10.13 Amiens, France @ Le Babylone Café
We all met up at the club. John, Mark and Jason Drove down from Amsterdam and I came in from Paris. Show was really fun, as we played a woman named Karene did projections. She projected art using brillo and colored liquid on an overhead projector. The room where we played was downstairs in a bar full of old chain smoking chess players. Our lungs hurt almost immediately. Good start of tour.

10.14 Rennes, France @ Mondo Bizarro W/ The Phantom Limbs
Rennes rules. Phantom limbs were amazing albeit sans mayonnaise. East coast / West coast rivalry is now on. Our track for Limbs/Neptune split is "Maybe you west coast sissies should concentrate on rocking instead of touching up your nail polish" Met lots of great people. After the show John was introduced to the town's "alley of drunkenness" where he had a run in with some riot police and got to experience what tear gas is like firsthand. We all had the pleasure of sampling some french homemade moonshine called calvados. Similar to what I imagine drinking gasoline would be like. Gnole!
You can view The Phantom Limbs side of the story Here

10.15 Paris, France @ Point Ephemere W/ Lightning Bolt, Sightings
Drive to Paris was long. The venue was great...it was located on the Siene in some sort of old factory building. It was a music space/art space/restaurant. One room had an installation of 6 high-speed fans and about a zillion small styrofoam beads which created the effect of a warm blizzard. lots of folks came to the show...it sold out...the aforementioned bands rocked. One of the best Lightning Bolt performances I've seen in a while. The promoter put us up in a hotel. Jason and Mark savored the luxury and went back to the hotel...John and I stayed out until 5 am sampling fine Parisian beer.

10.16 Clermont-Ferrand, France @ Raymond's Bar
Another longish drive to Clermont-Ferrand, a small and pretty town. We got there, met Sebastien the promoter...walked around. Went back to the club and had dinner. We played, the reaction was strange. Not in any way bad, just strange. We hung out for a long time after and a gypsy string band played. Met some awesome people. During the evening we started mashing band names together to amuse ourselves, we first heard of this from the Fleshies, here is what we came up with: Cherosmith, Rage Against the Miami Sound Machine, Steely Danzig, M.C. WHAM!mer, Revolting Cocteau Twins...No one understood when we tried to explain. Oh well. We went back to Sebastiens house and drank more beer and listened to records. Sebastien had this really cool cat named Max...I hung with him a bunch. Fun times until 6 am once again. Sebastien rules.
A review (in French) and photo's can be seen Here

10.17 Bordeaux, France @ La Centrale W/ Sixteens
Woke up, Had breakfast with Sebastien and Max, Max ate croissants, so french. We went to the town flea market and picked up some gems. Headed out and drove to Bordeaux. Another cool town, looks more like Spain then France, but that can be explained by it’s geography. Found the club which was difficult because of the largeness of our van and the smallness of the streets of Bordeaux. We played with Sixteens, another band from the Oakland area. Gothy, scary and dancy. We ate dinner, then played. The room was really cavernous...sounded good though. After the show we went back to Jean Baptiste´s (the Promoter) house and listened to some records. John was still sick, we were all really tired, so we crashed soon after arriving. Jean B. rules.
Photos from the show Here

10.18 Gorliz, Spain @ Xurrut
The drive to Gorliz was really nice. A very small beach resort sort of town. Found the club and wandered around until it opened. Went shell picking on the beach. They fed us pizza and we listened to records until the show started. Show was fun, we played to the 15 or so rockers in the town. We slept in a small hostel in town which was quite nice.

10.19 Madrid, Spain @ Juglar W/ Solex
Got up early and drove to Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim Museum. It ruled. Drove forever, got to Madrid and again attempted to navigate a crazy maze of incredibly narrow one-way streets. We were given the wrong address, but found the place sort-of accidentally. Met Lolo and Ingrid who set up the show, Loaded in our equipment as a line of cars behind us sat and beeped at us. The sound guy, Tomaso, had a really sleazy but amazing moustache and large thick-framed glasses. His voice sounded like Cheech of Cheech and Chong. Lolo told us a great story about when The Fleshies played there, Tomaso got really wasted and in the middle of their set jumped on stage, pushed over their amps and started playing drums. Nothing like that happened while we played. Club was cool, people were nice... and again,Tomaso's moustache was amazing.

