Wembley Stadium too; – what an amazing piece of architecture.

First show of the tour is done and dusted! The 12 Bar Club is a really cool old school type rock bar that has a lot of character. T Clemente were great and it was cool to get a gig under our belts to blow off the jetlag and warm up before the Ugly Kid Joe Tour starts on Monday. Word keeps coming in that each of the UKJ shows are either sold-out or close to it, we’re pumped, gonna be epic.

friday, 11 sept

Tonight’s show was in Barnstaple, North Devon, a three-hour drive out of London. So much scenery and then more scenery, and yep, more scenery.

We spent the drive with the volume cranked high listing to an advanced copy of the new Ugly Kid Joe record Uglier Than They Use Ta Be sent to us from Whit Crane himself, super cool. Sounding shit hot!

Good show tonight at cool little venue called the Golden Lion Tap, and another good chance for us to iron out the set - it’s coming together nicely.

saturday, 12 sept

Today we headed further north to Ilfracombe a cool little seaside town and spent the day doing a bit of sightseeing.

The views in this place are amazing. We climbed to the top of Capstone Hill, definitely gave the legs a work out getting up to the top but it was worth it to see the beautiful hills and the city.

Was a really fun show at the Chill Bar in the city centre. Definitely the best of the three warm up shows we have done, cool crowd turned out for the gig and seemed to really get into our brand of hard rock.

We farewelled our new buddies from the T Clemente band, really nice people, In fact nearly everyone we have met so far has been super friendly and helpful including the young locals who invited us to a party they were having after the gig. We stopped in for a drink with them, cause that’s the Aussie thing to do.

A big cheers to Ray and Jackie who not only promoted the two North Devon shows, but were also very generous in letting us stay in their second home for a few nights. Four nights in and no park benches required!

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Time Of The Mouth

We have had an amazing tour, and want to thank Ray and Jackie at FIRST STEP MANAGEMENT for their hard work and organisation. Jay at Shredder Live Lounge for his support and help with equipment, all of the venues, other bands, sound engineers and bar staff for looking after us...but mostly...thank you to everyone who came to the gigs...we love you all

Hi Ray, Just wanted to thank you properly for our tour last week. The lads really enjoyed themselves and have some great memories from all of the venues. Thank you to Jackie too for looking after us on Saturday night, although we didn't end up stopping over....as the lads didn't finish hanging out with some of the locals until 4am, we decided to head back home straight away. A big thank you also to Lawrence and Isobel for making the final night of the tour so memorable.... The boys ended up playing a mixed set with more covers than originals, but went down a storm, and made many friends both with the locals, and with a few holiday makers who were in The Chill Bar that night.... Lawrence is fantastic, the boys can't wait to go back down and play there again....they loved the lunacy, and the friendliness of the place..... All in all a fantastic week, so thank you once again.. Steve, Chris,Jake and Ash

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Wow, back home from Synergy Protocol's first tour abroad! UK, it was... intense. The driving, meeting people, their unrestricted enthousiasm and extremely warm support, the playing, the cooperation with The Last Of Us,Ray Williams and the venues.

All fantastic experiences. For me however very much overshadowed byLaura Guldemond's sudden announcement to leave the band. We were magic on stage, loved every second of it! So it really hurts me and it will take me some time to get over it.

No matter how "unique" Laura was, I was fond of her and supported her with all my heart for almost 2 years.

But always there was this hunch. And again my hunch turned out to be right. Unfortunately.

feeling upset.

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TERESSA MASCIANA

Hi Ray,

Just a note to say many many thanks for organising Teresa's wee tour. It was most successful and we appreciate all your work.

I'm sure you'll be interested to know that the story's not over yet. I managed to persuade one of my old contacts to catch the Band at the 12 Bar Club and as a result Teresa was invited to go back to England last week to meet with the Production team at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studio near Bath. Preproduction is already under way on 3 songs and should the demos go well there's the chance to do the new album at Real World.

So, in all probability Teresa will be spending more time in the UK and will be available to do more gigs..,,I know she'd love to do a festival or two. (hint, hint) I will keep you posted of developments and should be over myself next time.

