Sept. 13, 2004 - 11:16
september 13. day before MY BIRTHDAY. Sabine's (from vermont) flat in dresden, Germany. she has a rabbit named benjamin that is the cutest thing i've ever seen. he hops around and smells my toes and then runs away.
i just made myself (and major) a cup of sainsbury's instant coffee. don't laugh, i'm beginning to like the taste.
adey , richard, nige, and simon are asleep on the floor in the living room. matt & i lucked out being able to get the duvet and sort of a room to ourselves. with a computer! hee hee.
how can i update days and days that you've missed?
hmm well i'm going to ramble and we'll see what we get.
the people of vermont are many. there are a couple players that swap depending on where they're playing. like Richard (who reminds me of todd carlstrom for some reason. very intelligent and silly too) plays bass with them in london but Mais (who matt thinks looks like liam neeson) is from germany and plays bass with them over here. same with drummers. nige is their long-time drummer and is sort of leaving their band so matthias from dresden is now replacing him as full-time drummer. matthias taught himself to play and is really creative but simple too. nige is more of a chunky drummer. more fat rock beats.
even though nige didn't play at our show in dresden a couple nites ago, he flew over from brighton just to hang out with everybody!
a big gang of friends, they are a family.
Sabine still reminds me of Anu. She is so cute and funny and teasing of all the boys. i realized
colin looks like Clark Kent. no really.
okay now i'm going to write in a circular fashion and go back to england.
The UK part of the tour felt a bit like a dream. rather than try to explain every moment let me give highlights:
*staying with lisa lavery in camberwell, london! she is mellow and fun and gave up her bed to matt & i. she went out with us every nite and played tour guide as we had a couple days in london. ate dinner in soho in middle eastern place. she came with us to meet vermont for a nite out at a brewery where we talked about the upcoming tour and our childhoods as the number of beers increased and we just couldn't leave but had to sit out in the courtyard singing and feeling end of summer slightly breezy air.
* london gig at the legion. I remember walking into the venue and feeling slightly intimidated by these beautiful, friendly vermonters.
after soundcheck and fiddling with drums and doing sign language with matthias to figure out levels of stool and snare drum (he doesn't speak much english) i felt pretty pretty much at home. heh.
nothing like some drum hits to center yourself. it was good to see paul and sally and buzfuz that nite. it was crowded and hot and sweaty.
we danced for several hours after the show.
this IS the dancing tour, you know. the dj's play tons of indie songs and songs from our adolescence and present and you just can't help it--the pixies and the smiths and huggy bear and the cure and strokes and list goes on...
shake that arse!
*bristol
we left around midday and matt & i were dropped off at a "scout hut" by the river to play a short set at a festival called "bring yourself fest".
we walked in and there were a bunch of people hanging out making crafts and making food and linus was there! linus is a band that inspired me to play music. it was so cool to talk to andy and tammy and remember that 10 years ago in london i went to tons of their shows and got totally inspired to go home to the states and start a band. wooooo!
i want to play with them next time we come over.
oh yeah so our set in the scout hut was pretty stripped down. just two drums and guitar and lots of voice.
nice to have sunlight on my face when playing.
camilla was there and gave me an apron SHE MADE with a "red panda" and drumsticks embroidered on it.
she calls me the red panda. hee.
now that my hair is blond am i the blond panda?
they fed us amazing vegan meal of thai curry and rice and then it was off to our second show of the day.
this venue was rock starlike. they had a huge dressing room as well as big stage with SIX monitor wedges! holy cow. sound was incredible. like i could hear EVERYTHING really well. the sound guy marcus was so attentive and caring he noticed a ring on the floor tom and put a piece of duck tape on it.
i feel like this was one of matt & my best shows. old new songs and some banter and keyboard.
it helped that camilla and nat were dancing fools.
they want pantsuit to come over and tour. yeah!
*edinburgh.
funny to go from show with lots of audience energy to show where people are mostly sitting. hmm it was sunday nite though.
good to see the band desc....they all came out for the show and francis and heather too. sound was challenging but i think it was the fault of the setup. i've been playing a different keyboard every nite for our one or two key songs (vermont uses 3 of them!) and i think after a week's worth of them i found out that that i am a casio player at heart.
played with a cool band that nite called sacred heart losers with cool girl drummer.
