TOUR DIARY-things to do on the road..i hope someones reading it anyway..

Tour well under way with a three date jog through the Polish heartland, fine crowds, our friend Maken promoter for some shows, support bands lending an air of mayhem to proceedings on the third one, leading to mixed up monitor man and a fucked up sound which pleased no one in the band and dulled the glow from the previous day at CDQ in Warsaw, a venue made more attractive by its spacious eastern themed dressing room complete with bar,sound system,opulent four poster bed and fine food and drinks served by two friendly young ladies. A stomping set and great crowd etc.. new tunes going down well...most nights we leave a couple of hours after the show , off into the euro motorway darkness to another location..after Poland came the Czech Republic, not Prague but about an hour outside, a ski resort called Marianske Lazne..a hyped crowd gave it their all ,including some hearty screaming i seem to recall, thats more than can be said for the next night in Vienna, Oh .. yes they enjoyed it ok but have registered lowest on the tour vibe-ometer..wake up Austria..also the 6th show on the trot brought out some tired aspects in some of us ,to be expected but not something we will repeat , 4 in a row is enough...that night was a double header with Transglobal Underground , as was the next night of much improved vibes and crowd response in one of my favourite cities Budapest..and a meal at one of my fave restaurants Metzo which we persuaded our hosts to take us too..add to that some hotels for a break and an after show meet up with our friends who host the Deck Attack parties in Budapests coolest spots, Hungary was the night to let off some steam and party, helped inadvertently by the cancellation of next night in Slovenia, giving us a day off in Budapest. After a much needed rest and the posse heading off in different directions we met up a day later to set off to the last show in Zagreb, Croatia..and here it was unexpectedly- the best show of the tour..the day off giving tired limbs and minds a rest and then hitting an already heavily warmed up stride with a tightly controlled set and a crowd that seemed the most UK like.. but with an added sense of glee as we built the momentum to boiling point, several encores later we had to say no and continue toasting Loki dreads birthday with champagne , a great end to a tough tiring but good tour, big ups to all band and promoters and all the new friends we made ,to our drivers scouse gary and gay brian, to all the fun and space sharing, respecting each other like a family...we survived a week under an intense touring spotlight and came through stronger..onwards and upwards..bring on a weekend in Greece now xxx