Leo and I flew out to Frankfurt together to meet Bob and Ken, who flew out a day earlier to get the backline situation in order. The logistics of the Euro Tour are always kind of a hassle. You need to rent gear as 1) they have a different electric system than we do and 2) you couldn't afford to ship your gear over there anyway. Our faithful Swabian driver Christoph had secured the van, so we knew that would be handled exactly as planned. Christoph is the perfect German Tour Manager. He is precise, detail oriented, distrustful of anyone different than himself, and cheap beyond measure. When Leo and I land, I am 100% confident that The Little Commandant will have the van/Ken/Bob/gear waiting for us exactly as scheduled.
We leave Cleveland at 3:30 Friday, and land in Frankfurt at 930am Saturday. We have a show scheduled that day in Uden, Holland so the only real course of action is to stay awake and power through the day. If you sleep now, your body clock will never catch up. The plan is to wait for the van to get us at about 11am. 11am comes and goes, and we start closing in on Noon. Then 1pm… It was right about then Leo said "Fuck.".
When you hear "Fuck" in an international airport, it's never a good thing. This was no exception. As the drummer, Leo only had to pack 4 things. These things are standard in the world of traveling rock drummers: sticks, cymbals, bass drum pedal, and snare. It was at 1pm when he realized he forgot his bass drum pedal and sticks (or literally half of the things he was supposed to bring). As a side note, I guess I can see forgetting the bass drum pedal. But sticks? You were flying halfway across the planet to play drums, so you figure sticks might be top of mind.
At around 1:30 (or 4 hours after we had landed), the guys show up with the van. It is a large white van with "LSD Trips" painted on the side. For some unfathomable reason, the company that we rented the van from (LSD Trips) decided it was a good idea to put their logo on the side of their van. Hey, what are the chances of getting pulled over in this? To make this trip interesting, let's put some illegal immigrants, a pound of cocaine, pornographic movies, and a couple pandas in the back. Maybe we can make it across Germany without having our body cavities stretched open with a flashlight!
The rest of the day is spent hop scotching across small German towns looking for a place to buy a bass drum pedal and sticks. This is proving to be difficult because no stores in Europe are ever open. Everything closes early on Saturday. And on holidays. And weekdays that start with "T". Don't even think about Sundays. Finally in Cologne we find an open store and score the last of the gear we need.
The club in Uden is a really nice rock club. Big stage, good lighting rig, and a enthusiastic young staff. We play with some metal band where the singer does the Cookie Monster style vocals. Our show goes OK, but I have to admit I am pretty hazy due to lack of sleep. Our saving grace is that we sell all 20 shirts I printed up with Leo's mug shot looking passport photo on it. Leo has somehow become a local celebrity, and is posing for photos while smoking hash with the patrons.
[Archive]
Day 1: "Fuck"