Tour Diary #5: Manchester, UK (08.04.2008)

...it's been a while since we've updated this mothafucka... you might think there'd be enough time to write during the days but goddammit, the time kinda flies, no matter what. Anyway, we've practiced several shows through France and Spain and ended up in England. Here's very short versions from all the past shows for y'all:

In Marseilles we were supposed to do the best show ever 'cause there were lots of folks from Season of Mist checking our show out... but what do you know: we barely managed to do a soundcheck 'cause there were some nice delays here and there. Also the venue forgot to open the freakin' doors and just when we were supposed to start, the first fellows rushed in. also the monitor-engineer dude was nowhere to be found and we played practically the whole set without monitors. Well, the SOM-people understood the situation and told that that wasn't the first nor the last time there were some complications on this venue. Fuck it, the town was very cool and the SOM people were even more cool, very down to earth and the most easy to come along with. We also got the fucking promo CDs with us, a small victory or what!?

Then we hit to Spain, four gigs there, from north to right in the middle and to the border of Portugal. Barcelona gave us a little sweat about the schedules again, we did the soundcheck and the gig right after! Some more sweat after the Barcelona night 'cause our bus broke down again in the middle of the damn deserts on the way to Madrid. We made it to Madrid after some serious Scania-engineering sessions but fucking failed to do the show! The Sorrow did three songs and we only had a chance to do some serious stage-diving there… some of us with better success that the other fat fucks. 

In Vigo we got to do a full set with the strangest stage ever… the stage was three meters high, so no stage diving that night, not too much jumping from the drumset on to the monitors either...

The stress of being the first and doing the soundcheck hit us once again in Irun, where we were doing the check with our stage clothes on and straight after “check one twooo…” “ good evening mothafuckas! We are….”. Very intensive night though, one of the smallest clubs on this tour.

Saarbrucken was probably the best show in Germany so far (one to go still), even the stagediving worked out pretty fucking fine during our set…

Then there was Paris, which was again back to the ground-thing for us... needless to say that the town was fucking something else that Martinlaakso, but the audience understandably held some critics towards an unknown band.they didnt throw anything on the stage though, but took our shit pretty nice.

Next there were seven days in Great fucking Britain… none of us had even visited the freaking bloody country before! It is now the fifth day's night in Manchester and it feels like we're already wanting to revisit! The first show in Norwich was too short, 'cause we were supposed to play only 25 minutes. We did the songs so fucking fast that there were 8 minutes left when we stopped. That's always fucked up if it turns that way... 8 minutes is 8 minutes! Sheffield was kinda tuff to break, or so it seemed, but after the show there were more than enough people to convince us that we were doing fucking great! Believe that! After the show they held a freakin` disco right after..here`s a note to a Finnish disco-scene: play a fucking brit-pop and ska –shit, that`s much nicer to listen that some weak-ass tomorrow has-been wannabe bullshit. Got it?

Glasgow Scotland was another experience. Understanding absolutely nothing about the language we only assumed the things local people wanted. The stage was not that glamorous and we held our bus as a backstage but we get the feeling people were positively surprised of our set. Lesson learned: do not underestimate the power of the cover!

Bristol was another really fucking non-stress free thing, the schedule was pretty fucking tight and we had to drop one song. We got the crowd moving anyway and that was that, then the next band please! There was some boredom in the air at the direction of the crew and some “fuck this”- situations came and passed…Being the opening act has it's advantages: there's no powerstruggles needed at all. You just do the job as well as possible and after that a smoke or boozing or jerking or whatever needed and that's it.

Manchester was another story then... the schedules again, that crew-boredom again... again nothing to do with us but much effecting on us. In the end we got about 15 minutes on stage and still we needed to start the set with chairs and cases on the stage. But gotta say it was one of the best 15 minutes in UK this far! there was just enough space on the stage and the underaged front row was freaking out even during our short-set! Our compassion goes out to Maroon who suffered some serious technical problems and got to play only four songs because of that. There`s the band who should always perform the full set, no exceptions.

Three days to go… stay tuned and patient, mates, specially the last show for the tour might be something else…

-TimoKallioKallioTimo-

Tour Diary #4: San Gottardo, Switzerland (22.03.2008)

Woke up in the middle of the freakin' Alps! The scenery couldn't have been any better for the milkboys from one of the flattest country in the world! The bus died in the morning and we got a chance to spent several hours in these great surroundings. Actually we've now advanced about a kilometer or so from the spot we stopped in the morning. Local bus service dude has located the failure in the saxophone-looking tube that has melted because of the ups and downs of the road, the engine can't have air enough and smokes like a mothafucka.

For sure we can't do a show tonight, it's 4 p.m. and there's four hours drive to Lausanne if there's no solution for this bus thing, but we'll see... fuck that shit.

