#eutour2019

Playing hometown shows is always something special. We have two shows in Freiburg today: An acoustic instore show at the FLIGHT13 Recordstore in the afternoon and a full-band show at the Slow Club in the evening. It’s a rather short drive from Dijon to Freiburg but last night‘s show ended super late and we had to get up at 7 am again. Fuck.

We leave at 8 and I think the whole travel party can really feel the lack of sleep over the past 30 days. Doesn‘t matter. We’re playing two hometown shows tonight, it’s official The Deadnotes day. It‘s Funday!

We arrive in Freiburg a bit later than planned but the weather is beautiful which is amazing after a few cold and rainy days in France.  

The loveley people at the Flight 13 even serve us breakfast and coffee while everyone apart from Darius and myself uses the spare time to go home and wash their clothes. We end up feeling completely helpless setting up the merch and the pa without a a crew. There‘s still some time left to rehearse our acoustic set and have some chats with friends I haven't seen for way too long. We took an acoustic guitar with us in the overloaded van for over a month and promised to rehearse the set somehwere on the road but of course ended up doing this on the very last minute in the back room of the record store seconds before our gig.

 A lot of people made it to the acoustic show though and it was absolutely crazy. Thanks for the amazing show!

After the show we drive straight over to the Slow Club that is only five minutes away and start loading in, seting up and doing soundcheck. I‘m surprised with how routined everyone does his „job“ after 30 days of touring. We even have two sound guys tonight as our home boys Robert and Martin share the mixing desk. I think the guys at the Slow Club are quite happy that they have such an easy job today. However it seems that they worked really hard on providing us the best catering ever. In our backstage there is a table full with different food from salads, different types of bread, spreads over to lasagne and even a tasty looking vegan dish. There‘s literally everything and I think it‘s the first time we are playing a Freiburg show and don‘t have to take care of the catering ourselves as we used to put on on all our past shows without a promoter.

The worst thing about it is that I don‘t really find the right time to sit down for a few minutes to eat. I end up standing in front of the venue with two bananas in my hand. I’m always way too nervous when we play a hometown show and always too busy making sure everything is working out. It‘s a special night and we don‘t want anything to go wrong.

It’s 7 pm and there are already around 50 people lined up outside of the venue for the doors to open. What the actual fuck. 20 minutes after doors the venue is completely sold out. There are still a bunch of people left who aren’t allowed to attend anymore. We‘re really sorry about this. Fortunately there are some screens in the lobby that broadcast the show, haha. No joke! (see picture below)

Our buddies in Death By Shotgun play a banger set to a sold out Slow Club and it seems that the crowd really digs their music. My nervousness is now slowly reaching its maximum. There are a lot of friends and people you really like coming out to see you play which makes you feel a hundred times more nervous than playing any other show. I always feel like everyone is watching every little move I make on stage.

All this doesn‘t really matter though. The show is definitely one of the best ones on the whole tour. The whole crowd is singing a long to our songs, there are stagedivers while the bad luck with our equipment on stage we had on this run of shows continues. First of all Yannic breaks his kick drum pedal, the steel that holds the beater literally burst in two. It‘s also literally the first show on this goddamn month long tour where Yannic, don‘t ask me why, forgets to put his spare pedal next to his kit. Later Darius‘ pedal board is making weird noises while he hectically tries to fix it first with continous use of WD40 then eventually with duct tape.

It couldn’t have been any better! Thank. You. So. Much. Freiburg.

After the show I feel relieved. We drink too many beers and end up way to drunk to figure out how to fit all the equipment in two very small cars as our van is going back to Cologne tomorrow. I walk home with Yannic through the silent streets of Freiburg for almost an hour which helps calming us down and we talk about our band history and what kind of crazy things we get to experience day by day. What a night.

I‘m rudely awaken by the dreadful alarm tone of my old Nokia. It‘s 6.30 am, I slept two and a half hours max. It‘s not only that my brain is not ready to get up yet, but still I lay paralysed not able to move my arms or legs and literally not sure if this is gonna be the end of the tour. I instantly close my eyes again.

