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Faker.
 Stefan Gregory is consuming beer and coffee in a pub in Sydney's Surry Hills. Not at the same time, mind you: he explains he's had a few ales and decided to perk himself up with a coffee after feeling some beer-tiredness creeping in. It's not apparently a regular thing for him anymore - he used to do it more often until he got the kind of anxiety thing you get after consuming a few too many caffeine drinks.
With this in mind, and the fact he's been talking to people all day, it's no small wonder we discuss the enjoyment of one's own company or lack thereof, and freak out when Gregory's beer gets tipped over by a freak gust of wind just as he was asked "How are you?" However, we also get to the nitty-gritty, like whether the band he plays guitar for, Faker, are tired of touring yet. After all, the band spent much of the early part of 2005 touring back and forth across Australia and are set to do it all again throughout October before heading off to the UK. Surely the novelty has worn off?
"Not at all," Gregory replies. "I mean, it's been a little while... how many months? I can't remember. We've done a whole lot of support shows recently, which have been really fun, but it's going to be really nice to be headlining again 'cause you kinda get a bit more time to soundcheck and it's a bit more fun, you know; the stakes are higher and more people are coming to see you."
Faker have scored the support slots for the east coast tours by Billy Corgan, The Bravery and Hot Hot Heat over the past couple of months. With a couple of interesting stories to tell from the latest round of shows, Gregory says he and his bandmates - Nathan Hudson (vocals), Paul Berryman (drums), Phil Downing (guitars) and Nick Munnings (bass), are keen to look after themselves because "...it's too easy to get carried away! When we did these support shows we had to fly for a lot of them - there's a gig in Melbourne, there's a gig in Sydney, a gig in Brisbane, all one day apart, and they're international bands, so they're flying, so we kind of have to fly. And it costs us money to do that, but it's for the honour of actually playing with these people. But the last show we did in Brisbane, we almost managed to miss three flights on the same day because we had misplaced bags and we got to the airport fifteen minutes before our flight. We're in the line [at] Virgin [Blue], and then we realise we're supposed to be in the Qantas queue, so we missed that flight. Then two hours before the second flight Paul and I decided that because we left a bag at a hotel, we could drive back and get it, and we didn't quite make it back in time so we had to be delayed for the third flight," he laughs. "And so twenty minutes before the gig in Brisbane started, two of us actually arrived in Brisbane. We jumped in a cab and made it to the venue just in time to walk on stage."
It's a horror story for any band, but good practice for a band that's likely to have similar experiences happen in a couple of months upon their arrival in the UK to play some showcase gigs.
"It's pretty exciting," Gregory enthuses. "We're finishing up [this tour] in Perth, and I think at 2 in the morning after our last show we're somehow going to get on a plane and fly to the UK, and then we arrive and eight hours later we do a show again. I think it's going to be a real blur, especially because we really have no idea what the venue's like there and how we're going to get transport, but it'll be exciting. It'll be good. A rock'n'roll rollercoaster adventure!"
Ann Marie Sosnowski
 | Faker play at the Adelaide UniBar on Sat 8 Oct, and 'Addicted Romantic' and new single Hurricane are out now through EMI. |
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