Good Trip, Bad Trip: Kim Churchill

The self-styled "young Australian busker" reveals his touring tales...

For a self-styled "young Australian busker" Kim Churchill has certainly come a long way.

After all, most Australian buskers don't enjoy vastly successful releases, international tours, and huge crowds.

Gaining broader and broader appreciation, new album 'Weight_Falls' dropped at the tail end of summer and it's well on its way to becoming the songwriter's most successful yet.

Set to return to Europe in just a few short weeks, Kim Churchill kindly revealed a few touring tales for the latest Good Trip, Bad Trip.

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Worst Trip…
When I was younger we did a little road trip down to a secret surf break south of my hometown. We knew it was pretty weird by the local fisherman and that anyone who was known wasn't allowed to go there, but we went anyway. It was about an hour and a half drive in from the main road on a very dusty sandy dirt track. We hadn't had phone reception for an hour even before we turned off.

While we were surfing someone came and slashed our tyres. We thought we were going to have to drive the all the way back to phone reception. Luckily we found an old dump and actually managed to rustle up two old tires to replace the slashed one. The whole thing took about six hours and the waves were pretty rubbish…

My favourite foreign venue…
There's a gig in New Caledonia where you play on this boat out in the channel between coral reefs. They sell two hundred tickets which is the maximum amount they can have on the boat and then sell another 100 'boat tickets' which were basically for people to anchor nearby in their own boats and watch the show. People would swim over with waterproof containers to buy merch. It was pretty crazy and I don't actually remember getting back to land.

I’m surprisingly popular in…
Quebec oddly. The French part of Canada is known for being fiercely loyal and proud of their specific Francophone style. Somehow, a young Australian busker took their fancy. Some of the coolest people I've ever met and some of the best friends I've ever made were met touring there.

Best or worst exotic foodstuff…
I'm gunna go with a bowl of Nacho's we ordered in Indonesia recently. It was the most expensive thing on the menu apparently came with guacamole. When it arrived, it was literally some corn chips with a can of baked beans poured on top and half and a chunk of avocado on top. It was about the size of a small bowl of porridge.

Most interesting individual I've met on the road…
I met a old Mongolian dude in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. He went by the name Ali Mongo and drank nearly a bottle of Tequila a day and had been travelling for 60 years! Before he became too wasted, we'd chat to him and he'd show us his paintings. Turns out his paintings are becoming quite famous all over the world. He'd occasionally spend all afternoon making the most incredible banquet of food, only to leave it outside his door for the hostel's dog, Maggie. Definitely worth a Google.

My essential travel item…
Headphones. Not the most exciting item I could have picked but seriously those guys are my closest daily companions. I have some really small ones that I can sleep with, and they're amazing on planes. Plus the ability to listen to music any time anywhere and just totally be in my own bubble is freaking awesome. Its cool to have your own internal soundtrack to daily adventures.

Essential travel tip…
Give yourself more time than you think. Travelling can be stressful, but its not really meant to be. Adventures sweep you away, plans change, things happen, buses are late, friends are hungover, little Indonesian locals say your boat will take two hours when it actually takes five. Its all part of it. Its really important to always give yourself enough time to go with the flow of everything and take all the backroads. That's where the interesting stuff happens!

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'Weight_Falls' is out now. Catch Kim Churchill at London's Bush Hall on November 27th.

Join us on Vero, as we get under the skin of global cultural happenings. Follow Clash Magazine as we skip merrily between clubs, concerts, interviews and photo shoots. Get backstage sneak peeks and a true view into our world as the fun and games unfold.

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