Rival Sons

Rival Sons: A blog from the road, by Talita!

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Philadelphia to Kentucky, Teatro Fiasco tour, 20-23 May 2017

By Talita

Currently the tour bus is driving through the Appalachian Mountains. They’re lush and green with plentiful crops of tall trees and grassy hills, dotted with white houses complete with porches or warehouses with large trucks parked outside. We’re winding around bends, currently going through Johnson City Limits, now over train tracks, lumber yards, McDonalds, a swarm of yellow school buses.

We’re on our way to Hazard, Kentucky, the penultimate show of the Teatro Fiasco USA tour dates. Poet Derrick Brown has already left the bus, (he went to do a show with Eugene Mirman and The Dead Milkmen after the Teatro Boston show). The routing on this tour means that the Teatro Fiasco dates are interspersed with festival shows in different radio territories. DJ Howie (or as he was rechristened yesterday, Howdie) Pyro is still with us, but he’s has had to sit around for a few days whilst the guys play different festivals.

I jumped on this tour at the MMRBQ, I flew out to Philadelphia and headed across the Benjamin Franklin bridge to Camden, New Jersey. The MMRBQ was in a sunken, partially covered amphitheatre, the BB&T Pavilion. There was standing room at the front, then seating, then behind that people picnicking on the grass. It was a mostly overcast day, changeable. The bus was parked up in the concrete lot behind the Pavilion with sparrows sitting on the fence, chirping. The sparrows weren’t the only noisy ones in the parking lot, just outside there was a few Christian extremists protesting with placards and propaganda, shouting through megaphones at anyone who would listen about how we’re all sinners and going to hell. Megaphone guy pointed at Scott, Miley and I “You guys in leather jackets, you (points) going to hell, you (points) there is no other God, Hinduism - you’re going to hell, you (points at me) you’re going to get cancer” rolls eyes - well, welcome to America!

https://instagram.com/p/BUUrz95BQ_9/

The MMRBQ was in association with Philadelphia radio station WMMR, a rock station that loves the Rival Sons and has done since Pressure & Time. Rival Sons took the stage in the afternoon on bill that included The Pretty Reckless and The Struts. The set was short (general festival length, 30mins), but the crowd was warm. The guys blasted out some favourites and the audience was left wanting more.

https://instagram.com/p/BUU74bvB_zz/

Backstage I learnt what Tater Tots were, and Miley and I did a Facebook Live with members of the Rival Sons and Daughters group.

From Camden, New Jersey through the night we travelled to Columbus, Ohio for Rock On The Range (ROTR). The tour bus here is a different experience to the bus in Europe. It’s a single deck, but wider, it has easy chairs, Wi-Fi and even satellite TV with the movie channels!!

We arrived early morning into another concrete parking lot, this time in Ohio, behind the Mapfre Stadium. With Metallica headlining ROTR in the evening there was a ton of trucks and rooms in the arena backstage taken up with their production.

I grabbed a shower behind a light plastic curtain at the back of the ladies’ crew bathrooms, risky maybe, but I felt it was worth it. The guys started interviews at midday, then played the show, then had more interviews. Radio presenters from what seems like across the states were there at little tables. With the single Tied Up from Hollow Bones recently going to radio in the US, the guys are, of course, happy to do the rounds and chat.

https://instagram.com/p/BUXFi0ABoJI/

Hollow Bones came out a while ago now, but it’s still the current album. To most bands, that don’t put out albums every two years, it would be recent. Yet in some ways, so much has happened in the past year, Hollow Bones already seems like it happened a while ago, and the guys are already openly talking about thinking about recording a new album soon.

As I write this, we’re still driving through the Appalachians and Miley is sitting next to me trying to learn to speak with a British accent. Without a doubt, Miley does the best impressions in Rival Sons. That’s not to say they’re perfect, but he tries to work on them every day, much to everyone’s… delight. “Water, waater, waterr” he is repeating in an English accent as I type this. He’s actually pretty good, but don’t tell him that please.

https://instagram.com/p/BUXQ36ohTw8/

So, ROTR went well, the guys opened the main stage early afternoon, and rolled out some favourites to the Ohio crowd. Afterwards, festival catering and Scott and Miley wet back into interviews. As the afternoon progressed, the rain came in and by the evening as Volbeat took to the stage, the rain was coming down in sheets. We’d finished press and days duties, so we decided to try and get to a good spot to see Metallica. As soon as the rain stopped for a while we piled into golf carts to race around the side of the arena. But the rain didn’t stop for long enough and our little golf carts were ill-equipped to deal with the downpour. Scott, Miley, Jay and Pete (Tour manager) braved it, together with Dean Delray (comedian) and hopped out of the carts in the torrential rain to see if there was a spot to watch the show from. Dave and I looked at each other, looked at Miley in the cart behind, and decided to get the hell back to the bus! Clothes soaked through, golf cart tyres churning up fountains in front of them, we Super Mario’ed it back to the bus and dried out our clothes. We didn’t get to see Metallica take the stage as by that point, those of us who had decided against the rain, had put on pyjamas, and the tour bus movie channel was calling us. What can I say? I packed two pairs of trousers, and one I’d already ripped climbing up into my bunk, the other was soaked through, my only option was pyjamas!

