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..............
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