Dave (Adicts bastard road crew)

Nagoya 12th nov 2010

2010-11-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

Arrived at the venue, to sound check, again as yesterday the stage was setup and waiting, this is an easy tour for me, I really only have the guitars to worry about. We send our tech spec out really works well and the Japanese are very organised, I would say poasswibly even more than the German venues who are also very good.
Pete has asked for Marshall JCM900's 4100's which coincidentaly is what I use. Don't know whats wrong with mine though, Pete always makes them sound better, bastard!
We have been keeping Hoggy happy at sound check with a little starnglers even though they have beards and arn't very punk rock :)
During the show a girl threw her bra at Monkey so I grabbed it (the bra), a little later when no one was looking I put it on, (it was a perfect fit and really sweaty)
I then stood in the curtains at the side of the stage and some of the crowd spotted me and were laughing, my taget though was Pete surely when he spots me he'll fluff his guitar lines, he didn't but he did crack up. (he'd all ready made a couple of fuckups anyway :)
The line up for the show was THE ADICTS／LAUGHIN' NOSE／Oi-SKALL MATES and again it was sold out.

Will put some pictures up when I get some, below is a video of easy way out and viva.

13-11-2010 Tokyo last night

2010-11-16T09:42:00.000-08:00

Drinking carnage, No one in there right mind would let the Adicts tour party have two hours all you can drink for 2000 Yen each, my first order was 14 beers!

Our host's were stronger than they looked, don't know what they thought as they carried one os us home on the first day ha ha! any way it wasn't the booze, "it was jet lag"

What a gig, sold out and the biggest venue of this tour so good news.
We have fallen in love with our Japanese host's, they are lovely and very organised.
The country is great too, very low crime (till Hoggy got here anyway!)
So weird to fly 6,000 miles and see hundreds of fans singing every word, i still haven't got used to that. Band wise it wasn't the best performance ever (tactfully put) But considering no rehearsal, everyone being jet lagged and hung over it was ok.
The fans loved it, and apparently there were over 200 t shirts sold by the promoters!
After the show Pete wasn't happy and got Hog and I to award points out of ten to each of the band, I was a litle Kinder than Hog who only managed to give them a 3 ha ha!

We have to leave at 11:00 in the morning to drive to Nagoya for the second gig.

More from Tokyo

2010-11-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

I'm tired, hers some pics from tokyo last night

2010-11-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

Last night

2010-11-12T01:40:00.000-08:00

Right, got a little bit of time now, we have soundchecked and been out for a spicy noodle lunch, nice.

Well when I said things would get messy I didn't realise quite how messy. One of the tour party awoke to find there room mate crapping on the floor, couldn't find the loo! During sound check the words of "Who drunk my beer" got changed to "who shit on the floor" Everyone knew what had happened and we were all crying with laughter.

Adicts reunited 11/11/2010

2010-11-11T17:46:00.000-08:00

The LA crew showed up at the hotel at about 19:30 and then we all headed out to eat, we ended up splitting into two parties, those who wanted sushi and those who didn't.
I'll eat almost anything not Sushi so ended up with the non sushi group.
We all met up after the meal and wandered around the streets looking for a bar. We found bar 27 which seemed perfect but we then did a deal with another bar, 2000 yen each, all you drink in 2 hours, it's gonna get messy!
It's 11am here, we are 9 hours ahead of uk, I have just got up and showered, feel slightly rough from last nights activities.

Gotta go, more pics later

We have arrived in Tokyo

2010-11-10T18:54:00.000-08:00

The London crew arrive at Tokyo to be met by the promoter Tomo and her team.

Well that was a long flight, pretty knackered now. Kid scored 10 cans of Warsteiner in a single visit to the trolley dolly's, that is a new record. Kid also left he knee hanging out to far into into the gangway and I heard an almighty crack as it got hit by a trolley. It must have hurt kid a lot but he seemed t find it funny!

We didn't know what the plan was on arrival at Tokyo or who was meeting us but as we came out of customs a droog was stood there waiting for us.

Now at the hotel, we have met up with David the Spanish promoter and i'm gonna shower and maybe get a couple of hours kip before we go out to a bar.

The LA flight gets in about 17:00 so the others will join us by 19:00

#

Japan here we come!

2010-11-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

Thought I would complete the blog for this tour as I haven't done it for the last couple.
I am currently sat at home, been to the Anchor for a goodbye meal with Pol and a goodbye to decent ale for the next week probaly!
Just completed the online check in for Kid, Hog, Scruff n me, might save a little time at the aiport tomorrow. Sid the manager (Taxi)is coming at 04:30 and it's currently 11PM. I just cracked a nice cool tin of Adnams open, wonder what the Jap beer will be like, I know Sappora which i guess would be drinkable if cold. There is plenty more Adnams in the fridge so am pondering wether to just sit here till Sid turns up. Reading through the itinery we have 3 gigs Tokyo Liquid rooms on Friday night, bottomline in Nagoya Saturday and finally shangrila in Osaka on Sunday.
I have never been to Japan and reading through this stuff is making me really look forward to it.
The gigs look easy, not much travel and fairly early shows so should be a doddle, really chuffed the band asked me to do this tour, been so busy with work this is just what I need!
As well as some local Jap bands we have the real McKenzies for support, I haven't seen them but have listened to them on many occasions so looking forward to that!
Well it's only 11:15 so might as well get another beer in.
Looks like we (Kid Hog Scruff and I) arrive at the hotel in Tokyo at 10:00 am on Thursday then have the rest of the day off, Monk, Pete and Shahen get in at about 19:00. Reckon we gonna have a great evening, really looking forward to seeing everyone again. Should be some funny drunken stories to come from that one ha ha.
Looking at the flights it's a little under 2 hours to Frankfurt then we change planes and just over an hour later we will be on our way to Tokyo which is exactly 11hours all being well!
When I did the online check in we all got seats together so I guess the day will go something like this.
arrive at aiport, check in, go to bar, nearly miss flight due to being in bar too long, get on plane, further drinking, sleep, arrive hotel, go to bars for rest of day. See I can predict the future, the above will be spot on accurate!
Well that's all I can think of for now, wonder if there's anything other than shit on the Tele.
Stay tuned to Daves Bastards Adicts blog, we gonna have some fun! x

Saturday 1st May 2010 Newcastle O2

2010-05-05T14:41:00.001-07:00

We had a lay in until noon & took off to Newcastle arriving at 2:30pm on the dot. Set the gear up everything relaxed & sound check was real good. We all went to a Thai restaurant the food was nice & then we went back to venue some of us went to a real ale house for a few beers. They had Prince Bishop ale which we all raved about, was fantastic, When we got back we were a bit pissed so I knew tonight was going to be good.Early gig on stage at 8.40pm.The band rocked again which included Kids drums breaking halfway through the show. Two kick drum pedals broke, We had to fix them both within 5 minutes it was a nightmare, while this going on & Kid getting more anxious, Monkey & Pete kept the audience amused with a load of twenty seven. Pete decided he wanted to meet everyone in the Audience he got pretty much the whole first row on first name basis, Not sure how long the break was but it was very long,,,The show ended with a huge push from the band & the Newcastle crowd loved it.Got back to the hotel had a quiet drink & hit the sack. & that was that.

Friday 30th April 2010 Cleethorpes

2010-05-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Cleethorpes was a great tour opener, the band were very tired from the last couple of nights rehearsing and planning at the studio, loadsa arguing over the set occasionally interrupted by some playing ha ha it was chaotic, arguments & swearing going on. This is pretty normal, the band are extremely passionate & kid gets very vocal, loud n sweary.Getting back to Cleethorpes it was a nice venue & everyone was nice to us, which is always a good thing, It pissed down with rain while we were over the road eating a lovely carvery dinner with Yorky puddings too. I got bollocked by the carvery man for pinching an extra yorkie but I didn’t mind, 1 yorkie seemed a bit tight and he couldn’t really ask for it back. The pedigree ale on the bar went down like nectar. The support band were the Sex Pistols experience, it was great to see another cover band opening for the Adicts.They really did a good job & nice blokies too, sid was producing some of the loudest burps I have ever heard, strangley Rotten seemed to have a similar talent!So The Adicts hit the stage a new set, includes Tune in Turn on Drop out. Life goes on,I love you but don’t come near me, Spank me baby. Off the new album & a surprise song never ever played before off 5th Overture album –I am Yours (Scruff singing instead of Pete, bit of a love song this one but I really like it, specially as Kid keeps looking at me when he sings ha hah ha. Love you too Kid! Youth, & 4321 from Sound of music. Very much a drastic change to the set & they performed pretty good for the first gig. For naughty girl we had a lovely little lady all of 10 years old dressed up as Monkey come one & sing. Pete struggled a bit, it’s surprising he’s here really. He just had major neck surgery & has had six screws a metal plate & cadavere bone put in, Just in February. He ripped away & rocked it as he always does. But it comes with a price, he suffered after the show. We all missed Mel, not well enough to tour, Shahen really fits in with the Adicts & rules. After the show we drove to a Hotel in Doncaster for the night. Everyone absolutely shattered & that was just the first one.

Monday 7th December 2009 off home

2009-12-08T15:52:00.000-08:00

Flying home. We all left on different flights leaving Pete in Frankfurt sound asleep suppose he needs it.
Monk flew back to LA via San Fransisco and got stuck there, Hog, Kid, Scruff, Shahen and me flew back to Heathrow and Sid the Manager took us all home (Except shahen who dissapeared into London).

We averaged 3.5 hours sleep per night for the last week + whatever time you slept on the bus (in my case zero) We are absolutely shot!
I can't remeber being so tired but we had great fun.

Sunday 6th December 2009 frankfurt

2009-12-08T15:46:00.000-08:00

Breakfast was a pain as we walked into the restaurant for it there was not a seat to be had & everyone was pissed off with us for the noise we made so what we did was make more noise. Rain rain & More rain.
We were supposed to leave on time but the blitherers Kid Hoggy Monkey were late for breakies & Mutti was being a wingy git ahh it was all good once we dragged our arses out & into the van. Off we go in the van & the bar was open once again!

Nice venue Nice staff, Good Sound system. Soundcheck was easy & everyone happy.
The show was the best of the tour & the crowd were reserved until halfway through the show then the Adicts let them have it giving them some new songs & some old. Monkey was on form tonight (about time) Pete played his heart out & Kid Rocked in time for a change. Shahen kept falling over which was funny & Scruff had to blow it by mentioning through a microphone Hendrix and getting me to do some Barking, Pete wasn't imprssed but we thought it was funny as fuck!
They Played Calling Calling in the Encore which delighted many fans as they never play it, it's agreat track and the first time I have seen it done live. They have also being playing youth with scruff singing it, again a brilliant song.
it was great night & a great way to finish the Life goes on 2009 leg of the tour
We are all Knackered & could sleep for a week but the saga will carry on. Because the Adicts will be back next year giving it all they got & bringing you all more & more & more.

Saturday 5th December 2009 Stuttgart

2009-12-07T05:05:00.000-08:00

Rough is how we all feel. Breakfast was another experience Stuffy nonses frowning upon rock n rollers well fuck me.

we don’t exactly dress for breakfast & Mutti wearing a bathing suite doesn’t go down too well either. He was complaining all fucking day, Pete Upset him & he stormed off having a girly tantrum. Whe asked later what was it about he actually admitted Pete was right giving Pete more ammo to taunt him, but Pete didn’t, getting worried about Pete Now its not like Pete to be quiet.
Only half of us got up for the breakfast & off we went to Stutgart
A Rich City with a certain attitude slightly different to the rest of Germany. Nothing new I suppose we have seen it all.

The lepers did a good gig & we did The Biz as usual Throwing in a couple of goodies to thwart each other from getting stale even Kid got to sing May Whitehouse.

Friday 4th December 2009 Leipzig

2009-12-06T04:58:00.000-08:00

Pissing down all day long, Everyone has a cold. Pete is struggling with muliple ailments & is up top asleep, unusual for him, saying that he has been no problem on this stint of gigs he is usually fired up & having a go at everyone, He is mellow & doing what he needs to do.
Scruff was complaining again about the sound, little does he realize is it is his job to communicate with the monitor mixer for his mix, but saying that he & Shahen have been working on this shite doggy track in the hotel called Hendrix, it’s a dance techno load of shite & they are obsessed with it, it's actually quite funny, they sampled Mutti into it too!