Honestly I don't even remember how I managed to get out of bed and drive the van to the ferry haven in Putgarden, Northern Germany. It‘s stunning what my body can endure when it‘s in tour mode. We survive the insane overnight drive from Austria to Hamburg, played a fantastic show there and then after we left the venue super late and in a rush of endorphines, decided to stop by another bar.

It all doesn‘t really matter in the end. We drive onto the ferry, the travel party is knackered but looking forward to the Scandinavian leg of the tour.

After a long drive we arrive in Gothenburg at Sekten. A Swedish friend already told me that it‘s definitely the coolest place to play at in the city and indeed I love it. It‘s not an actual venue but a huge rehearsal room built out into a small concert venue, with a stage made out of wooden pallets.

They seem to put on absolutely rad shows here and it seems like bands from all over the world have played here already. I feel a bit crazy loading out such a massive amount of gear into such a small diy venue...but our promoter Robert simply makes fun of us and it seems to be just fine.

It‘s a Monday night and we don‘t expect anything, but a bunch of people show up and it‘s awesome to see some friends at the show who we didn‘t see for a while. Due to the secret nature of the shows at Sekten alcohol is not allowed to drink beer here, which is not a common thing in Sweden at all. However the prices for beer here are really something else and I‘m starting to feel super ill so I decide to rather miss out on the after party while the other guys enjoy themselves. The last thing I see before I fall asleep on the backstage couch is Marius hoodie-covered head. He‘s jamming a rap-battle against Yannic while our soundguy Martin is blasting out some random hip-hop sample beats through the pa. What a way to spend the evening.

Another day, another long drive. I‘m not really feeling better so the other guys get behind the steering wheel for today. I only wake up for a quick service stop where I decide that from now on I‘m gonna live healthy and buy an apple every time we stop by a gas station which I‘ll give up only two days later. Sweden seems to be a real winter wonderland this time around, I get to see snow for the first time this year and we drive past some really beautiful lakes before arriving in Södertälje, described by our friend and promoter Lance while welcoming us as the arse-end of Stockholm. It can‘t be that bad. 

The venue is the exact opposite compared to last night. The stage is huge and the whole concert room reminds me of a church. There is a massive gallery opposite to the stage. I think we need more songs with guitar solos in order to properly use these chances. I want to climb up the platforms and be a real fucking rock stars.

We get treated with fine pasta and I get to eat some insanely good vegan parmesan for the very first time. I may have said this before but it‘s still overwhelming to be this far away from home and there are so many incredible people taking such good care of us. Thank you so much to the guys at 151 Booking and the amazing Panhandler who open up the show.

Funniest moment is when Marius from Kid Dad has a total blackout on stage and invites all the people in the venue to hang out after the show and drink beers together not being aware that it‘s a straight edge and strict alcohol free show. Anyway everyone seems to be very nice and easy here.

Before our set we play „odd zone“ with the result that Jakob is forced to prove his pop-punk jump skills on stage which is definitely not his habit and can be seen here.

I actually love it that straight edge and all ages gigs are such a thing in Sweden and that it allows very young and even underaged people to attend shows who are too often not included back home.

Another day. Groundhog day. „Long drives for low lives“. I‘m finally starting to feel better again after drinking 1,5 litres of smoothies and eating some classic Scandinavian flatbread with mustard-dill-sauce whereas the other guys bought some expensive cheese from the supermarket and then noticed that it‘s expired for over six months already. Who knows how this can happen in a big commercial shop.

Copenhagen is such a beautiful city and I wished we had some more time here. We‘re playing at Rahuset tonight where we already played three years ago. Our friend Petteri who also runs the online music magazine „rockfreaks.net“ organizes the show, he let us play an incredible support gig for the guys in Signals Midwest from the US five years ago when we had not even released a proper single yet. I don‘t know what made him do that but the punk scene definitely needs more guys like him. All in all it‘s our fourth show here already and I‘m always really stoked about it.

Our friend Thomas from “The Sigourney Weavers“ from Sweden even flew out to the show which is mental, the Danish legends from “Forever Unclean” made it out to the show, too. Also our friend and sleeping place host Lasse plays an absolute killer set with his new ska/punk band „Fall Back Down“. A big family reunion. It is no wonder that this turns out to be my absolute favorite Scandinavian show so far. I don‘t really know what it is but I literally can‘t stop smiling on stage and we even end up playing two encores. The guys in Kid Dad smash it again like they do each and every night on this tour. We hang out at the venue selling merchandise and chatting with friends until there are no drinking tickets left anymore and we head off to the sleeping place.

