The Blackout Argument

Archiv für die Kategorie „tour diary 2009“

It was the first time for us playing in a phenomenal big circus tent. It was a festival called “RIOROCK” where TEN FOOT POLE, DEATH BY STEREO and MADBALL headlined. Feivel got insane once again when TEN FOOT POLE started rockin’ out. He remebered when he covered some songs of them with his former punk rock band GREAT GUNS. Chris and me were absolutely excited for MADBALL and they fuckin’ destroyed everything. We saw them a thousand times and we were never disappointed. Yeah! By the way: I’ve never seen so many ugly people on one place than on this festival. Howcome?
(Raphael)

Huge festival, huge stage, huge line up, huge merchtent… feels kinda strange playing such a monstrous show after so many small club shows. We still gave our best on stage which didnt work out the way I wanted it to but I guess our set was still alright, at least we sold loads of merch after the show. Right before we sorted out whether we’d do an overnight drive or sleep for 3 hours I met someone I hadn’t seen in years: Hondo, one of the first kids I got in touch with when I entered the hardcore scene in 1995. It was such a big pleasure talking to him, finding out about his life, family and most of all seeing that he still has the same passion for hardcore music that he had 15 years ago. This conversation made my day, thanks!
(Chris)

500km north of Munich - completely different world. Definitely one of the coolest shows of this tour so far! We were welcomed heartly by Eastern Germany’s No.1 promoter Gag (Sorry Greyli but you haven’t set up a show for us yet hahaha!) got 5 completely different delicous dishes for dinner and a 20l canister full of coffee. That’s everything we need to be happy plus some.
Shoutouts to the almighty Conne Island, definitely one of the coolest venues in whole Europe! Perfect stage, massive sound, the perfect size, cool backstage areas, clean showers and toilets, best crew ever and monitor wedges large and stable enough to carry a 90kg guy like me. You didn’t need a crystal ball to forsee that the show would be a blast! We had a great time on stage and felt well being the only rock band among some of the toughest hardcore bands around.
Another thing that highly contributed everyone’s excitement was the line up. Apart from our tour package Reign Supreme and 50 Lions played their first European show ever and on top of everything Black Friday 29 had joined their bill, kickin’ off their European tour. It was like a huge hardcore-bbq-party, everyone was hanging out, watching the other bands and having a great time. Seems like the Leipzig show came just right in time for us to compensate the sobering Munich show.
(Chris)

Oh well, Munich once again… after our more than frustrating “Smile Like A Wolf” 7inch releaseparty I was pretty sceptical playing the Orange House again, especially on a weekday. This Is Hell made a similar bad experience at the Backstage club, too, last time they were here, but to be honest, I expected the show to turn out a little better than it actually did. Only about 50-70 kids showed up and noone dared to dance, scream and shout apart from 2 completely annoying drunk fuckers in the audience. Munich, is this ALL you have to offer for 3 amazing bands?! I must admit that we didn’t play the best show that night, everyone was still fucked up from our overnight drive, broken amplifiers and the neverending cold / flu but still… “Streets of Munich need a change”!
(Chris)

After Feivel, Phil, Eric and Chris made their girlfriends happy we refreshed our merch booth with some new stuff. We got new big stickers and Chris tagged them EVERYWHERE. I think it turns him on in some sick way. I wonder why he’s asking Phil to join him all the time, strange thing… The show was kind of weird so I decided to kill my frustration with a coke. Sascha (our former bass player), Nick, Ben (DEAD SWANS) and me went to a fucked up bar in Munich’s Glockenbach district. The British saussages were more interested in the the girls once again so they took two of them to our sleeping places and got closer with them. Before that could happen, we had to figure out how we could get back into the locked venue. Ben “the spiderman” dickhead climbed up on the roof, sneaked into a window and opened the door for us. RESPECT.
(Raphael)

One of the best shows on this tour so far. The people were nice and courteous. We got awesome soja food and waited for the second van. They arrived half an hour after “last minute” so we played first this evening. The kids went fuckin’ crazy and moshed hard. On the last song some kids grapped me and made me crowd surf. We all really enjoyed it. Our driver Ralf had another one of our tough overnight drives all through the night. Arriving in Munich we were embraced by the warmest day this year so far. Yeah!
(Raphael)

We were all looking forward to the show in Vienna´s almighty ARENA: Nice sleeping rooms, good food and even a washing machine! Hell yeah! Arriving at the venue, Chris noticed a closed crepes stand and tried to crack it. With saliva on his cheeks he cried for help. I could comfort Chris with some nuts in the backstage. Some “groupie”-like girls (not ours!) killed our nerves but the show was fuckin’ great. After the show some of us went to a club called flex. To be honest, it was only Feivel who represented BOA here while the rest of the band already had sweet dreams…
(Raphael, Eric)

