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‘In The East All Together’ Tour 2009

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Whilst contemplating this tour blog, I was reminded of a line from a Tom Verlaine song that says, “the travels fulfils you but the distance it kills you’. It would be easy indeed to moan about the long distances, the aches and pains caused by too little sleep, too much alcohol and the rather variable nutritional intake – and don’t even mention the ‘excess baggage’ charges (budget airlines my arse). However, the clue is in the title, if you want to ‘tour’ you gotta travel and it aint a ‘9 to 5’ gig (man); and so we set off (at 4:30 in the morning) for the ‘In The East All Together’ Tour. Passing through nine countries (covering half of Europe) to play eight gigs in seven days.

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The first gig was in Oberhausen, Germany (Skyclad’s ‘second home’) at the Helvete Club. Good solid metal gig with a great crowd. It was also my birthday (cue jokes but thanks to all for singing ‘Happy Birthday’) and it was great to meet up with a lot of old friends; including the Dong Open Air crew and our friends from Carlisle (good effort lads) and thanks everyone for all the photos, videos, cards and presents – the Port will find a good home. We had gigged with Adorned Brood before but it was nice to meet up with a young Spanish band, Kathaarsys, from Galicia (another favourite haunt of Skyclad), who brought greetings from the TNT bar in Santiago (what a night). So far so good and it was a great start to the tour. ....

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I have to say that the band approached the second gig with a certain amount of trepidation – as well as an eight-hour drive from west to east. We don’t know what it is with Berlin but no one in the band can actually remember having a good night there – ever. Maybe it was because the promoter put six bands on the bill that were very, very different (good for him but maybe not for the bands). This sort of fragmented the crowd making somewhat partisan with each band having (to bring) there own little group of supporters (some of whom promptly left when their act was finished). The only bands that seemed appropriate as support where Fauns and Metal Law (check them out). Maybe it’s because it’s the capital and people are ‘spoilt for choice’. Whatever it is it is always seems hard work in Berlin, as if some people are a little ‘too cool’. That’s not to say that the Skyclad contingent didn’t enjoy themselves and in the end we did the gig for them (you know who you are). It just seemed a little more sombre/sober after the first night.....

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This was made even more apparent when compared to the gig in Vienna. This was a different story altogether. From the moment the band arrived at the ‘Escape Metalcorner’ Club they were well looked after. The promoter was really enthusiastic and helpful, providing a great rider and the gig was very well organised. Again, the crowd were all really enthusiastic joining in with all the songs and jokes. “Proper metal folk” and the crowd showed how a gig should be. A great Skyclad night (‘goodnight Vienna’ indeed). ....

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As we headed off for the next gig, in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, there was a feeling that we were really going ‘into the east all together’ because we had played Berlin and Vienna before but the rest of the tour would take the band into new territories. On the way someone made a comment that it was like going back in time the further east we drove. To be fair the town itself was pleasant enough but the gig itself left a bit to be desired in terms of equipment and facilities – well there wasn’t any and the promoter was on holiday. This gig was switched from the ‘Tartaros Club’ to the ‘bigger’ Tirish Bar (which to us sounded like an Irish pub and indeed it turned out to be more like that). All the trademarks of a midweek gig here but it was no use complaining (and we did have fun in the Chinese restaurant with some of the translations; can anyone please explain what ‘ants climbing the tree’ could possibly be as no-one was brave enough to order it) and we decided to make the best of it. So after sorting out all the technical problems with our ‘sound engineer’ for the night we actually managed to have an enjoyable gig and, again, there were a few enthusiastic fans that made it all worthwhile. The support bands here (Tisic Let Od Raje and Nevaloth) are mentioning because they lent us some equipment but also because there was a very strange sort of S&M thing going on. Interesting. We then had the first of our ‘drives through the night’ back to the Czech Republic to stay in a small cottage that was owned by the family of our tour manager Marian; but as this came with its own wine cellar we were more than interested. As we got there at dawn, this, of course, meant having to sample the wine over breakfast – as you do.

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The next gig was in the Czech Republic in Brno. Skyclad had only played in the capital, Prague, prior to this gig but in some respects this was the gig of the tour. Completely different from the night before, because the venue itself was great in terms of its, stage, equipment and sound guys, who did a great job. They had to because there were five bands on that night (yes, again five bands and no it wasn’t a festival). This included a tour package of three bands from Sweden that included a very bizarre group of guys who got absolutely hammered (as you do) and then improvised some ’depressive/suicidal’ doom metal, dressed as monks. Again the crowd were great for Skyclad and we even met up with some old friends and I personally have to thank one of them for buying the Jagermeister that saved my voice that night. After a thoroughly enjoyable night it was back to the wine cellar (‘it’s a dirty job’ etc).