I don‘t know how Paul, our photographer/sometimes backliner and very best in-official tour manager handled this: but he somehow gets it done to still order pizza for everyone at 2 am in an completely unknown city to the accommodation which is far from the city center. Everyday is a pizza day.

Thank you everyone for being part of this wild last three days in Scandinavia. You know who you are. Thanks Ibu, thanks Grippostad.

We already can‘t wait to be back.

Photos: Paul Ambrusch

Second night drive on this tour. Fun times ahead. We packed up our gear quite fast right after our show in Linz (AT) last night to leave the venue on time after a decent portion of chips were brought to us at 1 am by the master of late night munchies: Paul, our photographer. Hamburg is up next. Probably the longest distance between two shows and cities on this tour. After exhausting 15 hours in the van everybody is looking forward to finally arrive in the band flat which is located right on the Reeperbahn.

I spent the first part of the drive half awake half asleep in a horizontal position on the back bench of the van which is not really comfortable but definitely the best you can do when squeezed in a crowded van. When I wake up I feel like shit but at least the sunrise early this morning looks really beautiful through the car window.

I swap seats to the front seat next to the driver. Michi from Kid Dad is driving now and we talk about our life apart from being in a band. It’s really strange for me to pass my hometown Bremen on the last “1.20h” of the ride and I can’t stop thinking about my own bed until even the highway signs „Towards Bremen“ are out of sight.

Anyway, we made it. I take a shower and then open my laptop motivated to finish some long overdue work but everything All I can think about though is pizza. What else. One hour later Jakob, Martin and I sit in the best pizza place I know in Hamburg called “Pizza Bande” where  I nearly fall asleep over my pizza.  

Fortunately ‘get in’ is late today and we don’t need to hurry too much. Unfortunately we’re in Hamburg which is commonly known for its shitty weather and rain all the time and so we don’t even consider sightseeing.

A bit later we find ourselves in front of the legendary Astra Stube waiting for someone to open the venue. Sometimes I ask myself wheter we’re the only band that always arrives at the venue before the actual ‘get in’ time. Soundcheck by now is pure routine. Only a few minutes later there are so many people waiting outside this super small venue/bar for the doors to open. A couple more minutes later the Astra Stube is completely packed, still twenty minutes to go until the actual show starts. Wow. We experienced this before in Hamburg and it feels a little rockstar-like. 

Hamburg is such a big and beautiful city and we spent some crazy and long nights here already whereas our shows in this town usually left us with rather mixed feelings. We once played a support show here in a nearly sold out 500 cap venue and sold exactly 0€ in merchandise. We must have looked very pitiful after standing their behind the merch table so at least a good friend had some mercy, took one of our t-shirts and promised to pay the next day via paypal. I think we still haven't seen the money yet. Haha.

It‘s great to see some old friends again and it‘s awesome to reunite with many people who acted in the video to our current single „Makeup“ we filmed in Bremen a few weeks back (Thanks again to all of you guys. You did a great job!). Within fifteen minutes the situation the venue changes from being really packed to being really f***ing super packed. Unbelievable how many people actually fit in this tiny venue. I’m starting to get a little nervous. Time for a beer!

KID DAD are playing and I have the honour to be their Light-DJ. I don‘t really have a clue what I‘m doing but I started to get behind the lighting console a few days ago and so does Max from Kid Dad during our set. There are actually three knobs and two faders only that work and all I can do is to change between random background colours but it’s still fun. I’m always surprised by what a big difference a light show can make even under such circumstances as tonight.

The show is an absolute banger. Shout out to everyone who sang along. Definitely our best Hamburg show so far. I can‘t believe that today is a Sunday (!). Can’t wait to come back.

I end up sitting in a Bar on the Reeperbahn with Daniel from our management, Yoshi from Kid Dad and some friends from Lüneburg. Again I find myself falling asleep on the bar table like 12 hours ago in the pizza place. Time to catch up on some sleep, we’re heading off to Sweden in exactly 3 hours. Well. Worth a try though.