?…Scruff went into one & has never stopped rattling on about his new dog which is a sausage dog named Hendrix. We all think he has Mel’s Syndrome. Good Ol’ Mel. Bless his heart.

Arriving at the gig-hotel just a 5 minute walk away, we are all on the same floor for the first time, that spells trouble for anyone else who is on that floor & it was.
Soundcheck was a breeze & the catering was lovely. We played table football & had the room to accommodate plenty of people.
We bumped into a bunch of fans who are staying in the same hotel as us they were really excited.
The cute lepers played a great gig & sounded great.
Hoggy and me sorted out the stage in good time & were good to go ahead of schedule which made less stress to make any mistakes.
The Adicts hit the stage to a full house & they loved it, There’s not much the Adicts can do wrong on stage when they are on fire like this. The end of the night went smooth too, we had time to enjoy the disco a bit & hang out with some old friends & fans. We had to say Goodbye to the Cute Leppers as this was their last gig with us on the tour. You can guarantee we will be playing together again in the Future. We Loved them.
Back at the hotel Scruff & Shahen went into their little world with Mutti tonight recording his voice for what reasons we do not know. The rest of us had a good drink & made a lot of noise.
The fans who stayed in the hotel were a bunch of nice house wives & were hammered. It was an enjoyable evening.

Thursday 3rd December 2009 Berlin

2009-12-06T04:49:00.000-08:00

It was nice to get to a show early & set up. Outside the venue was a Christmas fair & the scenery was nice all families enjoying the event.
I had to rush off to the local Music store & get a special cable for Pete’s wireless hoping they had it & to my surprise they did. So I was happy.
The Cute Leppers are joining up with us on the tour tonight, they are a good band & have a good future ahead of them. We were in for a treat. When we got to the venue they were already soundchecking & we just enjoyed listening to them.
All was hectic as usual getting set up, things don’t wanna work & Kid moaning like a old woman, it seems to be his thing these days moan moan fucking moan, he claims he can’t sleep in the van. But every time I look over he is asleep. Maybe if he went to bed to sleep instead of drinking all night long then he wouldn’t moan so much.
Berlin is a Big City & a beautiful one at that. Mutti Bastard tour manager is becoming a bit of a Bastard himself, maybe he needs sleep too. His comments are rather bland which does not go down well first thing in the morning with some of us.
The gig was spot on The Adicts ripped & put in a good shift. Shahen seems to be tired & makes a few bum notes, especially in places that really doesn’t need ‘em. Monkey tends to forget the words of the same songs each night, Mental blocks & Pete he sometimes just flies off into another song trying to keep everyone on their toes
Good gig by everyone. great crowd. Driving back to the hotel we went past the largest piece of surviving wall but Mutti didn't wanna stop for pics.

Tour routing

2009-12-06T04:38:00.001-08:00

Mel

2009-12-05T04:38:00.000-08:00

Hi Mel, we hope your feeling better mate

Love and Peace from all on the Adicts tour bus.

Any old excuse to dodge the tour mate!

xx

Wednesday 2nd December 2009 Tilberg 013

2009-12-04T04:32:00.000-08:00

We walked back to the hotel after the gig

Hoggy can be pretty scary!

This morning there was a bit of a disagreement over a bar tab on room 322. eventually shahen agreed to pay the 320 euro bill.
The weather is worse than ever floods on the news things could get tricky. We had a good sleep in & decent breakfast it was a short drive to Tilberg & what a beautiful venue, Pete slept until 30 minutes before the adicts went on. During soundcheck something happened to the PA & we thought OH NOOO, but they fixed it. Our hotel was 3 minute walk for the venue.
Supporting us were old pals Funeral Dress who did a good performance.
The Gig was the best one of the tour for Adicts individual performances & they were very tight. So the Adicts are back in the groove & when there on it there's not a lot can match the energy of the show. The crowd were on form tonight. After the gig we loaded up & began walking back to hotel where it was bar after bar & then we bumped into a Geezer with a tuba coming out of a church band practice otherwise know as an excuse to touch up alter boys. He played a couple of disco songs hoggy & threatened to ram the Tuba up his arse if he didn’t play a stranglers song & there it was Peaches. Hoggy 10 points me 0.
It was a very stoned night that was had some. Shahen took a little walk to the grass shop where he scored some smoke. We eventually got kicked out of the last bar we were at. The bars here don't like you taking your own booze in. We were asked to leave politely, it was time for bed anyway & we had to be out of town by 8am, 7 hour drive to Berlin tomorrow.

Tuesday 1st December 2009 Dortmund FZW

2009-12-04T04:03:00.001-08:00

Kid proving that he can hold a glass without dropping it

Breakfast was a treat best on tour up to date full on English with beans.
We left late & arrived at the perfect time for a quick shower & then sound check.
The gig itself was a good’n but Scruff didn’t think so he had a tantrum on Stage because he broke a string & his back up Guitar wasn’t tuned up. Well that was my fault I didn’t bother and Scruff hadn’t either. So I got loads of shit from Pete as is normal when anyone screws up in or around this band, if you screw up there is no where to hide! Unless you are Pete of course!
The Crowd were very laid back, well it was a Tuesday night & the weather was shit.
Kid had a slaver on that night his drumming was almost shite if it were not for the amounts of Jack he consumed, a fan commented saying he could remember when Kid was tight as fuck. Little do people realise that kid decided to break his toe on his left foot the night before being a idiot, I mean how many people do you know who sit on a chair & crushes their own toe, there was blood everywhere. After the gig we had a few in the bar & kid cheakily put all the drinks on Scruff & Shahens room. Kid spilled a whole tray of large Jack & cokes 6 on a tray, All over Monkey & Pete. & of course Kid blamed Pete for the mishap but as witnesses can vouch it was kids fault 100% but it was funny. As we all trundled off to bed Monkey had locked himself outside of the building & he has no idea how he got back in. I think Pete rescued him in the end. Pete’s health is bad, it’s a worry, he is in so much pain & tries to put a brave face on it. & he is a difficult to deal with.

Monday 30th December Aachen

2009-12-02T03:46:00.001-08:00

We got up early dreading the drive from Paris to Aachen especially getting out of Paris fucking hell they drive like a bunch of sardines being devoured by dolphins, So we slept most of the way only stopping to have one last shit in france. The gig tonight will be fun We have TV Smith & Eddie & The Hot Rods on the bill with us.
After making good time we checked in to the hotel where we immediately hit the bar & kicked back. The soundcheck was quick & easy. It was a night to remember The Hot Rods were great Barry still has the voice & the band are awesome, They played a short set best of & it was nice just to have a decent support act for a change. I hope we do more gigs together. TV Smith did an acoustic set with Pescali on rhythm guitar & Monkeys drunken Twin on drum VOM from Die Toten Hosen. For an acoustic gig it was really loud.We played a reasonable set Pete was having a nightmare of an evening, I thought he was going to pass out after the fourth song, he stayed on his feet but had no idea where he was so as the band played a song Pete was playing something else it was quite Psycadelic at times. No one really noticed I don’t think. Once again the Adicts played songs that have never been heard making it interesting. The Crowd Loved it & the end of the show was a celebration. The venue we played in was an old war time bunker & it could house the whole population of Aachen at the time it was a maze of tunnels & weird rooms. At the end of the night Vom was blithered & he resembled Monkey in the same state it had to be seen to believe. Back at the Hotel we hit the bar with some members of the Rods & a good night was had by all.

Sun 29th November 2009 Paris

2009-12-01T04:19:00.000-08:00

What a frikking shambles. Another sell out gig but the promoter needs to learn a bit about taking care of a band especially after the 9-hour drive. Asking for a bottle of water was like being in the foreign legion out in a desert full of frogs. So we didn’t sound check or line check we all fucked off to a restaurant where we were delighted to a feast of Mongolian Arab cuisine rounded of a Kebab on a plate. We had a choice of French wine or some other Shite we chose French of course. To Hoggy’s pleasure who is now a connoisseur of wine, so he should be he’s drunk enough.
It’s so fucking cold outside we are decked out in Russian garb all we need are some Klashnikov & we would fit in quite nicely around here.
This gig was a nightmare for the bastards as there was no access to the stage, so when the last support finished we had 20mins to setup and all the gear had to go through the crowd, fun! We got it done but the band went on late as a result, just a 1 hour set.
We only had one bottle of water each on the stage and it was bloody hot, we ran out quite quickly. Kid complained and so Pete changed the words to Chinese takeaway to “I want a bottle of water”, they then bought us some half drunk bottles they had found somewhere, not acceptable! The show was stopped till they finally brought some pint glasses of water with ice.
Later Kid stood on his drum stool (as he does) but fell of it straight into the drum kit, the snare went flying, the hihat went over (he was lucky it didn’t stab him) and the drum mics went all over the place. It was funny as fuck, Hog and I scrambled to get it all back together.
Inspite of all this I really enjoyed the show, great to be back with the guys.

28th Novenber 2009 Bern

2009-11-30T07:34:00.000-08:00

This post by Hoggy

Taxi picked kid scruff and me up at 06:00ish and we got to heathrow at bout 08:00 and hit the bar. Glad Dave wasn’t here as the London pride was off! he'd have whinged like fuck!
Flew out at 11:15 uneventful.
Arrived Zurich and two Russians approached us, one with a Geordie accent, it was Monk and Peter dressed for the weather.
1.5 hours to bern and we were greeted by a dome venue. Usual hanging around and sound check I had to do everything as Dave wasn’t here, it was simple dunno what he does really!
After dinner I assumed my position on the merch, as soon as the door opened I was innundated with people keen to part with their not so hard earned swiss francs.
After a 2 hour stint I proceeded to the plush dressing room area.
Showtime was at 00:15 and a sweaty capacity crowd created a great atmosphere.
As it was the first gig of the tour I thought it would be dodgy but ended up being a great show.
The folks in Switzerland were very nice & there was a great atmosphere as the place filled up very quickly, The Gig was sold out as usual but always nice to start on a positive.
An old woman (about Daves age) made an appearance on the stage and scruff got bullied into singing youth and did a fantastic job of it!
By the way it’s rumoured that Scruffs other band (lovejunk) are set for a comeback gig on 14th March 2017 (at the steamboat)
So after an excellent first show we headed back to the hotel at 03:45, we couldn’t open our hotel room door but the manager appeared and did it for us and said keep the noise down.
Quick beer and sleep, 7 hour drive tomorrow to Paris, Bastard dave’s coming in on a train from Narwich (Bacon county) so full strength squad tomorrow and the first training session.

Mon 30th November 2009

2009-11-30T07:12:00.000-08:00

Got to the hotel at about 14:00 no prob's
Rooming with Monk who's knackered so I sat in the bar and partook some lovely Bitburger!

Just off to setup for tonights gig, great line up tonight.

Stagetime Support #1: 20.25 – 21.05 Eddie & the Hotrods
Stagetime Support #2: 21.15 – 21.55 TV Smith
Stagetime The Adicts: 22.15 - Curfew: 11.50

Zurich Flights 27th Nov 2009

2009-11-30T06:32:00.000-08:00

The following info has been fed to me in my absence

Monk, Pete & Shahen Monk flew LA to heathrow on seperate flights., Pete's plane ended up side ways after nearly crashing on landing at Heathrow, he was a nervous wreck and had a breakfast in the airport before catching his next flight to Zurich.
Mutti arrives the folowing morning to pick the three of them up at the airport, the night before Shahen, Monkey & Pete had a night on the town in Zurich, Shahen getting debouched & passing out, He wanted to puke in the taxi but couldn’t get the window down in time. Pete got into trouble in the pub telling the DJ he was a twat because his music selection was for pedophiles. Monkey however enjoyed the sing along. Shahen just had about 12 drinks too many.& passed out in the street A famous Adicts Landmark.
The gathering at the airport was swift but brutal to Scruff as Hoggy bastard & Kid left Scruff at the carousel to pick up all the luggage by himself. Scruff is a soft fuck at the moment he is in love with his new sausage dog which resembles a sausage that’s why they call them that, He named the fuckng thing Hendrix, the boy has issues.We waited forever for Scruff maybe he ran into that DJ!. Anyway off we went to Bern for the First Gig on our Never Ending life Goes On Tour.

on my way

2009-11-29T06:02:00.009-08:00

Enjoyed the blueberry last night, spent the afternoon
drinking in the marquee then the 4 of us went 4
a nice meal
Now sat on the Eurostar headed 4 gay Paris
Tired gonna be a late one tonite too
Looking forward to seeing all the band again

The continuing adventures of the Adicts

2009-11-27T08:48:00.000-08:00

Ok so were off into Europe for some more shannigans no doubt, 9 gigs in all so quite a short tour, i'm gonna miss the BERN show as i'm gigging in Norwich and hoteling with Teresa & Rob hah were in for a crack, drinking all day in Norwich then gig at the Blueberry, god knows how much sleep i'm gonna get then catching a train early on Sun morning Norwich to Paris.

