EUROTRIP: Tour du Netherlands

Day 13: Emmen ROCKS!

After a nice night in the mukkes and the part who carried on in De Scooters, the awakening ment we are back on the road!
Finally back in the van!

Huize spoorloos is a squad in Emmen who has a foodbank, shop with free stuff and a venue. The Drawbacks were our support and we played a very good show! Good sound, good vibe, kids danced and liked it! Thanks to Niels for the great sound. I slept in a nice bed and chilled out in the internet room, with some coffee.

Next up is Amsterdam!

EUROTRIP: Exploring LionCityHole

Day 10/11/12 Outta here!

The last half of our stay in holland (my house) the foreign part of the band gets the chance to explore the city overhere. With everything that is a sin in gods eyes we have been experiencing in these "off" days. But to balance that again Joe and Nick did 2x2 seminars on the uni! Extra tourmoney to fill up the loss we got from that fucking Hamburg show.

If you ask me this has been the greatest week/tour ever! They guys havin a great time in my city, I victorized some issues and on thursday we finally continued the thing we all do this shit for. SHOWS!

On Thursday we went out to my friend Dennis to get tattoos and after that we all went off to Groningen for the show in the Platform Theater. Sound was bad, songs were played too fast and the spark was't there. The extention crew made it bare-able! On our way back to Leeuwarden we had some minor problems with the van. lights & tires. Fixed it at a gasstation.

Next day (friday) Joe and Nick did 2x2 seminars about forming your product and one on how to set up a proper tour. But overall it's an D.I.Y. seminar. While Joe and Nick were earning tourcash, my mate Ben picked up Andrea (his girlfriend) from the station 'cause she flew out from the UK to see the last 3 dutch shows and then again head back home. How cool, I call that love.

Johanneke offered us to eat at her place before the mukkes show, she made lovely burrito's and we all had a good time. Ravens was so much better than last night. Joe: "that's how you do sound" hahah (you wont get it, but I do)

We played our best gig to date for this tour and I recieved the: you nailed it! We'll let get it on with this tour then! After the show we chilled a bit and I got the van, to load in, and went off home with Ben and Andrea. The rest enjoyed their last night in town. Something broke on my laptop for the internetconnection so I probably wont be on much but i'll try to give you enough update while being on tour.

Off to Emmen.

EUROTRIP: How to fill a gap...

Day 7/8/9: Another thousand miles down the road...

I woke up in the bus, somewhere in belgium after a awesome night.
We geared up after a nice cup of coffee with Chris from Pushed too far and his mum.

Off to Hamburg!

While we drove 5,5 hours to Hamburg we stopped for a proper meal and a shower. The weather has been bad so far on tour but that won't kill us. We arrived at the Bar 227. It's a squad and the barlady just arrive too. We set up the gear, the supportband was there right away. So far so good. But after dinner and soundcheck they told us that the show has been cancelled. We can't force 5 people to drink themselves to death for 200 euro's... Without thinking we loaded the van, got some booze and headed home earlier than expected. Roundabout a thousand miles, a "pitstop" in Hamburg and the national anthem of The Netherlands later I'm back on my own ground. Tired as fuck but sleeping on my own couch, I love it!

The next day I set up a few seminars for Joe and Nick to earn some money to fill up the loss we made with Hamburg. The rest got busy with our first tour webisode!



That night the English section of our all time hero's team went out for a drink, so I could chill with Bernice. Be on my own a bit. After I dropped her off at home, I drove a while through the city with music on the headphones and through the rain. I loved it! Am enjoying that life is giving me new highlights, new future perspective, continueing laughters and sharing a wonderful tour with four adorable buggers!
Somewhere else in the city is something toooootally different happening. Buggers getting their groove on. Hittin' it hard. The guys got hammered and had good times, as of what I saw on the videocamera haha. Ben came in like BAMN! First thought was my room will be destroyed... I seen him on stage next to me. It's a animal! Joe's laughing over the phone while and hurting my stomach. Damn.

The next day I spend some hours at school, Nom de Plume came down to my house to meet the rest of the Helsinki crew. After that we kinda chilled with games, House and Comedy Central.

