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| Tour diary part 3 |
| | Tuesday, June 3, 2008 |
Day 11 - Sunday May 25
A rainy morning in Barcelona wasn't what
we hoped for, so we decided to leave for Toulon quite early. It rained
pretty badly when we left, and the weather was pretty unstable during
the ride. We arrived at the venue, Rock Live Café, early as usual.
Being hungry as wolves, we had no other choice but to raid the pizzeria
laying next door. The lady working there thought we were pretty exotic,
coming all the way from Sweden to eat at her joint. Both the promotor
and the other band, Straighten things out, got stuck in traffic, so we
had to wait really long before we could set the stage. The waits are
always what's boring with being on tour. Eventually they got there, and
we could arrange the punk mayhem. Only two bands on the bill today,
which was fine, and we also arranged so we could play first, since STO
were the local heroes. We played a good set, the people enjoyed us, and
we could relax for a while, and get to see STO's whole set, which was
nice. They were really friendly and helpful all the time. We stayed at
a hotel only 3 minutes away, which was really nice. No long haul after
the show. Thank you Toulon!
Day 12 - Monday May 26
Day
off today, and since the weather was quite bad, we left the
mediterranean area and headed up north. We thought of maybe stopping in
northern Italy, or Switzerland, but ended up driving 1000 kilometers
all the way to Ludwigsburg, where we were playing on wednesday. We had
hopes of finding somewhere cheap to stay, and we even tried to reach
Daniel, the promotor, to see if he would take us in a little earlier.
Unfortunately, he'd forgotten his cellphone in the car, so we ended up
in a pretty expensive motel, after driving back and forth through
Ludwigsburg in the middle of the night. At 4AM, we crashed into bed,
and the motel owner was kind enough to let us check out one hour later
than usual. For 140€, I think that's the least you can do... Anyways,
the drive up to Germany was really scenic. It began with the fantastic
views over the Mediterranean Sea, turned into northern Italy's quite
flat landscape, changed again, as we drove towards Switzerland. You
never get tired of watching The Alps. Fantastic. I guess Robert spent
more time hanging out of the window, taking pictures, than he spent
inside the van. We entered Germany at night, being really tired, so the
nice surroundings of south Germany had to wait for the next day. Thank
you Renault Trafic!
Day 13 - Tuesday May 27
Another day
off. We woke up at the motel, feeling quite refreshed, despite the long
drive from the day before. Maybe it had to do with the weather? 30
degrees and a blazing sun! Just what the doctor ordered once more! We
called Daniel again, and this time he answered, and told us to come
over when we wanted to. We headed for some breakfast, and then went to
Aldi to stash up on some really cheap, bad-ass beers in plastic
bottles. We went to Daniel's place, and were swept into another wave of
hospitality. He let us in, gave us his spare key and pointed us in the
direction of a nice park, where we could hang out for the day. We
brought some of the beers, Niklas bought a football, and we just
enjoyed life hanging around in the park. If life only were this
effortless all the time... (Or effortless - playing football gets to
you at the age of 200...) We stayed in the park for quite a while, and
then decided to go to the town for a cold one. The Aldi bottles didn't
hold temperature well... We found a nice little place overlooking the
town's square, and just sat down, enjoying the nice weather and the
beautiful surroundings. After a couple of cold ones, it was time to
head for some food, and we picked up some Indian takeaway and headed
for Daniel's. Along the way there, Blitz Fritz replaced Micke Fritz,
and we all enjoyed a night of dancing, weight lifting and bongo playing
from this wonderful new aquaintance! Truly amazing. Blitz didn't feel
like disturbing our sleeping peace with his antics, so he just took his
sleeping bag and slept on the balcony. A really fantastic day! Thank
you Ludwigsburg! (and Blitz)
Day 14 - Wednesday May 28
Daniel
left for work pretty early, but he went home on his lunch break to make
us brunch. I awoke to the fantastic smell of a vegetable omelette, made
with expertise and love for the craft. That, and a nice cup of hot
coffee was just the button to press after a hard night with the boys!
To say some words about Daniel - he is a super friendly, hospitable
fella, who took really good care of five crazy swedes invading his
home. Awesome guy indeed! Daniel went to work, we went to the same park
as the day before, just chilling. I took some time to go and fix my
glasses, and I also bought a really nice bracelet for my wife. I'ts
funny how that can be sometimes. Just browsing through the shelves, and
all of a sudden there's the thing that has Veronica's name written all
over it. (Not literally...) Lucky me! We didn't have to be at the
venue, which today was a rehearsal space, until 19, so we just took it
easy the whole day. The morethanever room wasn't that big, so it had
all the settings for a sweaty show! The first band, Chaos is me, ripped
it really well, and the temperature in the room must have been around
45 degrees. When we played, I could barely hold my picks because of the
moist and the sweat. It was an awesome show, despite the size of the
room. All the park chilling, and being able to rest for two days really
made us hungry for rock again. Really cool!