We drove through the night again, this time down to North Carolina, for a day off at Pete’s in-laws.

I woke up and rolled out of my bunk, stumbled into the ‘front lounge’ of the bus and saw roses out of the windows one side and a house with doggies on the other. How awesome!

https://instagram.com/p/BUZ3-M0BRs7/

It was a great day off. Dave and Jay’s wives came up to hang out. There was a pool and we went swimming in the sunshine. Jay got to cook and make us all dinner (one of his favourite activities), and there were eleven dogs. One dog even got on the tour bus for a visit. For most, if not all of us, that rates pretty highly on the awesome-day-off-scale.

https://instagram.com/p/BUaY61ph59c/

Now I’m sitting in a car park on the tour bus in Hazard, Kentucky. It’s raining outside, and there’s very little Wi-Fi, but tonight, fans are coming from around 15 different states in the US, some driving 12 hours or more, to get to the show. It looks like a nice venue tonight, with red velvet seats and drapes, and I think the guys are pleased to be able to play a headline set again, back with the Teatro Fiasco.

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Hamburg, Docks, 26 Feb, 2017

I know that some days events get blurred and are hard to recall, but I cannot forget the Hamburg show: the day I was attacked by a prostitute. And a cupcake.

It all started so innocently. I rolled out of the bus in my pyjamas and coat, as did on a daily basis, hoping that by putting a wooly hat on and scarf, I would look passably dressed. I didn’t really know where I was, but I could tell it was Germany. In my pre-cup of tea brain, I slowly remembered we were in Hamburg, and I looked around for the venue entrance. Being clever, I thought I would follow the bus power cable to the venue, but this took me to a block of flats, so returned to the bus confused as ever in the rain. Todd got up, so we then both went to look for the venue. We found the front entrance, but it took us a while to find the unassuming backstage. It looked like a house owned by vegan punks, which I suppose isn’t so far from the truth. It’s a weird venue Hamburg Docks, as the kitchen leads directly out to the stage. That is, in order to access the stage from the backstage area, you have to go through the kitchen. All of the backstage rooms were downstairs underground. I shacked up with Howie and Derrick in their room, and tried to get a bit of work done.

Dave got up and asked if I wanted to go for a walk about town. You may notice from this blog or the photos online, that we don’t get a lot of time to discover the towns and cities we visit most days. It’s nice to be outside and see some daylight, even on a grey day like that in Hamburg. So I grabbed a quick shower at the venue (which smelt slightly mouldy) and headed out with Dave.

I had heard about the Reeperbahn and in my naive mind, I thought it was an actual venue, or it was a place that was specially good for german beer. I’d imagined lederhosen and jolly people with moustaches. Well, I was mistaken. It’s the red light district - a long street of sex shops and cheap, tacky souvenirs. Obviously Dave and I wanted to investigate. We got some ‘great’ tourist photos and ended up getting a little lost.

Want a new hat Dave?

We came upon a road that had it’s entrance barred with a sign saying “Entry for men under 18 and women prohibited”. I wondered for a while if this was a grammatical error. Did they mean men and women under 18? I’ve never been anywhere apart from a synagogue and a mosque where women weren’t allowed in certain areas. This place didn’t look particularly holy, although as I understand it, God can appear anywhere and in many forms. It was early afternoon and the place looked deserted. Dave walked around the barricade to have a look, he told me the coast was clear and that no one was there so I should come around too, so I did. It almost looked quaint if it wasn’t for the empty windows which would have later been filled with - presumably ladies - looking for clients. I took some photos of Dave in the street. 

I’ve since come to know that this street is called Herbertstraße, and as I went to take a photo of an empty window, this was all new to me - we found out that the street was not in fact, totally empty. Dave was ahead up the cobblestone street and a lady leaned out of a window and start shouting him and me in German. In case you don’t know, Dave Beste’s German is very good, so he understood and called over to me, “Talita, I think we better leave!” - I said “Ooo ok Dave!” and caught a glimpse of the woman, that to me looked like Amber Rose, for 5 seconds before she busted out of the shopfront, and stomped over to me. It looked to me like she’d filled a bottle of dish soap with water. As Dave and I sped up to make it to the barriers at the other end of the street, she started spraying whatever it was in the bottle all over me. On my face, down my jacket, all over my bobble hat. She was shouting in German, which I didn’t understand, and Dave was kind enough not to translate. I was pleased whatever she’s sprayed over me didn’t sting or stink but it did seem slightly more tacky than water. I pondered what the liquid might be, whilst a little shocked as we exited the Herbertstraße. “Poor lady!” I said to Dave. “You are SO British.” he replied “She was so angry at me!” I exclaimed, quite confused.

