ATTENTION:
If you happen to have any photo or video material of our shows during this trip, please get in touch!
SUNDAY 9TH OF AUGUST 2009
The van
As always the preparations start with picking up the van. Hearing good things about them (and our planned van being cancelled), this time we got in touch with Your Mum toursupport. We had to meet Jonas from Holy Shit! Industries in Eindhoven to pick up the van. Joost and I volunteered, so off we went. We were in Eindhoven in no time and found Jonas without a problem. First thing we did was inspecting the van, since we didn’t see it yet. A fine Mercedes Sprinter, comfortable seats for 6 persons and enough space for the entire backline. The best part though: a DVD player + iPod connection. Way too much luxury for us. Nice. The exchange was made quickly, sending off Jonas on a train trip to Belgium and Joost took a seat behind the steering wheel. Time to get moving. 2 more days to go, but we were looking forward to the trip already.
Later that evening we rehearsed with Henri for the second time. Henri filled in on drums when Joost was away to Taiwan for half a year, but now he was going to pick up the bass, to replace Joep. Dude’s multi-talented, like a Dutch Dave Grohl. We were pretty amazed by the fact he knew the songs pretty much dead on already.
MONDAY 10TH OF AUGUST 2009
Final rehearsal. We did a quick run through the set and that was it. Time to load in the van, so we could leave early the next morning. Loading in went smoothl. We became pro’s at this through the years. After a couple of beers we said goodbye and agreed to meet at 8:00 the next morning.
TUESDAY 11TH OF AUGUST 2009
The proper first day of the tour. Of course people turned up late. It doesn’t even surprise us anymore, we live with it. Today was also the day Goran was hooking up with us. He would be doing some driving and selling merch on this trip. You might know him from his band Make Them Suffer, check that out if you’re into old No Turning Back / Merauder kinda stuff. Heavy stuff. So when everyone was finally present it was time to get moving. Almost out of our little town one of us noticed he was missing his sleeping bag… So we had turn around… Amazing. Just packing everything and leaving at once is clearly impossible for Said And Done 🙂
On our way to Berlin
Surroundings of the venue in Berlin
After an 8 hour drive we finally got to Berlin. The place we were going to play was located on a huge area with all kinds of venues etc. I think it used to be an old train station or something (with huge storage locations). It now served as a place for venues, had a skate area and even had a climbing wall. It was cool to walk around and just absorb the place, lots of activity going on. Stef went on a spraying hunt and made sure Said And Done got tagged here and there. (If you ever see this ‘logo’ somewhere, take a picture of yourself with it and send it to us!) So after we had a look around, we sat down in the sun and enjoyed a nice beer, meeting up with the Trash Talk dudes and (not to forget) their driver mister Greyli for the first time. Good guys.
Today we were playing with Broken Few and Trash Talk. An all-touring-lineup. First up was Broken Few from the UK. While it was our first show of the trip, it was their last one. They sounded like the Gaslight Anthem in parts. Good stuff, people seemed to dig it, nodding their heads. We were up next. The first time with Henri on bass on stage and he felt a bit strange on stage with a bass instead of being behind the drumkit. It didn’t matter though, the set went fine and people seemed into it. People moshed, people sang along, we had a good time. While we were still recovering from our set (uhuh) Trash Talk started their show. Can you spell heavy? H-E-A-V-Y. We can. It’s so cool to see that band do their thing. Madness.
It was cool to meet some people that I haven’t met before, (Yo Henry! Yo Therese, next time I’ll take some bread with me :)).
After the show there was a nice afterparty. We hung out for a while but then Henri and me decided to get some sleep. Henri wasn’t fully recovered from a cold yet and I could use some sleep too. The rest decided to continue the partying. From what I’ve heard they had a blast. Lots of dancing and drinking, what else is new 🙂 We stayed with a friend of the organisator (cool girl!) and she had a nice place with some beds available to us. Henri slept like a baby, wish I could say the same. When the rest came home I still hadn’t slept for a minute. Oh well, I did get some rest and I got to hear the most amazing drunken bullshit ever from the rest of the guys while they were getting ready for some sleep. Haha. Good times!