10.20 Day Off...Drive to Barcelona
Our show in Barcelona got switched from Wednesday to Thursday, so we drove all day from Madrid. Driving through Spain Is very similiar to driving through the Southwest United States. Pablo, the promoter for the show was kind enough to let us stay at his place. we got there, got some food and bought canned beer from some guy out of his backpack...

10.21 Barcelona, Spain @ Sala Magic W/ Life Under Stars & Sons of Saturn
Some of us had a difficult time getting out of bed since the night before was spent drinking Absinthe in El Revel, the seediest district of Barcelona. John was still a bit sick with a cold and the horrendously awful air quality was making it hard to breathe. Good thing we brought an inhaler. We left Pablo's and went to Park Guell, an amazing park designed by famous Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. It's like walking through a life-size version of the boardgame Candyland. After that we visited La Sagrada Familia, the cathedral Gaudi began building in the late 1800's. He was hit by a train after completing a small portion of the building and some radicals broke into his quarters and burned all blueprints and destroyed the plaster casts he made...needless to say construction was halted a bit, but eventually resumed. Project completion date: 2022. We all split up for a bit then met up at Magic. Had dinner with Pablo and some people from the other bands. Show was weird but fun. I hit some woman trying to take a picture in the head with a drumstick...she was OK though. Love Barcelona, but the air not so much.

10.22 Grenoble, France @ Les Crocleurs W/ Richarles Bronson, Pablo
This show was really weird. At this point everyone is kind of spun-out and exhausted. We found the place, saw Richard, the guy who set up our last show in Grenoble, then walked around. The show was in a different place than last time. It was where Jason, John and I went to a Devo dance party last time we were in town, but none of us actually remember too much from that evening so... Richard played and was awesome. He sits between 2 amps and plays an extremely distorted child-size bass and sings through a microphone, also really distorted, duct-tapped to his mouth. This guy named Pablo opened up the night by playing traditional French accordion songs. Before we played some shirtless guy was passed out in front of the stage, covered in dirt with a wine bottle in his hand. Lucky for us he woke up and screamed through the quietest parts of our songs and gave us the finger a lot. We went to bed and were awoken by another totally wasted guy pissing in the hall. Sometimes the pleasures of touring are endless.

10.23 Lyon, France @ GRND ZERO W/ Marvin, Glen or Glenda
Great to be back in Lyon. We picked up our friend Eve at the airport on the way. Got to GRND ZERO, met the people who live there. Hung out for a while until our friend Pierre arrived. Awesome to see him again. Our friend Adeline showed up a bit later on...we kicked it for a bit, had dinner at the squat. Place was really cool, show was good, well attended...went back to Pierre's house to crash...first really good sleep thus far. We all slept until about 1:00 PM.

10.24 Day Off - Lyon, France
Due to some serious communication errors our show in Pisa is not happening, so we spent the day with Pierre and Adeline. Did laundry, ate french salad, had a nice dinner. Tomorrow we have a 12 hour drive to the Italian/Slovenian border.

10.25 Izola, Slovenia @ Shotoklub
The most brutal drive so far on tour but the best monday night-middle-of-nowhere show possibly ever. We left Lyon at 8:00 AM, got on the highway and got stuck just before entering a tunnel... there was a truck on fire on the other side. we sat for an hour and a half before they diverted traffic around the tunnel. The French alps are beautiful...saw a glacier on the side of a huge mountain that had a 8 mile tunnel going through it. Drove all day - 14 hours. Our fist show in "Italy" was actually just over the Slovenian border. The directions we got were really vague and the road signs got smaller and more difficult to read the closer we got to Slovenia. The club actually had no address...it was down a mountain in this small resort part of Izola right on the Adriatic sea. Once we finally arrived met Chupa and Igor who set up the show and did sound. They fed us cheese toasts and pivo which translates to grilled cheese and beer. We played, people were cool... after we finished they fed us grilled vegetables and home made cheese from Bosnia. After the show Jason and I hung out and had wine with the owners and some locals, we listened to The Liars and talked about Liabach who are coincidentally from Slovenia. We slept in bunk beds at the club. Slovenia, at this point in time, seems to rule.

