Oct25th, 7:34 p.m. Dulles Airport, Washington DC
Eric and Nathan just dropped me off here at the airport. Usually I take the dog (greyhound) up here and its usually very hectic so my trip is already off to a good start. Instead of sitting in a bus for 2 hours and getting on trains and then another bus I got to hang out an extra 3 hours with friends. Fuck yeah! In about 1 1/2 hours I will board my plane for my little adventure with the Swedes. I have a lot of traveling ahead of me and I am hoping that ill be able to get some sleep on my flight. Highly doubtful though I never seem to be able to sleep on flights. I brought some sleeping pills with me this time so just maybe. I have been in this airport so many times in the last year that I should maybe start talking to someone about renting a room here or something. ha. Fuck that I hate airports. In about 1 week from now we in the US are having are democratic elections where we can actually make a difference. Bullshit. There is no difference between camels and Marlboros. They both are extremely unhealthy and both will kill you. That’s a whole other story and I wont go into it here. Anyhow it will be neat to be over seas to see the coverage over there as well as hear/ see peoples opinions. That’s it for now. Well that’s it for now I am just going to sit here and wait for my flight to board.
Oct 26th, 11:00 a.m. Heathrow airport, London
So my flight was okay. The plane wasn’t that packed so I managed to get my own row, which enabled me to get a couple hours of sleep. Enough no but ill take what I can get. The food they served us was pretty basic. A roll and some pasta. My last international flight my ass was served tofu. Not this time. Oh well. Flying in today was pretty awesome. We had to get in some holding pattern due to air traffic I guess and we just circled around London for 15 mines. The weather was very clear which made for good looking. This airport is seriously so busy with many people from all over the world. Right on! Well time to go see when my flight leaves for Copenhagen.
Fuck yeah. The rest of my day has been so crazy. First I was tired as shit all day. My flight was delayed leaving London for an hour. Adam was coming to pick me up. Well I got on my flight, flew to Copenhagen and ended up being only 40 mins late. Not bad. Flying in you fly over all of these windmills in the middle of the ocean. There are tons of them and from what Adam was saying off the coast of Copenhagen there are windmill farms in the middle of the ocean everywhere. that’s fucking rad. its part of their energy thing however he was saying its still involved with big business.
So my trip has now kinda sunk in. up until now I have just been in airports and airplanes. I cross customs and walk out into the airport and there is Mr. Adam Swartz just sitting down reading a magazine. Fuck yeah. This dude is pretty classic. He is a very old punk rocker. Adam is maybe around 40 and his first tour ever was with NAUSEA. Adam is also a card-carrying member of the communist party in Denmark. ha ha. We catch a train into central Copenhagen, catch a bus, and arrive at his girlfriends (Rikke) house where he lives.
It’s seriously so so different over here in Europe then it is back home. Like instantly you can tell the difference. I got into a bunch of discussions tonight with Adam and Rikke in regards to..
Adam gave me a big lesson in regards to sounds and frequencies of sounds. The highs and lows. Adding and subtracting frequencies. Nothing I know anything about however it was awesome just letting him rant. I was so into it and something I want to know more about.
- Then we talked about the US current situation in regards to the elections. They brought up a point. This election is going to determine if there is going to be a war between the Muslim world and western civilization. If bush wins this will happen guaranteed. If Kerry wins the election then there may not be this full on war against the west. They tied it into Denmark and the rest of Europe. I guess the talk here has been that if bush does get elected then Europe is going to have to make "terrorism" a main thing in elections etc etc. . If Kerry wins Europe will not make "terrorism" as one of the main things due to it maybe subsiding. another interesting conversation.
-This ones the best. Well Adam tells me this story of in 1989 when he was a little punk he went to Moscow with some friends on some exchange thing between demark and Russian youth. Adam said “lets go to Stalin’s grave a bring flowers". Well his friends ended up not going and he went down there to bring Stalin flowers in the red square. Well he said there were soldiers everywhere just guarding shit. I guess its still like that but back in 89 the wall was still up and the whole cold war thing. Well he went to the red square and for some weird reason after talking to one of the soldiers gets escorted by 12 guards (6 in front and six in back)-while he is by himself marching in the stern soldier walk. He said while he layed the flowers on Stalin’s grave the soldiers saluted. It’s a fucking rad story.
-we talked about Fidel Castro. Adam said it best and I agree with him fully. "Fidel Castro is the greatest man alive" fuck yeah. Fidel Castro got rid of illiteracy. 95% of doctors who work in the 3rd world were all trained in Havana. Cuba has way more then enough doctors in its country alone. Fidel sent troops to Russia to fight with the reds. Fidel sent troops to South Africa to liberate it. Seriously I tried to think of a better person and from a worldly figure he is it. We don’t see this shit on the news but Adam was telling me that when he speaks at the UN about 2 / 3rds of the people walk about because he just eats through their shit. For someone being so isolated like Fidel is from the rest of the world he can sure see through the worlds shit. He sees through it.
Well that’s been my day so far. Rikke made this spicy ass Thai food. Actual Thai food. She learnt how to make it while she was in Thailand from some cooking class she went to. Spicy as shit. Ill wake up tomorrow and head to Malmo, Sweden. Take care. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Oct 28, 2:30 a.m. driving somewhere in Germany towards Vienna
We played Leipzig, Germany tonight. The show tonight was another incredible show for the INC. the attendance was incredible. I hear tonight there were around 800 people. The place was fucking packed. We arrived earlier in day around 1:30 or so and I pretty much stayed at the venue all day. So far all 3 shows I haven’t done much outside the venue. The first 2 days I was busy getting organized and then I had to finish up my computer work for all days. As of tonight I am pretty much caught up on anything and am in tour mode. Which means now that once we arrive somewhere its not going to take me long to get setup and ready which means there will be some sights to see. Mr. Eric Kane had told me before I came on this trip that this venue cooks incredible food. Well Eric your ass was so right. The food today was great! Everyday the food has been good but today was by far the best. There was some kind of eggplant dish with a broccoli sauce, there were some curried potatoes, a very good healthy salad, some nutritional yeast pasta type thing, vegan sausages, and some sort of sweet vegan cream sauce. For desert there were these weird pastry type things, which kind of just tasted like sweet dough and were cooked in little flowerpots. The venue here -conne island- is pretty awesome. Out in the yard area there is a huge skate park. A great place to play. So far all the venues have been fucking rad. I wish there were these types of places back home. All collectively run and everyone is doing their part to make the show happen. Cooking food, loading, helping the band out etc etc. I ran into some friends tonight. we played with a band from Austria named red lights flash and Pipedown. I am friends with Christoph from Red Lights Flash who I met this summer and then I kind of know the Pipedown dudes although...um...I wont go into it. Basically I am trying to say that I am not into people who at the end of the night come and hit you up for merch and kind of go over board. That’s really it. ha ha. I went into it. Oh well. Just being honest. Well again the show went well. After the show we had an early bus call due to the long ass drive to Vienna, Austria so we left right away. Before we left though I came across Lars, and Ludwig who were in some conversation with some Germans in regards to the Palestine/ Israel conflict. We heard after we left that these kids were calling us fascists etc etc because of the bands stance on that conflict. Which I completely back as well. Palestine is 100% getting fucked. No way around that one. Plain and simple. Again I won’t go into this topic here cause it’s not the place. Anyhow these kids also said they also backed the US war against Iraq. ???? Yeah. So it was weird and these kids were pretty out of their minds. it was a pretty heated discussion which ended with us leaving due to our bus call and then after we are gone getting called fascists. ha ha. good night.
Nov 1st, Munich, Germany
Just waking up here in Munich. We have the day off today which is nice but also kind of shitty because its bank holiday. I am not exactly sure what bank holiday is but I do think it has to do with religion-Catholicism. Munich I hear is a very conservative city and is in one of the most conservative states in Germany. So I don’t think there is going to be much to do today. Last night don and I went to Lars, Scooter, and mikes room and hung out pretty late with them shooting the shit and drinking some wine. Good times. Yesterday it was Halloween back home. It’s interesting because they don’t have Halloween here. Not one person was dressed up at the show. You can tell though that "they"(whoever they are-someone who profits off of it) are trying to sell the people Halloween here. It’s not in your face like back home but from what I hear it’s starting to happen. At the show yesterday they cooked us some pumpkin soup, which was delicious. The show yesterday was another good show. At the last 2 shows there have been dance clubs right after the show so its been a little hectic getting out of there. Once the show was done we all got shuttled to our hotel for our day off.
We played Vienna, Austria at the flex the day before yesterday, which was nice. The venue was right near the city center and was located right next to a big river. I woke up with a little sore throat, which I tried to fight all day. I managed to get out for an hour or so and walk around Vienna. I took a couple photos of some cool looking buildings and then headed back. The Vienna show was sold out at like 800 people again. Interesting seeing how the club holds only around 450. ha ha. Crazy. I didn’t get to see any of the show due to where I was set up. This show was kind of crazy from what I hear. I guess right after the show some kids ran up on stage and stole some banners. One of the kids then came back and told Dennis that he will give the banner back if Dennis has a beer with him. ha ha. Dennis brought him backstage and instead the kid had a beer with Mans and the banner was returned. From my end of things after the show there were so many people around my area and I was trying to get out of there. It was so so hard. Kids were trying to bargain with me to get shit and wanting shit for free. Pretty hectic. I packed my shit up and then went back into the place and danced for a good couple hours by myself. ha ha.
So tomorrow is Election Day back home. Where we think we get to choose between camel and Marlboros. Our great democracy at work. Both who will continue to fuck us and continue the destruction of the planet.
That’s really it for now. I am still trying to fight my little congestion so this day off is needed. Don is getting out of the shower so I may try and jump in and clean off and see what’s in store for today.
11:08 p.m. our hotel in Munich
Just got back from cruising around the city all day. We all woke up kind of late and didn’t end up leaving until around 3 or so. Some of the other dudes had already taken off so Inge, mike, Dennis, mans, and myself all went out. We took the subway into the city center to meet up with one of mikes friends who was going to take us to a veggie/vegan friendly restaurant. The place we ended up going to be some Italian place, which was okay. It was food and we all needed to eat but it was pretty basic. The day today was very grey and misty. It made for a nice night. After dinner we had planned on going to a movie due to that being the only thing really to do. We walked down to the theatre and found a movie in English. We had about an hour to kill before our movie started so we went to the center of Munich. I totally wish I had my camera because the buildings there were amazing. I guess when Hitler was in power he wanted Munich to be the capital of the world. The buildings were pretty amazing. We then walked to the Leopold Strasse and this is where Hitler gave all his main speeches. The place is also built for big parades so right in front of the Leopold Strasse is a long wide street where all the people would gather and have parades. The weather tonight gave it such an eerie feeling. The mist, darkness, and the way the lights were reflecting in the night was pretty crazy looking. I wish I had my camera. We then cruised back to the theatre and watched the shittiest movie of all time. The terminal. Seriously this movie is a complete waste of money and time. Nothing but crap. After we fucking wasted our time here we then cruised around a little bit and ended up walking back to our hotel, which was nice. It was about a 30 min walk in the nice cool night. This is where I am now. I am going to do some work and then head to bed so I can wake up in the morning for bus call. We have one more show in Germany before we head into France for 5 days or so. Munich center is pretty amazing and I hear that we may be back if our second tour gets extended so maybe then ill try and take some pix.
