Day 16 - ?, Maasmechelen, Belgium

After a pretty long bus ride from the British islands we arrived at the venue. Or so we thought. The bus stopped and the Tour Manager went out to find the local promoter, but the place was deserted.

We soon found out that the show was moved to a new venue due to a double booking or something. The new venue was only a few extra minutes and we were met with the sight of barbecue right outside the venue entrance. The inside of the venue looked sort of like a Norwegian "Bedehus" with old chairs, dull colors and the crucifix over several of the doors. 

       Food.

Our sound-guy was also thrown out by the promoter after complaining about how the venue mixed the electricity meant for lights and back-line (sound-system), something that often creates interference which means a humming sound.
This put the entire gig in limbo as we can not play without a sound-guy. Besides, our sound-guy is top of the line.

The Tour Manager was involved and everything was mellowed. Sort of.

The kind of toilet we often meet. I mean.. Why?

It also looks like the toilet has a happy face as if laughing at our cold, unfortunate immediate future.

The backstage was big and the catering was barbecue and salad. The show went great and we got a few new fans. Again we set a new personal record selling merchandise!

Tomorrow is "Substage" in Karlsruhe which is supposed to be amazing. Looking forward to that!

Day 15 - The Fleece, Bristol, United Kingdom

Bristol is the last of the English cities we'll play in on this tour. This was definitely the weirdest day on the British isles. First of all, the promoter of the gig did not show up at all, nor did he do much promoting of the gig. The venue had failed to get a hold of him for several weeks so we had to improvise "a bit".

The leaning towers of musicians.

Mid rigging.

The stage. Not sure what the deal with the metal beams are.

Leprous sound-check.

This was by far our worst gig. Ever. Most of the cables in the venue didn't work properly. The microphone for the lead singer (me) stopped working  mid-show, but as Marius was unable to sing today I took his microphone instead.
Marius also had to go off stage several times due to issues with the signal on his guitar and due to the ancient sound system there was a constant feedback.

We cut a couple of songs from the set and felt like everything went against us until we heard that we set a new personal tour-record selling merchandise. A few people also came over after the show telling us how much they enjoyed it, this of course made things a little better.

Due to lack of promoter and thus, lack of catering, we had to eat at an Italian restaurant.

Tomorrow we're going back to the continent and we are really looking forward to some nice venues ahead!

Day 14 - Ruby Lounge, Manchester, United Kingdom

Unlike yesterday, we had a lot of time after load-out to check out the nearest area. 

It appears Manchester is not too bad. 

A random park merely a couple of blocks away from the venue.

Jelly Beans soap.

Typical hooligans in the city of Manchester. 

A bridge over what can only be described as incredibly troubled water.

Bjørn and the park. Could be a book title. Then again, maybe it already is?

We also got the chance to eat actual British breakfast. Not the rubbish we ate at the ferry. (Check out my English lingo).

A proper British breakfast

The venue is called the Ruby Lounge. I tried taking a few pictures, but due to dim light the pictures were deleted.
The stage is pretty low above the ground, which is something I as a vocalist tend to enjoy. It means I can get close and personal with the audience instead of standing above them. 

I more or less always talk about the catering. The catering this time was very good actually. Sushi, good vegetarian food for the veggies and loads of snacks, beer and other drinks.

The beer was almost exclusively consumed by the promoter.

Although the audience was not massive, we delivered a good show. Marius still has some issues with his throat, but all in all it went well.

Day 13 - Garage, London, United Kingdom

Leaving the main land and entering the British Islands meant travelling by ferry. Everybody had to leave the bus and we headed straight for the cafeteria to test out a typical english dish: Fish'n'chips.

We think most agreed upon it not being the nicest meal we had eaten, especially since several had mistaken sugar for salt, and the sea started to get rough.

So a couple of hours later, it was a bus full of green faced and tired people that arrived London.

England isn't exactly famous for big backstage and storage rooms, so we had a bit of difficulty trying to find places to put our empty cases after everything was set up on stage. This meant having to climb big stacks of  boxes and guitar cases getting in and out of the shower and the toilet.

Plugging into the english power outlets is a story of it's own.

This day was so hectic and chaotic that we had no time to eat, and less so take any pictures. The second and last meal of the day was luckily better than the first. Isak and Øystein ate at Mcdonald's to get a quick energy boost, while the others ate at "The black swan" which was "ok".

The other bands had a lot of technical issues on stage. We managed to get through the show without too much problems and chose to get out of the building rather than staying in the packed backstage of frustration.

