Gig was held at an awesome Klub Chliv in Ostrava, the same venue as last year and the show was a good introduction to the tour. We played with local legends Punk Floid and another local band and quite a few people showed up, so all in all the evening was a success. We could have played better, but I guess we needed a day or two on the road to get into the touring vibe. We got a bit wasted after the show, except Rok who drove home. There was lots of fresh snow on the road and we had a few close calls on the way back to Stanleys place, but we arrived back in one piece (would be nice if the van was fitted with winter tyres, but oh, well). After a quick »punk stew«, a few beers and laughs it was time to go to bed.



Day 2, Valasske Mezirici (CZ) @ Rock Bar Lira:
The club in Valasske Mezirici is only 15 minutes from Stanley´s place so nobody was in a hurry to wake up in the morning. We had a whole day to spend at Stanley´s and his house is a definition of a perfect crib for bands when you look in the rock´n´roll dictionary. And what is more important you can´t beat his and his parents´ hospitality.



We brought some bottled wine from our region as a gift and like last year his parents invited us for a shot of their finest local schnaps. Oh, and I need to mention their dog, Penny who is probably an incarnation of excitement and joy in a dog form, such a lovely little thing J. After the lunch we chilled in the living room, playing video games, acoustic guitars and killing time watching videos on Youtube.



Soon it was time to head to the venue, Rock Bar Lira. We had played there last year and have good memories of the place. The procedure of unloading the van is always a pain in the ass, especially because we put safety before convenience, which means that all the guitars and amps get placed at the far end of the »trunk« behind all the luggage. Double the effort, triple the excitement…not!



Anyway, the venue was deserted when we arrived, but according to Stanley it is always like that unless there are some bands playing. Thankfully people started gathering after 9 o‘clock. We heard from the locals that the owner can be a major wanker and drives all the customers away. Luckily he was nice to us or maybe we just didn´t understand when we told us to bugger off, who knows.



The line-up was the same as the previous evening so the sound check and the rest of the preparation went by fast, giving us time to drink some of the finest beer around. We played last so we had to hold back though. Show this night was much better, but it was LOUD, even with the amps turned away from the audience. Luckily this didn´t put off the people in the front rows, so it all tunred out great. The afterparty was eventful and there were many people who had seen us play here last year, which meant lots of free drinks for us, so thanks to all the lovely people in Mezirici.



Day 3&4, Zwiesel (GER) @ Proberraum:
First two days of the tour went by in a heart beat and it was time to say goodbye to Stanley and his parents. Hope we see those lovely people again soon. To get to Zwiesel we had to drive across the whole of Czech Republic and through mountainous area around Zwiesel. Breakfast and lunch consisted of bread and canned food…nom nom nom…sounds awful, but when you are hungry almost everything tastes as if it was cooked by Gordon Ramsay himself.
Anyway, driving 500 kilometres + everyday has quickly became a rutine, so we were in Germany in no time. Unfortunatelly we didn´t find any open gas stations on the local roads (it was sunday), so we nearly ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere.



The show was held in Jugendhaus in Zwiesel, more precisely in the rehearsing room under the club. Thanks to Heinza, Marcus and the rest of the JuHa Zwiesel crew who booked us at the last minute. We played here two years ago and it was one of the best shows on that tour, so it felt nice to be here again. Moreover we also saw our good friends from Bridges left burning/Driving the salt and had a chance to catch up on what has been going on with everyone. Dinner was a tasty vegan chili, which meant Neco, our drummer, was especially happy as he likes anything spicy. The show had to end early so we quickly unloaded the van and got ready for the show. Playing in smaller rooms is what we prefer and despite one broken guitar string and a drum stick, we enjoyed ourselves and were very happy with how the gig turned out.



We didn‘t have a show booked the next day, so we asked Heinz if we could crash at the venue for another day and he said it wasn´t a problem at all. What is more, the next day they planned to have a party with masks and costumes…we couldn´t have picked a better day to have a day off. We partied late into the night with old and new friends from Zwiesel.
The next morning we headed to see the city (we always arrive here when it is already dark, so we wanted to see what Zwiesel looks like at daylight).



After a stroll through the main street we hoped into a local restaurant for a tasty lunch and a well needed coffee at a pub in centre of the town. Knowing there was a costume party in the evening we went to the mall and each bought bee antennas and called ourselves »killa bees« .


