#b2kda

Hey guys. As promised, I'm writing this in the newest EU member state, Republika Hrvatska or Croatia to everyone else. It is crazy hot, as usual, and it's siesta time. I'm not feeling sleepy right now so I thought I'd wrap up the tour for y'all.

Last I wrote we were in Berlin for a coupla days off. I loooooove Berlin. It has just the right mix of insanity, dirtiness, acceptance and culture to keep a freak like me happy. I love how nearly every wall is grafittied, and not just tags; awesome bombs and street art. The people are not afraid to be as unique as they feel like. Tatts, piercings, weird fashion, crazy haircuts, the works and nobody seems to mind. Nobody looks twice. It's great!! We stayed in a hotel on Warschauer Platz, just behind Warschauer Strasse U Bahn station. Conveniently, this was an area of Berlin I would frequent on past tours because it had the best grafitti and lots of underground bars and clubs nearby. I was very happy that we could get messed up Berlin style and then stumble home without a train ride. Nice.

Remember how I said in the last blog, amazing the healing properties of adrenaline? Well, finally the inevitable happened and I got sick. Time to really test out that theory. When you are in close proximity to a lot of people for a long period of time you tend to infect each other with diseases. This particular bug had been on a rampage through the band for most of the tour. I think Ollie was the first casualty and then it spread to Jono, Richie, Felipe and then lastly me. It's my own fault really. Berlin partying mixed with rooming with Richie who was sick finally caught up with me.

I would take the bug with me on the journey to Hannover and the Maschseefest. We had played this particular festival at the very end of the last tour and it wasn't a happy time. Last year the band was fractured and many of us were in bad head spaces. The show was ok but the disharmony in the band reached a head as we readied ourselves for finishing the tour knowing we had already lost at least one member. This year thankfully we shook off the demons of the last tour and managed to have a great time. The crowd was great, the sound was excellent I'm told (Kyle, the man, learned a new EQ technique to get the 'motown' bass sound) and we played really well. We saw some familiar faces in the crowd and even some repeat attendees from other shows on the tour. Sometimes I get a little superstitious about places and I had a bad feeling that the negativity of last year would somehow resurface, just because this was an unhappy show in the past. Goes to show that superstitions are stupid because there was nothing to worry about in the end. The only thing I really had to worry about was surviving the gig because I was coughing my ass off. You know when you get one of those annoying coughs that doesn't seem to have any reason for being there? It just kinda nags the back of your throat and try as you might, no amount of coughing will ease it's relentless tickle. Well, Mr. Cough was enjoying tormenting me throughout the show and I felt a bit embarrassed to be hacking away between songs. No one seemed to notice though and we thouroughly enjoyed the evening. The Maschseefest has some really interesting food stalls and dinner consisted of a mixture of giant shish kebabs and bratwurst that was a metre long. Again, it was a free festival that European cities so readily seem to encourage. I don't know how they pay for them but I'm jealous. Very jealous!!

It was off to Potsdam on the outskirts of Berlin next. It was interesting to find out that a mere 20 kms from Berlin was a very clean, orderly town that seemed very rich. If you are 20 kms away from the Auckland CBD you are in Auckland. We sprawl so far that places that used to be independent towns when I was a boy are now indistinguishable from a suburb of Auckland. Albany anyone? When I asked a Potsdamian (Potsdammer, Potsdamite?) whether they were part of Berlin or kinda considered to be I was swiftly rebuked. Turns out Potsdam was right on the edges of the West/East German border during the cold war and they are fiercely proud of their little piece of Germany. We played at a complex that seems common in German cities. It looks like a converted factory that is now an arts centre. They had a theatre, live venues, art spaces, a film screen and plenty of games and sporting areas. The Tollhaus in Karlsruhe is very similar and I have seen it in other towns whose names escape me now. I like the concept. Turn a disused, ugly, industrial area into a flourishing artistic, youth zone. It's another thing that us kiwi's could do back home to great effect I reckon. Not enough places dedicated to the arts that young bands can perfom at and actors and actresses, artists, poets, etc. ply their trade at. The show itself wasn't huge, but the audience that did come was fully into the show. We made a point of trying to party as hard as possible in Potsdam as the next two days would be full of travel and very early starts. The result was nearly getting kicked out of our hotel, running through the streets like madmen and Paaka getting red wine all over his brand new white outfit.

Picking up the pieces the following day, we had to travel to the very pretty town of Lubeck in the north of Germany. I don't normally talk about the travel but between Potsdam and Lubeck it seemed to be nearly deserted farmland. I could be totally wrong but that's what it felt like. It's funny to think of a country as populated and dense as Germany containing kilometer after kilometer of empty fields. Maybe there still is some space on this planet?

The venue in Lubeck was my kinda place. It was more accustomed to catering for punk bands than to fusion music and the grungy feel and atmosphere brought back some nostalgia from my youth. It looked like it was an abandoned building from the outside and initially we thought we may have the wrong address. The walls were covered in grafitti and it looked like the construction had been improvised from scraps of wood salvaged from a junk yard. Inside was not much different until you saw the stage and bar and realised it was a living, working venue. We were treated exceptionally well by the promoter and staff, the club's chef fixing us tasty treats on a regular basis and a charcoal BBQ for dinner. We were in a good mood come showtime but nothing could have prepared us for how well were received by the audience. You can never tell how many people will show up to these kind of club shows, especially if it's the first time you've played there. We lucked out in Lubeck and had a packed house. The crowd was maybe the craziest bunch we'd played to on the whole tour. They were up for it from the first song and didn't leave us till the very end. The confines of the room mixed with a lot of people dancing their tits off equalled mega heat. Paaka sweated through two T-shirts, Riduans shoes looked like he had left them out in the rain and I was dripping so much I could slip over in the puddle I was creating under my feet. It was awesome!! We gotta chalk Lubeck up as one of the most enjoyable places we've ever played. I truly hope we can come back next year. It'd be nice to actually look around the city too as it's a UNESCO world heritage site. We saw bugger all this time.

