Sunday, June 17, 2018

ØSC and Black Moon Circle European Tour Blog


Day 1 (Loppen, Christiania, DK)

This was the first show of 9 day tour through 5 countries. I arrived at Loppen around 15 and Tim and Jiri were already there. It was great to see everyone and the weather was excellent. There were a lot of police in Christiania so it was a strange vibe but there were a lot of people trying to have a good time but this is very stressful. Passive aggressive behaviour for no good reason.

Mogens and Jonathan arrived about 15:30 almost exactly the same time that Vemund and Øyvin drive up. This was so great to see the BMC guys again. Simon had taken the train so he was already here somewhere. Big hugs and smiles when we met again. Everyone is so excited.
 
Mogens, Tim and Jonathan backstage
All went smooth with the get in, set up, soundcheck, etc.. Loppen is just the best venue. Great staff.  We all had some food together about 19:15 and a few other things had to be sorted out but all was good and people were happy and in a great mood. Dinner was great. Yum..

Doors opened at 21 and BMC were to hit the stage right at 22 but there were very few people, 20 or so. We decided to wait 15mins to start. IT was a good small crowd and it felt really good to play with the band again. We played 3 tracks and a quite intense set. Great interaction with the guys as usual. 4th time for BMC to play in Copenhagen and I thick people like them quite a bit.

Set list: Magnifcient Dude, Machine on the Hill, Super Enigmatic Superbandit, Andromeda

Sadly, the input for the recorder was set too high as it was for the show the night before so the recording is totally distorted. Useless. Pity. I tried to see if we could do a multitrack or at least a 2-channel soundboard but it was not possible. Strange.

When ØSC hit the stage I guess there was 80 people or so but a lot of smiling faces and nice to see my daughter, wife and lots of friends.

Turns out there were 68 paid people and 24 on the guest list (too many) so about 100 people total. IT was great to play with ØSC again. I think we played about 100 minutes. The show was pretty laid back at the start and lacked some intensity, as Tim was quite tentative. Vemund was on fire and just playing amazing and intense lead guitar. There was great dynamics and people enjoyed the show a lot. You can hear it below:


My friend Anders videotaped both bands. IT was nice to see some people from Sweden (Gustaf, Mikael, Eric, Anders, Ann-Karin, and others).

Day 2 (Spaceboat, Hamburg, DE)

The van is so hard to pack. We just have too much stuff. It took us 75mins to get it sorted it out before we could hit the road. We missed out planned ferry at 12:15 but just got on the one at 12:50. People ate on the boat. I always get a schnitzel, a sort of ritual but today I did not think it was that great. People are a bit tired as it was a late night and party and no one got more than 5hrs sleep, I think.

We arrived at the harbour at about 16, which was perfect. The GPS is always taking us strange ways. Within 30mins the boat was there and we could already load in early. Sabine and Klaus had not even arrived yet. 

We have discovered that the rear axel differential is leaking oil from the gasket, it seems. We will need to keep an eye on this. Mogens says he thinks it is making a strange sound as well.

Load it and set up went pretty smooth. We all went to a fish place and has some food before the boat sailed while everyone boarded. The weather was so amazing. 28C and sunny. This is going to be a great trip. IT was really good to see Sabine and Klaus. She has been very stressed as it is a lot of work setting this up but it goes smoothly.

BMC on the Spaceboat
WOW. That was one of the best space boats ever. BMC played their entire new record, psychedelic spacelord and Jonathan joined on the violin as he also played on the record. People like it a lot. The boat is pretty packed and so many smiling faces but you can get around and talk with people.  People thought we played too loud though. We try to bring the volume down a bit for ØSC. What an amazing evening so far. People are so happy. 

The ØSC concert was amazing. Tim hurt his hand so Simon joined in for a jam at some point and then Tim was back. IT was just magical this evening and the crowd were great. They want us to do two nights next year!! I think we played 2hrs and 40mins in 2 sets! Long show.  Incredible… I think we sold around 500€ in merch as well. BMC did well also. Danke. Hamburg! We will be back next year for sure. 
Jonatha on the violin (foto by Sabine
Enjoy the shows:

Day 3- (Little Devil, Tilburg, NL)

IT was really late when we got to bed and were too late to get started. It took 75mins to pack the van and we had a ton of traffic issues so we will be arrived really late to the club.

