hey y'all...remember when this album came out on a compact disc?! yeah...it has been a while...but try to think back...waaaay back. actually, fuck that time travel biz cause we just repressed them on cd! YES! you can cancel your order on amazon and save yourself the $70.01 cause these are in, available at all my upcoming shows and about to be online for sale as well. now, if you will excuse me, i have to record my guest spot on the new Jamie Y Los Chamacos album.
Staying in Dallas for a couple of days. Then heading to Pilot Point for a day then it's a flight to NYC. Touring is really what seems normal. Is that normal? I do know this makes it alot easier to do what we do...
If you read this and come to a show come up and say Hello! I'm the one with the tattoo's and usually the red wine/beer in hand!
Sitting in the Frankfurt airport and I can't even think straight. At midnight the start of today we were up drinking red wine talking to new friends at our friend Bettina's 50 birthday party. We left at 1am and went to "bed" to wake up at 3:30am so we could drive 4 hours to Frankfurt. Now I'm sitting around a bunch of americans waiting to board the plane. How do I know there americans you ask? They're all overweight and speaking english.
This tour was so fast I can't believe we've been here 27 days and we are going to be back in 47 days. Its taken me 20 minutes to type 5 sentences. I find myself just staring at the floor. The good news is I'll have no problem sleeping on the flight. I am excited to be headed home even if it is only for 4 days. But really excited to return. Especially since we are hitting a bunch of new countries and a return trip to the Czech Republic.
Hope to see our new and old friends in November!
The European tour is done...for now. i would be really depressed right about now if it wasn't for the fact that i am coming right back to Europe in less than 2 months! it seems like i might be adding 4 more countries to my list too...which will bring my total to 18 (spread out over 3 continents). everything is going according to plan.
i am going to take a nap now...i have about 6 days to catch up on a month's sleep.
We are getting into Bremen and our new car doesn't play mp3 cd's. But I just found a station with a DJ mixin west coast gangsta rap from the 90's. So awesome!
OETTINGER VILLA is the venue we played at in Darmstadt in February and again last night. The people here are so nice and have become friends of ours. But this venue keeps stamping memories in my head. In february a 6 year relationship ended here. 7 months later one day shy of the exact same day the relationship ended a friend we met once 5 years ago in Fort Collins reappeared unexpectedly. Such a great night lots of laughs and it produced one of the best I suppose compliments I've ever received. From a dude named "Carlton". Who I thought was with our friend. Turns out she had just met him that night as well. Carlton told her, "she was going to have his babies", Carlton told her about me, "I like this guy, his smile and his size, I like". Carlton was so drunk and german. Damn it was funny "trying" to talk to him.
So we got a new whip! Last day of the tour is tonight. Saturday we are going to our booking agents wife 50 birthday party. Then we drive hung over to frankfurt and get on a plane for GOD's Country. For those that aren't in the know. That's code for TEXAS! Europe has been such a great tour and we can't wait to return in NOVEMBER!
So yesterday we are driving in to Darmstadt from Berlin. About half way through the trip a light starts to blink on the dash. Andy starts to look in the owners manual to try and figure out what the light means. Which is great because its all in German. We decide to pull over to a gas station and Andy trys to get someone to help tell us what the blinking light means. All we get is,"that's not good, you probably won't make it to much farther" so we call the rental car company and they send someone out. They hook it up to a computer. It comes back no defect. The 2 guys working on the car speak no english. Its like we are chevy chase in european vacation. Just ridiculous. They tell us to ignore the blinking light. So we are like we can handle that. We take off to darmstadt light still blinking. And then a new like appears which andy somehow knows it has to do with the diesel particle filter. Then another like comes on and its looks like and engine. Now I know that's not good. So we figure we will ignore them and hope we make it to darmstadt and we will figure it out tomorrow. Well that worked. I woke up this morning called europcar. They tell me to drive it in and they switched out the car. So we lucked out and didn't break down which would of been a disaster.
Last night in Trier was a packed show. Great crowd. We pulled into town and realized that a futbol game was going on. Which happened to be right across the street from the venue we were playing in. So we were stoked that people came to our show with the game going on. I've never heard a crowd so loud when Trier scored a goal. It was like a jet plane was flying by. It put a smile on my face every time they would cheer. Such an amazing thing. One day we will go to one of these games. Because it sounds like an amazing time. They take there futbol serious. Nice crowd for a tuesday for sure. Three times more people than last time. Today we had a long drive to Berlin and we lucked out and didn't hit any traffic. Berlin last time was one of the best shows of the tour. So we've been looking forward to it all month. Randy and Nadine take really good care of us.
