#couragetour2020

[thedeadnotesofficial]

Vienna (AT), 10.03.2020

We stayed at Mario‘s (Blackout Problems) flat last night in Munich. The former plan was to head off to Vienna at 8 am latest to have some spare time to hang out in the city, which when touring, rarely happens. Of course the early departure ended up being unrealistic , since we arrived at the accomodation very late last night again and the next morning our travel party of six need showers!

Anyway, smart like TM Darius is, he knows us too well and factored in spare time that we would still arrive on time even when leaving with 1:30 h delay. Genius!

We arrive in Vienna in the afternoon with still two hours left until load in and the usual set-up routine starts. Even though the latest news and updates regarding Coronavirus are making waves everywhere, all the shops, cafés and bars are still open.

We‘re relieved when we receive the news that our show tonight will still be going on even though the same day the Austrian government has passed a ban for events and public gatherings with more than 100 people.

The capacity at the beautiful 'Rhiz' is now limited to 99 people but to be honest, even without any restrictions I don‘t know how you could squeeze that many people into the small venue. At this point we‘re still not really worried about the whole situation but a little shook up by the news and updates that come in any minute.

We park the van right in front of the venue and split the travel party. Darius, Jakob and Paul found a cozy café via Google Maps that seems to have free wifi so they can set up their mobile office there and get some laptop work 'off their chests' like Paul uses to say.

Anton, Martin and I decide to just stroll around, do pointless shopping and errands and eventually we find a cozy place to hang out at and have a beer.

I really need to buy some 'natron' to get rid of my heartburn and also find a new film for my new but actually very antique analog camera. Unfortunately I only find the 'natron', so what. I wash down the whole packet with an extremly fizzy lemonade which turns out to be a really dumb idea. I can‘t stop burping but hey… at least the heartburn is gone.

We try to find a shop that sells postcards to send them to our friends and family back home. Easier said than done. However it‘s great to finally have the time on this tour to get all this done. Slowly the time is running out though and we still didn‘t have a beer.

Luckily we then find a small shop AND a bar right on the next street corner. The postcards there turn out to be unbelievably corny and the bar is showing horse racing on a massive screen, but we have low ambitions and very few demands so that‘s just fine. I know my grandma will be happy about a little update from her grandson too.

Obviously at this point we didn‘t know we would be back home way earlier than expected and at the same time as the postcard.

On the way back to the venue I get the impulse to photograph one of these totally ordinary tram stops. The same moment I whip out my cam and focus the scene through the viewfinder, the doors of a tram open and someone is screaming 'Oiiiiiiii!'. It's Paul & all the other guys waiting in the exact the tram I just photographed, so we try to squeeze in too. It‘s so packed that it‘s nearly impossible to move. In retrospect it‘s really no wonder that the virus spread so fast.

Every f‘n time we stick to the schedule, we just end up standing in front of closed doors. I sometimes feel like it‘s so common for bands to be late that many promoters don‘t even bother to arrive on the agreed time anymore.

It follows a very stressful backline set-up and soundcheck. In all this hectic rush the nice people in Nervus from the UK who are also playing tonight receive a parking ticket while they are standing only a few meters away from their van that is definitely neither disrupting the traffic nor a problem for anyone else than two bored cops. I try to help out as a translator between both parties but the officer doesn't want to hear it.  

„They don‘t keep you safe!“

The awesome locals from Jeanny kick off the show tonight and play a great set. It‘s day 13 of the tour and i've now got huge blisters on my hands and fingers from drumming so much. Playing a headline tour with long sets each and every night is really something else. I go and tape my hands and try warm up for the set a little bit.

Literally every corner of the super small venue is packed with kids and next Nervus play an absolute killer set. I‘m pretty sure my whole kit is now detuned and my toms at least 50 Hz deeper due to Jack's intense drumming. Why am I am even bothering to tune them perfectly still. Haha. Anyway. It‘s the perfect evening. Our first headline show in Vienna ever and the kids are freaking out even though it‘s a Tuesday night!  

After all the gear is loaded out and everyone says goodbye, we end the evening in style and go for a few canned beers and some bog-standard falafels from one of the Gürtel' shops nearby. And again it‘s late when we leave for Zock‘s flat, who is our good friend (forever!) and host (tonight!). Shout out to you buddy, you‘re the best.