Alright everyone listen, this one’s OVER THE TOP! After a cool show in a pretty well organized music / culture club we were all asked to follow a guy to his place where we were supposed to spend the night. Everyone is cool with private accommodation, most of the times the sleeping places and breakfast are way cooler than in club-pensions or motels. But after a ride of about half an hour which went far off any proper road, street lights and electricity we litarally ended in the middle of buttfuck nowhere! Everyone’s already started joking about the “Hostel” movies and stuff but when we arrived at a completely remote farmhouse next to a river the fun seemed to become bitter reality. The pooring rain and a pitchblack night was the perfect setting for the various horror-scenarios everyone was picturing in their heads. The guy had already prepared the sleeing places which were pretty comfy but noone could relax. The house was scary as fuck! Weird architecture, mixed furniture, mysteriously taped doors, a water heater from the past century and all that in complete isolation in the Slovenian outback. Not even shitloads of dope that were consumed by selected people that night could change anything about. I was trying to get a proper GPS signal with my mobile phone to send out our coordinates and last words to my girlfriend but not even that worked out. Back to the kitchen I saw our drummer phil holding a REAL bazooka over his shoulder and the house owner, who picked up the weapon in his garage, suggested to “blow up the ugly yellow van” without the slightest sign of humor. Things got worse and worse, stories about snakes, people who broke into his house and other weird stuff made me finally go to bed, still scared to death, just like everyone else. I was just starting to fall asleep when the house owner stood in the door with a huge grin on his face not saying anything. The next day I heard that he did that in every room before he went to bed himself (where did the guy actually sleep!?). At this point I was sure that NONE of us would survive this night. John / TIH who was lying right next to me said “I hope he kills me right away, I don’t want to be tortued!”.
Alright, morning breaks and… still alive!?! Maybe I was the only lucky one? Maybe I was in heaven already? At least that was the first thought I had when I saw the breakfast the guy had prepared for us! It was plain AMAZING, we even got personalized breakfast eggs “with ham? with cheese? with nothing? sunnyside?” and strong coffee. At this point it was clear: That dude was the coolest and most hospitable person in whole Slovenia and everyone jumped into the van, alive, full and with a huge smile on their faces!
(Chris)

We arrived at the venue at 8pm and Zoli (BRIDGE TO SOLACE) welcomed us with some hard booze. But no one wanted to have a drink with him which he took personally. We tried to relax in a 5 qm² room (for 16 people) and nearly went insane fighting for coke, plugs and air. The crowd was pretty aggressive and during the THIS IS HELL set, we had the first proper show-fight on this tour. It was a testosterone party at it’s best. We slept in a day nursery house and got kicked out at 8 am. We used the time for sight seeing in Budapest. Great city. (Raphael)

It was so cool to see Zoli and some of his Bridge To Solace musicians as well as Balasz / Dawncore at the show! It sucked big times that I had so much other stuff to do so that we could hardly hang out. I would have loved to give Adam a hug, too! Some of the coolest dudes on earth are spread in the most remote places.
No offense to my band-mates but the three hours I had all on my own the next day in Budapest were some of the best moments on this tour so far. being squeezed into a van or club for hours, days and weeks can become so unbelievably distressing, you wouldn’t believe it. I just enjoyed the noise of the streets and the countless bizarre and moving impressions from one of the most beautiful European cities. Hugs and Kisses to Budapest!
(Chris)

Arriving in Bolzano we met the coolest promoter on this tour so far. You’re the man, Maurice! We had the fuckin best pasta in the hole fuckin universe and drunk energy drinks called “blue bear”. The crowd was absolutely crazy and even many girls rocked the dance floor very hard. The local band “dead return” celebrated their release party. Eric said, that many girls threw looks at him this night and he claimed to have a great mobile phone, too. He’s da man!
After the show we drove to a very catholic youth hostel where there was a cross with body in every room. In the room where Chris and me slept, the cross was turned upside down. How can this happen? Chris was in fear ’cause he saw all horror movies on exorcism and knows all the dirty details. His eyes turned white, he pissed in his pants and he graped the cross and stared at me till he fell asleep. Creepy! By the way… Eric. (Raphael)

Bella Italia! It was another 10 hour drive from Linz to Pinarella and when we arrived we were stoked about the nice weather. Nice weather – bad show. I think the promoter didn’t give a fuck. We expected more people ’cause it was a Friday night. After the show a DJ spinned his records and all of a sudden there were twice as many people as to the hardcore show. Sucked. The techno kids came with angry faces and Rick (THIS IS HELL) reported fights with techno kids from the last show they played there. So loading went quickly. We slept in a apartment on stained mattrasses only 20m from the ocean.
(Raphael)

Oh yeah Pinarella’s one and only “Flinstones Club”, the almighty rock planet! I remember last time we played there (back in 1856 with my old band Paint The Town Red) Kurt Ballou broke his hand on stage trying to use his guitar case as a wakeboard. However, tough ass played the last couple of shows and gained my maximum respect for being 100% un-pussy. But this time there were no broken bones, hearts or amplifiers. Lucky us, lucky Italy.
(Chris)

The whole band was looking forward to this show du to massive friendship celebration and Austrian hospitality. Unfortunatelly THE CASSIDY SCENARIO had to cancel their support slot for that night so it was just Dead Swans, This Is Hell and us. Smallest stage ever but biggest fun. Not for Raphael, though. The flu reached its peak that night, his voice was fucked and so was his mood. I went for some Austrian Kebap after the show (yes I know, still all about food) and then trailblazed my way through our sleeping place. Imagine 16 people all stuffed in ONE room. Burping, farting, smelling, laughing, fighting, moshing and threatening (”I’m gonna kill you and your family!”) until sunup. I literally caught NO sleep at all. Back in the van, heading for Italy.
(Chris)