Cozy hard to hard on "The Motherfocker"


Tomorrow: Rehearsals!

EURO TRIP: That shit needs to be nailed man.

Day 6: Showtime!

After what happened last night we got to bed in the bus and Joe got his tent up. It was freezing cold in the bus but at least we knew not to expect a riding relax chair aint gonna crash into us or anything. I just slept a few hours but felt pretty fucked up in the morning. Its been years since I slept in the van while being on tour!

Anyway... We practiced on stage roundabout 12:00 just to see what needs more practice and if the set is in a logical order. went pretty well even tho I feel the pressure but I dont worry. As the festival started I sometimes went to the van and practiced for a bit and that payed off! Saw a few cool bands like Pushed too far (Belgium metalcore like Mundane) and To the bone (sounded like a The Bronx/QOTSA coverband) who played for like two hours!

The fans got some sticks, skins and picks.

Chilled in the van and got to sleep.

Off to Germany!

EURO TRIP: Hitting the road!

Day 5: No pressure...

My luxery sleeping days are over. This was the last night at Nick's house because starting today I will crash on floors, busbenches and all the other types of beds imaginable.



With some miscomunication here and there we kinda went from here to there which delayed us at least an hour. Also forgetting your pasport doesnt really help to get you any quicker to your first show.
We planned our last rehearsal in Belgium in the venue where we play our first show the next day.
After we picked up our merchgirl Lydia, we headed to dover to catch the channel over to Calais.



The trafficjams aren't in our advance either. The vibe in the van isn't luckily not influenced by it. The soundtrack for this tour is an uplifting one. From 80's (overall UK) classics to the modern hardcore/punk stuff we enjoyed the ride to Weelde where we are now at the time of writing.



Never thought that playing in Helsinki Seven would be such an adventure. Why? You better read on then! Nothing really spectacular has happen since we crossed the french border... What suppose to be a 7 hour drive made it to be 10/11 because of our own delay and the jams. Talking with Joe & Lydia about my fasination for UK bands I discovered over the years, I heard that some of the artists are Helsinki Seven fans. Damn! That stunned me. Anyway, literally minutes away from arriving at our destination we got pulled over by the police. One of the officers was suprised organised we were (with the papers eh!) but while the man started checking our pasports this dude approaches from the other side with high speed the cops, threw back our pasports and we were free to go went chasing the guy for a speeding ticket. What just happened? Well, let's get on... almost there. With a little search we finally found the youthcenter. It one o'clock at night so practice won't happen anymore. The lights are on, there seem to be a few folks havin' a good time... Happy that we arrived and tired as we are, we get a warm welcome. A bit too warm if you ask me. The people there were very happy to see us... and let me say this again, maybe a bit too happy. These people were WAY PASSED HAMMERED! Don't even know where to start... Even for dutch standards this is pretty extreme what we actknowledged. I thought that it kinda went too far at one point. They made this chair with wheels thing and just bumped into anything possible. Walls, the stage, the bar, tables, you name it. The weather isn't helping either. As we try to make the best of it, it was time to sleep. Respect for those belgium folks who seem to sleep through The Bronx, Ghost of a Thousand and Mastodon records on 11!

They informed us that national TV will be there tomorrow to interview us and record footage of our show. The show will be packed with at least 500 people: I still hear the Master of the Universe say: No pressure Rudy, no pressure...

Ben already went to sleep in the van. I decided to also sleep in the van because I'm deadtired and hoping for a few hours sleep. It was and still is bloody freezing in the van... At the moment of writing it's pooring outside and my feet are cold again...

So now am writing this blog with H7 on and thinking... Today I would've seen City & Colour but instead am freezing to death in a UK van on a European tour... and still convinced I made the right choice. I wouldn't want it any other way...

Save a prayer for me.

Good morning!


Sidenote: While on tour there is less internetaccess so, you can have a laugh at my writing or just wait it out till am home and read the final version.

Thanks!

UK TRIP: Shopping for a crew!

Day 4: Getting skinned in Manchester.

