39 hours off on euro highways, pimped out Chevy, fenders eating oversized rubber. Dead tired eyes at pit stop one. Beefcake blue biggie wants a piece - easy pray, easy cash.
Mindy Mistry and Europ is said to play at Chap tonite,- we’re psyked. Load in and check is all aces. ....Prague.... is monumental and the gig is the chaos in our heads.
We’re leaving for Marseille all in good spirit, Autobahn is shotgun, speedy and dead straight. German Polizei is lurking, four hours of searching the starcraft. Mr. Europ arrested and eventually bailed on discount in Memmingen...
Swiss mountains are killer at night. 1 inch clear sight down steep hills. Starcraft chokes in San Vittori? Sleeps through the siesta and fires up x hours later.
Jinx is over and time is short. Pedal through Milano and Heavy traffic Genova. French border never comes and phone-calls end with; too late and no chance. Bummer!
L’embobineuse let us crash and moves the show to Saturday, Sweet!! Really sweet!
It's Sunday, we aim for Genova/Italy.
25km on we stop for habitual gas station gourmet. Engine is dead. Alternator is gone bad, uh-well. We get to waste some hours on top of the tow truck and NAF is feeling generous so we check in at a hotel near Aubagne. French mechanics work la Ciotat style, nice and slow.
Monday we get a rental and speed to Banano Tsunami 170 km/H hovering over ....Andorra.....
Japanese Gum is mid set and we throw up our gear in a hurry. Made it by a margin and the show is great!
Simone puts us up at here friends house, Genova is terrific and we actually get to see it. David shows us around, we hit the local record store and hurl down expresso.
We’re off - except some gringo stole our sampler + Jap Gum’s pre recordings. All options considered we’ll have to leave without it. stroke of bad luck.
Rental is due back in Aubagne but we make time for drinks with the high rollers in ....Monaco...., Coked up pornville. Bling in the asphalt is bare necessity.
St. Etienne is an easy drive with a drivable car, but La Ciotat mechanics play hard to get.
Back to god ol’ Aubagne for a chill out and prepare to rush for l’assommoir.
Finally and as usual we barely make the gig. Lo Gre is waiting and we do our best to explain. ....Tabasco.... absinth is heavy stuff and Marco’s Jack is passed for a good word.
Floor turns soft and day brakes – next Strasbourgh.
By our standards we’re on the road pretty early, and the drive is not too far. We’ll make it in good time but the phone don’t work. Poor Julie is worried, but all is well in the end.
Le’Molodoi takes great care of us and we’re billed as SwedesJ
Food is excellent and Thor is dead sick from Marco’s absinth, we get on stage and do our last show with Catty, best one yet, shame we need to split :-(
Catty leaves for Paris.... and we’re left to navigate ourselves.
We call up Ben and tell him about the traffic Jams and that we’ll be late for the advertised early show at Chab.
Hmm – How late? Starcraft pedals to 130Km/H and finally we’re in ....Brussels..... There’s no time for tunnel labyrinths so Thor jumps in a cab and leads us to the venue. The “Van Gogh Youth Hostel”. Wow this’ll be fun and we actually made it.
Sound check is part of the set and we’re blasting our savage heads in a stellar noise syrup. Excellent.
Ben and Mira are excellent hosts and we’re sorry some of us overslept for the museum tour.- We got to see the city though and there's non alike.
....Amsterdam.... is a mandatory pit stop on our way back. Drugs, Porn and Food everywhere Our Danish hitch hikers from Antwerpen crashed at some friends and we all stayed in the streets and in the car, sightsing for Paradiso, red light and the Grashopper.
Back home with one more minor choke on the Starcraft, steering eyes at the ferry and cheap salami at the Nordby marked – Can’t wait to go back
Thanks to all our friends, we owe you:-)