Like I said, we had really early starts the next two days and one of the reasons was we needed to drive to Kortrijk, Belgium for the last show of the tour.

As on all of these trips the last few days can be quite emotional. So many experiences get packed into such a short period of time. We share the good times and bad, arguments and laughter, but no matter what the negative aspects are, it's always sad to see it end. Fortunately for everyone, this tour had almost no negativity. There was the odd sickness and injury but all in all we got along great and could share in this fantastic journey in which we played to thousands of people. The journey to Kortijk was tinged with a bit of sadness because we knew in a matter of hours we would all be parting company.

It was a fitting farewell in many ways. The festival put us up in a nice hotel with extra rooms so a few of us got to sleep individually, always a nice perk. They also put on an excellent restaurant meal where we got to enjoy our 'last supper'. The show itself had a large audience but most of them appeared to be waiting for the ABBA tribute band on after us. It was ok though. We've learned now that Belgian audiences can be quite reserved so if they do any movement and cheer between the songs you're doing alright. The crew were cool too. A big shout out to the young crew guys we met that have a still unnamed band. We wanna see your stuff on youtube and soundcloud boys!! Keep us in the loop. The final packdown took place in a melancholy mood. It was all different because the van had to head back to Berlin and some stuff was getting on a plane. Just that small change signalled the end and it was hard not to get teary eyed. Once everything was packed and ready to go we basically had to hug and say goodbye to everyone. We were all scattering like leaves on the wind the following day so there was little time for drawn out farewells. Paaka, Darryn, Felipe and Kyle were leaving to NZ from Amsterdam where Ollie and Finn would hang out for a while. Richie and Jono would make the long journey back to Berlin to return the van. Riduan was off to Barcelona while I would drive Scott and Mariela to Brussels to catch a flight to Argentina. I would have to return our rental car (2013 Ford Mondeo station wagon, diesel, 950kms to a tank, best car ever) to Cologne before my train journey to Munich and then ultimately onto Croatia.

Sitting here reflecting it is hard to believe now how tight we were this year. You see the same faces everyday and you want to see them. We are like brothers and sisters and even if some people will not be able to tour again, they will always be our family, just like everyone else that has been part of the B2KDA machine.

I want to sign off by thanking everyone who has helped us on this journey, particularly Scott and Mariela our managers and Stephanie our German booking agent. We would never have been able to do this without you and I know you're gonna help us climb to even greater heights next year. Also to all the promoters that booked us, crews that helped us, volunteers, other bands and musicians; thankyou so much for making this trip such a great success.

Lastly, a huuuuuge thankyou to the fans, especially our extra special, loyal ones, Shelly and Reka. You make us who we are and we love you. We want to spread our music to greatest number of people as we can and everyone who has read this blog, become a facebook fan and shown our CD to friends is extremely precious to us. We won't let you down. Next year is gonna be even bigger. Watch this space!!!

Personally, I've really enjoyed writing this diary for you. I hope you've enjoyed reading it. I'm not gonna stop writing but the topics will change as we're not touring anymore. Please leave comments and questions because it'd be great to write about things you'd be interested in reading. Topics for discussion are more than welcome :)

So, onwards and upwards. I will hopefully see all you lovely people really soon. Hold the B2KDA flame high. Batucada...... Ae!!!!

Hey guys. Are you prepared for another excuse as to why this blog has been so slow to come? I was re-reading some and realised I've apologised on pretty much every single one. Well, no more. The reason this one is late is.... I was having too much fun. That's it! No tiredness, no crazy travel (actually, there was). Just plain and simple... I put it on the back burner. I think that does deserve an apology so, I'm sorry. Can't help it. I'm a kiwi after all :)

I'm writing this in the small Austrian town of Weiselburg ahead of a gig (you will notice that by the end I will be in Berlin though). I had much better opportunities to write this. For example, yesterday Richie and I sat in our hotel room all day watching movies and stand up comedy on youtube. What lazy asses right? We were in the beautiful, crazy city of Budapest and chose, of our own volition, to sit around and do what couch potatoes everywhere can do at home. Silly, silly. Sometimes it's just the right thing to do on tour though. The stresses of the road catch up to you and a day bumming around can be the best medicine. I'll get to Budapest shortly but I need to catch up from where we were before. Hmmm, Strasbourg huh.

We had a couple of off days in Strasbourg which is unexpectedly enchanting place. It is right smack dab on the border of France and Germany and has apparently been fought over for centuries. The latest victors were the French who took Strasbourg after World War I. You can see the German influence in the architecture though trying to speak German there is a no no. The region is called the Alsace, and the people there are Alsatian, like our police dogs in NZ. We call those dogs German Shepards, though technically the Alsace is in France, hmm... you can kinda see how mixed up it is there eh?

We had to head to Switzerland after Strasbourg for our next show. We'd played this one before in a picturesque little place called Zug. The stage backs on to a lake where happy people were relaxing or swimming, imbibing and enjoying the Swiss national day we were there to perform at. As the day was oppressively hot this was a good chance to have a swim, or if you're shy about showing your beer gut, fall asleep on the couch allowing the air con to freeze dry your sweat. It's not the picture of Switzerland that is conjured up in films about the alps, where an avalanche would be of more concern than sunburn. Part of me wants to assume this is what summer has always been like in Switzerland but another part carries the nagging worry that this is climate change rearing it's head.

The show was really cool even though we had to cut our set short. The band before us ran over their time and there was a curfew so we had to knock off a few songs. It was a bit of a bummer but that's the way it goes sometimes. A couple of hours later we had to wake up to get to Basel airport. Both times we have played in Zug the following day has been a travel nightmare. Here's the kind of thing you run up against as a touring band:

Last band on at a festival, finish after 1am

Pack down, go to merch, mingle and talk till at least 2am

Get back to accom, wind down after the gig till close to 3am

5am lobby call to leave enough time to drive to airport 100+kms away

Airport check in with a group. I don't need to describe how boring that is

Get on the plane and try and sleep. Delayed in sleeping 'cause you have to have your seatback upright blah blah

Get to next airport, have to drive to next venue

Soundcheck

Drive to accom

Finally, get a bit of rest!!!