2 shows left after tonight then we are off for 3 days. And start doing dates in America. Check the shows section for the rest of our tour dates. If you read this and come to a show. Say hello.
Tonight has been "one of those nights". And the last time on this tour it was "one of those nights" we were in Tours, France and I didn't react in the right way. I'm learning to use a word that is so powerful to one's self. Its patience an which I'm sure folks are like, "big deal" patience is easy. But until you try to apply it I beg to differ. So thank you ECGH for teaching me how to use a word in such a way that I'm a better person. It will forever ring clear in my head.
this lil hipster a-hole is all grumpy because he had to ride a cruiser instead of his fixie. WAH!
on the home stretch.somehow...some of my favorite german cities were all packed into the last few days (i am looking at you darmstadt, trier, and berlin!) and i this would normally be about the time i would be sad to leave...having the knowledge that i will be back in less than 2 months...well...that puts me at ease.
this tour has been stellar: the czech republic stole our hearts (brock and i were looking at apartments in České Budějovice this morning), Christiania blew our minds, and all in all, the shows have been great, the people have been lovely, and we can't ask for anything more. i am still amazed at how this continent has embraced us...it is...nothing short of astounding.
tours like this make me realize just how lucky i am. it took a lot of hard work to get here, but there has also been a lot of luck stacked into the deck they have been dealing me from. i have met so many wonderful people, made too many wonderful friends...times like this remind me why i sleep in cars, and eat at gas stations, and live like a hobo.
i have the best job in the world...due, in part, to the fact that somehow i have ended up with the most wonderful and supportive fans.
thank you europe for taking such good care of me.i am excited to be coming back again in November. now...time for me to drink lots of coffee...meet my european distro company...and enjoy my day off. *andy
ps. don't forget to check out all the new american and european shows!
So today marked the worst 10 hour drive that was supposed to be 7 hours in the history of our touring career. First of all it was sunday so you would think no traffic. Well if I remember correctly we were in 8 traffic jams from copenhagen to wuppertal,germany. And only 2 of them actually had car wrecks. The last car wreck and second of the day just so happened to be at our exit to get to the venue. Yeah on gods day we had luck like 2 ass holes that only go to church for the architecture. Our bad. Either way the show was the saving grace even for a day that was way to long. We have tomorrow off and then the last 4 shows of the tour. Its been a great run regardless of the fact that the Audubon may have no speed limit but it doesn't matter when you have drivers that are scared to merge or create traffic jams for no reason at all. I love me some europe and the czech republic will one day house this texan.
Ahoy from Wuppertal. We are supposedly eatting the best japanese food ever tomorrow. Can't wait!
OCT 02 New York, NY @ The Blender Theater at Gramercy OCT 03 Boston, MA @ Great Scott OCT 06 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas OCT 08 Washington, DC @ DC9
OCT 15 Los Angeles, California @ The Knitting Factory OCT 16 San Diego, California @ Kava Lounge OCT 17 Oakland, California @ The Uptown OCT 18 Portland, OR @ Rotture OCT 19 Seattle, WA @ The Nectar OCT 20 Missoula, MT @ The Palace OCT 21 Boise, ID @ Neurolux OCT 23 Salt Lake City, Utah OCT 24 Ft. Collins, CO @ TBA OCT 25 Denver, Co @ Hi-Dive OCT 26 Albuquerque, NM @ The Launchpad OCT 27 Phoenix, AZ @ The Rhythm Room OCT 28 Las Vegas, NV @ The Bunk House
HERE I GO AGAIN ON MY OWN!
NOV 8 Austin, TX @ FUN FUN FUN FEST! (this is, in my opinion, the best music festival in america...and the ONLY one i would pay money to go to... and i am lucky enough to actually PLAY it! check out the INSANE lineup!) i play on the blue stage @ 2.25 on the sunday BE THERE TEXAS! NOV 9 Shreveport, LA @ Louisiana State University
EUROPEAN TOUR OPENING UP FOR TEGAN & SARA! (these shows WILL SELL OUT FAST...if you want to go...buy tickets NOW!)