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The next day there was the fairly lengthy drive to Budapest, Hungary. The venue was a rather odd club that was furnished in 1970s décor (unless they just forgot to decorate) but the gig itself was okay (if a little ‘ambient’). Actually there were two gigs going on and so there was rather a strange mix of folk there and some were a bit taken aback by the ‘folk-metal’ contingent. The support band here were our friends Sacra Arcana from Pecs (who actually played ‘Parliament Of Fools’ in their set). They seem to enjoy their gig in the capital and were well supported (oh, and thank you for the excellent Hungarian wine). Skyclad too was also given a warm welcome and the crowd seemed to know the new material very well, singing along with ‘The Well-Travelled Man’ in fine style. The city itself looks very grand but despite having been there twice we still haven’t had time to investigate any further than driving over the bridge and going ‘wow Buda and Pest’.....

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The same thing, unfortunately, happened with Ljubljana. We were really looking forward to going to new places but as soon as we came into the city the gig was there and it was dark so we didn’t see very much. Such is touring. The gig itself however was well worth the travel. Very clean (and smoke free for a change), well organised and with a great rider. We also had good support from a young folk metal band (again, for a change). Skyclad got another great response from the crowd with a good ‘jig-pit’ going on and it was a great way to spend a Friday night (yes, it was Friday – I’m sure) and this is another place we would definitely go back to. The only unfortunate thing was we had to head off straight after the gig and ‘drive through the night’ again because we had a horrible twelve-hour drive to Sophia, Bulgaria in front of us.....

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This drive actually took us out of the EU and for the first time in ages we had to make ‘real’ border crossings to get through Croatia and Serbia. Not that these were particularly bad experiences (and you do get your passport stamped) but the road (single track) just seemed to go on forever (though the mountain passes were very impressive). So we were very pleased to finally get the Sophia, the last city on the tour, in the afternoon and we went directly to the hotel to a bit of rest. The gig was another venue really suited to the ‘hot’n’sweaty’ vibe – very metal, with a good PA and very helpful crew. After the soundcheck we headed off to the restaurant (Chinese again) and only then discovered that we were in fact another hour ahead of CET (which is why the promoter was hanging around waiting for us). This meant that we only had an hour to digest our food before the gig (not a good thing). We also had to do a couple of interviews – for ‘TV’ and Internet radio – before we played. We actually did a few interviews on this tour and it was nice to do more in the way of promotion. ....

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The gig in Sophia was excellent and a great way to finish the tour. The crowd were fantastic from start to finish and it would be a very close thing between this gig and the one in Brno as to which was the highlight of the tour. We had the jig-pit; we had crowd surfers, we had headbangers and a Halloween party afterwards. What more can I say, except we want to go back sooner rather than later. My poor voice just about lasted but I was worn out and headed back at the respectable time of 2:00 am – leaving the rest to party on (in Acheron) till dawn. ....

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Some were perhaps a little worse for wear as we headed off to the airport and the long trip back home but we were all happy with the tour and commented that it was the best we had done for quite some time. On the way back we were discussing which countries we hadn’t been to in Europe and found that there aren’t many left for us to visit (look out the Baltic states) and how, after the ‘In The East All Together Tour’, it appears that Skyclad are now truly European civilians and a well-travelled band.

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Kevin Ridley

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 ....After a fantastic album launch at the Performance Academy in Newcastle (and a very drunken ‘aftershow party’), it was time for Skyclad to join in with the festival season. We have just headlined our first ever UK folk festival at Spratton. This happened on Friday June 10^th and got a great reception – even though we might be a bit ‘heavier’ than the bands that normally play there, so thanks to the organisers for taking a chance and making this happen. Hopefully there will be more events like this for Skyclad in the UK – we are ready and waiting.....

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Skyclad has also just paid another return visit to the Dong Open Air festival in Germany (we have now played in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009). This has got to be one of our favourite festivals (and probably a favourite of many others as it sold out in just four hours) partly because of its unique location (on top of the ‘Dongberg’) but also because of its ‘small but perfectly formed’ philosophy. They could move this festival and make it bigger etc but they have created a nice ‘niche’ for themselves and long may it continue. We are planning to return next year (we know it breaks the sequence but…) for the DOA tenth anniversary and Skyclad twentieth anniversary. ‘A fistful of cows’ indeed.....

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So what’s next? Well the next festival will be the ‘Rock City Open Air’ festival in Romania. This one is at the other extreme to the Dong as it is a four-day event with over a hundred bands. Skyclad are set to play on Friday 21^st August (there is a link from this site).....

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Apart from the festivals, Skyclad have also now confirmed all the dates for a tour of Eastern Europe in October (see tour dates) and there will be more news about this, and any other shows added, in the coming weeks.