Heres the dates
28 Nov 2009 19:00 BERN ~ GASKESSEL ~ CH BERN
29 Nov 2009 19:00 PARIS ~ PENA FESTAYRE ~ F PARIS
30 Nov 2009 19:00 AACHEN ~ MUSIKBUNKER ~ DE AACHEN
1 Dec 2009 20:00 DORTMUND ~ FZW ~ DE DORTMUND
2 Dec 2009 19:00 TILBURG ~ O13 ~ NL TILBURG
3 Dec 2009 19:00 BERLIN ~ KESSELHAUS ~ DE BERLIN
4 Dec 2009 19:00 STUTTGART ~ ZAPATA ~ DE STUTTGART
5 Dec 2009 19:00 LEIPZIG ~ CONNE ISLAND ~ DE LEIPZIG
6 Dec 2009 19:00 FRANKFURT ~ BATSCHKAPP ~ DE FRANKFURT

Sid the manager is picking Hoggy, Scruff and Kid up in the morning for their flight to Bern. Pete, Monk and Shahen are flying LA to Bern, where Bastard Mutti is picking them all up in the bus.

Gotta pack tonight then train to Norwich in the morning.
This blog links to my Facebook so if your reading my facebook and getting this it's actually come's from the Adicts blog at http://www.davesuspect.blogspot.com/
Gonna be posting daily throughout the tour.

Sat 29th August 2009 las Vegas

2009-09-23T13:48:00.001-07:00

and here's Jimmy, love ya Jimmy xx

One for the ladies, Hoggy bastard relaxes in the hotel!

Next morning everyone went to breakfast all you can eat. We were pigs. Then up to the pool & relax for a while. Even Scruff went in & he is petrified of water, what a poof.
Around 3pm the bastards headed off to the venue to set up the gear, Pete’s Bogner amp sounds so good then the band sound checked around 4-30pm They didn’t take long to get it done, It was so hot & Kid was drenched. We split back to the hotel for a few hours leaving Pete Jimmy & Luke at the venue with Pete taking a nap in the dressing room.
The show was a showcase for a magazine Vegas Rocks. Sally Steele & Steve who run the Mag put the show on, Lots of bands mainly all with very long hair & hard rock sounds. It was interesting to say the least but a lot of fun. Pete was invited to perform with members of Pantera, Quiet Riot & others to play Led Zeps Rock & Roll. Which Pete murdered ha! ha! The crowd Loved it though. Backstage we were all having a good time getting shit faced. Then the Adicts hit the stage on form & having fun. It was so hot up there Kid was gagging & Pete looked like he was about to collapse. Monkey missed a few lines can’t blame him the air was thin & so hot. After the show we all celebrated it was over with a few more beers & a late night.
Early start in the morning to the next gig. & Last one on this part of the tour.
Lack of pics due to alcohol taking over!

Friday 28th August 2009 Mexicala, Mexico

2009-08-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

Say hi to Luke bastard everyone, luke looks after the merch.

Spot us lot amongst the hippes, if you get the lot Scruff will buy you a beer!

Note our last chips stacked on 27 as usual, having lost all our money we had no choice but resort to accusing the Victor (the croupier) of being a cheating bastard!

Outside the front of the hotel.

118 degress through the desert, I never felt heat like it!

We drove all the way to the border of Mexico for the Mexicali gig & the promoter did not have our paperwork done so we could cross the border. Which pissed everyone right off so the gig was off. Gathering our thoughts We headed straight off for the Vegas Show, Eleven hours in total driving through the desert & terrain which was like something out of a Sci Fi movie, It was so incredibly hot & at times surreal. The boys had a game of cards, which lasted about five hours Shahen was skinning everyone who played, Luke bastard lost a fortune, I think after about five hours Kid began to understand the game a bit. Some of us just tried to sleep. Pete was suffering badly with the heat & threw up at a gas station. We had good sounds on all the way except for when a Blast of Tom Petty came on Kid would go off & Shout turn this shit off. Funny he calls him the Albino, but we all Like Good old Tom so kid had to endure it all. How can anything live out here, well People for one thing, No wonder they are always seeing aliens. Five minutes out in the Dessert was torture the temperature was well into the 118-degree mark. Insanity.
We arrived in Vegas around 9pm gasping for a pint & we checked into the Palms in old down town Vegas, right at the end of Freemont Street it was spectacular. First thing we all did was take a shower then go & eat. They would not let kid in the restaurant because he had no sleeves on his shirt so they gave him a Green & Yellow jacket, which he put on back to front & resembled a Phsyco ward patient it was hilarious. Jimmy & randy bastard chose to hit the Hotel room instead. The waiter was funny guy who never wrote down a single order & remembered everyone’s order except for Hoggy’s, I blame that on Pete for being a bugger & confusing the bloke. Then off to the the Roulette table where we all lost & got into a bit of a row with Victor, Pete said the table was rigged & would prove it, We did four bets on 27 & Pete said as soon as we finish Guaranteed 27 would hit. & Guess what it did. So Pete called him a Cheating C*nt & we took a photo of it.

Wednesday 24th August 2009 Visit to Schecter

2009-08-29T13:49:00.001-07:00

Day off today so we visited Schecter guitars, they sponsor the Adicts and supply all the guitars to the band.

Hoggy soon made himself at home!

Outside Schecter

Scruff with some of his purchases!

Scruff with Dee Dee's acoustic.

Me having a go with Prince's guitar!

Pete signed some of his signature guitars whilst we were here, Pete has difficulty being serious and sometimes reminds me of Freddy Starr!

Sunday 23rd August 2009 HOME DEPOT CENTRE LOS ANGELES

2009-08-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

Scruff n Pete at the Lennon bus.

Nick from the subs stopped by the RV for a jam.

And Charlie ended up eating burgers and dancin' with Pete, (neither could dance!)

Some people have unkindly accused Kid of being dsylexic and unable to read.
To finally dispell these unkind, untrue rumours I thought I'd post this pic of Kid reading his Clash book on the bus.

Best gig of the Warped tour for me and I think for others too, they organisers were operating 2 stages so as one band ended the next started (non stop music) anyway we were preparing the stage for the Adicts and I looked out into a massive sea of heads infront of the Adicts stage, unfortunatley for the band on the other stage their audience was small in comparison and then the fans in front of the Adicts stage started singing "Adicts, Adicts, Adicts" and it was so loud the band on the other stage was getting drowned out! It was a great atmosphere!
The band hit the stage and played really well, no problems and the crowd went wild, they were great!
Straight home and to bed after the gig, I was knackered!
Now have 3 days off before the Mexico, Las Vegas and Ventura!

Saturday 22nd August 2009 CRICKET AMPITHEATRE SAN DIEGO

2009-08-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

At the airport for our flight to San Diego.
We were surrounded by noisy kids on the flight and the lad sat behind Pete was quite a character. Pete told them to be quiet or he punch him in the face, perhaps not politically correct but very funny, we got talking to the kids and they were quite friendly, we talked to them and the subject got onto the band and they asked for autographs, Pete agreed to the autographs provided the whole group of them screamed just as the plane lifted off and shouted "were all gonna die". They willingly agreed! their execution was perfect, the whole plane turned round and looked. I laughed so much I thought I was gonna wet myself.
As we left the plane the lad sat behind Pete carried out his final task which was to ask the air hostess what you have to do to join the mile high club!

The band did signings after the warped tour gigs, this would take up to an hour, the queues were huge!

Jim was with us on this one, it's like the missing component from the bastard crew has been installed!

The bastards return with the merch.

Friday 21st August 2009 SLEEPTRAIN AMPITHEATRE SACREMENTO

2009-08-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

Randy, tour manager and sound engineer

Gerald, driver, fixer and Iron man

At the hotel

Pete and Dan

Scruff and Hoggy

Pete

Late night dip, Bloody hell Scruff, thats one hell of a bifta!

Bloody Pete (we call him the Fuhrer behind his back) woke everyone up early as punishment for someone being late yesterday, bastard! (love ya Pete!) Little did we know the temperature was gonna be mega hot today, Luke got a good pitch for the merch. tent and we got all the guitars/gear etc. sorted and stored back stage, after yesterdays fiasco we were determined to be on our game today. Dunno what the temperture was but I think the only time I have known anything like it was on the Gazza strip.
Rehydration is really important and we were having to drink continuously, unfortunately we only had alcohol so as the day wore on we started to get pissed.
Hoggy got bit on the ankle by a bloody brown recluse spider which ran and hid under the seats in the RV and we can’t find it. His foot swelled up till he could hardly walk. The medics came and took him away in a wheel chair. We all stood outside the RV and clapped as they pushed him away. We were happy to see hog go as it meant more beer for us!
The band were headlining so we were last on at 18:45. At gigs lately we haven’t been happy with the sound on stage but tonight we had Pete’s Bognor guitar rig back and Scruff was nice and loud, also the monitor setup had been stored at the previous gig so it was good from the start.
It sounded great and the band went for it in their usual full on attack, it was so frikkin hot on stage it was indescribable; I looked out into a sea of sweaty cleavage.
We were worried about the crowd in the heat and a thoughtful Shahen threw a water out, unfortunately it was in a can and nearly took some ones bloody head off!
People had been passing out all day with heat stroke. Hoggy was in his element in the medical tent as he was surrounded by unconscious heat stroked girls. He loved it, sick bugger!
After the show the band did an autograph session, which lasted ages, meanwhile we bastards were breaking down the stage and getting the trailer packed. This was quite a task as the trailer park was some distance from the stage, we had to do several trips with the trolleys in blazing heat, it was a killer.
It was a great show today, crowd were great, band were on it and so were the Bastards, we left the veue with everyone on a high.
Finally we pulled out onto the freeway and headed toward San Diego, the bus had to to stop to drop Scruff, Pete and me off at the hotel as we were flying down in the morning.
There was a choice wether to fly or take the bus over night, only three of us had opted for flying. So we checked back into the hotel and the tour bus departed. We were hot and sweaty and spotted a pool out the back, it was 22:00 and I asked if the pool was still open, unfortunately it had closed for the night. I surveyed the pool area, it was well fenced with gates that could be opened by your room key but only till 21:00.
We went up to the room and ordered a pizza to be delivered. We had no swimming gear and anyway our underwear was in need of a rinse so we headed out wearing just pants and carrying towels and beers, hoping not to meet anyone on the way.
In no time we had breached the pools defences and I jumped straight into the deep end, the cool water washed over my body, it was fantastic after the heat we had endured that day. We all swam for a while (well Scruff didn't he sank!) and then we lay back in the Jaccuzi, our thoughts turned to the rest of the guys, cooped up with Hoggy's feet for the 11 hour run down to San Diego, We toasted them and settled back into the water.
It was then I remembered the Pizza, shit! I jumped out of the water and climbed out of the pool area and spotted the Pizza delivery guy walking around in reception, I went to the edge of the reception area and stood in my y front's dripping water everywhere peering around cautiously for any sign of staff, it looked all clear so I called softly to him, "over here mate"! I was now stood in the huge puddle of water, in my y fronts, he advanced toward me looking a little nervous, I gave him the dollars and took the pizza and pushed the door open to go back outside only to walk straight into the bloody hotel receptionist, she did a double take and looked me up and down, I am sure she thought I was wetting myself, "hello" I said cheerily, She stared at me strangley and then said dryly "good night sir" and walked off. Phew!
I rejoined the others at the pool and we tucked into our pizza n lager supper before more swimming during which we discovered it's definately dangerous to make a diving board from a sun lounger, and also that the sun loungers don't float and therefore are unsuitable for in pool use, Nowhere on the beds was any safety warning explaining either of these facts. Disgraceful!
We hit the sack at 01:30 and I slept like a baby.

