Weekend Number 2 in Norway.

The week in between Norway trips was pretty relaxing. The only thing I did was DJ in the Garage Bar on Wednesday night. I played four hours worth of tunes to anybody and everybody who came and went. Towards the end of the night Ken Mooney arrived in, It was his birthday so i went around to the Workmans club with him for a late gulp. The clubnight 'Somewhere ??' was on. Despite feeling like a Paedophiles Grandfather, I thought it was a great buzz in there. I met Conor Paxton and Jimmy Cullen by buddies from House of Dolls and had a pint or two. Conor introduced me to a girl that was called 'Larry Murphy' - I aint joking.

Halden Town - Norwegian Rock N Roll Heaven

The work detail for this weekend was two gigs within about 30km of each other. The first was a return to Feelgood in Halden. We arrived the night before the show and stayed at the Grand Hotel which has been the scene of many a funny day and night since TMS first darkened the doors of this small harbour town in 2008. We arrived in town so late that we couldn't get any food, everywhere was closed. In our search for a Kebab shop i had a Hollywood style slip and fall on the ice. For a split second i feared id done myself in but i was ok, thank fuck.

The morning of the gig we took a walk around the town in the snow. It was cold, but it was beautiful, the freshness of the air took the edge off the few duty free cans of Carlsberg we had the night before. Around lunchtime we caught up with a few friends. Christian Sandanker of Gringo Bandido met me with a loan of his beautiful orange Gretsch that i have often used while in Norway. Christian is one of the best guys i have ever met on my travels in Rock N Roll. No bullshit, great sense of humour and really loves music, He used to front another cult underground rock n roll band called The Camaros, excellent group, great singer and songwriter not to mention Guitar slinger. We also met with Tor Arne Johansen, another great friend, Tor runs Borderline Records and last year released a split 7" with The Mighty Stef and Gringo Bandido. 4 Days a week Tor is a Shrimp fisherman which has earned him the nickname in Norway among the Rock n Roll fraternity 'Shrimp-Rocker'. We were also joined a little later by Tom Skjek another native of Halden and one of Norways most famous rock jouralists. He has been very helpful to us in our quest to do well in Norway.

Later that afternoon we did a Radio appearance at Prime the local station. We had a chat about our new album and previous trips to Norway and performed two songs; We Want Blood and a new one that we have been writing called 'Milk'. Our set up was incredible. I was just playing guitar and singing, Brian playing an analog synth application on an iphone through a little set of speakers and gary was playing drums on a packet of Norwegian crisps with a bar of chocolate. We got some footage of it. I hope we can share it with you some day. Remarkable.

We did a soundcheck for the gig, had some food and went back to the Hotel to listen to some Robyn Hitchcock, [a man that knows all about Norway too] His album 'I Often Dream Of Trains' Got us in great mood for going over and checking out the opening band. Vaya Con Satan are Roy, Hanna and Laurits, they are a 3 piece punk band influenced [i think] by Dead Moon full of beans onstage, great tunes and great energy. We loved every minute of them that we seen. Great people too. Our set was a lot of fun. The crowd were equally into the slower stuff as they were the harder stuff which was nice. After the gig i was pretty wrecked so i didnt join Brian and Gary and Tor Arne for a few late ones in Siste Reis, i didnt have the energy.

On the saturday our promotor and main man for the weekend Thrond Asker [better known as Big Daddy] and another local Rock N Roll pal 'Ole' took us to our gig in Sarpsborg. This was not such an Ideal venue at first glance but we really had a great night there. We played our set, the crowd were into it and then we went back to Halden. Big Daddy all the while was sucking from a big box of wine. Despite it being saturday night we didnt really have the energy or the money [Norway = the dearest gargle on earth] so we went back to the hotel at a reasonable hour.

Our last day in Halden was magical. We climbed the hill of the fortress, the towns most famous landmark. It was a little treacherous getting up and down there because of the ice and snow but it was one of the most worthwhile experiences i have ever had on tour. The walk was amazing. The view from the top was like something out of a fantasy world. We got some great video footage of that too which i hope we can share.

Once again the town of Halden took us in and made us its sons for the weekend. I missed having Bren, Steve, Dan and The Hog there [For sentimental reasons] and all the locals i spoke to missed them too. Great town. We got on our Ryanair flight in Rygge with an unusual spring in our step. The next stretch of road we will be on is in the USA but for now we are delighted to be spending a bit of quality time back in the land of the Dub.

Talk soon Muchachos.