Day Seven:
Glorious. Had the luxury of remaining asleep until late. That’s 13.00hrs for Lisa and 12.00hrs for the others.
Needed cough medicine. Chris, Steve and Elaine are out at the local Coop, Steve gets Lisa some much needed cough mixture from the nearby pharmacy on the way.
The boys get back, we start preperations for the camp barbecue for which Elaine has stir-fried some lovely vegetables and the big strong men ventured out to make proper use of their hunting skills and …well…barbecue. Men have to do the barbecuing. Wherever there’s a barbecue, there’s a man at the grill, roasting and tweaking those sausages to perfection. It’s one of those unwritten laws of nature.
The beef steaks and jacket potatoes are just what Lisa’s low blood pressure needs at this point. Meat. How some folks ever go without it we will never know.
Chris can’t seem to stop pooping!
20.20hrs
Lisa gets back from the camp site Wifi zone, where she’d posted our MySpace blog and had a much deserved cappuccino, to find Adrian, Chris jamming, their instruments plugged in, and Steve playing on Chris’ towel - covered snare drum. The psychedelic sounds of ....Adrian....’s guitar begin to jar greatly as Lisa’s eyes are heavy with exhaustion.
By 12.30hrs we were all tucked in and dreaming of tomorrow’s ....Milan.... gig.
There are two sheep grazing outside our cabin window.
Day Eight:
Woke up at 10 this morning. Got to check out at 12.00. After a plentiful breakfast of Italian bread, rucola, salami, lamb steaks and cheese, provided by Chris and Elaine, Lisa’s washing dishes and Steve’s drying. Then we get a move on and are out a few minutes later than expected.
We start our drive and we’re off to ....Milan.... for our last Italian gig at La Trottoir A La Darsena.
14.30hrs
Arrive in ....Milan..... Chris is searching for a kick pedal as the club might not have one for the night. Lisa had looked up a few names on the internet the previous night at the café and the band search for various music shops, a few of which haven’t yet opened.
Timmy (our now tired GPS) gives us a helping hand in looking for them.
We finally get to Lucky Music and find a free place in the complex’s parking lot. Chris and Elaine are in the shop for a while. Lisa go out for some much needed hot coffee. Chris and Elaine are back 20 minutes later, with the kick pedal and a tambourine stand, both of which Chris will be needing tonight.
16.30hrs
Still waiting for Running (the owner of La Trottoir A La Darsena) to open the club. We’ve got the van parked right outside the place. His son finally gets there and opens for us.
La Trottoir seems primarily a jazz club downstairs, with a tiny stage that seems unlikely to fit all of us. There’s a massive piano up there but we manage it anyway.
The club staff feed us all and provide us with ample coffee.
Within the first 45 minutes of the gig, the 5 people there are well into it, but at this point it doesn’t seem like they’ll be too many people tonight. We have a 30 minute break, allowing for more people to get to the club. A bigger crowd starts to fill the place and by the next half of the performance, more people are by the cd and t-shirt stand, buying our merchandise and asking about the band.
The gig seemed to be a success. The dim lighting and warm colours provide a positive, bar - like setting for our last Italian gig.
After a group of lovely - looking ladies from the audience take to the stage, and begin their banging of Chris’s drums and Lisa’s tambourine, we’re off, loading the van again and set off into the night to Cindy Barg’s place, which means yet another 12 hours of gruelling driving through the much dreaded dark swiss motorway.
Adrian, Steve and Chris are behind the wheel today. Too many road works going on in this highway at the moment which confuses us quite a few times. One of which ended with us bumping into three hooded guys in the middle of nowhere & got even more lost trying to get away from them resulting in us going a few miles back on the highway before being able to get back on track. Just what we needed…another extra 20 miles to our 615 miles journey from ..Milan.. to ....Ghent.....
We take the scenic route. Passed trees, herds of grazing sheep and cows and stop at an auto grill for some self service where we stocked up on coffee and food for the rest of the drive there.
14.00hrs
Arrived at Cindy’s farmhouse the second time. She’s lovely, this girls she is. Her two adorable dogs are running around. It’s playtime for them and sleep time for us. She yet again provides us with four double beds and a scrumptious rice, pumpkin, spices and shrimp. Lovely.