The party in the evening was wicked, with Techno Viking moves from Rok, trying to mimic german porn ads (which we, as we were told, were quite good at…not that that is anything to brag about, but hey, what the heck, give props where props are due), drinking abnormal amount of beer and sharing our »black label™« beverage with brave souls who dared to drink it and lots of other stuff for which you need a special password to get any information about. Also we confirmed the thesis that our soundguy Luka cannot be woken up, once he hits the »off switch«. He basically becomes a dead weight, a huge lump of clay you can mould any way you like. To sum up, Zwiesel = sehr gut, wie immer!



Day 5, Berlin (GER) @ White Trash Fast Food:
Woke up into a beautiful sunny day, perfect for a long drive across Germany to Berlin, which we all love. We had played there before with one of our favourite bands, Bridge and Tunnel. The show was hanging in the air the day before, but fortunately another promoter jumped in and saved the day. We departed early in the morning and drove through the mesmerizing bavarian countryside and thankfully there wasn´t any snow on the road. We listened to Maceo Parker which was a perfect soundtrack for this area.



As a matter of fact, we barely listened to any punk-rock on this tour. The most played band was hands down the Foo Fighters (their latest album is top shit), Samiam, The Draft (I would not call these two bands punk-rock), rockers Kansas (Carry on wayward son was the anthem of the tour), RHCP, Hendrix, Rolling Stones, Them Crooked Vultures and some Iron Maiden, there was lots of jazz, since our bassist and drummer plan to go to Rotterdam to study their instruments (plus Rok is a jazz fanatic), Devendra Banhart, Dallas Green and No Gods or kings covered the acoustic bit, a pinch of Adele (don´t give a rats ass what hardcore-punk scenesters think, good music is good music), some rap to please our Luka and the new Frenzal Rhomb album which kicks ass (what punk-rock albums should sound like). And of course we always listen to the CDs of the bands we play on tour with. And no gigabytes and mountains of CDs are not enough on tour, you still hear the same songs over and over .



Anyway, after Bavaria, we drove on highways so I slept most of the way to Berlin (to me the whole central Europe looks the same when driving on highways, so I couldn´t be bothered to stay up). Woke up in Berlin, seeing the weather has gone to shit, with fog and rain pouring down, but there is just something about this city that I really like and bad weather didn´t spoil the good mood in the van.



The venue where we played was called White trash fast food, which as the name suggests is a restaurant, an americana style restaurant with the best burgers we have ever eaten in our lives. You could tell the place had some of the best food around since all the tables were reserved and cleared a few times for the next customers…the place was full and buzzing. The only drawback was that we would have to play at a really low volume, but any experience is good I guess.



The evening got even better when I checked on the internet and found out that I had passed the exam I wasn´t sure I was going to, plus we got more free drinks on the house than we could ever consume, so it was time to sit down and enjoy. It was only after the tour that we found out that many great bands and artists played there, including Lemmy from Motӧrhead and you could feel the rock´n´roll vibe in this place. We were asked to split our set into two parts which sucked, but it was still a very good show and our soundguy Luka, who isn´t afraid to tell us when we suck donkeys balls, told us he thought we played our best so far. We got to sell quite a lot of merch and even gained three loyal fans from Spain, a mother and two daughters who all bought our new t-shirts.



To add some more creme to the cake, we got even more free beer, got payed as agreed and had one happy bar owner on our hands, who welcomed us to come back anytime. What is more we even got a room booked for us in a nearby hostel with a breakfast in the morning so we were happier than pig in shit. Again, Berlin didn´t dissapoint.


Day 6. Diemen – Amsterdam (NL) @ Hans´ place:
We had to drive 600km + again, so waking up early was a must. The overcast sky has cleared somewhat and it got warmer as we left Berlin on our way to lovely Netherlands. Unforutnatelly we found out that the sliding doors on our van were becoming more and more loose and the draft in the back seats was becoming annoying. Duck tape and toilet paper to the rescue! Anyway we sorted out the door later.
We got pulled over by the cops in ProVida car right when we got across to Netherlands. They were very friendly and just checked our IDs which confirmed that none of is a part time killer or anything like that. Before saying goodbye the policeman said: »You are young, you are going to Amsterdam…be sensible« followed by a cheeky wink. Well, we almost fit all the criteria, we are young, we were going to Amsterdam, but sensible we are not. Well, we don´t do drugs apart from some weed here and there, but anyone spending some time in the van with us would start questioning our sanity…oh, well.