We heard the new Friendship (Norwegian band) and people did not like it that much. We heard the new SEID, Albino Rhino. Rovo with System 7.   We are running really late and trying to hurry but people are really worried about the van and what we are going to do if it gets worse or breaks down. Sound in the rear differential is getting worse. Mogens is really concerned.

17:30 Due to traffic we are still in Germany and have at least 2hrs more to get there. Fuck. I sent Jürgen a message to let him know we will be late. We heard some of the jams from the ØSC meets BMC session and people liked it a lot.

We were supposed to get there at 18 and we arrived at 19:45. BMC were to play at 20:30 since it was a Sunday night.  Anyway, it was a very rushed set up. Most of the fans were already there when we arrived. We did manage to set up and eat and get BMC on the stage before 21. Impressive. Stage set up was strange and Jonathan had no place for the Theremin, etc.…. It is a small and difficult stage for us.

The BMC set was three long songs: Jack's cold Sweat, Lunar Rocket, Barnard's Loop (sadly, only 1 song was recorded)


Last time we played there we played for more than 3hrs in 2 sets. There were about 60 paid people tonight and a great audience. I think we played very well and we tried some things we had not. Vemund was on fire and amazing but this was really Jonathan’s night. I think his playing was incredible and diverse. Everyone was on top. Jiri is sort of the musical leader on the stage, choosing keys and direction, which I think is very cool. Tim is having the time of his life and is so happy to be able to take all these changes and try strange grooves and rhythms. We for sure take people on some unique trips. I think we played 1hr 40mins. Great night. All these great Belgium beers took its toll and Øyvin was very drunk and funny and Vemund had a few too many. Band is very tired now but we can get a good sleep in tomorrow except Jiri who will get up early and try to get the van fixed. We were able to leave the gear in the venue and arrange to load it at 14:30.

https://archive.org/details/OSC2018-05-28.FLAC
Day 4 (Kinky Star, Gent, BE)
It was pretty late when we finished and got back to Jürgen and Richard’s place. We had arranged to try to get the van looked at as it was starting to sound worse and really worry us.  We would load the gear from the venue at 14:30 and then hit the road to Gent, which is only 120kms.

Jiri did not manage to get anything fixed so we have to just hope for the best and head to Gent. Traffic was horrible and again it took too long to pack the van and we ended up arrive around 18.

We were late again, arriving about 18:15. Supposed to be there at 18 at the latest. It did not really matter at all though as the sound guy did not come until nearly 1930 and we were all set up and ready to soundcheck but he had to mic things and setup monitors, etc. Nice small club but very very hot. IT was 28C outside and there is no ventilation in this club, which has a legal capacity of 49. There were about 100 people if you include all out on the street.

Everything was a bit chaotic, not sure about food, where we sleep, etc. and the people at the club just referred to someone else all the time, talk to this person. In the end it worked out ok and we got burgers that I paid for (113€) and we would get paid back but we did not.  All the money stuff will happen later by bank transfer.  Super nice people running this DIY place where all the gigs are free. Place is a sort of legendary underground place being around for 20 years. Official capacity is 49 people.


Vemund- Kinky Star
BMC hit the stage a bit before 9 and we really had a long space out on Supernova from the Andromeda record. I had never played this track live with the band before. Sweat was dripping down my face, it was really hot.  Stone Cold Killer is a hard rocking one that I did not play much on that was on a split 7” record. We closed with a 25min version of American Eagle from the first EP. Great show. Good interaction with the band and Vemund played some killer solos at the end of the show.

ØSC came on about 22:20 and played until nearly midnight. The guys were overheated, and tired but we still pulled off a good show and the first time we played this trancy stuff and closed with a reggae jam. I think we played 100 mins.  Luc, from Chrohinga Well magazine and Magic Mushroom radio, was there and it was so nice to meet them. I had been corresponding with him and selling him records for 20 years. A lot of great fans. I think we sold a lot of records.  We did not crash out until 2. You can hear the show below!
ØSC- Kinky Star (foto by Psychedelic Salad)

Sabine, Jiri and I crashed at the soundman’s place, which was a nice apartment, while the others went to a local squat that was horrible. No shower, bugs, and just pretty nasty they said.  Again, no one got more than about 4-5hrs sleep.  This is the worst for Jonathan and me as we can’t sleep in cars and are the old guys in the band. The rest all just pass out in the car and can get some more sleep.

