The 19th of January,
2013, was a very exciting day for me. In fact ‘exciting’ is an understatement
let alone a plausible adjective for my true feelings on that day. It was more
like extremely unexplainable, mind blowing exhilaration of all drugs, legal and
illegal, mashed into one big pill which exploded inside of my stomach, shooting
rainbow pooping unicorns in all directions whilst in the midst of a slight
shower of Froot Loops. This declaration again, is still an understatement for
my excitement that day. That day would be the day I would finally see one of my
biggest idols live. In. Concert.
His name is, Shaun Diviney.
Your reaction to this name will follow as either one of the following three examples:
a) Yewww
Shaun! Shaun has saved my life in so many ways; wish stack didn’t have to break
up :’( loving his new ‘Diviney’ project though!
b) Shaun
Diviney… isn’t he that emo kid from that band that all had really tight jeans
and big poofy hair? I hated them…
c) Yeah I
don’t know him... should I?
If you fall under category ‘a)’
you need no introduction to this man and I can guarantee you that you and I
will get along just fine. If you fall under category ‘b)’ I do not hate you for
disliking him and his band but express hate and you are most definitely not my favourite person in the world.
And if you are in the dubious category ‘c)’ you should Google his name, learn a
bit about him, listen to some of his tunes and then decide if you belong in
group ‘a)’ or ‘b)’. It’s quite simple really.
If you haven’t already guessed,
I fall under category ‘a)’. I first discovered Shaun when he used to be a part
of the Australian pop-punk band from Budgewoi Sydney named Short Stack. Short
Stack consisted of Shaun Diviney (Lead vocalist, guitarist), Andy Clemmensen
(Backing Vocalist, Bassist), and Bradie Webb (Drums). The band grew a massive
underground following of fans from social networking resources and soon began
to show Australia that they meant serious business in the music industry. After
8 years of being a band, recording three studio albums (Stack is the New Black 2009, This
is Bat Country 2010, Art Vandelay
Unreleased), One self-produced documentary (The
Story of Short Stack 2011, directed by bassist Andy Clemmensen), 2 ARIA
awards, A platinum single (Planets, This
is Bat Country), A gold album (This
is Bat Country 2010), many of awards, and over hundreds of shows across all
of Australia, Short Stack decided to and call it a day on the 30th
of March 2012.
I’m not going to lie, that was
a very
tough day for all of us fans but let’s avoid this touchy subject altogether as
this could result in another million blog posts about how I felt about the
‘Stack Split’. For the sake of our mentality’s let’s just refrain from the
subject altogether.
Thank god for the fact that
Shaun Diviney decided to write more music because if he didn’t, I wouldn’t know
where I’d be. He announced to all of the fans shortly after the split that he
would pursue his own solo musical project named ‘DIVINEY’. After releasing two
unofficial singles through his Youtube channel (You’re So Cool, Dance with the Devil), Shaun announced a small tour
which would display some of the music he’d written lately. This tour would span across Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne in
January 2013 including the supports of bands The Never Ever and For Our Hero.
 |
| Cassie and I at Diviney |
This is where me, my best
friend Cassie, and many other fans come into play. We all bought tickets to the
show of which we would choose to attend and then we would wait a gruelling four
or five months for the show to finally arrive. Being from Melbourne meant we
were the last leg of the tour which to be visited. Though the wait was definitely worth it.
On the day of the show I
remember getting up at six in the morning and leaving at 7:30. Where I live is
only 45 minutes away from where the venue was but at the time the show was on I
was camping 2 and a half hours away. Cassie and I wanted to get there sort of
early-ish as we wanted to have a good viewing area in the Ding Dong Lounge, the
venue where it was held. On the ticket it said that the show would start at
12:30 so Leaving at 7:30 meant we would get there at about 10 o’clock and then
we allowed half an hour for parking as parking in Melbourne is ridiculously
stupid. I met up with Cassie in Melbourne and then we walked to China Town and
joined the growing cue of fans which were line up out the front of the Ding
Dong Lounge. I remember standing there with Cassie feeling as awkward as ever
as this would be both of our first ever show we would have attended. We didn’t
really know what to do, so we just stood there in line patiently waiting for
the doors to open.
Going back to that day, neither
Cassie nor I really knew who the supports were. We had heard their names tossed
around on twitter a lot but we had never really heard any of their music.
Cassie and I were standing right next to the back entrance of the venue and
there were heaps of people coming in and out of there with musical equipment
and all that sort of stuff, so we just assumed they were kids just helping out
with the set up. One of the guys even talked to us just asking us to be careful
and watch out for everybody coming in and out, being the polite people we are,
we said sorry and moved out of the way, he said thank you and that was that.
