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Antillectual and Static Radio – European tour 2011 part II

Did you read part I of this tourreport? If not, I suggest you do that right away. Done? Great. Time to move on to this next part. Leaving the UK behind, it’s time to move on the to the mainland. Enjoy the Glentillectual files, part II.

Leaving magic carpet rain land (better known to some people as the UK)

I slept in the van last night and had a good 6-hour sleep. We started driving at 07:00 because we had to be at the ferry at 11.30. We were on time and all together we had a 10-hour drive today. Losing an hour on the ferry because of the different time zones doesn’t help either. We met the band Mute from Canada on the ferry. Very nice people! They have a new album released on the same label that releases us in France (Effervescence). I will definitely check it out in the next few weeks.

Nice venue today! When we came in we got our gear out and went on to the food right away. Tonight is the only show in France on this tour. There was a petit peu afterparty at promoter Bertrand’s house. He asked me if I would be the new bass player for the band. First I wanted to say no and tell him that I’m only on this tour to clean the van, but that’s not so cool towards a guy that gives you a good sleeping place… Bertrand, nice guy! Cool speaking with you. I did some good spotting for a sleeping place at the house (or so I thought) and found a double bed. No border collies around, earplugs in and off to fairytaleland I went. But then I heard a sound one floor below that sounded as if they were recording a new episode of The Walking Dead. The roaring and screaming became louder and louder. Finally the door of the sleeping room opened and there were 15 frenchmen in their underwear taped with their legs together trashing my bed.. Nice! Koen was also on a master destruction killing spree and was taped down to Thomas. I decided to put some lifting weights that I had found in the house in Koen’s sleeping bag. Koen is a light sleeper so maybe this would help him.

When I awoke in the morning, the floor was so sticky that you couldn’t play any good French Jeu de boules on the floor. I’m pretty sure it must have been covered in balls the night before.. Breakfast: a croissant, une pain and du café. Got some good food at the local grocery store and off we went to Köln.

At the end of this tour I will write a special about Koen. There are two bass players on this tour, which is a little bit strange for both of us, but it works out fine. I’m orientating myself to see what my place in the band will be in the future. And I’m filming a lot and going to learn some video editing when I’m back home. And of course I’m helping Koen with the bass amp and the rest of the band with their backline if necessary at shows.

Reorganizing and efficiency

Köln, what a great venue and such nice people! I walked around a little bit in the area surrounding the venue. It was a Friday night and everyone in Köln seemed to be in a nice party music mode. I really want to learn how to speak German if we are going to play there a lot with Antillectual. I learned German in school for three years and l love the music of a German band called Turbostaat, but I don’t understand a lot of what their front man is singing.

We drove back to Nijmegen this night. Slept a good 10 hours straight. Forgot to set my clock back to European time when I came back from England, so I was an hour late (and somehow I didn’t know this for two days). I managed to call everyone that I didn’t speak to for an entire week. And I had to reorganize my bags for the next week. I have to make a to do list for the people I have to mail this week. Found my earplugs that I lost 3 days ago. My dirty laundry is going back to Eindhoven on Sunday because the guys of Static Radio had some trouble with their rental car and they’re getting a new one! They guys are form New Jersey, they drove 3000 kilometers in a Fiat 500 in a week. This could easily be a new MTV program: Jersey 500, or maybe an experiment for the Myth Busters on discovery. Oh yeah, I’m not going to write a lot about the shows themselves. You got two kind of shows: good shows and bad shows. Tomorrow we go one bridge too far (Arnhem).

The van smells a little bit funky

How old is this? Oh, it’s orange juice from the UK. How old is this? Oh, this is cheese from Sneek. Oh what’s this shoe sticking next to the emergency break? Oh, it’s Riekus’ shoe. What’s this hanging in the bus? It’s a shirt that Willem used for the last three shows. Is this your towel? No it’s Thomas’. Why is this wasp sticking to our window? Is this holy water from Lourdes in France? No it’s toothbrush water from Koen. Is this peanut butter on the bread knife? No, it’s a hair with some chocolate spread. Is this peach already fermenting? Do old beer bottles really attract fruit flies or do they come just because they happened to be there accidently in that spot at that time? Where is my lighter? Can I still get a sip of this coffee cup in the van? I need the caffeine.. Rules of hygiene got a totally new meaning since I’m with these guys.

Oh, and for the mechanics: recognize this sound?

Berlin.

Sorry, no pictures or movies from Berlin. Why not? If you haven’t been to Berlin, GO! Culture, history, architecture and cheap food and drinks. For me it was the third time I was in this city but the first time with a band. That changes some perspectives of how you experience the city. I didn’t know that people also see it as the punkrock capital of Europe. Some people told me that on a Saturday night you can have between 12 and 15 punkrock shows in different venues (choose wisely my friend because you can spend your money only once, Yoda would maybe say). I also believe that it’s a very dynamic city: a venue or eating place where you have been before can be on a different spot or completely gone the next time you are in this city. I always get good new ideas when I have been here so it influences me in some kind of way. It’s cool that you can get that from only being in a place. For all the American bands that come: I believe they see Amsterdam as the Walhalla for weed. For me, Amsterdam was cool when I was 13. Now that I’m 28 being able to get drugs everywhere all the time is just not interesting anymore. What’s strange to see for me is that people drink beer on the street during both the day and the evening in Berlin. But that’s also a small cultural difference I believe.

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