Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The Circus of Propagandhi in Europe- April/ May 2009

April 17, 2009

Sitting here in our / my (Propagandhi) new home-a bus- for the next 2 weeks while we travel across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and the Czech Republic bringing the kids an ear dose of the heavy thrash.

April 19, 2009

On this tour we have
Chris, Todd, Beaver, Jord
Ethan-stage, Barney-sound, Stern-merch fellow from Germany-old Propagandhi friend, Franklin- our cool German bus driver, and myself.

Just waking up after a good 10 hour sleep which in a way was needed but also due to it’s length and with the time change I still feel like I could use more.
We are here in London, UK today for the 3rd show of this Circus tour. The sky is blue and the sun is out.

This is Propagandhi’s (as they are now) first bus tour which is quite neat. Not really a band that would choose to be in a bus but in the long run logistically with out drives, our 8 (9 with driver) person circus, most of the venues having showers which cuts out day rooms-hotels, and then also just having a coffin-bed to sleep in whenever you want.

On a bus you are definitely around everyone at pretty much all times which means you have to respect everyone else’s space. Not a problem here.

The last 2 shows have been pretty interesting in the least.

The first show was in Sheffield, UK at a place called the Academy which I is a big chain of venues here in the UK. Carling Academy. The venue was big, very professional, and all the staff were super nice.
It was the first day with all of this backline over here so everyone spent a little extra time tweaking their gear and I myself spent some time tweaking some files/ spreadsheets that I will need for this adventure.
We found a vegan café just a walk away from the venue named the Blue Moon Café. Basically in a deli case they had a couple hot items, and a couple cold items in which you just pick the items you want. I had given my dinner money to Chris because I wasn’t sure if I was going to make dinner due to having to have a security meeting with the folks at the Academy Club. Chris got me this sweet potatoe, peanut sauce dish, with cous cous, coleslaw salad, and macaroni salad. All amazing food however the best item was by far the sweet potato dish with peanut sauce. You can never go wrong with peanut sauce.

So the first show went fine until around ½ way point in Propagandhi’s set I see Ethan over at the monitor board look to my direction of the stage, point, and tell something to the in house monitor fellow. I then smell a heavy dose of electrical (fire) smoke and proceed to turn on my flashlight to hunt it down. After a couple seconds I find smoke coming out of what I hear later is a big distro box for the lighting system. No flames just a bunch of smoke which has now caused the entire stage to wreak of fire smoke. The band is playing but is also concerned as they start smelling it as well. The venue manager runs on stage, turns off a fuse box and then all of a sudden this whole distro box gets engulfed in flames all again while the thrash continues. At this time the locals are running on stage with a fire extinguisher and telling me “the band HAS TO STOP NOW” so I catch eyes with Jord and have them stop their song half way in…….to be continued

April 20, 2009

So…the band leaves the stage, security tells the crowd to evacuate the building which the crowd was not pumped on. Glasses started getting thrown so I was told that everyone had to evacuate due to the fire brigade being on its way. I saw that things could potentially get a little out of hand and I was told that once everyone was out of the venue they would be allowed back in so I go onto the mic and tell the 600 people booing that “please evacuate, its not our fault, and once things are safe the show will be continued”.
We were then evacuated ourselves through some back exit to the bus and watched the chaos ensue.

The fire brigade showed up while 600 kids huddled around outside without jackets due to them being inside the coat check waiting to see what would happen.
Propagandhi and the crowd were being fed 2 different stories by many different people.

-once the fire brigade deems it safe the show will go on.
- no the show will not continue.

It was pretty hectic and the freezing people outside were not pumped. So in typical UK drinking fashion the crowd started getting rowdy which caused the entire police force to arrive while windows were getting kicked in, and all of us sat around our bus waiting for a riot to ensue.

The fire brigade deemed the venue safe however due to the crowd clashing with the antagonizing entire Sheffield Police force arriving the show was cut off. Boooo!!

First day blues!!!

We proceeded to eventually make our way back into the venue, pack up our gear, and some of us sat up until 3 in the morning watching Pittsburgh play Philly in the NHL playoffs.

So since the “burning down the house” we have played 2 other shows.

The first being in Bristol UK which was quite the punk show indeed.


A venue packed with 500 people (capacity 450) most of which had been drinking quite a bit of alcohol and add to that no barricade. Non of us are fans of barricades during live shows because they definitely contribute to a lack of energy, and interaction.’’

April 21, 2009

Todd and I are sitting in our hotel room here in Cologne watching some weird German television game show. Wild!
The first week of tour has been crazy.
Propagandhi has had a fire at a venue, kids almost rioting outside with the police, 2 security guards run on our stage to brutally tackle some young kid, and last night we had some male during the last song come flying over the barrier, head first but upside down landing brutally on monitor majorly breaking his leg….we are now outside of the UK. Let’s see what happens.

