Stressechoes European Tour Update: Day 22 ----------

Day 22

Yet again bleary eyed, Tom, Alex and myself woke up on an apartment floor in Hamburg. After the obligatory debriefs from the night before, we grabbed some essential hangover snacks and hit the road, Bremen bound.

As we had our final recording session this day, we all made sure we were sufficiently rested and fed before heading over to the studio.

Once we had all got there, we attempted recording another new track ‘No Bonfires’. Being such as big song, we were nervous that this would require a few takes to nail down. However, it was the second take that we were most pleased with, as this just seemed to work. Andy and Alex set about cleaning up the vocals, while Steve and myself relaxed upstairs, staring out at the throngs of people jumping on and off the trams at the Waterfront shopping centre.

Pressed for time again, we packed away the kit and set off for our gig in Neinburg that evening.

After an hour and a half drive we reached the venue, a small bar/ restaurant called Maximillians. Upon arrival, the staff didn't seem to know that we due to be playing that evening. This was obviously disheartening after such a long drive. Eventually they confirmed our show and we began setting up. However, due to space, we decided to play an acoustic set. There wasn't many people in the restaurant, apart from a few men propping up the bar to watch the football.

Despite this, our performance was ok, and the small crowd enjoyed it. Also, the venue provided us with free White Russian cocktails and food.

Still all tired from the night before, as well as the lengthy day in the studio, we set off homeward to relax.

Day 23

As we all knew that we wouldn't have alot of time to relax in the coming days, we did the essentials, such as laundry and Internet updates at the Starbucks. Andy also arranged the hotel for our imminent Sunday night journey back to England (more on this later).

From here, Alex and myself jumped on the tram and headed into town to soak up Bremen city once more before we left.

We munched on Burritos and mooched around, before heading home, via the Lidls for essentials.

After eating/ napping for an hour or so, we then drove to Quelkhorn, a short while away from Bremen for our gig.

Once set up at the venue, we enjoyed the huge free pizza’s the venue, Bergwerk, had to offer. We then took to the stage for our penultimate performance of the tour.

Our set went well, but it was clear from the start that Andy was having problems with his guitar. The problem being that the sound kept cutting in and out.

This wasn't an issue, until 2 songs before the end of our set, when the guitar cut out completely.

Thinking quickly, Andy decided to carry on the set acoustically. So, we ended with a rather intimate stripped down version of ‘Alcohol’ and ‘Hold On’, which received a reassuring reaction from the crowd. In many ways this was the perfect way to finish our gig at Bergwerk as it not only provided a varied performance for the audience, but it also encouraged us to adapt ourselves, should we need to. This was certainly a testament to how much we had developed as a band over the 3 weeks.

As it was our last night in Bremen, we dropped the kit off at the flat and headed to the local club, Tower.

Tower was quite simply awesome! With grimey thumping hip-hop downstairs and chilled electronic hip hop upstairs, this club was really cool and full of people, purely there to have a great night out.

We all had a great time here, but I gradually became more tired and frustrated as I attempted to heighten my experience, and chat up girls, which in turn led me to pile a heap of pressure on myself. This sounds quite silly, lame and standard, but after a few too many beers, this naturally began to ruin my night. At this point, we all decided it was best to head home.

Day 24

Annoyingly, I woke up with a hangover at 9:30 on this Sunday, the last day of our tour.

However, there was no time to sit and wallow, as there was cleaning and tidying to be done at the flat ready for our departure that afternoon.

Once we were all awake and Tom had returned from Hamburg, where his gig had been the night before, we continued the cleaning and proceeded to eat all of the food out of our communal fridge.

Ready for our sound check at our final gig in Bremen, we collected our belongings, checked the rooms and said goodbye to the flat that had been our home for the last 3 weeks, and jumped in the car.

We got to the venue Club Moments, a kind of modernised cabaret music hall and began our sound check.

The plan was to play our set first, pack away our kit and hit the road straight after, Eindhoven bound. This meant that we only had a limited time to hang out with Tom Richardson before the show began.

