Tuesday Nov 26th
21:45 I met up with Peter and picked up the huge Mercedes
Sprinter (6.95m long and 8 seats and huge space for the gear). This is by far
the best van we have ever toured in. IT was very hard to find a place to park
it and I had to park it illegally so I hope I don’t have a ticket in the
morning. The back left tire is looking a bit low but Peter did not seem to be
worried and just said we should check it in the morning and add air. He had
checked the entire van etc.
Weds Nov 27th
7:10 I woke up at 5 this morning. Too much on my mind. I was a bit anxious about getting a ticket. I hope the Swedes are on the way soon…
8:40 No ticket.. Phew.. The packing is going slowly and we had hoped to be on
the road by now. The back tire is really looking low. It must have a leak.
Søren is still not here yet but we are packing all the MM stuff now. It is wet,
cold and this is not good for all the boxes with the merch but we try to
protect it.
8:50 We are packed but we all agree we have to deal with the tire. Søren is not here, he is stuck in traffic.
7:10 I woke up at 5 this morning. Too much on my mind. I was a bit anxious about getting a ticket. I hope the Swedes are on the way soon…
8:40 No ticket.. Phew.. The packing is going slowly and we had hoped to be on
the road by now. The back tire is really looking low. It must have a leak.
Søren is still not here yet but we are packing all the MM stuff now. It is wet,
cold and this is not good for all the boxes with the merch but we try to
protect it.8:50 We are packed but we all agree we have to deal with the tire. Søren is not here, he is stuck in traffic.
9:41 We had no choice to but to get the tire repaired. The
tire had a nail in it! I called peter and it was all cool and they agreed to
pay for the tire repair (250kr). Now, we are delayed about an hour. People are
in a good mood and relaxed despite the set back. We only have to get to Hamburg
and we have a GPS on søren’s phone so we are less likely to get lost.
12:03 We just reached the ferry now.
13:03 The ferry trip is over and we got some food. Schniztel
is the usual band favourite except the vegetarians. We bought a case of coke
and two cases of beer. I did some stretching of my back (I have really bad
lower back problems). Jocke is driving and we are listening to the new Taylor’s
Universe- Evidence CD. everyone is really liking this one..
13:55 We are about 75km from Hamburg. Weather is not very
nice. Cold, windy and light rain. We are hearing the new Korai Öröm 2013 CD.
Cool stuff.
14:51 We missed the exit and went 5km too far. We are
finding the right way but it is small roads and lots of traffic. Should be at
Sabine’s house in 20mins. We will eat, bring in our sleeping stuff and relax
for an hour or so. So far we have heard Papir- Studum, Scorpions- In Trance,
Funkadelic- S/t, Sasquatch IV, Robin Taylor- Evidence…..
16:30 We had some very nice Indian food at Sabine’s and
everyone is in a good mood and having a beer. Today is Sabine’s birthday and I
bought her a small gift and we sung her Happy birthday. I am also lying down
and got a massage which is really helpful. Tak Sabine.
17:00 We are stuck in terrible traffic and listening to
GONG-Live etc..
17:55 It was tricky to park the van but we made it and are
setting up. The stage is a very strange shape and this DJ booth thing takes up
a lot of the area. We will manage. The Sound guy and club people are really
cool here at Guner Jager. The room is quite small so even if there are only 30
people it will feel like a good crowd.
19:15 People are coming now. We did a soundcheck and it will
be an intense show in this small place. The bass is really massive and
modulates like crazy in the small rooms so people better be in the main room. A
guy named Jan gave me some money to burn him copies of the previous Hamburg
shows. I will include this one as well.
20:50 Wow.. Mantric Muse played a great set and people
really seem to enjoy it. I guess there are about 35 people here. Sounds was
very good but a lot of bass. I recognize quite a few people from the last
Hamburg show including one of our biggest fans, Kirsche and his wife.
Set List: DMU, Nanoid, Wobbegong Wookie, Cinope, Sinbad
Søfareren, SFunx
23:30 My back is killing me. I think the concert was pretty
cool and people really liked it. Room was totally full of people (44 paid) and
we had some good dynamics, starting quite slowly. Magnus played both synths and
guitar. Seems we sold a few copies of the new record, etc.. Michael did not
play the bass tonight, maybe tomorrow. It was a really cool concert and we all had a good time. A good first start for the tour...
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| Mantric Muse |
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| Øresund Space Collective |
Day 2
10:15 We heard the Great Khan record and everyone is up now
and in a good mood. We sorted out the money and merch from last night. We also
discovered that the entire band on this tour are left handed except myself!