Little did we know that later inside we would find out that he was Dylan Nash,
the lead singer for The Never Ever.
To pass the time of waiting we
met up with some other fans and talked about all things music related. It was
pretty awesome actually and we made a few friends that day. When it soon became
12:45 and the doors weren’t open, the security guards said that the doors would
be opening at 1:30 instead. I was slightly annoyed at that point, I was tired
because I couldn’t sleep the night before, I had gotten up early that morning,
I was dehydrated, not to mention starving and I just really wanted to get out
of the sun and see Shaun live. Luckily, a man from a restaurant across the road
who had heard we would be lining up for another hour felt sorry for us and
brought out multiple large bowls of chips and took them around to everyone so
we wouldn’t die of starvation. I thought that was extremely kind of him. It
wasn’t till after I had eaten a few that the scary thought occurred to me that
the man may have poisoned them but I was honestly so hungry that I couldn’t
care less.
Finally, at 1:45 the doors
opened and we were allowed in. I bought my merch and Cassie and I found a spot
relatively close to the stage. Mind you though, wherever you were, you were
pretty much close to the stage. The Never Ever opened the show and this was the
point where Cassie and I realised most of the people that were right beside on
the street were actually in The Never Ever and For Our Hero. The Never Ever
definitely did a fabulous job of beginning the show as opening up is always a
daunting thing to do. There songs were boppy, energetic, and uplifting and I
was really intrigued to search them when I got back home that day.
 |
| The Never Ever |
After a 15 minute set up wait,
For Our Hero began their set and… wow! The energy, power and force behind the
music was amazing! I was in love with their intricate lyrics and totally
awesome guitar riffs. They were also really funny people. Fast forward to this
day and you’ll see that The Never Ever and For Our Hero are two of my favourite
bands. When For Our Hero finished I was feeling dehydrated again and they were
offering free water but the bar was on the other side of the room and being my
lazy self I couldn't be bothered leaving my spot to get a glass of water.
 |
| For Our Hero |
After
another 15 minutes of waiting, and trust me I was happy to be there and all but
I was very much over waiting at this point, Diviney finally emerged onto the
stage.
Diviney consists of Tim
Commandeur (Drums), Chris Circosta (guitar), Sinj (synth, keys), Sam Clayton (Bass), and the man himself Shaun Diviney (Vocalist if you hadn't already
guessed). By this point I was in awe that the one and only Shaun Diviney, a man
who I had looked up to for so long was performing right in front of me. It was
a very surreal experience. I never had the opportunity to see Short Stack live,
so to see at least 1/3 of them live was better than nothing.
The entire set was incredible. Shaun
played some old Short Stack songs, some songs we already knew, and songs we
would be hearing off his upcoming album. All of the songs had a different sound
to what Short Stack had but this sound was as equally good, if not even better.
Seeing Shaun perform live made me realise that music was what Shaun should be
doing and you could see that this was what he loved most. Shaun still continues
to be my inspiration to this day, in all aspects of life.
 |
| Diviney Performing |
His set included ‘Dance With the Devil, Elvis Presley, Sex
Games, Skeleton, You’re So Cool’ from his upcoming album, ‘Planets, Are You Afraid of the Dark’ from
This is Bat Country, a cover of
Operator Please’s ‘Just a Song About Ping
Pong’ and two acoustic performances of new song ‘Eyes Out’ and old song ‘Rain
on Her Parade’. The entire concert was indescribable and I wish I could go
back to that day anytime. After the concert finished I drank lots of water and
joined the rest of the fans outside to wait to see of Shaun would come outside
to meet us.
 |
| My Photo with Dylan Nash |
Shaun emerged and began to take
multiple photo’s with fans and signed items of theirs. Unfortunately management
didn’t allow Shaun to stay out for long so I missed out on a picture but he did
sign my ticket however. Though, Shaun doesn’t have a signature so it was more
of a scribble across my ticket. Either way, I was entirely grateful. Members of
The Never Ever and For Our Hero came out to greet everyone and I actually ended
up getting a photo with Dylan from The Never Ever.
The day was unforgettable and I
surely can’t wait until Shaun’s new single and next show in Melbourne. Looking
back on this post now I realise how long it is but hey, It was such an amazing
day that I just couldn’t not write so much about it. This post isn't really a review of the show itself but more of a recount of my awesome experience from that day and how thankful I am that I could witness Diviney's first ever show in Melbourne.
Til next time everybody,
Tess xx
SHAUN’S
TWITTER: @ShaunDiviney
INTSAGRAM:
Diviney_
WEBSITE: www.divineymusic.com
FOR
OUR HERO’S TWITTER: @ForOurHero
THE
NEVER EVER’S TWITTER: @TheNeverEverAu