Good night Vienna! We‘ll be the first ones who are back when they open the borders again! <3

Photos: Paul Ambrusch

[thedeadnotesofficial]

Hamburg (DE), 07.03.2020

Day 10 on our „Courage“ Tour! Despite not much sleep and my clothes still smelling of smoke from the long evening last night spent in a old fashioned rock bar in Berlin, the travel party is in high spirits when we kick off the drive to Hamburg. We‘re playing at the Astra Stube tonight, definitely one of our favourite venues.

We pick up Maeve from itoldyouiwouldieatyou at her accomodation in Berlin, the rest of her band members drive the whole tour in the Flixbus which suprisingly seems to be working very well so far. Ok, to be honest. We‘ve already toured in the Flixbus several times too.

Maeve euphorically tells us about her wild party night without any sleep at all, two minutes (!) later then she covers herself in blankets and clothes, puts on a sleeping mask and sleeps through the whole drive without really waking up. That‘s professional touring. I really do admire people who can easily fall asleep and rest in cars. Our sound engineer Robert is also one of those guys. I could really use an regenerating nap now but kind of fail to close my eyes for a long amount of time.

We are in a bit of a hurry because we have to be in Hamburg relatively early to film an acoustic session with the nice people over at the legendary 'Hamburger Küchensessions'.

After an exhausting few hours in the van we arrive early and have some spare time left to kill. It‘s the only hour off during the whole day, so we try to calm down a bit and grab some food at the next nearby and most average Asian takeaway that we find rightaway. Ace!  

We‘re given a warm welcome at probably Hamburg‘s most famous kitchen, where we‘re gonna film the session. They've had more than 300 artists playing sets in their kitchen already which is mindblowing. They treat us with damn fine coffee and we rock the session in what feels like only 5 minutes, but it sounds super sweet.

We end up hanging out in the living room watching 'literal videos' of German YouTube legend ‘Luksan Wunder’ all together and we‘re in stitches.

Thank you so much for having us!

The late load in at the Astra Stube is no more problem for us by this time of the tour. We set up the whole stage in record time, do a quick soundcheck, ready. I think that‘s for the best since there are already people queing up in front of the venue and it‘s not even doors yet. In just a few moments the tiny venue is packed!

Itoldyouiwouldeatyou kick off the night with their definitely best show so far. What an unbelievable, tight , great,  interesting and inspiring band. We‘re so glad they're part of this run.

There‘s no real chance to warm up for the show and even less of a chance to relax before it. There‘s only a small and dirty restroom where we meet a few minutes before the set to talk the setlist through, high five each other and get in the right mood.

It feels great though when we enter the stage. Loads of good friends made it and seem to have a rad time, the spark is catching. I‘m stunned. Thank you so much.

We get two play two encores and seem to run a bit overtime, but we don't notice.

This leads to the next tour record. Only seconds after the last note had fade out, we build down our whole backline within minutes and manage to load out everything in just under 30 minutes. There‘s a club and party night on and all the DJ‘s are already starting to put their gear onto the stage that is still full of our stuff.  A massive chaos, rushing and shouting everywhere. When we‘re finally done I‘m bombed out and soaked in sweat.

Now here‘s the usual dilemma. Head off to bed or party? We have a day off the next day, so guess what I chose.

I‘m still not sure if I made the right decision though. A bit later I find myself in the middle of an 80‘s party in a packed and stuffy club that‘s filled with smoke again where instead of enjoying ourselves, we discuss further plans for the evening. I manage to even drink a few extra beers while we figure it out. We while away the evening at the famous 'Clochard', a totally run down and shabby dive bar on the Reeperbahn. Ok, now I‘m sure I definitely made the wrong decision. If you‘ve been there once, you probably know what I‘m talking about.

Surrounded by weird figures and in a very strange scenario we down our last beers. The unfortunate, under-represented non-drinkers in our travel party down their lemonades and we stumble off, our direction now to bed. It‘s at least 4 am. Good night and stay safe Hamburg!

Photos: Paul Ambrusch

[thedeadnotesofficial]

Frankfurt (DE), 04.03.2020

I went to bed quite early last night in order to catch up on some quality sleep in Stuttgart. Flo at 'Juha West' even left us some healthy food in the artist flat which is located in the basement of the actual venue. I love it when you can walk off the stage and stumble into your bed in literally the same breath.