Drive back to venue

PLAY THE GIG

It's not that bad really. When I read it back, it is certainly a 1st world problem that can't even slightly compare to the hardships others go through. But, you do get a little grumpy on no sleep. Doesn't matter who you are.

This little excursion I've described was to get to our next show in the south of France. We played in a town called Vence, very close to all those fancy places we've all heard about like Nice, Canne, St Tropez and Monaco. It was a very lovely place though as usual, we didn't get to see much. Essentially, the following days travel was a mirror of what I've already described, just in the opposite direction. Not much time for sightseeing. It was however a watershed moment for the band. In the 5 years of touring Europe, we have never played in France! We've been through France a bunch, one time we almost got in a street fight in Calais, but have never had the opportunity to perform to the culturally attuned citizenry. It was a special night. We played well but the reaction was a bit mixed I have to say. There was a lot of older people there and I have a feeling that we might have been a little too loud and aggressive for their tastes. The kids however loved it. They were going for it man. One thing that I have noticed on this tour is that even though our average age is around 30, the younger people are getting into our sound. It's great! I've spoken to a lot of grateful and enthusiastic new fans that are all around 18 on this trip.

Speaking of young, enthusiastic fans, our next stop was Karlsruhe in Germany. Home of one of our most loyal supporters, Shelly Harel. We've played in Karsruhe 3 times now and each time has been a pleasure. In fact, the first time we played Karlsruhe the response was such that it confirmed for us that we could really have a go at this Europe thing. If you are touring and have no name you need a few places to get behind you to give you the confidence to go on. If it wasn't for cities like Karlsruhe there is every chance that we would have stopped touring which would have also meant the demise of the band. So, thankyou Karlsruhe and every other place like you that comes out and supports live music. We wouldn't exist without you.

I guess after that it should go without saying that the gig was great, well.... it fuckin' rocked!!!

The crowd was mental and we busted our asses in response. It was a packed house and everyone was dancing. Ignore the stereotype that Germans don't like to party or are really stiff and all that. These guys were going off. After the show we felt like rockstars with loads of people asking for photos and signatures and all that. Let me repeat, THANKYOU KARLSRUHE!!!

The next port of call was Budapest. If you get out a map you'll see it's quite a ways away from Karslruhe so we had to break up the journey by stopping in Vienna. As a fan of history and geography it's really cool seeing both of these cities in quick succession. The former seats of power of the Austro-Hungarian empire split by the iron curtain for most of the 20th century. Now freed of it's socialist chains, Budapest has a bit of catching up to do to match it's spotless sister city. These places were built on the same wealth and you can see the grandeur this bought in the architecture. The interesting thing is to see what the postwar years bought to the different cities. One, gorged itself on the capitalist teat while the other followed the bleak, Stalinist line. I shouldn't over simplify the complex histories of these countries so maybe research it up if you have the inclination. Very interesting stuff.

Budapest is the home of the famous Sziget festival. One of the biggest in Europe. We have been very fortunate to have played Sziget twice now, the first time on the main stage with The Prodigy and Dizzee Rascal! This year we played a smaller stage but had no less fun. The festival is ridiculously massive. It's set on an island in the middle of the Danube river, seperating the two halves of the city, Buda and Pest. During the festival it is said that Sziget almost becomes a mini country with an economy all of it's own. It's not hard to see how strolling around the place. Anything you could imagine wanting or needing at a festival is available there. The bands are only a part of the whole experience and they cater for every taste. We played on the Afro-Latino Reggae stage, not to be confused with the World Music stage, quite different though than the Tribute Band stage. I was pleasantly surprised and amused that they had that particular stage. They even had a Faith No More tribute band playing that would have pleased members of another of my old bands, Pills For Breakfast (we were a FNM tribute band too).

The coolest thing that happened was just before we left Budapest we got a gift. An extremely talented young woman, Reka Timea Vatai, gave us a (I hope I got this right) cyanograph of the band. What it is is a piece of fabric, or many pieces in this case, that has photographic images printed on to it through some process that I'm unaware of. They come out in a kinda ghostly blue shade and take on the texture of the material. It's beautiful and would have taken a lot of time. I'd like to thank Reka again for the hard work and effort she must have put in to make it. We are extremely flattered to have received such a wonderful present.

After Budapest we had to return to Germany via a show in Austria. We played in the small town of Weiselberg, the home of a beer I quite often buy in NZ I was pleased to find out. It was raining so we didn't see much of the place but I did finally find a post office to send the million postcards I had been collecting. The show was meant to be outside but because of the weather they moved the whole thing indoors. It worked out just as well and the gig was a real treat. Two other bands played before us and they were really cool. Django 3000 was a rockabilly, gypsy, punk affair and the Pull Up Orchestra a very tight brass band incorporating tons of hip hop samples arranged for horns. Again, a great crowd who had been warmed up expertly by the other 2 bands. I thought to myself at the time, what a cool little festival to be a punter at. Really good mix of music they got to hear, and all really showy, party bands.

The final gig in this stretch was in Bad Windsheim, Germany. I think the town is meant to be like one of those mineral spa type places but we never actually saw the place. The show was situated at the top of a hill in the country and for the first time Europe didn't look polluted. I know that NZ is not as clean and green as we advertise it to be but at least we have proper clouds. Like white ones that are puffy. I reckon the sky in Europe is really different than back home and I also reckon it's coz the air is all full of shit. The amount of planes whizzing about overhead, the big cities and factories everywhere must have had an effect and I believe it's visible. I wonder if Europeans (or Asians, Americans, etc. etc.) come to NZ and remark about the sky, “Wow, look how blue it is and they have clouds like what little kids draw”. We do and let's keep it that way huh guys? We should use the European model of making our cities friendly to bikes and pedestrians instead of the American model of endless suburbia and roads for cars only. I will do a separate Auckland rant on another blog. Auckland deserves to be slammed on its own with no distractions.