Tomorrow is a new day in a new city. Here we come Manchester.

Day 12 - Ninkasi Kao, Lyon, France

Time for pants again. The shorts will probably be left in the bottom of the luggage only to be washed when we get home and then forgotten until summer comes to Norway.
It is cold here in Lyon. The weather is gray and both Marius and Isak is having some issues with sore throats, so Isak and Bjørn set out to find a cure.
Garlic and ginger was bought, cut up and added to a boiling hot green tea with a big spoon of honey.
It didn't take long before we were feeling slightly better, but with slightly worse smelling breath. Fair trade.

Bjørn, Ulrik and Isak went to find some good french restaurant, while Marius was fast asleep and Øystein ate the catering provided by the venue.

Well, the trio did not find any good french restaurants nearby that looked promising, so we ended up going to a sushi restaurant instead and were surprised by incredibly high-end sushi.

Back at the venue we found this mutant tomato. The girl is the bassist from Rendezvous Point.  

The show went way better than we anticipated and I, Isak, am certain that this is due to my garlic-ginseng-tea.

Not much else happened this day and not many pictures were taken. 

Day 11 - Razzmatazz2, Barcelona, Spain

To think that people would settle in the cold north when there are places as hot as this during the fall. Well, to each his own, Isak prefers a slightly colder weather after yesterdays heat on the roof balcony, but this was not a cold day.

Barcelona is pretty awesome. We were up before the bus arrived at the venue this time and got to see a lot from the window. Incredible architecture most of which is designed by Antoni Gaudí, an architect that favored nature as his main influence rather than the work of previous architects. He was also one of the people in Barcelona to fight for the implementation of trams as a public transportation and it didn't take long before they were all over the city.
Sadly, a few years later, he was hit by a tram and left to die as the people passing by thought he was a beggar due to his rough looks. He was later recognized and rushed to the hospital, but it was too late.

He did; however, manage to create a city decorated in artistic architecture unlike anything elsewhere in the world.

La Sagrada Familia. Excuse the bad picture. There are so many people here and we both know you didn't come here for the architecture. Google it if you really want good pictures.

Ulrik with what I assume is an office building behind him. Obviously not created by Antoni Gaudí. I mean. That thing does not look anything natural.

The venue was very big and we were the 2nd of 6 bands today. Surprisingly, there were a lot of people in the audience when we went on stage and the show went well. We were only scheduled to play 25 minutes and chose therefore to only play the most heavy songs.

No silly, the drum-set is supposed to be ON the stage.

Not too easy to see on these pictures, but we had three (3) drum-sets on stage. Not too much space.

Day 10 - Garaje, Murcia, Spain

And we thought Madrid was sunny and hot.

When I peeked out of the window this morning I was fooled by the shadow provided by the venue in which the bus had come to a stop. I thought to myself "oh well, at least we had some sun yesterday". I was definitely surprised when I went outside to find the weather to be way warmer than yesterday even with a warm breeze, which is the main thing that differs from Madrid where the wind was nippy.

Murcia is located pretty far south in Spain not too far from Alicante. The venue had a major roof balcony where we spent a few hours after loading in our gear. Bjørn and Isak got sunburned and Isak had to spend some time inside the backstage area to fully recover from the blistering sun.
The sun roof was also a perfect chance to dry clothes, so a few hours was also spent trying to wash clothes by hand in the sink. They end up smelling slightly better than before washing, but beggars (traveling artists in this case) can't be choosers.

Today is also Ulriks birthday. Isak made sure the audience knew and he was greeted and applauded properly on stage and after the show several people approached him wishing him happy birthday.

Birthday boy in sandals.

Disregard pirate. Isak had just cut his hair short again and needed protection as his pale Norwegian skin was not prepared for the beating handed out by the Spanish October-sun.

Yes, for you beer knowers. We were indeed drinking Budweiser. And we loved every second of it.

The drying of clothes.

The venue before gear is applied.

We did not spend too much time scouting out the area as it didn't seem to be much happening around this part of town, except from our show of course.

The venue in itself was pretty decent and the show went off without a hitch.

Day 9 - Caracol, Madrid, Spain

Everybody went to sleep early last night and slept until we suddenly had arrived and the load-in was supposed to commence.
Another sunny day in west-Europe. The sun was unforgiving to eyes only accustomed to the dim bunk beds.

Bjørn greeting the sun-god with a banana and a red bull. As is tradition.

The venue is looking very nice and the load-in went great. The stage is very high above the crowd. Could make for some great stage-diving. 

