Euro Tour Diary Day 4: Paris, France - Le Batofar
All right now! I really don�t know where the rumor that French people are rude came from cause I say au contraire. What hospitality our pals from Limoges lay on us. We have a nice place to stay, a meal, and of course the after show friends. After hanging out with some of the people from Versus magazine and eating some food everyone leaves at - you guessed it - 3:30 am rock time! We�re beat!
The next day, our pals feed us again and escort us over to Mr. Brickolage, which is the Home Depot of France. Joey needs to make a drum rug so those 22 inches don�t go sliding off the stage! Around 2 pm, we head towards Paris. I�ve been talking to Mary Stoneage, the promoter of the Paris show, for months now. She�s a Man�s Ruin addict and I can�t wait to meet her. I knew we were playing on a boat but goddamn when we pulled into Paris and drove down to the Seine I could not believe my eyes.
Crazy - a huge red rock �n� roll boat! We meet Mary who has the Man�s Ruin cat tattooed on her and she is so great. We love you Mary! J�taime! She hands us an envelope with our guarantee and keys to our hotel! Love that! We do a sound check, eat some food, and the show is very early. There�s a dance club starting at 11 pm after we play. The opening band was a local called Super Timor. Heavy rocking sludge. We go on at 9:15 pm, which is really early for us. I only drank one beer! The people in Europe expect a much longer set than we�re used to playing so we kick out an hour-long set. We�re getting better for sure but still some clams tonight. The sound is great there but shut those damn disco lights off! Those lights were killing me! This ain�t no party, this ain�t no disco! After this set the packed boat demands an encore in which we carry on for another 15 minutes. I walk off after the last note cause we need to practice some more songs to be able to play longer. DAMN! A great night and finally we feel good. I meet a girl from Texas and some guy drove all the way from Switzerland to see us along with this guy, Patrick, who I met in SF, from my friend Robin who lives in Paris now. He helps us hail a taxi in which taxi driver� tries to rip off the tourists! John would have none of it and sends the guy on his way�
We finally make it to the hotel, and drink the left over beer from last night along with the bottle of wine our pals from Limoges gave us. Another 3 am evening but hey, rock time, right? We wake up eat and go to the Eiffel Tower to be tourists. Snap some photos, then off to Gent to stay at our driver John�s house. Thanks to our UK booker that never followed up on a few of these gigs until too late, we end up not having a Den Helder or Berlin show - SUX! To save money we come here where him and his wife Alex hook us up! THANK YOU! Tomorrow we�re heading to Amsterdam to hang out with pals and meet our Japanese label dude who is in town with another band. We�re not playing again until Wednesday so see you then!
Euro Tour Diary Day 5, 6, 7
Wasn�t going to write again until we played the next show but some stories cannot go unwritten�
We arrive in Amsterdam on Monday night and find our way (although not very easily) to my friends Tos� and Eva�s place. Tos is leaving to go to the US tomorrow to play keyboards for the Sunn0)))/Thrones/Boris tour, so I�m very happy to see him before he splits. We also need to give these two some privacy since we�ve invaded their space, so coincidently the head of our Japanese label, Toreno from Leafhound Records, just happens to be in A�dam with the Church of Misery, so we meet up with them at the Minds Caf�. Circle of life as Rafa says. Here we are in A�dam hanging out with people from Japan - CRAZY!
After several beers and the struggle of communication we take off and cruise the �red light� district. Joey and Rafa have never been to A�dam before and wanted to see the ladies in the window. It was pretty gross for me late at night I was the only girl amongst the various jock type dudes looking for some action. We head back and pass out.
Next day we do our shopping and Joey and I head back while Rafa and John stay in town. We meet up with them later on and something very, ummmmmmmm, strange happens to Rafa just moments before. In A�dam they have these circular metal areas where guys can pee in a hole in the ground so they don�t whip it out all over and pee where ever they want even though they still do! Apparently there was this empty bottle sitting on the ground and Rafa was pretty stoned after hanging out at one of the coffee shops so he decided to fill the bottle for fun. John is also waiting to pee but there is a guy also waiting and he looks like he really has to go so after Rafa he lets this guy go before him. Well this guy picks up the bottle of pee, gets on his bike raises the bottle of pee to the boys says �cheers� and takes a drink of it! WHAT THE HELL! Rafa gets a picture of this and we walk back the house in disbelief! Grosses thing I ever heard in my life! We head back the house to chill out with my friend Eva and Joey and Rafa go to meet our pals from Japan. I scored a cool leather jacket from the market and we�re off to Jena tomorrow YAHOOOOOO!
