Stressechoes European Tour: Day 4 - 6

Day 4 – 6

Day 4

After a much needed sleep, we decided it was about time to tell other people about our exploits so far.  As there is no internet in our flat, we launched an expedition to a local Starbucks, located in Bremen’s Waterfront shopping complex.  The Waterfront is kind of like a Cabot Circus sorta thing, but with fewer dickheads. We relaxed in the Starbucks for a while updating the world on our adventures, before heading towards the Songs & Whispers Office for a catch up.

We knew the rough location of the office, which was in the centre of an industrial estate in south west Bremen, but still managed to get lost (because of Andy) around the goods yards and alleyways of the estate, making us 30 minutes late.  The meeting was a great opportunity to find out some information about our up and coming shows, but also to get to know Astrid and the others girls working for Songs & Whispers.

Heading back to the flat we stopped at a grocer’s so that I could buy some sugar. I had previously bought what I believed to be sugar but it turned out to be citric acid. It was ok, but I wouldn’t recommend adding it to your cup of tea. 

That evening we had a gig in the bar Litfass, near the centre of Bremen. The stage was quite small, so I was only able to use parts of my drums, and used two empty crates of Beck’s beer as my stool. This aside, the set up was really good and it felt really comfortable to play.  The venue itself was really relaxed and kinda made us feel optimistic about playing that evening.

Feeling slightly sleepy from my first pint of the night, I slipped out for a cheeky burrito.  It seems that when attempting to eat authentic German cuisine, I have consistently ended up eating a burrito of some kind, hmmm. Anyway, the gig went really well.  This was probably due to the fact that we were now suitably settled in our flat and had gained some sleep, but also because this was our 4^th show of the weekend and we had naturally strengthened our performance. We finished on our cover of the Gloria Gaynor classic ‘I Will Survive’, which was requested by the owner of the bar after hearing us play the track in our sound check.  Having obliged the landlady as we were then presented with a tray of free shots and beers, WIN!!

Day 5

Bleary eyed, we set off for the offices of a local radio/ TV station Radio Weser, where we were due to perform a live track and be interviewed.  This understandably was a great experience!

Due to space, we were required to play a more stripped down version of our song ‘Lucy’, meaning that I was playing tambourine and egg shakers, kindly provided by Tom Richardson.

This was fine, and the experience of playing the song whilst being filmed from different angles was fun.  I personally found the next bit slightly odd.  The interview was conducted with the four of us standing in a row, passing the microphone between us. This reminded me of footage I had seen of Radiohead during their Ok Computer tour, when they stand nervously while a spokesman addresses the people around them.  I always took their manner to be that of mild arrogance and frustration but now I think this was actually bewilderment mixed with a sense of insecurity towards the situation.  This was by no means a bad thing, it was just a strange experience which I guess you don’t really know how to react to until you’re in it.

We then went back to the flat, ready to make our way over to the Hafen Casino, where we and Tom would be playing that evening. The Hafen Casino is not a casino at all but a small café situated in the industrial estate, not far from the Songs & Whispers HQ. Again, we were stuck for space and sound, so I played our set with brushes.  We played first, which was kind of refreshing as it allowed us to relax for a bit after playing and enjoy Tom’s set. Once again, the crowd at this venue were highly attentive and there purely to appreciate live music.  This is great, but somehow also manages to add pressure when you know that people with ears will be hearing what you play.  But then again, I guess that’s the point. The venue also provided us with a meal, which was lovely.

Day 6

Our gig this evening wasn’t until 6pm, so we decided to take the morning off, slept in then headed into Bremen city centre. 

We first headed to the bar we had played at on the previous Monday night, Litfas, to see if they had Andy’s bag, containing a microphone/ harmonica/ note book etc.  Luckily they did!

From here we walked around the corner and stumbled upon a rather useful music store, before reaching a market square.  Here, various stalls were arranged with groceries/ cheeses and bread; your usual weekday market.

We stocked up on bratwurst sausages, gauda cheese and pastries and chilled for a bit in a market café, called Alex’s.

Having a few hours to kill before heading off for our next show, we separated and explored the city centre for ourselves. At this point we pretty much became your standard tourists finding nice patches of the city which we attempted to ear mark for a later date.

