ICH BIN EIN DUBILINER - DAY 1 - BERLIN

After a tragic encounter with the greedy bastards of Ryanair in which a bag that I'd already paid for ended up costing me an extra 185eu in excess weight, The Mighty Stef [original line-up...just me] caught the 6.05am flight from Dublin to the magnificent city of Berlin. Before i could even contemplate what the first gig of the tour would be like i had a busy day of running around to do. First off i had to meet a friend of my Label-boss for a loan of a spare guitar, then i had a meeting with a potential new booking agent called Phonocaster which went really well. Following that i made my way over to the city's main alt-music station 'Motor FM' where i did an interview and performed two songs...Death Threats and Downtown. 

After a long period of just hanging around [im sure this will become a theme, it always does on tour] proceedings finally got underway at Schokoladen. its a great venue, my first and only previous German gig was in the same place. The opening act was a really great guy from New Zealand called Mr Paul...live electro on an ironing-board, it was profoundly different to what i had up my sleeve which made it all the better. I pretty much always enjoy singing in front of a crowd of people and there was a really great crowd in attendance, the radio slot seemed to have paid off.  The gig was great, it was my first proper gig using my new band-mate 'the stomp box' a foot pedal that makes a thumping sound when you tap your foot on it to the beat. it worked better with some songs than others but generally it helped me build up a bit of suspense in tunes and so forth. Song-wise my personal highlights were 'Safe At Home' where i sang the part of the mother and the child... 'I'ts cold outside' which is a cover of an old Stiv Bators tune and a new song that ive been writing called 'Thank Christ for the kids' which i managed to get the whole crowd to sing along to, fair fucks to them!!

After the gig it was a few bottles with the lads from Humanzi and some other German pals, a gourmet Kebab [Berlin has amazing Kebabs that dont even seem that unhealthy and only cost 2.50eu] and a nightbus home to my good pal Garys apartment in Hermanstrasse.

This morning i get a train to Bielfeld to meet up with Michael and Frank from my german label 'Tonetoaster Records' who will be my eyes ears and wheels for the rest of the tour. Bring it on..last night was a great start to proceedings. VIVA BERLIN!!!!

One strange thing that happened, i was stopped on the street and photographed for some fashion Blog type thing...one of the strangest things thats ever happened me in fact....The homeless recession-ridden look must be big in Germany...if thats the case, ill go a long way!!!

Tune in tomorrow when once again ill be taking the romance and intrigue out of Rock n Roll by portraying it as a pantomime of 'pricking-about'

PROST BITCHES...enjoy yourselves!!!

TMSxxx