At 9:15 it was time to start our final set of our European tour, and it was probably one of our best. We were really nervous at this gig, not only because yet again the crowd were attentive, but the crowd also consisted of many fans we had gathered throughout our time in Bremen, so the pressure was on to make it worth their loyalty.

However, due to the sheer amount of times that we had played together over the 3 weeks and the familiarity with our songs, our performance was tight and our songs sounded the strongest that had all tour. We were very pleased with this, but didn't have long to soak it up, before the set was over, the kit was packed in the car, and we were ready to leave Germany.

We said our goodbyes to Tom, Astrid and Heiko from Songs & Whispers, and the crowd and set off in the car.

We left Bremen and drove across Germany and into.........

Day 25

...the Netherlands to reach Eindhoven for 2am.

After an odd and scary encounter with a deer on the main road around Eindhoven airport (probably best you ask us about this in person), we reached the hotel and went straight to bed, after watching a selection of Missy Elliot and Ludicris videos on the local music channel. Our excuse was that we were tired, ok!?

After 4 hours sleep, we jumped back in the car and continued our journey through the Netherlands and into France to reach the Euro Tunnel for 10am.

After the essential browsing of the duty free section at the services in Calais, we boarded the train England bound.

The rest of the journey across England is kind of boring and pale in comparison to everything before it, but needless to say we were, in a strange way, looking forward to getting home, to our own beds.

At around 4pm on that Monday afternoon, we drove back into Cheltenham, along the streets we had left 3 weeks before, thinking of how best to adjust to our normal lives again. Our tour had definitely ended.

　

　

　

Epilogue

Last December, when we first heard of the opportunity to take part in a Songs & Whispers circuit, we had no real conception of what it would entail. We asked a few local artists who had done the tour previously what it was like, and all we heard was praise.

As the year rolled on, and the months began counting down over the summer, we all naturally began to formulate an idea of what a 3 week Stressechoes tour might be like.

To be honest, I envisioned us loving it for about a week, and then hating it, and then hating each other. All in all, I knew it would be fun, but at a price.

Ok, so i was wrong.

The 3 week European tour that we have just done, courtesy of Songs & Whispers, is arguably the best experience of our lives, especially as a band. It allowed us to play to a different crowd and gain exposure in a different country, sure. But more importantly, it allowed us to meet interesting people, attentive and respectful crowds, and to develop as a band. 

By this, I mean that it taught us that we can survive a gruelling and intense tour and still remain close friends at the end of it. We also proved to ourselves that we can adapt to any given gig situation, should we need to.

On a personal note, this experience allowed me to have a taste of the touring musician lifestyle, ‘rock star’ imagery aside (again probably best you ask me about this in person). The respect, gratification, and freedom that I was given has completely boosted my confidence, not just as a musician (erm, drummer) but as an individual. The fact that I was able to play to an applauding crowd, and have attractive women actually wanting to talk to me, has worked wonders for my confidence and how i place myself in daily life.

Ok, that last bit sounds a bit lame. But I genuinely believe that each of us gained a new found confidence from this experience, which has certainly changed us for the better.

At this point, we would like to thank Songs & Whispers, namely Heiko, Astrid, Monia, Laura for the tour itself and for the opportunity, as the whole thing wouldn't have happened if it wern’t for them and all of their hard work behind the scenes.

We would also like to thank Tom Richardson for, quite frankly, putting up with us for 3 weeks and being fucking awesome throughout. We hope to see you in Cheltenham soon! 

Also, thank you to Jens for having us play in your house, and for the excellent buffet that night!

And, to Jenny for being the winner of the competition for us to play in her house (even if she was the only one who entered), and for being such a great host and for hosting the best student house party ever!!!

Another thank you to all of the venues we played in, and the free food, beers and tshirts they gave us.

Finally, thank you to the German audiences who bought our cds and to anyone who put money into our ‘hat’ a the gigs. This, if anything, gave us the confidence to continue each night, and it kind of paid for the petrol.