I told this story when we made it back to the venue, slightly wet and confused, to Howie Pyro, musing about the reason for it all, he looked at me with his slightly crooked grin, amused and exclaimed “You tried to take photos?!”, incredulous, I really didn’t think much of it, there wasn’t anyone there, but apparently that’s a no-no. Reading about Herbertstraße now, I see according to Wikipedia that “the Nazi authorities erected wooden screens to hide the illegal activities.” And “In the 1970s police added signs advising youths and women against entering: the former for reasons of protection against harmful influence, the latter because prostitutes would actively seek to chase any women who entered away, thus causing trouble.”

I’m pretty sure If I’d read a tourist guide about Hamburg, it would have told me about territorial prostitutes and taking photos, but I didn’t. So I have now learnt about the Reeperbahn and Hamburg. Maybe more than I wanted to know!

With this in mind, I wondered what the audience attending Hamburg Docks that night would be like. The Teatro Fiasco involves some ladies of it’s own, images of Go-Go dancers during Howie Pyro’s set, the tour poster featuring a male fallen angel captured by captivating ladies, not to mention Derrick C. Brown’s poem ‘Chrome Hotel’. In years gone by, Hamburg’s Reeperbahn was similar to Paris’ Pigalle, The Beatles famously played 48 nights at the Indra Club on the Grosse Freiheit street. Rock’n’roll, sex and even burlesque have often gone hand in hand.

That being said, the Hamburg audience were just totally receptive and loving. Derrick had a great show, and Jay regained a power in his vocals that had waned whilst he had been sick. It was a mesmerising night. I watched from the monitor desk, looking after my GoPro cameras, transfixed with it all. The band were so warmly received by a friendly, joyful audience and pleased with the show.

Photo by Sloane Morrison ^^

We couldn’t hang around too long afterwards, as we had to get in the bus for the long drive to Oslo. We would be driving most of the next day and our second driver was already on board. Everyone was in good spirits as we headed off. 

I thought I would eat one of the lovely Rival Sons and Daughters cupcakes. I was standing enjoying it downstairs on the bus (minding my own business) when that rowdy Fuzzlord came over to me and just picked up half the icing from my cupcake and ate it. Off the top of my cupcake!

Well, I didn’t hesitate, but took the rest of my cupcake with the remaining icing in pushed it into his face! The red fluffy icing smeared over his trademark moustache and up his nostrils and in his beard. It was very satisfying, but there was a moment of silence on the bus at my retaliation. Scott is my big brother. And I know what happens when you do this to your big brother. It’s a can of worms and he wasn’t going to close until I had worms of icing all over my face. Twice. So that’s how the bus ride to Oslo started out, that’s how my yellow coat got wet, then pink with icing, all in the same day. That is also what happened to the few remaining Rival Sons and Daughters cupcakes from Amsterdam. I apologise.

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Antwerp, Teatro Fiasco, 2017

I woke up in Antwerp and felt pretty good, so I decided to go for a run. Miley was still asleep, I thought about waiting for him to wake up so we could run together, but sometimes it’s best to just go when the moment takes you and not wait around. I ran from the venue to a nearby park which was surrounded by motorways. It was a grey, cold day in Belgium and I was pleased to get out and get some physical exercise. Although it’s tiring being on the road, its not so much from physical exertion - for me anyway - but from lack of sleep. I had been trying to build up my running stamina since the Sabbath dates last year, where I had multiple opportunities to run with the guys, but was unable to, as I just could not run. Now I can, although I’m sure I couldn’t keep up with Miley or Jay. They run quite some distances, and I can only manage 5k on a good day. 

Anyway, back to backstage from the run, some of the guys had surfaced, venue shower and eat. I like catering at venues, I like food on hand. It makes things simple. It also means of course, that I don’t wander the streets looking for food and simultaneously discovering the local environment. But in Antwerp I did discover a castle and two ponds just from running about.

Anyway, Antwerp show day was thankfully less busy than Amsterdam. Jay was still recovering, he emerged from the bus later in the afternoon feeling better. The Trix backstage was underground in a corridor of black and red rooms, one room full of showers, one full of loos. Miley and I had taken over the Trix Instagram Stories for the day, so we grabbed bits of pictures for that, whilst I was doing other Rival Sons stuff. I tried to catch up on work and write a blog (which I posted) but I didn’t manage to cover everything. I guess you have to also be in the right headspace to write. Reflective and not stressed. Moreover, you need to remember! I remember having a lot of giggles the Antwerp day, good spirits backstage. I felt good that I’d made it out to have a run. Even though I’m only out on the road for a couple of weeks this time, its a cramped bus, and I’m not sure I’m so used to being around people and crowds all the time. Its nice to be alone for a while. If I feel like this after only a week (at the time), imagine what its like for the guys!

^^Dave backstage, Antwerp

Jay was feeling much stronger for the crowds in Antwerp that evening. Another sold out show, full of what felt like wonderful people. Derrick had also been under the weather, but he was feeling on good form for the Antwerp show, jumping back into the crowd, borrowing beers from the audience, searching for mermaids amongst the Rival Sons fans.