Anyway we arrived at the address that Hans, the promoter gave us, but there were only huge business towers all around, so we called him to see if we arrived at the right address. Well it turned out that those buildings were rented to individuals since they were not being used after the economic crisis hit the area hard. The whole first floor was an apartement with a huge rehearsing place where he organizes shows for bands touring around Europe. We played with The Indoor Park, Hans´ band and Sweet empire, which were both really good.



The first part of The Indoor Park´s set reminded me of an american band Christie front drive and the old days when we used to go to our local club called Jutro where similar bands often played. Oh, memories… Although there weren´t many people there, everybody had fun and we played some extra songs from the first CD. Jani broke a guitar string again, so we pretty much had a second guitar ready for every show from then onwards (obviously the saddles on the bridge needed to be filed down, but we didn´t have the proper tools with us). I went to bed quite early therefore there is a black hole in the story line here and buch of zzzzzzzs until next morning.



Day 7. Leuven (BEL) @ Rock Cafe:
For a change we didn´t have a long drive so we could sleep in. The plan for the day was to go to Brugge to say hello to Steve, the owner of legendary Joey´s cafe where we stopped on our way from England two years ago. But after checking on the map where Brugge actually is we realised that we would have to take a huge detour therefore we just went straight to Leuven. A town we have fond memories of. We had played at Rock Cafe already, when we were on tour with Harry and our good friend Roel was promoting the show for us again. Unfortunately he couldn´t make it to Leuven that evening so a friend of his jumped in to help out.


I wish we had arrived in Leuven earlier so we would have had a chance to stroll through the beautiful city centre, but traffic congestion caused us to arrive latter than anticipated. We had to unload the van quickly (the task of carrying an 8×10 bass cabinet up the narrow staircase is as inviting as a vajazzle on a 60 year old lady…damn bassists and their egos ). We were in Belgium, where beer is like wine in our region, something that lots of care goes into, so we indulged in some of the finest that Belgium has to offer. That evening we played with F.O.D. a local band playing mainly Green Day covers which were actually really good and nice guys on top of that. I expected that less people would show up, but the turnout was good. Personaly I wasn´t very happy with the show for my playing was a bit sloppy, but Rok and Luka said they liked the show and the vibe was good, so all in all it was a job well done. After the show we had to drive 40 minutes to Antwerp because we were sleeping in Roel´s appartment. It was great to see our old friend again, talk and drink some belgian beers. Since we were all really exhausted and he had to go to work in the morning we tucked it early.



Day 8. La Louviere (BEL) @ La Taverne du Theatre:
Roel told us we could leave later after we took a shower and cooked ouselves a lunch, therefore nobody was in a hurry to wake up. We were looking forward to the next three days of the tour since we would be joined by Pink Flamingos from Le Havre, France. We were already good friends with Bertrand, their guitarist, who organized a show for us in LH two years ago. It was a short drive to La Louviere so we had chance to walk trough the city like proper tourists. Unfortunately La Louviere is nothing like Leuven, at least the part of the town we were in. Nevertheless it was good to stretch our legs a bit walking through the street aimlessly.


The bar/venue La Taverne du Theatre was one of the best venues on this tour with great PA system and cosy atmosphere. It felt like we were in France already, since everyone speaks french in this area. There were four bands including us in the line-up this evening, Tank86, Your Highness and aforementioned Pink Flamingos who arrived first. We got along straight away with those guys, they are genuinely nice people. The bands used our backline, so we had to get to work unloading the van for Pink Flamingos to do the soundcheck. This was the first time I saw them live and thanks to a great sound system you could get a feeling of what the band sounds like. And they delivered. Although Betrand had some issues with his amplifier (later we found out that a bad guitar cord has been causing the problem) they got through the set effortlessly. I like the new wave of european punk-rock (or better rock-punk) bands like In-sane, Antillectual, Wiener Neustadt bands (Astpai, Soey and many more) and Angers/Lille (Wank for peace, One Thousand directions…) area bands and many others (to many to list here) who try to make music exciting and don´t play that boring three chord punk-rock or try to mimic Propagandhi or A Wilhelm scream (I love these two bands btw), which make me feel like I am looking at someone beating a dead horse. What I am getting at is, that I can include Pink Flamingos in the exciting camp.