Euro Tour Diary Day 8: Jena, Germany � The Rosenkellar
We said our goodbyes to my pal Eva and took off to Jena. I for one was ready to get back on the road and play again. I�m here to rock, not hang out, so I was really anxious to play. Now this show was almost cancelled. Apparently our booking agent is notorious for not sending any promotional things out and keeping them in his house! When we first arrived I received and e-mail from the agent that was in charge of this show and he said he was going to cancel it due to lack of promotion. I got on the internet and e-mailed the booker, Tom directly to ask him please don�t cancel this, and he said no worries the show was on - YEA!
Seven hours later, we pull into what is a really cool little town. A small medieval town with a huge college campus. We pull in, meet Tom, and get directions to our hotel� Now check this out - we go to unload the gear and this hands down was the most painful process in my rock history. The Rosenkellar is several levels below the street, in what looks like an old castle or dungeon. Big brick walls with arches. Very cool, BUT we had to walk our gear from the street all the way down a cobblestone hallway passing over to different staircases with ramps, and then we had to walk this shit down a big flight of stairs to get the stage! It was kinda scary like a great white incident waiting to happen! We�re all totally underground; no windows or doors and a bunch of people smoking like fiends! We have a lot of help unloading, which eases the pain.
We set our stuff up do a sound check and the sound is booming! A TOTAL rumble. After check, Vic Dumonte, the opening band, walks in. These guys are from SoCal, the desert area near Palm Springs, and I know the drummer Alfredo from Kyuss, and we say our hellos. The singer, whose real name is Chris, remembers us from 1993 when Acid King opened up for the Melvins and his band with Mike Desert at the Rhythm and Blues bar in Indio. We laugh about the fact that here we are 12 years later playing together in a dungeon in Germay!
The nice peeps at the venue feed us and hey if it ain�t my favorite bread and cheese with potatoes, boiled vegetables, and a fried cheese croquette! We start pounding down the local beer we�re served, Rosen, and it�s damn good. Vic Dumont take the stage at around 10:30 pm. It�s so smoky in there that I decide to hang out by the merch table�
We hit the stage at around midnight and the place is PACKED! We reconnect with this guy Johannes that we met while he was traveling in the U.S this summer. Him and his friend flew into New Jersey, rented a car and drove all the way to SF to see Acid King play and he lives near the club! Circle of life once again! We play the best set of the tour so far. Kinda sloppy but the feel and vibe was there. Lots of drunk fans!
After the show we hung out and talked to a lot of people whose names I couldn�t pronounce and proceeded to get pretty drunk! Everyone was hanging out back stage and getting loaded, people were trying to chisel free merch from me, and all was fun until the night took a turn left� Well, lets just say ya know when you get really drunk and everyone is laughing and then all of the sudden something happens and all of the sudden you�re not laughing anymore? That�s all I can say - what happens in Jena, stays in Jena!
We head back to our hotel and I pass out another 3 am�er as per usual and we have a long drive to Tilburg. It�s our last night with our new friend and driver John and we�re gonna miss him! He�s was born and raised in Ireland and then moved to Belgium so he has several different types of vocabulary as it is and now thanks to Rafa, he has not taken on some American slang so if you travel here and bump into a an Irish/Belgium guy that says, �Dude� and �We�re so outta here,� it�s probably him!
Euro Tour Diary Day 9: Tilburg, Holland � 013
Fun fun fun on the autobahn! Damn, these people drive fast in Germany. We wake up about 9 am hurting for certain after drinking the night before. We have to meet at the club to do the painstaking job of loading our gear the way it went down but with less people. After eating a nice breakfast of bread and cheese we head over and get the stuff and start heading towards Tilburg, about a seven hour drive - well six when you�re driving 100 miles an hour! We get to the club and I�m burnt out and look like hell. Our new driver Roman is coming to meet us and we say our goodbyes to John. THANK YOU, JOHN! In a weird way, even though this tour has been fucked up, we would have never met John and this weeks experience so I�m glad it happened and we hope to cross paths with him in the future!
Club 013 is HUGE! Three rooms with various size venues and a rehearsal place. It�s total pro. We�re playing in the bat cave, the smaller room, and we have a dressing room stocked with beer and my favorite bread and cheese! We do our sound check and meet Walter, the head of Roadburn. Walter is a lover of music and has been an Acid King fan for years. Him and his friend Richard set up a screen and made a background video of really cool and obscure biker footage. He gave us a copy to take home so I�m hoping to be able to use this in the future. It was an early show and Los Natas was there to open the night. Nice guys and they were shocked to see Rafa! They�re pals and they had no idea he was playing with us. Lots of Espanol going on in Holland! I rush to eat, get ready and watch Natas.