10.26 Castlefranco Veneto, Italy @ Buenaventura W/ Sixteens & Mondo Cane
Spent the day in Izola, Jason swam in the Adriatic, I only made it up to me knees. After pizza, we got back in the van and drove to Castelfranco. Club was a bit hard to find but we got there to find the Sixteens drinking beer on the porch, so we had the right place. The building was some sort of hostel, squat, art-space or something. We had to fill out membership forms to stay there...the place was strange. Hung out on the porch for a bit, Kristen from the Sixteens painted my fingernails black. Mondo Cane played first...Noise performance art, was pretty cool, their set up looked satanic and kind of like something from a Kenneth Anger Film. Sixteens played and were great. Crowd was thin but most people seemed into it. After the show shit got a little crazy. Without going into too much detail Sixteens got into a little spat which included one member banging anothers head on the concrete floor and lots of punching. Jason had to separate them...I slept through the entire episode even though they almost stepped on my head numerous times. Pretty insane. Hope to see them in Lausenne, however it looks a bit grim.

10.27 Migliarina di Carpi @ Ekidna W/ Mondo Cane
We picked up Luca in Treviso, he set up the Italian portion of the tour. Cool place, squat in an old school building. Quiet night...food was good.

10.28 Bologna, Italy @ Ex Marcato 24 W/ Zurich Against Zurich
This show ruled. First we walked around the city and visited Piazza Del Notonno (Neptune Square). They totally knew we were coming and planned ahead. Finally. City is old, dirty and beautiful. Got to where the show was...a squatted building that used to be an old produce market. The building is crazy. Today there was and organic market happening. We waited forever for the show to start. Initially we were to play first, then last...supposed to be 3 bands, then 4. We ended up playing second which was good. Lots of crusty punks and dogs running around. I had to take a shovel away from this wasted crust punker...he ran into the room and started yelling in Italian and banging a shovel off the wall.

10.29 Pisa, Italy @ Università di Pisa
This show was awesome. It was at the University and we set up in the hallway between the classrooms. Weird. The opposite hallway had a DJ that played reggae...listening to that much reggae is not unlike being punched in the face every minute for an entire day. Show was really fun, lots of people. After we loaded the van we went to visit the leaning tower. Quite nice. We stayed with our new friend Martina in her family's Italian villa. It was in the hills in an olive orchard with an array of many different insects and 5 cats. One cat had a leaky eye and a short tail that liked to sit in the rain. He was pretty cool.

10.30 Pisa, Italy - Day off
We drove Martina to her classes in Bologna and hung out there for the day. Went back to the villa and found Martina's mom made us dinner. Some serious rustic tuscan shit. Went to bed and battled Italian insects once again.

10.31 Lausenne, Switzerland @ Espace Autogere
It was nice to be back in Lausenne. We arrived a bit late, loaded in then left and had dinner at the new squat a few blocks away. On our way back to the club we found some really large hair salon photos of models. We brought them and set them up in back of us. Our costumes were pretty hot. As we suspected, The Sixteens did not make it, it seems like they've imploded which is sad. The show was fun...the model photos ended up in bits on the floor and at some point someone got hit in the head with one of them. Happy Halloween.

11.1 Zurich, Switzerland @ Sue Ellen Bar W/ DJ Dave Phillips
Found the place relatively easy this time. Sue Ellen Bar is in a youth cultural center located on the grounds of what was formerly Needle Park. It's much different these days but the stories are pretty fascinating. Aside from the 3 people involved with the show, three other people came to the show. It was great to see Dave Phillips again, We all bro-ed down seriously and those 3 people had a hugely inflated presence so it seemed packed. Our friend Eve gave a little extra in the applause department and it was much appreciated. John did a hot solo on the stuffed koala bear we picked up somewhere. We are now accepting applications for a new merch girl.