Anyway, Bad Windsheim had proper clouds, a proper sky, an awesome crowd, an awesome crew and we had a brilliant time. I felt a bit under the weather before we started but the audience picked me up instantly. It's amazing the healing power of adrenaline. Sometimes we're sooooo tired, or actually sick, and yet you can always seem to pull it out for the gig. It's like magic.

Well, that's it for now. Berlin and 4 more shows await us. I'll probably write the next blog in my second home of Croatia. Gonna have a week off to unwind in the sun before normal life resumes. Hope you all get a chance to have a little relax in the sun wherever you are reading this too.

Take care

It's been a little while since I last blogged. I apologise for being slow, but if you've been following this, you'll know that the daily thing has gone right out the window. There's a reason for this, and by now it should be obvious so I won't dwell on it.

We've been on a very enjoyable, whirlwind ride through the low countries – Belgium and The Netherlands with a short trip back to Germany. It always amazes me how the mere crossing of an invisible line can radically change the language, culture, architecture and even sometimes the landscape of a place. I am of course talking about borders and how this fantastic idea of the European Union has now seemingly erased them from the map. We drive, see a small blue sign with yellow stars around it (sometimes it has a countries name on it) and BANG, new everything. It happens a lot but nothing really prepares you for the difference in culture, especially coming from New Zealand. I think even when I've gone to Australia, the culture isn't ridiculously different. The landscape and wildlife certainly is but it takes 3 hours on a plane to get there, you'd expect some major differences. Well, for the last 5 shows we have played in 3 different countries. The drive times have not been more than an hour to each place (little bit longer for Germany but not much) and every place has been a surprise with multiple new experiences to be had. Oh Europe, you gloriously multifaceted place you.

I left the story in Antwerp last time and the following stop was a mere skip down the motorway to the truly grand city of Gent. You see a lot of old buildings in Europe but Gent seems to only have old buildings. Medievel spires are the cityscape while on the ground level its gothic bridges over lazily flowing canals. We arrived to play at the Pole Pole festival which I think is a part of a 10 day long festival season in the city. It is so cool. The whole old city is dotted with stages catering for almost any music you'd care to listen to. There's arts, crafts, food stalls, street artists, all the usual festival trappings and yet... It's FREE!! The city puts it on for the people and I read they get some 2 million visitors over the 10 days. Man, I wish it was possible for us to do something similar in NZ. I know, I know, low population, low density cities, blah, blah. One day Auckland. One day you will have a festival to be proud of. We're counting on you.

We played on the main stage and it was a behemoth. Check out the pic.

As you can see, a canal runs under part of it. It's so tall that standing on the stage and looking down, the people seem really far away and detached. The ones that are on the other side of the canal really are detatched, literally. This detatchment does affect a performance, and it certainly did for me. I have to admit that the Pole Pole gig was one of my worst showings on the tour. I made a ton of mistakes and couldn't connect with the audience. It was tough. Part of the reason for this was that the band before us was a Cuban timba band and over the years I've spent a lot of time learning and absorbing latin musical styles. Now, when you hear the real deal playing before you... really well, and it so happens that the bass player is wicked, sometimes my confidence can drop. Or maybe I try too much or something? I dunno. Suffice to say, I played shit and didn't enjoy the gig. The other thing was the distance between us and the people and the fact that the show was a free festival. The audience was spoiled for choice over what they wanted to watch. It didn't matter that in front of us were thousands of people, it is a very different vibe when people come to a show specifically to see you, or to see bands as the main activity. The bands were just another attraction to the whole event so an unkonwn quantity like us would have to try very hard to win the crowd over. We worked hard but it wasn't the easiest to achieve that goal. I also think that after the previous 6 shows, having a break for a few days can really screw with the intensity. It's tough to keep it at an constant level all the time but coming off a break, sometimes you just need a kick up the ass.

We left Gent somewhat subdued but confident to pick up the slack and really push on for the rest of the shows in this region. I have to say that I think we really did.

Bur du Matin in Brussels was our next show. It's a very small little venue akin to Rakinos to all the Aucklanders reading. It may be the smallest place we play on tour but the club, and the wonderful Jasmin who owns it, hold a very special place in our hearts. We've played Bar du Matin every year we've been on tour and we always have a blast. There's something to be said about small, sweaty club shows. The intimacy of being so close to the audience, unlike Gent, really gives you an energy that's almost always rewarding. We're treated amazingly by Jasmin and the crew and the air of friendship and hospitality pushes you too. The only bummer about the show was that noise control came and pulled the plug. It was a great gig up till that point with the audience really up for it, and then without warning, “You gotta stop playing or the bar gets a fine!” Ooooooooh do I hate noise control. I'm not gonna get into that rant now but I think cities need to have a little bit more tolerance towards live music if they want to be vibrant places to live. Anyways, apart from that we had a great time with our good friends in the capital of Belgium.

The following morning we were headed back to Antwerp for a festival on the outskirts called Sfinks. It took us a while to find the place coz we're kiwis and normally when you're playing a festival in a field, it's usually in the wops. This place was in a suburb of Antwerp that had a big open, green space. If you haven't driven around Europe before there's lots of narrow streets and one ways that can be very confusing. We got a little lost, told off by the cops for moving traffic barriers, and ended up taking 2 hours to make a 15 minute drive. A tad frustrating just before a big festival gig. Once we found the place it was all good though. We were greeted by a case of blue Chimay beer (top shelf mate) and a super jazzed crowd. For the first time on tour the heavens opened and we had proper rain. That squeezed in the already teeming crowd we were playing to and made it even hotter and dirtier. This is almost always a good thing and it proved to be the case again. We had the pleasure to play before one of Bob Marley's sons, Kymani, and his fabulous band. It's really cool to hear original Jamaican reggae played live, especially when they mixed it up with some heavier riffs. I was impressed to see that their guitarist had a Dimebag Darrell signature guitar (R.I.P Dime, we love ya!!!) and they had some dope rock/reggae tunes while mixing in a bunch of Bob Marley originals.