NOV 13 London, England @ Shephard's Bush Empire NOV 14 Manchester, England @ Academy 2 NOV 15 Edinburgh, Scotland @ Picture House NOV 18 Paris, France @ Alhambra NOV 21 Lund, Sweden @ Mejeriet NOV 22 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Vega NOV 23 Stockholm, Sweden @ Debaser Medis NOV 25 Hamburg, Germany @ Grunspan NOV 26 Berlin, Germany @ Astra NOV 27 Munich, Germany @ Theaterfabrik NOV 28 Cologne, Germany @ Gloria NOV 30 Brussels, Belgium @ AB Flex
yeah...TEGAN & SARA!
i have so much to tell you about THIS european tour...but all of this good news has got me so god damned busy right now. i promise to update you all with tons of photos and (thanks to Cool Breeze letting us borrow his Flip camera) TONS of VIDEO as well. these shows have been great...and i can not wait to come back in support of such a great band. i am only going to get to sleep in my bed one time till the middle of December...but i can't think of a better way to close out my year.
time for bed...i have a date with a dead body in the morning.
We are driving up to Copenhagen. Bumpin Merle Haggard's 40 #1 hits! Reminds me of home. I spoke on the phone today with some old friends. The weather is beautiful. Nice little friday.
So it's been a couple of days since I've updated the blog. We had 2 days off. We spent one in Aachen and the other in Amsterdam. That's a very cool city. We were lucky to meet a new friend named Andy and he really took care of us. Put us up in his flat for the night. Showed us around town and I probably had the best pizza I have ever had in my life. So good. Last night was another new city for us. Munster,Germany. Packed show. Which is great considering we've never played there. We had folks in the house from our european distribution company. We met some new friends that took us under there wing and showed us a good evening. Today has been very laid back. We've been at the venue for several hours. We are playing a hip hop show. Which is rare for us. Plus the rappers are all from america so that's cool. Swappin stories with americans is fun. Last time we were here we got introduced to round the table ping pong. So we will see how tonight goes. We are off tomorrow and head north to Copenhagen to play Saturday out there. This month and tour has flown by. But it's just the start of several months of touring. The year is coming together nicely. I have uploaded my pictures to my new flickr account. So feel free to check out what we have been up to in Europe.
Last night we played in Aachen,Germany in an old bomb shelter. Which was pretty awesome. It was a raining sunday night and the folks that came out were great. We are off today and tomorrow. We decided to stay in Aachen another night to take care of business and laundry. Tomorrow the plan is to go to amsterdam. We have never been. Should be fun. We have 8 shows left. This tour has been so much fun. Andy and I are 2 lucky dudes. Thanks to all the fans and new friends for giving a damn and coming out to the shows. Life is Good!
So we are in Koln,Germany and the show went great. But the party that is going on after here is so amazing. There is a DJ spinning vinyl not fucking serato or final scratch. And he's playing classic american rock n roll. Its so crazy to be in germany and singing shout and the monster mash. Such a great Saturday. Yesterday was a day off. So we went to Paris and did it right. Ended the night with escargot and pate. Drank 4 bottles of wine. Got some amazing pictures. That I need to get from andy. But it was a great day off. Paris always gets our money for some reason.
So today has been a sad day. Andy and I were talking how we are already missing the Czech Republic and when we had said that we had literally been out of the country like 2 hours. We got to Chemnitz,germany another city we have never been to. It sure as hell wasn't a czech show that's for sure. We have a 11 hour drive to Tours,France were I'm sure it will be packed. Our first show there in February was packed, damn near sold out. Good people and Good times. Adam if your reading this I need your help with finding real estate and/or a place to rent for the summers or something. Its so amazing to meet good people when you least expect it. And we have 11 shows left and if I was a betting man I would wager that the 4 Czech shows will be the best on the tour. And I can't wait to return to see what these amazing promoters can do with 2 months notice. Because in 5 days they damn near had sold out shows.
The one amazing thing that just happened in Chemnitz is the club has a tradition that you take a shot of there "surprise shot". So we did that and it was amazing. It was a vodka shot with garlic and chili peppers in the bottle. But they don't tell you what their "surprise shot" is until after. And we immediately demanded another shot. So damn good. Until tomorrow.