Many thanks again and best wishes to you and your family for the festive season.

Merry Christmas.

Charles.

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Hi Ray

Just wanted to say thank you for an awesome tour!

Sorry we couldn't talk longer last night but my guys wanted to get a jump on the drive home!

We drove the whole way home to Newcastle

Crazy!!git home around 8am

Thank you to your wife Jackie too!

You two rock please tell her

Let's talk in the beginning of next year about next year's tour, now that you have seen us play live, great band!!!

Rock on my friend!

Take care!!

Bob Dee

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We in Worhol can't thank First Step Management enough for spending this past week with us on the road and booking our UK Tour! We feel so blessed to have worked with them and can't wait to see them again for future tours. Jackie and Ray you are now family to us!! We already miss you x

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AUG

e good and the bad. Highs and lows. Let me start by thanking everyone who helped us on this EPIC journey in AUG's quest for UK Domination... Ray Williams and staff, TBFM and staff, DR Strings, Sarge, Matt Snow Rentals, Our friends who graciously lets us stay at there homes, ALL the Venues, the AWESOME people of the UK and everyone who followed on on FB. THANK YOU !! AND WE LOVE YOU ALL !!! Well I must say first that the people were fantastic and if you attended ANY of the shows you were not disappointed. As some of you know we did this tour as a 3 piece. This was not intended, but NOTHING can stop the freight train know as AUG. We persevered and went on and ROCKED HARD as the 3 piece. We have a new lead player who we will start working with immediately. Most of you know him as he is most definitely a seasoned player w/ everything needed to be the lead player in AUG. There were many shower less / sleepless nights, police encounters and such. Traffic like never seen before. But when the show started is was all business !! We've made many new friends and lots and lots of new fans. We most definitely left our mark on the UK !!! So once again THANK YOU our friends, families and fans for your support !!! WE LOVE YOU ALL AND WE"LL SEE YOU ALL SOON!!!! AUG

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La Strange

So this first tour is over, I'm now working on some new stuff and hopefully we'll be back to UK in November for a couple of acoustic gigs!! I got many people to say thanks to, for many reasons...I'll start from the ones who helped us finding funds to do this tour, so thank you to: Daiquiri Lounge Cafè. Azienda Agricola San Cassiano, Osteria N2, Magma Strings, Love Shop, Sweet Recording, Pro Loco Castel d' Ario and Arte Estetica, we wouldn't have made it without your precious help!

I wanna thank Ray Williams and First Step Management and all the bands we shared the stage with: The Black Tears, Black Out Sun, Captain Horizon and Diatessaron. You guys are all amazing people and musicians, wish you all the best!!

I wanna thank Jon (you really made me cry tears of joy @ The Railway Venue!!), Malcom (Our real saviour, and let me say, what an amazing sound enjeneer @The Snooty Fox, ), Muttley ( Iron Road, one of best gigs and people ever! ), The rockin' Patriots @ The Patriot ( you welcome us like real rockers do!), and all the people who came to see us around UK. You gave us such a huge energy and really made us believing that we're on the right path!!!

Thanks for listening to my music, I'm so committed to it and being able to give you emotions it pays me back of all the sacrifices, tears and stuff that I've been through since I started years ago!!!

Thank you very very very much for your support!!!Hope to see you soon!!!

Love and Respect

La Strange

Il tour è ormai finito ma a Novembre torneremo in UK per un paio di date in acustico in attesa dell'uscita del nuovo EP e di un nuovo tour in elettrico!Ora è tempo di ringraziamenti e vorrei iniziare da coloro che hanno supportato economicamente questa avventura e senza i quali non sarebbe stato lo stesso:Daiquiri Lounge Cafè. Azienda Agricola San Cassiano, Osteria N2, Magma Strings, Love Shop, Sweet Recording, Pro Loco Castel d' Ario e Arte Estetica.

Grazie a Ray Williams e a First Step Management e a tutte le magnifiche band con cui abbiamo condiviso il palco: The Black Tears, Black Out Sun, Captain Horizon e Diatessaron.