11.2 Zurich, Switzerland - Day Off W/ DJ Dave Phillips
We woke up and all met up at the river. DJ Dave met us and took us around the city. Nice tour. It was election day and we were all dreading the outcome while trying to keep a positive attitude. We went to Dave's and he cooked us an amazing dinner. John went back to the club beforehand and slept. After dinner Jason and Mark went to bed. Dan and John went to the seedy part of town to see if we could find any election results... not much information at the town because we're 6 hours ahead...kind of stressful. We met some very interesting locals...went back and went to bed.

11.3 Luzern, Switzerland @ Senti-Squat 7 W/ Acao Direta
Drive was short...found the place relatively easily. Every one was bummed out because at this point it seems pretty clear that bush will be around for another 4 years. Anyway, after bringing our stuff in everyone split up and walked around the town. Really beautiful mountains and a lake that would make the most hardened dudes cry. Really. We met back up and had dinner, talked to some folks. We played, it was a fun show. Acao Direta played after us and they were really awesome. A hardcore band from Sao Paulo, Brazil that have been together for 18 years. We hung out with them after and listened to records. After a while they wanted to play table soccer with us. We tried to tell them we had no athletic ability whatsoever, so they got the bartenders to join in and John and I tended bar during the game. This guy Pille set up the show...really nice guy.

11.4 Bern, Switzerland @ Dachstock Reitschule W/ Enon
Got up, had coffee and said goodbye to Pille and the Brazilians...
Another short drive, got to Bern and found Sandro who set it up. We had coffee and milled about for a bit. The place was huge, like a gigantic attic ski-lodge for rockers. The place used to be a riding school, when it became vacant squatters took it over and now it's a performance space, restaurant, coffee shop and movie theater. Sandro took us around the city a bit...again, very beautiful. We made it back from the jaunt and found Enon setting up. We hung out and played broom hockey with a beachball. We sound checked and everyone went to dinner. Dinner was fancy, we talked with Enon and Sandro...was great. The guys and gal from Enon are great, heard some good tour stories. Due to the vast size of the room, the 8 to 12 people that showed up made it feel totally empty, which it was. We played, Enon played, then we hung out and had beer...was strange playing in that space. Sandro is an amazing person.

11.5 Skofja Loka, Slovenia @ Rdcki Ostriga
9 hour drive...kinda brutal. Got to Skofja Loka, really small town. Jaka was the dude who set this up...we all went to dinner and came back and played. Another quiet night. 11.6 Kranj, Slovenia @ Izbruh Cultural Swimming Pool W/ Amper-O-Mat This place was insane...a former community swimming pool, that I imagine was shut down when Yugoslavia broke apart. One side was a bar and rock club, the other side had a giant empty swimming pool in it. Scolz, the owner and one of the most punk rock dudes we've ever encountered, showed up on a mini-motorcycle. He told us his licence had been revoked and people could drive mini-bikes without licenses in Slovenia. We had dinner and talked with Scolz, Very interesting guy and somewhat of a local hero. Amper-O-Mat played and was great. One guy that contact-miced a broken plated and ran it through a bunch of effect. We played pretty well and a bunch of wasted Slovenians danced. People milled about until really late. John and I slept in the van.

11.6 Kranj, Slovenia @ Izbruh Cultural Swimming Pool W/ Amper-O-Mat
This place was insane...a former community swimming pool, that I imagine was shut down when Yugoslavia broke apart. One side was a bar and rock club, the other side had a giant empty swimming pool in it. Solc (with an accent over the c or the o and pronounced Scholz), the owner and one of the most punk rock dudes we've ever encountered, showed up on a mini-motorcycle. He told us his liscence had been revoked and people could drive mini-bikes without liscenses in Slovenia. We had dinner and talked with Solc, Very interesting guy and somewhat of a local hero. Amper-O-Mat played and was great. One guy that contact-miced a broken plated and ran it through a bunch of effect. We played pretty well and a bunch of wasted Slovenians danced. People milled about until really late. John and I slept in the van.