A post shared by Rival Sons (@rivalsons) on Feb 26, 2017 at 1:52am PST

I’m getting confused about what nights were movie nights on the small portion of the tour I’ve been on, but so far we’ve watched two movies that I brought with me. My most favourite movie, Subway, by Luc Besson:

^^ French trailer (we watched the dubbed version)

One of the other movies i brought with me, was coincidentally an old favourite of Scott’s - Fantastic Planet from 1973. Scott actually had a band named Fantastic Planet, after the movie, if you look you may be able to find some recordings online. He said the band were pretty good.

We happily watched a movie (I think it was Subway) on the way to Hamburg, the last German date of the Teatro Fiasco tour.

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Amsterdam, Teatro Fiasco, 2017

Vietnamese food is one of Jay’s favourites, and I am very happy to go eat Vietnamese anytime. The evening of the Amsterdam day off, after the guys pedicures, we headed to eat some Vietnamese. I was mad hungry and it was so yummy. I always find it a bit difficult to negotiate food on days off, you get into the hotel in the afternoon, maybe only having snacked on a banana on the bus, you want to eat, but you don’t want to get room service, and eating in a hotel is expensive. Sometimes with forethought like others on the crew I pack extra water bottles and bananas into my bag, before getting off the bus for the hotel, but the quandary of whether to eat alone when you’re hungry or wait for others means that I sometimes end up ravenous whilst trying to figure out what I should do in some sleep deprived- hungry trance. In any case, I was very happy to eat some food with Jay, Miley and Derrick. Hooray for food. I’m writing this from the tour bus outside the venue in Copenhagen. I am thinking about breakfast, which maybe explains why I’m so happy to talk about food!

The day of the Amsterdam show was very busy. As I mentioned before there had been some sickness on the bus since before I arrived. And Jay had been struggling for a little while. Eating spicy Pho may help, and he’d seen one doctor, but the day of the Amsterdam show I accompanied him to another doctor. In fact, 3 of us visited doctors and pharmacies in Amsterdam, which ate up a lot of time, but was worthwhile. Meaning that some of my plans for the day, like meeting up with the Rival Sons and Daughters group that had travelled from all over to make it to the show, didn’t happen. They had arranged to deliver 40 Rival Sons cupcakes to the band, and I wasn’t around to catch the delivery and help as I had planned, but here’s some cute pics from Miley receiving the cupcakes.

(These cupcakes will re-emerge later in this blog) - This was so sweet - thank you Rival Sons and Daughters, sorry I wasn’t there to sort this out!

We had a couple of special guests at the Amsterdam show, including Matt Taylor of Rosetta mission fame http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta with his wife Leanne. I brought them backstage before the show to meet the guys (not Jay who was resting). This was the same week as the Trappist-1 planets news, so the guys had some questions for him about the potential for life in another galaxy as well as just general questions about landing probes on asteroids. Matt was kind enough to give the guys a full explanation. Even using fruit to illustrate planetary bodies. Spectacular!

^^ Matt Taylor and the guys

The Amsterdam show had sold out in advance, like many of the shows on this tour. Not only are Rival Sons playing to bigger crowds but they’re raving enthusiastic sold out crowds. The Amsterdam show (as mentioned) brought in a lot of fans from all over Europe, as a meeting point for the Rival Sons fan community. I know the Rival Sons fan community aren’t unique in finding friendships online over distance through a common interest, but I do think that the bond and friendships they have, are one of the loveliest aspects of Rival Sons.

Some fans after the show said it was the most emotional Rival Sons show they had experienced. It was a difficult one as Jay was unwell, but illness rarely stops Rival Sons. This was another example of that, even though it may haunt the guys briefly that they weren’t able to give 100%, they still delivered and gave whatever they had, and that was more than enough for the Amsterdam crowd.

^^ thank you for my cupcake

We had a late bus call after the Amsterdam show, with it only being a short distance to Antwerp. Crowds of fans hung out around the bus along by the smelly canal after the show, the guys stopped to chat then got on the bus and we ate some cupcakes. Then 5am I woke from snoozing in my bunk, and we were off to Antwerp.

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Teatro Fiasco, update (# 2)

^^ Where we’ve been this week.

So as tour rolls on, with the best intentions to update the blog frequently, time passes and i get confused between places. It’s already Saturday, i’m writing this from backstage Trix, Antwerp. 

I started typing this in Amsterdam, I got two sentences in and ran off on some errand or another. The days are already merging for me, i was shocked to find out it was already Thursday the other day, now i hear its Saturday?! How did that happen? In any case, i will try, as best i can to recap events as i listen to Rival Sons soundcheck above me. 

I jump down from my bunk on the tour bus by 12noon daily, and the days go so quickly. Everything seems busier than last summer out with Sabbath, there were more days off in between then. More time to write a blog. Thursday we had a day off in Amsterdam, pulling up early that morning to Melkweg along the smelly green canal that surrounds the venue. 

N.b. Nobody fell in the canal. Success.

