Artists

Phia and Mez Medallion – Poland Tour Diary

April 29, 2012 by Jack in Artists, Featured with 0 Comments

DIY indie power-couple and Melbourne exports Phia (Sophia Exiner) and Mez Medallion (Joshua Teicher) are bringing their individual blends of pop music from their current home in Berlin to Poland for a national tour. And they’ve very kindly given us unrestricted access to their tour diary! Over the coming weeks, you’ll get a taste of what life is like on tour for these indie-pop wunderkinds.

29 April 2012

By: Mez Medallion

Ojców National Park

Made a quick music video in the forest. Essentially it is me walking around the forest in this awesome 80s/90s denim coat that I bought in the “bad taste” section (that is really its name) in a place called Humana (German equivalent to Savers), and it contrasted beautifully with the dark green earthiness of the surroundings. I guess you could say the footage is a tribute to the late 80s/early 90s but with an amusing twist of being in heavy forest with my deadpan delivery.

Phia with bubble blowing from enthusiastic fans at Przechowalnia in Lodz

Łódź, pronounced Woodge

I had a bit of scare: I thought I was losing my voice but it turned out to be just a bit of fatigue and being a little bit sick. The whole experience was quite strange because I went from having difficulty at the start of the set singing a very low and limited vocal range and then after a few songs I had warmed up a bit and did one of my best performances with two (unplanned) encores. I think something about the positive vibe in the room really helped and my voice just came back.

Streets of Krakow

The vocal folds are a mystery to me but after this experience I am going to do some more research – and more consistent warm ups! It got me thinking about big artists like Gotye, doing much longer tours and things like Saturday Night Live, I wonder how they look after themselves and handle fatigue.

Lovely ticket designs for the LaLaLa show in Sopot

Sopot

Last Night we played a really nice place called LaLaLa in Sopot, which is a city by the sea next to Gdańsk. This place is a kitsch arty hotel/bar/nightspot with each room styled by a different artist. We are also staying on the top floor. The tiles in the bathroom are spectacular.

Our tour manager Rafal taking a break on the beach in Sopot

Today we had a “day off” and it’s great to be staying here and so close to the ocean which I haven’t seen for a while (no beach in Berlin). Although I have to admit that having a day off felt almost a strange because I have gotten used to the routine of playing every night, stay up late, get in the car next day and seeing so many places a day.

Me taking some time out in front of a wall of books in an amazingly designed bar in Sopot

The venue had organized to do a live recording of us and after the show one of the engineers showed us his studio which was just 200m down the road. I think it is called Humidor. It’s pretty awesome. In addition to three big rooms he has a great collection of vintage gear, the highlights being a Wurlitzer, Studer tape recorder (not sure which model) and a beautiful vintage Gretsch drum kit. We’re thinking of coming back here sometime this year to do some recording, staying by the beach and squeeze in a few shows. Also, Phia recorded a few live tunes in there today.

You can read about more of Phia and Mez Medallion’s Polish adventures in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of their exclusive Vulture Magazine Tour Diary