Halo of Pendor

torsdag 25 juni 2009

22nd.june.monday BERLIN

2nd day in Berlin. We had made plans in spending the whole day out in Berlin but we thought it was nicer to sleep until we had to check out at 12.

After having some problems to solve how to get our van in an other part of the city, me, Tomas, Staffan and Oskar drove to Hans wurst to get our gear. We had a few drinks and spent some time using the free wifi. Always this constant search for wifi.

We met up with the rest of the guys outside of DOT club where we were gonna play this night. No posters what so ever in Berlin as well telling that EF circus was gonna come to town. Great booker we have found! I handed Erik a later from his girlfriend Lisa that I had a mission to hand him at his birthday. I have had a hard time from not telling him earlier while It was laying in my backpack.

We made our soundcheck and Kathrin came to meet up with us. I was in a really bad mood this day. I was feeling worse than usually. I called Laura hardly saying anything at all. I just needed to hear her voice telling me that now we would see each other in about one week. Laura told me that she and her friend Maddie were gonna go to see a Gypsy band this night. She made me jealous. I wanted to hang around with my girl and see my family perform as well.

The traveling ensemble went out to take the u-bahn. Since we haven't had any possibility to take care of our laundry we were in a big need of getting new clean underwear. We first went to American apparel. I bought a pair of tiny shorts, two tank tops and two briefs. It was quite expensive but I was happy about my new things since I hardly ever buy new clothes these days. Its fun with new clothes but at this moment in time I rather spend money on travels to Laura-land.

On our way back to the venue a group of 5 old ladies were watching us Swedes and they had a hard time from not to laugh. When we suddenly stood up one by one they couldn't longer hold on form laughing and they were almost screaming. The Swedish fashion brings laughter among the elder in Germany. That's nice that you can make people laugh but its never nice to be laughed about. I have been looking forward coming back to Poland but I am not looking back about the starring eyes and the screaming laughter about our tight pants and loose tank tops.

Suddenly we asked ourselves "Where is Staffan?!". WE HAD LOST STAFFAN. I tried to call him but I couldn't reach him. We first got a bit nervous since we thought that Staffan didn't had a clue of where the venue was located, but since Staffan is socially talented we were sure that he would find his way back to us... and he did.

EF's former booker and Convoj''s new booker Tobi came by DOT club and joined us for dinner. We talked about Convoj and our future plans while eating Indian food.

Still in a bad mood and with a funny feeling in my body I didn't felt like playing. I haven't had this feeling before. I don't know why. It took me a few songs until I got in a better mood while we were playing. Though it wasn't too many people in the audience we still had a great support. I could feel it and at the end we exploded together with the audience. It felt like a relief... but still I don't want to go up on stage with this feelings. I always want to feel good about playing.

21st.june.sunday BERLIN AND NIKLAS BIRTHDAY

The guys were surprised that I was up in the early morning looking so fresh after last nights adventures. We drove to the venue where we were playing the night before and had the best breakfast so far. I put an egg in my cardigan pocket and hoped to forget it so I would surprise myself later on that day.

Around 6 o'clock we arrived to Berlin. This night EF had a day off while Tomas and I had the premiere show with our arty project, Michailov at the vegan cafe, Hans Wurst. We checked in at the Rock'n roll hostel and drove to Hans wurst to unload the van.

It wasn't the best day to play a show. Today It was Music la fete festival in Berlin. A free festival with bands playing in every corner of the city. 25 persons had still found their way to Hans wurst. Both Tomas and I were really nervous but still we managed to perform while Laura and Tomas girlfriend Sofia were watching our performance via Skype. We have a concept in Michailov: We create the music or act in the very moment we perform. We don't know what to play, how to play. We don't even know if we are gonna play. This night we let people passing around a piece of paper where they were supposed to draw and write the first thing that came to their mind while Tomas and I were playing. I think It went pretty good.