The time came to head back to the flat to regroup for that evenings show.  This meant traversing the city once more on the Tram system, which was fun! (insert “oooooo Ben, gonna talk to any attractive girls about trams again” quote).

Anyway, we set off for our show at Strandgelanda am Welchelsee, which was kinda of like a south cerney place man made beach camp. We played in the smocking tent outside.

After munching our way through the free pizza and beers, it was time to start the show, with Tom playing first.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet, but as part of our tour with Songs & Whispers, each act has a hat passed around the room towards the end of their set, in order for the crowd to make any suitable donations, as per their appreciation for the performance.  So far, we and Tom have been doing this at all of our shows.  This night, it was my turn to pass the hat.  This was an odd experience as it meant walking up to people and waiting for them to get money out of their wallets and donate.  I found this scary as you have no idea what people’s reactions are going to be to this method.  However, a lot of donations were made and the crowd were rather pleasant.

We then took to the stage and were feeling pretty confident.  The sound guy had spent a lot of time with us prior to our set and so we were happy to begin.

However, towards the middle of set, around the cover of ‘Come Together’ and our song ‘Shakey’, we began to make a few errors.  They weren’t hugely noticeable, but by that point, we had lost a lot of confidence.

The rest of the set continued on a slightly more tense tone, as we we’re all admittedly trying not to make any more errors.  Even so, we finished our set to large applause and were even granted back for an encore.  This also led to more rounds of shots, prost!

We left after speaking to the sound guys once more, as we felt that they had been immensely helpful, and cruised back to the flat dropping Deutsche Kind from the stereoeo.  A brother didn’t even have to use an AK, I guess it was a good day!

Day 7

Today, we ventured again towards Bremen city centre for a gig we were to have in a local school.

We arrived and the pupils were already in classes, so the corridors were empty.  Not knowing where we were going, we were sent to the music teacher’s office, and proceeded to hang around in the corridor, like naughty students.

Anyway, we found the huge school hall and did a brief sound check.  The sound technicians aged between 12 and 13 and we arguably the best sound technicians we have ever had, fact!

The bell for lunch time rang, and a flurry of students pilled into the main hall for us to start our set.  Now, this was odd, having not played in a school hall for about 10 years…..when I was last at school. Saying that, the pupils showed immense appreciation, which gave us back the confidence we had lost the day before and allowed us to perfect some of our songs that we needed to work on.  We then donated one of our t shirts as a mark of our appreciation, and also because we didn’t want to steal the kids lunch money.

Following this show we headed back to the flat for some food before gearing up for the second gig of the day.

The gig itself was in a tiny café just outside of Bremen. The surrounding area was apparently an artist community and the venue itself was relatively quiet.

We began our set tentatively, but naturally felt more and more comfortable.  Compared to the night before, we had decided to play a more laid back set and not to put huge amounts of pressure on ourselves.  This really paid off and the crowd were really receptive.

We finished our show feeling relieved but also happy.  It seems weird, but somehow this show was one of the best so far, largely as there was no pressure and that we were just being ourselves.

We set off back home and decided to go for a cheeky beer in the local bar.

4 bottles of Becks and 3 shots of Jeagermeister later, we stumbled out and went to bed.

Stressechoes European Tour: DAY 1 - 3

Day 1

Hi,

Our tour began at 6:30am on Friday 13 September 2013, outside Andy’s house, in the rain. Great start, I know. We loaded the kit and set off, Folkstone bound. We made a brief stop at Beaconsfield Services, as we were all in need of a quick breakfast fix, and Mini Cheddars.  Our next stop was the Folkstone Channel Tunnel crossing itself.  However, despite our best efforts, we had to wait an hour for an available train. This led to further sitting around in busy services food courts, drinking cardboard tea and eating muffins until, finally, the time came to board the train. The tunnel journey itself was pretty standard, apart from one hilarious moment where Andy found himself locked out of our train compartment after going to the toilet. This matter was resolved 15 minutes later when Andy tried the other door, which had been unlocked the whole time.  Once in France, we set our sights for Mechelen in Belgium, where our first gig of the tour would be.

