Graz - A Special Post

Today's update will be a guest post by the mighty Chris Bowes, the singer of our piratical brothers in arms, Alestorm:

"Sup dudes? This is badass fuckin' pirate Chris representin' to y'all from the sexy city of Graz in Austria. Actually that shit is a lie. This town blows goats. Apparently the most epic and bodacious governor of California Mr. Sir Lord Arnold of Schwarzenegger comes from here. Not like anyone gives a shit. As far as these dungeon-raping dudes are concerned, that guy is dead to the world. I tried giving a shoutout to that badass mothafucka on stage tonight, but nobody got what I was on about. No biggie. We all still rocked out, especially those badass piratical dudes in Swashbuckle. I was supposed to be dressing up as a shark on stage tonight, but I was caught short while dropping off some chocolate hostages. They hate me forever. Especially Pat, that big fat fucking faggot. But fuck it, I'd bone that dude in his big fatty folds. Yeah baby, you dig that shit.

Yeah, I'm all outta ideas. Time to get wasted on this delicious (read, shitty) Austrian beer. Mmmm.... Puntigamer.

Goodnight, bitches.
Word.
Chris xxx"

Well I totally fell off the blog band wagon...

But it wasn't my fault! Internet has been crap the past 4 days. I'm finally getting a period of respite in which I can update all my social networking thingamajigs. Just so the train of thought hasn't been completely abandoned, post-Pratteln we've seen Illingen, Eindhoven, Stuttgart, and Zlin, in Germany, The Netherlands, Germany, and the Czech Republic respectively.

A basic grading of the shows is exhibited hereunder:
Illingen - Ok
Eindhoven - Great
Stuttgart - Tremendous
Zlin - Buttfuckingly shitty.

and tonight's show in Budapest - Buttfuckingly Awesome.

I suppose the most notable happening that was undertaken was Volksfest, Stuttgart's annual autumnal fair (essentially Oktoberfest). Our good friend Marc Raner of the company Vans for Bands came out to our show in Stuttgart and was kind enough to give me a lift to the festival. I had a towering mug of Fürstenberg, stole the stein, listened to a German cover band perform a not so favorable rendition of "Walking on Sunshine", walked around the carnival rides, then headed back to Paganfest. Good times were had by all.

Backstage Beer Info:
Budapest:
Soproni

The missing cities' beer info is lost to the halls of history. They weren't very good tasting anyway.

We're rounding out this tour with a couple Austria shows and one in Italy.

~RedRum

Pratteln

So we're back in Pratteln, at the venue Z7 where we played the Metal Dayz festival earlier this year. There is a large erotic shop right down the street that we were unable to get to last time, but we had plenty of time today so Stijn and I galavanted off for a while. There we stumbled across a very unique magazine...

This is the first, and only venue on this tour with a washing machine and dryer, so everyone is waiting patiently in queue. I don't think I brought enough clean cloths to last the whole tour, so this is quite the windfall.

Looking forward to a good show. Kai from Eluveitie is here running some of the merch from here on out, and I believe some other members of Eluveitie will be here later to watch the gig.

Backstage Beer Info:
Pratteln:
Gralsburg Export

See you all tonight
~RedRum

Lyon

Ahh, Southern France, why are you so beautiful? Lyon is a happening little city. Apparently there are something on the order of 25 colleges here. Staggering. The college area reminds me a lot of the school I went to, Rutgers University in Jersey. Alestorm (minus Dani) and I meandered across one of the rivers here to the more affluent area of the city, saw a couple nice cathedrals, almost made it to some badass castley looking structure, but had to take the metro back to the venue in time for Swashbuckle's soundcheck. I had some delicious chocolate tasting thing from a little pastry shop enroute.

This is a very nice venue as well. Although the net connection has been shotty at best. I'm lucky I had an opportunity to fire this post off. Pretty crap beer, but then I suppose France isn't necessarily known for its skills in that arena. Perhaps I should have tried to find some wine...

Backstage Beer Info:
Lyon:
Biere Blonde de Luxe

~RedRum

Paris and Magic Merlin's Birthday

Happy birthday to our mystical drum tech, Merlin (of Eluveitie fame). Hope all your dirty dirty Swiss birthday wishes come true, my friend. The man materializes from a mist of sorts, effortlessly constructs the kit to each drummer's specifications from memory and then tirelessly stands guard should a high-hat clutch fail or a stick disengage from hand. His consistency is something all should strive for. Can't wait to be on tour with him again next year alongside Eluveitie...

Paris packed some surprises for us. The venue we performed in is next door (quite literally) to the most famous cabaret in the world, The Moulin Rogue. Because of this, we were forbidden from sound checking, or making any noise of significance until after the show next door was through at 8pm. Then we subjected the Parisians to our unique brand of metal. They were clearly prepared. We were expecting a much tamer crowd, but the fuckers loved it. Simply put, the audience was beastly.