11.7 Kranj, Slovenia @ Day Off at the Izbruh Cultural Swimming Pool
This day I became really depressed. Solc was kind enough to let us stay at the Swimming Pool. It was sunday in a really small town in Slovenia - everything was closed. The Swimming Pool had no electricity or running water and minimal heat. Spent most of the day feeding the wood-burning stove. We cooked dinner on the gas plate, it was kind of like camping only dirtier. I began to feel sick because the air inside was a combination of diesel fumes from the generator, smoke from the stove and years and years of mold collecting in there. We all decided to tough it out and sleep inside. None of us could sleep, too itchy, kind of cold and miserable. It was definitely memorable. Jason said this was one of his favorite places on tour. I believe this is where I started growing my moustache.

11.8 Zagreb, Croatia @ KSET, Earwing No Jazz Festival W/ Volapuk
Without a doubt, one of my favorite shows. Was nice to escape what seemed like a small eternity in Kranj. KSET was a bit hard to find, but we eventually we found our way in and met Mate. He organizes the festival...truly an amazing guy. We loaded in and sound checked. Then went to the hotel and had dinner. It was nice to shower, this was Mark's first shower in 10 days. We went back and the place was packed. Volapuk played and they were one of my favorite bands we played with on tour. A jazz quartet of cello, violin, drums and bass clarinet. Really amazing stuff. I figured after them, once we started playing, everyone would cover their ears and run out. It was quite the opposite. People were really into it. During the first song, I threw my head back and hit the head of Jason's guitar...when I went forward, blood went all over the can and sawblades. It ruled...small injury, lots of blood. Some shirtless guy, that may have been missing some teeth as well, screamed "I Love You" between songs from across the room. After we finished I gave him the stuffed Koala I'd been keeping on the sawblade stand. Really amazing night. Mate, KSET and Volapuk rule.

11.9 Ljubljana, Slovenia @ Club Gromka W/ Amper-O-Mat
We had enough time to go check out the city before leaving for Ljubljana. Zagreb is a pretty amazing place, very old and eastern European. It seemed to be completely recovered from the war in 1995/1997 - interesting and scary history. We met back at KSET and drove to LjubLjana. While crossing back into Slovenia, the border patrol searched our van . The drug-sniffing dog was pretty cute. One guard asked me to unpack our merchandise box and while doing so, I think I scrathed my nose which they mistook for me trying to eat some drugs or something. A little scary. It held us up only 30 minutes - got to Club Gromka which was located in an old military complex for the Yugoslavian Army, now a squatted artists collective. Amper-O-Mat played a totally different but even more amazing set. Scolz did sound. He said we seemed "crazier" and more "junkie-like" at The Swimming Pool. Oh well, can't win them all. Show was pretty fun, but I think we we're all really exhausted.

11.10 Linz, Austria @ Ann & Pat W/ Tomido
Long drive, but a fun show. Tomido were really good, a bass and drums duo that used alot of samples. I think we played pretty well. After the show we slept at KAPU, a space run by Anatol of Valina. Another much needed good night's sleep.

11.12 Nijmegen, Netherlands @ De Onderbroek W/ Ford Pier
We got to De Onderbroek after driving forever and met Donne. He was the first person to respond to us when we tried booking a European tour last time around. Really nice guy. The show fliers were cool. This is where Adrianne Jorge (former Neptune projectionist) met us. She is joining us for the last week of tour to compile footage for her documentary on the DIY scene. Was good to see her. The space was in a basement of a squatted artists collective. Ford Pier shows up with Gijs, The guy we rented the van and amps from. We were all glad to see Gijs...he's quite a character and extremely funny. Ford played electric guitar and sang. We went next. Show was good, well attended and we had good energy. The DJ played awesome records. Fun times.