So last night I am sitting side stage during the show and see some dude come flying over the crow, the barricade and land head first with his leg snapping over the monitor.
The band was in the middle of a song, I ran over to the kid, the band stopped playing and I tried to communicate with the dude who was very injured. He couldn’t move his leg, or his toes and was in bad shape. I ran onto stage, grabbed some waters and ran back over to him. Another fellow in the crowd was an over duty paramedic so came running over. This kid was down for the count and this could be bad. Meanwhile there are 300 loud sweaty kids literally crammed against the barricade. I ask the medic if we can move the barricade back to give him, and the injured dude more breathing room. The medic says it was okay and held the body of the dude in case of neck injuries while we moved the barricade back.

The show was over and it definitely brought everyone from pure rock show mode to a very somber deep sad mood.
The room was cleared and the paramedics spent about the next 45 mins working him, cutting his jeans while he yelled in an English accent “those jeans just cost me 60 quid you fucking cunts”, shot him up with morphine and then loaded his mangled leg up and took him away. Before being loaded up Chris, and Todd went out to say hello at the dudes request and then off he went.

We are now in Cologne where we arrived around 3:30 this afternoon to a nice, bright blue, clear day.
Tonight the Montreal Canadiens play game 4 with the Boston Bruins. Boston is up in the series 3-0 so tonight very likely could be Montreal’s last game of the season. Jord, Chris and I are going to be watching the game here in 1 hour (1AM Cologne time) on the computer with an internet feed..

April 25, 2009

Its 3:54 in the morning and we are driving from Munich, Germany where there was a show this evening to Solothurn, Switzerland for a show tomorrow night.
I am the only one awake at the moment so I have my headphones on listening to tunes I haven’t had the chance to listen to because I lost my ipod on the flight over here to Europe. It happens. Ill buy a new one when I get home.

The 2 German shows have been well attended and we have been treated amazing. Both shows drew about 850 kids each and the hospitality here in Germany as always is like no other. When you arrive at a venue there is a feast of breads, spreads, juices, fruits, veggies and chips waiting to get devoured. The local crews at all these places are extremely helpful and into what they are doing.

Back in North America at every venue you arrive at the promoter gives you a buy-out which is money for dinner that evening. Very impersonal and in a way its kind of like “here’s your money. Get out of here”. And then the whole hospitality vibe in North America is quite opposite with plenty of venue people just being completely burned out and pretty rude.

April 25, 2009

Here on a beautiful, very clear blue skied, very warm day in Solothurn, Switzerland.
A neutral country in which at one time the bridges leading into the country could be destroyed if needed during World War 2 to protect itself from invaders.

A couple of us walked into the city center with this girl named Lana from the venue where we are playing tonight named Kofmehl.
Solothurn is a pretty small town hugging a river which originates in Bern, Switzerland from the glaciers in the alps. The city center is a nice little courtyard/ square which is the usual meeting place for the locals in town. There is a huge cathedral which is located in this square that we all went inside to check out.
Cathedrals are such intense structures that you can never truly describe. What’s even more interesting is almost all cathedrals have almost the same feel to them- the air is chilled, moist, and still. The amount of artistry that goes into these structures is also beyond comprehension. The statues, paintings, engravings, marble work, and wood work were all super intricate and must have take years to do.

On our walk back to the venue Todd, Ethan and myself discussed jumping off of one of the bridges into the river in which hugged our walk back. I walked down to the bank to check out the temperature which was no where near anything close to cool. Just upstream from here was the winter melt off from the glaciers so this was very cold, crystal clear water. There was a bridge pretty close to the venue however was actually higher then the bridges we had talked about jumping off of. I was quite nervous but Ethan had decided he would be the first to jump so we went to the bus, got into our undies, grabbed a towel, and headed to the bridge. It’s always pretty scary jumping off of a high structure into the water when you haven’t seen anyone do it before and to be honest there is a good possibility that we were the first ones to jump off this particular bridge. The bridge was built in Oct which would have been winter time here and I don’t think any of the locals are as stupid as we were with the temperature of the water.
Ethan jumped first which was a relief for me but when he surfaced we could tell by his movement, and facial expression that the water was brutally cold. I was next and was pretty nervous about the jump and the impact in this cold water. This thought only lasted about 5 seconds when I just didn’t even think about it and let go. Whoa!! Landing in this water was like landing in a pool filled with needles. The bank of the river was about 35 ft away so I just put every bit of effort I had into my body to get there as quickly as possible. If the distance was twice this it would have been extremely hard with the potential of disaster. Todd jumped after me and has mentioned a couple times that he “thought he was going to die” and “has never experienced anything as cold”.

