I left off with London and all the antics of the Lockside lounge, the 2 days off were filled with checking out the city itself including 'flat white', apparently the only place you can get good coffee that will satisfy the high standards of a Kiwi. Its in Camden and you can buy NZ music there including "Steps in Time".

In Berlin we met our German distributor friends (MDM) and I sung "Sylphlike" live on 'Blend' a German Digital TV station. We played at the Lovelite on the East side; this side of Berlin is the former Soviet area and is now completely full of graffiti, apt considering that Berlin is famous for its walls. We then travelled by train to Hamburg where we met our lovely publicist/promoter Nadschja who escorted us to be interviewed on a local student radio station and then to Beta lounge. This is an online streaming radio show that happens each week with featured guests and their hospitality is excellent. The scene is hip cats smoking (not just cigarettes) and lounging in a large room full of beanbags, everyone was totally chilled and there was good vibes all round. We played at Mojo Club to an awesome crowd including the lovely Rebecca. We had a day of chilling and left early the next morning for LA.

Los Angeles is full of clichés, it is a satire of itself, all the glam is overwhelmed by a massive city of concrete ghettos, even central downtown LA with it skyscrapers is only 2 blocks from skid row. Of course you can find the absolutely wealthy (Beverly Hills) or very trendy (Melrose), but the majority of LA is not that flash. It is rich in culture with about 50% being of Latino, mostly Mexican decent, there is beautiful food and good sounds. We played at a cool gallery called the Submerged Art Gallery in Hollywood and I was able to catch up with a high school friend of mine (Sven) who is an aspiring feature film director. He took me to a party of Paris Hilton afterwards that was interesting but not fascinating by any means. Amidst the battalion of paparazzi, waiting outside, the flash outdoor pool and fire, the ritzy décor of the house and the obvious plethora of wealthy notables and wannabe not able tos, I got the convincing sense that this party was wack. I met Nikki Hilton who seemed lovely, smoked a relaxant in the courtyard, had a few sparse conversations and split. The Sugarlicks touring crew hooked up the next day in a hung over state and we battled the Thanks-Giving eve traffic to make it to LAX airport and we safely soared across the Pacific to Auckland.

Overall my impression of the tour was that there are peeps in the UK, EU and LA are digging the Solaa sound, lots of positive feedback from the press and everyday people alike. I look forward to returning with the full band some time in the not too distant future. Good to be home in Aotearoa ;)

It took me quite some time to realise that the day had finally arrived to embark on our 5 date tour of the EU and LA but I got that excited and slightly nervous feeling at 9am on Wednesday the 8th of November when my bags were fully packed and I had finished a double check of the essentials. I linked up with Sugarlicks Label founder G muva and Chief of Aotearoa 1s and 2s Manuel Bundy who began enlightening me on his extensive international touring with OMC when we got to Auckland airport. All the excitement was a little premature when we finally boarded and it dawned upon me that we had 24 hours of flying and 6 hours of transit before we would arrive at our first destination.

The flights were not so long thanks to Singapore Airline's primo service and a sleeping pill that knocked me out for 8 hours solid. Finally we had arrived in Barcelona and it was love at first sight. Despite the long journey we went on a mish around this special city and took in Sagrada Familia, a cathedral unlike any other designed by Gaudi in the 1800's when the construction started and it will be finished in 2025. It is the most impressive cathedral I have seen, its aura enchants you from far away and increasingly draws you into its hypnosis until you behold it in full. It has the appearance that it is both ancient and futuristic, the detail is incredible and many parts of it make it appear as if it is melting in the sun. We later walked to the beach and I took in my first glimpse of the Mediterranean and took a gondola that allowed us to view the magnificence of Barcelona.

That night we performed our first gig and it was awesome. Considering the line-up of Manuel, myself, G and Brother J had not performed together before we rocked the house. 'Chance' was a particular treat on the MPC with an extended outro that took a new turn. The energy was intense with feet moving a million miles an hour the Spanish were digging the Pacific styles we represented. DJ Spinna was upstairs weaving his magic and before too long the morning was approaching and after being lost and a bit wasted, we ventured to our Kiwi host J Dog's place.

On arriving in London we were greeted with the unfortunate revelation that my MPC had taken a knock and was not working. We still managed to put on a good show with CD instrumentals and there were plenty of Kiwi Solaa fans in the crowd that brought the good vibes. Mark de Clive-Lowe was there alongside London based Kiwi DJs Vee and Steve Usher. The rest of the night was blurry and probably not to my advantage to document so I will leave it up to you to fill in the gaps. So far its been wicked and I look forward to a few days off and our next gig in Berlin. Kua mutu I tenei wa, Isaac Aesili singing off. Arohatahi :)