11.13 Berlin, Germany @ Zentral W/ Rocket Freudental
Wierd show. Wierd vibe. It was put on by former New York based promoter Fitz. The only show we did not get fed at. The place was located under the train tracks in sort of a tunnel. We played first, was pretty fun but a bit strange. Couldn't tell what people thought of it but I think some dug it. Next band played forever, can't remember their name, but they bored the shit out of me. They sang about their fears of a "western world", however all their songs were in English! Go figure. Next up was another one of my favorite bands on this tour: Rocket Freudental. 2 guys, one played guitar, the other played a drumset made up of old luggage. They sang in German. So much fun, I laughed so much but their music was really great. They had this song in which the chorus was "Ich Bau Scheisse - Stapelweisse" which roughly translates to " I speak alot of shit often" They made the night fun

11.14 Flensberg, Germany @ Senffabrik W/ Silence, Echo Niepokoju
Another fun show. The Senffabrik is a squat in an old mustard factory. We got there a bit late but just in time for dinner. We ate with the 2 other bands and the folks that lived there. The other bands were both on tour from Poland. Really cool guys. We played first, was really fun and people seemed to like it. The other bands were Hardcore and Grind Core I Guess...it was fun. The people that lived in the house were really colorful and interesting. There were 4 dogs and 2 cats. All very cute.

11.15 Flensberg, Germany - Day Off @ Senffabrik
Hung out in the town all day...Went back and cooked dinner. Quiet.

11.16 Aalborg, Denmark @ 1000 Fryd
Long drive. Was excited to go to Denmark because I've never been before. Got to the Club and met Peter who set up the show for us. One of my favorite people we've encountered thus far. After walking through the town, we sound checked. This was the Food Not Bombs night and we had an amazing meal of salad and vegan lasagna. We hung around and listened to music before we played. A good amount of people came to the show and from what we heard, that rarely happens at 1000 Fryd. Show was fun. Drank lots of Danish Organic beer.

11.16 Utrecht, Netherlands @ ACU W/ Fine China Superbone
Last long drive of the tour...I expected to be happy, but found myself a bit sad to be nearing the end. Got to the ACU and found Pepijn, had an accidental beer (really), some coffee, then dinner. Fine China Superbone were pretty amazing - it was the last show with their singer. A handful of people showed up. After the show we stayed at the Ubica squat a few blocks away where Pepijn lived. It was totally burned out inside. A former mattress warehouse that caught fire and stayed empty for a few years until some squatters took it over. Most of the major support beams in the building that were badly burned were never replaced and I could feel the floor where we slept move every time someone turned over. I just hoped I'd fall asleep before it caved in and that I wouldn't even know what happened to us when it did. In the end we survived.

11.18 Kortkijk, Belgium @ The Pit's
I really love this place. Last time it was a blast and this time was even more fun. I initially got the contact info from the Phantom Limbs - so, I guess they are good for something. Did I mention that our song for the East Coast/West Coast-Neptune/Phantom Limbs Split will be "Maybe you west coast sissies should concentrate on rocking instead of touching up your nail polish"? Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on them, because they can lay on a mean coat of nail polish. So, that's now a total of 2 things they are good for. Anyway, The Pit's is this tiny bar in a really small town. The entrance to the club is through the men's room. You can pay the cover and then hit the urinal before going into the bar. They always play amazing records... We played to almost twice as many people as last time so maybe this time was about 16, and that's even a generous estimate. Was a really fun show.