Sorry if that all sounded a bit too ‘award ceremony’, but we genuinely mean it and often didn't get a chance to thank you alot of the people mentioned above.

We all started back at our respective jobs this time last week, the day after arriving back in England. As to be expected, we wer’nt that prepared to launch back into a daily routines and the settling back into our ‘real lives’ had a sobering effect.

A week on and the whole ‘holiday blues’ thing has kind of subsided. But our spirits haven't. We plan to use the confidence, experience and development we have gained from this tour and go further. Who knows, we might find ourselves back in Germany, or simply touring before you know it. If not, the memories will keep us going for a while yet!

So, all that's left to say is........

ZUGABE!!!!!!! ZUGABE!!!!!! ZUGABE!!!!!!

Stressechoes

　

　

Stressechoes European Tour Update: Day 18 - 21

Day 18

It was just another regular Monday morning, until we found the flat tyre....

As the car was vital to our experience, and for getting to and from gigs, this was kind of a big deal!

We were set to be at the radio station 'Jade' in Jever that midday. However, once the tyre had been fixed and the timing of our radio show rescheduled, we were good to go.

We trundled over the cobbled stones of the town of Jever around 4pm and found our way to the tiny radio studio. The station itself was situated on the corner of the street, with plain glass windows and a speaker blaring into the street.

As a result, our live show was then broadcast not only over the radio, but to the people in the street outside, who proceeded to stand and watch us play. This aside, the intimate radio show went well and we set off in search of food.

We stumbled upon a small café, where we munched on fish and chips/ curryvurst in the warm glow of the Monday evening.

We drove on to Emden, where we would be playing in the Grusewsky bar.

We were greeted at the door by the bar owner, who bizarrely was the spitting image of Al Pacino as Serpico. He was a hell of a nice guy and made us some amazing cheese roll things. Nom Nom!

Tom played first, as he had to catch the last train back to Bremen. So we decided to play two 45 minutes sets of mainly original songs, with a few cheeky covers.

This went down swimmingly, and the small crowd in the Smokey bar seemed to really enjoy it.

Following our set, we got talking to the randoms at the bar and gained access to the bar’s Spotify, which gave the night a house party feel.

We said goodbye to our new friends and set off for Bremen. However, along the way, we were escorted off the autobahn by the German police.

What followed was a nerve wracking, awkward few minutes, while the police checked our passports etc and carried out the obligatory drinking/ drug tests on Andy (i.e. pissing into a cup under a road bridge). It transpired that they were merely doing routine drug checks on drivers, although they did keep asking if we had just come from Holland?!

Another standard Stressechoes night then....................

　

Day 19

　

We spent most of Tuesday relaxing from the previous nights escapades and stocking up on food etc.

In the evening time we headed for our gig of the evening at Kito, situated just outside Bremen. Due to traffic we were about 30 minutes late for this, so rocked up and set the kit up as quickly as possible.

The venue was kind of an arts centre, and we were playing in the uppermost part, aptly named ‘The Attic’. This was a very performance focused venue, with all chairs facing the stage. It even had a small ‘backstage’ area for us artists, which was quite exciting!

We played first, which was again nerve-racking, with everyone listening so intently. But overall I feel we played pretty well. After a couple of cheeky beers, we gathered round to watch Tom’s set, which again was great!

To be honest, it was always really hard to follow Tom’s act on any given night, simply because he always delivered an honest, entertaining and fulfilling performance that always intimidated us, in a good way. This is a sentiment that Tom also expressed, but we were always completely blown away by his show, and also thoroughly enjoyed spending time before and after the show with the guy.

At the end of the night, we shot across the yard to a restaurant and tucked into some nachos and hung out with Laura, one of the Songs & Whispers crew. Then, yet again, it was home time.

　

Day 20

　

One opportunity that we had been looking forward to and desperately wanted to achieve before leaving Germany was to complete some recording in the studio owned by Songs & Whispers.

This Wednesday was the first of what became 3 recording sessions in Bremen. On our first day, we laid down ‘Hold On’, ‘Keep On Walking’ and ‘You’re The One I Love’, quite successfully. We then swiftly disassembled the kit and set off for Slattery’s bar in Bremen’s neighbouring town, Delmenhorst.