Looking forward to a sunny day, happy people and a good show to top it off. See you in Murica'... No wait, Murcia!

Day 8 - RCA club, Lisbon, Portugal

The weather in Burgos was cold so it was a delight to arrive in Lisbon, Portugal with a temperature of  25C and splendid sunshine.
We all changed out our jeans in the favor of shorts and after the load-in, we went for a stroll to have a look at the neighborhood.
The venue is located in a calm part of the city with only a few restaurants nearby. We found the backstage which was located in the backyard of the venue. The bus driver provided us with a wire we could use to sun-dry the clothes after washing them in the sink.




The stage was deep with decent space and just like in Paris, it had a gallery where people could stand to overlook the stage only to get blinded every once in a while by the moving lights that has the force of 1000 exploding suns.



The show in itself went great and the audience seemed to be enjoying the show.

Leprous doing a soundcheck.

We would like to take a moment to thank the local crew of RCA Club. We've never seen such an effective workforce. Thank you so much for making the stay so much more enjoyable!

Tomorrow we're back in Spain, this time Madrid.

Day 7 - Day off, Burgos, Spain

Yesterday was the day of food.

Ironically today was the day of lack of food. Or lack of eatable food rather.

We woke up to a sunny day in the cold city of Burgos, which is located in the middle of north-Spain. We wanted out of the bus as soon as possible as a plate of french cheese was going rancid in the fridge rendering the bus inhabitable.

The bus driver had been driving too long and had to sleep until 2AM leaving us to the mercy of the Spanish hospitality.
After looking for landmarks we spotted the towers of the Burgos cathedral which is known for its vast size and incredible architecture. 

Getting closer to the cathedral, we started to get hungry and figured that the restaurant close to the cathedral looked tempting. At this point we didn't think too much about the fact that there were nobody eating anything at the restaurant and we all ordered a plate of lamb-chops, except from Øystein, he ordered an entrecôte. The food arrived after about 30 minutes and left us in shock at the immense lack of meat. The meal cost 17 euros...

Note: This is not intended to be a food-blog or anything, but we feel like this was kind of ridiculous, so please bear with us.

 I had not eaten any of the food at the point of the picture.

We quickly asked for the bill and left the restaurant without feeling any less hungry. We felt violated, tricked and exploited for our lack of local knowledge. We spent the next four hours tying to find a restaurant with actual food, only to be met with the usual "the kitchen is closed until 8 PM". So we waited until 8 PM and rushed to a restaurant we had scouted out earlier. It looked promising and they had a pretty good looking menu, we ordered the most expensive dish and told the waiter that we wanted the meat cooked well done. After an hour of waiting we finally received the much anticipated food and was again in shock. How is it possible that two different restaurants manage to let us down on the same day?
The plates were sent back to the kitchen and we left to save ourselves from further disappointment.

Well done meat... Yeah right!

Now, I don't want this entire post to be about us whining, so lets get to the good stuff. We found a burger joint and we all bought the safest sounding burger. They also had a burger with octopus, but after the day's happenings, we were smarter than that.

"I told you we should've gotten a burger" - Marius Strand.

A burger in Burgos.

Day 6 - Le Ferrailleur, Nantes, France

This was our best day so far. We had a lot of time to prepare, adjust the monitoring, eat and relax. And boy, did we eat!

The backstage was filled to the brim with food, drinks and snacks and just when we thought we'd tasted everything another plate of some french delicacy was brought out.

Marius flabbergasted by the amount of food.

The venue in itself was very nice and it had a huge metal fan (lol) in the ceiling pushing fresh air through the crowd.
Just like Paris, the venue was more or less packed with people on this Tuesday night. The French are truly lovers of live music.

Tomorrow is a day off, the last day off before 13 days of concerts. The bus left Nantes around 3AM and after a few hours of driving we stopped at a gas station where we met this tiger-friendly trucker.

Lampe Daniel. Possibly slightly funny in Norwegian.

Day 5 - Le Divan Du Monde, Paris, France

This was a very stressful day! We arrived in good time, but our equipment did not. It's hard to play a concert without instruments and when the doors were supposed to open we were still waiting for the equipment to arrive. This lead to a bit delay and limited sound checks. Anyway, we feel we did a good job and after a few songs, some metalheads forced their way to the front and started headbanging.

Rigging rigging rigging.

While waiting for our equipment we scouted the area for music shops and there were hundreds of them! But for some reason all of them were closed. We found one, though, that was open because some people were filming some tv-report inside the shop. We went in only to find that the shop was filled with vintage guitars and amps.