We have approximately 2 to 3 hours of sleep before our sound check for the next show at Café Fatima, a great club with a record label. We later learn that ..Fatima.. records have a rather interesting repertoire of Belgian bands to its name. Raw-sounding Surf, punk and rock n roll bands. We love this place even more for its authentic look. It is unpretentious and warm. Everything about ..Fatima.. is as it seems. Just the way a good club ought to be…the dj plays vinyl and no time’s wasted on digital sounds. In fact there is no do, it is Tyl the bar owner that plays whatever he or his customers want. He later introduces us to his record collection through which we’ve already started rummaging to find many albums in our personal collections. His collection includes Wire, Nico Live in ....Japan...., Roxy Music, The Kinks, Dinosaur Jr, Joy Division, Hawkwind and Nina Hagen. Yeah.
We begin. The guys are setting up, having their beers, provided by the bar. Lisa’s drinking a variety of teas tonight. Liquorish and lemon teas will prove useful to the clearing of her congested nasal passage.
22.00hrs
Bang. The show begins. Lisa’s latex gloves and lace dress produce tons of significant sweat. No other place for that than a grinding show. ....Adrian....’s guitars are screeching, and his jolting guitar strokes are evident as he arches to play. Chris has generated sweat too. That is evident by the sight of his drenched and dripping t-shirt that we later find backstage. Steve’s manoeuvring of the bass is composed and collected.
People come up to us after the gig with enthusiastic looks, people interested in talking about music and art and film and our music. One girl remarks we sound rather like The Slits vocal-wise, whereas Tyl says ....Adrian....’s guitar strumming reminds him of Thurston Moore’s playing. ....Adrian.... is very much into Sonic Youth.
We thoroughly enjoyed playing this gig. The club is amazing, the people are real. It’s out of this world. This is what indie clubs should be like. Unpretentious, raw, live, cosy, real.
Tyl offers us another cold one before heading off back to Cindy’s place. We later get to know there’s a great party happening saturday night at Minus One in ..Ghent.., after the gig in ....Aalst..... A sexadelic, psychedelic night which we’re really hoping to go to if we make it. Fingers crossed!
Once arrived at Cindy’s place for the night, before tucking us in, she puts on an AC/DC record for us. “It’s my very favourite record in the whole world” she claims. And with a track such as Big Balls on, how could it not be.
Day Nine:
We’ve all had a good night’s rest this time. We woke up at 12.30hrs and had a quick breakfast as Steve , Cindy and Chris are off with the van to fetch Chris some drumsticks which have snapped due to his excessive pounding at last night’s gig.
Chris finds the sticks and returns. It’s now 17.15hrs and Elaine has cooked up a mouth-watering pot of sweet and sour, chilli noodles. By now we’re starving and Cindy needs to leave the house in 20 minutes. We’re forced to scoff this delicious ‘ben di dio’ or Godsend food and head for ....Brussels..... Cindy and the dogs bid us farewell and just before leaving, the total BABE that Cindy is, gave each of us girls a lovely beach dress from various parts of the world. Aaawwwww girl!! Now why’s she giving us presents when we’ve already received more than we’d expected hahah. Crazy sweet baby doll!
We’ve got 30 minutes to get out of Cindy’s flat. Not that she’s throwing us out or anything. She’s got a gig she’s rehearsing for tonight, and we’ve got our gig at Café Dada. We leave the magical town of ..Gottem.. and head off to exciting, cosmopolitan ....Brussels..... Now folks are often misled into believing ....Brussels.... has virtually nothing of fun value to offer. That’s completely false. ....Brussels.... is the most gorgeous city.
Now playing at Dada is exciting, for it turns out this place is a melting pot of musical rock n roll styles, varying from raw punk to post punk, to drone, electro, IDM, gothic and industrial. We’re pissing ourselves with excitement. There’s supposed to be an assortment of punks who don’t just listen to straight forward numbers, and who appreciate a myriad of other styles as well. This is primarily important.
We’re greeted by the bartender of Café Dada and the club itself, for the club has the raw punk character you’d expect to find in most major cities. We eventually unload the instruments from the van and start setting up behind the distinct - looking black sequined curtain. This already looks like the sort of place you’d expect a punk cabaret of sorts to take place. And we’re no further from the truth there. In smoke-filled, dingy, punk-polished bathrooms, one can already hear snorting. And it’s barely eight.