Nov 3rd, Strasbourg, France
Woke up this morning. Found out the results of the election back at home. Or shall I say temporary home. We switched busses this morning because we are now sharing a bus as of this morning with and English band called color of fire. Our new bus is way nicer then our old bus. There is a lot more room however there are also 6 more people aboard now. Its only going to be this way for about 6 days though and then they are off the tour and we have it to ourselves. There is so much I want to write right now in regards to what is taking place back home. I cant really put it into words.
Nov 4th, exactly 2 in the morning pulling away from the venue in Strasbourg (bus call)
Well today was pretty dull however tonight after the show shit was pretty tight. The day had started off pretty fucked due to the election and then switching buses, which was kind of a bummer due to the hassle. This bus is better by far it was just a pain switching everything over......ha ha ha. I just had to leave for second because don, mike, our bus driver, and myself had to fucking lift a car onto the curb so our bus could fit on the street to get the fuck out of here. ha ha ha. I had to do this about 1 1/2 years ago with the molly's in Spain. Anyhow like I was saying the beginning of the day was pretty slow. I hung out at the venue for most of the day. Once I was done doing my work and don and Scott done with their shit we all went cruising around the city. Strasbourg is actually a beautiful city. It reminds me a lot of Amsterdam just a lot smaller. The small streets with no cars. We came across a very small but nice carousel in the city center and right beyond that was this amazing church, which I managed to take some pictures of. This structure was fucking huge and very decorative. I am not good with words, which means when it comes to describing shit it’s kind of impossible. ha ha. Anyhow it was the shit. The show tonight wasn’t that much compared to the last 6. It was our first show in France and I had heard that France wasn’t the best for the ole INC. I had heard right. There was maybe about 300 people in about a 1000 person room. When we showed up there wasn’t any catering for veggie/vegans which totally sucked seeing how we were already in shitty moods. They ended up cooking us some okay dinner, which was rice, and some punk rock stew type thing. I totally feel like I am rambling right now but I think part of it could be due to me being a little buzzed from the wine that don, mike and myself have been drinking. So the show wasn’t the best. After the show I just packed up my shit, didn’t count out, and went out upstairs and hung out and now you find me here.
I apologize if some of this makes sense and some of it doesn’t. I just write what’s on the top of my mind and go from there. Sometimes it flows and sometimes it doesn’t. About the situation taking place back home. Wow!! What is happening in this world? I still cant put it all into words. It’s so fucking crazy and insane. We have been sold fucking bullshit from the start. this disease which I would say is the western civiliaztion-capitallsm- whatever you want to call it has fucked us and we dont even know it. thats what makes it a disease. so far its un-curable. the rivers are drying up, the fish are dying, the trees are dying, and we are dying. i left canada when i was a child of 13. my dream as a child was to come to the US, go to hollywood, and disneyland and the beach. now that i am about 26 i realize its all been a fucked up dream. anyhow this is a tour journal not a personal journal. take care and goodnight.
...due to my little buzz i apologize if im not 100% coherent. sometimes my thoughts come to fast and i get ahead of myself.
nov 5th, 2:00 a.m. leaving the venue in lyon, france
today was an pretty good day. woke up, hung out in the venue for a couple hours or so, did some yoga, and caught a shower before load in. after load in i set up my little world and then hung out for a little bit. our bus driver is a total german nihilist. totally straight outta big lebowski. its fucking rad. everything is impossible to him. ha ha. you all totally need to check this guy out. so mike asked me if i wanted to cruise into town with hm so i waited until he was done work and off we went. we caught a subway and cruised into town. it was raining which made the sky veery grey and caused the view to be not that great. we came out of the subway to a pretty nice cathedral and then looked up in the hill and saw the castle we heard others talking about so off we went. the walk up the hill was pretty crazy. both mike and i were totally sweating our ass off. once you get to the top you see the whole city down below which was fucking amazing. then we cruised aloong this path which takes you by some garden type thing and then you come out to the castle which is bad ass. i toook a couple pictures which you will probably see below. walked around here for a little bit and came to the other side where there was a gold statue on top of the castle. took another photo, bought some postcards from some shop and then we decided to head back down. we managed to actually catch a train from the top, down into the city and then back to the venue which was nice due to the rain.
we got back to the venue, i downloaded some photos and then waited for dinner. dinner tonight again was some sort of punk rock stew type thing. just some vegies stewed up served over rice. i think everyone including myself is getting over rice and vegies. the last 4 shows or so thats all we have had. no nutrients whatsoever. i also think the next couple shows are going to be the same as well which sucks but i dont think the french promoters understand the whole vegie/ vegan thing. you think that they would but so far its been pretty plain. we will see tomorrow though. the show tonight was actually really good. INC wasnt to stoked on it however i thought it was pretty good. there were more people tonight(420 paid) then last night and the club was smaller which made things feel more compact and give the show a better feel. i was again busy after the show. after load out don, mike and myself kinda continued where we left off last night and this is where you find me now. finishing up this little piece about to hit my bunk. i am having a fucking blast.
nov 6th, nantes, france
just sitting downstairs at the venue trying to figure out some computer shit. it seems like everytime my computer acts weird it stresses me out. ha ha. technology has fucked us. ha ha.im kidding kinda. well last night we played toulousse, france. the venue was big as shit. maybe a 1500 person room which wasnt filled at all and no one expected to fill it. i heard later that 3 years ago there was a major explosion in toulousse at a fertilizer plant that destroyed block and blocks of the city including a smaller venue in the city so now all the shows are at this place which is big as shit. we had maybe 500 people so it also kinda sounded like shit but INC played one of their best shows in the last couple days. after the show shit began to get a little crazy. like the last couple days we have been enjoying the french wine and the beer. so after the show most of us were in our room just getting crazy. hung out there until we were kicked out, drinking wine, and all the swedes started doing some swedish chant which fucking ruled. we then brought our party outside into our bus where the brits(colour of fire) were already getting shit started. what took place here was complete madness at its finest. people loosing their minds, drinking wine, beer, jack daniels, stage diving from seat to seat, and blaring the stereo to some GnR. fuck yeah! downstairs was fucking going off. it was seriously so much fun however i think alot of people are feeling it today. oh well we have a day off tomorrow which is nice. i feel bad because throughout our craziness we woke up our bus driver carston. this dude is pretty tight. total nihilist who i just found out was vegetarian. yeah! i guess through him driving over the years and seeing all the road kill and shit he went vegi 7 years ago. fuck yeah. our bus call was at 3 in the morning and thats when we left however the party was still raging. i soon chose to go upstairs, put in some ear plugs, and go to sleep. woke up this morning and it was fucking cold as shit in my bunk, walked downstairs said hello to carston and asked if he could warm things up. went back to bed, woke up and now here i sit a couple hours later waiting for shit to continue.
nov 8th paris, france sitting backstage at venue
i just set up my world and now have about 4 hours to kill so ill write a little. this morning i went to the hospital where yasser arafat is in a coma. this was completely fucking unreal. ill continue on a just a moment but first....
we had a day off yesterday and played in nantes, france the day before. the show in nantes was okay and one of the smallest in france so far. maybe about 250 people so. the live show was fucking amazing. i not into our opening band(colour of fire) at all. quite boring live however i think if the singer was too do his own thing he would be fucking amazing. this dude is totally talented. big time. INC played next and had a fucking amazing show. this band live never disappoints me. every night i have a fucking blast. i love dancing and this band totally fucking gets me grooving. ha ha. after their set they did their encore and then came back out again and did a cover of rancid's olympia, wa. fuck yeah. totally a great song and INC does a good job of covering of it. the show ended and we had to load out right away and then start driving. my goal that night was to hang out with carston and watch the highway. carston is a good dude. he's 45 and seems like he has seen some shit. he was telling me of when he was 20 or so and used to fight the cops in germany, he saw the sex pistols, driving kids from chernobyl russia in 96 to germany for some program the kids were in. i guess the whole trip kids were fucking throwing up due to their sickness from the radiation. 10 years later!. we talked about a lot of shit. carston is a fucking good dude. its weird cause there are so many more stories that people have over here then they do back home. shit the berlin wall only came down about 15 years ago. thats not that long ago. well i wanted to stay up talking more but knew i should get to bed so i could enjoy a full day in paris.
paris is completely amazing. this is my first time here and its awesome. yesterday mike, mikes friend rossie, scooter, inge, dennis and myself went out and got some falafel in the jewish part of france. the falafel was good as shit. we then cruised to find some record store dennis wanted to check out. found it but it was closed due to it being sunday. i totally back taking sundays off. back home most things are still open on sundays. come on. give people a break to fucking relax. we then cruised to notre-dame to check it out. yeah! this place is fucking amazing. its so huge and magnificent. the design is unreal. there is so much to see here. ha ha. we then cruised to get some coffee. scooter was craving starbucks so thats where we headed. we are in france. fuck starbucks. fuck starbucks where ever you are. anyhow we still went there, got some coffee and then cruised to a movie. we saw the assination of richard nixon. pretty good movie but pretty depressing which made me pretty tired. we then went to get some indian food and back to the hotel. this is where my next little adventure starts.....
sitting in the hotel last night watching the BBC. well about a 1 1/2 weeks ago yasser arafat was flown to paris due to him being extremely sick. this is the first time in years(i dont know the exact # of years) that he has left his compound due to him basically being on house arrest. its major news all over europe. he is currently in a coma on life support at percy military hospital. well watching the coverage last night they showed the hospital where he was and the vigil's set up there for him. also last night they interviewed some high level palestinian officials who were flying here today to check out the status of mr. arafat. so last night i got on the internet and did some searching for percy hospital and decided i would try and find it this morning. i talked to inge about it and he was down as shit so we decided to set our alarms early and find our way to clamart, france(45km from paris). woke up, walked to the metro, transferred to another metro, got to the station we heard we had to go to, go on a wrong train, jumped on another metro to go to the opposite end of the city, then got back on track and headed to clamart. getting there was pretty crazy due to the language barrier and being a little stressed. we arrived in clamart and had know clue where to go and were on a pretty tight time schedule due to INC having an in store and we are outside of paris. inge and i asked someone how to get to percy and he told us it was a couple blocks away so we walked up towards the hospital. we came to it and saw 5 police at one entrance and kept walking to find the main entrance. up ahead we saw a bunch of people crossing the street, tons of cops, and tons of news vans. there were barricades everywhere and we werent sure if we could get in or not. we watched about 5 people walk in and the cops werent checking them so we then followed. got passed to first check point and walked along the sidewalk. up ahead you could see palestinian flags hanging on trees, flowers against the wall and people gathered around. fucking eh. when we came up to the main entrance and there was a press conference taking place right in front of us. there must had been about 40 reporters and a couple bystander including ourselves gathered around. at first we had no clue what was going on and from standing on our tip-toes could see they were talking to some lady. i managed to get closer and asked someone what was going on. they told me that the lady was the leader of the communist party of france (i didnt get her name) who was giving a press conference. so unreal. she definitely had some bodyguards around her as i could tell when she walked right by me. never would i expected an event like this. the press conference soon ended and most of the reporters went back across the street where some are probably waiting patiently for arafat to die. fucking bastards. inge and i walked along the side walk and checked out flowers, cards, posters, flags, letters people have left in support of yasser. we took some pictures in front of the main shrine and were walking back down the side walk where we asked a lady if we could borrow her pen to write something. this lady spoke very good english, gave us her pen, and then asked us if she could interview us. wow. she was from reuters news agency. we were both pretty reluctant however we did talk to her. she had told us that yasser arafats wife this morning had denied to palestinian officials access to see him. the are rumors that she is afraid of a conspiracy against arafat. i guess the officials cancelled their trip over here however may try and come tonight. she asked us some more questions and i asked her some question. yasser arafat is going to die probably in the next couple days. the situation in palestine is about to get much more complex. yasser arafat has been their main person for 50 some years. he is the founder of the PLO. i guess some feel once arafat passes no one really knows who will take charge and there will then be alot of in-fighting in the goverment which will then totally weaken the palestinian struggle. again i am not that educated on this topic and told the reporter that. will i ever be able to be this close again to such a world figure. not that i was close to him but i was outside his hospital is support of him and the people of palestine who have been 100% brutalized from the state of israel-US. they are called the "occupied territories" for a reason.