Prior to the show I walked, or rather scaled, the Montmarte area with Crashride and our sound engineer Stijn. Here, at the highest point in Paris, sits the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, and what a grand cathedral it is. As we entered, Crashride, in a completely honest display of piety, muttered: "Should we take off our PAGANFEST tour passes?". I laughed. Then we went in.

Because it is the highest point in Paris, from it's steps, you get a grand view of the entire city and can pick out such landmarks as Notre Dame, The Eiffel Tower, and Les Invalides. It was at this point, as I gazed across the Paris skyline, that I smiled and pondered the thought that my droll little pirate band has taken me this far. It's funny how things work out. We probably won't have a better cityscape for the rest of the tour. It felt like we were in The Da Vinci Code. Both the movie, and the novel by Dan Brown.

Next time we're in Paris I will be sure to get down to the Louvre. I'm ashamed for not giving myself the opportunity to see the works from, among others, the masters of High Renaissance.

Oh well, we'll be back.

Backstage Beer Info:
Paris:
Kronenbourg

Since the only French I know is from those old Muzzy language learning commercials and Frasier episodes and a good Frasier quote escapes me, I'll leave you with this:

Je suis une jeune fille
~RedRum

Antwerpen

Belgium, you fuckers brew kick ass beer. Some wonderful fans brought us a case of Piraat, a delicious 10.5% alcohol content ale, which I'm still enjoying while typing this post. To put the proverbial icing on the cake, I am also eating a prepackaged Belgium waffle snack. It's a beautiful thing.

So this was the second of three extended shows and I'm rather saddened that I have to wait a whole week to see Moonsorrow again. They put on another great show tonight and will be missed during the rest of this tour, save the remaining extended date in Stuttgart.

Paris tomorrow.

Backstage Beer Info:
Antwerpen:
Karlsquell Pils

w00t!
~RedRum

Dortmund and Erfurt

Insane catering tonight in Dortmund. Look at all those options! God I love the way the Euro's do metal shows. Tonight was the first extended show in which Einherjer and Moonsorrow were added to the lineup. It was great to finally see Einherjer. I had heard many good things about their live show and they did not dissapoint. Moonsorrow had a 45 minute set and I am pleased to report they played only two songs. A 30 minute song, and a 15 minute song. Gotta love 'em. Its been too long. Their epicness eclipses the rest of the bands on this tour by leaps and bounds. Its a bummer that we only get to share a stage two more times with these guys.

Chris from Alestorm went to the hospital this morning complaining of stabbing pain behind his eyes. He came back in time to play the show, but had to borrow my sun glasses because his pupils had been dilated. Afterward, some chick and her boyfriend tried stealing them. Thankfully, Chris, in his half-drunken state, remembered that they were in fact mine and rectified the situation. People, get your own sunglasses. You do not need ours.

Can't wait for Belgium tomorrow for awesome beer and another extended show.

Backstage Beer Info:
Dortmund:
Brinkhoff's No. 1 Premium Pilsner
(Note: There is nothing Premium or No. 1 about it.)

Backstage Beer Info:
Erfurt:
Braugold Spezial Pilsner

Cheers all
~RedRum

Frankfurt

Its Gaz's birthday today. He is fucking GONE at the moment. I think he's drank everything we've put in front of him. Excellent.

I regretfully did not get to check out the surrounding area today near the venue, but I have been to Frankfurt before on our journey a few months back to Wacken, so I know it is a bit of a bore. This notwithstanding, it is my pleasure to tell you, Frankfurt, that you might be the craziest crowd we've seen yet on this tour. While this venue is fairly small, it is blessed with a certain charm that I can't quite pin down. Although the show was sold out, people came to hang around outside in a large outdoor patio type thing, knowing that they couldn't get in. I don't think you'd see that in the States for a show like this at a relatively small venue. Pretty cool.

Nobeard is getting over a bad head cold. Crashride has just fallen victim to it, I believe. I fear I may be next. I am fighting off this internal bilogical attack by means of awesome local pizza. Who would have thought there to be good pizza in, of all places, Frankfurt?

So we're in Germany for a couple more days then we'll hit up Belgium, hopefully for tasty chocolate.

Backstage Beer Info:
Frankfurt:
Binding Export

~RedRum

Haarlem

This country to chalk full of beautiful architecture. That is Saint Bavokerk Cathedral in Haarlem's town square. I wish I could immerse myself more in cities like this. Call me a nerd, but I'm instantly reminded of the Zelda game franchise and the land of Hyrule. Fuck these ancient market town's rule.

This has been a great show overall. I was getting a very good vibe right off the bat when I woke up and realized that the bus was parked inside some sort of structure. The venue (Patronaat) actually has a garage in the rear so that two tour buses can park a secure zone. What a novel idea. Normally our buses are parking in shady back alleys or fifteen minutes away from the venue, so this is great.

The club itself is very nice and Dutch people in general seem to be incredibly friendly. They collectively, as a nation, ride bikes. Apparently bike riders get the right of way even over cars here. Leave it to the freaky deaky Dutch. Ian, Gaz, and I walked around the town square a bit and saw the sites. I have noticed that The Netherlands, at least this area, is big on toy stores. I counted four within the few blocks we walked. This impresses me. I am equally impressed with the selection of Lego products contained within said stores. Let me take this opportunity to say "fuck you" to all of the Lego haters out there. Real men play with plastic bricks.

