On monday we drove to Bamburg, a beautiful old city in Bavaria, one of the few cities that wasn't completely wrecked during the war so it still has a lot of old architecture and churches. Seems like quite a holy place, apparently it used to be the centre of the Holy Roman empire at some point. The gig was a good laugh. For the second gig in a row we had some grueller up the front trying to wreck the buzz by trying to handle our equipment while we were playing it. The gig ended up great though and we got asked to do a summer festival out of it. Thats quite a few in Germany so far.
On tuesday we did a show in a legendary TMS haunt, Scruffy's in Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe is a decent sized city with lots of students. The bar is owned by a great man from Howth Co.Dublin, Paul Burke aka. Scruffy. Really great guy and folk musician in his own right, his band [brilliantly entitled The Krusty Moors] tour around Germany and the rest of europe quite a lot so he knows more than any venue owner i have met how to make a touring band feel welcome. The gig was good fun, first time id played an electric show in Scruffys and we all fit comfortably on the small stage. It was great. Afterwards we had a few Guinness and I chatted to englishman Jamie Clarke who was in the Pogues in thier latter days. Jamie has lived out in Germany for many years and has his own project Jamie Clarkes Perfect, a really great guy that has seen the upside and downside of rock n roll but still remains passionate about it.
Next up was Backnang, a kinda satellite town outside Stuttgart. This was an extra special night in an extra special venue called Casa Carmen owned by a lovely Spanish lady called Carmen. The gigs were run by her right hand man Michael. From the moment we arrived there we got treated like royalty. We drank some local beer, got served an amazing Paella [lovingly made by the landlady herself] and were introduced to the wonders of Danish garage psychedelic band Baby Woodrose. We listened to about five of their albums a legacy of work that simply blew our minds. How is this band not huge...Check them out!! The gig in Casa Carmen was really great, very small room so the people were right up in our faces. Great time. After we packed up we went back to Michaels, a shrine to rock n roll music, We found albums by The Urges and The Revellions in his collection. He was blown away when he discovered that Kenny was a member of the Urges. We also listened to a bit of The Lollipop Shoppe, Dead Moon and more of our new favourite band Baby Woodrose.
The following night we played to a packed house in Dortmund. It was only a short set but really great. Amazing crowd, nice little venue too. It was here that we made the decision beased on persistent problems with logistics that we would cancel All of our upcoming swedish shows and just play the Norwegian shows. This was gonna give us a chance to go home for a few days which for me personally was gonna be a god-send. Back to the gig, we really played hard fast and loud and i think we managed to leave an impression.
Rainers Kneipe in Sarstedt was the following night. Rainer runs a great venue, a shrine to Rock music, especially that of the 70s and 80s. We played a really enjoyable gig that night and had a great session afterwards singing and drinking until all hours with the venue owner and some regulars. great fun. Our last night with Kenny, and our last night in Germany was at Kapillo in Langenau. Owned by a guy called Dimitri and decorated by some sublime artwork that he himself had drawn or painted over the past 20 years. A really colorful place, like somewhere the Velvets might have played when they were starting out. The gig was really great. There was a great DJ in the club before and after too called Hans, he was playing everything from Television Personalities to Villagers and really putting us in great form. Afterwards we had a sentimental few drinks with Kenny and got to bed earlier than usual.
The gig of the tour was gonna be as a 3 piece in the Belgian city of Retie. We drove to Frankfurt and left Ken at the airport, said a fond farewell and continued on our long drive, leaving him there for an equally long wait. The Venue Folie - A was lovely, run by a couple called Yves and Joke. The gig was great, the 3 piece thing worked wonders as it always does. Brian playing drums with one hand and keys with the other. The crowd loved it. We loved Belgium. My favourite part of that experience [apart from the amazing Guinness they served] was the room we stayed in, it was in the attic of the Venue. It reminded me of the Leonard Cohen rendition of 'The Partisan' it was like the place where the old woman gave them shelter in the song.
On the final day of the tour Michael drove us to Eindhoven in Holland and we said our goodbyes. We hung around the city for a few hours before getting a taxi to the Airport. The driver gave us a bit of a history of the city. It seems Eindhoven was originally a workers town for the 'Phillips' electronics company. Even PSV Eindhoven was started as a sports club for the workers. The much revered 'Mr Phillips' who put the 'P' in PSV only died about 4 years ago at the age of 102.
Drunk on the history of Eindhoven, and stricken with a longing to see our loved ones back in the old country we took every ounce of hassle that Ryanair had to throw at us and went home to dear old Dublin town. The German tour was an amazing tour for gigs, we wrote new songs on the road and really enjoyed every moment of it as best we could. A great tour.
As i finish up writing here im just about to walk out the door and head towards another Ryanair showdown. Tonight we Fly to Oslo, we have an instore there tomorrow daytime and and Gig at Revolver tomorrow night. We love Norway. Ill report back when i can.
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