We played after the Pink Flamingos and although Jani broke a string again it was one of the best shows of the tour. It is ussual that you get better with every show on tour, especially if you don´t have any day-offs. Next were Your Highness, a stoner Red Fang style band which rocked. Neco and Jani bought their LP, since they are keen on this genre of music. Next were Tank86, but we were outside the venue talking with other bands, so we didn´t see much of their performance. We shared our »black label™« with thirsty people, enjoying the company of Pink Flamingos and the promoter Piere, who took great care of us. We had to drive to his house in Brussels after the show so as soon as the last band finished we loaded everything in the van and hit the road. At Piere´s place we had a collection of best belgian beers to taste (some quite rare), but there was no hangover the next whatsoever (try drinking slovenian beer and see what happens .


Day 9, Lille (FRA) @ L´(Art)gressif:
Piere had to go to work early, so it was soon time to get up and leave. The weather was perfect and it felt more like spring than winter. We decided to be the tourists for the day and headed to to centre of Brussels together with Pink Flamingos. And we also needed to buy new guitar strings anyway. Well, finding a parking space in the centre is an achivement if you drive G-Wiz, let alone a huge yellow van, but somehow we found a spot in a shoddy alley. We caught up with Flamingos and they said they had seen a huge metal horn or whatever you can call that monstrosity and we went there and shouted stupid stuff through it. I nearly pissed myself laughing .



Brussels is a beautiful city, a place where you can go with your better half, but there was dog shit everywhere, it felt like skiing contest trying to avoid all the Mr. Hankeys. We found several music shops on the main street and found what we were looking for. A tasty pizza later we were in the van on our way to Lille in France.



The show was organized by our good friend Greg who promoted a show two year ago at La Chimere and youngsters from Desinvolture Nordiste. We played in a smaller pub called L´(Art)gressif in the centre of town (fortunatelly we found a parking spot right next to the venue). The owner and the employess were class acts and we became friends right away . They were blasting technical black and death metal through the stereo, a rather edgy auditory backdrop to otherwise typically calm and charming french pub, giving a potencial customer a conflicting message about what was to be unfolding there that evening. But somehow in a Monthy Python fashion it turned out to be soothing combination.



Anyway, the show went really well for all bands. The first group, Flagship were young and reminded me of us when we started with our band. With some more practice they have a potencial to be very good. The whole night was amazing and Rok had his hands full at his merch corner, but there was a sour taste to it all. The reason was, that our soundguy Luka had to go back to Brussels the next day to start his real job as a light technician in a theatre. We could write essays about that fucker, but to sum it all up in one word, we can say he is a Legend.


The whole street was one big party and we went to a bar nearby where they had a band of 10 girls playing traditional balkan music…now there´s where the party really took off. Too bad we had been late and it was nearing its end.



We had been sharing our »black label™« with half the Europe and it was going down well. Definatelly need to stock up for the next tour. Soon it was time to go and we went to Greg´s house for a well earned rest.


Day 10, Le Havre (FRA) @ MacDaids:
Staying at Greg´s house is always cool not just because of hospitality, but because he has a small zoo at home and it is always fun playing with all the animals running around the house. We had a substantial breakfast and a chance to get up-to-date with what has been going on in virtual word of this thing called internet. Unsuccessfully trying to download the internet to the USB key, we had to go towards Le Havre.


The highways in France are really expensive which means that we always use local roads when driving through France. This means long drives from town to town but also a chance to see the french countryside. Actually this is one of the pros of touring…driving through towns and villages that are not your typical tourist destinations, but are often more beatuful and uncontrived.



Before leaving Lille we had to drop Luka at the train station. It was hard to say goodbye, he really is an important component of the band. I guess it was hard for him too, but he handled the situation like a boss .



Anyway, the next few hours consisted of driving on straight local roads with someone demanding a pit stop to pee every few minutes. I think this was the first day that we brought out our portable kitchen and cooked a proper meal on some parking lot. Quite an unussual sight for the local residents judging by the weird looks we got.


After the meal I took a power nap, so not sure what happened during this time, but I am sure nothing worth writing home about, so I won´t bore you with it. I always ask myself if there is anyone even reading through all the nonsense I go on about in these blogs, so If you, the reader, are still soldering through this miserable attempt at writing a tour blog, please leave a comment below to fulfill my curiosity .