After the show the rain were pouring down so we spent a few hours at Hans wurst waiting for the rain to stop. Our good friend Katharin had come to spend some time with us. Its so strange that I see some of my friends out in Europe more often than several of my friends in Sweden... and I see them even more often than I see my family and they are only living 4 hours by train from Gothenburg. I am a bad family member I would need the day to have more hours and the weeks to have more days. Maybe I just need less bands and more free time.

My friend David from Hannover came and met up with us at Hans Wurst before we all fought the rain and ran out in the night of Berlin. Our first stop was at the Ping pong club and there it was crowded with Swedes and Norwegians but hardly any Germans. After midnight we started to sing for Erik who had his 25th birthday. Staffan bought everybody drinks. When the big group had enough of the ping pong we grabbed a few taxis to go to another part of the city. we needed to find a club to dance. We found a nice taxi driver that offered us candy and told us jokes. He even started to speak Swedish when he dropped us off.

No we had a problem. We couldn't seem to make up our mind where to go. Its always the same problem in EF, especially when it comes to restaurants or to clubs. I wanted to go to the Sounds - the club where Christiane F spent her youth, but my friend Kathrin had to make me disappointed by telling me that that club haven't been running the past 20 years. It made me sad.

We found our club. It was a shitty techno club but since we were a good group we could have gone anywhere. The bartender seemed to like me and I kept getting discount from the drinks I ordered. Later when I think back I wonder If he had made a plan in getting me drunk cause he kept serving me gin and tonic without tonic and I could keep on buying drinks even when I just had 50 Euro cent. I guess he was just nice.

Before heading home to the Rock 'n roll hostel by feet we had to still our hunger. We found a snack bar where we had hundreds of döners. EF is a generous band, especially when we are tipsy.

At the hostel Oskar got looked out from his room and Niklas screamed at a poor German girl who also seemed to had looked herself out and were talking loudly in her phone in the hallway.

20th.june.saturday ERFURT AND LAURA'S BIRTHDAY

We got up at 5 in the morning cause we had a 13 hours drive to look forward to this day. We had breakfast while standing at the sticky kitchen floor. The guys had brought their Swedish raw fish to the vegan collective where we had spent the night. I thought it was disrespectful and through the fish can in a bush just before I took place in the cold van. Yes, this morning the van was actually cold. We left Austria in the gray and rainy morning.

The 13h drive didn't take us 13h as our gps had told us. We arrived the city festival in Erfurt right after 14 o'clock. The stage where we were gonna perform at this night was located in the old parts of Erfurt. We were craving for food so we got money, from a very stressed promoter that didn't seem to have no clue at all, and found a Greek restaurant. Since the food didn't taste anything we thought that the chef must had forgot to put spices in our food. Later when we were paying the waitress said that it was missing 10 Euros. No chance, we said, cause we had been counting the money right in front of her eyes. She stood there for a long time waiting for us to pay 10 Euros extra when we found out that she was holding our 10 Euro bill in her hand. She got redden and excused herself.

After the dinner we spent a few hours in a bar since we found wifi. I had to call Laura cause she had her family over to celebrate her. I sang "Ja må hon leva" and said hi to my Dutch family. Then Niklas, Tomas and I made two interviews. The first interview was for an independent netzine. They interview was made by an EF fan. He was quite young and was very nervous. He said that it was cause he was so excited about meeting us, since we are his favorite postrock band. He had a digital recorder and after two questions the memory was full, but we kept on talking.

The second interview was made by an older guy who had an independent radio show. The problem with this interview was that neither Niklas, Tomas or I understood his made up English. He got choked when he found out that we were even older than him. We always chock people by telling our age. I wonder If we look younger or if we just behave like kids?

After 21 we entered the stage. Cool guys were sitting with crossed arms and were screaming at us during the soundcheck. We all felt offended and thought that this show could end up in any way. It was raining and we all wore our jackets at the stage and felt like Mando diao or something similar. The cool guys got tired of screaming at us and left while we performed for those who were really there to support us.

