ALLLLLLLLLLLLLRIGHT,
It took awhile for me to get situated and catch up with all the mail and general day to day action on the road here. I can now start this diary (of sorts) and give you an idea of how much fun we're having in Europe for the first time in over 10 years.
It's funny because we're playing festivals, and we don't have a label or shit...
JUNE 23rd;
--Our first show was in the middle of a town called 'The Backnanger Straussenfest' just outside of Stuttgart in Germany....right in the middle of town.
-- It was not just a crowd of of punk/HC/Metal kids, but also the locals from town who had no idea what the music is about...... So, the first thing I did was run straight across the stage to the other side to climb up on the PA stack and climbed up onto the portable crappers that were installed throughout the town.....from up there, you know I had everyone's attention so I proceeded to do the show from a height where I had everyone bugging out wondering who the fuck is this american doing a jig up on the roof .... a great show to start off ..... I was stomping the hell out of it seeing if it would cave in, but it did'nt....... So I just kept rocking it and getting the whole 20 feet by 15 feet (like a big 18 wheel toilet/restroom)to shake chasing people out of it on the other side......lots of fun.....should have seen their faces.
June 24th;
Next up was PRESSURE FEST near Dortmund, Germany where the venue was hockey arena! I not only had the pleasure of playing with MADBALL(and get to hang out with them away frrom home) as well as newcomers like GUNS UP, Evergreen Terrace, and last, but not least we got to play with IGNITE for the first of several shows on this tour together.
I must say that I'm learning a lot from the other bands, and I'm floored by watching Madball for the first time in years. By the time the day was done I knew we were in the processs of having the best tour of my life.... as corny as it may seem, but I'm on-point with my health and game so I can enjoy this tour better than the previous..... plus the fact that I'm having the time of my life...... I took photos, and caught a real good shot of HOYA from his side of the stage surrounded in puffs of my smoke (in which I enjoyed very much thanks to that euro-home-grown-with-cheese like the Nederlanders do)...I'm sure it's the best band/music shot I'll take this whole tour so I'll send it to Hoya when I get home.
JUNE 25;
This is our first experience playing in an open-air festival, and our cherry got busted in a small farm-town called Clisson in France which was invaded (by Sunday) a 10,000-PLUS crowd who came out for HELLFEST, and weekend event( and we're playing on the last day, of course).
We only had about 45 minutes from showing up before we had to play. We're on the side stage doing soundcheck while the crowd was on the other side watching GBH (ironically, we played with them and AF almost exactly 20 yrs ago on June 26th, 1986 at the RITZ in NYC) performing across the field on the main stage.
When they finished it was our time to go on, of course ....as I was watching these mobs make their way towards our stage I could'nt help realising that it looked like a large herd of livestock dusting up the field as they crossed the land (as if I must've felt the same way a proud farmer does looking over his spread).... I just...could'nt help myself... so I started doing my best version of a pigfarmer trying to win the trophy for "Best Call Award" so I started SOOUUUUIIIEEEE, Sou, Sou , SOUOUOU SOOUUUUUUIEEE for a good 30 or so seconds before I announced US, and we went into ENFORCER (as I danced and looked for a place to climb up on doing my old monkey routine).... AJ gets a good laugh when I make a spectacle so we had a lot of fun with this set, and we won over a whole new group of fans (HUNDREDS.....even thousands perhaps)??
Had time with more friends, and again, the pleasure of seeing MADBALL, but on an even bigger stage later into the evening. I missed GUNS UP since they played before we even got to the fest today so I look forward to catching up with them when they get home from Europe...
I also got to meet a wonderful young lady by the name of Talita (who does the UXFEST) thankfully helping/working in the media room where I spent a couple of hours doing interviews and some meet/greet with industry people. Big shouts to Talita, and thanks for all your help.
I did'nt get to enjoy too much cheese, but I did catch CELTIC FROST at the end of the night which also reminded me of another early RITZ show in NYC around 1986 when CF first came to the states. That night both skins and metalheads were dancing together (and was obviously the first time Tommy G. Warrior-Fish saw such mayhem).... he had this big wide grin on his face during the whole set. I was'nt sure if you could call it "shit eating", but it was one of your truly surprised grins nevertheless.
.... remembering that, and now watching him work the crowd rocking a scully cap.... what a difference 20 years makes....
