Bread head

Thursday 22nd February - Cologne Gebaude 9



Thursday 22nd February - Cologne Gebaude 9



Today the funbus arrives in Cologne. We marvel at the Cathedral and wonder around town in search of shower gel and so forth. Tonight's venue is in an industrial part of town, and in the cold light of day appears quite menacing. Prize for best rider of the tour so far should be awarded to the promoter here. Fine food, haribo, beer, wine and Jim Beam all present and correct.

Now, the soundcheck for tonight's show was something of a personal low point for me. It appears that the bass bins are situated beneath my feet on the stage, and so a mere kick drum would vibrate up my legs causing my bowel (already under duress from large quantities of local ale) to shake. By the time we play a full song, I am on the verge of vomiting, from the sheer intensity of sound. I opt for a lie down to try and get it together, and a hearty meal and glass of red wine puts me in a better frame of mind.

Another good show tonight, I think the highlight being when we come back on for an encore of "Yours and Mine" and Robin decides to go on an impromptu meet and greet of the crowd. Garo follows suit, but seems to get carried away talking to someone about the last time he was in Cologne. Poor G is stuck behind the kit wondering what in God's name we were up to. As the gear is packed down we cook up an impromptu samba session with any available percussive instuments whilst Garo plays javelin with G's drum mat. Our spirit's are raised further upon arriving at our top notch hotel, in which we get a room each. I consult the minbar prices, and deem them reasonable enough to get a bit of chocolate on beer on the go before hitting the pillow. The good times keep a rolling...


Friday 23rd February - Magdeburg Projekt 7

The architecture of this fair town is a site to behold. Pink buildings, yellow buildings. orange buildings. Nice. Tonight's venue is a students Union with a big stage. And as sound wizard Morty blasts "Black in Black" through the huge PA I am dazzled by sheer sonic force. We sit down for dinner, and cinnamon is liberally sprinkled on our plates, under the false pretence it was pepper. Oh how we laughed!

Walking onstage to Pink Floyds "Interstellar Overdrive" we saunter up for gig number seven in as many days. "Sun In Your Eyes" seems to be going down increasingly well each night with the brass freakout section. The room full of students lap it up, and so in traditional style a beer or two is cracked open. At this point, I think the bad version of me took hold of proceedings. The next morning I am confronted with camera footage of me headbutting the dressing room wall with a loaf of bread over my head. Surely, a You Tube classic in waiting...

Tuesday 20th February - Frankfurt Das Bett

Ouch. Don't want to feel like this every day for the next two weeks. I sleep in the van and have nightmares all the way to Frankfurt about sliding down a cliff. Bad times...we pull up outside Das Bett and i stumble inside to be confronted with a huge picture of my nipples on the back page of the local paper (the bath tub shot which appears to have been circulated quite heavily). Upon loading in there are a few giggles when we discover our mountain of gear literally fills the tiny venue. We manage to squeeze onto the stage somehow and tonight ends up been a good one, probably the best up until this point. The audience were close up and personal, to the extent that even my tanning moisturiser was struggling to hide my pasty complexion.

Afterwards we hang round and chat with lots of lovely Frankfurters and do a swift trade in Merchandise. Fortunately the accomodation is right above the venue so I retire early in an attempt to repair some of the damage i inflicted upon myself in Berlin. I nod off contemplating that many a band member must have lied in this very bed, feeling like shit. And I take comfort in this.


Wednesday 21st February - Dortmund Barcuda

First of all, I would like to point out that as rule of thumb, when a band goes on tour it is standard that only two members will actually bother to bring shower gel or toothpaste. After a few days on the road tensions start to arise when the freeloaders like myself push their luck, so we vow to purchase some more. Today's first call of duty is a radio interview for Robin, but first we must have some lunch. Graham tackles a huge steak, whilst most of us opt for tomato soup which is simply too heavy on the basil. And the bread arrives when we are nearly finished. These things can upset a tired band.

Tonight's gig is for a local radio station , and the audience are competition winners so we are keen to prove ourselves a worthy prize. After a good soundcheck we head for dinner at an eatery affiliated with a venue and I enjoy a delicious Thai Green curry, marred only by the fact the rice was undercooked. Myself and Joe Bennett debate whether we should bring this to the staff's attention, not to be arseholes you understand but to be helpful. But then since the meal is paid for by the station, we decide not to.

Anyway, onto the gig before I turn into Alex Kopranos. Thank you Dortmund! Best gig of the tour so far. There was dancing, even screaming from the audience. We were well into our stride by this point, and at the end of the regular set the an encore was demanded, not simply politely asked for. Just what we needed really, because tiredness was beginning to set in, but we leave the venue a happy bunch of boys, looking forward to Cologne the next day.