Thursday 20th August 2009 SHORELINE PAVILLION SAN FRANCISCO

2009-08-19T23:04:00.002-07:00

Randy, Scruff, Hoggy, Kid and Pete arriving at the venue

Great view of Catalina as we flew up from LA to San Fransisco

Shahen seemed in a bit of trouble with the streamers.

Same to you mate and get your hair cut

Early start to catch 10:40 flight To San Fransisco.
Then caught a shuttle to the Venue and met up with the others

Got the gear unloaded and ready, checking/tuning guitars etc. Couple of hours before the show we moved it all backstage and thought we were ready.
When it got to setup time the band before has bloody heaps of gear and took ages to get off, then I couldn't get any radio's working on the guitars bloody hell!
It turned into a panic and both guitars ended up running on lines.
Show over we all realised we were gonna have to up our game if we are gonna get the stage changed over in time at the next gigs.

Wednesday 19th August 2009 Travel to LA

2009-08-19T23:04:00.001-07:00

Sid the manager (Taxi) turned up with kid as planned and we then collected Hog and Scruff and made good time to the airport.

Had a good session in the bar so by the time we were up in the air I was unconscious.
Uneventful flight, very smooth.

We got picked us up from the airport and an hour later we arrived at home, or at least home for tonight.

I have just got to bed and it 07:15 UK time.

Fly to San fransisco in the morning.

Tuesday 18th August 2009. Packing again!

2009-08-18T00:31:00.000-07:00

All packed up and ready for the next phase of the tour, taxi is picking me up tomorrow at 05:15 for the flight from Heathrow to LA.

Gigs during this phase.

Aug 20 2009 1:00P
VANS WARPED TOUR ~ SHORELINE PAVILLION SAN FRANCISCO, California
Aug 21 2009 1:00P
VANS WARPED TOUR ~ SLEEPTRAIN AMPITHEATER SACRAMENTO, California
Aug 22 2009 1:00P
VANS WARPED TOUR ~ CRICKET AMPITHEATER SAN DIEGO, California
Aug 23 2009 1:00P
VANS WARPED TOUR ~ HOME DEPOT CENTER LOS ANGELES, California
Aug 28 2009 7:00P
MEXICALI ~ MEXICO MEXICALI
Aug 29 2009 7:00P
PREMIERE ~VEGAS ROCKS 5th ANNIVERSARY PARTY LAS VEGAS ~ 21 + LAS VEGAS, Nevada
Aug 30 2009 7:00P
~ VENTURA THEATRE ~ VENTURA ~ VENTURA ~, California

Sunday 16th August 2009. Travel

2009-08-18T00:28:00.001-07:00

Saturday 15th August 2009 Switzerland Verscio

2009-08-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

Mel got searched at customs and for some reason he had a boiled egg in his trouser pocket!

The bastards and Kid cool off, it was so hot!

Bastard waiter

REAL MCKENZIES 14:00 – 15:00
SOULLINE 15:30 – 16:30
VAD VUC 17:15 – 18:30
VOMITORS 19:00 – 20:00
ADICTS 20:45 – 21:45
NO FUN AT ALL 22:15 – 23:15
RIGHEIRA 23:45 – 00:45
QUIREBOYS 01:15 – 02:15

Thursday 13th August 2009. Ipswich.

2009-08-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

Keef ermmm I mean Scruff

Pete giving it some

Monk

Me n the Pete Dee sig moved too fast for the camera ha ha

Suspect devices Johnny, had to play a bit of guitar.

Suspect Device minus Andy, Pete loved us and said some really nice stuff to me after the show, we love Pete!

Busy day today, we loaded the backline and PA system at Universal and took it over to the Regent, unfortunately the venue had a daytime hire which meant we couldn’t get in till 17:15. With sound check at 1900 it was gonna be tight.
Sound check over ran and we couldn’t find Mel so I played bass although couldn’t remember any songs except Steamroller, we ended up with doors opening at 20:00.
First band dangers close (who also played rebellion) played a blinding set, and then Suspect Device played although we missed Andy who was sunning himself in Turkey, I had to work much harder than usual on guitar and Jonny played on some songs which helped a lot.
Then about 22:00 the Adicts took to the stage, the atmosphere was great, I think people felt a bit special seeing the band in a small intimate venue. As always the band gave it 100%, it didn’t matter the small venue they went for it which you have to admire.
Great gig review in the evening Star.

Saturday 8th August Rebellion Blackpool UK

2009-08-18T00:18:00.000-07:00

Pete bumped into a bunch of Maryln's and guest listed them as Maryln Monroe x 20

Along the sea front

Pete doing a 'Michael Jackson' with his guitar

Sat morning and the girls wanted to go shopping and I was still tired from my late night so they left me sleeping, I finally woke up to a beautiful Lancashire day and looked out of my window to a stunning view across the sea. The sun was shining, it’s gonna be a great day.
I had brought an amp with me for Pete so I headed off to the bands hotel with the idea of putting it in the van so I didn’t have to drive to the gig later. Hoggy came out and we chatted outside until we suddenly heard some one shout “restring my f*!king guitar” we looked up to see Pete hanging out of his bedroom window swinging his Schecter signature guitar, t’was just like Jacko’s baby all over again except it was Pete with his baby! Passerbys looked up in bewilderment.
Mel and Scruff bumped into Ade Edmunson who was staying in the hotel, his band having performed on the Friday night. They stalked Ade around Blackpool for the rest of the day.
Mel appeared and we got the amp into the van and I headed off to meet the girls.
We then had a lovely breakfast and then spent the day wandering around. We went for a meal at Wetherspoons in the evening.
At about 21:00 Pol and Harry went back to the hotel and Charlotte and I went to the venue, we found the dressing room and set about restringing the guitars.
Charotte and I then went and caught some of the Subs we looked down from the balcony, the venue looked about 95% full and the subs were on great form, mr Harper is a legend, my band (Suspect Device) have supported the subs a couple of times and Charlie is always lovely, no bullshit as with some ‘famous’ people.
We then moved all the Adicts gear backstage ready.
I had wondered with it being so late wether some people would bugger off but no, the venue was rammed.
The band played a great set, it was great so have Mel back (although it has to be said that Shawhen has been doing an awesome job) Mel seemed to be loving it after his break.
Charlotte and I finally got back to the hotel at 04:00 knackered!

Friday 7th August 2009 Rebellion Blackpool UK

2009-08-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

The cap'n in action!

The Damned headline the Friday.

Bit of a strange gig for me this in that I am not travelling with the band. They have travelled up earlier in the day by minibus whereas I am In the car with Pol and the kids. The Adicts are Headlining tomorrow night so chilling today.
Pol and the kids went to bed about 11 so I got a cab to the Wintergarden and went for a beer only to bump into Hog and Kid. We had a couple of ales and then I went off to watch the Damned. Old sensible's a bloody good guitarist y'no, only it kep't breaking and he was giving all kinds of shit to his guitar tech! hmmm. Got a feeling of DeJa Vous ha, ha!
Sound was shit but it wasn't really any ones fault, t'was the building.

Wed 5th August 2009 Rehearsal in the UK

2009-08-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

Yep rare as hens teeth but it happened!
The band at Universal Rehearsals sorting out the new set.
Sorting out a new set involves the following:
Drinking, Arguing, threatening to quit the band, sitting outside smoking, swearing lots, and also some playing of instruments.
I am so impressed by the ammount of passion Kid has for this band after 30 years. It's fuckin' great!
I am used to playing and rehearsing with bands, I have done so for many years, what struck me about this rehearsal was that the band seem able to start any song at any bar and just plough ino it perfectly, one track started with some fast lead and it was awesome.

Mon 3rd August Still in Corfu but where is Pete?

2009-08-03T03:37:00.000-07:00

Have heard from Ipswich that Pete didn't turn up so I don't know whats going on now.

If any of the crew hear from him please text me urgently.

Sunday 2nd August 2009. Roda, Corfu. The calm before the storm!

2009-08-02T06:24:00.000-07:00

Sat by the pool sipping cocktails. Very nice
Having a good rest before a busy month for the band.

Monk is already in the UK and Pete flys out soon, rehearsal Wednesday night ready for the band's Saturday's headline slot at Rebellion festival. See line up below.
I'm on hol's with the family in the north of England so were gonna be in Blackpool for the gig. It's a late one and my Charlie is gonna be taking photo's.

The following Thursday night (13th) we have a warm up gig in Ipswich, then the following day we fly to Germany and then Switzerland for a couple of festivals.
Then a few days off before we head to the US for the Warped tour and then a few other gigs, notably TJ, Mexico and La Vegas.
Stay tuned, were gonna have some fun!

Dave. x

THE EMPRESS BALLROOM

THE ADICTS 12.45 – 2.00 AM
UK SUBS 11.15 – 12.15
THE AMEBIX 9.55 – 10.55
ANTI NOWHERE LEAGUE 8.45 – 9.35
THE FREEZE 7.45 – 8.30
NEWTOWN NEUROTICS 6.45 – 7.30
999 5.45 – 6.30
GOLDBLADE 4.45 – 5.30
THE DEAD PETS 3.45 – 4.30
CITIZEN FISH 2.45 – 3.30
LOS FASTIDIOS 1.50 – 2.30
BABYLON WHACKERS 1.00 – 1.35

8th June 2009. At home.

2009-06-08T02:40:00.000-07:00

Just been given some more dates for gigs in Germany and Switzerland and have been asked to do the warped tour in California!

So more fun and games ahead!
Other exciting stuff being discussed at the moment too so stay tuned and i'll post any gig info the band release to me.

Life goes on tour summary

2009-05-27T11:18:00.001-07:00

Thanks so much to all the fans that supported this tour, you are what it's all about!

This post and others and still being updated, check back as updates will continually be added.

Personally I enjoyed every minute of this tour, although the band are used to playing big venues these were the largest I have worked, the scale was new to me, I loved it, bigger the better! gimme O2 and Wembly... sorry getting carried away.
These are special days i'm never gonna forget, what a band, everywhere we go people are just knocked out by the bands energy and quality of the songs! good times!
Unfortunatley we are all in need of doctors now!

Next Gig is Blackpool on 7th August 2009, c u there I hope.

As ever this blog is NOT a contact point for the band, feel free to leave comments though, they will be read!

Contact for the band is Myspace
http://www.myspace.com/adicts

We're all sick!

2009-05-27T08:17:00.002-07:00

Shahen. Bass: Rock god and all round super star in Armenia wherever the bloody hell that is. Did a great job filling in for Mel. Ate everything that came any where near him.
Shahen get yourself to the doc’s for some help with your diet!

Dan: Keys & fiddle.: Thinks he’s a musician and is often found taking photo’s of himself and fiddling with himself in his room.
Dan get yourself to the docs for some sexual therapy mate!

Mutti: Tour manager, Wanker bossed us around, made us get up in the morning, boring bugger! He’s got the reddist arse I have ever seen! Get your arse checked out at the doc’s Mutti! Love you really Mutti! x

Kid Dee: Muppet show drummer! Don't play him at Fifa 08, spends weeks at home practicing before a tour and won't tell us the key presses... he pretends to help by shouting thigs like L1, triangle, cross, just when your about to score just to put you off. Devious bastard!.The key presses he tells us are wrong, I googled them and it confirmed what a cheat Kid truly is! he deliberatly tells us wrong! also Don’t drink with this guy I guarantee you will regret it, Kid get your drinkin’ checked out at the doc’s and stop frikkin' cheatin'

Scruff: Keef Richards impersonator, pure rock and roll, looks like a puppet on strings when on stage. Not well for the last few days of the tour. Scruff get yourself to the doc’s mate!

Monkey: Vocalist: His performances were brilliant every night unfortunately has a vitamin deficiency caused by never getting up in time for breakfast due to the fact he was always amongst the last to go to bed at night. Monk get yourself to the doc’s for a course of vitamins! Alternatively try getting up in the morning!

Pete: Lead guitar: Struggled through the tour, he really ain’t well! Don’t play him at footy, he’s the dirtiest bastard you’ll ever meet! Already has his appointment at the doc’s. Get well Pete.