We stayed a while after the show, and then went to Daniel for some nightsnacks and a nice sleep. Thank you Ludwigsburg!
Day 15 - Thursday May 29
Woke
up late, and just took it easy, waiting for Daniel to come home for his
lunch break, so we could say a proper goodbye. Then we headed off for
Würzburg, where Immerhin awaited us. It was still around 30 degrees, we
arrived early (of course) and had to hang out in the nice weather,
waithing for the promotor. The venue is situated in the basement of an
evangelic youth centre, which felt a little odd. A cool venue, though,
and there was also some kind of clubflat, which meant we didn't have to
drive after the show. That combined with a free bar tab could only mean
one thing! SUPA! (as the phrase would be in Sormleanian...) We played
as gods, as usual, and hung out with the other band, Bender,
afterwards. We had a cataclysmic evening, and to my surprise, the
guitarist of Bender had a thing for showing his balls in public.
Astonishingly long sack, that one. The pathway was laid out for Kenta
Aalborg, my not-so-mature alter ego to enter, but I held him at bay,
despite the humungus amounts of Rum/cola I had. Instead - Enter Blitz
Fritz! What a man! Being the gutter-punk he is, he ended up sleeping
outside our room, using his dirty laundry bag as pillow. Full of
surprises, indeed.
We all slept like clubbed seals (the Norwegian
way) and I fell out of bed somewhere during the night. I woke up when
the others laughed at me and wondered why the hell I was sleeping on
the floor. Worse things happen at sea... Thank you Würzburg!
Day 16 - Friday May 30
Off
we went to Bremen. At this point we were feeling that the tour was soon
at it's end. We rolled into the city, a big one, with hopeless traffic,
and eventually found our way to the Nook Club. It was a pretty big
venue, with a big stage, and we actually had to soundcheck. Almost all
the other places we'd played so far only had a PA for the vocals, and
some drum mics. We usually just put our amps on 11, and played as hell.
Just our kind of places! Anyways, this venue also had a clubflat, but
noone was really up for a soak tonight. We met up with Klaudia from
Trashmark, and she stayed for the show. We had a couple of beers with
her after the gig, and then paid for our shirts. The show was quite ok,
even though the place felt a little too big. We did our best, at least,
and the response was pretty good. As on the gigs in Holland, we were
playing with really different sounding bands, which felt a little odd.
Our gospels together with screamo was somewhat strange. A nice evening
anyways. We packed our stuff and took a pretty early night in the
clubflat. Thank you Bremen!
Day 17 - Saturday May 31
Today's
show was in a little town, Eutin, which was pretty much on the way to
the Puttgarden ferry. Early? You bet! We went to find some food, and it
felt like we'd come into a ghost town. We walked for ages until we saw
a living person, who we could ask for directions. When we finally went
the right way, we came into the town centre, which was bustling with
activity. There was some kind of rally with really cool veteran cars in
the middle of the town. People everywhere, and it was quite fun to
watch the cars. Since coffee is sacred to me, I almost went berserk
when we went to a cafe and paid 3€ for a cup of hot mud-water. I don't
think I ever had such horrible coffee in my whole life! Not even in
USA. I should write to the town counsil and ask them to shut down that
"café". (in Sweden they would say "dagens I-landsproblem" about my
whining...Or "mjah...") We headed back for the venue, which was in the
basement of a big house in the outskirts of the town. Nice place, with
really friendly people taking care of us. We got a rich meal and some
beers, and felt the spirit returning for the last show of the tour. The
opening band, The Crakeels, were a true joy to watch, after the screamo
from the day before. They played straight-up punk rock. Or street-punk,
if you're into labeling it. Really refreshing. We went up and decided
to tear the place down, and I think we played a great show. We got to
play an encore, but unfortunately, the cops came in the middle of the
song, and threatened to let the dog have it's way in the hous if we
didn't quit. So we quit. And that was a pretty abrupt ending of a
really nice tour. I was totally exhausted after the show and just
wanted to sleep, and since we had to leave really early the day after,
we just took it easy for a while before going to bed. Thank you Eutin!
Day 18 - Sunday June 1
Bordershop
in Puttgarden. 5 boys in a candy store. What more can I say? We stashed
up on incredibly cheap goodies and headed home. Stopped by in Malmö to
give away some more money, then headed up to Gothenburg to drop of our
dear Robert. Then pedal to the metal straight into the heart of
Sörmland, where our loved ones were waiting. A long day in the van, but
knowing that we were heading home made the trip like a walk in the
park. Except for poor Micke, who ate something bad and was really sick
for the whole drive.
Thank you mainland Europe!
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