10:55 We are about to take off now. We had a great breakfast
with coffee, tea, juice, bread, cheese, meat, etc.. We will start the drive off
with me as the driver and we will hear the Carolina Funk- First in Funk
1968-1977. A great compilation. In fact, the entire series Florida Funk, Texas
Funk, Midwest Funk and California Funk are all great.
14:15 We are near Osnabruck now and still at least 2-3hrs to
go we estimate. We heard the new Shpongle, Lynryd Skyryd’s first and now the
new Rovo-System 7 CD called Phoenix Rising. It is great. My back is aching. Magnus took over as the
driver now. The drive has been pretty smooth but it took nearly an hour to get
out of Hamburg.
15:50 This drive is really taking much longer than we had
expected and we had originally said we would go to the local promoter’s house
for some food and then to the venue but we might have to go straight to the
venue. We will see. It is very foggy on parts of the drive but good when we
listen to Frank Marino- Tales of the Unexpected. A great record. Magnus is driving as fast as he can. People
are going to be really hungry and we have no time to stop and buy some food. We
picked straws (cigs) and Sebastian lost so he is the driver after the gig
tonight. One has to stay sober. The only non-drinker, Michael, also does not
drive! What luck!
16:50 We had to stop as people were too hungry. We heard
Irish Coffee in the last drive. Cool band from Belgium from the early 70s.
Traffic is still very heavy. This drive is going to take like 7hrs to go 450km.
Just too many people on the roads in Germany. It was not this bad 10 years ago
when I toured with Gas Giant. We could do a drive like this in 5hrs max.
18:15 We arrived at Andreas’s finally in a suburb of
Koblenz, cool small old village, dropped off our sleeping stuff, ate some pasta
with gorgonzola sauce and then we had to go pretty fast to the club. Sound
check was supposed to be at 18. Show is supposed to start at 20.30 so it will
all be quite a rush tonight.
20:30 Everything has been a huge hassle today. Turns out we
could multitrack record the show so that was great and Mantric Muse will play a
bit longer set as well. No many people yet (maybe 15?). We had to park the van
like 500m away from the club. Andreas is a very cool guy and relaxed, which is
good as it has been a rough day.
21:05 I did an introduction for Mantric Muse. There were
only 7 pre-sale tickets and 21 total tonight, it seems.
22:00 Mantric muse are such an amazing band. Wow.. what a
set. They changed the set a lot tonight and blew me away. Audience seem to like
them as well. The sound is very good and loud in this club. Sound guy was great
and super helpful with everything.
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| Mantric Muse |
01:00 Far out show.. People were pretty tired and I had some
issues with my modular synthesizer. I will need to check it out. The small
crowd seem to really like it a lot. I think we only played about 100mins
tonight. All seem to go well with the recording. Jocke was killer on the bass
today. Sebbe seem to be off today and stuggling but still played some cool stuff. magnus just blew the roof of the place with super psychedelic and awesome guitar. Ola was also cool and I could hear him tonight.
01:40 Was a late night. We sold about 140€ in merch. It was
only 21 paid people, so we will have to take a reduced fee. We can’t do this
every night or we will be screwed at the end.
Day 3
11:15 We sorted out the money with Andreas.
12:51 I start off the driving everyday which is good for my
back, etc.. so… We just had some lunch, as there was no breakfast. I had a
couple of muesli bars and some juice and tea. We had to go back to Andreas’s
house 2 times after we had driven away. First we left a box of records and then
Magnus discovered he forgot his guitar after we were 1km away a 2nd
time. Shit….
16:00 I drove for like 4hrs. We heard Causa Sui- Pewt
Sessions, Buffalo-Volcanic Rock, Antibalas- Dirty Money, and ØSC-The black tomato as we
discussed trying to have a jam on Black Tomato Pt 3 at one of the gigs. We will
see. It is cold out and there has been some valleys with massive fog and snow
on the hills. People are in a good mood after a joint. Seems we are about an
hour away and people are in a good mood and joking around a lot. I will have a
beer now since someone else is driving the rest of the way.
17:30 Black Night in Jena is a cool club and really nice
people. Mark is super cool and this gig tonight is there 2 year jubilee and he
is so happy we are here to play. We were able to get the backdrop up again
tonight and Mark has some cool projections as well. We did not have any lights
or projections for the first two gigs.
18:15 All is set up for soundcheck now and the soundman is
setting up all the mics. We got some fresh fruit, 4 cases of beer, water, etc…
we joked we can’t leave until we drink it all! They allow smoking in the club
and backstage room (no window or ventilation at all so I basically can’t be in
there, as nearly everyone in the band smokes!).
19:35 Soundcheck is over and the sound is good but really
loud in this club. Wow.. Mics are set up and they will also do multitrack
recording. Sabine video taped the show in Hamburg and will also do this show
(only OSC). People are in a good mood. I got a back massage and feel much
better.