After several Heinekens it�s our turn to rock. The place was packed and we played a good set. The crowd was very still so it was hard to read if they liked us but they would clap and yell afterwards so I just made up a story that they were totally rocking out in my head and I got thru it. A good night for sure, met a lot of nice people. Roman took us to our hotel the F1 or Formula 1, which is like the Motel 6 of Europe but you don�t even have your own toilet or shower in your bedroom - but you do have wireless internet! And we could not wait to pass the hell out. Next stop� Aarschot!
Euro Tour Diary Day 10: Aarschot, Belgium � De Klinker
I wake up, walk down the hall to pee and shower, eat my first bread and cheese sandwich of the day, and we check out. Check out at the F1 is noon so we head across the street to McDonald�s to hang out, cause Roman isn�t getting us �til 2 pm. There�s no smoking there and guess what - they have WiFi!
Roman gets us and we head over to De Klinker. We pull up on time YEA! The place is nice; it�s like a youth center of sorts but with a bar and a venue. We load in our gear and do some business. Again left stranded by the UK booker. According to the itinerary we are to play in Leicester on Saturday and Glasgow on Sunday. We never received any info from this booker. No directions, load in times, contact info - ANYTHING! We�re flying solo on this tour so I take charge and ask my pals in the UK to check this shit out. I hear from a fan in Scotland that the place we were supposed to play knew nothing about Acid King. I also receive a text message from the club in Leicester that they no nothing of us playing there as well! EYEYEYEYEYEYEYE! I�m furious and txt/e-mail and call our booker of course he never replies� We decide to make a game plan on what to do the next two days and now it�s time to sound check, chill, and rock this mutha!
The place is getting crowded and a local band, Hypnos 69, is opening the show. They have all this state of the art gear, Laney heads, hiwatt cabs, etc� and are sort of prog rock with a Grateful Dead jam thrown in there! Seemed like most of the crowd was there to see them but au contrare when we hopped on stage the people were totally rocking on. The sounds was amazing and this was the best AK Show yet. We are now officially dialed in. Sarah and Benny of the Orange Factory put this show on and what great people. The night was a success we were totally taken care of and we drove back to their house to crash out. I finally get a chance to call my boyfriend who I totally miss - LOVE YOU, DAVE!
We wake up and Sarah and Benny serve us up the old continental breakfast of bread, cheese, and cold cuts! We decide that we�re going to go to our driver�s apt in Rotterdam for the night to save money. He also broke his hot rod mobile phone that has a GPS system on it so it�s a 911 that he gets this replaced for the rest of the trip. We know we have a show in Sheffield on Monday, so we�re going to go to London tomorrow to stay at Rafa�s cousin�s house.
This wraps up the Euro end of the trip and the rest will be in the UK�We had a great time on this leg, despite the stress of the bizarre way this entire tour has gone. Met so many great people and ate a fuck load of bread and cheese! I�m a little confused about the garbage can situation in this part of the world. Seems like everywhere we went we could not find a garbage can easily and when we did it would be this tiny container! Get some damn garbage cans people! My pockets are full!
Euro Tour Diary Day 11 and 12 (day off): Rotterdam/London � Circle of Life
We wake up and our gracious hosts serve us the Euro continental breakfast of bread and cheese - YEA! Nice good people and I�m sooooooo happy to know them and have some new pals. Off to Rotterdam�
Roman hooks us up at his place. He has a great apt. near the center of town and the guys take off shopping while I hang out and do business. Ya see it seems as if many of these shows that are booking agent told us about are not really shows, and on top of that we have no addresses, phone numbers, or contact info for the shows we know, we so have so it�s up to me to get all info and check out what is real vs what is a load of shite!
I have a few peeps helping me scope out the situation and it looks like at least we have five shows this upcoming week. We may call it a day after London and head home, since it appears that all but one show the first week of November is a load of shite, but you�ll have to continue to read on to find out!
We go out for dinner and damn, I am so ready for something that�s not bread and cheese! I�m beat and have been absorbed in self-pity, having to deal with this situation we�re in. Rafa and Joey go out to party and me, I don�t feel like it, I just want to hang out with myself.