It seems my body was not ready yet for such good conditions and I start to feel very ill. My life seems to be cursed I kick off the day with a decent 'Grippostad' breakfast.

Fortunately the drive is short and very unspectacular. We are playing Frankfurt tonight and is our first ever headline show in the city. I always feel like it should be a town with an incredible music scene. It‘s such a famous and metropolitan city right in the center of Europe. However it seems like Frankfurt is more like the center spindle hole of a vinyl. There‘s a lot going on in the whole region but Frankfurt is definitely not where the action is.

That being said we are actually very surprised we've sold a lot of advance tickets and it looks like it‘s gonna be quite packed tonight. This is insane for a first headline show here.

The venue 'Nachtleben' is located right in the city center next to the 'Zeil', Frankfurts famous shopping mile. They print out a parking permit for us so that we‘re allowed to leave the van in front of the venue. This sheet turns out to be a lifesaver on this tour. From this day on we‘re just gonna park the van wherever we want with our universal fake permit behind the windshield.

We load in our gear into the café while dodging passerbys then down a long stairway down to the actual club. I love the 'Nachtleben'. From the outside it looks like a very sterile and posh café but when you‘ve made it down to the basement there‘s a small and a little run down concert club with more charm than you‘d expect at first sight.

We say hi to our friend Nico Laska who stopped by. I wish we had more time to hang out together. Every time we meet I can‘t believe what a nice and friendly character, so i'll forgive him that he won‘t make it to the show later, as he's going to see 'Milky Chance' who are playing the same night.

We set up, soundcheck, welcome the amazing 'Oh, Heaven' who are going to support tonight and then finally head over to a pasta restaurant nearby for dinner. We‘re all really keen on the homemade ice tea and the whole travel party orders themselves a big glass each. It turns out that homemade to them means mixing ice tea powder with water and garnish it with some mint. It tastes like horse piss and is a total sugar overload.

Doors are open and the venue fills fast. Many good friends in bands, friends from our time back in school, and even better, loads of unfamilar faces have made it out to the show.

Everything is set for a great night and 'Oh, Heaven' kick it off with a really sick set. It‘s their first show ever. Absolutely insane!

The fact that Yannic is suffering from heavy blisters on his fingers from drumming is making us a bit nervous. We try to push ourselves in the right mood in the tiny backstage room, enter the stage and then there‘s no way back.

It‘s the best sound on this tour so far, people really seem to be into it and watch the whole set which is not always the case especially as the night turns older and people keep drinking. After a few songs our sound engineer Robert starts dancing behind his desk and seems to have the time of his life and I can‘t help it but grin like the Cheshire Cat.

I really appreciate how Yannic despite his blisters held on for the whole set like a pro. When we get off stage he‘s crying in pain.

After we hang out at the merch table, sign various vinyl and even shirts. Why the hell do people ruin their shirts with our autographs? I still don‘t get this and basically feel very uncomfortable every time someone asks for it.

Anyway we can call ourselves lucky that people are so supportive and buy merch. It really helps more than you think. We‘re also glad that our friend Henry who plays in the band 'For Them All' is putting us up for the night.  

It‘s always a real hassle to sort private accomodation while on tour since we can‘t afford any hotels. Nevertheless no one ever in this band brings sleeping bags or at least a mattress with them, probably in order to keep our little rockstar dreams alive as long as possible in any way. That is until we‘re hit hard again by the reality of sleeping on a cold hard floor.

I mean there‘s always this one guy in the touring party who forgets to bring his sleeping bag and/or matress. The main problem is that we are all these kind of guys.

It requires a little liquid courage but in the end I‘m just fine crashing on the flokati rug. It‘s definitely not great for the sake of my body, but helps to stay grounded (no pun intended!). I‘m well aware that life could be worse and we definitely did worse things already.

…and sleeping on the floor in a tiny room with a travel party of 6 people, all smelly and snoring, this is definitely more rockstar-like than anything else!

Love y‘all!

Photos: Paul Ambrusch

[thedeadnotesofficial]

Münster (DE), 29.02.2020

It‘s a beautiful Saturday morning and I absolutely don‘t regret that I left the party earlier last night together with Jakob and Sebastian, our photographer.