We all lived and are all pumped on the adventure we chose.
Now its time for another thrash show however this one this evening will be a little quiter then most due to a sound limit at this venue. Propagandhi’s actual stage sound with no sound system as a factor is actually louder then the limit….We will see.

April 29th, 2009

We are just leaving the venue/ squat/ fort we played tonight in Rome. I am sitting in the front lounge of the bus listening to some tunes-Dead Can Dance, and catching up on some solo time.
The last couple of days have been pretty interesting, intense and fun.

It’s pretty crazy being so far away from friends and family during certain situations that you can’t really be apart of or there fore. Currently I have someone special in my life who I try my hardest to keep in touch with and be there for the best I can but it definitely is not in the slightest sense easy. I won’t go deeply into it because these writings are more so I can keep in touch with friend/ family and they can keep track of me. I have a pen, and journal that is better for the personal thoughts then these travel journals of mine.

So we arrived in Roma, Italia yesterday after our drive/ show in Bologna, Italia the night before. As soon as the bus arrived at the hotel yesterday everyone woke up instantly, gathered their belongings, and we all went straight to our rooms to pre pare for our day off. ROME!!!
I have been to Italy now about 4 times however have never been to far South never being to Roma, or Venice where we will be tomorrow.
Exciting!
Edder Vedder “Rise”- amazing

So after we were all showered and prepared for our day Todd, Jord, Beaver, Franklin, Ethan and myself all packed into the hotel shuttle and headed to the city center of Roma.
The architecture (Helene!!) was really something I was pumped on viewing and experiencing.

Our first destination was the Vatican and the St Pietro Basillica. We walked along the main river in the city named River Tevere which was this peculiar nice green colored river but also had a very dirty vibe to it. The colors of the buildings and the river down below had a definite “Rome, Italy” vibe- whatever that means.
Walking up to the St. Pietro Basillica was definitely pretty amazing. A long busy street with lights, and statues stacked along both sides of the street running all the way down to the Cathedral. There in front of us lies the Vatican.
Before we ventured much further we decided to try and find some food to quench our hungry stomachs. Eating food which contains no animal products is amazing, and fun but when you are in the center of a huge tourist spot in the middle of Roma sometimes your choices are very slim. Oh well. What can you do but just keep on keeping on.
We found a place that served just regular tomato slices of pizza which was a jackpot at that moment for us. A couple of warm slices later we were now fueled up for the day ahead of us. We walked to the Basillica, which is definitely an amazing place to see while standing in the middle of the court yard which is a huge circle surrounded my huge white pillars. The home of thee ol lil fellow most refer to as the poop…Oopps I mean the “Pope”..My bad.
Obviously at a place as such there is a lot of security so after screening our bags, and walking through metal detectors “we were in”.
I will never fully be able to describe what the inside of this Cathedral was like. Impossible to even imagine actually. Its bigger then big!
I had a random thought about what the actual capacity of a place as such was and now that I think of my 20 000 estimate I do think it’s probably even double that. Again this isn’t a sports stadium but a cathedral.
The statues, art work, engravings, marble work, tile work, and flooring was something that would have taken days and days to fully examine. Then in different sections of the place they actually have embalmed bodies of dead popes. Nuts!
Honestly I wish I would have known more about what I was looking at, the statues I was viewing, and the place I was walking inside of. Maybe ill read up on it a little now that I have been there. Seeing all of that art work, with a religious twist was pretty neat but also erie and dark as well. That’s the beauty of it I guess?


May 2nd, 2009

The last couple of days of tour have been something else.

I have started so many of my writings with me being on a plane going to my next destination or home as I am now. Flights are flights however I am having a first here today. My friend Bettina is a flight attendant for Swiss Airlines which I happen to be flying today so it worked out that she is on my flight to Montreal. When I checked in and was told I had an “upgrade” and they gave me a new ticket. Thanx Bettina! I am flying 1st class (a first) on an international flight and let me just say its really cool. Actually now that I look at things it seems to be “business class” and not “1st” Hhmm. Strange because honestly this definitely has a 1st class vibe not that I know what that vibe would really mean or business class. The seat in front of me I can’t even touch even when leaning forward trying to. There are some pretty crazy settings for the seat positions which makes for more of a relaxing trip. You have a choice of extending a leg rest, lowering the seat up and down, lowering the back of the seat up and down, and there is even a air bag that you can fill up for lower back support. Damn! Again I am not sure how often or if this will happen again so yes it’s a nice treat and ill take it.

I still need want to capture more of our adventures in Rome and the show we played the following day at the Forte Prenestino squat but that will come soon or not.