Day 5 (Z-Bau, Nuremberg)

Happy people in the van
We are on the road to Nuremberg and a bit frustrated by the fucking GPS as we got off early to make sure we had plenty of time as it is 650km drive and the van is still not repaired. GPS took us into the middle of Antwerp. Wasted an hour. I am still not sure why we drive north back to Holland to go to the south of Germany??? Strange. Jonathan is driving. We heard Hadal Sherpa and not Antibalas. People are really tired as they only got 4-5hrs sleep. We are for sure not eating a lot on this tour. Yesterday I only had a banana, apple and sandwich before dinner. It was not a lot of food.  Today, we just hit the road. Almost 10 and I have only had a banana and water. 

Gig last night was really fun but very hot in the club. Tim said it was the hottest show that he had every played!

This was a long drive and the van was making a lot of noise now making it so loud to be inside. We managed to listen to Budos band, Blackberry Smoke, Black Label Society, Jefferson Airplane, Antibalas, Shpongle.

It was 10hr trip with stops and traffic jams to get to Z-Bau but we arrived a bit before 18. Weather was amazing but the van was making another bad sound now.  The people here were so glad to have us back and helped us load in and set up. They had fruit, snacks and cold beer, which was great.  Jonathan was in a bad mood as he had lost his phone and we could not find it. Thinks it might have fallen out of the van door at the tank station when where we last stopped. Hope we find it.

Soundcheck was long and did not finish until 20. Nice feta salad, bread and a veggie ratatouille like dish with rice with no taste or spices but healthy. Jonathan found his phone.  The band is super tired and a bit stressed today. IT is very hard to pack the van, takes 1hr. We simply have too much stuff. We sell merch every gig so that is getting less and less.


Vemund (BMC) foto by Sabine
Show started at just after 21 and BMC played for about an hour. The audience was really into it. I started the show off on my own and we went into Plains, which was a nice long jam. One I have played many times with the band. Enigmatic Superbandit has a great groove and people dig it. We tried to keep this one a bit shorter so we could squeeze in Warp Speed. Øyvin left out a verse but not on purpose. We had a laugh about that. I had some modular synth problems at the beginning of the first jam section and felt bad that I fucked it all up. Warp Speed was awesome and went down a storm wit the audience. About 1hr set.

ØSC tried to hurry, as it was nearly 10:30 when we started.  Band was visibly tired but Tim was killing it on the drums this day and gave us all a kick in the ass to keep the energy level high. Stage set up was not good the way we experimented with Jonathan up front and during the first jam, he and Mogens had to stop playing and with the help of the soundman, move Jonathans amp, etc. it was a bit of a mess. Mogens also has to figure out how to keep his synth sounds more even. He gets super loud at times the way he plays the modular and Nord. Soundman seems to be very on top it. I will see on the recording.  We got a full video of the show tonight as well for both bands. There was an older guy who was totally into our show and he also shot some video. It was not a very good gig for me. Some of the spacey parts were super cool today but I felt Jonathan never really got into it. Vemund played two killer solos as always. Jiri had a bass solo and grooved. We did some more spacey stuff and then some trance stuff as well. 
ØSC (foto by Sabine)
A lot of older fans at this show and a guy from Eclipsed magazine that really loved the show. He got a free CD from BMC and us even though they already have them and have reviewed them. He said he would recommend us to Burg Herzberg again. We looked at the line up and on the net and it seems like it is all set in stone now. I don’t know most of these bands.  Horst said the weather has been so bad the last two years he almost considers not to go anymore.  Anyway… great crowd but small. Nice to see Horst again and look forward to our show in Wurzburg in 3 days.

We got 210€ and not sure how much merch we sold but there were only 37 paid people. Small crowd on Tuesday. We had like 50 last time on a Thursday. I crashed out at 01.

