Sept 4th
What a fucking time this has been to sort all this out and now it is finally going to happen… I am on the train to Porto and early flight to Berlin tomorrow. They are having strikes at the airports so who knows if all will go smooth or not… We will see.
Jiri has been having trouble with the van and he got it back today and it broke down immediately. FUCK.. They will work on it first thing in the morning and they hope to get the ferry at 13.. If not, they will have to take Gregers car and we will have to find some backline gear for Berlin. Call some bands…. Also, Gregers said he was taking his girlfriend and sister along on the tour.. I told him we could not guarantee them any food, drinks, sleeping places, etc…… Lets see what happens.. I can not stress about it.. It will be what it will be..
Sept 5th- Neue Zukunft, Berlin
I had a relaxing night in Porto with Pepe and his family and flew out at 9:10 and arrived in Berlin at 1330 in time. I wrote to see about the van but no word yet….. Just hope it all goes well.
This is a sort of strange de ja vu. I am sitting outside the club, a lot like another club we played where it was the same situation. NO one but me… Things are all fucked up… Van got fixed but they were 3hrs later leaving than expected so now they will not arrive to the venue until 1930 or 20.. We were supposed to be here at 1630, soundcheck 17-18, dinner 19, doors open at 19 and play at 20. So now, we will not get to play before 21 earliest and not sure what about food… It will be chaos and stress. Sabine made it to Lubeck and then they rejected her ticket and kicked her off the train so she went back to Hamburg. I was really looking forward to see her and she was bring records and cds, etc.. bummer… We will just have to manage with some old shirts and cds that I brought..Mattias flew into Berlin yesterday and showed up here at the club at 1600…. bad news though was that the band did not get the ferry until 14 so they will not arrive before 2030. We are supposed to start at 2000! Oh Well.... The entire night is going to be delayed. Anyway, it was what it was and they arrived at 2030, we set up, had some food and started playing at 22 and played straight to midnight (the curfew).
Brad (Pothead) was there and some of our older fans and folks that come to the spaceboat. It was a great crowd of about 100 people. Band played very well. Long jams, 4 in 2hrs.. Lights were bright and a bit annoying but sound lady who was awesome, had to do both.. Great sound on the stage, everyone was a great. Jiri said he thought I was good. tak Jiri. Fun gig. Still annoying that when Nick solos, no one hears him as his sound disappears. Fun gig.. Look forward to hear the show. Will not be great though as the camera vibrated due to the bass and was facing the wall by the end of the gig. Bummer.. Check it out below.
http://archive.org/details/OSC2025-09-05.FLAC
It was 230 by the time we got to bed. Was up at 08. Had a shower and we were out of the hostel at 08.
Sept 6th- Moor Happening IX, Germany
It was a nightmare getting out of Berlin and Nick left his guitar in his girlfriend's car so we had to stop and wait for her to bring it to us. We got some food and gas (119€) and they smoked lots of cigs and now it 10 and we still hardly gotten anywhere. So much traffic.. GPS says we will get there at 1419 but am sure we stop a few more times and will be late… We always are late… I am tired..We had a few more stops so they could smoke and we got there about 1540. Everyone was super cool and a really cool festival space on a bar with the stage and bar in an old barn, nice building.. I guess about 150-200 people. A lot of people I know from the Spaceboat and other festivals. They only announce who is playing each day on the day of the show so it is a surprise and they were blown away we were playing. Gemma and Simone have wanted us to play for years. Anyway, they took great care of us and we played on all our own gear and started on time. We played for nearly 2hrs and it was a fantastic concert. People loved it, I had fun as well. People dancing and smiling. Cool light projections. Fun.. http://archive.org/details/OSC2025-09-06.FLAC
Octopizz, a stoner band was before us and a decent crowd. A lot of people sat on the benches outside the barn as you could hear the band well and from many of the places also see the band thru the doorway. They had a cassette they were selling.
Next a very intense band called Modder was after us. This was very dark and intense music. It sounded really massive and was LOUD.. They had some interesting textures though, not just pure doom.There was one more band called Highest Primzahl on Mars after that played like Neu-Circle like stuff but less variety. Did not see them but we could hear them. Sleeping accommodations were not great for Jonathan, Jiri and Mattias. A freezing cold shipping container, some army cots and a thin sleeping bag. No heat. They did not sleep well or much. Nick and I had a proper camper with a matress, pillow and it was not warm but it was ok.. Did not sleep at all until the music stopped at 1 or so….
Sept 7th- Nijmegen, NL
1040 and we are on the way to Nijmegen. We get a free lunch if we arrive at 1230-13. If we are at 14, the food will be gone. GPS says 1238 if we do not stop but I am sure we will and get there at 1330 or later.. That is just what these guys prioritize, smoking over being on time. Crazy eh???
Matinee show today with a new band with Peter from Bismut/DundW and one of the guys from RRRaggs called VIIM. Should be a cool band. I will film and record them as well. They asked me to play on one song as well. Joe from Rock Times is coming from Germany, a few people from this festival are also coming.
We are running behind as usual…and Jiri nearly missed the exit and smashed the van. It hit a deep bump and the van went down hard but seems ok at the moment… Supposed to arrive between 12-13 and we arrive at 1330 earliest. Doors open at 1430…
Bad news back in Portugal, so of our fans, their farms have burned down but there house is ok. nick, Tif, Gary and Marla.. Tom…. so sad… So glad it did not get as far as Mike and Pat and us.. The fire was set on purpose by the neighbour of Gary and Marla… Pity. all that loss…
Lets see how the rest of the day goes…
It was a bit of a rush but it all went smooth in the end. Stage was quite small so there was no way we were going to be able to set up soundcheck, tear down the gear for VIIM and do it again so we just let them set up the gear in front of ours except the synths and then, they played and we just set up and started to play….
VIIM was great. Three piece band with Peter on Drums (Bismut, DundW), bass player from RRRaggs and a cool guitar player. They played 4 songs about 30 mins. I joined in on the last song. Really good music. Place was pretty full with their friends and awesome lights.
We just set up and started to play, no real soundcheck, just go.. We played about 80mins I think til 1730… Very zappa inspired stuff and very melodic and spacey to start and then we rocked. very different show again. Jonathan was super tired and frustrated but played brilliantly as always.. Nick also did some amazing solos as did Gregers.
Venue people were great and food was really good, best on the tour….. Fun but not going to do this kind of touring again.. The band drove back to Denmark, while Mattias and I stayed in Amsterdam for 2 more days. Jonathan flew direct to the USA to tour with Camper Van Beethoven!
It was great to meet our fans and friends and thanks to all the promoters..









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