|
Friday 8th May 2009 - Homeward bound....
The journey from Leipzig to Leeds took a little under 24 hours - the ferry was horrificly wobbly - Lee wrote some techno - Jon still made us laugh - Sz, Tom and Martin drove for ages, I slept some.... nowhere near as interesting as what has gone before.......
Shower????.
Thursday 7th May 2009 - Nato - Leipzig - Germany
Tonight was the last show, and I’d like to say that it was a complete mega blowout to end the tour – but things never work out like that. Once again the venue, the promoter, the food, the sound rig etc etc etc were utterly immense, and there must have been nearly a hundred people there to watch us headline the show, but the fatigue of the week (or perhaps the beginnings of a sense of complacency) had set in and our performance, in my opinion, just wasn’t up to scratch. Nonetheless, the crowd seemed to enjoy it, called us back for an encore and gave us some fairly humbling feedback at the end of the night – after which we rolled wearily back to the apartments we were staying in, and tried to get as early a night as possible in advance of tomorrow’s 20 hour marathon drive.
And thus concludes the first ever tour of mainland Europe – 7 shows, 5 Jovis and two half Jovis, countless new friends, places experiences, and at times more laughter than I could physically cope with…. Roll on October, when we plan to do it all again……
Three redbulls and various assorted tartrexes...
Wednesday 6th May 2009 - Night off - Prague - Czech Republic
After a leisurely (ie late) departure from Graz this afternoon, we motored back Northwards, to Prague in the Czech Republic. We had no gig to play, and turned up in time to have a late meal, drink several litre flagoons of ale, and then rock up a seedy club called the Chapeau Rouge until some unearthly hour. Prague seemed pretty spectacular, although the circumstances which we enjoyed it in – darkness, inebriation, immense fatigue, lent a certain hint of the grotesque to the whole affair – must come back here soon, in the daylight, with time to spend exploring the city properly – but that is touring I suppose – if you really want to see a place, go there for a week’s holiday, not spend the day driving there for one night, with a show to play and an early start on the horizon….
Onelegged midget ballerina????
Tuesday 5th May 2009 - Postgarage - Graz - Austria
Today saw us roll through the hills and mountains of Austria in the van – the views and the scenery as we motored on through were nothing short of stunning huge snowcapped mountains and skinny precarious trees densely packed together straining for the sun at the most unlikely angles on the hillsides. It could have been Austria, or it times it could have been the approach to Twin Peaks.
We were late for the soundcheck, but still managed to fit in a fairly comprehensive line-check, leaving the support band, Hella Comet to do their sound-check in front of the gathering crowd – for which I still feel guilty…
The venue was, predictably by now, immense. The entire room was covered in copper panels, geometrically pinpricked to let the light from the halogen bulbs behind them bleed into the room, creating a soothing and aesthetically pleasing space for an evening’s music.
Hella Comet, from Graz, were brilliant, creating some fairly bonkers sounds and textures to kick off the evening. And then, despite my reverb shutting down during the solo from Ornafives (Channel M déjà vu) I really enjoyed tonight’s show. We played for about an hour, which is always a lot more satisfying than half an hour after the effort we’ve made to set up, and the 60 or so people that we played to gave us a warm, extensive and humbling reception..
Then afterwards we went to ‘The Music Haus’ with our hosts Martin, Lukas and Gunther, and listened to atrociously loud music in the seedy underground surroundings of one of Graz’s, indeed Europe’s, many late late late night bars…..
But when you do it the monkeys don't explode....
Monday 4th May 2009 - Glockenbachwerkstratt - Munich - Germany
Another day and another tonkingly long drive – the majority of which was spent asleep by myself and the rest of last night’s party crew (not counting Sz, who forseeing this drive, got himself an early night last night, allowing the rest of us to party it up – legend). Tonight we played in Munich, in the Glockenbachwerstatt, another ‘cultural centre’ comprising venue, exhibition space, café, practice rooms and general progressive attitude to art and music. We arrived to find that We vs Death, the headline band had pulled out of the gig a week ago, promoting us to headliners, and instilling the worry that nobody would show. However we still played to a good 35-40 people, and the gig, despite its clanging errors, was a proper jovi, mainly for the incredibly receptive crowd, and the enormous screen that Sz was able to project onto… No parties tonight however, just a quiet drink and then some sweet, sweet rest…..
You don't care when people die ha hah ahaha aha hah aha aha ahahahah ahaha ahaha ahaha aha aha ha ha ah aha aha aha ahahahaha ahaha ahaha ahahahhahaha hahha ahahahahahh aha aha ha ha ha ha ha haha ah aha aha aha aha aha ....
Sunday 3rd May 2009 - N.B.I - Berlin - Germany
Tonight we played in Berlin, after another megadrive, this time across from Brugge. We arrived late, unloaded, went to a restaurant round the corner from the venue, ate some pasta, bumped into This Will Destroy You and then headed back for soundcheck. The gig was lovely, in a bar/venue in the east called N.B.I. It was nice to see familiar faces, including the boys from the Pattern Theory and the Jenniferevsies crew again.
The real boon though was after the gig – having never been to Berlin before, Jon, Martin, Tom, myself and Lukas & Jimmy Theory stayed up all night, first in a bar near where we were staying, and then huddled around the Fotoautomat, where unlike in Britain, the devices still give you four separate photos, and develop them old-style in the machine with films and chemicals and lights – Rinsing. I think we spent about 2 hours and about 24 euros just photographing our smiling faces – bear in mind that on the shots with different folks in different frames you have about 4 seconds between flashes to get in and out and switch places. Note the chimera-esque shot in the centre – much planning was required, especially to get the legs at the bottom, which involved Lukas leaping from the booth and then Jon instantly diving in on hands and knees so that I could climb on his back – which would have been all fine, save for the pile of sick in the corner that no-one had noticed, but by then I was atop his spine, and his lovely bearded face was only inches from the chunder in question, and his anguished gargled cries of terror fell upon deaf ears. We laughed so hard I thought I might collapse……
Jenifer Jenifer Frrrrp....