What followed was not our favourite experience  so far.  We needed to get to the venue where we were playing at 7pm, but this became almost impossible due to a wonky Sat Nav, dodgy directions from helpful Belgians, and cobbled roads which had been partially closed for a market. I’ll be honest, this didn’t leave us in the best of moods and didn’t fill us with confidence for the trip ahead. We were all in the same situation together, but it was Andy who felt the most stressed by this situation, quite understandably. To have driven 12 hours, most of which on foreign roads and not being able to find the venue on a time limit would be almost unbearable, especially with the rest of us in the car to aggravate him, sometimes deliberately.

However, it must be said that we would not have reached the venue at all if it had not been for the generosity of the residents of Mechelen and their help. One local woman was kind enough to hop into her car and direct us to the venue; a bar located at the end of a canal tow path. The small bar did not have a PA system, which meant that we would only be able to perform an acoustic gig, without bass and drums.  We were forced to change our setlist and play our songs differently, which proved challenging but exciting. So Andy, Alex and myself (playing a tambourine, and a child’s shaker from the crèche inside the door) played a stripped down acoustic set of 9 songs, while Steve filmed from the bar, camera in one hand, beer in the other. We were all weary from the journey, but felt uplifted by this performance.  We made our way back to the Holiday Inn relieved from stress, but in need of a beer or two. Day 1 of our tour ended with us sitting outside a bar in the market of Mechelen discussing the adventure ahead of us. We were also approached by a local woman who was all too willing to offer up her racist views on immigration in an odd attempt to make friends. It didn’t work. Some of us (me) drank a tiny bit more than hoped and stumbled to bed with spinning a head. A good way to finish the first day I reckon.

Day 2

After a hearty breakfast in the Holiday Inn, we hit the road to Osnabruck; the location of the gig on the second day. We stopped at a Burger King, to sample the local German cuisine, and got to Osnabruck at around 3pm. This time we found the venue straight away, but decided to explore the town/ have a cheeky beer. I decided to treat myself to a Darjeeling tea as I sat back and watched the world go by. We got into the venue, the Big Buttinsky bar, at 7pm and began our sound checks.  It was here that we first met our housemate and companion for the duration of the tour, Tom Richardson http://www.tomrichardsonproject.com/ . Tom is an Australian singer-songwriter who plays a mixture of electric blues with acoustic melodic indie. He plays largely his own material and uses a loop station with unsettling skill. Having not heard him play before, we were all surprised at his brilliant technique and he was definitely a hard act to follow. By this point we were all really tired after another day on the road. As a result, we didn’t exactly play to our best, but we survived. However, the show itself left poor Andy feeling drained and in need of his bed. We decided to leave the venue and head onto Bremen in convoy, with me and Tom leading the way.  This was great as it allowed me time to get to know Tom and share tour survival tips. We reached our house, a small flat on the outskirts of the city of Bremen, at 2am and decided it was probably best to simply unpack our luggage and sleep. This was a fantastic idea!

Day 3

Today, we awoke wearily at 8:30am, ready for our 10 o’clock meeting with one of our tour’s promoters, Astrid. So, we traversed the streets of Bremen and reached the Songs & Whispers office headquarters, where we had a chance to meet Astrid and pick up some kit.

Astrid traveled with us to the festival in Bremen and the lakeside stage upon which we were to play.  Half the city seemed to have been cordoned off to allow for stalls, street food, and live entertainment. The location was great and the laid-back feel of the event helped to relax us. Tom played first and brought a large crowd of hip young things and families over the lip of the hill to the stage. We came on shortly afterwards and played a much stronger set than the night before.  This was partly due to our regained sleep and optimism, but mainly due to the reception from the crowd.  We’ve found the crowds to be very welcoming and attentive ever since arriving in Germany. This is great because the crowds genuinely want to listen to our music and are willing to embrace new and unsigned bands. It has been very satisfying to receive this kind of respect at a gig and has really lifted our spirits after the hit-and-miss start to the tour. Following our respective performances, we headed to the nearby burrito stand, had a beer, and watched some of the other artists playing at the festival, including a trendy young German hip-hop group (hipster-hop?). Again it is important to mention that, unlike local festivals back in Cheltenham, the majority of the festival-goers were actively seeking out the live bands. Back home, it is often the case that the beer tent is the most popular attraction. We have spent the rest of the afternoon sitting around the house, eating processed meats, drinking tea, updating the current tour footage, and writing this blog.