On my day off I took the train (mixtape on the headphones and enjoying the view) to Manchester (distance Leeuwarden - Zwolle) to meet up with my friend Dani, who recently visited the AvP with Andy and Joël for a student exchange project. It was very pleasant to see her again.
But this time it's the other way around. Instead of me showing her the places to be in Leeuwarden, it was her turn to show me Manchester... What a lovely city it is!

First off we had tea and coffee at The Teacup.

Coffee at The Teacup
The English have their tea obsession as we "Dutch people"
have our bike obsession according to the "English people".
Earthlings... weird people. Lost it? Me too.

Isn't that cute... BUT IT'S WRONGGG!
I am fasinated very fast and this time it wasn't any different. This building that looked like a student flat, it has al sorts of (discount) shops in the vain of Ursula or London Mode. It's called Aflecks Palace. It is HUGE! Just when you thought you've seen it all, it keeps on going... The only "awkward" thing I saw in the building was a dentist. You can also eat, drink and chill out between the shopping and to top it all, you'll find a modeling agency in the same building. F**kin' rad mate!

Anywho, Dani & I had a wonderful time in the city as she skinned me to the bone. The record stores overhere are FAR MORE BETTER! Am gonna move the UK when am done in The Netherlands with all my stuff I have going and that's a bloody fact! I got Joe some string back-ups at Dawsons for the tour... DAMN those guitarshops! luckily I could keep my hands off some instruments and not carry them towards the counter... Manchester was sunny, rainy and half darkclouded today so I got an impression of both. I cannot mention all the big stores we went to but I know we did some good business at HMV, H&M, Fopp Records, Pulp, The Vintage Clothing Co. and last but not least... Primark!

Imagine entering in a very fancy Wibra
with the coolest close for cheap-ass!

SCORE!
...on a more personal note:
Thank you so much Dani, for the wonderful day you gave me. The talks, the laughs, the sightseeing, coffees and tea's. You are a fantastic friend to shop and hang around with. It is very much appreciated...
and totally worth the trainticket ;)

Tomorrow is the start of the tour, well, the driving starts tomorrow.
I saw the van. It's also HUGE! As I say in The Netherlands:
Ik ben fan! Trek-ut! I'd better get some rest, so i can pack my bags in the morning and finally rock across Europe!

Goodnight.

UK TRIP: Kurt Ballou, Nibbles and a hangover from hell!

Day 3: Sometimes it takes a turn...

I didn't knew what to expect what would happen today. Nick woke me up laughing,,, Probably because of my snorring or my weird postioning while I sleep. Time of awakening: half past six.

Good morning!

Nick had to go to work (12,5 hours shift) and so he dropped me off at Joe and Hannah where I chilled out for a few hours, did some work and got all the chords of the songs on paper.

"that riff you probably wanna try to dance on"

Me and Joe got some quality time discussing lots of things like the upcoming tour, financials, other tours and futureplans. We pretty much got that figured out. On facebook I chatted with our merchgirl for the tour and tomorrow I get to meet her. Furthermore me & Joe had lots of talks about producers, american musicians, the fucked up people in the business (ourselves included, haha) while Joe is cleaning the oven. You could tell it was his first time.

Joe's view from his backyard

He also managed to make fried egg rice (?) so Hannah could enjoy a lovely meal when she came home from work. We saw the movie Thor. Joe had football practice so he dropped me off at the rehearsal studio so I could practice on my own first. Things started to go downhill for me here. Deadtired and a "neighbour" who came by to let us know that he could hear us from miles away, just like his kids... owh well, the friendly punkrockers we are, decided to stop rightaway and call it a day. I recieved a text from Erwin that New Killer Stars decided to split up. Pretty shitty. Well, tired as f**k, we drove home and now am here finishing my blog with eyes that can barely stay open...

Tomorrow is my personal day off...

My plans are shopping with Dani in Manchester and hopefully also catch up with my friend Rosie who I met through the Kensington Arms UK tour where she gave us a show on very short notice when there was a show cancelled during our stay.

Anyway... am hitting the sack.

Nighty-night!