Eat. Sleep. Tour

Germany pt. 2

November 22nd, 2010 at 11:15 am (Uncategorized)

I wake up at the venue in Aachen Germany and as I walk inside, I notice a ton of graffiti on the walls as I find my way through this concrete maze of a venue. Turns out (if I heard correctly), this used to be a shelter from Cold War times. We hang in a room where some great food is served to us and the beer for the night is Bitburger (which isn’t bad). I spent my time after eats to get wifi in the bar and catch up on the blog and be social with friends. While hanging here, there is an acoustic act playing with alot of people watching. Tonight is going to be a great show. The first band that played was a band called Wendy. They were fucking great. Very indie rock feel and great hooks in their songs. (I hung out with them after the show and they were the nicest people). Aside from them; the other bands on the bill were great. The other 2 bands were punk bands and were fun to watch. In-between those 2 band, John, Jeff and I did a college radio interview that was very awesome. The interviewer did not prepare and was drunk and asked us questions in exactly 8 words and we had to answer in exactly 8 words. It was very fun to get out there that the only German words we know are “polar bear”, “shit” and “I am a foreigner”. (we learned many more throughout the night). After our set, this kid came on stage and started chanting “we want more” which got the crowd going. We came up and played “Blow you brains out on live television” and the chanting “we want more” happened again. This time I kept screaming “beer” Inbetween their chants so “we want more beer” became the chant. Toby, the promoter, brought more beer to the stage for us. And let me tell you about German beer, I’ve tried 4 different kinds today and they were all spectacular. German’s really do make some great beer. After the “we want more beer” chant, we played “future 86″ and the crowd was singing along and clapping and such. It is such an unbelievable joy to be able to be in a differed country, where English is not the prominent language, and have fans singing your songs. This is the coolest thing in my life that I can probably never really explain properly how it feels.
After our set, the “we want more” chant continued. It was extremely nice at this point but what made it fucking hilarious was when one kid shouted out “TROMBONE” repeatedly. I almost lost it the way he shouted it.
We pack up and bullshit with some awesome people and drink more beers before we head to Toby’s place for sleeps. On the walk over, I saw a cigarette vending machine on the street. I guess 5 year olds can smoke here in Germany. Ha ha. (pending they get paid a good allowance.) And now it is time to bed. Tomorrow brings a 5 hour drive to Hamburg for our first Less Than Jake show in Europe. Can’t wait!!! Night interwebs. =^)
…..
I woke up today with my shoulder hurting the most it has all tour. I really need to start taking care of my body. We head back the club to load the car and head to Hamburg. I sit shotgun as Jeff drives and the first radio station I put on, a song that sounds like a German Johnny Cash was on the radio. We drive down the road to get gas and food. The food here at the gas station didn’t look too filling in my opinion. John, Jeff and I decided to go elsewhere.
A little bit down the road was the Aachener Land-Süd. This place I thought was amusing. They had a huge magazine selection and of course it was all in German. On display was a Playboy with Tara Reid as the “hot model of the month”. She didn’t look it, but maybe the raccoon eye liner look it for other people. Some other mags they had was a php developer mag and Mac developer mag. I wish they had mags like this at home. There were thick and had bits of code in it. (if there are magazines in the states like this, I really haven’t tried hard enough in finding them).
We get to the counter and we ask the clerk if they speak English. One clerk spoke a little and we ordered. I ordered the bratwurst with a side of cheesy potatoes and it was super good and filling.
Heading back on the road, we hit the Autobahn with Jeff driving. We hit 170 km/h (105 mph). There were cars going faster than us which was super crazy. A little down the road, the Autobahn was closed and with signs leading the way to a detour, and us with no way to understand them, shut gets hectic for a hot minute. I find an “alternative route button” on the gps and we get back on track in about 20 minutes.
We arrive at the venue at the same time as Sonic Boom Six and try to figure out a way inside. After we figure that out, I ran into Matt and Sara who didn’t know where to park. So I walked back to their car with them and showed them where they need to go. After we got back, we did a sound check and I used Neil from Sonic Book Six’s drum kit. I tried to work around the kit as best as possible but it’s so hard working with someone elses set up other than your own. (either way, I’m completely thankful for Neil lending me his kit).
After the sound check, I went up to catering and we sat around eating some great food while catching up with Vinnie from Less than Jake. Immediately after dinner; we played our 20 minute set. It didn’t seem like anyone we interested in us and I was mostly concentrating on playing right on a kit that’s not made for me than paying attention to the crowd. I packed up my stuff and did what I could to help Neil out with setting up before he played. (They played very well).
I ended up watching half of Zebreahead’s set and then spending the rest of the time catching up with Less than Jake. Such great friends that I dont get to see too often so it was nice to hang out and bullshit. I ended up spending half of Less Than Jake’s set hanging out with Ben from Zebrahead and talking shop about bands and touring and the like.
After the show, Matt, Sara and I drove to Sara’s friends house in Berlin. I played the role of shotgun and talking about alot of personal stuff in the car to keep spirits up and minds attentive for the 3 hour drive. But we’ve finally arrived and now it’s just time to wait for the other 3 to get to Berlin to relax. I hope I’m not that hungover tomorrow.
……
No hangover!! WOOHOO!!!!!
We all decide we’re going to go see the Berlin Wall today and do some sight seeing but first thing is first…….laundry! Jeff and John make their way to the laundromat which was a good 10 minute walk from where we are staying. Tom and I start heading over there about 15 minutes after they left. We walk through the little rainy weather to the laundromat where we see their laundry in the machines but there is no sight of Jeff or John. I realize that I only had some of the dirty clothes with me because the rest of my dirty laundry was in the van. By the looks of the loads they put in the machines, they never grabbed mine. I decide it defeats the purpose to do a tiny load when I can probably do all my clothes tonight. When Jeff and John finally head back to the laundromat, they said they walked back to the house to get my clothes (which they forgot to get a second time) and to let us know where this place was. (I really hope they have a washer/dryer at the venue tonight). I spend most of my time in the laundromat playing Fruit Ninja and trying to beat my high score.
After everyone folded their clothes, I found this vegetarian place called Yellow Sunshine that I suggested we eat at. It was an awesome find. I got a vegetarian schnitzel that came with a salad and fries