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| Mantric Muse (Ola and Michael) |
21:30 About 40 people and I met Favio from Brazil who is an
artist who says that ØSC inspires him a lot. Cool to meet him. I will dedicate
a jam to him later. Mantric Muse played a killer set again. Massive sound
tonight. Soon space time…
Set List: DMU, Sinbad Søfareren, Sfunx, Azur, Wobbegong
Wookie, Cinope, Encore: Nanoid
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| Dr Space and magnus |
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| Søren on the drums |
01:00 Very fun night. Backstage people are really getting
blasted and super high. We only have to walk 50m to the sleeping place but the
guy is passed out at home and we can’t get in now. We only have 3hr drive
tomorrow.
Day 4
10:00 We did not get into the apartment until 02:15 and the
guy was really sorry. It was their 2 year anniversary and it all got a bit
carried away. We left the gear locked in the club so we could load it in the
morning. We agreed to meet at the club at 10:30. Still totally gray. No sun for
the 4th day. I think the gig last night was very intense. Both
guitar players were awesome. Magnus is always amazing. There were some issues
with the multitrack recordings though. The high hat mic is missing for two
songs of the MM set and they had to replace it. Not a big deal as I am sure you
can hear it on some of the other mics. For ØSC it is a bigger problem though as
the kick drum mic died so half the concert it is missing. Unlikely we can do
much about that. I am curious how the audience
recording is. I just had a shower am pretty relaxed but did not sleep that well
compared to the night before.
11:25 We stood outside the club for 45mins for the owner to
show up (11:15). It is cold out but we are finally loading up the van and then
we will do all this GEMA stuff and have some lunch (breakfast) and hit the
road.
12:52 We are finally on a real highway after all these small
roads and some construction. We heard the new Hawkwind- Spacehawk CD, which is
basically a cool compilation of new and old stuff, different mixes and rerecorded
tracks. Pretty cool. We are now hearing the Taylor’s Universe-Evidence CD
again. Good way to easy into the day as people partied pretty hard last night.
I think tonight will be the highlight of the tour for sure. Café Cairo is so
cool and the crowd at the Psychedelic Network is amazing. A short pee and smoke
break and we are on the road again. GPS says 1hr 10mins.. This means we are
there about 14 and can maybe hear some of the Papir set!
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| Mantric Muse and ØSC in Jena |
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| Papir with Nik Turner |
18:00 Papir played a killer 2hr set and Nik Turner joined them for the last jam. People really seem to like them as well. I have seen them many times but never play for hrs.. Kozmik Klaus’s visuals are amazing!
20:00 I am a bit stressed as we only have about 1hr to set
up all the gear and soundcheck before Mantric Muse and OSC start. Camera played
a cool set, very hypnotic stuff.
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| Camera |
21:15 Mantric Muse is playing now and it sounds great.
Massive huge sound. I am mostly resting up so I can give it all during our
show. I have been sharing Nik Turner’s backstage room where there is a couch
that I can lay down on. Sabine gave me a massage as well which really helped me
out. I spoke to Nik about a lot of different things and he will come out and
join us at 23:00. We talked about the current Hawkwind issues with Dave Brock and
himself. It is all pretty sad. I think he wishes they would just call him up
and talk to him. Anyway, it is not my business. He is a very nice person. I
also chatted a lot with the guitar player from Space Invaders (either Dirk or
Tipi). Nice guy. I have talked with a lot of the fans as well and spent a lot
of time selling merch, etc.. Now that I have heard the gig, I think we played a really cool gig and Nik fit in very well on all the jams except the last one, he was dominating a bit too much and was in his own world. Great people and Awesome festival and thanks Nik...
Day 5
What can I say, just a totally amazing festival. I think we
played a strange and very spaced out set. Magnus played a lot more synthesizer
than at any of the shows, leaving Sebastian alone on the guitar but he was
pretty creative. The crowd was into and as usual it took a while but then we
really played pretty cool. It was strange when Nik appeared as I did not even
see him and then there he was! He played with us for about 50mins, which I
think was too long but people seem to like it and said he played his best of
the entire festival with us. We will see. It was a bit to short only playing
less than 2hrs but that is the way it goes.
Anyway.. a great tour and despite my back issues I also had
a great time and we are all such good friends for so many years how and playing
music together on and off for nearly 10 years. It will be 10 years in April
this line up started jamming!
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| Nik Turner |
Thanks to everyone who came out to see us and bought merch,
etc… See you again one day… Peace..
http://www.mantricmuse.com http://www.oresundspacecollective.com
http://www.mantricmuse.com http://www.oresundspacecollective.com
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