Hoggy: Bastard Roady: Looks like and thinks he is George Cluney, Toured 3 pairs of underpants but was really chuffed as he only needed one of them. Has been known to use the same bastards t’shirt for 37 gigs without washing it!
Hoggy mate, get your self to the doc’s for a bed bath!

Dave: Bastard Roady well what can I say, sleep deprived, alcoholically poisoned, aching from shifting gear in and out of venues, my right ear has been damaged from sitting on stage in front of Pete’s guitar cab and my left by sitting next to Pete on the tour bus with him screaming with excitement every time he got a red card!
I not gonna bother with the doc, I’m going straight to a psychiatrist.

Mon 25th Travel Home

2009-05-27T08:17:00.001-07:00

Got up and had breakfast in the hotel, Scruff doesn't look well again, seems to have had a relapse, After Breakfast we all hit the bus for the last time and headed off for Schiphol airport, the atmosphere was a little subdued, mixture of tiredness, sadness and relief I would say!
Got to schiphol unloaded the bus, not too much stuff as we are couriering most stuff back including the guitars! it was hugs all round and then Monk and Dan did a runner to catch their flight to LA, Shahen stayed on the bus and headed off with Mutti, the rest of us had 7 hours to waste before our flight, what on earth could we do.
We hound a bar outside and settled down, got some Heinekens and just chilled everyone is looking tired, Pete and I went in and had something to eat. the others went off and got a murder king! We finally got on the plane at 18:15 and it landed at Stansted at 18:20. 5 minute flight, love it.
We said our goodbyes and headed off in different directions from Stansted. I settled back in the cab, just Scruff, Hoggy and me remaining and we headed for Ipswich, home sweet home!

Sun 24th Antwerp Hofter Lo

2009-05-27T08:08:00.001-07:00

Got to bed at 03:00 woke at 10:00 went down for breakfast
Left and drove to Antwerp about 2 hours and hit the hotel
At 13:00
Support bands included Special Duties who my band played with in Colchester a few years back so I new exactly what to expect from them Ha!
Good stage, good venue, good show. Oh and great monitor engineer!
Went back to hotel and had beers in kids room, little celebration.
Successful tour.

Sat 23rd Dusseldorf Zakk

2009-05-27T08:07:00.001-07:00

The last of the long drives today 6.5 hours
Sound check was awful; we ran out of time in the end, the sound engineer didn’t seem to have a clue.
During the Gig the stage sound was screwed and Pete was not happy, I jumped off the stage and battled my way through the crowd and tried to help the sound guy but quickly realised he didn’t know what he was doing, I lost my temper with him, then gave up.
Pete was getting more and more agitated, I told him to chill and get on with it, there was no more we could do.
In spite of this the crowd seemed to really enjoy the gig.
Sound was the worst of the tour which was a shame as we loved the venue!
Vom had brought his wife and son to the gig and did the merch for us, He then joined us on stage for Walk on which was great. We love Vom!
Got back to hotel and we all hit the sack, knackered!

Sound problems from the start!

Fri 22nd Freiberg Ganter Braurerei

2009-05-27T08:06:00.002-07:00

Munster Punk fest
Assembled at the bus 0900 and headed off to frieberg.
Stopped on the road for pizza, (This Italian Pizza was shite) and pressed on, fantastic views of the city of Como from the road, looks like a place worth visiting! Shahan took lot’s of pics
Lunchtime we crossed the border and entered Switzerland, amazing drive for ours as we cut our way through the Alps, indescribable! No probs at the border. And then through into Germany and on to Freiberg
Checked into hotel and then dropped band off at the restaurant, Mutti, hog and I went to the venue to get the Merch. sorted and suss it out.
Then we went and joined the band at the restaurant, the food we have had lately has been poor, Scruff is ill from a dodgy meal we given in Bologna and 1 or 2 others are shaky, I’m OK so far!
Pub was a excellent rock and roll band type place, didn’t look like somewhere to expect a good meal and I was starving. Anyway when the food came it wasn’t just good it was fantastic, we all tucked in we were very hungry (except scruff who was in bed back at the hotel).
Then we went to the venue and drove the bus up to the back of the stage, the venue was a large brewery, by the time we went on stage 00:15 the audience were well oiled to say the least, some guy at the front immediately in front of Pete kep’t putting his fingers in his mouth and whistling really loudly, I could hear it at the back of the stage, it was getting into the mics and sounded like guitar feedback! I told him to shut up but after a while he started up again, Pete got annoyed with him and between songs we dragged him up on stage and Pete introduced him as the freiberg whistler and made him do a whistling performance in Monks mike. It was well funny!
After the gig everyone went back to the hotel except Pete and I who went back over the road to the pub we lunched in, the promoter owned the pub and we were his guests. Pete took over behind the bar and served me some nice alt beer, also served a customer at the bar some of his ‘special’ cocktails, by the time we left the guy was unconscious laying slumped over the bar!
I sat at a table chatting to the chef and some other German guys, most had been at the gig, it was a really nice way to end the day.
At 03:15 we taxied back to the hotel.

Thur 21st Bologna Italy Estragon

2009-05-27T08:06:00.001-07:00

Longest tunnel i've ever been through!

Pete 'found' a motorcyle.

My fan invention!

All day drive to Bologna, hotel for 15mins then sound check
At the venue. Very hot on the bus, 87 degrees outside!
When we got to the venue I got a chilled bottle of water and put some on my face it felt so good I poured it all down my front too, I was so hot. This seemed to amuse the others and one or two decided to pour their water over my head, I ended up soaked and a good bit cooler, Kid seemed to like the idea so I poured a bottle over his head too. Unfortunately I was dry within 10 mins. So hot here. Pete found a motorbike outside the venue and couldn’t keep off it!

It is so hot it is on the bus it killing us, crotch rot has truly set in! we have tonnes of bottles of water from last nights rider which helped. I finally got pissed of with the heat and decided to something about it! In the back of the van we got three stage fans, I got one and wedged it under the head restraints of the front seat, and connected it to the busses mains electricity, WOW, it was fantastic, now air was circulating round the van it became bearable almost pleasant, I gaffered it for security but it wasn’t needed, it stayed for the rest of the tour. The air con just wasn’t good enough.

On stage 23:05, band played well. Great reaction, Scruff got mobbed outside by a load of screaming girls, not sure why they didn’t go for me!
Back to hotel bed at 01:30, good hotel, we were taken to a restaurant where the food was close to being inedible, total shite
Wine good.
Shahen had some friends from Rome at the show so he was well chuffed, they loved the band!
Long drive tomorrow.

Wed 20th Munich Backstage Werk

2009-05-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

Long drive to Munich from Lux, loadsa footy on the play station, arrived at the hotel at 16:30, Mutti, Hoggi and I went straight to the venue to get it sorted and left everyone else at the hotel to get some rest. 5 bands, Born to lose, Creepshow, Demented are Go, Broilers and finally us with a stage time of 23:15.
No sound checks so not much for me to do till about 22:00.
Creep show were great, nice mix of songs, Broilers were great too!
Hotel and bed.

Tue 19th May Luxembourg Rockhal

2009-05-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

This sign at the hotel was met with lots of suggestions which unfortunatley have been censored. No we ain't gonna grow up!

Had a long lay in this morning, no one surfaced till after midday. Whilst waiting for Mutti to bring the bus around Kid was smoking outside the front of the hotel and some American tourist said to him “oh I can’t stand out here where you are smoking” What is a matter with people? Kid was offended and told him to go away in slow jerky movements!
We went to the venue at 15:30 but we couldn’t find it and drove around for ages, every one we stopped and asked couldn’t be bothered with us and gave us vague or incorrect info. We were not impressed!
We sound checked with no problem; the DTH shows are pretty sussed, all the settings are stored in the digital mixing desks.
Back at the hotel everyone went for a drink in Kids room, Scruff went to use the lift and found a quality bottle of champagne in an ice bucket, it had obviously come up for room service and been forgotten. Scruff took it to Hoggy for advice on what to do with it, 5 seconds later Hoggy was filling glasses for everyone. It was a nice drop. When it was finished Pete wrote an note and put it in the top of the bottle, it said “thank you for the champagne Sarah (The name of the reception girl) can we please have another one” he then nestled the bottle back in the ice bucket, took it to the lift and sent it back down to reception! Funny as F*!K

Mon 18th May, Luxembourg

2009-05-19T04:47:00.001-07:00

Monk wearing a DTH shirt

Pete & Campino

On Sunday night Campino invited the Adicts to join them on stage for the last song of the night the classic Walk on! The same is going to happen again tonight in Luxembourg

Mon 18th May, day off (Kinda)

2009-05-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

Arrival at the hotel

We entertained ourselves for a while by trying to pronounce this, you have a go!

Vom would sit at the side of the stage every night and watch the Adicts set, he's great!

There ya go, 4 red cards in 1 game is gonna take some beating. Pete was sufficiently proud of his achievement to take a pic of the playsation screen!

My becks accident caused much merriment!

Drive to luxenbourg today no gig tonight, be great to have a night off , we are all tired.
Left the hotel at 0930 and went into town, we needed a new clutch for kids hat and one or to other bit’s n bobs.
Then long drive to luxenbourg, we had some beer on the drive and some one got so desperate for a wee and they did it in a Jack Daniels bottle, classy we are! A plastic water bottle just wouldn’t have been good enough!
Played fifa footy most of the journey, Pete holds the record for most red cards during a game!
I wet myself today!
While I was playin footy with pete Kid passed me a bottle of becks, I grabbed it and put it between my legs as both hands were needed for my game controller, anyways I suddenly had a wet feeling between my legs, the bottle had immiediately fizzed up and emptied some of its contents over my crotch, every one got out of seats and laughed like hell at my predicament. Pete grabbed a camera and took a pic but doesn't really show how soaked I was!. Bastards.
Oh and were staying in the Luxenbourg Hilton, flash? Yep!

in the evening went out for Chinese meal in the local village, was pretty crap but it filled a hole! Kid and Pete were in a big hurry to get back to the hotel to watch the Sunderland game but the useless buggers lost 3:1. We left Pete smashing his room up and went to a local bar, it was dire, full of drunk strange people, we had one drink and then went back to the hotel, DTH crew were in the bar so we settled down for a drink with them, was very difficult keeping off the war subject, especially when Nopper (The German DTH tech. and part time burglar) suggested we have some tanks on the stage! It was a very funny evening and we all got on great! Pete came along quite late and seemed quite wobbly, he’d been drinking in his room and had obviously been thirsty. The waitress was French and ended up serving us at the table all evening, she had a moustache a German fishmonger would be proud of!
Dunno what time we went to bed, but we didn’t have to get up in the morning.

Big hi to my good mate Rob!

2009-05-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

Several people have asked who is Rob, the guy who keeps leaving witty comments on the blog, well here he is folks indulging in his favorite pass time!

Love ya Robbie!

Sun 17th May Bielefeld Germany Seidensticker

2009-05-17T03:08:00.001-07:00

We send lots of balls out during bad boy, this is going down really well!

Filmed again and took loadsa photos
At sound check I noticed Vom at the side of the stage and just then hog came up to me and requested a tune as he often does during sound check, So brickfield nights it was, I looked over at Vom and we had a laugh! Vom is a really, really friendly, guy, I immediately took to him and haven’t held the fact he was the drummer of dr and the medics against him!
Hog’s had to give up on the clash/stranglers debate, it’s no contest, clash everywhere and no stranglers to be seen, Die Toten Hosen are covering guns of Brixton and the pre band music has should I stay and Armmagideon time in it so 3-0 every night!

Sat 16th May Bielefeld Germany Seidensticker

2009-05-17T03:07:00.000-07:00

At the end of the gig a team of 40 riggers outside waiting to move in and rip it all apart!

we are here for two nights so a good layin on Sunday morning, doubt anyone will surface till after midday.
The record company have a film crew here with 5 cameras filming the Adicts at both the Bielefeld gigs, I think the idea is a live video to go with the life goes on single.