Two punk/rockabilly girls are doing their thing in one of the other cubicles.
We meet two of our Maltese friends living in ....Brussels...., sit around & drink beer as Lisa put on her latex gloves and shiny black leggings and grubby patent heels in front of a grubby mirror.
We all watch in awe and amazement at the first band up for tonight. When asked what they thought of the show, ....Adrian.... replies it’s weird by any standard. Lisa actually love the show and wanted to dance around freakily to it. It’s weird in its own way. No different than a circus act, nor is it pretentious in any way. It’s what it is. A space circus band from the planet Mars or whichever planet they dawned from. With their electro synths, loud and clearly amateur front vocalists, this band is a mixture of Devo, and that toy keyboard you’d forgotten you’d stored in your granny’s wardrobe. The vocalists with their oversized cartoonish gloves and hats and the keyboardist with big metal boots and a Devosih - looking screw hat were as amateur punk cabaret as you can get. And their audience of regulars loved it! ....Adrian....’s jaw drops at the sight of this band for a few milliseconds and is then resumes its original position. Chris insists this isn’t music. I think it’s all cabaret and theatre mixed with amateur electro. Different folks different strokes!
Our set had to be kept short due to time restrictions, however the response we got from this club was the best ever so far we believe. The crowd’s mood was altered and high which made us feel very welcome and appreciated. Two coked out girls in biker tops and sliding off make up and dancing and one French girl’s tripped out of her mind, even singing to Sibbi, Second Coming and Boulevard Werewolf. Hahah how tripped is that. Seriously.
After the show, lots more people who know their music inside out come up to us and we chat for a while. One guy Yan who’s already read our blog on tour is talking to Lisa about the band and the tour and the slightly crazy incidents that seem to be cropping up at seemingly bad times. Lovely, sincere people here. Except for one unseen individual who happens to have stolen one of our ep’s from the merchandise table. After a discussion over some great home-made pasta, cooked especially for us by Veronique of Café Dada, in the apartment, ....Adrian.... seems to disagree with Lisa’s opinion about the stolen copy being somewhat of a compliment to the band. ....Adrian.... argues it’s a disrespectful act of theft and being extremely unsupportive to starting-out bands. Funny thing Lisa recall the days of her youth, where she’d stealthily drop two or three cd cases into her bag of the bands she adored, whose albums she couldn’t possibly afford to buy at the age of 15/16, having no or a lousy part-time job as a waitress. In a way the same thing could be said of downloading music off the internet for free, which some of us at the table seem to think is a good idea, and others of the band completely disagree. We smoke some more and have a few more beers before going to sleep in the old, spacious apartment kindly provided to the band as our abode for the night, by the club.
Chris gets excited at the assortment of cult horror classics and ‘horribly - bad - they’re - great - b movies, which is essentially what inspires our music in a way. His sweaty paws open up all the dvds from their original cases and we watch a horror movie as we’re all tucked away in our sleeping bags, on two double mattresses, plus two big sofas. We watch The Dead Next Door. Hahah terrible. With lines such as “They’re coming after us and they want to eat us. But they have no mouths!” this movie has to have won worst script in a movie. Ever. Loved it.
Day Ten:
....Brussels.... is absolutely amazing. Amidst Gothic, and medieval, architectural towers and magnificent failytale-esque steeples and supremely chic Parisian-style cafes, restaurants and boutiques, hat and glove and lace shops for chic Belgian women. Lisa decides to wake up early and pack to go out and hunt for breakfast. A cappuccino, omlettes and Belgian waffles covered in chocolate and stawberries do just fine. Pay a quick and relaxing visit to a gorgeous hair salon on the way and buy some Belgian chocolates from a nearby Brussels Chocolatier. O Gosh. Too beautiful to resist.
She gets back to the apartment, where the guys are eating leftover pasta, and getting packed to leave. The showers are enough to make you protest at first sight - but don’t be fooled, For there’s lots of water pressure and a huge water heater. Oooh yeahhhhhh.
It’s 16.45hrs and we’ve arrived at The Key MuziekCafe in ....Roeselare..... This is a plainer environment where people can smoke indoors. And thank god for that in ....Belgium....! …..is the sort of lonely, disengaged place that reminds one of some deserted place in the Mid West. We’re looking forward to seeing just what sort of crowd this place attracts. The place is indefinitely less charming and unique in character to clubs like Fatima and Dada, however I’m curious to see who shows up. It seems there’s fuck all to do in this town except for a toy store and a snooker hall opposite the club. Strange surroundings and no internet cafes whatsoever. Lisa’s laptop is now in critical need of recharging and there’s nowhere she can do it.