well that was pretty much my morning. i will never ever forget this. i have told really the whole story about my morning but cant really describe what i saw and am feeling. we then caught a train back to the venue and this is where i now sit after writing you this long but hopefully interesting little adventure i went through. yeah! the lady said her story will be up later tonight so i will look for it on the internet to see if inge and myself are mentioned and if we are quoted correctly. i am so so glad i did what i did this morning.
nov 9th, tourcoing, france
last night before leaving paris our bus driver drove us to the eiffel tower because some of the brits and myself hadnt seen it up close yet. we arrived right after the shut off the lights at like 2 in the morning. the thing up close is fucking huge as shit. its just really a big ass tower but when you go directly underneath it its pretty crazy. i guess the thing for people to do when they are underneath it is look straight up and start spinning. well i tried this out and kept spinning and spinning and spinning and then totally lost my equilibrium and fell straight on the back of my head. i was down for a good couple minutes getting my senses back together. from what the others said i flew horizontal through the air and then land straight on my head. after this little fuck up i was completely out of it, my neck was sore as shit, took 2 advil and went to sleep.
sitting here with mans and me upstairs at the venue we are playing. mans just found out that his uncle has between 2 days to 2 weeks to live from what the doctors are saying. his uncle has be diagnosed with cancer and has been in a hospital for the last month. it totally sucks seeing mans completely bummed. i understand why but it sucks seeing him like this. this dude is by far one of the most sweetest, down to earth people i have ever met. i told him the other day that when he comes across a special someone he will be their treasure. ladies he is keeper. its an interesting thing because all of the swedes are completely close to their parents. all of their parents are all still together as well. i do feel they come from somewhat of a different culture then i do and i also feel that the culture i am used to does contribute to the destruction of families back home. these dudes all come from good homes and have been raised very well. a little interesting observation. most of my friends families back home have been through divorces and come from broken homes. its totally weird.
just got back from eating more shit food. punk rock stew is getting old. i am totally into the fact that they cook you food here however when it comes to cooking vegan food its usually the same thing. dennis was telling me that when refused toured they would send recipes ahead of time to venues so they didnt run into this problem. another thing is i think part of it could be france. the german shows were actually pretty good when i came to food but when it comes to france thats when the food went downhill. oh well. shit happens. i am thankful for the food i just wish it had some sort of taste. we head to amsterdam tomorrow which should be fun and it also means there will be some good falafel to eat. yeah! tonight its the coldest night so far of tour. i am actually quite into the weather right now. the air is very cold, very crisp, the sky is pretty clear however has a slight haze to it from the coldness, and you can see your breath after you exhale. yeah! totally reminds me of my youth in the great white north. yeehaaw! tonights show doesnt seem like its going to be anything great. i think maybe 60 pre-sale tix have been sold which isnt shit. oh well. you win some and you loose some.
nov 10th, amsterdam, holland
i think i have cavity which kinda sucks. i am debating on whether i should fix it here in sweden while on break or if i should wait until i get home. its still going to cost alot here in sweden from what i hear. i guess the medical is very good but the dental is still very expensive for the people. we will see. i can tolerate it right now but if it get worse then ill fix it. what a bummer? its like if it was very cheap anywhere i would fix it soon however due to it being so expensive i keep putting it off. everyone should be able to get medical/dental free of charge. its a human right. those bastards.
i went out walking earlier this morning and just came back. we still dont have to load out for about an hour or so. load out today is pretty late which gives everyone time to cruise around. i went to get some falafel when i was done showering. i wouldnt normally choose falafel so early but the food we have been fed the last couple times i needed something good. after falafel was done don, scooter went one way and my headphones and me went another. good times. i totally love this city. well i am going to go back out and walk until load in.
well the show went well tonight. there was a sold out show in the bigger room at the melkweg which affected our show attendance not that the crowds were the same but still. it was some band thats from england named lost prophets as well 18 visions who are actually from california. i remember them from the hardcore scene when i lived in cali. there the same as they always were. crap. i remember seeing them once before and they actually gave me a headache. we all went into their show tonight before ours started to check them out. aahh! a big pooh. anyhow im not here to be negative or talk shit. those bands completely stunk. ha ha okay.our show was okay. i couple hundred kids. everyone here has been very nice. the catering was nice and then the falafels throughout the day. this city is pretty rad. out of all the cities in europe i have been to this is the one i have been to the most.
i am just sitting here waiting for mike to get back from falafel and we may go out to some bar. so it looks like i am going to be doing alot of flying/traveling in the next month. we finally got confirmation of us getting added to a tour in germany with some huge german punk band. their name is dietotenhosen. it means the dead pants??? anyhow i guess the venues are going to be like 10000 people or so. fuck yeah! its cool cause i have no clue what this band sounds like so its going to be neat. so our current plans are. we end tour in the 15th, then we fly to stockholm and i chill out for 5 days. i then fly to umea, for 3 days, fly back to stolkholm for 3 days, and then fly from stockholm with everyone to London. i here also that on one of our days off we may fly somewhere to save us a drive day. should be nice due to the flights being so cheap. if you fly inside europe the flights are so so cheap. thats really it and now with this new tour the day i fly back home is going to be insane. i get home now on the 23rd of dec. which will be fun fun fun not in the sun sun sun.
mike and i went out walking the streets before leaving. this city is so picturesque. the canals and the reflection of the lights from the bridges. good times. now we are leaving and heading to germany. enjoy and be safe.
nov 11, bochum, germany
my tooth is not stoked with cold or hot shit. bummer. i am now getting dentist info in stockholm to hopefully get it fixed. so mans uncle passed away last night which is a complete bummer. mans is totally fucked up over it which is understandable due to him being on the road. i guess last night the whole family was in the hospital room, his uncle acknowledged everyone by nodding his head, and 20 mins later passed away. fucking eh.
so i just got word that yasser arafat died. damn! seriously insane. i was at that hospital fucking 3 days ago. how fucked up. the goverment of israel would not allow him to leave his house-compound for the last couple years. so the last 3 years of arafats life he lived as a prisoner in his own home due to the aggression from israel and ultimately the US. the situation now in palestine is at a very crucial moment and who knows what will happen. hopefully who ever takes over will keep up the fight to get back the palestinian land. its so weird because back home you get stories everyday about bombings/ suicide bombers in this area however the major media never touches on the major issue because ultimately they are part of the whole US/israel situation. again i must say i am not to to educated on this topic however i know basically who is in the right and who is in the wrong. its doesnt take much to realize that.
nov 12, bremen, germany
i woke up around 4 in the morning with the fucking shits. went downstairs and asked carston if we could find a gas station asap. fortunately we were already in bremen so finding a gas station wasnt to hard. i got out, went into the toilet, did my thing, came out about 20 mins later, took some homeopathic medicine and went to bed. i then woke up again around 11 or so, felt the same, loaded in around 2 and i set up my world and went back to sleep.
i awoke and still feel the same which sucks and found out the scooter and me both feel the same now which sucks. scooter now has the poops and me is struggling with a sore stomach. damn! i wonder if it was the food yesterday. we will see how the rest of the night goes. last trip i had in europe with FM the same thing happened to me which sucked big time. i had shit coming out both ends and in the end i soiled the bed a little. bummer. ha ha
the show yesterday was in bochum and was great. we played a place called the matrix which is a nice venue however its all brick so the sound was pretty boomy. the attendance last night was awesome. 650 people or so and it was so far the busiest i have been all tour. my friend regina who i met a couple weeks ago through the SA's came to the show. hung out with her and her friends during the show and once i was all packed up went back downstairs and hung out with them until they left. put on some interpol, read a little, and went to sleep.
i got a copy of the guardian newspaper today and the first 4 front pages were all about yasser arafat. so crazy. there would not be this coverage back home. i am sure you would have decent size article but 4 pages.... no way. i kept the paper due to the content. i am also sure that back home the articles would paint arafat as a "terrrorist" but the articles in the guardian were very good. yasser arafat was a major symbol in the struggle to free palestine and who knows now what will happen with this struggle.
nov 13, heidelberg, germany at halle 02
so i sit here in the venue office waiting for someone to bring me the wireless password so i can send some shit off and check some shit on the internet. my little stomach issue is still with me however it has calmed down alot which is a good thing. i woke up and i felt okay which was nice but throughout the day i have been feeling it a little more and i am still a little nervous to eat which sucks. last night i managed to eat a little food the venue cooked us. i didnt eat that much due to it being indian food and tofu which would be pretty hard to digest. ill have to see what they cook us tonight.
it turns out i have been to heidelberg before. mike and i were just at some castle that i realized i visited when i was here with FM. it is by far the most amazing structure i saw on that trip and seeing it again was just as amazing. its on the side of a mountain so you can see the whole valley, the city and all the amazing colours from the season. yeah! i have said it alot already and i will continue to say it.
nov 14, wiesbaden, germany @ schlachthof
i woke up about 5 minutes ago, came into the venue which i have been to in the past with FM, used the toilet, and it seems like things may be back to normal. yes! today is our last show of the first leg of this tour. tonight we cruise to a hotel to spend the night. in the morning we leave scooter and mike cause they fly back to the US(good luck dudes). everyone else and myself wake up tomorrow morning at 11, the bus takes us to a TV station where we do a TV show, then after the show we spend the night on the bus, and then we get dropped off at the airport where we fly to sweden. yeehaaw! so i am pretty excited about going to umea. hopefully everything works out the way i would like it to. mans, dennis and i are trying to go to a hockey game while in umea. one of dennis's best friends is one of the most famous singers in sweden. i guess she is as famous as shania twain, celion dion(both shitty however) is in north america. anyhow she is friends with peter forsburg who played in the NHL but due to the strike now plays in sweden so we are going to try and get lisa to get us in to the came and hopefully see some hockey and hopefully there is a chance to fucking hang out with some of the players. ha ha ha. my ass is a dork but fuck it.
nov 15, cologne, germany @ viva studios
well we are now officially done with tour. in about 8 hours we get dropped off at the airport and fly to sweden for a little holiday. today was a pretty chilled day. we departed from phyte and scooter due to them flying back to DC for 10 days. we arrived in cologne around 2 where we were doing a TV show. the network was viva which is a big german music show much like mtv. booooo!!! anyhow we loaded in and got everything set up for sound check. had a couple hours to kill so took some cabs into the city, checked out some record stores and cruised back to the studio for sound check. sound check went okay but probably should be called camera check due to the station wanting to check camera positions etc etc. we then hung out in our room for awhile until it was time for them to play. someone came and got us, the host introduced them, they played their single and we were done. that was pretty much it. we ate some food that was ordered in for us and then loaded back out and now here i sit about to go to sleep so i can wake up for my flight. i plan now on my little holiday to get a filling and writing some personal emails to people since i havent yet all tour. so dudes and dudettes. take care.