After the gig we ate in catering at the venue, when we’d finished Pete piled up loads of empty plates and dishes on scruff, as he walked away Pete said “I bet you drop them”, Scruff replied “no I wont” Scruff then took two steps forward and dropped the lot!
Everybody involved in this tour are lovely people from canteen staff to riggers to engineers and managers. The food is better than I have had a some very nice restaurants, it's top class!
After the gig we went back to the hotel but the bar was shut, we all adjourned to room 207 and had a beer there.
I left and went to my room, had a nice bath and got into bed, then the phone went it was Mutti, “ all the Toten people have arrived and they have opened the bar, everyone is down here so come on down, I was torn but just out of the bath and tired and decided to be sensible and get some sleep. What’s wrong with me!
I heard they had a great time in the bar, there were 1 or 2 thick heads in the morning!

Fri 15th May Rostock Germany Stadthalle

2009-05-17T03:04:00.002-07:00

Campino the Toten front man introduces the band and the crowd get straight into it!

2 minutes into this clip the band play ode to joy and the camera pans the audience giving a feel for just how large this venue is, huge applause as the band leave the stage, it was deafening!

Go Genie Go. Brilliant!

Tango

Thur 14th May Prague Futurum

2009-05-17T03:04:00.001-07:00

Support bands were Texas Terri Bomb and Tight Finks

Wed 13th May Passau Germany Breillanderhalle

2009-05-17T03:02:00.000-07:00

The new back drop

Tue 12 May Bamberg, Germany

2009-05-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

Two of the culprits caught on camera!

setting up the stage, this is incredible!

Mick, why haven't we got this much gear!

WOW!

OK so it's a long post, not much else to do on the bus so I started typing and couldn't stop!
7 hour drive from Vienna, through Hungary and onto Bamberg, Germany.
Mutti woke me up early and got me to watch the tour bus outside while he went to hire another vehicle to help with our overload problem. He came back with a car, it’s all he could get, oh well, better than nothing. Luckily the Vienna hire company had a German car so it was no problem for us to drop it off in Germany.
Everyone else surfaced and after some rearrangement of luggage (we were still concerned with the weight of the van) we set off on our 7 hour drive to Bamberg, Germany, I was driving the bus and had Dan, Scruff and Monk on board, Mutti was driving the car with the others in it. We followed them for a good 4 hours, we had one quick stop for soup and then carried on,
Later a green and white van appeared along side us with Zoll written on it, it then pulled in front of us, I then tried to overtake it and it pulled in front of us again. Then a red sign lit up in the back and after lots of German words we didn’t understand it switched to English and said FOLLOW ME!
We followed the van off the autobahn and along small roads for about 10 mins, it then pulled up at a building and told us to drive in which I did, once we were in the doors were shut and we were told to stay in the Bus. It was weird one minute driving happily up the road, the next minute in an industrial unit surrounded by pistol carrying customs officers.
The chief took our passports and disappeared, we were a little concerned; the van was still very heavily loaded. After a few minutes he reappeared and asked questions where have we been/going all the usual stuff, got any drugs, booze or cigarettes on board?
We hadn’t got a thing, not even a bottle of beer, they looked disappointed, I joked that we were a good band we didn’t smoke, drink or do drugs!
Another officer said nicely oh what do you do then do you like girls? Yeh, I said we all do except him (pointing at Dan), he likes boys, they all cracked up laughing! Sorry Danny boy!
Then they drug tested each of us and as each of us passed they would hand back the passport for that person.
We set off glad to be out of that place, we were now half an hour behind the others and had no one to follow, we switched on the sat nav but it spoke German, help!
Dan was a great help, he taught the sat nav to speak English by pressing loads of buttons on it, then he read the map and we got sorted, Phew!
We arrived at the venue, it was a bloody great 8000 capacity stadium, wow!
Tonight is a first for me with the Adicts, they are not headlining but supporting a huge German band called Die Toten Hosen, one of the biggest band in Germany, apparently the singer is Germanys equivalent of Bono, oh no!
We only have to do a short set tonight so should be quite easy for me which is good as I have driven the bus for 7 hours and am tired, I didn’t help unload, went for a walk and had a drink. They had a huge crew at the venue that soon got all the gear in. We set up and sound checked.
I had to adjust my thinking, when you are supporting there are advantages and disadvantages ref. Setting up the stage, either way there is a critical time period which is the 20mins between bands, If your supporting you have to get all your guitars, drums and amps etc. off the stage as fast as is humanly possible, when your headlining you wait for the support band to get off and then have to get your guitars etc. setup, It is a manic time that requires forward planning and organisation, the Die Toten Hosen crew are highly pro and have been friendly and really helpful, we are working well together. The guys in the band are nice and friendly too, the drummer Vom is English and is also the drummer of the English band ‘The Boys’ and TV Smith. I had a long chat with him but didn’t mention the fact that Suspect Device have recently been covering their song Brickfield nights.
The gig was sold out, so many people, I walked out on the stage for a final check before the band went on, so many people in the audience it was an amazing sight!
The band played well and I like the shortened set, the audience really enjoyed it but it was different to a normal Adicts audience, naturally most were here to see Die Toten Hosen, and I guess a lot were not familiar with the Adicts music.
Inspite of this the band went down well.
At the back of the venue where we load in was a German man with a key of beer and some plastic glasses, he was drinking a beer from a glass, the colour of the beer got my attention, it was not lager! I went and chatted to him but he didn’t speak English but his friend walked up and translated for me, “that beer looks nice, can I have a glass please”
The interpreter explained that this guy brewed the beer himself and was very proud of it, he had brought a keg to share with his friends, they gave me a little to taste, it was fantastic! He poured me a full pint and I thanked him and went inside to watch Die Toten Hosen, soon the beer was empty but he kindly gave me another one, lovely man! We watched most of Die Toten Hosen set and they are really good, more rock than punk rock I would say. After the show we went back to the hotel which was incredibly posh and beautiful. I had a shower and then the phone went, Monk, Pete, Kid and Hoggy were off to the bar, I was too tired and decided to call it a night.
Went for breakfast in the morning and one of the Die Toten Hosen guitarists said to me “is it true the Adicts were in the bar last night wearing nothing except the white dressing gowns from the rooms”
I laughed, that sounds about right, that’ll be them!

Hoggy bastard Roadie at the age of 20 Months

2009-05-14T00:36:00.000-07:00

He is without doubt to blame for the current outbreak of swine fever.

Mon 11th May Vienna gig

2009-05-14T00:33:00.000-07:00

A hot Scruff, there were no stage fans!

Would you buy a T'shirt from this man?

Monkeys stuff arrives so he sorts it into piles for each gig

Woke with a slight Hangover
We all had a lay in and went to the venue at 13:00 nothing was ready, they had changed to a larger venue at the last minute as advance sales were too much for the original venue.
The new backdrop arrived and it looks brilliant, Pete told me the last time the band toured with a backdrop was 1994, I think they should always have one, looks really good!
Sound check was excellent and long as the band pissed around for a while.
Full house for the gig, was a good show. Some guys kept getting on the stage so Hoggy and I were busy till in the end they got security. There was a lot of stage diving, The band say they don’t like all this diving as it reminds them of Chelsea’s Didier Drogba, cheating bastard!
When we went to leave we hit a major problem, our gear wouldn’t fit in the tour bus, In Serbia the back line had been locally supplied whereas the rest of the tour we are using our own hired in back line, this had been delivered to the venue along with loads of stuff for Monk.
Now we realise it won’t all fit in the bus. We are bloody good we are.
We did get everything in the end but it would be impossible to travel any distance, also the van was seriously overweight.
We managed to get to the hotel and everyone went straight to bed, we were all wiped out.

Sun 10 May, travel from serbia to Vienna

2009-05-13T17:19:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's are picture of me smoking, I don't smoke for a year then have 10 in a night. This seemed to amuse the tour party, the non smoker finally smokes!

Ghost vindaloo went down well!

At the border Pete and i are still trying to get a straight red by kicking the hell out of each other!

Adicts Norwegian fan club
Igor was the promoter for the show and did a great job. After breakfast we sat on the patio balcony of the hotel sipping beers waiting for hoggies bag to be delivered by the airline, Hoggy was minging by now after 3 days with the same clothes, no one wanted to sit near him on the bus.
All of a sudden a group of elderly Norwegian ladies appeared and recognised us from last nights show. We were virtually mobbed by them, they were like teenage groupies. They had photo’s taken with us. They were disappointed that we had to leave as the bag arrived, we think they wanted to give Hoggy a good thrashing.
At the Serbian border we queued for an hour, the guards looked stern and had a good look round the bus, we went straight from there into a queue for the Hungarian border where we queued for another hour. Ironically we were all starving Hungry, When we finally got to the Hungarian border we were question by a nice Hungarian lady who looked like she could take any of us out with a single punch. She looked very stern so we decided to see if we could make her smile, we all sat with silly expressions on our faces. When she clocked us she pissed herself laughing. She asked Pete what he was doing here and he replied “I have no idea” oddly she seemed satisfied by that answer and let us through, no problem.
Incidently we have a playastation and fifa 08 on the bus, I hadn’t played before and was crap. Pete was also nearly as crap as me so we decided to brighten it up a bit.
New rules Fifa 08 Copyright The bastard road crew,
1) Each goal scored = minus 1 point, (we couldn’t score anyway)
2) Yellow card = 1 point
3) Second yellow 2 points
4) Straight red 3 points (hero worship was given to persons achieving this)
I am not prepared to say who won, all I will say is Mr Peter Dee is one of the dirtiest bastards I have ever come across. Kid and Dan could really play the game and took it seriously, we ridiculed them and then baffled them with our dirty tackles, they thought they had won till we explained we were scoring cards not goals.

We stopped in Hungary for fuel and kid discovered some strange alcohol drinks for sale in the garage one of which was called unicum and several others I can’t remember, the bottles weren’t huge but the percentage proof was. Kid got stuck into them and really enjoyed the rest of the journey.
At the hotel we were settled into our rooms and kid wandered into my room, he could hardly talk and kept staggering into the wall, Words can’t describe how smashed he was. He asked me to show him too his room as he had lost it somewhere. I took him to his room and within 5 minutes he was unconscious on his bed.
Everyone else got directions to an Indian restaurant and we set off on foot toward it. We were given a map by the hotel but it was so small only Scruff could read it and he’s dyslexic. Dan nearly got hit by a tram, Pete grabbed him and just about pulled him clear. Dan was so grateful but Pete was mortified, he said he couldn’t understand why he had done it, “I think I thought it was some one else”. He would much rather have seen Dan get squished. Pete seems to be very fragile and hurt his ribs in the process of grabbing Dan.
Miraculously we found the restaurant and all ordered some dishes loadsa vindaloos. The lamb wasn’t good but I enjoyed my chicken one. We ordered papadums which when they came were spicy ones, I asked for some plain which they gave me, strangley they were indistinguishable from the spicy ones.
The beer was great and I was thirsty, I hadn’t been boozing on the bus so was really thirsty; I demolished six pints during the meal, far more than anyone else! This was my first good drink of the tour. We all went back to the hotel but I was still thirsty as were Scruff and Monk. The guy on reception told us about a bar nearby which sold local beer and would not rip us off, another tiny map was produced and we headed off onto the streets of Vienna.
Unbelievably yet again we found the place that was called the Asylum!
This place was in like a huge undergroud cellar all dank, dark. The music being played was indescibable, the atmosphere I would call creepy, the whole thing reminded me of the film hostel!
Not many people in, barman was really freindly and we drank more beers and he kept giving us free shots! Soon we had got control of the PC playing the music and we wouldn't let him near it, scruff became DJ and all of a sudden the atmoshere changed completley, the other customers seemed a lot happier to and they all joined us at our table, Scruff is a brilliant DJ, occassionally the barman would try to put a track on but we wouldn't let him! No idea what time we left that bar but were all staggering!
Back at the hotel scruff went straight to bed but unbelievably Monk and I went in the bar for a night cap.

Novi Sad, Serbia Press

2009-05-13T17:13:00.001-07:00

Novi Sad, Serbia gig.

2009-05-11T11:42:00.001-07:00

Flares in the crowd looked well smart!

This was the biggest gig I have worked with the band.

Great crowd, note the two girls at the front crying.

Red carpet treatment from the mayorr of Novi Sad, not very punk rock!

Found some video on you tube, toward the end there is some film of the square which was quite beautiful!