I had plans to go to the Rijks Museum with Miley and see some dutch old masters, sit in front of some Rembrandt. But there’s a lot of colds and a bit of flu going around the RIval Sons camp. Miley is just getting over it today (Antwerp), Jay has been ill, Howie has been unwell, and by the time i got hotel i just wanted to eat and rest. Late nights and bad bus sleep kinda take it out of you. BUT, then i got a call to come meet Jay, Miley and Derrick (C. Brown, the poet) in a nail place, where they were all having a pedicure, so off i went across town to the salon, where i was faced with:

I mean, i think a pedicure is a great thing to do on a day off. And what with Jay’s penchant for going shoeless, footloose and fancy free on stage, i think its a relaxing choice. Why the hell not?

I should back track a bit before Amsterdam to Cologne and Frankfurt. I just asked Matthias (stage manager) and we are both having trouble telling the two shows apart as far as backstage business. They were both packed, busy shows. In Cologne Howie Pyro (DJ) and Scott partook in a FB live which you can check out on https://www.facebook.com/rivalsons/ 

The next day in Frankfurt Scott, Dave, Derrick and I visited the Klassikstadt Classic car show rooms http://www.klassikstadt.de/ - Scott and Dave both have a love of Classic Cars, Scott owns a 1956 Pontiac Chieftain back in Huntington Beach (check out this video of Scott in California, if you haven’t already seen it)

We toured the floors of the old factory building and the guys picked out some favourite vehicles, looked at price tags and dreamt of a stage where they might one day be able to just walk in and buy a 1964 Volvo P1800.

I have to go and set up the cameras for the show tonight now, but i’ll update more on Amsterdam and today’s show in Antwerp later (i hope). 

As i sign off, Miley is warming up on his practise kit, Jay is doing some hot yoga and drinking a special tea to help his chest feel better and i think someone is in the shower down the corridor. It’s a funny business this, going from place to place bringing all this stuff in, then taking it all back out at the end of the night. Sleeping as much as you can and sweating and giving it your all on stage. It’s nice to be an observer and a communicator in this biz, but right now i need a cuppa tea.

(p.s. Dave has just walked in and told me about his rediscovered obsession - playing chess online. Are you one the lucky people that may be playing Dave Beste online at 5am? He’s pretty good. He wins a lot apparently.)

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Back on the road - Teatro Fiasco, Berlin 20 Feb 2017

Well, it’s been a while since you had an update from me on the road! Hello my friends! I write to you from backstage Cologne or Köln, sitting in a little room with Pete the tour manager, charging GoPro batteries and transferring pics. So far Germany may have been pretty grey, but last nights show was cosy and warm, not just in temperature, but in the welcome of the crowd. 

I’ve just jumped on for the last two weeks of the Teatro Fiasco in Europe, the guys are proud of this line up and excited by it, and justifiably so. Teatro Fiasco consists of a DJ, Howie Pyro who was originally from New York, well-known in the underground garage and rock’n’roll scene, as well as having been in a series of awesome bands throughout the years. Now Howie lives in LA, and is known for radio show “Intoxica Radio” - check it out => https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/jellsmayhemsgarage - he’s a crazy music nerd who spins 45s, to a backdrop of old movies. Howie kicks off Teatro Fiasco grooving and shaking as people pile in, then he’s followed by poet Derrick Brown. Derrick and Jay have been friends for twenty years, he hails from Long Beach, and is a word magician. Check him out here => http://www.brownpoetry.com/ He’s a surprise for some audience members, i heard a couple of people behind me exclaim “What the fuck is this shit?!” as Derrick took to the stage before he’d uttered a word. Offended at the idea of a poet at a rock’n’roll show - but then 5 mins in, they’d moved forward and were clapping and laughing with everyone else. This was my first night of Teatro Fiasco, i knew what the plans were for it, but before attending one, i didn’t know how it would work in practise. It occurs to me that it shouldn’t be so strange for rock’n’roll to mix with poetry, lyricism and poetry sit together just fine, sometimes fertilising each other and becoming each other - Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for literature last year. Beat poets had a direct effect on rock’n’roll - this cross cultivation is a fertile place! So maybe its not so surprising Rival Sons have a poet on tour giving homage to words, and a dj on tour paying homage to music that they love of yesteryear. In any case, i loved it, and it seemed the Berlin crowd last night agreed. 

Rival Sons set was just over 100mins last night, the Berlin crowd had such a good vibe, you could hear a pin drop during Jordan, and they were well into doing some call and response, not just in Torture, but in Secret and even during Miley’s drum solo. 

As it was my first night back on tour for a while (i’ve been finishing an MA), so i didn’t hang out long after the show, more concerned with my first night back in a tourbus bunk. I am not a good tour bus sleeper, but it takes some getting used to, but with my trusty Rainbow Brite sheets and some extra pillows i was pretty snug. I’ll update more soon, but i now have to run and go set up our first Facebook Live of this run with Scott and Howie, tune in shortly for more info on Teatro Fiasco!!

- T. 

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And the winner is.... *drumroll* Ana Castillo Bañuls!! Thanks Ana! This is awesome!! 