Voglio ringraziare Jon del Railway per avermi fatto piangere di gioia con le sue parole, Malcom dello Snooty Fox persona squisita e insuperabile tecnico del suono, Muttley dell' Iron Road per una delle serate più emozionanti e belle di sempre, tutti i Patriots al Patriot di Crumlin e tutti le persone che sono venute a sentirci. Ci avete regalato grande energia e dato conferma che siamo sulla strada giusta!

Grazie per avere ASCOLTATO la mia musica, mi avete ripagato di tutto il sudore, le lacrime e i sacrifici di questi anni!!

GRAZIE

La Strange

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-Well ! what a weekend it was. The rain was unrelenting but it never stopped the party and it didn't dampen the atmosphere. Party In The Pub rocked !! The bands were sensational, the people came out in their droves and everyone had a fantastic time. What can i say ! The Patriot has got to have the most loyal and hardest partying bunch of rock fans in the whole of Wales. A big THANK YOU to everyone that braved the rain and came out to party with us, It's you guys that has made Party In The Pub the fantastic success that it has become and year on year it seems to just get better. So thank you once again and see you all again in August when the party continues with PARTY IN THE PUB 2. We would also once again like to thank Ray and his team of First Step Management,Geoff our sound engineer and our extremely hard working bar staff without whom we could not do what we do.

ROLL ON AUGUST !!!!!

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Hi Ray

We’re all at home, safe after our 17 hours trip.

We’re really satisfied with this first tour, even if the venues (except Ilfracombe) weren’t very busy, we’ve had our share of the life of British small bands and we’ve had a very good time with The Black Tears (we’ll try to organize gigs in our French venues for them).

So great thanks for all you did for us, everything was so well scheduled and your choice of touring with this lovely young band was really a great idea.

Kind regards to you and your wife.

Hope to see you soon.

Steph and all the LADY FUEL band

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Dale Hodgkinson

19 hours ago · Edited

Well...... THAT was interesting..... no-one died..... no-one got murdered (close).... no-one got paid (NO that's a lie!) no-one turned up (that's another lie!) ....it was marvelous fun! thanks to Ray and the venues/promoters who put the shows up but mainly a MASSIVE thank you to the Cowboys n Cowgirls up and down this jolly fine country of ours who stepped out and had a blast with us - we loved it..... I'm off to smoke some crack.....

Check out The Bleedin Noses and Fireroad. (http://www.fireroadrock.com/ ) 2 great bands who supported us on the way. Love to you all. x PECKHAM COWBOYS

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Charlie Cee

Just like to say a big thank you for the tour but your a star .

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Alan B KentSINNED AGAINST

I would just like to say a big thank you to ray williams and the first step management team for giving us the chance to play ... thoroughly enjoyed it great first gig

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Hello Ray, hope you are well!

I just wanted to thank you for one more time for putting this tour together for us.

It was a great experience and we can't wait for the second one , perhaps in the new yeer

Thank so much for everything, have a great day!

--

Many Thanks

Jade Vine

http://soundcloud.com/jade-vine

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJadeVineuk

http://www.facebook.com/thejadevine

https://twitter.com/TheJadeVine

http://www.myspace.com/jadevine

http://www.reverbnation/jadevine

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Ray,

Sorry it has taken me a while to find time to write. It has been a hectic return to life after the tour.

We had a great time at the Party in the Pub, though the lads were a little tired by day 15.

Your support was much welcomed and may be one day we will get to play in your neck of the woods, I still can’t get over The Chill Bar!

I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the band for your assistance with Karhu’s May Tour.

Times are definitely hard in some sectors of the UK music market and Metal would seem to be one, certainly at the introductory end.

That said, just about every event was enjoyable, the band had a great time and Merch sales per head were better that expected.

We are grateful that you gave us the opportunity to play when many others would not, that will not be forgotten.

It may be quite some time before Karhu undertake another UK tour, and next time I hope we can provide a more lucrative return for us all.

I feel we have made many new friends and discovered some great venues so I look forward to working with you again at some stage in the future.