11.19 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso W/ The Ex, The Evens, Silent Block, ICP + Getatchew Mekurya, Tamount, Yannis Kyriakides & Andy Moor W/ projections by Jem Cohen, Electralane
Quite possibly my favorite show we've ever played. It was amazing for me to get to play with The Ex twice in the states but to play on their 25th anniversary party was really an incredible honor. We got to Paradiso around 2:00 PM...an hour late due to some construction. We found our way in and found Grrrt (Ex soundman and all-around rulin' chap) behind the soundboard as Electralane was doing their soundcheck...everything was really frenzied which was exciting. We loaded in and Colin, former bassist of the Dog Faced Hermans, was doing our sound. Pretty cool to meet him because they were and still are one of my all time favorite bands. We did a sound check and after watched The Even's do the same. Very different from what I expected, kind of etherial and mellow. I took off for a while and returned for dinner, It was a bit insane to meet so many people I've been listening to for years and respected a great deal. The vibe was great - really friendly and warm, met lots of interesting people. After eating I went upstairs to see Silent Block. They totally blew my mind...3 guys with homemade instruments and electronics and 1 guy mixing it all. It's something that can't really translate into words...just has to be seen. Really, really amazing. Next, Mark and I watched Andy of The Ex & Yannis Kyriakides play improvised music to 2 films by Jem Cohen. Also really great. Got to see a little of the ICP and Getatchew Mekurya before we had to go upstairs and play. Again, pretty cool. We set up and played to one of the most packed and enthusiastic rooms of the entire tour. Was really fun. After taking a much needed rest downstairs, I headed back up to see The Ex. They played a set of old songs. Of all the times I've seen them play I've never seen them do old stuff. Needless to say it was incredible. I freaked out so much my neck hurt a great deal the next day but it was worth it. One of my favorite Ex concerts ever. I only got to see The Evens do 2 songs which was a bit of a bummer, because I liked them. At this point things get a bit hazy because some of the musicians from Ethopia brought some homemade honey wine. It was delicious but a tad potent. Saw a few Electralane songs, was good and the bass player had awesome hair. After the show I was really tired and elated, the night was amazing and dizzying. Totally drained and a bit drunk, I went to the van and fell asleep.

11.20 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso Day Off to see The Ex, Zea, Zu + Mats Gustafsson, Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed/Asnake Gebreyes/Messele Asmamaw, Two Pin Din, Free Fall
Another phenomenal evening. After waking up in the van with a slight headache and a really sore neck, I headed out for a stroll around the city. Amsterdam is one of my favorite cites in Europe. Walked forever, got lost a few times - was great. Got back to Paradiso for dinner...Mark and I talked Colin, Terrie of the Ex and Grrrt into taking photo's with us. As I was taking a photo with Colin, Marion of the Dog Faced Hermans walked in and got into the shot. Impeccable timing - was cool to meet her. I remember seeing them play in Boston years ago and it really changed a lot for me. Really Incredible show. I gave her a Neptune CD. First act I saw was Cor Fuhler and Michael Schumacher. Piano and improv dance...the coolest part was the pianist rolled the piano around the floor. Saw Zea next and they were great. Weird electro-pop. Their keyboardist is a swell dancer. After this Mark and I watched Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed/Asnake Gebreyes/Messele Asmamaw - three guys from ethopia playing incredibly dancy yet very traditional sounding music. One of the coolest things I've seen on tour. Mark and I danced with one of the filmmakers, and were later on joined by Grrrt. Was so much fun. Another mind blowing band was Zu, amazing noise-punk-jazz. I only got to see a few songs because I expected The Ex would be playing downstairs but I loved them, really intense. My suspicions were right, The Ex were playing downstairs and again they were brilliant. I think they're better now than they've been in a while - not that they were ever bad. After they played I found myself in a dressing room downstairs talking to Jon Langford. I think it's safe to say we were both a bit inebriated and I don't quite remember all of the conversation, but I do remember he's pretty damn funny. Once the rock portion of the night was finished, The Paradiso started pushing the rockers out so they could resume with their Disco/DJ/Dance Portion. Some thuggish bouncers wouldn't let me back in and I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone. Oh well, next time. A truly astounding evening!

11.21 Den Haag, Netherlands @ SCSICELL W/ Zu
Hung out in Amsterdam for the day before we headed out to Den Haag. Got to the place which was a really cool and tiny performance space. The guys from Zu were there already and we talked for a bit. Suddenly it hit me that this was the last show of tour...6 weeks come to an end, so many places, people and bands. The though of sleeping in my own bed was great, but overall I felt sad for it to be over. This was a good way to end though - quieter then the last 2 nights, but still a rippin' time. We set up and played...I felt we played well and the folks that came out were into it. Next was Zu...another amazing show by them. Really amazing band + really nice people = winning combination . And admit it, we ALL like winning. Time for bed...home tomorrow...hopefully to do it again soon.

