Goodbyes and limited liberties
London-Swansea, UK
We are currently driving to the
show this evening in Exeter. From what we have heard it is kind of the punk
epicenter of England, so the show should be good. The last two shows went off
well. The first was in Brixton-London at a local bar called the Windmill. The
show there was with Ok Pilot, The Cut Ups and The Arteries. All the bands were
really awesome! We had met OK Pilot last year at The Fest so it was good to see
some familiar friends. Prepared for us was some curry and dhal with naan.
Righteous food. Our show was well received although we were shaking out some
over anxious energy. We stayed with a Fest message board pal of Tony’s named
Tim who had an awesome little house just outside of town. We continued the
evening drinking and watching Hot Water Music footage from Germany in 1999. It
was the old Hot Water I remembered the best. Chuck falls three times in the
first 30seconds of the first song. While the playing was a bit sloppier when
Hot Water played back then, the intensity was so much more powerful. I guess it
is good to see bands grow out of that sort of thing a bit and focus a bit more
on the playing. Progress as such is good. If they played drunk and sloppy
forever they probably wouldn’t have written the music they did toward the end
their career. I can completely respect that for sure.
We awoke and headed to a market to
buy some lunch of which for much of us has consisted of a baguette some cheese
and a tomato and a can of tuna. We are eating as cheap as possible to preserve
our money to pay for all our expenses, or at least we hope to. Our daily
expenses such as backline rental and van rental are usually covered by the show
guarantee, but we would really like to be able to pay back our plane tickets as
well. After our rations were eaten we headed towards Swansea Wales. The drive
was really scenic with rolling hills with sheep and plots of land separated by
hedges. The classic English countryside scene. We arrived in Swansea and were
greeted with the hospitality of vegan pasta that was really good. Our promoter,
Gaff and his roommate Kat, were extraordinary nice and made our evening very
pleasant. We had great conversations throughout the evening about the plight of
punk and how there is a lot of apathy and a loss of direction in scenes. The
conversation included both kids who go out to see bands, as well as promoters,
and even the bands themselves. It seems that there are too many people that
think they deserve more than what they get out of being apart of a scene. Like
bands want a ridiculous rider, or promoters don’t provide the basic things like
a meal for a band. This sort of self-serving attitude seems to be most present
in the states. The promoters and kids we have met so far in the UK seem
genuinely stoked on bands and there seems to be a really sustainable scene
here. But as Kat and discussed, it seems to be slipping and as punk becomes
another commodity or a phase in someone’s life, the community oriented
principles that have sustained this long are diminishing. Overall the show in
Swansea was a great time. It was nice to meet kids that really care about music
and their community and how to sustain it locally.
....
Exeter-Plymouth
....
We are now sitting backstage at the
white rabbit club in Plymouth UK.
Our show last night at the cavern club in Exeter was awesome. We played
with the same line up as we did in brixton, the Cut Ups, Arteries and OK Pilot.
I really like this line up and it will be a shame to say good buy tonight.
These bands are awesome and all a bit different which is nice. We played third
supporting the Cut Ups. Being there small town this was proper for sure.
Actually I feel like anyone of the bands we have been playing with is stellar
enough to headline over us. After the show we were feeling a bit “boozie” and
Chris the bass player of OK Pilot and I had a karate match outside the venue
where we then proceeded to pile on each other followed by about five other pile
on participants. Good times. We spent the night at a fellow we wet named Joe at
the show. We scored some smoke so we indulged and hung out to the wee hours of
the morning looking at clash memorabilia and huge garden spiders. Joe’s uncle
if I remember hazily, went to a clash show in 1978 and got him self a copy of
the set list. When he asked the band to sign it, most the band members did
expect Mick Jones who wrote, “No fuck off.” The funny part is he ended up
signing it, punk but not that punk!
....
Our Plymouth show was our last show
with the cut ups, the arteries and ok pilot. We are really going to miss
playing with them every night, but we will see most of them at the fest in a
few weeks. The fest will be a more fun environment for all of us to hang out
considering that most of them were driving home every night after most of the
shows. We got t talk a bit with them, but not get very “boozier.” It may be
interesting to note that there was a bomb scare in Plymouth the night we were
there. I felt a bit more concerned about the call because of an article I just
read in the New Yorker. The article was a short snapshot at the current
political climate in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It suggested that it is common
among Washington insiders that al queda and the Taliban control a huge area of
tribal land in Pakistan. Not only is this a threat to regional security, being
that Pakistan’s intelligence already supports the Taliban, but there have been
a large number of western European passports coming into Pakistan. Intelligence
officials think that with these passports it will be easier to commit an attack
on Western Europe or even the US in the near future. It was also noted that the
Taliban control an area as close as 60 miles from Islamabad the Pakistani
capital. It is so understated in our media how we are totally losing the in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. Like so many other things Bush fucked that good. So
to say the least, a bomb scare after reading this was a bit trembling on the
nerves.