This was another Irish bar, complete with blaring ‘Irish punk’ and Guinness.

I’ll be honest, this was not our finest show. There was hardly anybody in attendance, I think we only played to 6 people, with everyone else lost to a more popular birthday party next door. We also did not play at our best, which we attributed to having played vigorously all day in the studio.

With dampened spirits, we went home for some sleep.

　

Day 21

　

Day 2 of studio time went somewhat better than the day before. This may have been because we had decided not to pressure ourselves, after nearly tiring ourselves out the day before.

We managed to record new song ‘Lucy’ by the end of the session. We wanted to make sure that we had got the track just right, due to its delicacy, as we’d done with ‘Hold On’ and then ‘No Bonfires’ on Friday (story to come).

We finished at 4pm as we needed to head off to Hamburg; one gig that we were particularly looking forward to.

Even though it was night by the time we got to Hamburg, one could tell that this was a city of intrigue and excitement. We found the venue, which reminded us a lot of the old Slak club in Cheltenham, and began to sound check.

We again played first and were again astonished that so many people were listening in what was a busy and crowded bar. Today was Germany’s Re-unification day, so many people were out to drink and relax. We decided to follow suit by sampling the local beer, Astra, and enjoying Tom’s set.

Ok, so at this point the story of Hamburg, as it shall be known, kind of splits into 2. You see, Andy and Steve drove back to Bremen with the kit, whilst Tom, Alex and myself stayed in Hamburg.

　

1) Andy & Steve - We all loaded the car with the kit and Andy and Steve decided to head home for some much needed sleep.

After about an hour and half’s driving, the harsh realisation that neither had the keys to the flat in Bremen crept in. Sitting in a services car park at 2 in the morning, they deliberated between a) driving back to Hamburg and staying, b) driving back to Hamburg, grabbing the key and driving back to Bremen for around 5am, or c) sleeping in the car.

Ultimately, the decision was made to contact Astrid from Songs & Whispers and ask for the spare pair of keys to the flat. Surprisingly, Astrid was not annoyed and was cool with providing the keys in the early hours and the guys got to sleep in the flat after a very long drive.

　

2) Tom, Ben & Alex - We all loaded the car with the kit and Tom, Alex and myself decided to stay in Hamburg. We had been offered to stay at a friend of Tom’s apartment so we proceeded to drink more Astra.

Obtaining bizarre confidence from somewhere, I began chatting to a couple of local girls at the bar, which led to further drinking and drunken dancing into the early hours. The other guys had headed to the apartment for further drinking.

It was around this time that I reached into my pockets and found a set of keys for the flat in Bremen. Ooops!

After several awkward drunken encounters, conversations and flirting, I said goodbye to the girls and got to the apartment and enjoyed some late night martini shots, before crashing on the floor.

Final part of the Stressechoes European saga to come soon..............

　

　

　

　

Stressechoes Europan Tour Update: Day 13 - 18

Day 13

An avid fan of Songs & Whispers had won the chance to have us play in her living room. As it turns out that she was the only one who entered the competition, hmmmmmm. None the less, we were all set for this off tempo show opportunity.

So, after a day relaxing at the flat, we set off on the tram across the city to Jenny's flat, anxious as to how our set may be received by students.

We were pleasantly surprised! The people at the house party welcomed us with open arms and were genuinely looking forward to having us play at their party. This led to copious amounts of alcohol, drunken playing, drunken conversations and high fives for no reason.

The guys at the party treated us like 'rock stars', which made us feel strangely welcome and relaxed.

Day 14

 

Very bleary eyed, only a few of us made it out of the house before midday. I'd never experienced waiting for laundry whilst hungover until that day, this was true hell!

However, we all attempted to drag ourselves to the nearby shopping centre, the Waterfront, where we would be playing on a small stage in the middle of the food court at 3pm.

After a brief delay setting up, we were ready to go. What followed ended up being the most uncomfortable show we had ever done.