Day 6
I was up at 8 something and feeling pretty good. Had a shower and charged the computer. I have only had access to internet twice on the tour so it was good to catch up a bit while they set up the drums. 

Jiri is trying to get the van repaired. Hope it is not too serious and he is back by 13. We will see. Small festival with us, BMC and the Spacelords today.

Jiri was up at 7 to meet a mechanic and then nothing happened. He went to like 5 places and no one would help him so we have to really hope we can get early to Tubingen and get it fixed there. Not sure how much farther we can go.

It is super hot today in and outside the van. Something like 30C outside. The weather has been amazing on the tour but very hot between 28-30C everyday.


View from the house we played
Despite a wrong turn that cost us 30 mins, we managed to arrive about 16:45 and Patrick, the organizer helped us to contact a place to fix the van. Jiri was able to change the differential oil himself (they charged 10€ for the use of the place and tools). The other loud sound is a mystery and the mechanic did not know what it was but did not think it was dangerous.   We will find out.



Tim, Vemund and Simon hanging out
The set up and get in all went smoothly. This place is a great big 100 year house and 17 people live here. It has a good size stage and PA… Super nice people.  Sound man arrived about 19 and we did our thing and got some food. They had spaghetti with either a vegan or meat sauce with some grated cheese. IT was good and filling.  To try to keep the schedule, BMC started about 20:35 and played an hour. We opened with Supernova and Mogens joined us today for this long 20min jam song. Then a very cool but slightly fast version of Machine on the Hill. We ended with Lunar Rocket. Show was about 55mins.  I thought it was a very good show today. I think there were about 50-75 people hearing the show. It was hot so many were just outside on the balcony of this cool place listening. I like to play Machine on the Hill!


The Spacelords
Spacelords were pretty fast and start at 21:55 and played just about an hour. The crowd really enjoyed them and there were a lot of people now. Such nice people. I like to talk and hang out with them. IT is a really good band. By the time they finished the place was really packed with people. 150-200 people I guess. Wow.

ØSC was on as fast as we could. We were not very happy with the sound guy at this gig. He was just not into being there. Always on his phone or outside smoking and we could not get a really good monitoring to play at our best. I think we started like 20mins after 23 and played until 01 and then we took a break and had another short jam that was stopped when the police came by but then we had one more. The recorder shows 2hrs 20mins with the breaks so about a 2hr show.  Very intense one. Tim was the man once again. Powerhouse. I was not satisfied with my playing at all because the monitor situation it was hard to hear everyone well. 

Jiri and Jonathan..

Mogens, the man... Killer synth player!
Mogens often turns himself up way too loud when he uses the Nord Modular and also his new modular set up and drowns out the whole band in the monitor. If the sound guy is not paying attention, it must end up being the loudest thing you will hear on the PA. Hot, tired… crap show for me.  I crashed out about 02. Told Patrick we sort out the GEMA and money in the morning. Supposed to get 500€ total for both bands.

Thursday May 31st, 2018

I was up at 8 with the birds and it was very quiet around here. Beautiful place in the forest with lovely trees and the largest cherry tree I have ever seen. It was a great night last night and ØSC played over 2hrs and people were dancing, smiling and screaming. Wow… what a night.  I crashed at 02. Not sure about the rest of the guys.  There were still over 100 people there when we ended and I am sure we could have played longer if we did not have to get up so early to head to Austria.

OSC sold 365€ in merch last night. Not bad.

Zone 11, Hallein, Austria May 31st, 2018


We are trying to be up at 9:30, pack the van at 10 and hit the road. 404km today and if we can only drive 90km/hr, we will take at least 5 hrs with 2 stops. We are supposed to arrive at 17 today. We will see how it goes.

We managed to leave about 11:15. We had a strange altercation with a taxi driver who wanted us to move the van so he could drive past us on the narrow street outside the house. Lots of cars, including a quite big jeep made it by but he was a bit aggressive and Jonathan surprised me a bit and really was direct with the guy and told him to just cool it and not be a dick. He could easily make if he wanted to and he already drove by us once, so what the fuck was his problem. Bizarre.

