11.06.2013
Ireland, France, & England, oh my.
Better late than never I say. Finally getting around to posting this tour diary from France/UK. Enjoy.
We start off our little adventure with a nice trip, in a cramped van, to JFK airport in New York. It was a shuttle that had multiple pickups to do in the area. We were 1 of 4 groups they picked up to go to JFK.
In true NY fashion, the van almost got broadsided upon entering the great state of NY. Other than that, the drive was mostly boring...however I did manage to spill some of my coffee on mine and Armine's pants.
Once at the airport, it was the task of checking our gear and then finding our gate. We were flying an Irish airline (Aer Lingus) so I was excited when all the flight staff had strong Irish accents. All four of us sat next to each other in a row, which made it easier to annoy one another before tour had officially started.
I was excited to see that we all had our own televisions with DVD choices of movies. However, the selection was limited to a few movies I knew about but had never seen, but mostly random Irish movies, documentaries, and Irish TV shows. I watched 2 movies, both of which were awful. The first was 'The Purge' which Matt said, "I watched it with you without sound, and I still knew everything that was going on." It was super predictable, and the ending was quite anticlimactic.
The second movie I watched was labeled as "Erased" but when it played (I'm assuming it was the UK/European name for it) the title was shown as "The Expatriate." The cooler name they gave it didn't make it any better a movie. It too was boring and predictable.
We had a small layover in Ireland. We unfortunately didn't actually get to see anything but the airport, but our wait at the gate was accompanied by a group of unchaperoned French teens. One was even dressed like a cow for Halloween, udders and everything.
There was no entertainment on the connecting flight. No snacks either, and we're all starving at this point. There was some small entertainment of some crazy guy mildly harassing the stewardess about being nervous, or sick, or something stupid.
When we landed, we had hoped we wouldn't have to wait long for Persil after getting our bags. We were surprised at how easily we moved through customs on both ends though.
Once Persil got us, we waited outside for the Dirge dudes to bring the van around. They were nice dudes, and we also had a LOT of gear in the back of that van. It was then a 2 or so hour drive from Paris to Caen.
It was a fun drive, catching up with Persil, sliding comfortably back into the familiarity our last tour had. Once in Caen, Persil made sure to point out the vans that the prostitutes worked out of near the venue, and then we loaded in to this tiny cafe.
The staff there were really nice, and brought us cookies, some cheese, baguettes, pizza, and peach pie. I don't think we played very well, but it was the first night, and I don't think the first night ever goes well. Dave actually ended up blowing two of his power supplies for his pedals from plugging his power strips into the wrong outlets. Luckily he had 9v battery backups.
After the show, there was no time to dawdle. We headed immediately for the ferry to England. It was a 2 hour drive to the ferry, then (and I'm guessing here, because I was passed out for most of it) about 2 hours on the ferry. We then had another 6 hour van ride to Manchester.
It's now Friday, and it still feels like a single day has not passed since we left, because we've barely slept. However, at the same time, it feels like we've been on tour for a week already. Go figure that one out.
The venue here is really nice. The stage is a little small, but not anything we haven't encountered before. They had sandwiches, chili, chips, and baguettes waiting for us when we got here. Oh, and soda and water...yay water. We hunted down the manager as well to get ahold if the wifi password as per usual when arriving at a venue.
I'm constantly confused by the French band we're on tour with, mostly because they seem to refuse to speak English unless they're directly addressing anyone else.
The show was pretty good, though during our encore, the sound guy was apparently instructed to turn off the PA because the management deemed us to be too loud. Whatever, I didn't even notice till after. I did, however, break the kick drum head, which was mostly because the stage didn't have any carpet to hold the kick drum still, and my kick drum pedal kept flying off the drum for the first three songs. I think the drummer from Dirge is upset with me (even after trying to explain how it happened). They're not the warmest people, but then again, how can you really warm up to dudes when they speak another language, and have only five days to get aquatinted.
Had some great chili from the dude we're staying with. Nice place, nice dudes. Onward to Leeds tomorrow. The trip is only about an hour, but Dirge has an earlier slot, so we'll have to make haste.
We made haste...and got here super early. Like all the fests we've ever played, no one really knows what's going on ever. We were eventually shown to our backstage area, and then we sat around eating candy and drinking water till the real 'food' arrived, which was only a variety of triangle sandwiches, potato chips and soda.
Aside from not knowing what to do, or where to go, the setup for the show was quite impressive. They're holding it at Leeds University, and campus is really nice. There's lots of room for something like this, which is probably why they chose it (duh).
The stage sound was horrid, and I couldn't hear anything but bass rumble and my cymbals. Apparently it sounded okay in the room, because people seemed to be into it. There was nothing really to do after we played except watch other bands, eat, or sleep. I chose to have two helpings of chicken tikka masala, and lounge in a chair in the backstage till someone told me to pack stuff up.
We stayed at Persil's friends house, Molly and Luke. Their place was small, but anything is nice on tour. Hardwood floors with no padding is not the most ideal of sleeping situations, but I was tired enough that my conscious discomfort didn't last long.
The next morning is a slow going day. Another short drive to Hull, so we sat around the flat talking and deciding where we wanted to go for breakfast. We decided on a place and went, however, the road to the shop was blocked by police, which looked, by their getup and a the white tent they had setup, like a murder occurred.
Because of that, we ended up going to another place, which was nice and cheap but delicious. I'm starting to become a fan of the full English breakfast. As I say multiple times on tour in multiple places in the world, I want to move here, or live for a time. At all places I say that, there are aspects I'm not experiencing at the time I come that would probably change my mind, but in the moment, it seems like a nice enough place.
Anyway, on to Hull. It's the first sunny, non-rainy drive we've had so far in England. The sights are actually quite beautiful when it's not overcast and raining.
It's a bit cold, but otherwise a beautiful day. We got to the venue and sat for a bit before loading in and setting up the stage. They gave us pizza and chips (fries) for dinner, then we just kept sitting around and listening to sound checks.
The opening band has two guitarists, a bassist, and a drum machine. The drum machine seems to only be programmed for blast beats, which, while entertainingly hilarious to watch, gets a bit annoying after a bit. The second band was certainly an eclectic addition to the lineup. They were heavy (kinda) and spazzy, but very poppy as well, which was a nice change of pace, however, I wasn't completely into it.
This is the second to last show of the tour. Right after we play, we have to pack up and head for Dover to catch the ferry back to France, then drive to Paris. Hooray.
I think we played well. We're just getting warmed up, and tour ends tomorrow. Lovely. I had a nice bonding moment with the Dirge guys while packing the van. Another fun 'wish we had figured that out earlier' moment was the amazing packing job we ended up doing with the gear.
We're on the ferry to France. It was a treacherous drive in the pouring rain through the night. The sun is just starting to come up, and we're all very gross. We can't find any wifi on the ship, which is disappointing. We also couldn't find the room with the big comfy chairs like the last ferry we took, so we're stuck in these weird red chairs. They're fairly comfy, but you need two up against each other to be comfortable. France, here we come.
A friend in Paris also brought is dinner. Felafel, hummus, chicken, etc. The line when the doors opened was crazy. It stretched almost around the corner.
So, long story short, we got to watch some boring movies and est some horrible food, take a cramped bus back from the NY airport, and I got sleep in my own bed.
Overall, fun tour, fun people, fun places. Much love to all who helped us out, and all the fans who supported us and came and said hi. Thanks.
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