The next morning, we�re supposed to leave at 10 am to catch the ferry back to Dover, and I wake up to the sounds of a buzz saw and bunch of snorting pigs in the room! Everyone is passed out since they didn�t get back �til 5 am. Everyone gets up and Roman�s girlfriend Doegka (sp) runs out to get us some bread and cheese! THANK YOU, ROMAN! I decided that it�s time to have a more positive attitude and try to make this last week fun. Now that we know the score I don�t have any more worries so now it�s time for me to have fun. We take off and Roman is driving fast trying to catch the 2 pm ferry so we can save some money. We�re cruising through Belgium on our way from Holland to France, when I see a blue Highway Tiger van. Xavier, the guy that helped us out getting a driver and van for the first leg of the tour, owns a few of these, so I�m curious to see if there�s a band in there. We get closer on - God damn if it�s not Xavier himself HAHAHA! What are the freaking odds of running into him on the road? �Circle of life.� as Rafa says! Rafa also manages to snap a fine picture of our new pal. Damn, we didn�t make it, but whatever it�s expensive to take a van full of people - cost us 120 euros. I think I can be a European tour manger now?
One hour later we�re back in Dover and I did feel a sense of accomplishment. It was just 12 days ago that we got a ride from Rafa�s cousin�s sister�s boyfriend�s father, Javier, and we managed to play six successful shows! We cruise over to Tuti�s (Rafa�s cousin�s house) and Roman is the man! He�s the RO-MAN. He manages to get us there with only one wrong turn! Hell, the cab drivers couldn�t even find this place!
We�re beat and just chilling out night, doing laundry. Rafa has been wearing the same shirt for four days and hasn�t showered for days. Tuti makes us dinner and it feels so good to be taken care of. Last time we were here, 12 days ago, I couldn�t even sleep due to stress and now I will have no problems crashing out! Ends up we can use her house as a home base for the next week and this will save our asses financially, since it�s totally unaffordable to stay in London on a band budget which is NO BUDGET! Tomorrow a show in Sheffield!
Euro Tour Diary Day 13: Sheffield, England - The Corporation
I slept in late today, 11 am, and I needed it. For once I got to take my time getting ready. We split and bravely drove over to Shellshock distributors to meet Dean and pick up more CDs. Okay, three Americans and one Dutch person driving in London, I think you get the picture! After a few U turns and many double decker bus sandwiches, we arrive. Dean is great and I`m happy to meet him. Sheffield isn`t too far away and I really had no idea what time to get there. It took us an hour just to get out of London.
We reach Sheffield �bout 7 pm with totally fucked directions. We were totally lost. Now at home, our shows are usually pretty late so I felt like it was cool. I really wish we had the video cam on cause this could have been a reality TV show. We kept stopping and asking directions and damn if the Ro-Man could not understand anything anyone was saying. We did drive past the Sheffield football stadium so that was pretty cool. I won`t bore you with the details but we finally found the place about 8 pm; the guy was not happy and the first band just finished� I guess we were supposed to be there at 4 pm. HA HA HA! Not that our booking agent ever told us this. We say our hellos to the guys in Future X Wife. I met a few of them at SXSW last year and it was very cool to be playing together. Pete totally took care of us and we appreciate it! THANKS!
Ends up that the reason we even played this gig is cause our crack smoking booking agent told me we were playing there. I guess the guys saw this on our site and asked the club if they could get on the bill and the club said they didn`t have us on there, gee what a shocker! Another fateful moment for the King.
The place is pretty packed for a Monday night and we f`n rocked today. For no soundcheck we are totally dialed now and it`s very cool. We get cut off after 45 minutes. This place turns into a massive dance club with the metal room, techno room, and hip hop room - CRAZY! We hang, have a few more beers, and head to Pete`s place.
We drink some beers with the guys, and the band and I get maybe an hour�s worth of sleep, due to snoring and other strange sounds of the night while lying in my sleeping bag on hardwood floors. We`re off to Manchester today and it`s also Joey`s b-day so make sure to send lots of my space comments wishing him a happy one!
Shout out to Wounded Marsupials - we missed them but I`m sure they rocked! One of the guys in the band looked like Slater from Dazed and Confused, but Rafa was talking to him and ends up he`s a biochemist!
Euro Tour Diary Day 14: Manchester, England - Star and Garter
Well, I finally manage to get one or two hours of sleep from 7 am �til 9. Pete and James from Future X Wife are up early and leaving for London. I feel like shite! Nick the other housemate cooks us of an English breakfast off eggs, toast, and beans and that ruled! THANKS, NICK!