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By Renato Peres #RivalSonsGIFExchange

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#RivalSonsGIFExchange - entry by Kristen Johnston

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By Vasilis Athanasiadis and Pedro Henrique Bastos!

Entries to the Rival Sons GIF Exchange 2016!

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Great job Thaina Dalfré #RivalSonsGIFExchange

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By Krischan Meyer #RivalSonsGIFExchange 

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Some of our favourite entries from the Rival Sons Christmas GIF competition - this one is by Ashey Brazendale

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Moscow & the end of “The End” summer 2016

We took two flights from Stockholm to Moscow, changing in Frankfurt. We were travelling most of the day arriving in the evening in Moscow and then taking the hour and a half ride to our hotel in Moscow.

^^ Flying into Moscow

What a hotel it was! The Metropol, right by Red Square. I’d been quite tired travelling and getting towards the end of the tour (Moscow was my last stop) – but seeing the Kremlin and St. Basil’s as our minibus pulled in made me wildly excited. 

^^ from the bus - first view of Red Square

All of the guys were thrilled to be in Russia for the first time (although Miley had been to Russia before playing with a Jazz band) and after putting our stuff in our rooms – amazed at the size and grandeur we went on a little tour of each other’s rooms. I was certainly a little overwhelmed by the place, and glad my room was not as grand! Felt like a James Bond film!

A video posted by Rival Sons (@rivalsons) on Jul 10, 2016 at 2:58pm PDT

^^Hotel room video I guess its kind of strange that my reference points for Moscow were originally mostly films. A strange entrance into a new culture, especially when its films like James Bond! The only similarity with Bond, apart from the existence of Red Square, that I saw, was the amount of beautiful glamorous women in Moscow. (Strangely the men were nowhere near as glam or preened). Anyway, after visiting the band rooms and marveling at the marble pillars, porcelain, robot toilets etc. we headed to our respective rooms before a “day off” – which was actually half a day of press and interviews…

Lobby call for the radio interview with Rock FM Moscow was at 9am. We spent ages driving around trying to find the place; the many leafy entrances to blocks of apartments surrounded by pot holed car parks all looked similar.  It was hot and Moscow was full of road works, closures and building refurbishments that made it a long bumpy ride.  However, we were back at the hotel with a bit of time before the next interviews though, so Jay, Scott, Dave, Miley and I headed to Red Square to get some photos before the next interviews. Alex from Rolling Stone (Russia) came with us and Mika from the Russian promotion company came with us.

^^ Rock FM Photo

^^ Red Square 

Red Square is pretty majestic. There was an audible WOW from as all as we entered through the gateway. The square is flanked on one side by the red walls of the Kremlin, enclosing the residence of the president of the Russian Federation (Putin was at home too, so I waved), 5 palaces and 4 cathedrals. At the far end of the cobbled square is the mesmerising St. Basil’s Cathedral. (Turns out its now one of my most favourite buildings in the whole world.) It unavoidably makes me think of ice cream and is so colourful and jubilant, it was such a thrill to see it in person. Its actually based on the book of revelation, and meant to look like flames - but ice cream, on a hot sunny day in Moscow seemed more appealing. Anyway, after getting asked for autographs (not me, the guys) and photos several times, we headed back to the hotel so the guys could do their interviews and we could get on with our day off.

^^ Red Square 

Things had been a constant rush since we got on that all day ferry from Helsinki. The normal rhythm of the days, Miley & Jay getting to run, sleeping patterns, food etc had been disrupted. There were so many things I wanted to see in Moscow, Gorky Park, famous art galleries with their Kandinsky and Chagall, museums, architecture, history… but as it was I succumbed and fell asleep, as did the rest of the guys. I felt pretty annoyed at myself to not have the energy to explore more, but it just wasn’t happening. I nearly went to a museum with some of the guys, but they decided to see whether they might be able to do a cover of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” so they started looking at parts in their respective rooms, trying to get to grips with the song. In the evening we headed out with Mika to a restaurant specializing in Ukrainian & Russian food. The guys signed more autographs and took more photos along the way, kids seemed to be waiting to see them, knowing they were in the area from social media. We tried different Russian vodkas and ate all sorts of delicious food, then walked back through Red Square, meeting more fans on the way and signing and taking photos.

^^ Walking to the restaurant

^^Dinner in Moscow

^^ Red Square at night We were all tempted to go out on the town and experience more of Moscow’s hospitality, but sleep was calling so we all slid off back to our rooms at the hotel.

Show day I had another chance to explore more of Moscow, but yet again didn’t manage to see much. The guys were still working on “What’s Going On?” – they actually had a full soundcheck in order to try and get it sorted, but ran out of time to get it up to speed, so they couldn’t play it. The Moscow audience came very close to getting a real treat.  Although, they were an audience so totally pumped to see Black Sabbath, they didn’t need any extra encouragement to go wild. The crowd was intense! We arrived at the Olympiski stadium in the afternoon; it was humid and hot in the arena. Amazing to think that Rival Sons were playing in the Moscow Olympic Arena. The place where, when Rival Sons were babies, there were images like this being broadcast worldwide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNxbjeEZbhY

The stage was set up on the side with the ends of the arena to the left and right, it was a strange set up, and I kept thinking about gymnasts, but again, that’s part of the stereotypes in my mind about Russia, I apologise for that. The show arrived quickly, and the guys were on top form. The crowd were so responsive. For an audience that clearly wasn’t there primarily to see Rival Sons, they really went crazy for them.