THANK YOU:
Tibo, Karene, Le Babylon Cafe and Everyone in Amiens / All the folks at Mondo Bizarro, The Phantom Limbs, Thomas and the fine people of Rennes / Lightning Bolt, Sightings, The guy who acted as our interpreter and found our hotel room, and everyone @ Point Ephemere in Paris / Sebastien, Tatiana, Max, Jean and everyone @ Raymond's Bar in Clermont-Ferrand / Jean-Baptiste, Sixteens, Sebastien again for getting us this show and Le Centrale in Bordeaux / Everyone at Xurrut and to Lolo for setting up the show in Gorliz / Lolo, Ingrid, Thomaso, Solex and Juglar in Madrid / Again thanks to Lolo, Pablo for letting us stay 2 nights, Antoni Gaudi, Sons of Saturn, Life Under Stars, The woman I hit with a stick and everyone else in Barcelona / Richard a.k.a Richarles Bronson, Pablo the Accordion Guy, Les Croceluers, The drunk guy and anyone else I may have missed in Grenoble / Pierre our #1 homie in all of France, Adeline, Arnaud, Marvin, Glen or Glenda, The other band whose name I'll fill in as soon as I remember, Eve for doing Merch, and all the dudes at grnd zero in Lyon / Chupa, Chupa's Dad, Einstein, Igor, Liabach, Eve and everyone at Shotoklub in Izola / First off, thanks to Massimo of Zu for all the contacts in Italy, Much thanks to Luca, Eve, Mondo Cane, Sixteens, Beunaventura and the incredible 8 people that showed up in Castlefranco Veneto / Luca, Eve, Mondo Cane and The girls of Ekidna in Migliarina di Carpi / Luca, Eve, Ricardo, Ex Mercato 24 and the upstanding citizens of Bologna / Luca, Eve, Martina, Università di Pisa, Martin's mom for the excellent meal, The Leaning Tower and everyone we met in Pisa / Peck, Sarah, The new squat where we slept, The beauty salon for throwing away those amazing gigantic photo's, Everyone that wore a costume and everyone at Espace Autogere in Lausenne / DJ Dave Philips (for playing, conversation, showing us around, explaining swiss banking and for dinner), David Thayer, Sue Ellen Bar, Eve (again for merch, but also the extra applause when the crowd was thin) and those 3 caring individuals in Zurich / A million thanks and props to Pille, Acao Direta and everyone at Senti-Squat 7 in Luzern / Sandro, Enon and the Dachstock Reitschule in Bern / Jaka, The Bands, and Rdcki Ostriga in Skofja Loka / Much thanks to Scolz, Amper-O-Mat, The cappucino place and the Izbruh Cultural Swimming Pool in Kranj / Mate, Sasha, KSET, The Earwing No Jazz Festival, Volapuk, The shirtless screaming guy and all the people that came to the show in Zagreb / Matjas, Scolz, Amper-O-Mat, Club Gromka, Nate McBride and the folks in LjubLjana / Chris, Tomido, Anatol/KAPU, and everyone at Ann & Pat in Linz / Sean Kenney and his kind roommates in Munich / Donne, Ford Pier, Gijs, Adrianne, The DJ with the good record collection and everyone at De Onderbroek in Nijmegen / Fitz, The bartenders, Rocket Freudental, Sean Kenney and his companions, The place we ate brunch and the fine, fine people in the amazing city of Berlin / Sandra, David, Silence, Echo Niepokoju, The dogs & cats and everyone at Senffabrik in Flensberg / Peter, Food not Bombs, and everyone at 1000 Fryd in Aalborg / Pepijn, Rutger, Michael, Ubica, Bas, Fine China Superbone and ACU in Utrecht / Bram, Tina, Ramses for the housing and everyone at The Pits in Kortrijk / Grrrt, Colin, Jos/Terrie/Kat/Andy/Roze of The Ex, Tony Buck, Wilf Plum, Arnold from Zea, Cathrin, Ard for being kind enough to handle our merch, All the performers, The Paradiso, one more time to Grrrt, and everyone in Amsterdam / Bas, Massimo and Zu, SCSICELL and all in Den Haag

GOOD NIGHT!