The crowd is small and young. It seems there’s nothing to do in this town. “When does the band start?” We seem to be hearing this line rather often tonight. “The crowd’s been asking when The Areola Treat begin and I keep telling them at nine thirty”, says the barman.
We play. Lisa is bored onstage. One or two kids seem to enjoy us. The rest are mere onlookers. There to be entertained simply because there is nothing to do in this town, unlike bustling ....Brussels.....
“All this sweat, for nothing” Chris retorts as the set is almost done and Second Coming is our closing number. ....Adrian.... shakes his head in agreement and Steve doesn’t look too pleased either. Yet all things come to an end. Lisa’s voice is now raspy and she’s none left.
Chris, Adrian, Elaine and Steve are having a few last drinks at the bar. By now Lisa is totally bored of the place and the crowd and stays in the van, trying to sleep without heating.
It’s some time close to 3 am and we’re finally off home. Tonight, home is at Wouter’s. A tiny, packed abode. There is hardly any place for seven people to sleep. Very sweet guys they are. They offer us a few beers, and tea with honey, Chris, Elaine and Adrian are downstairs smoking and speaking to Niels. Seems they’re down for a while and laughing in the street. Lots of Jupilers and smoke. They finally crawl back up the stairs laughing. It’s another hour before they fall asleep. Steve and Lisa are tucked away and trying to fall asleep. They’re not pleased at all!
What a night. Looking at the bright side of things, we did manage to sell one ep though.
Day Eleven:
Woke up at about 10.30hrs Lisa takes a walk around town for a tea, coffee and some fresh air away from the claustrophobic apartment where we’re packed like sardines. The other members of the band are taking it in turns to use the toilet and shower.
Great Spaghetti sauce made especially for us, by Niels’s mother is turned into a delicious sauce for the entire flat. Bowls of spaghetti are being passed round, and they’re huge! Too huge to finish any of them.
We’re all in desperate need to use the internet and update our myspace and facebook profiles when we get a chance too, so we’re all fighting for the pc. Elaine’s writing out an email to airmalta, letting them know about our flight back and the extra weight in instruments and the agreement that was supposedly made.
We leave for the club at 16.00hrs. Got to pick up Cindy on the way. She’s coming with us to tonight’s venue Nagasonic in ....Aalst.....
It’s not far from our ....Ghent..... Nagasonic’s in a quiet neighbourhood. It’s very different to yesterday’s venue. This is a rock club. With real rockers waiting for mean to be dangled in their faces. Well not quite literally. That’s what Lisa expected. Very cool crowd though. Tonight we’re playing with Wasted Therapy and Uberkitsch. Faint reminders of Motorhead are heard.
Lisa’s tired of drinking teas that don’t fucking work. She asks the barman for a giant glass of ice cubes.
Our performance is a show in itself. Except for Lisa‘s voice extremely croaky voice, as a consequence of which we’re unable to do three of our numbers on the setlist.
Cindy’s still there in the front, supporting us with all her might. Chris got the intro to 16 right this time as he’s been getting it wrong for the past 4 gigs. The band had almost given up on him getting it right. He’s our man. He deserves a nice cold one.
The gig at Negasonic was probably the most we enjoyed through out the whole tour. Crowd was great, sound was awesome on stage & we met Patrick…..a guy we’ve know through cyberspace for more than a year now!
The band’s planning on going to the Vulva Club tonight for the Sexadelic psychedelic party. Lisa is unable to go for health reasons, the others are still willing to stay on and party. Just one hour into having said they were going to the party, Elaine and Adrian are back in the flat and the others go grab some take away at a nearby fast food joint drive - through. ....Adrian.... remains food-less because the girl at the drive-through said they’d have to wait another hour for all the other cars to get served before placing another order. Doesn’t look to happy about not eating tonight. He however, gets to have some left over pasta.
At this point we’re all feeling sick and some feeling more weary than othersL
Lights are out at 3.00am
Day Twelve:
Woke up at 12.00hrs, we help ourselves to tea and coffee and some left-over bread. Chris needs to use the bathroom in a hurry and rushes to the downstairs toilet.
