Hi!
Below is the updated commentary from all the European Tour dates whilst we were travelling on the road.
27/07/07 - Lille - France: Arrived in Calais after crossing over from Dover and headed for Lille. There we were greeted and taken good care of by dj Saizs and the beautiful Sophie. Home cooked cuizine, wine/beer and wicked dnb crews at the venue we played called the Kiosk, an underground club. The crowd was cool. Wish our French had beed as good as their English. Djs on the night (dj Saiz, Ebola, Reacter) played a wide variety dark d'n'b.
28/07/07 - Cottbus -Germany: 10 hour dive from Lille to the outskirts of Germany ... could have done with more drum and bass tapes in the van and a new driver! lol
29/07/07 - Wroclaw - Poland: Played the Non Stop Festival. ...Big Stage...Big Sound System.... massive crowd.... 3 wicked acts. This Festival is Poland's equivalent to Notting Hill Carnival...We played alongside some of the finest in the international live d'n'b scene. Miloopa from Poland, Nerve from USA and Koobs a beat boxer from the UK.... Big Ups to Bond and Gig Ant for organising the event...
30/07/07 - Zakopane - Poland: After driving for hours up Poland's highlands we thought we were going to be playing a local village barn. When we arrived at the venue we realised this was not the case. Ampstrong is one of the most innovative venues we have ever played and has played host to DJ Zinc, Dynamite MC and Zion Train. It knocks the socks off many UK venues...We rocked the locals and ended up with a few too many vodkas by the end of the night.
01.07.07 - After a heavy night like we had in Ampstrong most people would lay in but we decided to climb the local mountain. The summit was beautiful and you could see for miles. It was a slight shock after the decent to find out that bears inhabited the mountain!! We got back to the hotel and were fed strawberry dumplings for a main course (a local delicacy).... Big up to Mike's (the promoter) mum's hospitality.. It was a good experience to stay in a traditional Polish hotel.
02/07/07 - Vienna - Austria: We are now chilling for a few days before hitting Nancy ... Roll on France!
04.07.07- Nancy - France: Our 1st gig of the week in a Rock n Roll venue (not our usual kind of event but great to mix it up) + some of the traditional Rockers were digging a new sound. Played with a great Dub/DnB band called Dub in V.O. (check our main page). Nancy is a great town and has good links with electronic music. Big ups to Alx and the crew for putting on the gig. Also thanks to the great band that supported us.
05.07.07- Metz - France: A 45 minute drive from Nancý.....it's clear that eastern France like their DnB ....We played a wicked cavern/underground venue called the Pink bar....lol!! (The name doesn't match the venue). Great scratch DJ warm up from our host Julian. ...This guy has a mad new instrument, he has made an acoustic guitar with a scratch mixer.... mad? .... Yup!! (Think you have to see it to believe it). We left the party that night and headed to Dresden.
06.07.07 - Dresden -Germany: After a long journey from Eastern France we reached eastern Germany. The venue was great and a heavy sound system (they brought in extra bass for Epoc Live ; -) After the sound check we kipped......We woke up an hour after we should have been on stage and rushed to the venue to find it rammed with people eager to catch Epoc Live....Wicked vibes and bubblin' crowd.....Thanks Dresden!
07.07.07 - Berlin - Germany: We played a place called the Fire Club, a converted squat... that turned out to be a really good venue. We played about 2am and found out that crew from Berlin like it hard and fast ...We matched that! ... But Nick's arms nearly fell off and Maria's fingers went through the keyboard.. lol...Wicked sets from TRECE and MR J...The party didn't stop till 8am.
08.07.07 - Berlin -Germany: We are resting in Berlin and managed to take on some culture ... it's a great city! We saw the Berlin Wall and would definitely advise having the brunch hang over cure if you manage to get to the country. We have finally managed to touch base on our web communication today also. What a mad few days! Next stop Amsterdam.... Let's hope we manage to leave the magical city!
09.07.07 – Amsterdam – Holland: Got greeted and taken care of nicely by Cheeky Monday crew… the night was ram-up! Doors came to a lock down whilst 50 peeps got turned away when full capacity was reached. The crew run a tight promotion and everyone in the area had nothing but good words for the night… fair play to them for putting on a Monday night weekly man… Mondays just don't have that same dull working vibe any more! Soon as the gig was done we spent the next few days having a slight break and a taste of the Amsterdamage experience J. Massive big up to Mc Lenny Len and Loz. Next stop Paris.
14-07-07 – Paris – France: We hit the city yesterday, the road layouts and underground roads are mad in this town! Saw a lot of cars with dents in their rears, nuff said… lol. Met the Mash Up crew (Djs Da Krishna, L-ington and Beatshaker), three dnb heads well into their production and serious bout their bizzle. Watch out for Dub Reaping record label. The Glaz'art was the lick… we had a slight doubt when we first spotted the pink building stretching a fair few blocks down the busy city street… entered and found not only a wicked club layout but an out door area beach style! Food, drinks, live music, games and full on sand! Was perfect with the heat wave we were having. Crowd in the evening were heavy. We finished our set at 2am packed our shizzle and headed for Calais and smooth sailing back to the UK.
28-07-07 – Athens – Greece: After a few days off and gig in Cardiff we were flown to Athens Greece. The Iliosporoi promotions are a bit unusual. The events that they run are big free political Raves. Every event has a motive behind it. They pay the acts from profit on beer and merchandise. The event was called Reclaim The Beach. We played on a marina overlooking the whole bay of Athens. The motive behind the event was to use the space that was taken over by the Olympic community and bring it back to the people who once used it as a beach. This event was amazing; there were 800 people there. There was a full moon, it was a hot night, the sound system boomed across the whole of Athens and we went down a storm. No Police trouble, No complaints…A very professionally run illegal rave. They definitely want us back in the winter. What an event to finish it off a great tour with.
Special thanks to AJ for continual promotion for the tour, Alex for the designs and Mez for the Sat Nav instalment, which without we would have got lost and gone mad! Haha..
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Peace ...Epoc Live