More updates soon……

Ben

Stressechoes European Tour: Intro - 14 1/2 hours to go...............



Hi,

So, after months of practising/ live gigs/ writing songs and hard work, the Stressechoes European Tour begins.......tomorrow!

We plan to set off at 7am from Cheltenham on Friday 13/9/13 and embark upon our tour, courtesy of Songs & Whispers, which will take us through Belgium to Germany over the next 3 weeks.

With our first stop being Zennegat 13 in Mechelen, Belgium, we anticipate this being an exhausting, yet exciting and fulfilling experience, which we will never forget!

Now, I know I kind of said this time last year, when we set out on our mini European tour, that you would receive regular updates on this blog of our exploits........and then did sod all. Well this year, expect a more regular update, whilst we are actually doing the tour.  We will also be conducting a video diary, which will be viewable from our Facebook page. You can also learn of our shenanigans via the Guy Talk blog http://guytalkmusic.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/guy-talk.html, who are planning to host our diary as it happens.  There may also be other treats popping up in random places.

Anyways, we're off to pack/ relax/ exchange sterling into Euros/ sleep.  We hope you enjoy our tour, as much as we will!

BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! (with hands waving in the air and huge grin on face)

Stressechoes



July - September........

Here's a brief recap on our summer shenanigans.

JULY

 

We started off July by hosting our own show at Cheltenham's Sound Music Venue, where we were accompanied by Andy Oliveri and Welcome To Marathon. This was a really great night and we really appreciated the help of the other artists for their support. 
The next day we played the scorching Midsummer Fiesta, followed by The Gloucester Old Spot in Cheltenham.
On Friday 12th, we set off for London to play a fund raising event at St. Pancreas Church. There's nothing like the acoustics of a church to breath new life into one's music. This was certainly one of the highlights of our summer.
Me, Andy and Alex headed to Stroud over this weekend to play a studio session for Alex Husskisson's Mystery Train show on Stroud FM. We also recorded an exclusive jingle for the show, which was later used to introduce Alex's Sunday evening show.
The following weekend, we played The Cheltenham Underground's Vinestock. We always enjoy playing this event and was great to catch up with old friends. On the Sunday we played as part of The Jolly Brewmaster's cider festival. This was a fun day and allowed me to spend some time at my local, which is always a plus.

 

AUGUST

 

 

Whilst Steve jetted off to Zsiget music festival in Budapest, the rest of us played Swanfest and Lakefest.

Those who know us well would have heard the now infamous story of how I used the old 'let me through, I'm in a band!' line, when catching the train on the morning of Lakefest. The real story to this isn't as funny or as rock and roll, so we'll ignore it and simply remember that day as being full of excitement and tipsy stumbling round the festival. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who gave use free lifts, free cider, and made us feel welcome at Lakefest that day!

The following evening, slightly hung-over, we played at The Beehive in Swindon as part of the Swindon Shuffle event.

After a brief break for a week, the Stressechoes assembled to play at The Birdcage in Bristol at the start of the bank holiday weekend. This weekend culminated at The Witcombe Cider festival in Cheltenham. This event was a lot of fun and saw us play inside a truck! The highlight of the day had to be getting a shout out from Charlie Baxter, whilst we drunkenly raved to his headline set, glow sticks in hand.

We finished August off with a 3 gig weekend. The first being at The Bayshill in Cheltenham on the Friday, followed by The Chestnut in Worcester on the Saturday. We completed the weekend by playing at The Seven Stars in Bristol, which gave us a good opportunity to play a more stripped down set, in preparation for what is to come over the coming months...........

 

STRESSECHOES NORTH GERMANY TOUR, courtesy of Songs & Whispers

 

 

As mentioned previously, on 13th September we embark on our tour of north Germany, in conjunction with Songs &Whispers.

The closer this gets, the more excited and anxious we get.

Ok, so the plan is to keep you updated of our progress and shenanigans throughout via this blog, so watch this space!

Expect to hear of our shows and experiences in Germany during this 3 week period, as well as our attempts to be cool and 'rock &roll', minus the TV's from hotel rooms and the driving of tanks.

 

Until next time, auf wiedersehen, and remember "let me through......I'm in a band!".

 

Stressechoes