*next show was aberdeen and i can't say enough good things about that town. we were met with open arms and food and a very enthusiastic audience and we got to stay in an amazing flat of alan from kitchen cynics and it was really an energizing and satisfying nite.
not to mention the drive from edinbugh to aberdeen is gorgeous as hell with rolling hills and fields and the sea. big hello to jackie and gary, you rule!!
*newcastle.
hmmm well i wrote about that in the last entry. big thanks to joan of cumberland arms for letting us play a show after it being cancelled! also i saw some folk dancers outside the pub doing what looked like irish step dancing though they INSISTED that was not what they were doing. what i also forgot to mention is that colin and mario and mais slept in the van that nite parked outside of cumberland arms because all the drivers partied too much after the show and were afraid to drive. the rest of us stayed with adey's friend roy and then the van group met us the next morning.they told us that a strange vehicle drove up and scared them when they were in the van and they all put sleeping bags over their heads.
* hull.
great to see michael and matt and paul again!
we ate curry.
sound was rockin.
a sort of low turnout but the motto is quality not quantity. michael drove from leeds to see us.
how cool. he showed me his dream bitches pin! hi yokoling! he loves your songs!
*day off in london. we all stayed at simon's flat and made a huge dinner and lounged on his couch for hours watching dvds and it was heavenly.
couldn't really move from the sofa.
sorry paul g. not to make it to your show.
*brighton.
got there early and had fish and chips on the pier and played some arcade games and walked down to the water and had ice cream and went to Lush and bought these soaps that me and matt are becoming addicted to and then went and played to a packed SWEATASTIC room. the sound was so loud that i could feel the vibration from the monitor shaking the snare. awesome.
we saw didie and anna and antony and it was lovely to catch up with them and i was sad not to stay at their wonderful house but next time.
*LONGEST DRIVE IN THE HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL.
after show, we drove to dover and hopped on the ferry to calais.
i stretched out on a couch and slept the entire ferry ride. i thought i would stay awake and chat, but it was 4am.
the boys continued their party and drank beers and talked about recording. next day we stayed awake in teams of 3 to keep drivers awake and alert. stopped every couple hours for more caffeine and sandwiches. um, i want to say that there IS NO SPEED LIMIT IN GERMANY. and IT IS NORMAL TO GO FROM 130 to 160!!!!!
you'd think, being an anxious person i'd been in a constant anxiety attack. but actually it was fine. i even slept a lot. and hearing mais sing along to the CURE B sides in the van in his german accent was hilarious. for additional fun, we passed around our passport pictures and laughed at each other.
it took us around 11 hours to get to dresden.
once there we soundchecked and ate pizza and then took two hour naps.
what a strange feeling to wake up put on some makeup and walk to the venue that was already filled with people. holy moly. like a lot of people. um, nerves. um , i'm awake now.
matt & i set up merch, shook out our limbs and started playing. i love playing nite after nite. my muscle memory is becoming sharper. my arms know what to do and the cool part after so many shows in a row is realizing spaces in the songs where i can try stuff out like more opening of high hat or hitting ride cymbal in slightly different place or realizing a pocket of vocal i haven't tried before.
matt has been standing on amps, crates and doing the potato dance and regularly surprising me. i love it.
it was vermont's cd release for dresden show and they were no holds barred. i had to stand on a chair to get a view of them over the bobbing heads of the crowd. damn.
after show, we stayed out dancing till 5am! also, i discovered jagermeister.
i was tired but then vermont gave me a shot of jager and um, i woke up.
ha ha.
colin's sister claire, made me have more shots of jager. damn her.
slept most of yesterday---went to get breakfast around 4pm. i'm actually staying out late, can you believe it?
walked to club last nite called madness and sat in loungey room with everybody shooting the shit.
today we're going to take a walk by the river.
and of course eat more.
favorite foods so far:
the best goddamned falafel i've every eaten here in dresden!
beans with toast!
chips chips chips with special dresden sauce.
okay i have to get dressed now.
i am having luxurious morning of pajamas and sunlight through windows and i think this is the holiday vacation i needed more than anything after this busy summer.
even though playing every nite is work to some extent, it's good work.
matt & i are relaxing and like little kids enjoying all the new sights and sounds.
i can't wait to tell you all more when we are back.
i think we are starting to talk like the germans in their english accents.
the other nite matt goes, "um, this song better."
huh?
a bird bird bird bird is a word.