-Galzi-

Tour Diary #3: Pinarella, Italy (21.03.2008)

Damn, socks and underwears are running out. Kride and Ruikku washed theirs yesterday at Ljubljana and forgot them wet in da plastic bags in da bus, now they're kinda back to square one with 'em undawears... Also finally after some serious investigations we managed to find a freakin' shower with warm water. Four days with only cold water fucks a man up, y'know.

The venue called Rock Planet is located in da middle of da tennis courts, mini-golf tracks and hotels which are closed during the winter season, so not too much happening around here. The guy from the only bar that was open told us that the summer season is about start today and in the evening there's gonna be celebrations all over this place. Epäilen...

Yesterday's venue at Ljubljana was the most u.g. place so far. The city was just fuckin' great and the prices were kinda low, no matter what you were going to buy, drink or eat. So if you were thinkin' 'bout travelin' to Slovenia, but never had it done, we'll recommend to do it big time! The venue just around the corner of the center was some sort of Mad Max influenced circus-lookin' community with graffiti walls and suspicious lookin' buildings and statues, just enough shitty to throw a gig in a real punk-rock way! Yeah!

We did only 5 songs and half of the set we played on the floor and not on the stage, 'cause the crowd seemed kinda sleepy when we started. Gotta say it worked once again to do the moshpit by yourself and we enjoyed playing there very fuckin' much! Somebody hit me with my microphone while I was on the floor and I got pretty much blood coming outta my lip. Lesson learned: when the grill of your microphone is bloody after the set, y'know you couldn't have done it any better...

We're adding some live cam material and some pics as soon as we can have the internet working more than 2 minutes, stay tuned folks!

-Galzi-

Tour Diary #2: Prague, Czech (16.03.2008)

Greetings from Praha! Just eating some KFC-shit and writing this blog, while everybody else is sightseeing the big city... fuuuuuuck. But yeah, here is some thoughts about the past few days my friends:

12.03, Hamburg, Germany @ Markthalle

The venue was cool as fuck! Kinda like a pit. The show was great and we got a great response from the crowd. After the show, everybody else from DSF crashed into bed, but me and dudes from Chimaira and The Sorrow headed to a local heavy bar. Got pretty wasted there man... phhhh. But I had lots of fun there and the guys from other bands are so cool!

13.03, Aarhus, Denmark @ Train

First thing that I remember from Denmark is the catering. There were like 4 chefs and oh my GOD the food was great! The venue was cool too; a picture of Slash painted to the wall and everything, so... When we started our set, there wasn't so many people yet, but in the end it all looked good so I'm happy with this show too. Although Kride had some mysterious problems with his guitar, so he missed the first song completely, but whatever, shit happens. Denmark rocks!

14.03, Berlin, Germany @ S036

I woke up propably like 9 a.m. already, dunno why... But obviously I was the first guy up and I went and took a walk around the city. It was my first time in Berlin, so obviously I didn't have a clue where I was. I was looking a place to eat, but all the places seemed to be closed. Fuck that. I walked like few hours and after that I noticed that Neissu and Kride was up too, so we went and bought some shit from a local KRÄÄSÄ-store. After the clock was like 2 p.m. we started to load in. After that the usual: soundcheck -> dinner -> the show. The show was great, maybe the best so far! After the show I took the first shower of the tour, nice. No party after the show, just some beer and then we watched some Lihaksia ja Luoteja with Neissu and went to sleep.

15.03, Warsaw, Poland @ Progresja

We woke up pretty early and we were already front of the venue. So we loaded in, and the place was the best place definitely so far! The catering was the best ever, there was like everything for us that we could ever imagine! These are the things that we will never ever see in Finland... And it was the first show were we had some vodka in the backstage. So the local promoter was obviously a nice man.

-Juhq-

Tour Diary #1: Hamburg, Germany (12.03.2008)

Mothafucka! Finally we can say it really is fucking happening…first gig in Amsterdam is done and maybe needless to say but we fucking loved it! Guys from the bands are very co-operative and cool and so is the staff. The most unbelievable thing for us was that the audience really started to warm up during our set, so the name “support” (they had only given us that name in the tickes but fuck it) was right on the target.

No matter how fucking numerous gigs a band does in pizzerias and venues near their hometown, being a part of a production this big is something totally different. They give you a certain frame and it`s up to you how well or bad you manage after that. Being on the stage and doing a show is only so very small part of the day it`s almost redicilous. Still that`s the only thing you`re really on tour for.

Must confess the difference between the pros and us, the fucking beginner-punk asses: we gave every fucking inch we had yesterday and felt as broken as after every gig always before. Despite the fact that there`s still 28 gigs to do… the other groups did the thing much more with the stage-appearance and not so much with pure physics which might be the only way to do it on tour without getting fucking broken after a week. But we`ll see how bad our condition can really get, that`s for fucking sure. No fucking surrender. Life kills.

- Galzi -