We hang out for a little bit to do some AK business. It has been decided that we will end our tour after London. There were several shows on Cornwall that our unbelievably lame booking agent told us we were playing, but after some internet searching, I couldn`t even find an address for one of them! A fan from Cornwall had e-mailed earlier to see if he could film us at the Cambourne show, so I asked him if he would be so kind as to investigate these shows to see if they even existed. He did and found out that only the show in Cambourne at The Clipper was real and the others in Exeter, Truro, and Newquay were all a crock of shite! Thanks so much, Jack, for doing this. We`re so sorry we won`t be able to come to Cambourne, but we cannot afford to hang out in London with gear and a driver for four days just to play one show in some small town eight hours away!
We say our goodbyes and head over to Manchester. It`s pouring out and we get there really early. One of the owners that lives up stairs is nice enough to let us in early to unload our gear and David from Future Noise, who put the show on, will be there in a few hours. The club is really old, the wood floors smell really musty, and the place where the band plays is on the second floor. We get kicked out for an hour or two cause the owner has to split and doesn`t want us hanging out in there, so I go to the van for a much needed nap.
Dave knocks on the van and gets us up and we go back into the club. At this point I`m trying to change our plane tickets to leave earlier and damn it`s hard to conduct business on a payphone at a bar! The light bulb goes off and I call my mom! She takes all our flight info and gets all our tickets changed � THANKS, MOM! We feel better now, as we need to cut our losses at this point. We still were not able to get any seats until 11/4 and our last show is 10/31 so we will be spending a couple of days at the groovy London hostel called Generations. Roman will take off back to Rotterdam on 11/1 and we can screw off for a few days. We are all sharing gear and Joey is going to play on the Atavist`s drummer�s set, who also drums for Thor`s Hammer and Burning Witch. This thing is like a God damn jungle gym I tell ya! Those kind of kits that have a huge silver bar that connect all the drums and
Cymbals and double bass drum as well! We check out the first band whom I`m sorry to say I don`t remember their name. Sorta sound like Nirvana and you could tell they are a relatively new band. Up next, Atavist. This band would be loved in SF! Total slow, cookie monster vocals. They had the biggest crowd for sure. For a rainy Tuesday night, it`s still well attended but not packed.
We take the stage and they only want us to play for 45 minutes. Fine with me! We rocked the damn place and the fans that did stay were very loyal and it made me feel good that they were so psyched to see us! Afterwards I met a lot of nice people, got some new contact info - another and I`m sure better booking agent in the UK, signed a bunch of autographs with my second grade penmanship, then we packed it up and went over to Paul`s house to spend the night. We`re all beat due to lack of sleep from the night before, and we pass the hell out! Thanks Dave, Paul, and everyone at the show - we had a great time!
Euro Tour Diary Day 15: Southend, England � Club Riga
We get up, shower, hang out with Paul for a bi,t and head EARLY over to Southend. We�ve finally figured out that three Americans and one Dutch dude need a lot of time to figure out where shit is although the Ro-Man totally found his way to the Manchester gig with no probs. This show was rescheduled, as it was the first show we were supposed to play on 10/12, but, of course, our booking agent never found us a ride and by the time he told us (6 pm), it was too late for us to find one so we had to cancel. Just as well since we�re much more dialed in now. We most likely would have sucked at that 10/12 show anyway!
We pull into to town and it�s called Southend by the Sea. We pass by numerous fish �n� chips places, and we know this it the town we need to eat this in! We get to the club a bit early and hang out. ! This local band, K-BHR, open for us. Jay is the lead singer and I met him years ago in SF. He�s friends with an old pal Rochelle. Circle for life! Here we are in this small town in the UK and I know someone!
He takes us down the road to the Dolphin for some authentic fish �n� chips! We eat like damn pigs! It was killer. We get back to the club and George hooks us up with a bag of crumpets and chocolate! Joey was going on and on about tea and crumpets, so next thing ya know George shows up with a bag of "UK" approved food. HA HA!
Next sound check and this man Steve is in charge of the club, and it was like having someone�s dad run the show. This place usually has cover bands and white man blues playing and is not used to bands such as ours. At sound check he tells me turn down my guitar but my vocals are way too loud! I tell him I want delay on my vocals which he does at sound check but of course once I get on stage I have none. K-BHR rocked the place and we�re ever so grateful! THANKS, JAY and crew! The place was pretty packed for a Wednesday night and we rocked. Sound to me was crap, but hey, when my dad is doing sound, what can you expect? We head over to Jay�s house and hang out with his twin bro, Paul, and the guitarist, George. We shoot the shite for a while and pass out.