We stopped around 13 to get some food and coffee and were on the road 40mins later. We have about 300kms to go.  Listening to Monster Magnet, ØSC, Exploding Plastic from Norway and some jazz thing. We should be on time before 17 if don’t stop and the van is ok. It really does not do well on hills. We had a good laugh when we passed the town of Wankheim!  We actually laugh and joke in the van a lot. We were nearly breaking down crying with laughter when we start joking around about having a wine pump and running your car on wine in Portugal since it is cheaper than gas or diesel!! Great guys… the humor really keeps us sane and happy.
Guys checking out the gig poster at the Venue

16:45 We arrived at the venue no problem. A very nice place and Hallein (hall-line) is a very beautiful small town. Wow.  There was a nice stage and great upstairs backstage with beer, soda, water, pretzel snacks, and cookies, nice. It was very hot and they allow smoking inside which was not cool. The organizer and soundman, Christopher was very cool and treated us well. While we waited for the sound guy to set up mics, etc.. Mogens gave Sabine and Jonathan some acupuncture! 
Artwork in the stairwell

Soundcheck took forever and I had a major crisis and was very depressed as my modular synth had died and would not power up. We ended up taking it all apart and replacing the fuse. We were so lucky that the sound guy actual had the one I needed. It is not exactly the same, 400mA but a bit stronger but it worked. If it was truly dead, I would have probably just sat on the stage very depressed. I lost the cable for the kaossolator pad in Nurnberg so I would only have the monotron to play. Christopher saved the day again and had the cable I could borrow. Cool.

Anyway, they did not have food ready until nearly 20:30 and it was just spaghetti with some cans of tomato sauce. Pretty terrible. The worst food of the tour. People were really let down. There was no cheese or bread. Just pasta and tasteless canned tomatoes. This is really not good enough. We will have to change the rider to make sure this does not happen. The band was tired and hungry and you get crap food. Not good and it effects your mood and everything.

BMC hit the stage at 21:30 and played a short 45mins set but excellent and very focused. Jack’s Cold Sweat (which is the soundcheck song every night), Andromeda and Barnard’s Loop. I thought I played well and the whole band sounded great. Øyvin’s vocal was not that good though. I forgot to plug in the external mic so the BMC recording is not that good. I think Sabine filmed it.


ØSC managed to get started about 22:35, I think. We stopped a bit after midnight, about 100min show, which is close to the avg set length. It was a small crowd, only about 30 people. A very warm and smoky club. My lungs hurt afterwards. We sold 180€ merch.   The band opened with a very cool spacey number and then Tim, kicked into high gear and we played a lot of high energy stuff. Jonathan had great melodies in his head last night and Vemund layed down some killer kraut rock guitar riffs to jam on. Mogens did some solos but not nearly as many solos as the night before. I felt we were a bit tired and this was for sure our worst show of the tour. I think the lack of a decent meal killed the mood and we had no energy. Hubert our biggest Austrian fan really enjoyed the show a lot. Wulfie was also there from Go Bananas.


We packed the van and then walked to the B&B. Got to bed at 02. We planned to get up at 9:30 and have breakfast and get to the van at 10:15 if we can.

Day 8  Wurzburg

We got up showered and pretty much everyone was up by 9:45. I have not had a long sleep yet on the tour and 5-6 hrs a night is starting to take its toll. I am not nearly as talkative and just fatigued. We found out that the booker had not paid for breakfast as he had said so people were fucking mad, as we had no dinner also.  This was fucked up. We ended up going to the grocery store and spending 50€ for food and eating at a table outside the venue.

11:30 We just wasted 30 mins going around and back to the venue nearly before deciding to go towards Munich. We may get stuck at the border crossing for 1-2hrs if we are unlucky. Jonathan is very uptight and angry as he gets directions from multiple people and can’t look at the small GPS screen and drive well. It is a very stressful situation right now.  He wants to just keep going towards Munich on the main highway but others want him to avoid this route due to the traffic but it is hard to know exactly where to go.

13 We just had a little break and put gas in the car (89€) and had some ice cream, people pee’d and smoked. Everyone except me and Jonathan smoke.  We have 3.5hrs to go. We just hit a slow spot on the highway due to an accident.  No big deal it seems.