It was back to Germany the next day to play the Eir mit Speck festival and one of my proudest moments as a member of this band.

OK, let's get some background to me musically so you know where my head's at. I grew up playing rock, metal and punk. It's in my blood. I learned later to appreciate, love and cherish many other styles, particularly funk, jazz and latin American music, but the heavy stuff never left me. I've always played like a rocker too. I'd be head banging to a funk song, looking like a total dick on stage, but it never bothered me really. It's who I am as a musician.

Eir mit Speck is a rock festival, one of the few we've played, and some of us were nervous. I guess if you're reading this you know what our music is like so it shouldn't come as a surprise that we wouldn't be the most common sound on a rock show. This became even more evident when we arrived and the band preceding us was a Czech punk band going extremely hard and fast, saying stuff like, “I wanna see a wall of death muthafuckers!!!”. I'm actually really stoked those guys played before us. We got riled up watching them, getting our inner punk on, and by the time we had to get on stage we were prepared to play the heaviest show B2KDA can dish out. We were worried that we may get booed off the stage but, within minutes of starting, we had a big crowd that was well into it.

If there is any kind of running theme in all of this, it's that the proverbial 'don't count your chickens before they hatch' theory really does ring true. We go to a place, think it's shit, turns out it's great on further inspection. We prejudge a crowd, think they'll hate us, opposite happens. This tour has illustrated that point more than any other and it's actually a really positive thing to know. Your worst fears are only an opinion. You cannot 'know' the outcome beforehand. Life is a gamble, embrace it.

One of the really cool things about Eir mit Speck was that we got to hang out with all the bands and enjoy the festival as much as the punters. The bands we saw after us, and the aforementioned punk band, Pipes And Pints, were all fun to hang out with. Maybe we've even made a few more friends to play gigs with in the future. Gotta plug their bands here: Please check out the Graveyard Johnnys (Rockabilly) from the UK, Wallis Bird (Indie) from Ireland/Wales and the brilliant Hoffmaestro (Fusion/Rock/ummm, kinda like us) from Sweden. After many, many a beer and great conversations with musos of multiple different persuasions, our inevitable hangovers had to ride with us to our next stop, Amsterdam.

To know you're gonna stay in Amsterdam is kinda exciting. The place evokes so many images, not just of it's undoubted beauty, but of course, the weed cafes and sex shows. This can make you long for the place or want to avoid it with a wide berth. Regardless of how you may feel about Amsterdam, it certainly is an experience. We played at a beach bar!! What a novel experience when you're a few km's from the North Sea. The venue is called Blijburg and I think it's actually a fake beach. It's real sea though, and people were swimming in it. Tough people the Dutch. Makes me think of guys down in Dunedin surfing in winter.

Blijburg is a small bar and for kiwi readers, it's a bit like a Leigh Sawmill or the Yot Club in Raglan. We have to do a bit of musical origami to fit on small stages and sometimes it can be quite hard to move. For instance, I was squished into the back wall trying to avoid smacking Ollie in the head with my bass. The show was a bit quiet as people wanted to enjoy the fleeting sun, and being outside, but it was a good one nonetheless. I don't mind if people enjoy us by sitting and watching or going crazy dancing or moshing. I prefer dancing and moshing but each to their own huh. Noise control was again an unexpected nuisance that made for an interesting set. We didn't stop playing this time. We just played really quiet while they were there, with Richie and Paaka throwing in a few adlibs directed at the cops (they didn't get it by the way). It was pretty fun and it's cool when the band and the audience are connected in unified 'rage against the machine'. As soon as they'd left we played even louder than before. It was weird though, the nearest habitable buildings were ages away. I think this annoying 'cone guy' was to blame. When we tried to drive into the venue's driveway this officious wanker wouldn't let us through on account of his single orange road cone. The owner of the bar was trying to persuade him, phone calls had to be made, favours cashed in, all so dickface here could look like he had something important to do. Ooooo it makes me wild. Give man a position of power over another and watch the assholes run amuck.

So that's it, 5 shows in 3 countries in 5 days. So much fun.

As I finish writing this, we have travelled all the way down to the French/German border town of Strasbourg, itself a very pretty place. I'll let you know how the next few shows go in Switzerland, France and Germany as soon as I can.

Take care guys

Hey guys. Amazingly, if I finish this blog today, everything will be up to date. Woohoo!!! That’s what you can achieve with a coupla days off in a beautiful city if you decide to become a hermit in the hotel. To be honest, I have absolutely not been a recluse this time. 2 years ago when we played the Zomer Van Antwerpen, we were lucky enough to spend a week in this delightful city. I however, really was a loner in the hotel. Stricken down with the flu after a cold British summer, I hated my experience here last time. The city was not the focus of my rage. More the fact I had to be by myself a lot while everyone else got to explore and have fun. Antwerp has proved to be a really interesting, multicultural, colourful place and we’re pleased as to be back here.

So, how’d we wind up in Belgium. There’s 3 places missing, all fantastic shows in their own right and nice places to experience.

First off we were in Koblenz, where I left off the last blog. Koblenz is not a big city but it is a very cool town. Being that we have played it 4 years in a row and have become fast friends with probably the biggest promoter in the region, Mr Berti Hahn, it really does feel like a homecoming of sorts. We’re friends with a lot of the crew too and always go out, party and make merry whenever we’re in town. The show we played was part of a summer festival season, where they have bands playing most nights up in the old fortress on top of the hill. There’s postcard views up in the fortress, it’s a very special place to play. Now, I don’t know if our repeat appearances in Koblenz have raised our profile or not but 2000 odd people showed up for the gig!! That is really big for us considering it’s not a festival where there’s other bands and stages and stuff. It was just us and a big audience having a very good time. It was also really nice to see a lot of kids there. Plenty of people had bought their families along and we saw a few potential young rockers enjoying the sounds.