Saturday 2nd May 2009 - Kaktus - Brugge - Belgium
Tonight we were in Brugge, as the support slot to Daturah from Germany. I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but the venue, the promotion, the sound, the lighting and the hospitality were immense - best of all being the beautiful restaurant that we driven to by taxi immediately after soundcheck, where we feasted upon fine cuisine and lovely beer in the midst of this wonderful picturesque little city. My only regret is that we didn’t have any time to look around the city, but maybe next time.
Daturah made an immense noise – beautiful sounding slow building post-rock, although nowadays I've heard so much of that kind of stuff that it takes something really unique to make a band stand out. They had some sweet visuals as well - Super-8 cine film that had been hand coloured one frame at a time....
That’s three shows down, and three shows where Sz hasn’t needed to setup a projector or screen because it’s all been provided in-house. He seems a lot happier with his visuals now as well, the old classic ‘four shows to really get going’ - so tomorrow night, in Berlin, with Jenniferevsies again, should be a megascoop. `Early start though, to cover the eight hours across Holland and Germany in time for soundcheck – so off to bed…….
Wi-fi?
- Friday 1st May 2009 - Kulturfabrik - Luxembourg - Luxembourg
Today we played in Luxembourg, in another awesome venue, for another awesome promoter, with another comprehensive rider, and incredible catering, and a bonza hotel at the end to boot. The crowd was a little sparser than last night, with maybe 50 or so people watching us when we took the stage.
Jeniferever from Sweden played before us, and were fairly astounding. I've listened to an album or two of theirs, and its always nice, but live it was something else. At times all five of them are singing, sometimes there are two basses, and the whole thing is covered throughout by an otherworldly array of sounds and textures from their many guitars and effects and synthesisers. This combined with the smoke, ghostly lighting, and their elfin sillhouettes made for a fairly astonishing experience - to the point where I really didn't want to go on after them. We're playing with them again in Berlin in two nights time, but this time we'll be the support act, which suits me just fine....
Tartrex?????
Thursday 30th April 2009 - Stuk - Leuven - Belgium
Today we arrived in Leuven, Belgium, the home of Stella Artois, for our first ever mainland Europe show, and it has been Jovis all the way. The venue, the promoters, the roadcrew, the lighting technician, the sound technician, the caterers, the locals, and everyone else we've met along the way have been astonishing in comparison to what we're used to in the UK. The mind boggles.
Sz drove through the night, like some kind of legendary Terminator machine, and the ferry journey largely passed me by, as I spent over an hour on the phone to our insurance company, listing our equipment, one item at a time...
Stuk - This is where we played, an enormous, government funded art complex filled with students and a mishmash of technology and historical architecture. Grampall Jookabox played first and then we headlined. They were an awesome two piece from Indiana in the U.S: two drumkits, bass, looped harmony vocals - a treat for our first Euro gig. And then we played, to our surprise to about 100 people, some of whom seemed to know who we were, and some who'd had just come to find out thanks to the awesome promotion - top show all round I thought...
Sometimes in the UK, if we're lucky, the promoters make a poster, here in Leuven, we had our faces sporadically projected on a massive screen in the venue bar, which was a bit disturbing, especially since Lee looks so much like Keith Chegwin in this shot...
......and the megavenue - note the massive, in-built screen at the back for visuals - far better than the white sheet that we hadn't even prepared....
....and the dream team - Sz on visuals and Jon on sound. The sound onstage was immense, and according to those in the audience the visuals were crisp and clear....
And finally, this is Geert, of Concurrent distribution, sorry for the fuzzy photo, Martin took it, and he'd had a Leffe or two by this point. Concurrent distribute our album in parts of Europe, and it was Geert who hooked us up with this and our Brugge show. Jon and I sat with him and some of the crew and an American singer called Whip until 6 in the morning - boisterously contemplating the nature of maintaining a family whilst out on the road, and art, and Randy Newman, and various other subjects that rest in a hazy but fond part of my mind....
Yah - Surely....
Wednesday 29th April - West Yorkshire Playhouse - Leeds
Tonight we played at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, as the opening act for David Gedge of the Wedding Present, who was performing with the BBC Big Band. It was part of the annual 'Fuse' fest that takes pride in its bizarre collaborations and last week saw the mighty Efterklang performing with a full symphony orchestra in the Leeds Academy.
The gig was a boon (or now - a Jovi) and I'd estimate we got to play to about 400 or so people, which is always nice. Tonight, Szymon debuted the visuals he's been preparing on his laptop for our show, but the house-lights were so bright I don't think anyone could make them out.
Gedge did his best, and at times his voice and melodies were lovely, but the overblown jazz arrangements and ludicrously loud horn parts seemed to subtract from, rather than add to, his music. In fairness though, the gathered crowd seemed to really enjoy it....
And now home to pack, before a 3am start to Belgium.
One of the pictures shows us mid-rock, as taken by Stef Colledge who is hopefully sending us more snaps soon. Another shows the iLikeTrains van, which we've hired for the week, because the thought of driving across Europe in our minibus fills me with new and unusual dread - we would surely freeze, breakdown or possibly even explode. And the final picture shows the Big Band, and Gedge, taken at a jaunty angle of course.
You don't get it at all - Do you - Boo Boo....
|