Yesterday we played our last show in Prague, Czech Republic which I had never been to in the past and this incredibly beautiful city did not disappoint.
We left Venice right after our show to make the 12 hour drive to the Czech Republic. The promoter Milan in Prague had been in touch with me about our arrival time in the city and getting in touch with him when we are close because he has our hotel-apartment- keys. So I lost my phone in Rome which meant I had no way of making contact with anyone if there wasn’t internet.
While we were getting close to Prague I looked in the tour book to see no number for Milan at all. After some more investigation I came across 2 numbers- 1 for a record store in Prague, and another for the hotel we were supposed to be staying in. Both of these numbers came back faulty and we were getting closer to the city. What adventures lie ahead? Our bus driver was on a tight schedule due to high tailing it back to Germany after dropping us off and the time restrictions that drivers in Europe have while driving their bus. We arrived in Prague around 3PM and had no clue about what was going on, and if this was all just something sketchy that was set up. After more investigation while sitting on a street with the bus parked and everyone just hanging out on the sidewalk for a good hour + we managed to find Milan and head to our hotel which was actually in a completely different spot then what I was told. A “last minute” change. Oh well.

We got the keys and went up to our apartment which turned out to be pretty cool All of us in the same house however there was still rooms for groups to have their own space.
After showering Jord, Barney, Stern, and myself walked across the river to go eat at a place named Veg Food. Quite interesting though was the other dudes-Chris, Todd, Ethan, and Beaver were heading to the same spot but left earlier because I don’t think they were into waiting for everyone to shower. We’ll when we arrived at the restaurant they were not there and ended up not being able to find it. That sucks because we walked straight to the place with not even a question of where it was. Patience is a virtue but I have done the same thing and had the same outcome.

Our show in Prague was an Anti Fascist show for the May Day festivities. For those in the dark about this May 1st is the International Day of the worker however in North America for some reason we have strayed paths and have never recognized this day as the rest of the world. It’s a very historic day in most parts of the world when it comes to the working class, union organizing, anti-fascism and leftist thought.

I have never been that far east in Europe before so this was all a new experience for me and that it was. This fest was the real deal. It was on an Island in the city of Prague and was put on by the Anti- Fascist group in Prague. We had been told that the same day as our fest the Nazi’s in Czech were having their huge gathering 200 km’s away and that there is the potential that things could get interesting/ violent if these boneheads chose to come into the City. We were also informed about the security situation and the pre-cautions that were in store for our event. The Nazi’s were 1 threat and then the Police were another threat as well.
Arriving at the venue yesterday we passed about 8-10 male figures all dressed in black, wearing sunglasses and no part of their actual being showing. These dudes were the “armed” (yes armed) security getting into the Island for the fest to stand guard in case any trouble started between the fascist sectors. This whole situation is something that was pretty neat to witness and experience because honestly back at home this stuff really doesn’t happen and I am not saying I would want it to happen either. Everyone working the show were 1000% down with the cause of fighting fascism and fighting the right wing. It was the offical workers holiday and there at this fest there was a good 200 people working-volunteering- at this fest with cooking, setting up, security, driving around the city to make sure the Nazi’s weren’t on their way, and protecting everyone else at the fest. The main security leader was this tough looking eastern European dude who I talked to for a bit and the dude ruled. He was a a ju-jitsu/ kung fu/ UFC fighter and was ready for anything. Backstage they had an area with tons of steal pipes in case the Island/ Festival was invaded. Most of the security guards were also armed with guns and were all wearing earpieces for communication with each other. Crazyeee!!

It’s so crazy to think there is still a huge Nazi problem in this world but on the other hand I am not surprised due to right wing politics in the past, and currently. Boneheads. Boneheads. Boneheads.

During Propagandhi’s soundcheck in the morning the Police had their helicopter hovering above just checking things out- you know…city money well spent- and I saw a couple of people walking around with this huge meter by meter mirror type board. What this was for was to reflect the sunlight towards the helicopter to block their camera from taking pictures of the people, activities at the fest. I had also heard that before the doors were open there were a couple police officers spotted wearing normal civilian clothes walking around the perimeter taking pictures of people inside the fenced off fest area. Boooo!

This fest was a really amazing experience and everyone involved were truly something else. I guess this years fest did double of what last year did where my Swede buds in the INC played last year. This year there was about 5500 people from what the organizers said when we left and the whole thing was FREE for everyone who came. Everyone worked for free, the stage, the PA system were donated for the day for free, and no Nazi’s showed up which was good however all 5500 of us were prepared. POWER IN NUMBERS.


You know what rules?! When I help everyone out on stage including the show goers up front I try my best to look out for everyone and people realize this and thank me after the show. I like that. I try to do what I can to make everyones show experience fun fun fun. I keep an eye on everyone but honestly most of the times it is these sweaty, smelly, males so I do try and keep my sisters up front a lil extra safe by sking if they are okay. This evening in Roma there was quite a bit of females up front which rules however that soon changed with all the dudes who decided to stage dive, and float. Relax gents!!!!