The gig is also memorable for me as I had to self ‘slab’ myself for being an idiot. B2KDA had a rule wherein if you did something stupid or lazy you would have to buy a ‘slab’ of beer. Essentially, you had to get a round of drinks for everyone or something similar. The ‘slab’ rule would usually be applied for such infringements as being late for lobby call in the morning, damaging the rental vehicles, doing something stupid while drunk e.g. trying to climb up the wall of our accom in Oxford because of forgetting the key, falling over backwards and hurting a wrist, winding up in an NHS hospital the next day… Guilty!! Well, this time around, we’ve given ourselves some credit as adults to not need a childish rule like this to sort things out. I however had to self apply the rule because I was a mega dummy in Koblenz. First off, the fortress is a bit of a mish to get to so forgetting anything either at the accom or the venue would be a big pain in the ass to retrieve. I managed to forget my Mopho keyboard twice in the same day. I left it at the accom to begin with requiring our manager Scott to go back and get it. An hour round trip with traffic. After the show I forgot the same keyboard and only realised in the morning. This meant frantically calling around to figure out where it was and then the inevitable drive back to the fortress to get the damn thing. I need to praise Scott’s patience on this one as he had to be the one to deal with it. Definately a self slab offence in my book.

The delay could have been even worse as the next gig in Lorrach was quite a hefty drive. In the end it didn’t matter and we all essentially arrived in Lorrach at the same time. I can’t tell you anything about the town of Lorrach I’m sorry. I saw a road or two and our venue. This does happen quite often on tour. You have to get from one place to another with the goal to get there for sound check. If you make it on time and get through sound check you may be lucky enough to go to the accom for a little rest before the gig. This is never a given and many times we don’t even see the town we’re performing in. Lorrach was unfortunately one of those. Fortunately, the gig in Lorrach was one of the best of the tour. It was a quite small room with two tiers, sorta like a mini theater. There wasn’t a crazy amount of people there but it was a good amount and they gave us heaps!!! Oh, it was also so hot it was delirium inducing. We sweated a small swimming pool worth of bodily fluids on this one. Nevertheless, it was a hell of a party and we replaced a lot of the missing liquids afterwards in a less healthy way. I want to use this moment to mention the first person to tell me that she reads the blog, and who was also a great host for us, Iris Heller. Thankyou so much Iris and everyone else involved in the gig. The promoter who tried my e-cig, the crew that drank with us after, the chef that made a yummy vege dish with fake chicken in it. All excellent company. I really hope we can come back.

Lastly we had Freiberg. A town I would definitely consider living in. It is pretty, safe, eco-friendly and full of young people filling their minds with knowledge. Very cool. We played at the Jazz Haus which seems to be pretty legendary in the region. If the photos of past performers are anything to go by, it should be. The likes of Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Wayne Shorter and waaay too many more to mention have all played in this historic old club. Again, the weight of that history leaves it’s mark on you and you really wanna do the venue’s legacy justice. We have played the Jazz Haus before but it was on a Sunday during our first tour so the turn out was very low. This year was much, much better and the 100 or so strong audience tore the roof off for us. Another very memorable gig. We have been so blessed. Speaking of blessings I have to say that Freiberg is extremely blessed with members of the fairer sex. Almost everywhere you look in this city you will see really pretty women. The gene pool in this place is very healthy indeed.

So that was it until now. Big long drive from Freiberg to Antwerp eating up a whole day. Stopped off by chance in Metz, France and were captivated by how beautiful it is. We’re hardly ever in France coz there’s some different tax rules that make it difficult for foreign artists apparently. It’s nice to get unexpected little French treats like Metz when we drive through the country though.

Returning to Antwerp almost instantly dissolved my prior unhappiness from last time. It’s so nice here, a mix of old and new, clean and grungy at the same time. The right kinda grungy like Berlin. It’s not touristy so you kinda feel like you have it to yourself and you’re lucky to have discovered it. The beer cafes around would make most people back home cry at how much going to a bar costs, and the quality of the beer served. We’re drinking beer that’d cost you like $20 a bottle at one of the De Post, De Fontein, etc. places in Auckland for a coupla euro. How’s 2.50 euro for a bottle of blue Chimay… at the dairy!!! (7/11, convenience stores are called dairys for non NZ readers)

Some of the boys are nursing hangovers today. You can’t go kiwi binge drinking styles with beer that’s at least 7%, but usually around 9% alcohol. I escaped unharmed though, fresh and willing to write you all this blog and finally, finally get you right up to date with us. We have some very cool shows coming up in the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) so I’m looking forward to reporting back how they went.

Take care everyone especially our brothers and sisters in Wellington. Stay safe please

Hey everyone. As promised, I'm doing a wee catch up blog to get us from Mannheim up till the current date. I've lost track of the days now too so, um, this one doesn't have days on it. Ok, after the last blog we've played shows in Coburg, Muhldorf and Pforzheim. We also chilled out in Heidelberg and Frankfurt. It's a whole bunch of Germany to take in and in such a short time. I'll do my best to try and remember what the hell we did in all these places. Lets start...