WEDNESDAY 12TH OF AUGUST 2009
Early next morning Stef and Joost set out to get the van, they parked it somewhere near the venue, because that was going to be safer. It’s a miracle but they found the van right away and luckily there was no fine or anything. They drove it back to our sleeping place, where we quickly loaded the van. We had a long trip ahead of us. First up was a stop at the local bakery though. We all got our share of croissants and other fresh bread. Time to get on the road again. On to Poland. On to Warsaw.
On our way to Warsaw…
Still on our way…
Once again, after 8 hours or something we arrived at our destination. Warsaw. Driving through the country, we got to see a little bit of Poland. Quite a lot of half-finished buildings, stuff was priced relatively cheap and hotdogs at every gas station. It was strange to see prostitutes offering themselves alongside the road. Some of us had to be held back to ask for pricing info 🙂 The country looks nice though.
Radio Luxembourg – the venue in Warsaw
Chilling at the venue
Live pictures by kirek.pl
Live pictures by kirek.pl
Live pictures by kirek.pl
Everything fades to black. Pictures by ? (get in touch if these are yours!)
The venue (Radio Luxembourg) we were playing was great and the amount of people was great. Amazing, especially since it was a weekday. 4 bands were playing, including Trash Talk again. We were up second this time. It’s always interesting to see how people will react. We’re a long way from home and we have no idea if people know us or not, if they’ll like it or not. So we started playing and from the first song people were singing along. Fucking great. When we played a Cro Mags cover I was covered with people, I had no idea where I was. The rest of the band didn’t know either they told me after the show “We couldn’t see you dude, we couldn’t see you” haha. Moshing, stagediving, singing along. Amazing. Henri felt much better too he told me after the show. Poland gave us a warm welcome. This show was great. Both Polish bands were good. The first made me think of Rise And Fall a bit. The Fight had some lengthy speeches and it’s a shame I couldn’t understand a word of it, but that’s because I can’t speak a word of Polish. I like it when bands speak out on stage. Should do that myself more often too. As expected Trash Talk destroyed once again. Upping the “heavyness” ante to another level.
Once again I did get to meet some people that I haven’t met before (Kasia!). Kuba the organisator was a great dude too, after our show he showed his ripped pants. Apparently he ripped them during our set haha. Never a bad sign! Warsaw is definitely a place we wanna go back some day.
After the show we partied a little bit and then it was time to get to the sleeping place. On our way back we did some van trading with the guys from Trash Talk, mixing up the people. First stop was a 24/7 supermarket. The sleeping place was great, a little bit out of town, with more than enough room for all of us. The party just continued. We had some nice talks with the guys in Trash Talk, drank some beers and after a while most of us tried to get some sleep again. We needed to get up early the next morning. I think I fell asleep hearing Goran sing and play a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song, that did it for me.
THURSDAY 13TH OF AUGUST 2009
Kasia and her friend made us a breakfast so we could start the day properly. The sweethearts. While the rest enjoyed their breakfast I tried to wake up Stef which was proving more difficult than we expected. Dude had little to no sleep when we started the tour (he came straight from a 3-day-festival) and he didn’t manage to catch up yet. So while he was in zombie mode we threw him in the back of the van, said goodbye to the girls and we started driving.
Stef in zombie-mode
Next stop was Vienna in Austria, a long drive. Maybe you noticed but I didn’t mention the word cancellation once yet. A rarity without a doubt. This time around we were pretty lucky, no last-minute cancellations. There was one show I was kinda worried about though and that was this show in Vienna. I didn’t know for sure if it was happening or not since the dude who was supposed to put on the show went silent a couple of weeks before the show, his friend (Peter, great guy!) took over but in the week we were supposed to leave I read it wasn’t sure there was going to be a PA… So in Poland I checked my mail and Myspace and didn’t find anything among the lines of “show’s cancelled” so I guessed (and hoped) we were safe.