When we arrived at MacDaids, Pink Flamingos were already there. What a cool venue this is, one of my favourite ever for sure. Last time we were in Le Havre we played at Kingstown, which has been closed since then, supposedly the owner was dealing drugs and got busted. Bertrand as always prepared a meal fit for kings, we had lots of drinks and everything else your heart desired. This evening we were joined by another band One Thousand directions, young group of guys who I am sure you will soon hear about if you haven´t already. What a nice surprise! Again all bands had a really good show and lots of people showed up on this sunday evening.


I play on an old one channel Marshall JCM800 which needs to be cranked to work properly and this night I was able to do it. Juicy, throathy distortion for days! And I absolutely love my Gibson LP, which I had for 6 months now. I bought a custom shop version and paid a small fortune for it, but once you find a good Les Paul you have tone for days. I just love this combination of amp and guitar…you have to work harder to get a good sound, but it showcases your style more, so I like it muchos! OK enough gearslutz talk, don´t want you to press that X thingy in your upper right corner .


As ussual we didn´t go to sleep after the show, but went on to party at Bertrands house. The wear and tear of touring and lack of sleep was cathing up, so it wasn´t anything crazy, but we were listening to some great punk-rock bands (thanks to Bertrand´s brother for great selection of music) and just hangin´ out with friends.


Day 11, Angers (FRA) @ Cafe Latin:
Morning…again at least 4 hours of sleep more would be nice, but the road ahead was calling us. Goodbyes…so sad to leave good friends behind and carry on. Fortunatelly they will come to Slovenia soon and we will be able to return the hospitality they deserve. Before leaving Le Havre we bought some fresh baguettes in a local bakery and still warm croissants. Omnomnomnom! Some proper stuff. We found a perfect location in the french countryside where we stopped and had lunch. It was one of those magic moments when you begin to appreciate the fact that you are on the road with best friends driving through beautiful parts of the world, with bright sun and clear skies above you, playing shows for people that actually care and if you are lucky you come home with some money or at least a small whole in your pocket.


We were looking forward to this show. The reason were guys from Wank for peace, we just love those bastards and of course el maestro No gods or kings one of the best singers-songwriters who could stand next to Dallas Green and hold his ground. Check them out! But it has to be said that two sissies emerged on this day, Lo´ and Jani. They have been planning one on one basketball match for 6 months, but all we got was a bunch of excuses and boasting . And since we are exposing people here it needs to be said that our drummer Neco is probably rotting inside. The quantity and smell of the farts he produced on this tour was just vile. Our suffering will be avenged!
Anyway, Flo from Wank for peace was waiting at the venue when we arrived and we were lucky enough to find spot for our van just outside the entrance. This is another positive part of touring…meeting friends everyday, people you see a few times in a year, but it feels like you have known them all your life. I´ll never understand those bands that come to shows and go to the backstage keeping to themselves like they are some fucking rockstars. We have had some bands like that when booking shows ourselves, when only form of commnunication is when they tap you on the shoulder asking for their payment. Well, I am always tempted to tell them to fuck off whenever I get another e-mail from them, but usually I am polite and just delete the fucker. Whatever, back to the planet earth we go…Cafe Latin. A nice small venue with a waitress that represents an embodyment of beauty, just wow. I think I just had a crisis…



The whole show was a blast, One Thousand directions rocked hard (I didn´t catch the whole set of the first band, but they were OK), we were once again on fire and last but not the least, Julien aka No gods or kings gave a heartstopping performance. Can´t wait to hear his album. We were fooling around with Wank for peace guys after the show and agreed to book 3 months long tour in Slovenia and Croatia and Serbia, with no day-offs (hope I don´t have to explain that this was a joke . Regretfully we had to say goodbye for we had to drive to Nantes to One Thousand directions´ house where we stayed the night. Thanks to everyone, you were just to kind to us!



Day 12&13, Tulle and Chanteix (FRA) @ Nico´s house and Cafe in Tulle:
The next two days were not actually booked before the tour. Everyone that has ever booked a tour knows that you have to start at least 4, 5 months in advance if not more. But me and Jani who usually go through this less glamorous part of the whole process were both busy and not fully dedicated which meant that were left with two day-offs. Although that´s not so bad if you are in the middle of beautiful french countryside…


Fortunatelly we are blessed to have met some of the nicest people ever from an area around the town of Tulle. Guys from a band called L.D. Kharst (ex NY-Hill Stillness). Nico sent us an e-mail a few days before that they had to cancel their tour and that they could set up a show for us. Of course that was a no brainer, we were happy just to see those guys again, any show on top of that would just have been a bonus. They have organized a show for us before at Nico´s house in Chanteix (he lives in a most idilic house you can imagine with a huge shed next to it where they have their rehearsing space and often organize shows for friends).