^^ Live in Moscow, 12th July 2016 The show was bittersweet for me, I was hiding behind Dave’s amps by the drumkit, Jay gave all the crew including me a big shout out & thank you on stage, I’ll admit I had a tear in my eye. This was my last show out with the guys on this leg of the tour as I was heading home the next day from Moscow, back to London. Getting to the end of my 6 weeks on the road was a big deal for me, but moreover it has reminded me over and over why I love Rival Sons, and why I will wholeheartedly challenge anyone who calls them arrogant, ungrateful or pretentious. Do they know they can play? Sure. Obviously. How could they not? Are they down to earth? Surprisingly so. And as for the other accusations, if you have watched any of the facebook lives from this leg of the tour, or heard the way they talk about their crew, including me, and their friends – then I don’t know how anyone could accuse them of being ungrateful. But, as I said at the beginning of this blog, back in May in Budapest, I’m biased.

After the Rival Sons set we were due to head back to the hotel pretty sharpish, but I had a couple of things to take care of before we could leave the venue. I went out into the arena to look for Kseniya, the admin for the Russian/Belarus/Ukrainian Rival Sons fan page and their .vk page.  I was looking for her just as Black Sabbath were taking to the stage – I saw some crazy stuff in that arena; fans jumping over the sides of their terraced seats, 10-15ft to the ground, crashing into metal barriers, then running for the standing area, to have a chance to get closer to Ozzy. The crowd was so loud and so crazy, I Kseniya in the end had to come and find us, but it was fun for a while watching the chaos. All around the world Rival Sons have fans that are so dedicated that they run fan sites in their own territories. The band and I know all of them and meet up with them when we can on the road. As it was our first time in Russia, it was our first time to meet Kseniya. The guys were really keen to say hi, having seen how much stuff she posts and how awesome she is to Russian fans.

^^Kseniya meeting the guys The documentary crew was out again and so they also did a short interview with Kseniya, as well as filming the show and again interviewing the guys.

We then rolled back to the hotel for the last Facebook Live of the tour...

https://www.facebook.com/rivalsons/videos/10153566854211262/

^^Check out the Facebook Live here

Then headed down for a goodbye drink in the bar. Bittersweet and tired. The guys got up very early the next day to head to Norway for their last show. I headed straight home from Moscow later in the afternoon. Every ending with Rival Sons is also a beginning, beginning of time at home, and the beginning of a countdown to another tour. They now have 2 weeks before they hit the road again with Black Sabbath, this time in North and South America. Full dates: www.rivalsons.com - But for now, for this blog, I’ll say thank you so much for reading, and until we meet again, Keep on Swinging!

;-)

Talita

A video posted by Talita (@talitatwoshoes) on Aug 3, 2016 at 3:37pm PDT

[rivalsons-blog1]

Stockholm - 8th & 9th July 2016

Ferry from Turku to Stockholm^^

We eventually arrived in Stockholm in the evening, rolling off the ferry into the last of the sunshine.

^^ view from the top deck in the sunshine

I sat in the front cab chatting with Don the driver in the short drive to the hotel, where we jumbled off the bus quickly to get our stuff inside and get ready for Scott and Pete’s Facebook live. When we arrived, there was a parcel waiting at reception for the boys, a box of new boots from Jeffery West that included a special pair we’d ordered to give as a gift to Ozzy. (You may remember if you read the blog that Scott visited Ozzy in Zurich and he remarked on how much he loved Scott’s boots).

Getting the parcel ^^

We didn’t have much time to hang about and sort out the boots as we were already late for the Facebook Live chat and everyone was starving hungry. Our friend Danny from Carlings was waiting for us at the hotel to go with the guys to dinner at one of their favourite Indian food places in Stockholm.  But first, the Facebook Live. Its difficult scheduling the Facebook Live’s regularly as you’re never 100% sure about the wifi and timings, or level of exhaustion from travel. However, the guys were really into doing these different pairings on camera and showing off members of the Rival Sons team behind the scenes that normally don’t get asked fan questions and giving them some recognition as a huge part of the Rival Sons touring engine. The hotel in Stockholm was very hot, but the wifi connection wasn’t bad. I ran around trying to get stuff sorted ready for the Facebook Live, then rearranging furniture in Scott’s room so that both Scott and Pete were visible. Ending up with Scott looking twice as tall as Pete – but hey, we were in a rush. You can check out the Facebook Live here: 

https://www.facebook.com/rivalsons/videos/10153558323371262/

Pete, Scott, Todd and I then grabbed a cab from the hotel out to the restaurant to catch up with everyone else and get some food.