10,000 people out there waiting for us and the mayor and dignitaries wanted to meet us and have a photo shoot, apparently the major is a bit of an Adicts fan and punk rocker!
Adicts hit the stage and rocked their socks off, it was brilliant, as far as you could see arms up in the air and voices singing along.
Shahen was a star, Dan was having a great time looking at himself on the big screen, Monkey tried his hand at talking Serbian and made himself look a right pratt. Pete seems to be struggling a bit but there's no way were accepting that as an excuse for his bum chords, Scruff looked like Keef. Scruff is great! Kid played and looked like a muppet!
As we all know Pete doesn’t normally drink but he and Monkey were shit faced.

After the gig Scruff, Shahen and I bought Pizza slices from a shop on the square, we noticed that the locals would have ketchup completley covering the top of their pizza, 'orrible!
Scruff and I then called it a night and went to the hotel for much needed sleep!

Hoggy's Blog Entry ref Spain Friday 8th May

2009-05-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

I missed the first gig (Barcelona) so Hoggy has made the entry below, which covers the period prior to ua all metting up in Serbia.

Hoggy Bastard Roadie report on first gig (Spain, Terrazza)

Taxi picked us up in Ipswich at 06:00 and me, Kid and Scruff headed off to Stansted. Good flight.
No problems at Barcelona airport, met Monkey & Dan who flew in from LA and Shahen who came in from Italy. But worryingly no sign of Pete!
David the promoter picked us up and we headed off to the gig about 1 hour drive from Barcelona.
Our left winger (Pete) decided to show up looking like shit.
Great venue, gig went good, it was hard not having bastard Dave and bastard Mutti there, I was sole roadie.
Lucky for me we got a guitar tech. (George) who did a great job with Pete as Pete wasn’t too good.
The band rocked hard, was hotter than hell on stage, crowd loved it.
Brian Clough would have been proud of the lads! As we kep’t the ball on the floor and Shahen’s dribbling was superb. Kid kep’t a clean sheet in goal and the crowd enjoyed themselves when Pete mentioned the Chelsea/Barcelona result. They all sang Barca favorite (Alcohol) together. It was special moment as the band stood there whilst the audience sang to them.

The hotel was top notch, best shower ever. Was a real shame there was no time to sleep, we had to leave for the aiport at 03:45 AM so had no sympathy for bastard Dave who whined about being up at 04:00.
We left Barcelona as Zombies, we were walking dead.
Arrived in Rome 2 hours later and got our connection to Belgrade, got off plane and going through customs I got asked to take my hat off so naturally I obliged, Unfortunately I then stuck my tongue out at the immigration officer and the humourless bastard started shouting at me in foreign, the only words I recognised was police and jail. What a jobsworth twat.
Got all luggage except for my fuckin’ case, it was lost!
No sleep, no clothes, I didn’t smell too good.
Met Bastard Dave when he turned up a little later.
Bastard Mutti turned up with the highway tiger and we all headed off to the hotel.

Our fantastic Spanish fans can really sing

Barcelona fans seemed pleased with the chelsea result and sang us a song!

19:30 chilling outside!

2009-05-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

There is a area in the bus that can sleep 3 people, when everyone's tired it becomes very popular.

All smooth at the airport, I thought I would be the knackered one but Monk hasn't slep since LA and everyone is looking tired, they didn't sleep last night due to early flight after last nights gig in Spain. About 1.25 hour drive to the hotel.
We arrived at the hotel at 14:00 ish and then went out to eat, food was good. Weather was beautiful as is Novi Sad, people were very freindly and helpful and seemed genuinley excited about this evenings gig.
we then went for soundcheck in the town centre, the gig is in a large square in the city centre, big stage very pro. We sound checked at 17:00 no probs. Sat outside the hotel woth Hog, Monk and Mutti,(Mutti is the German agent) sipping ice cold local beers

Gig is at 22:00, we have now been told in excess of 10,000 people tonight in Novi Sad.

Tommorow we have no gig but we drive to Vienna (about 6 hours)

At Heathrow

2009-05-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

sat in the departure lounge waiting to board.

Had a great night last night at the Bull, Andy, Jules, Pol & I hit nando's in Colchester then went to the venue, was great to see so many of the usual suspects at the gig. was a good night, they have asked us back November.
Happy Birthday Andy Eley and Johnny!

Jules got us home at exactly 01:00, great drive Jules! quich shower coffee and bed.
Set the alarm and it said "TIME TILL ALARM 2 HOURS! Shit!

Slept really badly in the taxi, So tired, gonna board now will sleep on the plane!
Later!

Colchester, Sleep, Airport, Gig.

2009-05-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

Checked in online for tomorrows flight and got a great seat (window emergency exit) so chuffed with that. Off to Colchester in a minute for the gig, gonna be pretty much non stop the next 24 hours but looking forward to it (except getting up at 4)

I nicked this off Adicts myspace, Go Genie Go and your all fools are current favorites of mine.
THE ADICTS LIVE GO GENIE GO

How good is that!

This is where the tour go's after Spain

2009-05-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

First gig is spain and (which I forgot to put on here) then it goes in alphabetical order.

If you wanna explore then http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=belgrade&daddr=vienna+to:bamberg+to:passau+to:prague+to:rostock+to:bielefeld+to:esch+alzette+to:munich+to:bologna+to:freiburg+to:dusseldorf+to:antwerp+to:52.776186,15.46875&geocode=&hl=en&mra=mi&mrcr=12&mrsp=13&sz=5&sll=49.781264,15.996094&sspn=10.018737,28.125&ie=UTF8&z=5

Be patient if you click the link above, if you wait a little while it will draw the route in google maps.

That Axe +.... Here we go again!

2009-05-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

Finally after much nagging, heres the pics of my Pete Dee signature guitar. click the pictures to enlarge.

Pete Morey, your not allowed to look at these!

The next 48 hours gonna be tiring!, gigging tomorrow (Fri) night (Suspect Device). Gonna be the first outing of the new signature guitar. We are at the bull in Colchester, only our second gig in Colchester so will be interesting! Normally have a belly full of beer at our gigs and probably won't get home till 01:00. Then the taxi picks me up 3 hours later at 04:00 for the run to Heathrow for my flight to Belgade, I have told Jon the driver (who chats a lot) that he's not allowed to speak during the journey, this serves two purposes: 1) It will allow me some much needed sleep. 2) it will stop me talking crap in my drunken stupor.

It pays to start a tour with your batteries fully charged but that hasn't worked out this time, oh well!

Meeting the rest of the tour party at midday at Belgrade airport then we have to drive up to Novi Sad where we have been warned to expect 8000, yes 8000 audience, how good is that!

Just hope Pete's there, I can only play 3 Adicts song and they sound crap when I do 'em!

Start of the European leg of life goes on tour.

2009-05-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

But.......

Where the Hell is Pete? We might be without our Left winger on this one & we have no one on the subs bench. Can we do a Barcelona over Chelsea with a man short? or will we do a Roy Keane & take his dog for a walk. The nerves before a kick off are incredible, I'm looking forward to the journey into the unknown. The team have it all to play for. The pre match dressing room talk should be interesting. What our tactics will be. Injuries galore. I hope our fans get behind us, we are going to need that extra voice.

Back to normal

2009-04-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

Been home a week now, really busy with work. Been to Wales and the Cotswolds this week but home now.
We booked my flight to Belgrade today where I'm joining the band for the next phase of the life go's on tour, looking forward to it already!

Got rehearsal with my band http://www.myspace.com/suspectdevicepunks on Monday, can't wait to try the new guitar out!

This is what this next phase of the tour looks like!

May 8 2009
7:00P
FAKTORIA D’ARTS ~ TERRASA ~ SPAIN
TERRAZA NEAR BARCELONA, Barcelona
May 9 2009
1:00P
NOVI SAD ~ TRG SLOBOB ~ SERBIA
NOVI SAD
May 11 2009
8:00P
ARENA ~ VIENNA ~ AUSTRIA
VIENNA
May 12 2009
7:00P
JAKO ARENA ~ GUESTS OF DIE TOTEN HOSEN
BAMBERG~GERMANY
May 13 2009
7:00P
DREILANDER HALLER ~ GUESTS OF DIE TOTEN HOSEN
PASSAU ~ GERMANY
May 14 2009
7:00P
FUTERUM ~ CHZECH REPUBLIC
PRAGUE
May 15 2009
7:00P
STADTHALLE ~ GUESTS OF DIE TOTEN HOSEN
ROSTOCK ~ GERMANY
May 16 2009
7:00P
SEIDENSTICKER HALLE ~ GUESTS OF DIE TOTEN HOSEN
BIELEFELD ~ GERMANY
May 17 2009
8:00P
SEIDENSTICKER HALLE ~ GUESTS OF DIE TOTEN HOSEN
BIELEFELD ~ GERMANY
May 19 2009
7:00P
ROCKHAL ~ GUESTS OF DIE TOTEN HOSEN
ESCH ALZETTE ~ LUXEMBOURG
May 20 2009
7:00P
BACKSTAGE
MUNICH ~ GERMANY
May 21 2009
8:00P
ESTRAGON
BOLOGNA ~ ITALY
May 22 2009
2:00P
MONSTER PUNK FEST
FREIBURG ~ GERMANY
May 23 2009
8:00P
ZAKK
DUSSELDORF ~ GERMANY
May 24 2009
7:00P
HOF TER LO
ANTWERP ~ BELGIUM

Flight home & tour summary

2009-04-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Said our goodbye's at Grandma's house, it was a little sad we had all been through so much together the last three weeks. Huge thanks to Grandma if you read this, don't know how you put up with us all!

Can't wait to get back with the family now, some normallity for a while.
The four of us hit the bar at the aiport and prepared for the flight with some Corona's and crisp's. Flight took off on time, I immiediatly fell a sleep but woke to the sound of Hoggy shouting excitedly to me, "DAVE! DAVE!, they have London Pride!" I awoke and the air hostess had heard Hog and passed me what she said were the last 2 tinny's on the plane, "you gotta find me more" I said, and proceeded to be very nice to her, she said she would do what she could for me, this was a great start to the flight, I tucked into my beer, it was fantastic, proper beer again after all the shitty american lager I have been putting up with (sorry to any American's reading this, don't wanna offend but you gotta admit you beer is horse piss!)
The hostess reapeared, "I nicked you 2 more from business class"
"Oh thanks so much I could kiss you" I said
She then lent down and kissed me... on the lips! and then disappeared. A ripple of laughter went along our seat row! The service on BA has got better these day's hasn't it Dave!

Several hours into the flight had to divert to Goose bay in Newfoundland due to a passenger having a heart attack, this was a major inconvenience and we inconsideratly discussed other ways of getting rid of this pesky ill passenger, "well there probaly gonna die anyway just chuck 'em out" or "ain't they got no bloody parachutes"
Goose bay looked like the artic with snow piled several feet high each side of the runway, they got the faulty person off but then announced the wings on our jumbo had frozen so we had another long delay whilst they de-iced.
Eventually got home at 19:00 several hours late!

When I was asked and committed to do these three weeks I genuinely didn't know how it would turn out, wether I would enjoy it or how I would get on living closely with a set of people that I didn't know that well, it was a risk but hey, only a three week risk, the potential return was high too, on offer was one of the greatest adventures of my life!

It's hard work on the road, I am glad I have the blog so I can remember some detail from the tour, also the blog will make people understand just how hard touring is. In the past three weeks we have flown very nearly 30,000 miles and driven a bunch more in the bus!
The image of a touring rock band is highly innaccurate, the reallity is, hard work, sleep deprivation, dodgy food and sometimes substandard accomodation.
Most of us go on a trip, get home and rest for a few days before going on another.
imagine touring as a load of trips all glued together, it's quite shocking to fly back from somewhere, go home and get on the tour bus straight off to the next venue without even a night in your own bed, you would then gig and get to hotel about 4am. THIS IS HARD WORK!
Tour illness's are common as is a 'tour cough' when you get a group of peolpe living and working together, moving from country to country illness is almost a given!
And sleep... Sleep is something you have to get when you can, ignore an opportunity to sleep at your peril, get it whenever you can, on the bus, the plane, where ever!

