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Driving on Clouds, a Porn Star Named Jamie XXX, and Butts Everywhere: Rüfüs Du Sol's US Tour Diary

Australia's finest come stateside to battle the elements and check out America's gluteals.

Already stars in their native Australia, live-dance act Rüfüs Du Sol have been charming their way across America with tunes that fit somewhere between sunshine-laden house, pop melodies, and an indie sensibility.

We got Jon, James, and Tyrone to give us an inside look on their stateside tour as they cruised through Camp Bisco and Woogie Weekend on their way to One Tribe in California next month. Along the way, the trio drove through clouds, looked at lots of butts, and found themselves in the wake of low-key, retired porn star Jamie XXX. Check it out:

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First show of the tour at Camp Bisco in Pennsylvania. It was hot and sticky and the butts were out in full force. I don't think we were quite prepared for the extreme heat this whole tour…Jon adjusting his hydration levels.

Turns out that this was the perfect place to have a festival in such heat as the whole thing was basically a waterpark. It was pretty surreal playing to a bunch of cooked people in a pool. The water, surprisingly, stayed blue.

We spent a lot of our time at this festival in the green room trying to cool off and dusting off a couple of frosty cans. That's a complex Australian translation of drinking beers, by the way. Jon and James found themselves in a tense stare off. They do this a lot.

Pre-show putting the work in backstage while some random American jam band goes HAM in the background. It usually takes us half an hour with our crew to set up and then another half an hour to get on stage and play. Unfortunately, the next day in San Francisco, our flight was delayed (4 hours on the tarmac), and the Golden Gate Bridge was gridlocked, meaning that we had ten minutes to setup and play. Our crew activated beast mode and we basically started the set on time. 10/10 crew points.

After almost missing our festival the night before, we were excited to play this full set at this amazing location just south of LA at Woogie Weekend. When we arrived, it was hot as ever, and the butts were yet again jiggling at 120bpm everywhere we looked. Half an hour before we played, though, the heavens opened up for the first time we've ever seen in California and there was a proper flash flood. We scooped up our gear and swam out of there ASAP.

We stayed at this epic lodge in the Colorado mountainside (the Wild Basin Lodge) with a full open bar. The owners were legends who let us have full reign of the place… With great power comes great responsibility. This was a place where all your dreams could come true. Meet your personal bartender James…


Rüfüs Du Sol - "You Were Right"

This is the first tune released from the lads' upcoming sophomore album, the follow up to their 2013 album Atlas.


We were pretty taken aback by the ridiculously beautiful landscape around the lodge. Hectic mountain escapades featuring bear, elk, wolf, and strange human encounters. We drove up so high on one particular adventure that we were basically driving on clouds.

Our show in Denver was in a proper video arcade. Jamie XX played there the night before and Tyrone was trying to beat his record on this game. Turns out the place used to be a fully operating porn theatre and it was in fact the score of lesser known 70's porn star Jamie XXX.

Meet Jimmy the Fish, he's a Chicago-born legend who has been teaching us how to live the American dream. When we were staying in Dallas for a few days, he introduced us to the art of tailgating outside of a baseball game in the stinking heat. Also a massive roadie at heart, he's not afraid to pull his stubbies up (shorts), take his shirt off and get the job done. 10/10 human.

Hotel chill-time is invaluable on the road. Here's Tyrone kicking back listening to some tunes and relaxing. We also brought along a ping pong net, rackets and balls to turn any hotel desk or table into a fully functioning ping pong table. A totally necessary purchase.

Meet the best human on earth. Cam is our tour manager/front of house engineer/mate/wake up alarm/tour dad/babysitter/hustler/big dog. He always keeps a positive vibe in the crew, even when we're being the biggest brats. 10/10 human.

Rüfüs Du Sol is on Facebook // SoundCloud // Twitter