After the show the guys wen to leave our van and drop off our bags at our accommodation, while Oskar and I stayed to take care of the payment. We sat down to have some beers with some young EF fans. They were nice and came along me and the guys to watch the fireworks. While I stood there watching the fireworks among 2000 other ones I noticed that I had lost the guys. I got quite scared since my phone was out of batteries and since I didn't knew where we were gonna stay the night. I started to plan how to make a living in Erfurt since I obviously was stranded here.

I found an EF fan which helped me look for the guys. We found them by the bungy jump area and Oskar was heading up to the top with a bare chest. We passed wine bottles around us and shared for Oskar's bravery. I once jumped bungy jump. I got it for my 22nd birthday. It's one of the most scary things I have ever done. It was like committing suicide without dying. I remember feeling bad for days after that. Oskar were drunk and didn't had any problems with jumping. It was his payment for driving EF through Europe. Tomas, Martin and I thought It was safer to jump the trampoline.

We were all in a great drunken mood and wanted to find a club where to dance, but It was getting too late and Erfurt had no club life to offer us at this time. Instead we started our search for a night snack. A group of 8 people were running through the streets of Erfurt screaming "Crepes! Crepes! Crepes! Crepes!". There were no crepes so we ran towards Subway, screaming "Subway! Subway! Subway!". Subway failed us by just closing the store so we changed our direction towards the Döner snack bar, screaming "Döner! Döner! Döner! Döner!" While inside the madness continued. 7 loud Swedes and a German girl trying to get our orders right. We managed to get our food without being kicked out of the snack bar.

Suddenly I was at the accommodation. Martin was helping me off with my daddy shoes and eventually people went to sleep.

19th.june.friday GRAZ

19th.june.friday GRAZ

We got up early and met up with the promoter from yesterday's show at Cafe Teatro. He took us to a youth club were we had breakfast.

Tomas have been talking about Özi and the Özi museum every day during the whole tour and even weeks before we started the tour. He has got a serious hang up on Özi and today was the day when he finally was going to meet his big hero, Özi. Some of the guys entered the museum while the rest of us went looking for an internet cafe. We found a cafe which offered wifi but it didn't work so I had to spend yet another day without internet. I even think that this lack of internet is good for me.

We dropped off our Innsbruck friends in Innsbruck and continued our travel towards Graz. Today was "Midsommarafton", one of Sweden's biggest holidays. It's the longest day at the year and this is the day when people in Sweden gets drunk, fights, get hit by cars, drive drunk and so on. Its a beautiful tradition. This is also the time you are supposed to eat raw fish and potatoes. I think I like the potato part the most. We visited Ikea a few days ago to buy raw fish, knäckebröd and snaps which they have been bringing across Europe in a cooler bag. Even the "vegetarians" are gonna eat of this raw fish. I am not included of course.

We arrived Graz a few hours too late but since we are the fastest band there is loading in and soundcheck, there were no problems. The promoter had been searching the net for how Swedish people celebrates "MIdsommarafton" and had made us a beautiful "Swedish" table, boiled potatoes, avocado salad which I have been craving for since I left Sweden and a great fresh yoghurt sauce. The guys brought the raw fish and snaps and we sat down to have a pleasant dinner. We toasted and drank of our Swedish snaps while listening to old Swedish summer music. We looked out over the beautiful city part where punks were laying all over the grass, drunken while their dogs were fighting. It didn't take long until I felt that I had a bit too much to drink of the snaps. People started to get restless and leaving the table, Niklas bumped his foot and left trails of blood. I found him later on the toilet floor with his foot on a paper basket. Our driver Oskar sat next to him and nursed his foot.

A girl made live visuals while we were playing. The atmosphere was perfect and our merch guy Martin, that must have seen us over 100 times, said that this must had been the best live sound we have had so far.

We had to clear the stage and load our van directly after we finished our show. The rain was pouring down. We made sure to bring a few bottles of wine and vodka before we left the venue and headed for our accommodation for this night. You can really tell that we are from Sweden. We bring our own snaps, then we drink our head to pieces of the free alcohol that we get every where we go and still we feel that we need to bring some extra bottles.... just in case. You never know If we will run out of alcohol. Boys are boys and will always be boys. Swedes are Swedes and will always be Swedes.