JUNE 26;
After yesterday (closed the HELLFEST in France) we found ourselves doing a Monday evening show in Paris at Nouveau Casino, and I had the chance to see the promoter Mickey for the first time in over a decade (Mickey IS PARIS as far as the punk/HC world is concerned).
We drew a respectable crowd of close to 200 people for a Monday night which was good comparing everyone was still getting home from Clisson/Hellfest and/or recovering from the weekend fest.
I'll have a video from this show up on this site soon. It will be waiting for me when I get home and I'll load it on for y'all to see.
Tomorrow, we stop in Maastricht, Holland so I can stop by the Mississippi (a 'coffee shop' boat just outside the town center) to stock up for awhile.
JUNE 27
Played Le Bierstube in Tournai, Belgium. A beautiful town right out of the 17th century.... classic architechture that has to be 3 and 4 centuries old throughout. I had the chance to spend close to 24 hours here and really enjoyed the tranquility of it.
It was an interesting show, and one of the first that kids were singing along through the whole set (more english is spoken here than most areas we'll play). The hospitality is on point so far....
JUNE 29;
We had a night off, and we're back in Schweinfurt, Germany (literally means pig-town). In the town's center, all the shops have 6-foot ceramic PIGS standing on 2 legs painted in assorted patterns out front (well, almost every shop... the ratio has to be 1:3 ).
The Shweinfurt shows(here at the Alter Stadtbahnhof ) always brought US servicemen, but not as many this time (since they're all probably deployed somewhere in the thick of it). We opened for IGNITE tonight and had the chance to acquiant ourselves better .
This show was a workout for me (I'm feeling sore after a day off), but I'm almost in my zone where in a few days my voice will be used to playing every day and I wont ache as much after a few more shows.
What I'm really excited about is how we're winning over the newschool kids since they've never seen us before, but it's obvious we still have a lot to offer, and the respect is there....
I wonder what it's like for the posi-kids to seewhat some of these 80's bands (they worship) look like today. I heard an SxE kid bitch the other day about a band (and won't say who) he paid to go see and I quote "DAMN.... for that price I could've put my ipod on and watch my Dad at home for FREE"
.... now, we're off to Spain.....
JUNE 30; ANACRUSA FEST, Barcelona
What an experience this was for us. The promoters were old Leeway fans and they were such a solid bunch of guys giving us a chance to play their annual festival they have right on the beach with a stage just yards away from the Mediterranean Sea just outside of Barcelona.
They flew us in just for the show. We had lunch on the beach after resting off the pre-dawn flight we took to get there. After a little more recreation we had the pleasure of playing in front of over 2000+ and had one of the more stand out shows of our tour. I got to do my usual 'monkey-climbing' that I love to do since the side PA stacks were about 10-12 feet they were easy to climb and jump off (keeps my adrenaline going).
There's footage of this event which we should recieve by the end of the year.
After our set a hung out with the local HC bands and caught a big piece of 'chocolate' (such generous musicians here) which I proceeded to smoke the rest of the night (and have plenty for later) watching the sun come up I was able to reflect on the things at hand and find more peace on this tour than I ever had before.
July 1 *FULL FORCE FEST* Roitzschjora, Ger
This is a M.A.D booking agency festival that's been going on for quite some time. We played the small stage here, but had a large audience like we did in Spain so it was a solid, early show.
Had the pleasure to spend time with the guys in AF (especially a buddy from Inhuman that was playing guitar for them this tour) playing in front of the main stage crowd with a sea of 30,000 bodies was nice to see him enjoying the experience.... I felt like a proud uncle.
We did a few photo shoots with the pro photogs that come to these events, but I've only seen live pics from this tour...
July 2; POWERFEST Tilburg, NL
It's nice to be back in Holland, so I prceeded to find the only 2 smokeshops open in town on a Sunday and had the pleasure of procuring an assortment of goodies. They have a limit now as far as how much you can purchase in a day, but that is easy to around.... just go to more than one shop.....
On the bill today were Shelter and FVK, Shelter played with us yesterday and is only doing a weekend of fests, and FVK flew in to do just this show (since AJ was with us it was easy for him to do 2 sets and play bass for them).
I've got myso-called 'second wind' now.... I'm normally sore as shit by this point in a tour, but I'm amazed at how much my knees have held up, and the band is with no doubt better than ever as a live band....
July 3rd; UNDERWORLD London, UK
The first of 2 dates in the UK. We onky played London once before and that night there were more photogs than an audience, but this show was of course better.
A small crowd, but they knew us and they were solid fans young and old