Euro Tour Diary Day 16 (day off): Southend/Brighton, England
We have a day off today and it�s 70 plus degrees today. Unseasonably warm! Thank you, global warming! Whatever we�re at a resort town and it�s 70 in October so I�m happy. Jay is gonna take us around town and it�s all good!
We head over for some food and then to Rossi�s, the famous ice cream place in town that apparently is owned by the mafia, but luckily no hassles for the King! No one got cement shoes and everyone ate a soft serve vanilla with a 99! We had over to the old internet place, they know me by know to find a place to stay in Brighton. We�re heading over a day early and I know no one there! I find a hostel called Christopher Street that seems pretty cool and it�s near the pier in so off we go� I�ve never stayed in a hostel, they�re not very popular in the states and you can get a cheap Motel 6 so no reason really but everywhere in Europe it�s very common and a good way to save some money.
We find our way and hey the place is pretty cool, they�re cranking Deep Purple and Sabbath! The four of us share a room with ten beds and there are only two other people in there, so it�s all good. We hang out at the bar, drink a few John Smith�s, and Roman buys us some tequila shots, and then we pass out. The bars close at 11 pm in this town!
Euro Tour Diary Day 17: Brighton, England � Freebutt with Obiat and Jecano
We get up for our free breakfast of cheap wonder bread and awful instant coffee and decide to stay another night since it�s cheap, and we don�t know anyone in town. They only have room for four people, three in one ten-bed room with a bunch of dudes, and one in a six-bed room with a bunch of girls. Joey, Rafa, and I were originally gonna stay together, but than I get kind of wierded out about staying in a room full of strange dudes, so Roman was nice enough to swap rooms with me and ohhhh man he will regret this action soon enough!
We cruise thru the town. Nice place Brighton is for sure and it�s another 70 degree day� I go back to my room to shower where I see only one person�s suitcase, so I�m the only one there. Roman is already annoyed at the bunkmates. Some French dude is crashed out in his bed bunk and they�re sharing with what appears to be a bunch of 20 something year old football hooligan dumb asses!
We get to the show and I guess we�re late! Of course, what a shocker. We get there at 6 pm and that�s late! I guess not only do the pubs close at 11 pm, but they also have a volume sensor installed on the wall so if the music is too loud the PA automatically shuts off. WTF! We share some cabinets with the other bands to save some time since all the bands only get a 1/2 each to play. I hate Matamps (sorry, people) and decide just to play out of a 1/2 stack Marshall. The ten year old sound guy keeps insisting we turn down, turn down, turn down to the point where I was like fuck why even play I don�t sound like myself! The nice guy that put on this show bought us a warm case of Stella Artois, so we didn�t have to spend money at the bar. THANKS! I�m telling ya, these people don�t believe in refrigerated beverages! I drank the hell out of that case and furthermore didn�t offer any to the other bands!
Obiat played one song longer than they should have so we had to speed set up our gear so we could have at least a 1/2 hour to play which for us is ummmm four songs. I turned up once I got on the stage and we cranked out the rock. Not a huge crowd by any means but a quality crowd and they were digging it. We met a fan named Jules, who was very nice and he invited us back to his place for some food and a place to park. We decided to take him up on it since the Ro-man already broke his antenna barely getting out the garage with the van. Jules had a very large and obscure collection of Spanish punk rock, so after we chowed down some pasta, Joey, Roman, and I cabbed it back the hostel while Rafa hung out there. I went up to my room and saw a few of the girls walking around in their underwear, Roman came with me and pretended he had to do something with his wallet, so he could check out the chix! Just like a slumber party I tell ya! I was passed out in minutes�
Euro Tour Diary Day 18 (day off): Brighton/London, England - Casa De Tuti
I wake up with cramps - DAMN - I have my period! Look out band members, I could get mean! Roman knocks on my door at 9 am. I get up and meet the guys downstairs. No bad cheap bread and instant coffee for me today! Well, ends up the guys didn�t have quite the same slumber party experience as I did. The guys passed out about 1 am in their room and about an hour or so later the other British delinquents showed up drunk� Without any regard for the rest of the people in the room, they started yelling shit out the window and harassing whoever was walking by. Joey and French dude in the bunk up from him had asked these asswipes to SHUT THE FUCK UP but with no satisfaction. Roman reached is limit after witnessing one of the guys sitting in a bunk naked dry humping the air - HE WAS OUTTA THERE! He went to the front desk at 4 am and demanded a hotel room free of charge where he managed to sleep for an hour. Joey toughed it out �til the am, and they both looked pretty haggard. Joey got a refund for his horrible experience and they front desk said they would kick the guys out - not that it mattered to us since we were heading to London today!