Rush into Bavaria by Growls

Friday 16th Feb - Travel Day

As I sit supping half a kronenburg and lime in the boozer opposite Didcot station, the guys swing by in a nice blue Mercedes splitter van and I pile in. Here we go! 15 shows over 15 days in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is the mission. All present and correct. Evan Dando said in an interview recently that it is always advisable to have a woman in a touring party to get away from the "viking mentality." But I am lucky to be touring with such a group of perfect gents that I know all will be grand. We pride ourselves with good manners and fetching shirts. Babyshambles we are not.

The Channel crossing is sublime, thanks to a reserve of Strongbow and the atmospheric green lighting in the back of the van. Shortly before reaching Munster we stop at a questionable roadside eatery. As we sit eating, the television beams out a German equivalent of Beadles about. Currywurst is washed down with local lager. Good times await, of that I am sure...

Saturday 17th February - Munster Gleis 22



We make the short journey from venue to hotel and begin loading in gear. Garo is mysteriously absent until every last thing is inside, a trick he has perfected over time. Tonight's support is a guy called Ken Stringfellow who was in a band called The Posies, and has also plays with seminal seventies band Big Star. The rest of the guys plan to play an encore of "The ballad of El Goodo", a classic Big Star track. I sit out front whilst they soundcheck with it, and am blown away by the sheer force and size of our sound wizard Morty's mix. It was almost fearful, witnessing the size! A quick swig of Jim Beam, and onto the stage for show number one. A decent turn out greets us, and first night jitters seem to be all but absent. The encore with Ken goes down a storm, and we toast a good opening gig in true local tradition with a never ending supply of Bitburger.

As we turn to leave the venue I extend my hand in thanks to the lovely promoter, but accidently smash a glass bottle of apple juice all over him. I fear reprisals, or at least a ban from the venue but he simple laughs and says "hey, it's punk rock." Phew. Goodnight Munster!


Sunday 18th February - Hamburg Knust

Had a spot of bother checking out of the hotel in Munster today. It was a farce of 'Tap-esque proportions. The "twisted old fruit" on reception didn't understand us, we didn't understand her and after an 90 mins of wrangling we were free to.

I drift off watching Alan Partridge in the van, and before long Hamburg comes into view. I crack a wry smile as we pass the pub where the Aftershow party was held when we did the Nada Surf tour last year. Oh what fun we had! We pull up at what we think is the venue, although we can't work out why it resembles a closed down shop. After an hour of waiting outside, we come to the realisation that it is in fact a closed down shop and we are in the wrong place. When we arrive at Knust finally we marvel at the venues charm and size. Soundcheck complete, we are shown to a local resturaunt by the promoter. What follows surely is a contender for best meal of the tour. Unless i report otherwise in a later rambling diary entry consider this to be the case. Succulent steak with new potatoes and green beans washed down with Merlot. Nice touch!

Opening band The Sea put on a good show, and are lovely fellows to boot. We then look on with pride as our dear friend, and Goldrush horn-master/backing vocalsit Phil Jones (aka Four Days from August) charms the crowd with his sensitive song-smithery, and frighteningly good looks. As we walk on we are greeted with a shout of "welcome back" and we get down to business. The business of rock! While not matching the numbers we played to on the Nada Surf tour, the love we feel from those present means that Hamburg will be always close to our hearts.

Post show, load out the gear, and split into two camps. The rock n' roll elements of Goldrush and The Sea head out to a bar until the small hours, and the rest of us retire for the evening. Yours truly had a freak out/seizure last time I was in Berlin, so opt for an early night to minimize the risk of a repeat performance. Guten nacht x


Monday 19th February - Berlin Cafe Zapata


Monday 19th February - Berlin Cafe Zapata

Berlin and good times go together like Steak and Merlot. For some in-explicable reason we take about 3 hours to set up tonight, and can't decide what we want for dinner. We opt for an Italian, and cosy up with lovely Ralph (booking agent) and the lovely City Slang-ers who make us feel right at home.

The gig itself was fraught with technical difficulties. Joe's keyboards decide to give up the ghost (ho-ho) about two songs in. The seasoned pro that he is, he doesn't panic and get's it sorted. As Ian Faith said, "it's just a problem, it gets solved." That's the attitude in this camp. After the initial hitches we hit our stride, and it's a good spirited gig. As we load out the gear onto the pavement outside, and an "refreshed" Finley Quaye (as opposed to the oft seen sober, chaste version) remembers Garo from when Goldrush played a festival in Hong Kong. Commenting that we seem to have more equipment than Pink Floyd in tow, he tells us how he lives in Berlin now, which works nicely because he gets his royalties paid into his account in sterling, and then live on Euro's, thus enabling him to continue having a good time - all of the time. Now there's a man with an enviable work / lifestyle balance.

We go to a late bar and catch up with all the lovely City Slang people for a couple of hours. I suspect my first full bodied hangover of the tour is in the post...and this is confirmed upon waking.