Anyway, I have been looking at the finances and I think the tour will cover all expenses even for BMC and possibly everyone can get 100€ as well. I have been paying for a lot of food and most days giving everyone except BMC guys 10€ a day to help cover some costs.  This is looking good.

17:01 We arrived exactly on time today and people got out to smoke and have a stretch and there was Horst as he said he would be there. The club is down in the basement with a bar in one room and the live room in another. Another pretty small stage for us but we managed but Vemund had to be behind Mogens and also play behind his gear for the BMC gig. Not ideal but we had to make it work.  Sound check was very long for both bands and Øyvin had a tough time with his bass sound today. 

19:40 The Pizza has arrived and it was a great change to get pizza with some veggies on it. Not a lot of veggies on this tour and three vegetarians! Now people got their fill.  Nice beer. Pretty cool club. Soundman was a bit hard to work with at times but I think he did a good job in the end for us. IT was not super loud on stage tonight, which was nice. I even started the show without earplugs but the cymbals are too much.
Black Moon Ramones

BMC played at 21:45 since there were so few people and ended about 22:36, I think. Magnificent Dude, Stone Cold Killer and Warp Speed, a request from Horst. Crowd really liked it and was into it. Only about 25-30 people though.

ØSC, we tried to get onto the stage as fast as we could and get going, as we have to pack the van tonight and get some sleep before the long drive to Berlin!

ØSC gig was a killer. One of the top 2 of the tour. Horst was very happy and so were the fans. Tim was just a monster on the drums again and Mogens did a lot of great solos, so did Jonathan. Tim wanted Simon to come play drums so he did and Øyvin also joined on the bass for a bluesy jam. The last jam had Tim on hand drum and Simon on the kit and Vemund played one of his best solos of the tour. Amazing guitar solo. I will kill the soundman if he is not loud on the recording. People said there was a lot of bass.  We will see. We played about 100mins. People really wanted more but it was getting too late. Sorry people.
Mogens and Dr Space. (foto by Sabine)

376€ in Merch sold for ØSC
120€ for BMC
We got 360€ from the door deal.

We will arrive at 14:45 on the GPS but that is for no stops or anything.  There will be a lot of traffic here and there and we will get lost, have to smoke, etc

… We are supposed to arrive at 16. We are trying. It was 2:30 when we got to sleep at the hostel. People are really tired today but at least we had a great breakfast.  I think it could end up like last tour where the last gig was the worst because everyone was so tired and exhausted. Too many days with out more than 5-6hrs sleep. Many of us can’t sleep in the van.

10:00 We are well on the way now and Jiri drives. Most people are trying to get some sleep.

12:30 Mogens is driving and we are making great time. Only like 200km to go. We had one stop for gas and for people to smoke and get a snack before we hit the road. Listening to zappa and some R&B music. I had a nice long talk with Øyvin about music, their studio, and etc. great guy. I will try to look into us playing in Sweden and Finland in October and see if we can get BMC on the bill as well. 

I paid Jonathan’s train ticket, Tim’s train ticket and will pay Mogens for the ferry, and some of the other expenses today so this is sorted out before tomorrow.  It looks like a pretty good chance for things to get close to break even or come home with a bit of money. We will see.

I have had a really great time with the guys and really missed them. We have such a good time on a personal level and we all love to joke around and laugh and make fun of stuff and this just keeps us all sane and no one ever argues at all. We are very peaceful. Sabine has a great time as well but probably thinks we are some pretty crazy people. We are pretty normal really and just want to play music and try to create something amazing and get that euphoric high you get when a jam is just amazing and you can disappear in the music. That is the ultimate goal.

We discussed the future though and we need a better van with more space, less noise and also at least one day off if we are to drive so many hours each day. The other option is to work harder to put together gigs that are max. 300km away. This is very hard to do. Also, maybe we should also try to stay further north as we got hardly any people in Austria, 30 in Wurzburg and these were long drives for us.  We will see.