The Coburg Samba Festival is one of the biggest of its type in Europe apparently. For Darryn and Riduan it was a really big deal. They have been honing their samba chops for years and now they would have a chance to show their stuff on a really clued up audience. Our performance at Coburg was awesome if I may say so. We played really well and busted our asses. The crowd was up for it too as we were pretty much the only non-samba group (meaning we had guitars and stuff and played music that wasn't Brazilian). Our stage was in a square surrounded by old buildings but the festival filled up almost the whole old town of Coburg. It's a beautiful city eh. Very well preserved with nice fountains and statues all over the place. It was weird to see all the Brazilian flags, havaianas, coxinha's and other Brazilian things everywhere in this medieval, Bavarian town. The only let down, and it was a big one for me, was that the crew on our stage was not very helpful... at all. Maybe it was the fact that it's a samba festival and they're not used to having bands such as ours but the treatment we got was pretty poor anyway. I'm not gonna speak for everyone in the band, but for me, I felt quite disrespected. Here's the scenario, when you play at a festival you have to be pretty quick getting your gear on and off. If you're lucky enough to get a sound check you need to put tape down where all the instruments and stuff were. If you're sharing an amp, you might write down your settings so you get the right sound etc. The bit between you coming off and the next band coming on is called changeover. Now usually changeover has to be as fast as possible. It makes sense, you want the stage to keep playing without lots of stops. Most stages will have a stage manager who amongst other things needs to keep things running smoothly, including changeover. Our changeover lasted for about 10 seconds!! The next band had about 40 people and they almost immediately rocked on to the stage without the chance to pack our gear down. We all have expensive, precious gear and it is nearly impossible to remove it with other people, especially 40 odd people, clattering around you so you can't move. The announcer even introduced the band ready for them to play while we still had our gear on the stage. Aside from the fact that for me alone, my gear would be worth around $6000 and I don't want it damaged, we had just played a great show and common courtesy would be to allow the band to get their stuff off in an orderly manner. Suffice to say, I was pissed!!! I've been doing this stuff for over a decade and never had something like that happen. It put a damper on what should have been a great festival and soured the great feeling we had with the audience minutes before. I don't like to complain about things like this usually as some musicians can get a bit diva-ish if you let them, but this was a real cock up and personally hurt me. When you play right you should be emotionally drained after a show, so a bit of understanding from the crew goes a long way.

Anyway, I've spent too long bitching about that. It really was a cool night otherwise and it was such a fun, enthusiastic audience. I'll try keep that as the memories from Coburg.

Muhldorf erased all the crew stuff immediately. Rocking up to the venue we were met by three likely lads that looked like they were more accustomed to being backstage at a Pantera gig. But you know those rock roadies are on to it man. We breezed through sound check, met up with our backline guy Mark and eased into a few bevvies. Our German booking agent Stefanie was there also with another one of her artists, Nomfusi. If you get a chance you should check her out. She's an great South African singer that is bringing her voice to Europe. Here's a link to her website http://www.nomfusi.com/

Muhldorf is an unassuming little town near the Austrian border until you enter the old city. Maybe it was the time of day we got there but it looks like a film set. Everything was spotless, all the buildings looked freshly painted, even the late afternoon sun seemed like it was from a lighting rig hitting just the right angle to enhance the backdrop. The venue was located in the schloss (the German word for castle that you get really used to here) under a canopy. It was a stinking hot day but thankfully we were the grateful recipients of onstage fans. As small a detail that may seem, it is siiiiiiicccccckkk when you get them. As the sweatiest man in the band, it sure makes a difference having fresh, cold air blown at you constantly. Oooooo. Please always give me a fan :)

Oh yeah, it is a damn hot summer in Europe this year. Even the UK is cranking it. Almost all the other years we've been here it's been cold and rainy so it's an awesome feeling to be in the sun all the time, particularly coming from the NZ winter.

Again Muhldorf gave us an excellent response. All the crowds have been great here in Germany. We will be sad to go, that's for sure.

The last show we had on this 6 day stretch of the tour was in Pforzheim. I gotta give great thanks to the promoter, crew, bar staff and opening act at this show. They were all very nice to us and did their utmost to make us feel at home. Unfortunately, these were pretty much the only people at the show. Maybe it was because it was Sunday, or the venue or perhaps we just can't pull a crowd (nah) but we regretably didn't get to meet too many of the people of Pforzheim. I think in reality it was a bit of bad luck. Hopefully, for everyone involved, if we cross paths again lets make it a biggie!!

This all capped off a very tiring, but rewarding, run of shows. There was a ton of travel, lots of tired minds and bodies but we got to meet and play for heaps of awesome people. Lets hope we can see you all again next year.

Before the next bunch of gigs (and the next blog incidentally) we had a coupla days off in Frankfurt with a quick detour to Heidelberg. Off days are not that fun to describe but I'll give you a mini run down:

Heidelberg very pretty but too many tourists

Frankfurt big and corporate looking

Met nice lady that did our washing, just like mum

Epic walk to the supposedly, cool, student area of Frankfurt. Didn't find it

Did find one of our most loyal fans, Shelly :)

Yum Chinese food

Scary junkies shooting up on the street

Rest, Sleep, TV

Frankfurt is too big to judge on a few walks. We really didn't scratch the surface, but, it is a lot nicer than you may have been led to believe. Aesthetically anyway. Down by the river there are a lot of social areas, parks, basketball courts and cycle lanes. It was pretty cool. It's no Berlin but it's not bad, not bad at all.

Ok guys, I'll wrap it up. I'm actually way behind in this but it will get done. I promise. Next up we have Koblenz, Lorrach and Freiberg. Check back here soon.

Love ya's

Guten morgen. Another blog coming your way... late. It's becoming logistically impossible to write one of these each day sorry. I'll be doing recaps when I'm able to so y'all won't miss anything. We're embarking on a stretch of 6 gigs in 6 days so I might struggle to get these out on time. I'll try my best though :)

So, after our awesome time in Oldenberg we headed off to Dusseldorf for an off day. Our first experience in Dusseldorf was singularly underwhelming. We stayed at a B&B in a neighbourhood surrounded by roadworks, one kebab place the only sustenance for miles. On further inspection of the surroundings, we discovered an overgrown park, a stagnant river and still more roadworks. This picture of Dusseldorf was to stay with us for the next year and when we heard that it was a stop off point on our way to Aschaffenberg, no one was expecting much. Well, what a bad case of 'judging a book by it's... um, back page?' Dusseldorf turned out to be a lovely city. It features a sprawling old town juxtaposed with modern suspension bridges crossing the swiftly flowing Rhine. Many fresh food markets abound with some of the most amazing flavours I've ever tried. Bier sticks made from wild boar and mountain goat, nectarines so fresh the juice runs down your arm. There's an amazing candy store with chewy lollies that have chilli in the middle. Hot!! It turned out to be such a different experience that never again will we be so flippant in judging a town based on such scant information.