Check out the strange leather-guitar behind Ulrik.

We went back to the venue as the truck with our equipment was supposed to arrive shortly, but the driver was stuck in traffic due to an accident and was therefore stuck in the Paris traffic 6 kilometers away.

Ulrik, Bjørn and Isak then went for some sightseeing at the beautiful Sacre Coeur cathedral.

Bjørn and Ulrik after the 300 steps

Random picture of tower

... aaand it was raining.

The venue was big and had a gallery overlooking the scene. Both the gallery and the floor were packed with people, the venue was close to sold out!

Day 4 - Progpower, Baarlo, Netherlands

We woke up to a fantastic sunny day here in beautiful Baarlo. The bus drive was only about 90 km from Cologne so the night was very quiet until the sound of church bells at 9 am forced us to get up from bed.

Today is a day off for us so we have the whole day to explore the tiny town and drink coffee on the little cafe located 20 meters from the bus.

We are very excited about tomorrow as we'll be playing in Paris and last I heard it was close to being sold out. Besides, the French are supposed to be a crazy crowd, in a good way of course.

Day 3 - Euroblast, Cologne, Germany

A goal has been met. When we formed the band, our primary goal was to play at the EuroBlast festival some time in the future. Today we did just that and what a show it turned out to be!

The day started off a little stressful due to all the logistic issues from yesterday; however, after a really long bus drive we finally arrived at the festival and were pleasantly surprised by the warm German autumn-sun.

We did not have much time to get on stage, but luckily, everything went smoothly and the crowd was awesome! 
After the show we met a lot of nice people, some of them were old acquaintances others heard us for the first time and had to share their enthusiasm. One pleasant surprise was the vocalist of Monuments, Chris Barretto, who told us that he really enjoyed the show (we grew a couple of inches at that moment).

There were several tents with food, equipment end guitars for display around the festival area. Marius was especially interested in the 9-string Ibanez, although the rest of the band might not be too stoked of the idea. 

Day 2 - Forbrændingen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Last night we went to bed rather early or at least most of us did, Marius and Bjørn had a few beers before joining the rest of us in a wave-induced sleep aboard the ferry.

We woke up in good time to have a coffee before Øystein and Isak headed for the rental car. As the venue was supposed to be in Copenhagen, we thought it would be easy to drop off the gear and return the car to the docks in no time; however, it appears Copenhagen is a bit bigger than Oslo and the venue is located 35 minutes outside the city center. 

But with the help of our lord and savior Google Maps and some failing cellular network, we managed to find the venue, drop off the gear and return to the docks in time.

Now, here we are backstage at the venue called "Forbrændingen". We've met with the other bands, the tour manager and the rest of the crew. They all seem like very nice people (not that we'd write anything gossipy online only for them to find), but they really do seem like a good bunch.

Over to the bus. It is a bit older than we anticipated and the trailer is less than half the size ordered, thus, we will need to stuff most of our gear inside the bus for the first few days.

Following are a few pictures of the venue, backstage and lunch table (for some reason).

This is the food we got when we got here, we also got fruits, dinner later on and a fridge full of beer, water and soft-drinks.

Disregard the doomed plate.

Sound and lights-table

Stage seen from above (obviously)

Exactly where we're writing this from. Backstage. (Isak took the picture).

RIGGING RIGGING RIINRIGNINRIN

Day 1

The day started with everybody saying goodbye to their loved ones and heading out to the rehearsal studio to pack the gear into the rental van.

Boarding the ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen, the first mission was to harvest all necessities from the the tax free.

All the restaurants were fully booked, so we had to kill some time in the room, tasting some whiskey and telling a lot of really bad jokes.

We finally had a good buffet at 8 pm, stuffing our faces with the most expensive things we could find on the tables.

At last we rolled out of the restaurant, found a bar with a cold pint and wrote this post. Hope tomorrow will run smoothly and the show will be successful.
Stay tuned!

Countdown - D minus 1

We are actually leaving tomorrow! And luckily things seems to finally get sorted.

600 $ worth of bass strings arrived today, in the nick of time! Just one of those .175 strings weighs almost the same as one guitar... almost!

New sound card has been installed. A new rack case has been assembled and tested.

Today it is time to worry about typical normal luggage issues. How many boxers do you need for a month long trip? How often can we do laundry? Do we have everything we need for a soar throat? Do we need clothes for really cold weather? Guess late October in Helsinki might get chilly...