nov 18th, stockholm, sweden
well its officially winter for me now. last night we received about an inch of snow and its been snowing all day today. i leave tomorrow for umea to hang out with dennis, mans, and inge which is fucking 3 hours from the artic circle so that shall be interesting and i am sure i am going to see my share of snow there as well. so today i hung out at lars's house most of the day where i watched eternal sunshine of a spotless mind. what a crazy movie. i then put on some warm clothes-long underwear-parka-warm shoes- and headed in to the city to get some food. went to this place called chutney where i ate 2 nights ago. its a nice little cozy vegetarian restaurant which has pretty good food. it was only around 4 but was pitch black so i guess ill say it was my dinner. weird. i then got on the subway and went into central station, listened to my headphones(some femi kuti- so amazed by him) and wallked around the city center. i picked some random streets and cruised. the streets i ended up walking down were so so rad. then you had the snow coming down which added to the experience. yeah!! everyday i wake up i am in love. i have been to europe now 3 times and it never lets me down. its weird cause i have friends back home who have been here in the past and actually dont like it. weird. i couldnt imagine having that mind not liking anything but the US. boring!! you go to a grocery store here and they dont bag your groceries. in fact if you need bags and dont bring your own you have to pay extra for bags. i completely back this due to all our waste back home. and it also makes people put in a little extra effort. thats one of hundreds of examples of how different shit is here.
i was going to try and get my tooth fixed yesterday but decided to fucking wing it. i have some pain killers if it gets outta hand so we will see what happens. i guess ill just eat with the left side of my mouth now.
nov 19, 2004 stockholm, sweden
sitting on my air plane waiting to leave stockholm. the flight has been delayed due to the plane needing to be de-iced because of the cold weather. the airline i am flying is called nordic airlines. ha ha. i am so far north i am flying nordic airlines. fuck yeah! its weird cause when you get on the plane you just sit anywhere you want which was a new thing to me. the drive to the airport was quite pretty and reminded again alot of my hometown in canada. the birch trees every where covered in snow and the clear sky..... i had to turn this thing off due to take off. i am now airborne on my way to umea. pronounced umeo actually. the a that has 2 dots over it are pronouced like o. so the weather today was actually a picture perfect wiinter day. the sky was completely clear, the air crisp, and the ground covered in fresh snow. last night the snow was pretty wet which made for some wet walking however today the temp was perfect enough that the snow was just there and there was no slush at all which made it super nice.
well last night phyte and i were talking over the ole internerd and we decided to try and go to egypt after tour is over. we would fly from germany to cairo and stay for a week or 2 and scuba dive. the plans arent set in stone yet and then i also heard this morning from lars that the band just got offered a show in beijing china on new years eve. the promoter in china would pay for 6 tix and the band would also get paid. i would assume that 6th person would be phyte seeing how he is their tour manager and how he has never been there. so i totally would understand why our egypt trip would get cancelled however i think i still may try and stay and travel around somewhere after tour. who knows. my tix arent booked home yet therefore i can pretty much pick a random date to come home and leave time for me to go somewhere and seeing how i am already in europe it would be alot cheaper to then fly to egypt, greece, india, russia, etc etc. who knows the possibilities are endless. ill take it as it comes.
tomorrow we play a show in umea at the club night that dennis and inge started. ill then be there for 3 days and hopefully catch a modo hockey game. fingers crossed.
so i just arrived. i totally flew with some hockey team. fucking eh. get off the plane and there are all their bags just waiting. i kinda knew it when we boarded due to how most of the dudes looked. big, dressed nice, and big. ha ha. there is nothing around this town. its actually very very very similiar to grande prairie, alberta. very similiar. far as shit north and nothing really around and surrounded by hockey. yeah!!!
well i just got back from an evening with inge here in umea. its cold as shit however there is no snow where as in stockholm there was yet we are 8 hours north and 3 hours from the arctic circle. weird. so i got in, took the bus to the central bus station, inge met me at the bus station, we ran into a couple stores near by to get somethings, and we then cruised to his house. we had a cup of tea, i put on some long johns, and inge and i walked to meet dennis for dinner. we walked along the river that runs through this town. its not really a city but m more of a town. there is around 100 000 people here so i would consider it a town. also i guess there are 8 million people who live in sweden but consolidated only take up about 4% of the land. interesting. anyhow the river was frozen over which was neat and we came upon a couple big boats that had been turned into restaurants.one of these boats ended up being the place where we were going for dinner. turns out this is where the kids come to hang out a couple times a week. they serve food for vegans and food for flesh eaters. never would i have thought that the umea hang out would be a boat. neat. usually boat type restaurants are usually fucking rizty expensive places. the soup we had was good as shit and they hooked us up with some extra garlic bread as well. dennis, inge and i sat there talking about politics and them growing up in the "sticks" and their parents working class backgrounds. it was good dinner. we were met later by 2 of their friends robert and andreas. inge, robert and i then went to see the exorcist-the beginning which was okay. the theatres here are different in that they assign you seats when you pay for admission. inge and i then walked home and came upon a party where mans was so we hung out there for 30 mins or so and i talked to some kid about politics or life(whatever you want to call it)which was nice. then we just ended our night by inge playing me a bunch of old old swedish punk 7" and then about an hours worth of chumbawamba which fucking ruled!!!! good night and keep warm- burn the rich
nov 21, umea, sweden
i am sitting at inges house right now just hanging out while he is in the kitchen cooking us some pesto for dinner. yum. its actually pretty weird and a very small world. you see about 4 years ago i met inge while i was living in santa cruz. it was the INC's first tour in the US and i went to see the show at the santa cruz vet's hall. a friend of mine was doing the show so i was there early helping him out and hanging out before the show. inge needed to check his email so i took him to my house which was a couple blocks away and he did his thing. i had never met him before and after that night we kept in touch but not regularly at all. i had maybe talked to him over the internerd maybe 3-4 times in the past 4 years. ha ha. well now here i sit at his house in northern sweden and now i tour with his band. very small world indeed. we talked about this the other night while walking home after the movie we saw. there is no other community like the punk community at all. its crazy sometimes to think about. i know over last couple years i saw the INC maybe about 4 times and always was into their band. never would i have thought back then that just a couple years later i would get to tour with them and see them live every night. fuck yeah!
so we had a show last night in umea. the show was at the club night that dennis, inge, their friends fredrick, and stefan put on about once a month. the place is called ny vag which means new wave. mans, dennis and inge are all from umea so the show was a big thing to them. i was only around mans for a little bit so couldnt tell how he felt but i know from being around inge and dennis they were both very nervous. the last time they played here was 3 years ago and they have never had a good show in umea. well last night was a sold out show. around 500 people in attendance which took everyone by shock. the band was playing on non of their gear due to it being in our trailer somewhere in europe with the bus we are using next week. the only things that were theirs that they used were guitars, bass, and drum sticks. everything else was borrowed. then we were also wtihout 3 crucial people phyte, scooter and don although mans friend daniel did sound last night so that was covered. so the show was obviously not going to be your typical INC show. the first song they played is when the chaos unleashed. ha. first song mans's nord and organ totally break and fall into the middle of the stage. i run over and pick everything up and begin to piece everything back together before their 2nd song is due to the organ being used for the rest of the set. the organ stand was broke the whole show so at least once a song i was running over to mans and just sitting to the side holding up the stand while he rocked out. then lars's setup went completely out which sent me running through the venue in search of a chord while dennis tried to entertain people for a couple seconds. we got a different chord which made things work a bit better however it turned out to be the amp that was shot. then the crowd up front was completely drunk and kids were getting crazy. not violent jsut completely chaotic drunkness which meant people all over the stage, monitors getting pushed left and right chords getting tangled. ha ha. complete crazyness. i dont think the show was bad. they all played well and were entertaining however due to the things expressed above it was a little hectic. all in all it was a good punk show not a rock show. after the show everyone cleared out and danced to some DJ's spinning some old swedish punk and some other classic dance hits. the building where the show was locked the doors on us which meant our jackets were still backstage in the -10 c night. inge had already left due to him being completely bummed out on the show so i had planned on walking home but then my jacket was locked away so fortunately dennis was giving sara(old INC organ/guitar) back to the same building so i was able to get a ride home. fuck yeah driving with dennis in his new car.
today we woke up and walked down to the club to clean things up and load everything back out. we took things back to inge's house and then inge and myself went to what inge termed as "crusty kitchen". crusty kitchen is sort of like food not bombs however here in umea there isnt really any homeless people so its just a peoples lunch that is served at a community center and you pay 20 kroners(about $3). it was pretty awesome. tons of people just hanging out on sunday eating and talking. everything is closed here on sunday and its to cold to go outside so we just sat there for a couple hours and hung out. inge then went to band practice and i walked home and frooze my cheeks. today was one of the coldest days so far and being so far up north the sun was going down around 2:30 or so. crazy!!!
nov 22, umea sweden
went out to get some lunch today with inge. we sat there talking about life and politics or what have you. we had a discussion about our age groups in america and sweden.
so i got to thinking. the right wing came to major power in the US around the 80s especially with reagan. therefore most people of my generation living in america havent experienced anything different so we dont really know anything different. i feel this is one reason for lack of politics in the general public back home. we dont know anything else. here in sweden for instance the right wing just started to come about full force within the last 10 years and before this takeover shit was alot different(ie- social policies). therefore our generation here in sweden actually has seen and experienced something different and knows how this difference is. so your average person here is alot more educated and concerned about the outcome of the current state of affairs. an interesting little thought that kinda would makes sense about why people in the US are so apathetic.
nov 25, stockholm, sweden
i sit here finishing up some stir fry i just heated up getting ready to leave to go out and see the silver bullit' s tonight in the city. should be fun. my last 2 days have been so so wonderful. i have just put on my headphones, took the subways/buses different places, and walked around. so so nice. today while walking a came across a 6 piece band that was playing in the city centre. their name was "indian folk music". the sounds of their whistles were so beautiful. i sat there for at least 30 mins and listened to them play. after they were done i talked to one of the fellows and they are all from peru and bolivia. they had lived in stockholm now for 2 years and recorded an album while they were here.
well i just got back from the show. silver bullits were good. kinda have a joy division thing going on like i had heard. they are from gothenburg and are just starting to get some attention. the show seemed to be sold out but thanx to luger(inc management) we were able to get in. the band that opened for them were.... i dont even know what i would say..... nothing...... thats all that can be said. just music made from computers but nothing that flowed. it was actually beyond weird and i dont think 99% of the crowd were into it as well seeing how everyone was talking.
i am so so looking forward to getting back out on tour. we leave in less then 2 days and its going to be rad. there is another band who is on the whole tour with us named thisgirl which i have never heard. they are also sharing our bus with us which shall be interesting. hopefully they are all cool dudes or dudettes or else it shall be very interesting. i have seen the INC so many times now however i am excited to see them again. i cant say how much i enjoy them live. their so good. if you are expecting a punk band your not going to get it but if you are open to an entertaining rock band well then here you go. from an entertainment aspect they are one of the best. yeah! its so so rad to see them everynight. ha ha. could i be more of a dork. um... probably.
so my tooth is pretty fucked. maybe by the time this tour is done ill be without it. actually thats what i am hoping to save me the trouble. i now chew with the left and back side of my mouth and if the temp. of the food is just right ill move it on up to the right front and give that side a little work out. ha. it sucks but thats what you gotta do. what a way to jolt your brain. eat something pretty cold with the right side of my mouth. fuckin eh does that hurt. its funny cause when i drink liquids i have to tilt my head a little to the left so i know i am in the clear. i am still hoping everything is alright but clearly its not. i mean i have had tooth pain in the past but the only thing that can compare to this is when i had a tooth that died and i had to have a root canel. ouch. oh well.
