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