For an hour, we stood awkwardly on the small stage and played to random shoppers and innocent people eating fast food, whilst images of us were played on rotation behind us. Nobody there held any interest in us or what we playing, which only fed our angst.

Once this was over, we jumped in the car and drove to Hanover for our gig that evening.

The venue itself was good and the food was great.

However, upon arrival, we met the sound engineer who persistently made awkward jokes and made Laura, a member of Songs & Whispers who was helping us with the show, feel uncomfortable by referring to her as a table dancer. In short, the guy was a fucking dick!

This really tarnished the evening for us and ultimately made this one of our least favourite gigs. This along with the Waterfront show and our hangovers, made this our worst day.

Day 15

 

After a much needed sleep, we spent the day resting and analysis the week ahead.

That evening we were to play a show at the venue Villa Sponte in Bremen. Upon arrival, this appeared to be someone’s house and not much of a venue.

However, the owners of the house had actually converted the house into a mini cultural centre, complete with a small stage.

After our sound check, we were treated to a lovely spagetti bolognese and free beers by the owners. This was a pleasant contrast to the reception we had received the previous evening in Hanover.

We were really nervous for this show as the stage was positioned n the centre of the audience, who were very attentive. This made us take our performance more seriously.

The crowd were also very generous and seemed to genuinely enjoy our set.

Riding the buzz of the gig, we headed to a nearby pub and had a few cheeky pints before heading home.

Day 16

 

On this Saturday, me and Andy headed into Bremen city centre to explore. We stumbled upon Tom busking in the market square and then headed for a spot of tea at the Alex cafe.

After having some food in the flat we headed to our gig in Wilshaven.

The venue was a rock n' roll bar, and happily welcomed us to play, especially the doorman, Ingo.

After a dubious kebab, we began our show, to about 9 people.

This aside, we actually had one of most enjoyable gigs and with several good comments from the audience. For instance, one member of the crowd commented upon how the track 'Lucy' made her cry. This was one hell of a compliment and put us in a good mood.

We left the venue happy and stopped at a McDonalds on the way home, where I had my first ever McRib (don't believe the hype!)

Day 17

 

This was another busy day.

Our first show was at a function hall at a hospital in Bremen with Tom. As there was no room in our car for Tom and his equipment, he was forced to hire an Audi Quatro convertible for the day, which he was very happy about.

The show itself was good and we all played well, but the turn out was poor, with only a few people in attendance.

When got home and relaxed for a bit and then headed to our gig that evening at Katakomben in Achim. This was a small indie bar and the owners were again immensely friendly.

However, the show again was relatively poor with not many people in attendance for both Tom and ourselves. However, we were provided with a vast amount of free beer, which saw us merrily on our way in Monday.

Stressechoes European Tour Update: Day 8 - Day 11

Day 8 – Day 11

Day 8

Bleary eyed, we struggled through the day nursing hangovers from the night before and cursing the previous night’s hijinks. We decided that the best way to proceed was to head to the launderette and watch the tumble dryers spin round and round and round and rou…………… That night we set off for Sonnendeck in Dangast on the North Sea coast of Germany.  The venue itself is situated right on the sandy shore, with the bar acting as a beach hut. The staff were very accommodating – especially a lovely guy called Gordon - and the free pizza and beers were perfect after the long day of hangovers and washing clothes. I loved this gig and the venue as I got to sit in a wooden deck chair on a beach, in September, with a cold beer whilst the sun set to the west.  It was the most relaxed I had felt in the tour up to that point, and for a long while.

Our performance itself was ok, not our best, presumably due to the remaining dregs of hangover that was yet to leave our system (I wasn’t hungover cos I didn’t drink *smug* - Alex). Saying that, the gig was a lot of fun and the location made us feel really relaxed. It summed up the kind of opportunity that the Songs & Whispers tour has given us.