fuck zionism
free palestine!!!
nov 26th, last night in stockholm.
shit shit shit. well i was just doing this instant message thing with phyte because we are trying to change my tix due to our extra week getting added for the die toten hozen shows. well its going to be like $1000 to change my flights from the original one for dec 15th. damn! i am totally stressed about this cause i do want to finish the whole tour its just my flights home were already booked. i really hope that everything works its way out and ill be pretty bummed if i have to dip out early although i understand. aahh!
nov 27th, sheffield, england
well i still realize that i dont like england to much. london is cool to cruise around however its super super expensive everywhere else i dont really need to be. um..... we arrived in london yesterday afternoon and caught a cab to our hotel. our load in yesterday wasnt until 8:30pm so we had time to kill. we met up with phyte and scooter which was super nice to see them. we then cruised around and caught some food at world famous maoz falafel, got some coffee and then cruised back. the show we played last night was at some club night. which sucked due to it not being our show and more of a situation where we played 30 mins to people who were originally there for a club night. it pretty much sucked. we left right after the show due to our bus not having any parking in the busy streets of the city.
woke up this morning in sheffield. who knows whats up witht this place. it totally reminds me of montana however in the UK. the show wasnt that big at all therefore they didnt really take care of us. oh well. you win some and you loose some. we were all warned ahead of time that the UK was going to be the worst of the whole tour and is pretty much going to suck. well thats how its been so far. tomorrow we play scotland which actually may be a little fun but again who knows. shit here is to expensive
nov 28, glasgow, scotland
okay okay i realize i might have come across a little negative earlier in regards to the UK. i always have fun and am so glad to be back out tour its just like i was saying earlier the uk kinda stinks for the most part that really it. way way to expensive and just nothing fun to really offer. ha ha. anyhow i sit here in the venue today in scotland. we will see how the show goes today. woke up this morning and went with scooter and mike to try and get inge's amp fixed and then off to get some good vegan food for lunch. yum. i am starting to stress out a little cause my back is totally starting to act up again. i can lift shit and function however waking up the last 2 days it has been very sore. this morning i actually downed a muscle relaxer because it felt so bad. im scared because it feels exactly how it felt on the inc/ offpsring tour where i was completely out of commission for a good 3-4 days. worst pain i have ever felt so i am hoping it doesnt come to that. last time the pain was a good 10 and this morning it was around a 6-7. thankfully i have some pills though if it goes completely hay wire. our bus driver this time is kind of a speed racer which means for bumpy bumpy riding. ouch. anyhow im going to get back to work and go shower. rock on.
nov 28 glasgow, scotland
yo yo yo. so i dont know if i mentioned this as well and it may come across again as negative which i dont really like coming across as. so we were joined yesterday by another band who is going to be doing the next 3 weeks with us. their name is this girl and they all seem nice so far. they are from the uk and are all pretty young. the thing is though they arent good again. it sucks cause i know inc did try and get good support bands however so far non of them have been good at all. on most past tours i have been on i have been fortunate to be a fan of become a fan of the bands i have been on tour with which is rad because then every show you look forward to all the bands. however on both these legs the bands have not been good at all so i find myself reading during all the opening bands and looking forward to it at all. ha ha. i mean i guess its life. i also dont want to sound jaded however i am finding more and more these days that i am not really into alot of bands. i mean i enjoy the bands that i listen to obviously and there are alot of bands that i am discovering but then again when it comes to the show side of things i dont have as much fun anymore. i do at some and i dont at others. its probably the same shit everyone else goes through. when i am home as well i dont go to hardly any shows #1 cause there arent really any and #2 the bands that are playing it doesnt really do anything for me.
dec 1. dublin, ireland
currently listening to sinead o'connor and shane mcgowan doing a song together named haunted. ha ha. last night while driving before going to bed i had some sinead on a shuffle as week as well which was good times. maybe some of you know and maybe some of you dont but i am huge huge fan of sinead so i thought it would be nice to listen her while being in her home town. okay i am a little dork but arent we all. sinead rules hard!!
so we played in leeds at the cockpit which i had been to on a past tour. the show was so far the best one yet on this leg of the tour. it was a little hectic right before doors for myself due to me being set up and then like 2 mins before doors the promoter comes over and tells me its not going to work. i mean i was set up for a good 3 hours before doors and they wait 2 mins before doors. ha ha. so at first i was totally frustrated but then everything turned out fine. the show was pretty packed which was nice seeing how the last 3 shows havent been the best. we had a late bus call so mike, don and myself went walking around late at night to look for some food and just cruise around before we left.
our driver man needs to take us into mass consideration. i mean i am sure he does but he needs to chill out while driving. ever since tour began no one has had a good sleep at all. mike talked to daniel the bus driver the other day about the driving but again its the same thing. my back is feeling better now but when your getting bounced back and forth in you bunk all night that will cause you to wake up and feel extremely sore and tight. then the whole bottom row of bunks has a heater running beside the mattress which means when he turns the heat on and you roll over in your sleep you get totally fucking burnt. it totally sucks waking up like this and should not happen. ha ha.
here i go sounding a little negative but its not really that way. waking up due to your hand getting burned and you getting tossed around daily is just a little bummer. fuck it.
so i am about to go load in to our dublin show so once i have some more time i will write more later. rock on.
dec 2 liverpool, england
i completely feel like crap today. bigtime. we played dublin last night and after the show there was some good times to be had and i am completely paying the price today. ouch. dublin was great. i had been to the venue whelans in the past with FM and i also saw HWM there as well. we went out and got some good lunch at cornucopia which is an incredible vegi/ vegan restaurant. inge, mike, scooter and myself chilled and ate for awhile and then cruised around temple bar for about 2 hours or so. mike and scooter had been to dublin in the past however had never really cruised around so i took them to check out trinity college which is a very green 1500 year old university. dublin is such a beautiful city that i would totally move here one day if the opportunity ever arose. we then cruised back to the venue and did our shit there and thats where i was pretty much the rest of my stay in dublin. it was INC first time ever to dublin so no one really knew how the show would be however the venue was about 250 capacity so you knew it would be okay. the show was actually great. the place was completely packed and everyone was totally having a good time and the people ruled. after the show the venue closed down which was kinda a bummer due to past times being here after the shows they usually have music and dancing. we loaded out and were entertained by the street life of dublin. after we were finished loading the trailer we went into the front bar of the venue which was open till 1:30. mike and i went to the bar to try and get hooked up with some drinks but they denied us so i went into our bus and made a couple trips bringing in beer for us to drink. we chilled out there hanging with thisgirl dudes listening to some dj spinning records. some dead kennedys came on and we all went ape shit. yeah! holiday in cambodia. this place shut down a little later and we were told from the promoter that we could cruise to the bar/ dance club next door which we did. i should have stopped there however i kept going because drinks were coming at me left and right and bam!! thats were you find me today. down and out. anyhow that dance club was actually a fucking blast. mike, don, scooter, and myself were all just dancing our asses off it fucking ruled hard.
dec 3, flying to italy
our l flight has been delayed so here i sit in stansted waiting for our plane to finally arrive so we can leave.
well here i sit on yet another plane on our way to italy. today is our first day off on this leg of the tour and was originally supposed to be spent on the bus for a drive day from london to italy(far as shit). we would have originally been in the bus all last night, all today and all tonight which would have sucked big time so to have more of a real off day we are all flying to italy so we can have some time to relax, stretch out, and have a nice smooth sleep. ha.
so we are still trying to figure out my flight back home. i am still set now to arrive on the 15th instead of the 24th due to the tix being booked already but there are some options that are popping up and may be intersting. mike was telling me last night that one of those options would be for me to catch my flight on the 15th back to DC, get off that flight and then get right back on a flight back to germany. ha ha. if that happened that would be so so insane and quite an adventure. we found cheap tix however they begin in the states and if you arent on the first leg of the flight the whole thing gets cancelled so thats the reason i may have to fly back to dc then get right back on a flight back to europe somewhere. who knows what will happen but it will be interesting and possibly a crazy little adventure.
last night we played liverpool at the carling academy. the show wasnt that good at all. by that i mean the attendance which was very low maybe around 100 people total so it was a pretty boring show. i didnt get out much yesterday due to me feeling like complete crap from our night partying in dublin and then we missed the ferry early in the morning so we caught a later one which made us a little late to liverpool. the show last night was our last show in the UK which everyone was looking forward to. INC doesnt do to well here and everything is so so expensive. the weather is about to get a little warmer as well and just in general i think things are going to be pretty fun. italy, spain, and switzerland. yeehaaw!
i have no clue as to whats going on in the world at the moment. when there is internet access i do check out the news and some other random shit but in general i am pretty out of the loop. i havent spoken to anyone back home since i have left. i have been keeping in touch with a couple people over the internet however i havent heard any of my friends or families voices in a long time. last time i was in europe i kept in touch quite a bit but at the time i also had a grrlfriend so i usually had calling cards etc etc. i was thinking about that last night and how it is going to be very nice to get to see, talk and visit with friends. i have no clue what i am going to do when i get home. i dont want to just be in rva and do what i have done in the past which is not really much. if it looks like ill be in rva for a little while i will get a little jobby job or i am still thinking about doing some more traveling. after our leeds show mike, don and i walked around and mike was told me about his whole egypt trip which sounds so so amazing. i have been to some cool places but i would say cuba takes the spot so far for number one. i need to kick it up a couple notches and go somewhere crazy. egypt would be cool. palestine would be intense. shit there are so many places i would love to go- asia, africa, russia...damn!. ive done western europe and it wold be cool to see eastern europe however i think ill wait on that one and go somewhere completely different. it looks like INC is going to do this china thing. fuck yeah! not to many people get that chance but its not going to be their first time. 6 years ago their first tour ever was a month in china which was a pretty crazy experience from what i hear from them. it was a pretty much illegal what they did. went into china with just guitars and some clothes and toured from show to show using the trains in china. fuck yeah! so now they have been invited back and this time its alot more legit although its only one show. i think they will be in china for a week and half or so but i talked to mike yesterday if he had planned on staying longer and he plans on it to stay and travel around. that right there is the shit. what an opportunity. i dont think there is any other band that i know of or have heard of touring or even playing china. unfortunately i wont be joining them on this adventure which is understandable because it is only one show and tix over there are around $1500......
holy shit!!! i look out my window and as far as the eye can see massive massive mountains. we are currently flying over the swiss alps and its a site to see. mike and i went to the front of the plane where there were some open rows and sat there in aahh. i know i have driven through this area but both times it was a night and i was sleeping. seeing them from the air is amazing. this is the shit that i think more people need to see and experience because just maybe we as people would take a little more caution in the way we treat the enviroment. we get one shot at this and its our duty not to fuck it up. once the trees are gone--which is almost the case- and the water polluted-which is also the current case- we are going to be gone. it is 1 +1 = 2. the enviroment needs us and we need the enviroment. i know some who will say that this is "hippy shit" etc etc but actually its not at all. its life. ha okay ill stop anyhow the swiss alps rule.
dec 4, bologna italy
well last night was by far crazier then our night in dublin however i was a little more cautious in drinking alot of water before i went to bed. lets to say that alot of crazy shit went down last night some of which ill write about and some of which ill keep to myself not that i was getting crazy because thats not the case its just for some others sakes. ha ha ha.