The drive to Chanteix was something special. As it was said earlier, we always drive on local roads when in France, so the scenery on the way there was spectacular. We were running a bit late and had some hard time finding Nico´s house, but eventually we arrived there. They were just rehearsing their new songs and told us that they would play with us that evening. We were so happy to be there, among friends and in a place we can call home. After they had finished their practice they prepared a dinner for us which was to die for…damn, it was good. The show would start quite early so when we were stil eating, people were already gathering outside. To my and everybody´s surprise lots od people showed up.


We had a chance to see L.D. Kharst for the first time and I must say that there must be something in the water in Chanteix, because these guys never fail to impress us. Just amazing!
We played the whole set with new and some old songs, since we had lots of time left. All in all a great evening! After the show we went back to Nico´s house and had time to talk about has been happening in our lives. Me and Jani brought our acoustic guitars into the house, messing around with some riffs and Adrien came to an idea that we should do an acoustic show the next day in Tulle. We didn´t have any songs whatsoever written for the acoustic set, so we were just playing with the idea, but in the end decided that we should just go for it and compose some songs the next day. With that plan in mind we went to sleep.


We woke up and it was sunny and warm, a perfect day to sit outside on the porch and write songs. It would be easy to just play your songs as you play them on electric guitar, but that usually sounds like crap and to do it properly you just have to rewrite everything to suit the specifics of the acoustic instruments. And that is what we actually did, but it took lots of time and we only had 3 songs down before we had to go towards Tulle. We went to the mall to buy supplies and stopped in a vinly shop in the centre of town. The shop owner was class act and he said he would come to our show in the evening (which we yet had to book). Nico had to go to work so we went with Adrien who took us to his uncle´s place in the countryside with a scenery that puts most postcards to shame.


He than went back to Tulle to look for a place where we could play, while we had time to work on some more songs and cook a meal. Soon we got a phone call that he had found a pub in the centre of town but the show would start in one hour so we got into the van and went there. We were basically writing songs on the way and also came up with two covers on the fly.


The pub was in the centre of town, a cosy little place with very kind lady owner who had always wanted to do acoustic shows there, so she gladly agreed to book us for the evening. Nico and Adrien brought some friends with them and the owner of the vinyl shop showed up as well, so the place was half full. We did two 20 minute sets and with a few sour notes and lots and lots of improvisation it actually went really well. The bar owner was impressed and we had free drinks, a dinner fit for a five star hotel and we even got paid. Not bad for a last minute show (as last minute as they get).


It was lovely chatting with locals and our good friends but it was time to go to Adrien´s apartement where we spent the night. Had to say goodbye to the rest of the guys, no need to say we can´t wait to see you all again! We drank some good wine at Adrien´s and enjoyed his and his girlfriend´s company chatting through the late hours of the night.


Day 14, Marseille (FRA) @ O˙Bundies:
In the morning we got a message from Nicolas that the ceiling in the O´Bundies has collapsed and the show there was cancelled. He told us he would try to find another venue for the show and thankfully we had an acoutic set and better chances of playing that night. We had a long drive to Maresille so we woke up at 7.30 and left Tulle (thank you Adrien, Nico and the rest for your hospitality and care!).


We knew we needed to compose a few more songs so the plan was to stop at the side of the road somewhere and practice. Again we had a perfect sunny day and beautiful sorroundings, although our GPS led us through some very narrow roads which were too narrow for our comfort. Anyway we stopped about 100 kilometres before Marseille and took our equipment to a nearby field where we worked on some new songs, Neco added a bass drum to his kit (previous evening he only used snare and hi-hat) and ideas started flowing. I think we had 6 or 7 songs ready in the end and we played them through numerous times, trying to memorize all new riffs and vocal lines. We were quite an attraction there since everyone that drove past was smilling and sounding the horn, high-fiving us from their cars . We also have to say thanks to Rok who cooked the lunch and washed the dishes while we were praticing.