In the middle of nowhere we arrived to a big house where we were gonna sleep. It was the home of 10 vegan punks. We just had the pleasure to meet one of them and her dog which peed on the carpet. She responded his action by petting him.

Before going to sleep i called Laura. It was past midnight and Laura was no longer a teenager. I told her that It felt strange but that I loved her still.

lördag 20 juni 2009

18th.june.thursday BOLZANO

Sometimes it can be really nice to sleep at private accommodations. Especially when It's at people that you like, that make you feel like home. Innsbruck is really beautiful and is surrounded by the alps. It was a beautiful and warm morning and we had a great healthy breakfast at the balcony. Several of the guys were really hangover but we were all looking forward to swim in an Alp lake on our way to Bolzana which was only about an hour drive from Innsbruck.

Our good Innsbruck friends Steph and Hannes came along to Bolzano. We had made lots of plans for this day since we thought that we had lot of time to spend. Of course we left Innsbruck to late and we didn't had time to swim or to visit the Özi museum. Instead we wasted a whole day doing nothing at Cafe teatro where we played later that night.

Next to the cafe there was a show who sold everything; toilet paper, wineglass, chewing gum, condoms, socks, plastic flowers, wonderbaum, books, hats, shoes, plates, toys and more. The shop were guarded by a tiny dog. I think it was some kind of bull dog or something. Anyway the dog fell in love with me right away and if the dog wouldn't be so dirty I would surely fall in love with him as well. We were hanging around all day together. I named him Pendor. The guys thought that the dog and I made a great team. I had to text Laura to ask if she wanted to have a dog when we were married. She was fine with this.

We had to wait all day for the food and then a little bit longer. When finally the pizza arrived I guess I was too hungry and it was way to warm outside to enjoy the meal. I made sure to eat the whole pizza anyway cause you never know when you will eat the next time. I enjoyed the "summer drinks" that the cafe served way better.

I craved for Laura and it felt like an eternity since we last spoke, so I had to call her. It sucks that I can't be with her on her birthday the 20th. I would have loved to be there. Right after I hang up I saw a girl I recognized sitting on a bench by the bus stop. I went there and it was Valeria, an Ukraine photographer that I used to talk to on the internet. She was on a holiday all on her own in Italy and decided to come and see EF perform. I was surprised.

It was really fun to perform at the ridiculous warm cafe. The audience were a bit older than you are used to see around Germany, Holland and Belgium. It's great to play in new cities when you reach new listeners and touch new hearts. Martin had a busy time selling merch while the rest of us packed our gear back to the van. I had to call Laura again.... It can't be wrong to be addicted by someone you really love who adores you.

We slept in a youth hostel witch was headed by a nun so we had to behave. Our Austrian friends which are quite bohemian wanted to sleep on the balcony under the stars.

17th.june.wednesday INNSBRUCK

We woke up around 9 and went down to have a nice hotel breakfast. We were living at a faulty towers alike hotel and the breakfast was poor. White bread and jam! Great. I am seriously thinking about starting a breakfast revolution around Europe.

When we entered the "breakfast buffet" four angry eyes were looking at us. The eyes belonged to two elder grey haired women. One of them said something to Martin in German. It was something about we were being loud. We tried to explain to the women in English that we had room number 9 but we thought it was number 6. They didn't understand what we were trying to say and didn't even responded our adorable smiles.

After a poor breakfast and a nice shower all the guys in the touring ensemble met up at the back yard of the hotel to socialize for some time..... but of course not with each other - with our loved once on skype.

This day we were going to play in Innsbruck for the third time this year. According our tour book we had a 2 hours drive to Innsbruck, but our GPS said that we had about 5 hours to look forward to. We were already late so without stressing we headed towards our van.