we just got on a train heading toward florence. its pretty funny because about 4 years ago i was in the exact train station about 1 in the morning by myself. it was during my first trip[ to europe just back packing around and i was coming to bologna to meet up with someone i knew however the night i arrived they were at a show about 45 mins outside of town so i was pretty much stranded at this train station.m i remember going into some corner and trying to get some sleep which i couldnt due to being a little sketched out in the place so i ended up a couple hours later getting on some other train and left bologna for bern switzerland. so it was a little funny being in there today and remembering my past time there. ha
okay so yesterday we arrived at the airport forti. we had to catch a bus from the airport into the town which took about an hour or so. we walked around the city to find out hotel, checked in and some people slept while mike, scooter, inge, lars, and myself went out to get some food. the city of bologna reminds me a lot of havana, cuba. the buildings with there brownish/ tanned colour, the streets, the lights with the wires running from one building to the other. the only difference is italy is a pretty western country and cuba is not. there is no gucci or other ritzy places in cuba. we walked around and grabbed a couple slices of pizza and then searched for some real food. the thing in italy is most people dont eat dinner until late evening time so most restaurants werent open but we managed to find a place on some nice little side street. we all pretty much ordered the same thing due to the vegan situation. pizza and pasta. ha. then the wine started flowing and that was pretty much the beginning of the mayhem. ha ha. we chilled at this place for a good 2 hours just chatting it up and drinking wine. it was friday night and the day off so i think some of us wanted to have a fucking blast which was accomplished. we left the restaurant and walked to some street we had passed earlier that seemed like it would be a happening place. found some bar ludde bought him and i a mojito- fitting in a city that reminds me of cuba and then they are serving cuban drinks- and we just sat there a drank. this evenings crew was phyte, ludde, don, mans, scooter and myself so we had a pretty tight group chilling and raging. more and more liquids were getting consumed and shit was just getting crazy. we left that bar and by that time were completely hammered so we walked around and were being pretty chaotic now that i look back on it. scooter being drug free was pretty much baby sitting us all until he couldnt really handle us any more so mans and himself ended up catching a cab back to the hotel while we all just kept cruising around. went into some other club that was pretty boring so we left then walked into some party we came across but were denied access so we ended up heading back to the first place we were at. i dont think anyone ordered drinks this time because there was really no need for anymore. we left and tried to make our way somewhere so we could catch a cab. who knows where we walked but it was pretty much in the middle of nowhere and met some random people on the street and were invited to their house however we chose not to and ended up finding a cab soon after and headed back.
this morning seeing everyone in the hung over state was pretty funny. most people dont remember anything from last night. fortunately for me half way through the night i was frequenting the bar to even out my alcohol consumption with water and right before i actually crashed out i forced myself over the sink and drank a lot of water and i feel a-okay.
good times indeed.
dec 5th, bassano del grappa, italy
the land of pizza and pasta is nothing but great. seriously yesterday we woke up had spaghetti for breakfast/ lunch, came to the venue in florence had some incredible pizza, and the for dinner they brought in more pizza and pasta. these next few days are going to be nothing but carbs. ha ha. the show in florence was so fucking awesome. the italian people fucking rule and i think one day it would be cool to live here for a little while. everyone here is incredibly beautiful with their creamy skin tone. now i realize how rad it is to be out of the uk due to yesterdays show. the show ruled hard as shit, the crowd was way into it, and there was dancing and partying until 3 in the morning after the show.
okay so bassano rules hard is shit. its a little town with a crystal clear river running through it and its in some valley so there are beautiful mountains surrounding it. i had finished setting my world up and phtye, don, mans, and ludde were chilling as well so the promoter eddy gave us all a ride into town. this town is the perfect reason why i would love to move to europe or italy. its small so you lack the craziness therefore everyone is extremely chilled out and calm. the town center was absolutely beautiful and still to this moment i am a little bummed because i had forgot my camera due to low batteries. bummer. where we parked you walk up this cute little cobblestone road and to the right is the river with a nice walk bridge where it connects one side to the other. we first went to a little place where they sold this certain drink which was called somethinglike meso meso. i am not sure of the spelling but it sounds something like that. eddy had told us that this was the only place to serve this drink in all of italy. the place was a very popular place and the drink was very sweet with a slice of orange zest to compliment it. we finished these and eddy took us to yet another place which was quite funny seeing how he has never drank alcohol ever. so we went and all had a small glass of grapa which was a very warm, sweet, kinda evening drink. all of these drinks gave us all a major buzz however you dont drink them to get drunk. all of the drinks were more or less a desert/ evening type drink from what i was told. we were then taken to another place where again eddy wanted us to try another drink which i have no clue what it was however again it was good. when we were walking to the first place over the bridge eddy had showed us the side of the building and there were all sorts of holes in the side of it which were caused from bombs during world war 2. the bridge we had walked over had been taken out 3 different times from what he said. like i was saying earlier itws definitely towns like this that make me want to move and keep traveling. being in a little italian village in the middle of the mountains with a nice clear river near you. the houses/ buildings that lined the river banks as well had something quite special about them. oh yeah another cool thing that i saw today when we were walking through the streets there was a home that had branches of peppers, tomatoes, garlic and some other plant type things just hanging out of the windows to dry out. when you were about a block away from this place you could smell sun dried tomatoes and garlic in the air and once we got closer the smell was that much more. all in all today so far has been incredible. waking up in the mountains is something i am glad i have experienced in the past, present and hopefully the future.
dec 6th grenoble, fr
so today everyone from my crew flew to paris to do some tv thing and since i am the lowest in the ole pecking order i didnt go. i do understand however. so i woke up while we were driving through the french alps and holy fuck what beauty i woke up to. massive snow covered mountains, cliffs, and rivers running through the mountain valleys. i was totally speechless and am very glad that i got this experience. again something that totally reminds of my youth in canada. every year my family and i would drive from my hometown in northern alberta through the great rocky mountains to vancouver. shit ill never forget so anything that reminds me of that totally hits home. in our bus upstairs we have 3 hatches to escape in an emergency. we opened them i just stood with my whole upper body outside with the fresh french winter air blasting in my face while i took in the sights. managed to get some killer pictures as well. yeah! we then just hung out in this good sized town in the middle of the mountains. amazing.
the show yesterday was completely crazy. first off there was no show in the long run at least not for us. the last 2 days dennis has had major sore throat and extremely sick. yesterday everyone was actually pretty sick but not as sick as ole dennis. where shit got completely fucking crazy was we cancelled the show exactly at door time which is not a good thing and obviously shouldnt have happened. it was a freak thing. we loaded in the gear. everyone set up their worlds, eddy took us into town for an amazing day, we came back to the venue for dinner, and we were all ready for the show to start. i could tell mike was going through some shit and called scooter over to see what was going on. i was told we were probably canceling the show and watched mike and the promoter talk it over which was not pretty. i can completely understand the promoters side of it but i also can completely understand that if you cant play you can play and dennis couldnt. its was just fucked up that it all went down exactly at door time. so i take all my shit down and pack everything and watch everything go down. then dennis fucking decides to walk in the venue and use the bathroom. ha ha what the fuck man people are ready to kill you. mike told him that you shold not be here people want to kill you. ha ha. crazy. well mike and the promoters are trying to figure shit out. people were driving from slovenia for the show, how was the promoter going to pay for the PA etc etc. in the end it will all get taken care of. they decide to continue with the show minus us however 3 mins before doors the promoter asks me to sell merch so it looks legit. damn! i fucking scramble to get everything sorted out and try and set everything. they eventually open doors and i have a good line of people just staring at me while i finish setting up. i totally felt weird and all night had to answer questions and hear people tell me how far they drove etc etc. it totally bummed me out as well as anyone else. i would have loved for the show to happen but unfortunately it couldnt. i also had to answer questions in regards to why i am selling merch. i think people thought we were still trying to $$ off of it but that wasnt the case at all. i took all my shit down and was asked by the promoter to sell it so it looked like we(INC) were actually here and the promoter wasnt lying. sometimes in these parts i guess people will advertise shows for a band who has never been notified etc etc and its all a big scam for the promoter to make some quick easy $$. anyhoww the night was very interesting and sad.
dec 7th. claremont, fr
well we cancelled another show today however we cancelled it with enough notice this time to avoid any craziness. yesterday INC flew to paris for filming of some tv show again and due to me not really having a reason to be there i was left behind with thisgirl and the bus. all that really happened today was we arrived and the venue was kind enough to let us in the building to take showers. i had a nice shower and managed to get a good little yoga workout done as well due to my back being a little sore. after the shower i went into town and walked around to check shit out. saw a couple of cool cathedrals, took some pictures, and then walked back to the venue. INC arrived a little while later and most people seemed pretty out of it. phyte seems very sick and lately has seemed very irritable which is probably due to him not feeling well never the less it is kinda starting to bum me out so maybe in the next couple days ill try and stay clear. he is a total sweetheart and great at what he does but sometimes he seems to get irritated fairly easy. oh well. i mean it happens to everyone. its weird when you are on tour so so much with the same people you are very exposed as well as everyone else. this obviously has its ups and downs however i know i get very self conscious around people when they get irritated because automatically you think you either did something or it has something to do with you. that right there i would say is a downer. oh well. its just part of tour and thats why tours can either work or cant depending on who you are with. fortunately here iit never gets really crazy and i have never really been in something super crazy but i would understand why some tours are just tours from hell and why bands eventually break up. touring is not easy at all. okay okay i am just expressing some current thoughts at the moment.
dec 8th, bergara, basque country
my back is super super sore this morning and its know freaking me out again. the last couple days i have been waking up with it sore but nothing compared to this morning. last night before i went to bed i took a muscle relaxer and pain reliever and woke up with things feeling a little worse so i took another muscle relaxer but that still hasnt seemed to work. i can bend over and do most streches so i dont think its really anything structural with my spine or what have you i think its mostly a muscle thing. our driver doesnt give a fuck about anything which sucks because we have all talked to him a least a couple times about his driving but he doesnt give a shit. he is 25 yrs old and i feel he is pretty young and cocky which is probably the reason for him not caring at all.
we are in basque country today which is located in northern spain. i am not 100% educated on this area but i know its more of a separatist area who wants really nothing to do with spain. in fact i guess within the last couple weeks here in madrid the ETA has been setting off bombs in the city. the latest bombings took place just 2 days ago and after tonights show we are heading to madrid. there has been a civil war going on in these parts for a long time now but like i was saying earlier i am not to educated on the politics of it all. i would guess it would be like the whole quebec separatist movement trying to break free from canada although there hasnt been violence in years and years.
dec 11 driving to lausanne, switzerland
just waking up from one of the smoothest rides so far of this leg. it is still bumpy but compared to the last couple weeks its a lot better. yesterday we got a new driver named micheal who actually isnt a speed racer this time which makes for a much smoother ride. my little back is still sore but i am hoping with time on these smoother rides my muscles will chill out and i can stop taking the pills that i have been the last couple days.
we played madrid a couple days ago. my friend robert who i know from rva was supposed to come to the show but ended up not being able to make it. it would have been nice to see a familiar face but thats the way it goes. it would have been a good day for visiting as well seeing how i didnt sell that night. load in for this show was super crazy because where we were parked and the venue being downstairs somewhere in some mall type thing. weird. fortunately we had some extra hands to help us load in so i just kinda chilled out to relax my back. scooter, don, mans, and myself went into the city to go walk around and check shit out. we werent there for to long due to the show so all we really did was walk around the city center which was all lit up due to the holiday season and tons of people just cruising around. don was looking for some shoes and scooter was looking for a real madrid soccer jersey so i just cruised with both of them while they searched and finally found there finds. we cruised back to the venue and that was pretty much it for the remainder of the day/ night. the show went well and i think there were maybe around 500 people or so which was nice.