Hosted By:
Skyclad

When:
26 June 2009

Where:
Newcastle College
Scotswood Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE4 7SA

Description:
Special show for the release of 'In The All Together' at the Performance Academy, Newcastle College. There is also an 'aftershow party' at The Globe, 'just over the road'. Tickets are going VERY fast. If you need tickets you need to register with us here or at skyclad.info@btinternet ASAP or you can get tickets from Newcastle college (but need cheque etc).

Click Here To View Event

E-mail us at info@polskipubtheglobe.co.uk

To celebrate the release of the new Skyclad album 'In The...All Together', we have posted some (edited) MP3s of all the tracks from the album. So, hopefully, everyone can get to know the songs and join in at gigs and festivals over the coming months.

Cheers & Beers Skyclad!

A while back we were asked to play at Newcastle College as part of their 'Summer Music' programme. This is part of a two week 'festival' with a 'battle of the bands' theme based on the 'Monsters of Rock' and the winners of the heats get to support Skyclad. So we are playing at the Performance Academy of Newcastle College on Friday June 26th (which is right in the middle of town).

This is an 'all ages gig' (as it is for the 16-18 year old students) but there will be a bar and the venue itself is great. So if you want to come along the ticket price is only £2.00 (just to cover costs) and we'll sort out ticketing etc.Also, as it's an early finish we'll make sure that there is some sort of 'aftershow party' where we can do a bit od a 'Meet & Greet' and we'll have some special merch and some CDs of the new album etc

The address is:
Performance Academy
Rye Hill Campus
Scotswood Road
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE4 7SA

Just a note to say that we are awakening from our hibination to start doing some gigs in support of the new album, 'In The... All Together'. First up, we have a 'warm-up' gig at Langley Park, Durham on Sunday May 2. This is a charity gig and for those who are making the trip I said I would post the post code for the old Sat Nav (it is Front Street, Langley Park, DURHAM, DH7 9SG as far as I can guess). I've posted this info on the events page and hopefully we'll meet up there and share a jar and a chat for the forthcoming year.

Cheers!

Sorry we haven't posted anything here in 2009 yet but we were waiting for this - the OFFICIAL announcement. Seems we're open for business once more!

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             SKYCLAD Signs With SCARLET RECORDS - Jan. 21, 2009....

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SKYCLAD, the seminal British band, which is often referred to as "the originator of folk metal", has signed a deal with Scarlet Records. The group's twelfth album, "In The… All Together", is due in the spring. The CD, which was recorded and mixed by Dario Mollo (THE CAGE, VOODOO HILL) at Damage Inc Studio, in Ventimiglia, Italy during August 2008, "mixes the usual thrash/speed metal influences with the extraordinary folk melodies that made the band famous all around the world, maintaining a fresh and dynamic approach which gives a strong live dimension to the new songs," according to a press release.....

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Formed in 1990 by Martin Walkyer (SABBAT) and Steve Ramsey (SATAN, PARIAH), SKYCLAD gained extraordinary attention from both the press and the public with the now-legendary debut album "The Wayward Sons Of Mother Earth" (1991) and, since then, has built up a solid reputation which led them to take part in some of the most important international metal events (such as the renowned Dynamo, Wacken, Gods of Metal and Tuska festivals) and share the stage with some of the most respected artists of their time.....

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SKYCLAD's most recent full-length album, "A Semblance Of Normality", was released in 2004 through Demolition/Dreamcatcher Records. The band in 2006 issued an EP, entitled "Jig-a-Jig". The disc featured a new recording of the instrumental track "Jig-a-Jig", along with the songs "The Roman Wall Blues", "They Think It's All Over - Well Is It Now?" and "Mr Malaprope" from the "A Semblance Of Normality" sessions.

This is taken from Blabbermouth

Skyclad – Studio Report, weeks 2&3..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

Some of you might have seen the studio report Arron posted at his 'my space' site, well here's the second part (and there are also some photos etc to accompany this report).

 

Arron was mainly concerned with the first few days of recording, which were for the bass and drums, guide tracks etc and all this went very well and were completed well ahead of schedule. So much so that we got most of the guitar parts done before Arron and Bean had to leave on the Friday (a week after they came). In fact, they had time to do a bit of sightseeing, sunbathing and we even had a few nights out in Ventimiglia, which included watching a great 'big band' that were tour (American college guys we think) – it wasn't meant to be this easy.

 

So, having got down all the bass, drums, percussion, rhythm guitars and even a few guitar solos in the first week, it was time for Georgina to arrive and for me to start doing vocals. In fact, Steve left a couple of guitar parts to 'think about' so that he wouldn't be sitting about for the next two weeks.

 

Again the track laying of the vocals and fiddle parts went very easily and we all commented on the fact that this was the easiest, less stressed album we have ever recorded. Maybe this was due to the fact that we had demo recording of most of the songs and had had some serious rehearsals before coming to record, but it was probably down to the fact that Dario works very quickly when recording and editing stuff so there wasn't a hundred takes of everything, bleeding fingers, sore throats and all that stuff. Thank you Dario!