It was getting late so we had to carry on to Marseille. We got a call from Nicolas that he has found a place for us to play an acoustic show with another local band. Driving through Marseille was hectic and we were lucky to be able to park the van just outside the venue. There was no soundguy as this was a last minute show so I jumped in and did a quick soundcheck before we started playing. We really enjoyed this show, there was lots of jamming, improvising and unplanned solos when somebody forgot how the song went and tried to save their ass . After the show we went to Nicolas´ place since we knew we had a long drive the next and wanted to get some rest. Jani and Neco volunteered to sleep in the van since we didn´t feel safe leaving the van unattended in the middle of Marseille which looked quite rough compared to the places we have been before.


Day 15, Riva del Garda (ITA) @ Lochness Pub:
The last day of tour was here and we all wished it could last longer. But on the other hand you get to miss people and it´s never a sad feeling going back home. We left Marseille at 8 o´clock in the morning since we had to drive through Nice, Cannes and Monaco and we expected more traffic than ussual. Our GPS was acting up again and led us on some really narrow roads, but we didn´t want to take the highway in order to save some money. We soon got to Riviera and drove on the coastal roads through Nice and Cannes where we stopped at the beach. The plan was to go swimming but the water was so cold that enthusiasm soon evaporated and we chickened out. We resumed our journey toward Italy and were soon running behind schedule since we got stuck in a few traffic jams on the way. There was no other choice but to take the highway. Despite high costs and endless tunnels, the drive from Monaco to Genova was quite enjoyable with great views on both sides of the road.


We eventually arrived in Riva del Garda, having to look for the venue on foot since our GPS led us to nowhere. Our good amico Alessandro contacted his friend Alberto who helped us book the show at Lochness pub. He was on tour with his bend so his lovely sister Cristina and her friend Martina took care of us instead. We were given a royal treatment the whole evening for which we are really grateful! Also a shout out goes to the pub owner who provided unlimited amounts of beer! We played with a band from Padova called Make it happy who were really nice people and a great company. It is always funny when we play in Italy since we casually use non-offensive italian cursing words when talking to eachother (we live right next to the italian border so there is some linguistic infulence). And they couldn´t stop laughing at random words here and there among slovenian language.


After a tasty italian pasta and more beer we started the soundcheck and I was the soundguy for the evening again. This is my part-time job anyway, so I didn´t mind doing it. It was great to crank up the amps again and play loud after a few days of acoustic shows. We gave all the energy we had left into the performance and the response was mutual. All in all it was a perfect ending to a great tour. After the show we partied with Cristina and Martina even when everyone left we carried on until 6 o´clock in the morning.


We were told that we will have to get up at 8am, since the cleaning lady was coming. The pub owner told us that she has a stare than can peel paint and should not be messed with so we listened to him and got out before we pissed her off. Luckily she was nice to us, so maybe we meet her on a good day. The previous day we arrived when it was already dark, so when we got out of the pub we got a nice surprise. The whole town and the area around it was just breath-taking. Steep mountains on one side, lake on the other with crystal clear water.



Cristina and Martina invited us to come back in summer for the music festival that they are organizing and we will definitely be there. After a nice cup of coffee in a bar by the lake we got in the van and drove home happy to have spent two amazing weeks, meeting some of the friendliest people ever and having seen some of the nicest places around the whole of Europe.

We would like to thank all the promoters and bands that we played with on this tour and all of you who come to our shows and supported us.
We will see you all again soon!


With love, Real Life Version.

We are also booking a 16-day european tour and we still have to fill a few gaps. Mainly 20th and 21st February in Germany and 2nd and 3rd March in Italy. If you can help, get in touch. We will try to return a favour when you ask us back.

Give it a try!

p.s. You can also download them!

Cheers, RLV!

Many of you know that we also book gigs in our hometown (RLV Booking). Well considering that recording an album and printing CDs isn´t cheap we will minimize the amount of gigs we do to save money, but after that we will resume to do as much as possible to help other bands out.

That´s it for now!
Cheers, RLV.

Knowing that the best way to progress and learn is to play in front of the live audience we will do just that. We are going on tour with our finnish friends Part Time Killer from 24th February – 5th March. The tour will include gigs in Czech Republic, Italy and Slovenia, you can check the tour dates on our website. Every feedback from you is welcome!Plans for the future are as stated earlier, to record the second album and then play gigs whenever we have free time and hopefully do a scandinavian tour when the time is right.

That´s all folks!