LATER

We were about an hour too late to this night's venue. Tonight we were gonna play for teacher students. This could be great or this could be a failure. We got a great welcoming by this nights promoters. The sound engineer weren't too nice though and he didn't have a clue how to master the equipment. We couldn't ask for anything cause he just couldn't do it, but he could drink beer though.

We went outside of the venue and had some beers together with our Innsbruck friends. Our friend Hannes provided us with Mexican tequila that tasted like gasoline and gave me the chills.

The room was packed with students and they all were talking during the whole set. Everything was chaotic at stage and it was so loud. The sound engineer gave us a hard time. I tried to look for him during the show but he wasn't even around his mixing board. We couldn't sing in the microphones cause the monitors were constantly feedbacking so we had to unplug the cables. The "sound engineer" had even forgot to put up the volume for my laptop. Though the chaos the audience screamed for more so I asked the "sound engineer" to please look up his mixing board and do his job, before we started to play "tomorrow my friend".

The mood wasn't on top after the show. We were all tired and irritated and I was especially disappointed by this nights performance. We argued, then we danced and then we argued some more. Around 6 in the morning we had made friends and took a cab home to the promoter were we spent a few hours of sleeping. I slept in the kitchen.

16th.june.tuesday HEIDENBERG

I woke up early with a hangover. I didn't mind cause next to me Laura was laying. I cuddled up closer to her and hold her for long while smelling her hair. I had to save up for all of the impressions she gives me cause now I wouldn't see her until 1st of July and I knew that this would be hard. We have had times when we have been away from each other for longer times but it feels even harder when you are not at home and the distance is even longer than it usually is.

It hurt to leave Laura at the metro station, kiss her sad face good bye and see her walk away.

The ride back to the south of Germany was long, extremely hot and boring. I was trying my very best to kill some hours by resting my eyes, then read some, trying to sleep, read some more, trying to be creative with the music programs on the computer and then sleep some more.

We arrived the venue in Heidenberg in the afternoon. We were a bit to late but we didn't had to feel any stress while we unloaded our van. We got help from our support act - a group of very nice talkative guys.

The backstage area had one of these fridges that never become empty. You grab a few beers and a few seconds later the fridge is full again. I have to get me one of those. It's almost like living with your parents.

We were really tired from the long warm drive and couldn't really focus when we were doing our soundcheck. The sound engineer was the best ever seemed to have a good patience while we were fooling around at stage, making new rock ´n roll versions of our pretentious music.

All the other guys went out on a field trip while Erik and I decided to stay at the venue, interneting and just take it easy. I normally use to be quite active while I am out touring, but I haven't been in mood for any activities except from playing during the days we have been out touring.

Erik and I received some money by the promoter to search for a restaurant to have our dinner. We called the other guys and met up with them outside of an enormous and beautiful church. The city of Heidenberg were so beautiful. It felt like walking in a saga, a fantasy land. We had a great dinner at an Italian restaurant.

At the venue we met an old friend of EF's, a girl that promoted our very first show in Germany during our first European tour. Our support band played for quite long. Sometimes they sounded really good and sometimes they were quite boring. Like most bands. I don't have the patience and calm to watch a band for more than 30 minutes.

The show went really well. People seemed to enjoy our music and we got a lovely warm response from our audience. After the show we tried to work up a party mood but we were all too tired to continue this evening, so we packed the van and headed for the hotel.

Tomas, Martin and I got to share room. The other guys slept in room number 5 and 7. we got room number 6 or 9. It had to be number 6 cause It was the room next to the other rooms so we tried and tried and tried to unlock the room, but our key didn't seem to fit the locker. We tried some more and then we heard an old woman screaming something in German from inside the room. No, this room couldn't be ours. Scared like little boys who just been caught stealing apples we ran upstairs and hoped that the angry woman wouldn't catch us.

Tomas had an exercising tape on his computer and the three of us thought It would be a good idea to exercise our stiff bodies at 4:am, so we started to jump while laughing to the exercises that we were told to do by the man at the tape. Soon we understood that our floor would probably be the other guests roof.