Tyrone Lindqvist of alternative dance group Rufus is looking forward to heading home.
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While he won’t be visiting his close-knit family in Shellharbour and Kiama for Christmas, he can’t wait to get some chill time amongst local tours in the new year.
The three-piece, who were recently nominated for five ARIAs, are finishing up a mammoth two month tour of the US before embarking on another month of regional Australian gigs.
Lindqvist, who’s family originate from the Illawarra but grew up with his opal-mining parents in Lightning Ridge, hopes to get a game of golf or a surf in with his cousins around the group’s two Wollongong shows in January.
“We’ve played a bunch of shows in Wollongong [previously], every time we go there it just gets bigger and people really seem to get behind us and help us celebrate,” he said.
“It’s a pretty loose town it seems, every time we’re there it seems like it gets a little out of hand.”
The band has been forging a name for themselves for the last seven years and now is selling out shows all over the globe.
Lindqvist said they “took a gamble” when booking larger venues in the States this time around, but it’s paid off with most at capacity.
However, the biggest highlight for him was not necessarily playing to thousands of people each night, but the pimped up tour bus they’re getting around in.
“It’s kind of like The Spice Girls bus [from the movie Spice World], it’s a fully kitted up bus with lounges, kitchen, toilet, 12 bunks, a back room. It opens up when it parks,” he said.
“It’s a really different way of travelling and touring. We’re so used to getting on a flight or boarding a van really early and driving.”
He also said he, plus band-mates Jon George and James Hunt, have been getting the most sleep they’ve ever had on tour and have been able to actually enjoy each city.
When asked if this could be the new way of touring for the boys, Lindqvist admitted there are only one or two buses similar in Australia, adding he thinks Dolly Parton might own them.
“We’ve been touring kind of non-stop all year and haven’t had a lot of time in Australia, cant wait to be back there on the coast,” he said.
“I don’t think any of us ever had eyes set on touring overseas … because it’s so far fetched when making music, you’re making it for yourself and you're never really considering it could be possible.
“When we get to play Inner Bloom you see some people crying in the front row, and it’s just a really beautiful experience ... it almost takes us straight back to the place where we were when we wrote it.”
RUFUS ‘The Full Bloom’ tour
January 25 at UniBar, tickets www.rufussounds.com
January 27 SOLD OUT University of Wollongong lawn