Last night was the 3rd show of 4 in the Czech Republic. It was damn near sold out. Small basement pub that was packed to the gills. All of the Czech shows have been so good. And all except Prague were booked in like 5 days. So to have damn near sold out shows in such short notice is amazing. Thanks to all the people that have put these shows together. Its so nice to witness promoters doing such a great job and networking with each other with little to no notice. Tonight is the last show in CZR in a town called Brno. Its looking to be sold out as well. Unbelievable.
I may have found the country I retire too. Czech Republic. Those that know me know I'm about to buy my first home out in the country in North Texas. But this is country side is on some next level shit. I've been driving threw some amazing country side in the last couple of days and we still have 2 days left in the Czech Republic. I hear the price to purchase a home out here is very fair. Trust me when I say I'm looking into the details. Tonight was a great shows that was booked while we have been in Europe which counting today is 6 days. It was outside in this great little garden/patio. The people of Ceske Budejovic (which is where budweiser first came from) have been so great. Our new friends from prague adam and his wife came to the show with there 2 little kids. Its was a great way to end our first week in europe. The promoter Martin and Noise Assault Agency Budweiss did a great job and if this is what they can do in 5 days. Then I can't imagine what they can do with proper notice to promote a show. Now its time to go antique shopping.
Kutna Hora and the border of Czech Republic and Austria
So we had a day off in Prague on friday because of a canceled show. So we took full advantage of that and went out on the town. We spent most of the day walking around. We found alittle record store and bought some records. I happened to buy classics in my opinion. David Lee Roth - Eat em & Smile, Skid Rows 1st album and Huey Lewis and the News - Sports. Plus some old country 45's american country released on a Czech label. I'll let andy explain his finds. We did dinner and the plan was to go back to the room take an hour nap and go to this bar the owner of the record store suggested. We made it back to the room set the alarm and I woke up 12 hours later. Andy's been having the case of jet lag. Me not so much. Got up this morning and we had 10 hours to kill before our show with a 4 hour drive. So we decided to go to Kutna Hora to see the Bone Church. Go here for more info. www.kostnice.cz
Now we are in Linz,austria. At Stadtwerkstaat. We played here in. February as well. We got added to this festival. http://www.aec.at/humannature/ There is supposed to be some 200,000 people thru this town in 8 days. Fireworks tonight and pictures to come soon. Plus video.
PS. I'm still rockin shorts. Haven't put jeans on yet!
jet leg has you finding very funny places at 7:30 in the morning. i have been sleeping in waves since we got to europe...and i keep waking up at dawn. might as well find a doppio and walk till me feet hurt, right?
After a early night in dresden. I slept 11 hours. Apparently I was tired. We shoved off and headed to the czech republic. Neither of us have ever been to this country so we don't know what to expect. We got gas and it cost us 1078 koruna which is 48€. The diesel car we got is getting great mpg and its the cheapest fuel you can get so we win win. We arrive at Klub 007 and find out this venue is celebrating its 40th year in business. Which is insane if you think about the history of this country. The curfew is 10pm and we are getting fed legendary pizza so they say. Backstage has fruits and bread, cheese, granola bars, peanuts, water,dry banana chips, trail mix, potato chips, juice and beer. The promoter is expecting a great turn out. So we are excited to see what prague has to offer. Our show tomorrow got cancelled due to a death within the staff of the venue. So we will probably stay in prague tomorrow and check out the town. There is a church that the inside is all human bones. I want to check to out for some reason. Until next time.
So I'm testing this here blog from my blackberry threw an email hoping it shows up on our website.
Via Europe.
If this works I plan on updating as much as possible.
Astronautalis and I are lucky to return to Europe for the 2nd time within 6 months. We were here in Feb. And it was cold and a real winter. This time around it's some of the best tour weather so far. 70-80 degrees during the day. We are in dresden and its day 2 of a 25 day tour. All of our Italy shows fell thru but they all got picked up by Czech Republic and Austria. So we are excited to add a new country to our list. Our new album Pomegranate is what we are on tour to promote and there was a "mix up" at our distribution company so we don't have any of that release until friday. Good thing I shipped some of our old releases or we wouldn't have shit to sell. Well before I write a book and should check to see if this works.