yesterday we were in barcelona which always rules. i must say i think this is one of my favorite places in europe. i have actually spent a good week here in the past while i did my solo traveling trip a couple years ago so coming back on tour is always nice. load in for this show wasnt until around 4:00 pm so there was plenty of time to go out and do shit. mike, scooter and i caught the metro and cruised into the city center. we went to maoz falafel too get some food and then we took a bus towards the outskirts of the city and climbed up this hill to some park which over looks the whole city and bay of barcelona. fuck yeah! the view was something else i must say. as far as the eye could see was the city, ocean surrounding it, and the hills. we sat up there for a little while just talking and taking in the sights. this definitely made my day and its shit like this that keeps me traveling. amazing. then we cruised down the hill to this section where all the gaudi structures are as well. tons of brightly colored marble tile everywhere.it was getting close to load in so we started are journey back, caught a bus, and arrived back at the venue. the weather today was so far the best of tour. clear blue skies with a temp. of around 70f or 15c or so. shitty that it was a first and last day in this weather but also great at the same time being able to cruise around in a t-shirt. after sound check was finished scooter, phyte, and myself cruised to maoz falafel again to get some dinner. ha ha. falafel with hummus. nothing like it and you get a topping bar which you can keep refilling up. yum. scooter then took off to check out some cathedral so mike and i cruised back to the venue and stayed there for the rest of the night. i thought the show went well tonight however dennis and some others werent into it at all. i thought the crowd was into it however they didnt seem to think so and i know dennis was saying he just wasnt feeling it in general. oh well you cant have good shows all the time.
dec 12 winterthur, switzerland
okay i just found out something a little interesting and possibly adventurous. i am now staying in europe until the 23rd of dec because INC was able to find cheap tix for me to stay for the die toten hozen tour. the cheapest tickets were a return flight from munich, germany on the 23rd then flying back to munich on the 12th of january. so basically i now have a free flight back to europe on the 12th of january. so i need to do some major thinking about the next couple months. i think it would be the shit to fly back to europe and travel around and possibly stay here for awhile. do i want to chill out foor a little while or do i want to fucking be adventurous and go see the world some more?? i think it would be super crazy if i was just sitting in my room on say the 10th of january and decided hey tomorrow i am going to go to europe. ha ha. the only thing is i would have to eventually pay for a flight home but i dont think it would be that crazy. who knows what will happen.
so last night was played lausanne, switzerland which was another crazy night. lausanne is a pretty small town so we didnt really know how the show was going to be however the club ended up being very packed and very smoky. the laws in switzerland are pretty strict when it comes to venues so there was a DB limit last night which sucked. seriously you could here yourself talk while bands were playing. bummer. rock is supposed to be played loud. since we were playing switzerland today our bus call last night wasnt until 7 this morning and the venue we played at had dancing until 4 in the morning. party party party. i must say i had so so much fun and the night ended with me running down some street in the complete freezing cold naked. good times.
dec 13th, freiburg, germany
10 days until we all head home. i realized that my flight home is going to be around 9 1/2 hours straight which kinda sucks. you gotta do what you gotta do but sitting on a plane for that long isnt going to be fun at all. i didnt sleep to well last night at all and am feeling it today. my back feels a bit better these days which is good and i have been doing alot of yoga which i am sure is helping things out alot. so i just heard that a TV show we were supposed to play in 6 days in berlin has been cancelled so we may actually try and play prague. fuck yeah! i have never been to prague so it would be so cool to get to go there seeing how i have heard so many amazing things about it. fingers are crossed. i big thought in my mind is still what i am going to do when i get home to the US of apathy. um..... i have no work lined up so it looks like ill have some time off which is fun but nowdays it seems like i cant stay in one place for too long. this is probably not the best thing on my side and maybe its something i need to fight.
last night we played winterthur and the show was good. winterthur is a pretty small town so the show was pretty small but the kids were into it. after the show phyte, inge and myself sat in our room after the show and got into some pretty intense conversation. i cant really say what it was about because i am going to keep it between the 3 of us but some of it was in regards to touring and how touring so much does a number on you which it does. like i was saying a couple days ago tour exposes you completely.
phyte and i just got back from walking around the town of freiburg. we were both talking and agreeing about how nice it is to be away from north america during the holiday season. back home it seems like a very stressed out holiday and so many products are thrown at you through so many different means. the thing about not speaking the language here is we dont really know if it is that way here. yes it could be but if so i wouldnt say at the level as back home. each city that i have been to in the last couple weeks have all been decked out in lights and different types of holiday decorations. most cities in the city center there are huge little markets set up with different shops selling everything from little festive ornaments, nuts/ dried fruits, tons of crepe shops, and also places selling warm sweet wine. today the center we went to the place was packed just like all the other markets ive been too and its interesting because it seems like people come out to enjoy the wintery season and the festivities. seriously i havent seen one fuck dressed up as santa which fucking rules. it seems like families bring their kids here for crepes and the adults enjoy the warm wine beverages.
dec 14th, coesfeld, germany
well we just got word that our first show on the die toten hozen tour has been cancelled due to the singer being sick. we now have tomorrow off as well as the next day. bummer. we dont know anything really about the situation and if more shows are going to get cancelled. obviously if we are just going to be sitting around, with no shows, with all our expenses, and our tv show getting cancelled everyone would rather just go home.
dec 15, cologne, germany
so we just got dropped off at our hotel and no one really knows whats going on and when we are going to see our bus/ shit again. another show from the die toten hozen tour has been cancelled so now we have a total of 3 days off and no word if we are going to continue or not. everything is kinda up in the air at the moment and i think most people just want to head home. hopefully no more shows get cancelled and we can finish our last 4 shows of tour but if not i think we will be heading home earlier which would suck seeing how INC spent $$ to change my tix etc etc. also its funny cause today i actually have a ticket back home so i could technically go back today but i am sticking it out with everyone.
well i am about to get on a train and go make a surprise appearance at a strike anywhere show about an 1 1/2 hours away from here. i am totally excited and cant wait to see them. anyway im catching a train so ill write more later.
dec 16th. cologne, germany
well i am back from my night of raging with the strike anywhere dudes. yeehaaw! i arrived to more good news in regards to our shows tonight and tomorrow which look like they are going to happen however DTH will not be playing due to the singers sickness. the DTH people have been nothing but nice so far and we havent even met them. they set us up a last minute show today here in cologne which is nice of them. who knows how well it will do seeing how it was put together yesterday however the singer of DTH got on the radio to advertise the show, they put it up on their website and some big music publication here in germany is plugging it as well so it may be an okay show. as for tomorrow we will be playing hannover but without DTH again. its nice that now we actually have 2 shows again instead of 2 days off and its super nice that DTH has helped put those shows together. i have heard nothing but good good things about the people in this band and the people who work for this band which makes me excited so hopefully we will actually play some shows with them.
well yesterday i took a shower, walked to the train station and caught a train to essen, germany where strike anywhere was playing. the trip took around 2 hours total and when i arrived at the venue they werent there yet so i chilled for about 10 mins and then they showed up. no one knew i was coming so it was kind of a surprise for them as well as for me. it was so nice seeing them and getting to see them over seas none the less. chilled most of the time with josh and eric which was super fun. drinking beer and catching up on life. i had planned on hanging hard with them so the night before i took it quite easy so i would have energy for last night. eric and i talked a some about possibly traveling in the new year due to both of us not really being into richmond anymore. who knows what will happen. i ended up spending the night with them so the after show activities were pretty out of hand and tons of fun. we found our hotel and continued our mayhem until someone in the room across from ours came out and told us to chill. gina was also trying to keep us in live as well. ha.
woke up this morning pretty out of it, looked and felt the same as everyone else who were also in the same state. the SAs were able to give me a ride back to cologne because it was on their way to wiesbaden so i was able to spend a good amount of quality time with them which ruled. i just found out for tomorrows show we have 10 hotel rooms. yeah! the reason being is due to DTH canceling they are letting us take their hotel rooms which is going to rule because we will all have our own room. fuck yeah!
dec 18th. leizpig, germany
okay well i gotta do some work but we are now on the DTH tour and holy shit these places are fucking huge. its like its a U2 show or something. tonights venue is around 12 000 people. the stage is big as shit and they roll deep. like 10 semi trucks plus buses etc etc. its definitely the biggest indoor show i have ever been to in my life. so far everyone has been super super nice which rules.
okay okay so the show is now over and what an event tonight was. the show tonight was around 12 000 crazy excited crazy germans chanting the night away. the day began with us waking up from our nice little comfortable solo hotel rooms. not trying to be cheezy but it was nice being able to sleep, chill watch tv, walk around in your ginch, all by yourself. its quite nice when you are around 8 people for 2 months and you get sometime to yourself. woke up, got into the bus and drove to leizpig to the leizpig arena. we arrive and the whole parking lot is covered in big vehicles. the place was pretty huge and actually seemed bigger while inside. while standing on the other side of the place the stage seemed so small due to how far away i was which was far. DTH brings their own catering company with them which was called RGF. you walk into the eating room and there was fake skeletons around and other random ornaments hung up which was funny and cool. they had plenty of vegan options which was nice and food set up all day/ night. everyone here is and was so so so nice which rules hard. i had heard nothing but good things about this band but you always think with bands that are at this level which is monstrous there will be at least some with attitudes. not the case here. its also weird cause this band is so big here however i dont think they are as big outside germany. very interesting. i guess DTH even have their own tv show which is funny. so all in all they are huge here.
before the show you could here a huge chant outside "HOZEN!! HOZEN!!" which was crazy like some cult. its also funny because before inc played we found out we had the exact same music as DTH which is a "allah akbar" chant. we didnt use ours and arent going to because every night the singer of DTH comes out and introduces us which is quite nice. since the crowd is strictly there for DTH its nice that the singer comes out and introduces the openers. from the time the doors were open till the time they closed the 2 merch booths that DTH had were slammed packed and they are huge booths. so yes it was a fun show and something that was interesting to experience. you know i have always seen shows on tv etc etc the size of this one but i have never been to one let alone being part of one. there are 2 more which will be just as fun and actually bigger which is crazy. before DTH came on they played queens "we will rock you" and seeing 12 000 people with their hands in the air singing that song is something else. then when DTH finally came on hearing 12 000 sing along was so incredible. DTH was actually okay. i would say musically its pretty much just like our offspring tour which at the time we thought was big but now seeing this it wasnt shit. anyhow they have the same sort of thing going on musically. thats really it for today. the show was something else and the experience was something else. we have a day off tomorrow which is nice so i plan on just relaxing and chilling out.
oh yeah ill quickly write about yesterdays show. we played hannover germany which i have actually spent alot of time in the past. about 3 years ago while traveling i stayed here for a week and half with some friends who i have since lost contact with but was hoping they would come to the show last night. nope. it was another show that was put together on very very short notice but was still good. the venue was pretty small and super packed. after we played there were 4 other bands which were electronic based and the club had all sorts of rooms open with different djs spnining so there were tons of people hanging out. this is what i luv again about shows here is that after most there are usually clubs afterwards which make for good times. thats really it for yesterday. oh yeah. the food ruled and they had a fooze ball table so we played tons of fooze ball. don and myself never won a game but i would say that would lye on myself. scooter and phyte were undefeated. ha ha.
