16/04 Kassel and a bunch of the wrong
Bulgarians
So
after a decent sleep we head on a walk around Frankfurt so I get myself a new
charger, since mine is in Prague. Till lives on a great spot and some 30
minutes of walking we reach the pretty busy center where I find all that I
need. Next stop is a café on the small square near his place again, then
falafel times and we’re on the road again. Our next stop is Kassel. Where we’re
playing a show with Berlin’s raw punk band Piss. We get to the place an hour
early and we go for a walk. It’s an immigrant area and me and Niki are not
really surprised to hear a conversation in Bulgarian between a dude hanging on
a block balcony and another one who has just “found a bike on the street” that
he’s about to sell. We don’t introduce ourselves to these people because we
kind of have some stuff they’ll be probably really into finding on the street
as well.
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| Piss killing it in Kassel |
After
several minutes of wandering we’re back in front of the venue to see one of our
kind hosts Joscha (also playing in
Abest, whose LP I recently reviewed onDIYconspiracy) arriving to show us around the awesome punk house we’re playing
tonight. It has it all – a neat kitchen, hang out area, large PA and as we’re
about to find out a bit later – many nice people. In a bit Steffi, the other
person responsible for the event also shows up. Few drinks, neat talks and
we’re ready to set up. Piss arrive, do a fast sound check and me and Vassilis
put a table in front of the drum set and we also check for a bit. After Joscha
cooks us rad vegan pasta the show is ready to start with me, and there even seem
to be some people enjoying it. We don’t do a break, Conjecture merges with the
ending of my set and he does his thing as well. I see some heads moving so I
guess it’s cool. After us is Piss. They play a fast and primal punk, with an
almost black metal feeling at times so I’m all for that. Somehow reminds me of UHL,
whom I haven’t heard in ages. I’m really glad Joscha and Steffi decided to do
the gig that way – mixing genres one would not really often see on the same
stage. It allows the night to really stand out. Few hours later we’re already
in our sleeping bags as on the next morning we’re leaving early, because Berlin
and its record stores and vegan places are waiting for us.
17/04 Berlin and okay we’re now poor
It’s
about 9 and we’re already on the road, because… Berlin, man. There are at least
2 record shops we have to check and here we are. First stop is Static Shock,
Niki does a trade, I score some hipster stuff, Philip indulges his secret desires
for heavy metal and Vassilis, hm I don’t remember. Okay he’s telling me now –
he gets a Coil record and we do an oil fight over a Lustmord record, which
actually nobody gets. Next stop Yana’s place. We take her from the heart of
Kreuzberg and
Bis Aufs Messer here we come. I score the new Fvnerals and a
record I don’t really know, Vassilis gets the Merzbow / Full of Hell collab and
the new Correction House, Niki scores the Unbroken discography, the new
Blacklisted (cause he wants to be trendy sometimes) and Philip
gets some hairy black metal – Lychgate and Death Karma. The guys at the store
even stock few copies of my 7” so yeah, if you’re around go for it, for sure
you’ll find something worth starving for. Then we hit Yoyo for some vegan
magic. Time kinda flies in Berlin and so do our money. On our way to Ma Thilda,
which is situated in Neu Koln we go check
an exhibition of a Lithuanian artistShaltmira, who I knew only from Instagram. The works she’s presenting are
really good, but the space itself is a bit small, especially for the bigger
drawings. I’d really like to see them exhibited in a larger gallery since I
think this way they can interact more with the space itself and… actually breathe.
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| Bis Aufs Messer, okay I'm home |
Anyhow
it’s cool we manage to see this as well and we’re heading now to Ma Thilda to
end an already great day with a show. Around 20:30 my buddy Adi, who’s been
kind enough to let me play there for two times already arrives and we set
everything. An awesome Polish visual artist, I think named Yann, lets us use
his beamer and around 9:40 I start the show. Some friends show up, including
Daniel and Stefan, and knowing they’ve also seen me playing 1, 2 times I go for a
slightly different set, which in the end I think works out pretty fine. At least
that’s what they also say. Conjecture hits the stage after a small break and
he sounds good even if he looks a bit tired, but Ma Thilda looks pretty full,
we hang out, have fun and play our thingies so I guess we did finish the
evening the best possible way, or actually not yet. Best thing comes an hour
later when we invade Joro and Ina’s place and we open the snoring factory,
especially the Greek division (at least that’s what Niki claims, I just sleep
there as if I was slaughtered).
18/04 Dresden, tofu and what a sound
We
leave Berlin at about 9:30 since Ina is taking a part in a comic convention
with her illustration series 'my beloved friend'. The drive to Dresden’s a pretty easy one so it doesn’t really
take us too long to get there. Still we have quite some time to kill before
meeting Ulrich from Club Debil, who’s taking care of us drone kids today.
Loshwitz seems to be quite a fancy neighborhood and while on the hunt for
something fast to eat we kind of drag the attention of the locals because…
Well, to put it that way, because we do look like people, who spent the past 9
days in a car.
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| Loschwitz seems quite livable, right? |
We
manage to find some food not too far from the venue, then we sit in a fancy
café and before we realize it it’s always 4 pm and it’s time to meet Ulrich and
check out the venue. Our promoter has a birthday today and we’re really happy
to be a part of it. Tonight we’re playing a former fire brigade building, which
has been restored and is now used as a cultural center. We do some preparations
for the show later, but since we’re still waiting for the sound engineer we
also go for a walk along the river. Dresden’s a pretty spacey city. With a lot
of air, a lot of green fields, nature, even farms with horses so it’s pretty
much hanging out in the country in the same time as being in a pretty lively
city.
Back
in the venue we sound check and Eric, who’s in charge of the sound tonight, does
great job giving us probably the best sound for the tour. A lot of bass, one
that you can actually feel is filling the cellar of the building and we know
we’re in for a good night. It’s time for food and Ulrich cooks us rice with
tofu, beans, pickles, peppers and whatnot. After this vegan delight I’m
struggling hard not to fall asleep, I attack this instinct with a cup of coffee
and as I’m halfway done with this report Vassilis and Philip come to read it
and laugh at the image I’m building for them (quite objectively actually haha).
After a few conversations about who the Greek Johnny Depp really is and am I
actually touring with him it’s time for me to play and it feels really good.
There are some people, who seem really into what I do (according to Niki) and I
guess it’s a nice set as the bass is slowly creeping in the whole room, pierced
by slightly distorted highs. After a short break it’s Conjecture’s turn and his
music also benefits from the great sound. He even plays two tracks we haven’t
heard on this tour so far. As I write this Ulrich’s birthday party is going
with full force, let’s see how much our batteries will last before teleporting
to our sleeping place for the night, which thankfully is just two floors above.