I was almost dragooned into going to Hamburg's red light district last night. I went to McDonald's and had a Big Tasty Bacon instead. In retrospect, I probably should have gone for the debauchery. Alestorm came back with slippers with little stuffed penises on them. I'm not sure any sandwich can compete with that. Well, maybe Wendy's Baconator...

Backstage Beer Info:
Haarlem:
Dommelsch Pilsner

Cheers
~RedRum

Hamburg

Hamburg, you have the most ridiculous Starbucks in Europe. Nay: the world. I'm told this historical building that has been raped by this international corporation used to be a Burger King. I think Burger King was more fitting. Much more suited to royal nobility. Perhaps the hierarchical leaders couldn't pay the rent. Zing.

Walked around downtown Hamburg with Nobeard, Ian and Gaz from Alestorm searching for some sort of guitar shop. We found none. However, we did find plenty of fashion outlets catering to women of fanciful high class taste. Coincidentally, on the other side of town we found many sex shops eagerly willing to draw us in with their private video booths and dildos a plenty. We begrudgingly turned down their invites and headed back to the venue.

'Twas a sold out show tonight. We're a bit beside ourselves as our tour date shirt has already sold out and the replacements will not arrive for another two days. This misfortune aside, it's a great sign. w00t.

There are rumors of us coming back to Europe before our confirmed stint at the end of December with Dark Tranquility and Heaven Shall Burn, but I can't go into any further detail yet...

Backstage Beer Info:
Hamburg:
Grenzquell Pilsner

Nürnberg

Pissed I slept in late. Crashride along with the lads in Alestorm went into the city to check out the awesome medieval castle type stuff. I'm fairly bummed out that I missed out on that quest.

Finally caught most of Unleashed's set. Those guys are crazy heavy and crazy awesome to be around. Great dudes.

I also caught most of Korpiklaani's set, along with my favorite song Pine Woods. That tune will ALWAYS put a smile on my face.

Onward to Hamburg.

Backstage Beer Info:
Nürnberg:
Hirsch Premium
Becks Gold

Catching up

So we have reached Berlin in our first journey across Europe. This venue provides me with adequate net service to be able to update this efficiently. We had such poor wireless connection during the first show in Munich and no service available yesterday in Leipzig, but we are making due. And by "we", I mean me, because the rest of my band is caught in the stone age and are without computers. And by "stone age", I mean they get women while I hobble off to feed my nerd urge. And by "they get women", I mean none of them really get women.

I've got three days to catch up on here. Hopefully this won't be a recurring trend.

Right off the bat, we started this venture with a fucking overcomplicated flight itinerary to get to Munich. We flew from Newark airport in New Jersey to Dulles airport in Washington D.C. at 6am. This meant getting up and driving to the airport at 3am. We where then subjected to a 10 hour layover before our flight that evening to Munich. Boredom set in quickly, and anyone who has been to Dulles knows, there's not a whole lot to do besides ride those ridiculous shuttle/monster truck school bus/AT-AT Walker things between terminals. So that's what we did.

When we arrived in Munich we met up with Maurizio and the rest of Ex-Deo and shuttled to our nearby hotel. We spent the better part of the day recuperating from our flights and then drinking in the hotel's bar area. Crashride made friends with a drunkard who looked a hell of a lot like Rob Halford. He bought us a bottle of red wine and then we got him kicked out for being trashed. Boarded the tour bus the next morning and set a course for the first venue.

The kick off show was arguably the most important. Representitives from our record label where there and we of course wished to make a good impression. Show went great. The crew is spectacular at what they do. The professionalism that is exhibited shits on what was seen in the American Paganfest. Merlin from Eluveitie is our drum tech and he has got to be the most devoted person I have ever seen to his or her craft.

The tour bus is interesting, it is a double decker with coach seats and tables downstairs and 22 bunks upstairs. I was told by people working the American Paganfest that they would be worse to sleep in that then buses in the States, but surprisingly, the beds here are larger and more comfortable.

The catering has been incredible. In the States we would be handed money and we'd be on our own to find nourishment. Here, we are welcomed with a wonderful spread of food, practically anything you could want is at hand.

Anyway, the show in Leipzig was great. Really good crowd. Interestingly though, the venue is surrounded by abandonned warehouses and factories. I did a bit of exploring with my camera.

Today in Berlin we woke up fairly early and went into the downtown area of the city with Alestorm to check out the culture and such. We saw some left over parts of the Berlin Wall and the Brandenburg Gate. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing more landmarks and such along the way.

I know the backstage beer info was a staple of my posts in the past. I haven't forgot about it, but I need to do a little research on what they were for the first couple days and get back to you...

But for now:

Backstage Beer Info:
Berlin:
Berliner Kindl Tubilaums Pilsener

~RedRum