dec 20th @1:14am... ha.... okay i just had to check my tour lament to see exactly where i am...... i am currently in friedrichshafen, germany on a day of on the Die Toten Hozen Tour.
today or shall i say tonight has been so incredible. i am currently sitting in some hallway of some hotel with a major buzz-/drunkeness in our hotel about 1:14 am in the morning. i just got back from our dinner with the DTH band/ crew which was much fun. the day up until our dinner was pretty chill. it consisted of me chilling in my hotel room most of the day and then scooter, phyte, and myself going and getting some chinese food and returning to our rooms. then i hear that we are going to go to the DTH tour dinner which is nice due to us getting fed and getting to meet other people. how fucking cool. this band is what you would consider "rock stars" at the fullest. not in the attitudes but more in their size. shit later today after i get some sleep and ware off my drunkeness we play to 12 000 people and then tomorrow we play to 14 500 people in stuggart. whats nuts is stuggart is only 3 hours away from where we are today and this band this draw 14 500 people. DAMN!!!! going on that this band must bring half of germany into their shows. ha ha ha. so so so insane. they are by far one of the biggest bands in this country. so they invited us to their tour dinner which was super nice of them and again adds to their already kindness. we arrive and hang out, order drinks, eat some food, and some of us leave. i was invited to stay with sascha and willie who were DTH merch people. i decide to stay as well as mans, and inge and we party the night away. i cat express how fucking nice and cool the DTH people have been. i spent a good 1/2 hour talking with the drummer who is from the UK and how he landed his current thing which is DTH. crazy. there are no attitiudes here, no rockstar bullshit, or anything at all which i still cant believe. its still all pretty amazing. DTH has actually invited the INC to continue tour with them however i dont know if that will ever happen. last night we didnt do to well on merch however we played in front of 1000s of kids so who knows. the crowd was huge but they were there for DTH. anyhow tonight was a good night. i am just trying to catch up on some emails while i have a internerd connection sitting here in the hallway of our hotel. i am very very very fortunate to be on tour and very fortunate of all of the experiences i have experienced. right fucking on!!!!!!!
hozen hozen hozen hozen
if you are fucking huge as shit and draw that many people and dont have your heads up your asses(and treat the opening band, your crew etc etc like fucking humans) i completely back you..... hozen hozen hozen!!!
okay its time for some sleep for me... the alcohol is starting to take its toll. good night
dec 20th,
its pretty funny cause after coming back from our dinner last night with the DTH i come into our room and turn on mtv and there is a DTH concert getting played and its like 3 times as big. maybe 70 000 people which is so so crazy. half of germany must go see this band.
dec 21, luxembourg, luxembourg
i am in luxembourg today for our last headlining show of this tour. tomorrow we play another show with DTH which will then be our last show of tour and we all head our own ways. last night the bus was extremely bumpy which didnt make for a good sleep at all. i woke up a couple times last night and could see phyte's light on and when i came down in the morning he was awake so i know others couldnt sleep as well. fortunately tonight is my last night on the bus which will be nice and then lars and i have a hotel after tomorrow nights show and we then wake up early as shit and head to the airport. my travel day is going to be extremely brutal which i am not looking forward to and will consist of waking up at 5 in the morning, catching a 3 hour train to munich, get on a 9 1/2 hour flight from munich to dc, arrive around 3 in the afternoon, get on a bus for 2 hours, and finally arrive in richmond later in the evening. its going to be about 16 hours of sitting down in one seat on either a plan, train, or bus. ha ha. i will say i would rather continue on tour and am not really excited about going home however it will be nice to be able to chill out and go see some hockey games. ha ha.
yesterdays show was another show with DTH. we all woke up feeling a little brutalized from the night before due to our wild night drinking grappa/ beer with the DTH folks. before we headed to the arena we got some good italian food right across the street from our hotel and then walked around the city a little bit. i went into some store-which i would rather not mention seeing how #1 i never go into stores and buy clothes #2 its a fucking cheesy store- and bought a sweater. ha ha. it was pretty funny because its something i have never really done and once i did it i was kinda stoked on my sweater and everyone thought it was pretty funny how happy i was on my new sweater. ha ha ha. we then got in the bus and drove to the place where we were playing that night. again it was another fucking huge arena where we actually drive our bus inside to load in. i think the capacity last night was around 10 000 so the place was still huge but a little smaller then our first show with DTH. still huge though. these DTH shows are very very easy going. there are like 4-6 people to help us load in so non of us really touch anything. i was able to see the whole show last night due to where i was set up. i was still super super far away from the stage so everyone looked super small but i was able to still see the whole show. INC seriously kicked major ass. i wasnt able to see them 2 nights ago so seeing them last night and watching to crowd was intense. kids there are there to see DTH so no one knew INC at all however they have no problem in that department due to their live show. kids were way into last night and seeing 1000s of kids clapping and throwing their hands in the air. and INC has no problem either on a huge stage like that. i thought last nights show was fucking awesome and INC kicked ass. the sound system that DTH brings with them is monstrous so the sound during INC's set was so crisp and loud. yeah don!!! then DTH came on stage and the crowd totally looses their minds but its all in good fun. i said it the other day and again ill say it but i would say every singe person in this crowd is singing along and throwing their hands in the air while DTH is playing and seeing something like this is very moving. there is nothing like crowd participation. they play almost 2 hours and must come out for 3 different encores and they are into the whole set. its been nice getting to experience something such as this and from what i hear DTH actually wants to bring INC out in may for a longer tour. we will see.
once i get home i have somethings to think about. what am i going to do now? i feel if i am just in richmond for an extended period of time it is just going to be a waste. i would rather look back and remember crazy memories instead of just sitting in some town. i mean its fun for little while but if its for a long period i dont know. who knows how much is to much and i guess thats something that ill find out when it comes. i then have my return ticket back to europe on the 12th of jan. and need to figure out if i am going to take it and if so where i am going to head. i must say although i travel alot i sometimes get a little nervous/ scared/ fear when it comes to it cause i have no clue whats going to happen. on tour its fine but if i do come back in january i have no clue what will happen. i have thoughts about certain things i would like to do but some of those thoughts are pretty intense. if i do plan on going on this flight my thoughts go anywhere from palestine, egypt, turkey, greece, or somewhere else in this region.
dec 22, stuttgart, germany
i sit here in another arena in some silent hallway. we are playing our last show of this tour as well as our last with DTH. todays arena size is 12 000 so it should be another pretty big show. we will see. after the show lars and i go to out hotel where we sleep and then wake up early as shit to catch our trains to the airports.
the show yesterday was in luxembourg and it was all our first times in that city. not that i was really there due to me not leaving the block around the venue. the show was pretty good for our first time there. there was about 250 kids there and the club was a good size for that amount of people. we were the only band that played which was nice so the show was over pretty quick. after the show most of us went next door to some bar where we sat, i danced and we hung out there for a couple minutes before our bus left. thats really it up to now.
dec 23rd somewhere over the atlantic ocean flying back home
we played our last show of tour last night with DTH. the show was in another arena in stuttgart germany where the capacity was 12 500. the arena was some indoor bike race track so it was again fucking huge as shit. we arrived pretty early which helped me out due to me having to get prepared for end of tour preparations. i had to pack up some boxes to go to sweden and germany so i spent some time in the trailer. it actually didnt take as long as i thought it would which was nice because that made for extra chill time which is always nice especially on the last day. i walked around and took some random photos of the arena, the inc dudes and the catering area which was pretty cool. every day in catering they have tons of breads, spreads, fruits, soups, and a lunch dish set up all day and they always have vegan options so i grubbed on some coconut curry with rice before i ate the dinner. the show was another packed show with crazy germans loosing their minds. DTH merch person marion told me she would watch my things if i wanted to go watch the show. i took her up on the offer and managed to make my way up right up front in the middle of 12 000. there were a buunch of people dancing up front which was fun so i kinda joined in. it was fun being up front while inc was playing. inge, ludde and dennis all made eye contact with me while i was doing my thing which was pretty funny. they played another good set and its great seeing them pull it off on a huge stage and in front of that many people. INC finished their set and then DTH took the show over which they always do. i watched some of their set tonight but not all of it. i could however hear the crowd loosing it and it is still something i dont think i could get used to. hearing that many people singing along rules hard. tonight from what i hear campino walked from the stage all the way to the other end of the building carrying some torch. that rules. when we were in luxembourg the day before we actually managed to watch the show they have on mtv and sometimes campino goes off. they show in stage diving and jumpy off some second level balcony. yeah! if you are still stage diving with 12 000 kids around that rules hard. after the show i had to organize somethings and then do some major chilling before lars and i headed to our hotel. hung out with all the dudes and some of the DTH people. phyte was a little tipsy and i guess its due to him starting to chill early. met up with him and took care of somethings and then lars and i ended up heading to our hotel. i know we are glad that we got to experience the DTH tour and their very warm hospitality. unreal and something ill never forget.
we didnt get to our hotel until 2:30 in the morning and this morning i was up at 4:45 so at the moment i am running on empty. im trying to sleep on the plane but still to this day i cant manage to sleep. this is my 17th flight this year and i dont think i have slept on any. actually i slept on my cuba flight however i also had my own row then so i was able to completely spread out. i think ill try again in a little while.
this tour has been so much fun and the shows have all been a blast. i ahve had so many good times and seen so many amazing things which i am very fortunate of. everyone i was on the road with are and have been the biggest sweetheart. i truly love this band and everyone in it. i know alot of people i am directly associated with arent really big fans of the ole INC which is fine but ive said it before and ill say it again their live show is one of the best i have ever seen. its always weird coming home from a good tour where the band you have toured with is incredible and then when you go to shows back home something isnt really there. some of the bands i have toured with i like more then others but it does seem like i dont have as much fun at shows when i am home. i mean if it is someone i like obviously ill have fun but just your random house show or whatever i dont really feel it these days. who knows maybe its me which it possibly could be but.... i dont know.
now i need to figure out what i am going to do with the next couple months of my life. thats another reason why ending tour sucks is you are faced with the unknown and i would rather continue touring then not knowing what i am going to do. who knows. i guess ill find out in 7 hours when i finally land and will be back home. aahh!! i havent even been home since the 2nd take over by the bush administration. i know things arent drastically different however it doesnt stoke me out knowing that i am going back to that. since i have been over here our(well the US) $$ has gone down alot. i didnt know what to do this morning with my money. do i exchange it or do i keep it for future travels. i decided to exchange it into $$ so now if i do decide to come back i am going to loose alot. oh well. ill gain it back in another sense. its pretty cool that i am arriving and the day after tomorrow is xmas. im not stoked on the xmas thing i am more stoked on i had nothing to do with it this year. nothing whatsoever and its a good good feeling.
damn!!! this flight is long as shit. i have managed to sleep a little however there is a baby about 2 rows who is in front of me and they are not happy and havent been happy all flight. so i would get about 3 mins of sleep and then get woken up by screaming. ouch.
dec 27th. in richmond va
i am home and its weird. my flight was delayed coming home so i missed my bus which meant i rented a car and ended up getting stuck in holiday traffic for 3 hours. not something you want to happen when coming home from a trip such as mine. then the last 2 days i have had the flu so being home for me has consisted of me just sitting in my room which is fine seeing how this is probably the place i would be anyways at this time due to the cold weather and everyone gone and everything closed due to fuck faces b-day. oh well. um.. tour is over so i will stop writing about it. it was more then i expected and all in all iit ruled hard as shit. right on.
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