We cab it over to meet Rafa and Jules and get some real food. I stop off at the drug store to score some pain relievers with codeine - YEA! We say our good byes to Jules and head back to Tuti�s house. We�re happy to be home - HA HA! Let me just say that the Casa De Tuti is quite unbelievable! It`s like a ten star hotel! A four story house in London that we have the lucky fortune to be staying at and Tuti WE THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! I can`t even imagine what this trip would be like if we didn`t have our home base mansion to live in during these times. It reminds me that for the one asswipe "GREG HEMMGINGS OF CONCERTS SOUTHWEST,� there is an entire world of great people out there and again WE THANK YOU for taking care of the King!
Our next show is Monday, on Halloween, and it should be a good one or so we hope. We really need to make about 500 more pounds to help cover the rest or most of the expenses. We�re stranded here �til 11/4, which is the next flight we could get home� We`ve basically stopped even talking about Greg Hemmings now. I mean the entire situation is something I`ll never understand in a million years, and I feel pretty proud of myself for getting thru this and making it pretty successful! If any of you reading this live in Cornwall, let me know and I`ll give ya his address you can go over to his house and pick up my promo posters and CDs that he NEVER sent out to any club we played out!
Euro Tour Diary Day 19 (day off): London, England - Casa De Tuti
Not much to report today. I`m getting a cold and hey hey, it`s pretty amazing after all this traveling, beer drinking, and cheese eating, none of use have gotten sick yet! One small scare with Rafa, but after a good nights sleep he made a comeback. We walked around Camden town today and for those of you who don`t know what this is, it`s a HUGE market with all kinds of shite for sale. Roman and I lost Joey and Rafa almost immediately!
Ordered some pizza and I chilled out. Didn`t feel like socializing too much. I mean people are not meant to be together 24/7 for three weeks in a row partying, ya know!
Euro Tour Diary Day 20: London - Camden Underworld - The Final Frontier!
WOW! Well, hey now how about going out with a bang after all this tour has drug us thru the past 20 days! Feels like I`ve been on tour for a year!
We get to the club early for a change and it`s the very historical http://www.theunderworldcamden.co.uk/ Camden Underworld. Before I left SF, I received an e-mail from the club regretting that they would have to cancel the show! This was one of the best-attended gig of the tour! Attendance with an energetic crowd - not just a bunch of zombies I might add - so thanks Camden Underworld for not canceling our show! We do a sound check and everything sounds check.
We`re playing tonight with Thee Plague of Gentlemen, Obiat, and Gunbunny. The doors open at 7 pm and at 7:30 pm there`s a bunch of people there! We go on at 10 pm. I still can`t get over the early time for shows here but I have to say on a Monday night, it was perfect to go on at 10 pm and be off by 11 pm! Admittedly, I was socializing most of the time with our pals from Southend, and our t-shirt guy, Alan from Photofit, Dean from Shellshock, Christiane from Total Rock, and I`m only caught maybe a few songs from each band, but everyone rocked!
We get on stage five or six beers later and damn, I`m buzzed! I plug in a total boner loss! My tone - where is my tone?? Something was up with one of my pedals probably a low battery but at this point, we`re on stage, and I have no choice to but carry on with this craptacular tone! I see a punk rock couple in front with a small pad and paper and he`s flipping thru writing shit down. It`s totally distracting me as I keep thinking oh now he`s writing every clam I just played! On top of that, they split after three songs, so expect some bad review somewhere! Then James (Rafa`s cousin�s sister�s boyfriend, as you may remember from blog day one) jumps on stage and decides to stage dive! WTF! No one stage dives for Acid King! I guess he thought the crowd wasn`t energetic enough and decided to stir it up but he was left with the parting of the Nile as he jumped and they let him fall on the ground! Nice thought, James, but hey, please don`t do that again! A sloppy but fun show for the King, and the crowd didn`t seem to care how many clams I played, or that some other guitar players way to trebly tone was coming out of that rented Marshall stack! After a 45 minute set the crowd wanted more so we finished with an encore of �Sunshine and Sorrow.� What a great ending to a crazy adventure. As everyone loaded out, I ate all the crap rider food in back, and my ears were blown away forever. We say our goodbyes to our rock pals.
Fucking A � we did it!
