From www.facebook.com/forteastern 

We ain’t never ever no way never posted very much here. Mostly ‘cause I’m lazy, partly ‘cause I’m trying to get busy out n the big wide with all my looking listening feeling and thinking caps on, but yeah mostly ‘cause I’m lazy.  

Also part of the reason is the world is fucking noisey, and these platfroms despite all their posturing keep us feeding and anxious and popping off at infractions and inactions. It ain’t good. We can all kinda feel it. But goddamn its easy to get hooked on it.  

But that’s a different buzz, what I was heading for, was to say I don’t post much but looking over what I have posted over the years I always seem to be repeating myself,  

Good people here, true things there, we believe in this blah blah blah  

Jeez can’t we just ask you to like our shit, give us pledge me money instead of this saintly posing?  

It’s a balance I guess…  

Anyways speaking of saintly things, real deal good people you can believe in doing the true things have ever told you about UnderTheRadar?  

Yeah they’re a business I guess trying to make it all work, but they do a fucking good thing for the culture, and I don’t just throw that word into the ever after.  

Look, our opinion is and remains the least important people in music are the musicians.  

The best being the people working to make all the music happen. My dad was a scaffolder in between being on fishing boats, he taught me the importance of keeping it all held up and bolted together and providing platforms that allow the good work to happen.  

(please note: he didn’t teach me that all, but it fits good eh? Actually one tour year way back ago two crazy nurses made me climb some scaffolding in Westport and at that moment I appreciated all the art of it my dad never told me about).  

Undertheradar though…  

They sell tickets, premiere the music news and videos and publish the press releases and do the interviews and they’re fucking cool to deal with, nothings ever a problem. I’m way down the list of cool musicians and sell about 3 tickets a show but they make me feel useful and are just so nice and chill and fucking everything good!  

The pandemic has seen a lot of musicians doing it hard, but add families and essential workers and everyone else you realise the extent of it all. But UTR exist because of things happening, and if nothing happens then they don’t happen. Bad maths.  

SO ANYWAY…  

I noticed they had the donation bucket out to try and keep it all moving, and I wanted to say you should donate to them, a little, a lot, something everything. I don’t know any other ticketing site that gives you the goddamn money immediately without some kind of burning hoop over a bucket of snakes to jump over.  

They’re not offering me advertising space or nothing like that (yo utr give me some shit!) I just wanted to say that ‘cause it struck me how fucking good they are at what they do!  

So yeah go do a gig get them to do the tickets, send them some shit to write about, write to them and tell them thanks. But maybe give them a donation.  

https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/supporter/  

I wonder if they have anythng to do with this underworld song?  

this is a good song  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVrVERNeCPE  

#16 in the nz charts I believe...ready to roll indeed  

anyways  

Thanks to you and them and all of ya  

Ps buy tickets to my mapua show  

At https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/.../Adam-McGrath.utr   

Pps the above is not a cynical attempt to sell tickets just me being funny  

Ppps please buy some tickets

Sunday was sweet and strong and full of heart. Thankyou friends for your shoulders and voices and every damn thing. 

It was our first Eastern show for months and we did two in one day! Eastern fashion, eastern style and I ain’t talking about the denim shirts we’re still trying to squeeze into. 

Felt good! 

 These past couple of years we thought it best to come off the road and like all of y’all try to wait this thing out. We still had to play, so it was back to the bars, Wednesday through Sunday most weeks for two years; Whatever on wed nights, irish on Thursday and Saturdays, three piece rock’n’soul’whatthefuckever on Friday nights well into the wee hours etc etc repeat adinfinitum 

It was good to keep the music flowing as the bug allowed, it was good to sing, pay tribute to our heroes and I don’t mean just them folks lucky enough to have found the songs and written them down. I mean our heros of the bar, the long lifers, the true believers, the three hour setters, the brothers and sisters strapped to the wagon wheel rolling through every weekend, cause they gotta play. I’ve been more influenced and inspired by them than almost anyone. No shame in singing other peoples songs to get the rent done, because theres never a shame in singing and making people happy. It’s been a proud place to be stationed while the covid war drove/drives on. 

Thankyou to all the folks believing in the various combos the eastern created to make all them gigs work! Showing up and letting us play the ones you didn’t know so well. 

Always grateful to serve in the Barlands. 

The past two months though we pulled our asses out, trying to act in solidarity with those folks making do with way less than neccassary keeping folks well as best they can. 

If you’ve had cancer, been on a waiting list, waiting deep in an ED understaffed and hanging on then this covid wave probably hasn’t felt as easy as a lot of us have been talking it up. 

It’s a fine line, togetherness, responsibilitiyness, gettingonthepissness, trying to knit it all together. 

I dunno, it could’ve been worse, it probably could’ve been better. Ain’t that always the good goddamn way. 

We’ve negotiated our lane as best we can and that’s about all you can hope to do. 

From our lane we wish you health and healing and always buckets of fucking hope. 

To every one out there on the hard way many many blessings whatever that means, we mean it all. 

Now its time to get out and pay the rent, rumble out on the road and at home the best we can. If we’re in town you’ll see us in the bar Fridays and Saturdays if we ain’t there we’re out in it, soaking it in breathing it up to turn it into stories to turn it into songs and to go again… 

To paraphrase one of the best to ever do it… 

“We’re the Roadmasters 

The Asphalt Blasters 

Mess with us and we’ll shut you down 

The bad things 

The highway kings and we’re coming to claim our kingdom now” 

Its gonna be realllll good. Look out!!! 

I’m gonna start this week down in Lake Hawea, a good true little house concert down there Its just about sold out but theres a scratch of seats left. How much is a scratch? I dunno less than 10 more than 2? Howabout that…tickets here 

www.adammcgrath.net/shows

Next week though… 

Friday night the 13th 

I’m gonna make good on the most postponed show ever, up at the playhouse in mapua, Nick and Manu up there have been keeping the fires burning, I’ll go sing for them tell you some stories maybe you’ll buy some beers and keep the whole circle turning! 

Tickets right here… 

https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/gig/78628/Adam-McGrath.utr 

or 

https://www.facebook.com/events/340784541390161

Saturday the 14th we’re playing as The Eastern at The Bone Line here in Canterbury land they’re fire and feasting and we’re gonna sing by the fireside…it might be sold out but you never know check eventfinda for details 

Theres more to come, so much to do, so much to get done, solo shows Eastern shows, all the shows 

Reminds me of the old joke how do you eat 1000 elephant hunters? 

 one bite at a time animal lovers, one bite at a time. 

Info for all the shows as they come will be up at 

at the shows page!

hang out hang tough hang the fuck on