Day 9

It was Saturday morning, and we had the opportunity to do some casual busking in Bremen city centre. We headed out with Tom, while Steve stayed in bed. The five of us got to Bremen railway station at around 10:30am and proceeded to wow the passing crowds with our stripped down blend of Stressechoes greatest hits. As expected, this endeavour didn’t generate a large amount of money, but was certainly fun and different to what I’d usually be doing on a Saturday morning. After finding that all the best pitches had already been taken by early-bird musicians we settled for a crap spot which proved to be fruitless. Abandoning the busking idea  we settled at the Alex café for a bite to eat.

The show that night was at Harlekin Pub, again on the north coast. This was the furthest we had travelled so far, being over an hour and a half from Bremen. The pub itself was an Irish bar, i.e. the walls were plastered with Irish memorabilia, photos of U2, and provided Guinness. The crowd were really receptive and accommodating as usual. We were also treated to a marvelous German meal before our show, which included a scurvy-preventing side salad.

Day 10

It was Sunday, a week since we had been in the flat in Bremen, and we were once again up early for a gig. This time, the show was in a small café on the outskirts of the city centre, Glucklich Café, where local residents had gone for a quiet Sunday afternoon tea. We rocked up and played a stripped down set for the unsuspecting public.  The café itself was very small, which meant that we had to keep the volume to a minimum i.e. no bass guitar. As a result, the crowd were very welcoming and appreciative, and really didn’t mind their quiet Sunday lunch being interrupted. At one point a restless baby tried to join in on backing vocals. We headed back home for a rest before heading to our gig that evening.  The show was in the living room of a Songs & Whispers friend and fan, Jens Fischer. This was an odd show for us, and one that we had never done before.  The show doubled up as a house party gathering, with a delicious buffet, beers, and the German election on the television in the background. The crowd were very happy with both us and Tom and we sold a few CDs. Once again learnt how effective these intimate gig settings can be.

Day 11

Another Monday was upon us and we rejoiced in the fact that we weren’t at work but on our European Tour instead! However, due to a leaky wall behind the shower, we had to be up relatively early to welcome a local plumber and Astrid to the flat. Once this had been settled, we headed en masse to the soulless Waterfront shopping centre to visit the local Starbucks or, more precisely, steal their wireless internet.  Here, we updated our blogs/ tour video diaries, drank large teas, and ate chocolaty muffins.

Later we headed to the Bei Beppo bar in Oldenburg where both we and Tom would be playing.

Tom played first and the crowd were really receptive, singing along at all the right moments. A couple of die-hard Rom Tichardson fans appeared too, including a woman who had been at the café the previous afternoon. Our set went well, but I was slightly uncomfortable due to the heat in the corner of the room where we were playing.  Needless to say we all got a bit sweaty. We absolutely nailed our new favourite set-closer, ‘Hold On’, which resulted in one of the most enthusiastic round-of-applause's we have ever had.

Day 12

I woke up stupidly early on this day and headed in to the city centre to explore.  I have this thing where I really want to act like a regular tourist, but somehow not look obvious about it.  So, I grabbed a cup of tea and walked along the river watching the goods ships sailing up and down. I then headed into Bremen, where we had played at Litfass the previous week. This whole area reminds me of Jericho in Oxford because its carefree attitude and ramshackle appearance.

It was here that I met up with the rest of the Stressechoes boys and we explored further, after munching on the biggest burritos we had ever seen. We stumbled upon a record shop, which was quite small, but had an ample selection of musical gems. After splurging a stack of Euros in there we sat down for a spot of tea, before heading back to the house.

The gig that night was at the Lox café in Bremen, where we had the chance to meet Heiko, our primary contact at Songs & Whispers. We played before Tom, and had a really good show. A request was made to sing Happy Birthday to a 9 year old girl, Lina. We did so, and Andy adapted our song ‘Lucy’ as a dedication. We received another very good reaction to our set, which put us in good spirits. We got sore wrists from signing CDs. The other benefit to playing first was that we had the opportunity to drink a lot of beer and watch a Tom Richardson master class. Tom’s set was well received, leading to 2 encores. We all had really good fun at this show and really lifted our spirits after a few tiring shows.