 

Another benefit of working this quickly was that we had time to try out some ideas for harmonies etc, so (as you may have seen from the video on Arron's site) we could get the whole band doing backing vocals (George also sings but on another track). One of the things I wanted to achieve with the recording of this album was for the whole band to go to the studio together and record everything as 'live' and fresh as possible – this means that for this album there are no session players, cover versions and so on, it's 100% Skyclad (and there aren't many Skyclad albums you can say that about not the first one and certainly not the last one). It was, in fact, the complete opposite of the last album, which took ages to record and featured everyone and their dog, nice though that experience was we all felt that 'we'd been there, done that' etc.

 

Despite the fact that we worked quickly (or maybe because of it) we didn't cut down on the tracking, in fact, Arron and myself programmed some percussion parts to go with the drums (Arron also played extra percussion) and Steve added lots of Harmony guitar parts, George did the same with the fiddle and keys and I multi tracked loads of vocal lines. So, in the end, the songs had the usual Skyclad 'kitchen sink and all' feel for Dario to try and mix – not easy. We've also added a few special 'sound effects' for intros and outros – again another feature of most Skyclad albums and some things to listen out for with headphones etc.

 

So, after completing all the tracking, we were left with over a week to mix the songs. However, as we were working completely digitally and with total recall etc, Dario had been editing and 'mixing' as we were going, so that the songs were half mixed by this point. We were so far ahead that we even had time to look at a live recording from our last gig in Pecs, Hungary. This was well done and we might be able to add a few live 'bonus tracks' from this gig.

 

As we had moved into 'mix mode', it meant that Steve, George and myself had a bit more free time and we too could go to the beach etc. Steve and George even went to Monte Carlo, Just to see how 'the other half lives' (they weren't impressed). Every night we would take home MP3s of the mixes to check things and make slight changes the next day – it was all very relaxed and controlled but, as usual, 'things always expand to the time allotted' and we finished checking the mixes and compiling the album on the very last day.

 

Since then everyone has had time to live with the mixes and, as the release date is some time away, we might still make a few minor changes or change the running order etc – we'll just have to see but, all in all, it is great to listen to the complete album now and I'm a bit overwhelmed by what we've managed to achieve so quickly.

 

Technical notes

 

For anyone interested in the technical side of things, I can tell you that one of the reasons we went to Dario's to record was to use his set up there. For example, he has a Sonor kit there, which is permanently miked up and sounds great. This meant that Arron just had to take his snare drum, pedals and a few 'favourite' cymbals and could get a great kit sound very easily. The percussion parts were mostly programmed (i.e. using midi samples), apart from the 'egg' shaker, of course (every album has to have one, and every Skyclad album has to have it's 'bell tree' effect).

 

While Bean took his Yamaha bass amp with him, there was a problem with it so he ended up using Dario bass 'Pod Pro' (along with the bass DI sound). Which was a good thing really as we got a great sort of Ampeg 'growl' to the bass sound and we think that you might even be able to hear the bass on this album – amazing.

 

In case you didn't know it, Dario has had a long association with 'Line 6' stuff and we ended up using some of his Pod gear for the guitar as well. We did try a few amplifiers but Steve like the Mesa Boogie 'triple rectifier' type sound (very modern) he got and it was very easy to record with. We also used a Fender Tweed sound for some parts – very different. Steve also used several guitars; his good old battered SG, my Variaxe 700 (line 6 again – can we get an endorsement?) and Dario's Epiphone Les Paul (which has had a lot of amendments made – bridge, pick ups etc). 

 

I had already recorded some tracks at home for the demos and they were (fortunately) good enough to use. The moral here is 'make the best job of the demos you can' (or maybe for me it's 'play something once, why play it again lol). So I had used my Takamine acoustic, my Stratocaster and my lovely 'Raimundo' classical guitar (featured on the track 'Babakoto'), which (after a little bit of editing) all worked great. Obviously I couldn't carry all these guitars to Italy (especially on bloody 'Easyjet'), so I just took the wav files with me and carried the Variaxe in we needed some 'special' sounds (which we did).

 

Dario also has a Neumann TL103 in place for doing vocals etc with. Not the most expensive mike but when put through the TLAudio valve preamp, gets a nice warm sound for vocals and we also used this for Georges acoustic violin (acoustic violin always sounds better in the studio). George used Dario's M-Audio 88 note mother keyboard to record the pad synths and organ sounds we need to complete the album. The only thing we didn't play was the Theremin note, which Dario placed at the beginning of 'Superculture' as it's part of his guitar rig and a bit difficult to keep in tune – so we'll give him credit for that. And there you have it, all the bits need to record a Skyclad album.