Day 22: Flying Back to SF - The Conclusion
Well, I�m about 35,000 Feet in the air and 1,300 miles away from home. As I reflect on the past three weeks, I�m met with bittersweet feelings on the entire experience due to the unfortunate circumstances that we were dealt with. The shows that we did play were great, the people that helped us along the way I will never forget, and the feeling of accomplishment for making this tour as successful as it could be has been very triumphant! Thanks so everyone we met along our travels we could have never made it without you and you all made this trip better!
Thanks to Joey and Rafa for dealing with all this shite and me the terror on the road! I love you guys! You rock and couldn�t have done it without you!
Thanks to all our pals on the other side of the Ocean�
Alan Dickey from Photofit � T-shirt and poster maker extraordinaire
Dean Berry from Shellshock and also a plays in The Capricorns, so go check those guys out!
Tutti and the Casa de Tutti! � Our home base in London in which we would have never survived without her help, good food and killer crash pad!
Javier � Our infamous driver of the Citroen Picasso who graciously drove us and all our shite to the Dover Ferry!
Roman � Our driver who picked us up from the ferry, got us gear, and dropped us off in Belgium and then met up with us on the second leg of the tour! He took care of and let us hang out at his place in Rockerdamn! If you ever want a great driver, person and pal to take care of you on the road with you contact Plugg!
Jan, Luc, and the gang at T�oud Liefken - Luc, without you, we would have never made it on the rest of the tour! Thanks for the ride to van place, the chocolate and the place to crash!
Xavier � Without your calls to find us a van and John, the driver, we would have never made it out of Zomergem! Check out his label, Delboy Records, and he also books Euro tours as well. Next time, if there is a next time, YOU�RE BOOKING OUR TOUR!
John � Our driver for the first leg, whom Luc picked up on his way to help us get the van! A great person! We had a lot of fun with John and he totally took care of us!
Pals in Limoges! I�m so sorry but I don�t know your names but we appreciate the food, the place to crash, and the trip to Mr. Brikolage!
Mary Stoneage � A great promoter in Paris! We had a blast in Gay Paree and Mary is a great person so go to her shows, mon amis!
Alexandra � John our first driver�s wife, who was nice enough to take in three strangers! She has a great surf band in Gent called Speedball Jr., so check this shit out. Whodda thunk surf music was so popular in Gent but it is!
Tos and Eef in Amsterdam! Thanks for letting us intrude on your lives for two days. It was great to see you and hopefully next will be better planned and we will rent gear from you!
Tom in Jena, Germany, for NOT canceling out show due to no promotion! We had a blast at the Rosenkellar.
Walter from Roadburn - Thanks for the killer background video! I can�t wait t o figure out how to project that and use it here. It was great to meet you finally.
Sara and Benny from Orange Factory in Belgium - You guys are great and we totally appreciate the rocking gig, place to crash and the bread and cheese :)
Pete from Future X Wife who let us crash at this place and took care of us at the club and Nick his roommate for cooking me my first English Breakfast!
The dude from Corporation in Sheffield who thought we were a no show since we were so late but we kicked in some heads in that night!
Dave and Paul from Manchester! You guys rock, please continue to put on more rocking shows!
Jay, Paul and George from Southend! You guys are the greatest! Thanks for taking care us and buying us fish n chips and of course Crumpets!
The promoter from the Freetbutt gig in Brighton, Hell I cannot remember your name but thanks for the Stella! We totally appreciate the gig!
Jules, our fan in Brighton! Thanks for the late night meal I needed it!
Christiane Richardson from Total Rock in London!
Spoose at the crew at Camden Underworld! Thanks for not canceling our show! It was a great show and it felt good to beat the odds and pack the place! We had a blast.
Thanks to my cheap Nokia phone (The real star of the show) for managing this tour with it�s total generic text messaging features and alarm clock! Couldn�t have done it without ya, little buddy!
Thanks to my mom for acting as our traveling agent and rearranging our tickets so we could get home earlier!
Aplogies to Amplifeye Rich and our fans in Cornwall. We really did plan on playing there but when we found out only one of the five supposed shows were real we just couldn`t afford to stay to play one show four days later so please forgive us and know we appreciate you all!
Last but not least Greg Hemmings of Concerts Southwest. We will never understand in a million years why you would have us come over, book us a 1/2 assed tour, not send out any promotion and then lie to us about oh everything! The shows you actually did book were great and for that we say thank you. For everything else we say FUCK YOU!
Until the next time friends, fans, and fellow rockers!
Lori S. � Acid King