Ok...that actually means while the other guys went to party at the 'Metal Sharks' club night at the 'Haifischbecken', we went home to Yannic‘s flat and ended up in a wild youtube session, binge-watching videos about famous musicians and plagarism until we were too tired to even hold our beers.

We've spent most of our time this last month in this flat, and it‘s wild and super appreciated that Yannic and his girlfriend Tabea are so open to letting us stay at their place on such a regular basis. I already feel like we should have to pay rent.

We‘re playing Münster tonight. A short drive. Loads of awesome bands and good friends are playing too and the most pre-sale tickets sold on this whole tour apart from our hometown show. A lot of good reasons to look forward to this.

We arrive at tonights venue 'Sputnikcafé', jump out of the van and fall right into the arms of our best friends in Shoreline and our good friend 'Smoky' who is putting on the show tonight. 'Smoky' did our sound for us a few times and he‘s also the sound engineer for 'Snareset' who are playing tonight as well. His official (!) Facebook name is 'Smoky McBongwater' which is why we call him that - Clearly the best fb name ever (and maybe the reason why he won‘t ever be able to work anywhere else other than the events industry and with bands, haha). His actual name is Michael, nickname Michi, whereas the guys in 'Snareset' use to call him 'Murph' for no real reason. Total confusion.

I think this is one of the only shows on this tour with real 'DIY' promoters and Münster is always really something else. I don‘t know why but the DIY Indie/Punk scene there is literally the best Germany has to offer these days. Every time I hang out here it feels like home away from home.

Everyone is trying their best to make the bands feel as welcome as they can. They even help us with settinf up our gear, providing snacks, dinner in the form of original and homemade vegan 'Neapolitan pizza' AND vegan waffles. What a treat! Everything is so chilled today compared to other shows.  

All the bands do their soundchecks and only minutes after doors 'Sputnikcafé' is already packed and it‘s only 6 pm.

There‘s a little issue at the door with two people who are bargaining for a discount on the entrance fee. They start a long discussion because they insist on getting a 1€ (!!!) discount on the box office price because they simply forgot (!!!!) to buy a ticket in advance. In the end they are forced to give in to our uncomprehending eyes, they pay the full price and enter the venue sulking.

Our new friends in 'Between Bodies' who just released the EP of the year kick off their show, followed by 'Cadet Carter', 'Swan Songs' and 'Snareset'. All the bands smash it and it‘s great to see people singing along and going crazy!

It‘s late when we start our set. It‘s day three of the tour, after the third song Jakob‘s bass rig breaks down, we can‘t really figure out the issue during the show. We just notice...nothing. No more bass on stage and it‘s hard to let the vibe not be killed by that.

I hate it that it‘s often the bad things that keep sticking in your mind. We actually play a long and super sick show and I‘m knackered, gasping and covered in sweat when we leave the stage.

We have the usual small talks after the show, hang around at the merch table, sign a few records and give numerous high-fives to good friends. On the stage that is now covered with curtains we desperately try to fix whatever‘s wrong with the bass all while there‘s a massive Alt Rock party going on in front of us. The DJ has a good taste regarding the tracklist but it sounds like either the speakers are broken or he's poured a beer over the equaliser knobs. The sound is horrible.

Load out takes way too long since our sound guy Rob thinks that NOW is the time to figure out the perfect loading technique for our van. He drives us mad especially because Jakob is still very down due to his broken bass amp. I‘m really tired and seeing Jakob being so pissed off makes me very emotional too. Furthermore I really start hating myself for getting so involved in this. It‘s been such a great day and I don‘t wanna end it feeling that way but I‘m already caught up in this downward spiral.

We've all had a few beers already so we can't drive - but our host, promoter and saviour of the human kind Hansol from 'Shoreline' drives our van for us at a steady walking pace safely through masses of drunk party people waiting in the queue to the club. It reminds me of herding sheep back to their farm

It‘s been a long day and it‘s been a huge family reunion. Thanks so much to all the legends that make our shows in Münster bigger and better every time we come back here. Can‘t wait to do it all over again! Hopefully soon!  

Photos:  Sebastian Igel

[sonic-gonzo]

A few hours ago at  Barclays Center Brooklyn NYC: Céline Dion (050320)