On our way to Austria
On our way to Vienna we stopped at the borders of the Czech Republic and changed all our Zlotties (did I spell that right?) back to Euros. The leftover coins were used to get some food and drinks. So when we were on the move again, somewhere halfway the day, we heard some noise coming from the back of the van, “Where the hell are we?”. Stef was awake. Back to planet earth. I’ll spare the details of the rest of the ride, because it was pretty boring. It was cool to be driving through 3 countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Austria) in one day though.
Playing Vienna. Pictures by the old man 🙂
Playing Vienna. Pictures by the old man 🙂
The venue in Vienna was cool. Some sort of basement in a multicultural place or something. When we arrived two older ladies were playing flute in the room upstairs. The show was okay, not too many people, but that kinda was expected with the last minute promotion and stuff like that. We were glad we were able to play a show though, so once again, thanks Peter for taking over the show! People seemed to be into it though and it was good to see the guys of Mind Trap. An older guy (I think it was the owner of the place) was taking pictures during the show. When we wanted to go to our sleeping place, he stopped us and told us to wait for a couple of minutes. He came back and handed over a CD-R. Apparently he already burned the pictures of the show on there. So cool. So there we were driving to our sleeping place making fun of ourselves with the pictures of the show that just happened.
We spend the night with a guy from Vienna (totally forgot your name dude! Sorry!). The dude who supposed to put on the show was living in the same house, but we didn’t see him. Oh well, guess that was expected. Hope he’s doing okay though. It always amazes us that people open up their house to you. The whole place was filled with people. I don’t think there was room for anyone left. After we put all our stuff down we went out to get a kebab sandwhich and a coke. Our stomach filled we all opted for some sleep.
FRIDAY 14TH OF AUGUST 2009
The next morning we all enjoyed a nice breakfast of toasted bread. Some of us took the opportunity to have a nice shower and off we went. Off to some sight seeing in Vienna since we had a day off today. Not that we had that much time, since we had to be in Mannheim at night though. There was a show with Dean Dirg and we were allowed to sleep at the venue. Just to break up our trip to France, to get some rest.
Waking up in Austria
Vienna has some amazing buildings and statues
Vienna is an amazing city. The (old!) buildings and statues are so beautiful. I think I speak for all of us when I say we really want to go back there someday, with proper time to look around. This time we were on a mission though, we had to score a “Wiener Schnitzel”. So after a short trip through the city we settled down in a nice restaurant. Boy, did we enjoy that meal. So after that delicious meal, we could move on.
Chilling in Vienna
On our way out from Vienna we saw a record store next to the road though. We just had to stop. Browsing through those big stacks of vinyl, best feeling in the world. After we picked up some records, it was time to say goodbye to Vienna for real. On to Germany again.
On our way to Germany
Party @ Juz Mannheim
Around 23:00 we arrived in Mannheim, Germany. Dean Dirg was already playing when we arrived. The band was great and the crowd was going nuts. Strange to drop in an atmosphere like that when you just traveled a great distance and are a bit tired. It helps you pick up fast though, we were fully awake within seconds. We only managed to see the last couple of songs, such a shame. After the show it was time to party. Lity gave us a deal on the beer so we got ourselves a crate and started to relax. After a day of driving it’s great to wind down. Some of us started dancing (the dancing area looked like a highschool party haha) others pretended to be table soccer kings. Somewhere along the lines all of us found our way to our beds in the basement (with great matrasses available). I know I slept like a baby.
SATURDAY 15TH OF AUGUST 2009
That morning pretty much all of us were pretty tired / wasted haha. I think I was the only one that got up early and took a quick shower. Joost was more or less alive as well and he took the first turn driving. First stop? A bakery of course. Scoring good food in the morning (or not) can make our break your morning 🙂 Along the way we also saw this sign “Henriville”. We just had to stop and take some pics.
