AUGUST / SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2010

Hello dear friends and welcome to a special Suade tour-edition newsletter, guest edited by me (Ian). :)

APOLOGY

Firstly, an apology.

We know it's been a while since we've written and we're sorry - we've just been really busy! Between touring Victoria, Loz and Cheng getting married, and planning the Asia tour we haven't had time to scratch ourselves but we promise to be more… ahem… regular from now on.

Mention this apology next time you see one of the boys for a free high five.

WE'RE IN ASIA

Did I mention we're in Asia? Well we're in Asia! I'm typing to you from my cosy hotel bed in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We will update details on our gig calendar as we get them in terms of public shows - we're just finding it a little difficult to extract information accross the language barrier!

We spent the last week in Singapore and those of you who know we well will know I can get a little excited about things - especially when they involved travelling to new countries.

So, here is a list of my top five favourite things in Singapore (in no particular order):

1. Avocado and coffee dessert. You read right. Think avocado smoothie drizzled with a shot of espresso. AMAZING.

2. SENTOSA - where some of us got terribly sunburnt on Siloso beach (Singapore's "Hippest Beach"). Activities also included a couple of luge runs and checking out the local scenery. And they had Segways. SEGWAYS.

Also, during our post-swim pizza, we were treated to some overhead manoeuvres by a couple of F18s and an army helicopter. And who can blame them? I know I'd do the same if I had a few million dollars worth of government firepower to throw around.

3. The Swiss School. There is seriously something special in the water over there. Every child and teacher in that room was BEAUTIFUL and it was SO lovely to walk onto the stage at our gig on Friday night to find so many familiar faces staring up at us from the audience. Thanks guys!

4. Cosplayers. We visited Funan - technology heaven in a shopping centre - and I'd seen photos of Cosplayes on the web but never before seen them 'in the flesh.' There's even a Cosafé (Cosplay Café) where all the staff are dressed as their favourite Cosplay characters. (If you're not familiar with the term or want to know more about Cosplay(ers), head to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay

5. Hwa Chong Institution. We spent two 7-hour days at Hwa Chong as part of the student's sabbatical program running "A Cappella Essentials" Workshops. Although the students could have chosen other exciting activities such as balloon sculpting or wind surfing, around thirty of them chose to brave the ominous world of a cappella singing and they were FANTASTIC. For kids who claimed they'd never sung before in their lives they picked it up like ducks to water and we hope to hear of a couple of school a cappella groups to compliment their already well-respected school choir.

TOUR DIARIES

A tradition appears to be emerging of recording video diaries while we're on tour. In fact we've already done one for the 2010 Asia tour and you can check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/suadevoices

Now that you know all about Segways, here's an article from wired.com about Segway CEO James (Jimi) Heselden who recently died after riding one of the contraptions off a cliff: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/09/segway-death/

We'll be sticking more tour diaries up on YouTube over the next few weeks so you'd better subscribe to our channel to avoid missing out.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Don't forget that we're on nearly every possible social networking site so make sure you 'Like' us on as many as you can so you can be kept up-to-date with all our goings on. Head here for links to all our pages.

If you're already a fan, why not suggest us to your friends? We firmly believe the world could benefit from regular doses of Suade-y goodness.

Rory especially reckons that being a fan of Suade makes your life more "impactful."

VOCAL AUSTRALIA

The Colonel's other venture, Vocal Australia, is thriving in the increasing interest in a cappella in Melbourne and recently held a very successful Social Harmony Showcase featuring Aluka, Blue Notion, D'Caf, The Nymphs, The Vocal Agents and us.

It was so successful in fact that they're running another on Wednesday, December 1, at the beautiful Bella Union in Trades Hall. Full details on the Vocal Australia website above or you can call Amelia (Meals) on 0438 800 738.

Be in touch soon.

Lots of love,

Ian and the boys.