Entrance to Urban Spree
16  We arrived exactly on time at Urban Spree. This is a very interesting walled complex with all sorts of different buildings with music venues, art galleries and other things. Lots of small outdoor markets, street food vendors, etc.

The promoter, Henk, did not show up until 17:30 and we had a lot of hassles with the trying to get it sorted with getting in to set up, getting the other gear off the stage, etc.  The lady who did the lights was super nice and helpful though. Soundman Rasmus, a Dane, was super cool and professional and we got on great with him. We were mostly set up with the gear when he arrived.

I was so happy and surprised when Brad from Pothead walked in the door right when we were sound checking. I only had a few minutes to give him a hug and say hello and show him my modular synth. He said he had obligations but would try to come back for the show (I don’t think he made it).

Sound checks, as usual on this tour took too long even though this was the fastest on the tour for ØSC. BMC are always pretty fast unless Øyvin has problem with the bass. It is never the guitar or me or Simon for some reason. Always the bass??? For ØSC it is often problems with the bass as well.

Mountain Dust from Canada were nice and relaxed guys. A four piece band and we shared gear except they used their own guitar amps.  Due to the late start, the show start was pushed back from 20 to 21:30.

Henk, had lots of drinks in the backstage, fruit, veggies, some strange spreads, bread, cheese breads and some sausages. We all thought this was the get in food but there was nothing else provided. People were pretty unhappy about this and we had to go out and buy our own dinner. Not a big deal 5-6€ for some decent street food was possible around here. 

Mountain DustMountain Dust played a sort of heavier version of Cadillac 3, with a guy playing organ and lap steel (on top of the organ), guitar, bass and drums. They had some great songs but I did not hear the whole show, as I needed to rest my ears. They played about 40mins.

BMC (foto by Sabine)

BMC hit the stage pretty fast after they cleared off their gear and we opened with American Eagle, which had only been played once on the tour. Then into Barnard’s Loop which was a heavy hypnotic one and I had a few synth freakouts!! Finally we closed with the mighty Warp Speed, which blew people away. My friend Nick, the guitar player from Elder was there with his girlfriend right up in the front. It was a powerful show and the light lady said it was orgasmic! Wow. Mogens also thought it was our best set yet and said that we 4 were like just made to play together. He was blown away. We got a multitrack recording thanks to Jonathan and the sound guy Rasmus.
ØSC Berlin (foto by Sabine)


The ØSC started about midnight I think and played until 1:45 or so. It was a powerful set as well that started off really spaced out. There were about 80 people I guess total. Officially it was 76 paid. Anyway, we had a great dynamic and since the sound was so good on the stage we played killer. Great solos from Jonathan and Vemund and Tim just killed it once again. Mogens played one just mindblowing synth solo. Wow. and one cannot forget Jiri, the musical leader of the band on the stage, who is the solid rock and foundation with Tim. Amazing every night!!! Killer show and people were really really into it.  We had great feedback from everyone at the club and promoter as well.

View from the back (foto by Sabine)

It was very late when we finally got to the hostel at 3:45 and then it took 15mins to sort out the rooms only to find out Henk had only booked 6 beds so there was a lot of hassles and in the end I had to pay 47€ plus 10 for the key cards (only on was returned)… Fuck… not cool at all.

BMC did get 30€ from Henk and he said he had booked 9 and they fucked up, not him.

Great end of the tour. We met at 11 and said goodbye as I headed off to the airport in a taxi for my flight back to Portugal. Wow……. Thanks guys.. it is just one of the greatest bands on earth. How many bands can get up on the stage and jam for 2hrs every night and keep it creative and interesting and rocking!! Not many…

End of the tour thoughts:

We need to arrange the tour with shorter drives so we can get more rest. We could use a day off on the middle of the tour if we cannot get a shorter drives. We need to demand better food. We should not bring that many records since we only play for an avg of 50 people a night.

This is the best ØSC band ever assembled. One that is really willing to take chances and try new ideas and push them to the limits. Everyone is focused on playing the best we can and having a good time as well. IT was amazing.

One reality is that we are just not that popular. We just have to realize this. We had two gigs with 30 people. Their was only one show with over 100 people (Tübingen) and most had about 60 people. We are very lucky we were able to make this go around.

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