There's a thriving Asian community too, where we got to indulge in one of our favourite cuisines – Korean BBQ. Really tasty but unfortunately 20 euro for a bottle of soju is unacceptable when we pay 7 bucks for one in Auckland. We also encountered our first Germany city rivalry when trying to buy a forbidden Cologne beer in a 7/11. It turns out that Cologne and Dusseldorf have a love/hate relationship akin to Auckland vs Canterbury or Auckland vs the rest of New Zealand. Long and short of it is, if you don't wanna aggravate anyone, buy Alt beer in Dusseldorf and Kolsch beer in Cologne. Travel tips by B2KDA

Aschaffenberg was next on the list. We've now played 4 consecutive years at the same venue, the Colo-saal. Rolf and Herrman, the techs, are now like old friends and we didn't get lost this time.

I think I'm right in saying that Aschaffenberg is the first place we ever played in Germany on our first tour. It certainly has a place in our hearts as one of the friendliest. A lot of familiar faces in the audience and some new ones too. If you ever visit, you'll find a small town with some beautiful scenery. Nature abounds and there's lots of old buildings to check out.

Playing at the Colo-Saal is always a buzz. It's not the hugest venue but there's always great musicians coming through from various musical backgrounds. I was overwhelmed to be plying my trade, playing bass, on the same stage that Victor Wooten had been on a few days before. I could still feel the electricity left by him and Mike Stern. This month they have had or are having us, Mike Stern and Victor Wooten, The Brecker Brothers, Ugly Kid Joe, Parkway Drive and Soulfly!!

Next stop is Wurzburg, only an 80km drive. Keep you posted with new stuff. By the way, you may be finding these blogs a bit tame. No rock and roll partying and stuff. Well, I can't make it up unfortunately, it's been pretty quiet on the partying front... a little too quiet. This will change soon I'm sure. I'll make it change dammit haha. Miss you Vuk

Stay cool till after school

Alex and B2KDA

Hey guys. Just doing a quick blog on what a lucky band we are in some ways. We've been around for nigh on 10 years and have been through a truckload of musicians. We've lost and gained many great friends and amazing players, but have somehow been able to keep on going in spite of it all.

When we head off to Europe in a coupla weeks we are unfortunately going to leave behind 3 fantastic musicians and mates.

Sometimes these things just can't be helped and try as we might, life and circumstance don't always pan out the way you want it to. So, let it be known, here, on the internet, that we will sadly miss our brothers staying in NZ: James Hughes, Thabani Gapara and Felipe Gomes. We love 'em all and wish they could be with us on this one, but alas, the stars haven't aligned in 2013.

Luckily, we have been blessed with meeting scores of great musicians right around the world. Many a time you will see the band with one or two temporary new faces. Honestly, every single one has been a pleasure to work with. 

I want to introduce the two extraordinary muso's that'll be holding the fort for the next little while.

First off, the man, the legend, the Singaporean Sensation, winner of young entertainer of 2012 in the Lion City... Riduan Zalani!!! (on the right in the pic)

Ok, this is a damn coup people. Riduan is one of the most amazing musicians we have ever met (and he plays in a band full of amazing musicians http://www.wickedaura.com/) and also one of the most friendly and inspiring cats we know.

It is such a one off chance that we met him, Budi, Md and the rest of the Wicked Aura crew. 

Story goes, we got an offer for a one off gig in Singapore. We're such a pain in the ass band to move, and we weren't touring anywhere else in the region, that we almost called it off. A bit of managerial wrangling, and a Jetstar flight later, we decided that it could work and we didn't want to miss the chance to bring our music to the people of Singapore.

The festival we we're playing at paired us up with Wicked Aura, who are an amazing batucada group (check the link above), and gave us a full 3 hours to show off our respective wares and then mash it up together.

We got there, after what? 11 hours or something... Jetstar lagged haha and went straight to rehearse with the boys. Needless to say, instant friendships were formed. Such a cool group of people and so generous. 

We stayed for 3 nights (hardly a moment to chill) and got home with an inspiration to practice harder to TRY and reach a 10th of what they were  doing percussion wise.

Anyways, Riduan caught our eye as one of those rare percussionists that can play sticks and hand percussion, Brazilian and Afro Cuban + mix it up with modern styles and traditional Malay grooves. When we had a tour in Korea later in the year and James couldn't do it, Riduan was the guy we thought of who could pull it off.

Now on his 3rd tour with us, and his reputation growing around the world as a premier percussionist of the highest order, we are humbled to have him as member on the road.

Tarima Kasi brother!!

Now on to the other great mate that's going to fill the big shoes of Thabani, our sax player. The one and only Oliie Emmitt!!!

Ollie is an Auckland born (I think?), true Westie from Swanson and bro... he can play the trombone something wicked!!

Living in Amsterdam now, Ollie has a long history with many of us in the band. He played in various groups with myself, Richie, Finn and Jono as one of the most in demand, young trombonists in Auckland.

Now placing himself in the pressure cooker of the European music scene, Ollie has become even better and we have to pull our socks up to match him.

He's one guy that I really miss being around because he's got a heart the size of Lake Taupo and is a genuinely great person. No ego, though he could have a big one. It's gonna be great to hang out with him again.

Ollie isn't really a sub at all. He's kind of like our missing trombone player that we see once a year. One day I can envision a new Traxedo's (old skool Batucada reference) with Ollie, Finn and Thabani ripping it up. I'd love to hear that sound I can tell ya!!

As sad as it is to leave some of the family behind it's great to know we have some cuzzies over the sea to help us out. 

Take care everyone. Can't wait to see ya's on the road