We leave the house at around 12.30 to get to Luc Waegeman’s place. He’s expecting us after two, and has also invited all the band members to join in a jamming session with some friends of his at a garage nearby. Adrian and Chris seem particularly eager to play a little. Not the same could be said for Lisa though. Having spend the last days eating whatever pops up on our plates we decided to make time & go to eat a proper something somewhere in the Ghent.
We did, treated ourselves to some bloody steaks & a couple of Duvels!
Adrian, Chris and Steve finally meet Luc (who incidentally was jamming just round the corner from Wouter’s apartment) & after coffee & cigarettes jam along with a very bluesy guitar player who seemed lost around us. The only jamming we know is practically making noise, which was not what this guy had in mind.
We drive to the venue we’re playing tonight. Tonight it’s the gorgeous Kinky Star Club. One of the best clubs for our genre in ....Ghent..... There’s lots of people tonight. Poets, artists, sullen - looking people, intelligent people who know their music and sound. Many sound engineers and producers. Fancy - dressed guys and dolls in their Sunday best.
Our repertoire is longer today than it was yesterday and the crowd are totally digging it. Thank god for that because self-critical Lisa doesn’t feel it was one of her best gigs at all. The guys were fine playing, except for the fact that Chris complains about hardly being able to hear anything on his monitor. It is a small venue but the people welcomed us and most importantly, the crowd was an inspiring one. Our lovely Cindy later shows up , looking as into us as when we’d first met her at the club when The Areola Treat were on tour last year. She confesses to looking for new band members right now, which are very hard to find. Good luck dear and we hope to see you here in ....Malta.... very soon. Can’t wait to have you over.
An anonymous female photographer has a peculiar and interesting idea for a promo band shoot for us, and snaps away. She’s a friend of the staff at Kinky Star to who we are very grateful for having taken such lovely pictures,.
One rather charismatic person approached Lisa about the faethers in her hair she is wearing. His name is Daniel and he’s a Curt Cobain look- alike in every way possible, except for the fact that he was Belgian and uttered sentences in perfect English in his croakier - than - thou manner. Daniel wore a long grey coat with a huge fur pelt around the collar, and a robin-hood hat, embellished with feathers, pumpkin seeds and leaves. He’s an events organiser for charities who has jotted down the bands’ info on a beer mat. He leaves our vocalist a little free something in a little bag in the women’s toilets just for taking the time to talk to him about the band and his music promotions. He then buys our cd and Lisa has to rush off back to the hotel since she’s now very ill.
Adrian and Chris are now having a beer and chatting to Vincent, our kind and fun van-owner. Luc has been to see the Pixies live in concert a few days ago and is talking about the experience. Steve chats to some promoters and a few Maltese friends living in ....Belgium.... who have come to see the show. They offer us a tour around the city next time we’re there. ....Ghent.... is a wonderful place. The people are like the medieval buildings there….spectacular.
Sometime around 02:00hrs we realize we’re so hungry & try to get a bite somewhere. The only open place at the time, a kebab joint with the strange name of “Sahara Hut”. Thanks good to a local guy (who proved to be a vital interpretor) also there we manage to get something to eat.
Back to Kinky Star to load the gear for the last time in the van & head off to Luc’s place. Crash in the living room, smoke, drink some more & realize we don’t even have the strength to find the bedroom. We all sleep in the living room.
Day Thirteen:
With a new day in the horizon, all the band members with the exception of Chris , lucky bastard he’s the only one who’s got away with sickness scott - free so far. Coughing, sneezing, and sniffling is heard all through Luc’s place and the van.
It’s now almost 13.00hrs and we drive the van to Vincent’s place to return it. Vincent was kind enough to allow us a few extra hours & prepares pasta for all of us at his home. We try to make last minutes arrangements with Airmalta regarding our excess gear weight which proves to be in vain. What a bunch of……they are!
Elaine’s in charge of collecting and distributing our flight tickets. We check in and ....Brussels.... airport gives us no hassle in any way, wasting no time at all in checking our 49 kilos of overweight gear in. At no charge. Great! After the ordeal we’d had with our previous Maltese airline, this was really good news!
Take care.
Pictures coming soon!
Lisa
xx