Henriville!
On our way to France
Chilling on our way to France
After a long drive we finally arrived in Tours, in France. We were pretty siked about this show since the last time we played France (in Rennes) it was one of our (if not the) coolest shows ever. Simon who played that show in Rennes with his band was putting this one up. We were playing Black Hawk. A bar with a small basement, which was the spot we were going to play. Upstairs it was hot, but in that basement it was just insanely hot. First up was Crook Heads and next was Wank For Peace. While I expected the worse from that name, it was a great band. Uptempo melodic hardcore with great vocals. We all loved it. So after we enjoyed their set it was time for ours. Already sweating like idiots, it was time to turn the heat up. France showed us their love once again, it’s so cool to see those dudes have fun while moshing. Good times were had. I think we did 2 encores or something. Don’t know. We were totally wasted after the show, we just had no oxygen left whatsoever. One of the highlights of this trip for sure.
Chilling after the show in France
Walking to our sleeping place
After we all chilled out and started to breathe again, the first thing Goran and I did was playing tablesoccer. The Netherlands VS France. And they won. To our defense it has to be said that the table we played on was terrible, really strange handles. Next time on Dutch soil: Time for a rematch! We’ll win. Anyway, it was time to score some food again. We’d hit a Turkish kebab store and scored ourselves a kebab again with some French Fries. Not the best food ever, but it tasted great at that moment. After that those guys proposed to party, but since most of us were dead tired we opted for some sleep instead. We got to stay with Arno from Crook Heads and once again we managed to fill all the available space. After a call from Sjef (who usually travels with us, but had to stay back in the Netherlands this time) in which we all called him an idiot it we all fell asleep.
SUNDAY 16TH OF AUGUST 2009
On our way to Mol, Belgium
The following morning we woke up a little bit too late since everyone forgot to set a timer. After everyone took a speed-we-have-no-time-shower we hopped into the van and off we went. We still would be able to make it, we just had less time to do stops etc. Off to Mol, Belgium. The last day of our trip.
Live pictures by Steven Verschilde
Live pictures by Steven Verschilde
Trash Talk destroying Mol
We almost made it in time, if we didn’t had to wait at the France tollroad so long (so many tourists! (like us))… We weren’t that late though, just a couple of minutes. Considering the distance we traveled I’m kinda amazed we didn’t had more problems with this. Anyway, we loaded out the van and it was good to see the dudes in Trash Talk again. They seemed to have played some great shows as well. JH Tydeeh is a great venue, like a soccer/football canteen or something. We were up second and gave it our all for the last time. People nodded their head, we rushed through our set and made way for the rest of the bands. Trash Talk closed off the show and turned that place upside down. Literally. Salto’s, headwalks, destroyed merchtable, people going totally crazy: check, check, check. Amazing.
Tydeeh in Mol, Belgium
Obligatory group pic with Trash Talk
After the show we said goodbye to everyone and drove home. But not before we gave some youngsters some autographs haha. So strange to do stuff like that. It’s funny though. This last drive was the shortest one of the entire trip. Only 1 hour. Back home, we unloaded the van, drank a last beer and said goodbye. Goran was going to bring back the van the next day. And that was it.
Last moments of the trip, chilling back home…
All in all we can look back at an amazing week. It all went so fast that I could hardly let it all soak in. Only now, while typing this up and checking the pictures and video with it etc. It really hits me. We had an amazing time once again. I can’t wait to get back on the road again.
We wanna thank all the people that booked us, let us stay at their homes, people that showed up at the shows, who sang along, moshed, supported us with picking up merch etc. Without you guys (& girls) we couldn’t have done this trip. We really need to thank Henri and Goran as well. Henri for filling in on bass so well. With minimal rehearsals the dude nailed it perfectly. It’s great to play with you dude! Goran was great too. Dude helped us out in so many ways during this trip, thanks a lot man. To the rest of you: See you on the road!