Regards

Mark Parry

Karhu Management

01709 711195

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Such a kick ass weekend with BlackWater England gigging the shit out of wales at the PARTY IN THE PUB FESTIVAL AT THE PATRIOT CRUMLIN on friday night big thanks to the patriots for rocking out with us and also to Ray Williams at FIRST STEP MANAGEMENT for organizing the event we will see u again soon bud \m/ we then took on Ilfracombe and Live Music in Ilfracombe at The Chill Bar which was power epic its our second time there and we love it such good vibes in that place :) big shout out to all who came along and also too Lawrence N Isabel Cravings for inviting us back and through all of this we had great support from HellBent OnHeaven those girls know how to rock out and seeing hannah bouncing off walls was ace lol and last but not least big thanks to Andy Seymour (steele) for making it all happen ! cheers dude .

so all in all great people great gigs , and please remember to give us a like and GET YOUR TWO FREE BLACKWATER DOWNLOADS NOW !!!!!! http://youtu.be/4devMIb-bBI — with Dom Seymourand 6 others.

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Hi Ray,

Just wanted to email and say thanks for helping us set up the tour this month, it was a great week and we met a lot of quality people on the way round, avoiding sleeping in our van once. We recommended you and first step management to a few people that we know who play in bands and they said that they may contact you to help them sort out similar journeys!

We hope you are well, and that we may be able to use your services again in the future!!

Riggs

Sweet Ether

07890460858

www.facebook.com/sweetether

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Wow! What an insane night last night! BlackWater just wanna say a massive thank you to The Chill Bar for having us - Lawrence and Isabel you guys are awesome, you have a great Venue on your hands! Also Ray Williams - FIRST STEP MANAGEMENT for the gig. It was epic!! & to the people of Ilfracombe, you rock!!! - We can only imagine what next time will be like! See you all soon!

BlackWater

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Kevin Doyle

Thanks to Ray Williams for all the great Bands of 2012 and for all the Bands and Choir that have played The Rhondda Hotel so far this year ! There is still one more night left yet so bring it on Blackbyrd and hope to see you all again next year.

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Wishing Ray, Sue and all the team at First Step Management a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for all your hard work over the last few years and we look forward to working closely with you once again in 2013. And if last year is anything to go by then we can't wait to see what you have lined up for us next year. Sooty PMCUK

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Lawrence N Isabel CravingsLive Music in Ilfracombe

Just to say...

The Sunpilots from Australia and Austria were brilliant.

Ray Williams has done an outstanding job of bringing bands to The Chill Bar for nearly 2 years and he continues to bring in some awesome bands.

The Chill Bar supports local musicians and travelling musicians from everywhere and we hope the good people of Devon will continue to support us.

We end the year with 2 more wonderful bands.

22nd brings us Thistledown with Country Rock and

29th brings us BB Blackdogs...BB Blackdogs have appeared at The Chill Bar before and be prepared for an amazing show of good music and humour.. they call themselves a STEAM PUNK Band.

AND we kick off the new year with Blackwater England... 5th Jan..

Merry Christmas everyone..thank you for all your support in 2012..we wish you good health and a prosperous 2013.

Be seeing you..at The Chill Bar

CHEERS

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Windy Man

• • Hi Ray, thank you so much mate, you didnt dissapoint..Again! Harry Munk was really different! Perfect when you have a day full of cover bands, a real talking point. The Dark Eyes were fantastic too, as they were on early there wasnt much of a crowd there (30-40) but their covers were quite unique. Hang Fire stole the show for me though! Propper rock stars! Really commanded the stage and a great sound. They went on just before the headline on Sunday and the place was bouncing! By far the biggest crowd we have had (500+?) every room and carpark was full and im so glad I had them play that spot. Thanks again mate, due to the success of this one I think my father might allow me to run the October fest again, if so I'll def be using you again mate. Chris.

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• • hey man, we ve all arrived now,the trip home went smooth with the plane and all that, me and the boys just wanted to say thank you once again for doing what you and jackie do and for being the best at it