Arnheim, Holland
But all was well with the Plymouth
show and we safely had a good show. After taking a group photo of all the bands
we embarked on a ten-hour drive to the Netherlands. Sleeping in the van
overnight while driving is never than fun, but being that we are on tour in
Europe it was easier to deal with. We slept then arrived at our ferry in Dover
England where we departed at 7:45 AM. We arrived in Calais, France a couple of
hours later and our amazingly strong willed driver Christian drove onward
towards Arnheim, Holland. Now everyone knows what we were probably looking most
forward to upon arrival in a Dutch city. It wasn’t the Heineken, but rather the
lawful use of marijuana in coffee shops. After walking around the town center,
which was in classic old town European style with little alleys with café’s
everywhere. We passed by a coffee shop in this area but Casey and I were a bit
overwhelmed when walking in there. There were no seats available and there was
no one tending the bar, we felt a bit awkward with this newfound liberty, food
seemed a bit more accomplishable. Falafel is something I track down in all
sorts of cities and eat it as often as possible. The little chickpea/fava bean
combination with the righteous balance of a red-hot sauce, cool yogurt and
pickled veggies is one of the best food combinations in the world. Combined
with the vessel system that of pita, and perfection is attained. This falafel
did not disappoint. After eating we headed to the show space.
We
played a space called weremeen. It was a quaint little spot with a bar showers
and a nice office. Apparently it is state funded which makes it possible to
have punk shows I’m sure. After a sound check and some coffee, Casey and I
headed out back to got to a coffee shop upon suggestion of the promoter. We
went t a place called zero zero. I had no idea what to expect really, but it
was a lot different then the shop that was in the market area. This shop was
set up like someone’s living room with the kitchen converted into a selling
area for weed. There were candy bowls and ashtrays placed thoughtfully about
the large tables. Casey and I purchased some rather appropriately named “mellow
yellow.” We sat down in a comfortable set of chairs and smoked a joint. I have
to say that it was a very different experience than smoking in the US or
anywhere else it is illegal in the world. Smoking at our own leisure in a
social environment with no threat of authorities consequence was enjoyable to
say the least. After a brief conversation with some locals we headed back to
the venue.
The show went really well and we met some new Macedonian
friends in a band called bernay’s propaganda. They were like a punker pretty
girls make graves. Quite nice, and really funny people. They gave us shit a
broken English the whole night. We of course reciprocated appropriately. We
were put up in a really nice hostel that provided us with an awesome spread of
breakfast. We are now driving to Germany where the smoking of marijuana is not
so accepted by the law. The German authorities actually drug test on the side
of the road upon pulling someone over. If you fail, then you go to jail and
lose your license. This tactic of fear seems very much not about cracking down
a drug use while driving, but drug us as a whole. So basically if you are
driving perfectly sober but smoked some weed 28 days prior, you could be a
convicted drug user. Fucking crazy!
....
Aachen, Germany
We
are headed towards Manheim, Germany and we just stopped at a rest stop with
self-cleaning toilets. Pretty funny how Europe has so many automated cleaning
systems. It seems practical, but may cost jobs if cleaning robots were
implemented in America. Our show last night was fun. It was the most low in
attendance so far but we still had a blast. The show was in a squat that was an
old bomb shelter. It is really neat that there are particular laws that allow
people to squat somewhere and retain it for free as long as the city and the
space can agree on the use of the space. Although the city of Aachen has just
elected a conservative mayor who is not fond of the space, so who knows what
the fate will be. This particular place has been host to a many hardcore shows.
They have had strike anywhere, the bouncing souls, H2O, among a bunch of other
bands I hadn’t heard or remember. The show was quite awesome especially because
we played again with our friends from Macedonia we had met the night before in
Holland. Barney’s propaganda are some of the coolest people I have met on tour.
We instantly got along with them. The night before they had made fun of us
because Jamie was warming up before we played. They had called us
“professionals,” which in its self was funny. The trash talking was in full
effect and we joked with each other both nights. It was really awesome to meet
folks from another country than the one we were in. They have graciously
invited us to Macedonia and the Balkans, an offer I hope we act upon for sure.
I think it would be interesting and eye opening to go into another country that
has a bit more of a tight lid as far as control if information and society as a
whole. After having a few conversations with them they seemed really excited
about the internet because of the information available to them that was
previously just not there. It made me realize another bit of my life I take for
granted daily. While I prefer tangible media, I really don’t use the internet
as often as I could for things other than socializing. But I suppose under the
circumstances of controlled media and the absence of good tangible info, than I
would also grab onto the internet as a source of my information. After the show
we headed to the promoter Simon’s house. We soon went to bed and awoke to an
amazing spread of breakfast. After consuming the awesome food prepared we went
back to the venue to pick up our gear and had a few beers before we were off.
We had also realized at this point that this bomb shelter would be the place to
be in case of a “zombie insurgency.”