^^ the Dinner crew

I might mention that the hotel was so hot and I couldn’t sleep that later that night I thought I’d go and get my own pillow off the bus and some melatonin. Well, that was a disaster and my scary highlight of the tour. The bus door opened, then I accidentally shut it, then the bus power went out, so I was locked on the bus at 2.30am in the dark with no phone and no way of getting off. After a 30minute panic I did get off the bus, but that’s another story… anyway….

The next morning the guys and I headed out to the “Mall of Scandinavia” to visit the Carlings store. Carlings are a chain of Scandinavian stores who have supported the guys since early on in their careers. Now and again they’re lucky enough to visit to get some new clothes. So we headed over there to get them some new threads.

Clothes and fashion have been part of the Rival Sons brand since early on. When I first met the guys before the Barfly show in Camden one I already loved their style and Jay’s white boots. They do it in a way that seems to me without cliché in a world where the “rock” look is so overplayed – even the words “rock fashion” sound totally faux and gross. I’m bias of course, but I can understand why designers want to work with Rival Sons, - as one of my favourite style blogs “StyleLikeU” always says, “its not the clothes you wear, it’s what’s underneath”. (Check out this article from a couple of years about the guys ago http://www.menstylefashion.com/rival-sons-reinvigorating-rocknrolls-roguish-charm/)

The problem with new clothes when you’re on the road is that you have to get them back home – and Stockholm was also packing day. The tourbus was due to drop us at the airport after the show that evening and everything that you wanted to keep had to be off the bus in your case or packed in the trailer for shipping. 

When we arrived at the venue later that afternoon the tourbus was parked up down one of the arena’s tunnels surrounded by suitcases, boxes and bags. The time until the show was a whirlwind of documentary crew, interviews, trying to eat, and then getting to stage.  As it was a Monsters of Rock show there were other bands playing apart from Black Sabbath and Rival Sons -  like Volbeat for example. There wasn’t any time to see them though, partly because the backstage was so big I seemed to continuously be running from one tunnel to another looking for something or someone to get the next item ticked off the list – for example photoshoot (tick) - In new Jeffery West boots (tick)...

Anyway, the Stockholm crowd were very welcoming. Scandinavia has always been very appreciative of Rival Sons.

The GoPro was up behind the drums again, partly because I think this spot gives overall, the best pics, but also because Volbeat's drumtech was nice enough to let me put it on their drum riser.

A video posted by Rival Sons (@rivalsons) on Jul 9, 2016 at 10:55am PDT

After the show I ran to get some catering then prepared for Scott and I to deliver the Jeffery West boots to Ozzy. (We had to deliver them before the Black Sabbath show as we were leaving early to get out of the tourbus etc.) So Scott and I sauntered over to Ozzy’s room about 8pm with the boots...

^^ these boots You may have seen Scott wearing these boots many times on stage, they have a skunk stripe down the middle and are pretty loud…

Anyway, we went into see Ozzy and deliver him the boots (they were a surprise) and he was over the moon! Really surprised and touched and excited. He sat on the sofa and pulled his trainers off and put the boots on straight away (I’d made sure we had the right size) – they fitted and looked so awesome, totally suited him. He was so pleased with them he was hopping around on one leg with Scott showing them off. The two of them didn’t stop hopping about when I tried to get a photo – so this is all I have to show you, but its good enough. 

Anyway, he was delighted with them and Scott and I left feeling really good about it.

After that I tried to find a good enough wifi signal to see if we could do another Facebook Live. We were due to leave at 9pm, which didn’t give us a lot of time, but the guys wanted driver Don to meet the fans. Unfortunately no wifi link at the venue was strong enough, so we had to just get on with the business of packing up then getting to the airport.

^^Don waiting to do his Facebook Live (and waiting to leave), whilst eating a slice of post-gig pizza

I don’t know how it happens, but the guys have travelled with way more stuff than me, yet manage to glide off the bus carrying two or three pieces of luggage serenely, whilst I have plastic bags with wellies tumbling out on to the pavement, a case I can’t lift and a genuine expression of grit as I try to make it off the bus, dragging stuff towards the airport hotel with grim determination.

^^ Scott at the airport the next morning

We waved goodbye to Don our driver and the bus. Don has been Rival Sons driver in Europe for many years now. It would have been an experience doing a Facebook live with him as he’s quite a character, well-loved and loud - although we would have had to issue a parental guidance with the live stream. Anyway, we rolled on into the hotel, me trailing afterwards with my wellie boots and Rainbow Brite bedsheets and into our hotel rooms… Next stop, Moscow.

[rivalsons-blog1]

Helsingi! Helsinki!

Although i woke up in a bit of a daze, i met this amazing doggie along the lake side, called Taiku (i thought it was Tiger), and ran to introduce this little lady to Todd. Funnily enough, this photo ^^ then got into some local Finnish news which made me laugh. Apparently it says something like hairy meets hairy. (i hope for a better translation later)

^^ view from cabin window ;-)

[rivalsons-blog1]

Jay’s Tallinn birthday!!