Inspite of all this, there are of course good time's it's like being on a working holiday with a bunch of your mates. I would not have done this with many bands, the Adicts are special, they were part of my youth, my first punk gig, they are a truly great band.
After gigs I would hear people talking, "that's the best punk gig I have ever been too!" was a common one, the manager of the Hard rock hotel told us. "that's the best gig we have ever had" now that is high praise indeed. Irrespective of tiredness or health problems the stage performance is always full on, very energetic and polished, they bollock each other during the set if anyone is considered to be not putting enough effort in. After 30 years together you can only admire that. Pete has had a lot of serious health problems as well as the stomach problems we aquired in Caracas (now renamed crackarse), I don't know how he performed some night's, I couldn't have done it.

During the trip I got on well with everyone, they are a great bunch of guys who I know consider to be friends.
This trip has been everything I hoped for, apart from Argentina (which was a blur, I had no energy left and could barely function) it has been the adventure that I had hoped for, , of course there are ups and downs with life on the road but on the whole frikkin' brilliant!

This has been a fantastic life experience and I hope through the blog others have been able to get a taste of what life on the road with a great rock band is really like.

The tour resumes on
May 8th 2009 in SPAIN and then goes to
SERBIA, AUSTRIA, GERMANY, CHZECH REPUBLIC, LUXEMBOURG, ITALY & BELGIUM

So keep checking back for blog entries/updates, sure we'll be having some more great adventures, will be adding more stuff this week. Am also adding pictures to some of the older posts.

P.S.
This Blog is not a contact point for the band, any correspondance should go to the http://www.myspace.com/adicts

P.P.S

If any one hasn't seen this band live DO IT!

Well it's all over

2009-04-06T03:50:00.000-07:00

Click the pics to enlarge them!

been away a while so Hoggy was in need of some female company, Scruff willingly obliged!

Thats it the final gig of this phase of the Life go's on tour, I am gonna be filling in some missing details and last two gigs so check back, here's some fantastic pic's courtesy of Pete/cfoproductions, click to enlarge them!

Fly home tonight, gotta get some sleep now, will add a load more stuff tomorrow, with my thought's and summary.

in the desert

2009-04-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

Apparently the largest thermometer in the world!

Joshua trees in the desert

Traffic's bad, thought i'd play witht the laptop and got it connected to the internet from the bus, were gonna be late to the venue so no sound check for us.
Driving through the mojave desert, just been past Death valley and a place strangley called zzyzx, (that is not a typo)
We stopped for lunch and the heat was incredible, the desert each side of the road is covered in Joshua tree's.

Leaving Vegas

2009-04-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

No time this morning will do a big blog update tomorrow with details of the vegas gig etc.
Got a 6 hour drive now to the final gig at the riverside. Later!

Hard Rock Hotel

2009-04-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hotel Pool

Hotel pool

View from my bedroom window!

Well were here in Vegas, my first time here, it's amazing, venue is all setup and we have sound checked. We have just eaten in the hotel staff canteen which was fine, there appear to be some women working for the hotel that don't understand how to dress, they have both skirts and knickers on but inspite of that you can still see most of both buttocks. Corse i'm not interested and haven't even looked once.
Walked into a wall earlier!
Anyway were off for a drink or 3, then some roulette, then showtime at 23:00

Sat 4th 11:30 AM

2009-04-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

I'm glad big Ron was with us at this one, he kep't turning round and grinning at me and saying " why ain't no one invading my side?"

We got up at 08:00, it had snowed in the night and there was snow everywhere. Pete and I got a shuttle bus 1.5 hours to Reno airport and then flew to LA on a little prop plane, what a result getting the little plane, it flew low across the mountains, the views were incredible, on arrival at LA we hiried a car which took frikkin' ages to do and then drove 1.5 hours to Palmdale.
The palmdale venue was in effect a 500 capacity youth club, with a bloody great (and really good) PA system installed.
Pete and I sat around with not too much to do till the tour bus and trailer turned up, we then loaded in and sound checked. After 4 support bands it was 23:00 and time for the Adicts.
This was the wildest gig yet, they were literally swinging off the chandeliers, I thought some was gonna get hurt/electrocuted. Security battled continuously aroung monkey but it was OK, the kids were great really.
The stage setup was good, nice powerfull sidefills and I could here everything better than usual, Pete is using a Bognor amp and cab at the moment it's awesome as it must be said is Pete's guitaring! The whole band played great I thought, I guess they feed of the audiences and play better, I can understand that. The place was rammed and the toilets provided were nothing like sufficient, when we were breaking down at the end of the night we could here the venue staff trying to clean them, they were laughing and running out gagging, "Oh, no, I don't beleive it! I heard one of them say. None of this bothered us of course, we already had our own toilet in a local hedge!

We left the venue and drove into the night, most of us cat napping, dunno what time we eventually stopped at 04:20 and checked into a days inn. I have just got up it's Midday, we have a couple of hours left to drive to Vegas and tonight we are staying in the hard rock hotel, so should be a great day today.

Lake Tahoe Gig Cancelled!

2009-04-03T00:37:00.000-07:00

We got up this morning and all assembled at the bus for the drive from Reno to Lake Tahoe, everyone's in good spirits and apart from Pete we are mostly in good health now. We drove for about 2 hours across the mountains, the scenery was simply breath taking, beautiful valleys and snow topped mountains, you gotta see it to understand what a fantastic part of the world this is!
arrived at the hotelo MontBleu and all got settled in our rooms before meeting for lunch in the restuarant. After lunck we chilled and at 17:45 headed off to the venue in the bus.
On arrival at the venue it was immeidiately apparent that it wasn't a suitable place to stage an Adicts gig, we asked them to go and get some wood and stuff and modify the stage a little but they coyuldn't so the promoter had no choice but pull out of the gig on the grounds that the stage was dangerous, it was a shame the band were gutted but there was no choice.
I was glad that decision was made, it was gonna be a security nightmare.
so we reloaded the van and headed back to the hotel.
We all met in Hoggy's room and attacked the rider before going downstairs into the casino, for a good 3 hours the Adicts crew had it's own roullette table.
It was great fun and some of us actually won money includiung me!

We all felt really sorry for Beth the promoter who up till this point had doing a great job.
Beth, it will all work out in the end mate and thanks for looking after us!

Good quality Brasil Video

2009-04-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-XkV6MEk8g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A17AgqiPGrY

03:23 Thursday Reno

2009-04-02T03:23:00.000-07:00

Collapsed stage

Hotel

Had the most fantastic meal last night, slept like a log then we left LAX at 13:00 and flew to Reno, (Reno is the poor mans Las Vegas)

Hotel is very flash, it's also a casino, it's got pools Jacuzzi's etc. incredible view from my 14th floor room!

Anyway we went to the venue (Vixen's) at about 17:00 and sound checked, band went on at 23:00. Good sell out show though the audience was the wildest yet, half way through the gig a young lady in the audience decided to lift her top up and make everyone smile, a little later the centre of the stage collapsed which made the rest of the show tricky!

Monkey Brazilian TV interview

2009-04-02T03:20:00.000-07:00

after the second Brazil show Monk did the following interview in the dressing room.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ3mKo6frps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g_EjudwzWA

Tue 1st PM, Tour bus leaves for Reno but i'm not on it!

2009-03-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

The bus headed off to Reno (Long drive, think there hoteling on route) about 3 hours ago, we decided yesterday that I would fly to Reno with Pete on Wednesday, we have both had the worse health problems and need a rest.
So flight at 13:00 tomorrow, then straight from the airport to soundcheck at Sparks.
Going out tonight to Pete's favorite restuarant, hope my appetites ok!

The final five dates below, then fly back to the UK on 6th!

Apr 1 2009 7:00P SPARKS.RENO. RENO, Nevada
Apr 2 2009 7:00P WHISKEY DICKS LAKE TAHOE, California
Apr 3 2009 8:00P THE CROSSING- PALMDALE PALMDALE, California
Apr 4 2009 8:00P HARD ROCK HOTEL LAS VEGAS, Nevada
Apr 5 2009 7:00P AMERICAN LEGION 79 ~ RIVERSIDE RIVERSIDE, California

Caracus Pic & Brasil video

2009-03-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

I am really pleased with this pic I snapped from behind Pete,

Youtube footage from Brasil, there's actually a lot of footage from most of the gigs all over youtube.

This clip has me in it removing some kid from the stage, we don't get much of that and it's usually harmless stuff, I really like this track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHv9vwIWJNM

How to shop without money, the Adicts method.

2009-03-31T17:08:00.000-07:00

Monkey and errrm Monkey, but which is the real one?

Had yet another fantastic lunch (food in Brasil is the best) and then Fokker took us shopping.

we said we wanted to check out some record shops, so he took us to that district, therre were just loads of stores selling, CD's T'shirts, you know all that stuff.

The first one we came to had an Adicts T'shirt on display, see pic above, spot the fake!

Oi FOKKER! have a word with them will you, there selling counterfeit T'shirts,

The owner of the shop seemed excited to have Monkey in the shop and anxious about his dodgy goods, he asked us if we would all like a free t'shirt each, thanks very much mate, Monk and some of the other's signed Adicts stuff and we left the shop. after similar episodes in a further half dozen shops we had enough t'shirts and were getting bored so returned to the bus. I would say the Adicts are pretty big in Brasil, the amount of Adicts merch for sale compared strongly against much bigger bands.

Hoggy was asleep in the bus so missed all this, we have been having a long running disagreement over which band is most punk, the Stranglers or the Clash. Every time we see some one with a stranglers shirt or if a stranglers track is played at a venue Hoggy gets a point, I gets point's for the Clash. Anyways I thought it wrong for Hoggy to miss out on the shirts so I got him one.

He took the bag from me on the bus, "thanks a lot Dave" It was a clash t'shirt and yes it cost him a point!"

So your thinking this is childish yes? well your right but it amuses us in quieter times, some of the band are also getting caught up in the debate.

I am looking for some ammo so Rikki, Pete, Andy, Jon or whoever please post a comment saying why the clash are more punk than the stranglers, if anyone prefer's the stranglers don't bother posting, I only delete it. I am fair like that!

Oh, and Pete has the blog address and has said he is gonna link it from the Adicts site and call it Bastard Roadie Daves blog, let's see if it happens!

Mon 31st PM

2009-03-31T16:43:00.000-07:00

Got up and went down to the bar had a couple of coffee's, when everyone appeared Fokker turned up with the bus driver to take us for lunch,

Now I haven't mentioned Fokker yet but he is the brazilian guy who is responsible for looking after us during our stay in Brazil. When we were introduced to him at rthe airport a ripple of excitment went around the tour party, was there really someone called fokker?

Well yes, no word of a lie that's his name and he's a fantastic guy, very street wise really looked after us and of course no excuse to speak to him went unexploited, " hey FOKKER, what time is it here", or "OI! FOKKER where we going now" or a shout from the back of the bus "FOKKER! how long till we get there"! you get the idea, t'was brilliant fun even if that reflect's poorly on our mean mental age.

We all really liked fokker, great guy, he knew someone everywhere.

Thats the Fokker, between kid and Scruff in the Pic.

In case anyone reading doesn't know the band from left to right:
Hoggy, (Roadie for 30 years)
Monkey of course
Shahan, Standing in on Bass (Mel having a back op)
Yours truly
Pete Lead guitar
Dan Keys, Fiddle
Kid drums
Fokker
Scruff Rythm guitar

Final SA gig Easy Sao Paulo and the gay bar

2009-03-29T22:41:00.000-07:00

Pete with his guitar.

Monk.

Got up about 10:30, good sleep, feeling better rested now. Sat down stairs as monkey was asleep still, and chatted with Pol on Skype.

Promoter picked up the 2/3rd's of us that had managed to get out of bed and took us to a lovely restuarant, finally I am eating properly again. Then back to hotel to pick up guitars and missing persons and off to soundcheck.

Was an early show today, went really well, I'm pretty much on top of the job now, although I did throw a bloody great beach ball which hit Pete's mic and bounced of and hit him on the head while he was singing, sorry Pete if you ever read this.

Incidently the band are aware that I am doing this blog and Genna, Scruff's girlfreind is using it to keep up to date, Hi Genna, but as far as I am aware the rest of the band have not seen it, it's not really written for them although there is no reason why they shouldn't see it if they wanna.

Gig finished by 21:00 so when we got back to the hotel we thought we'd go to a local bar for a couple of beers. being Sunday night not too much open but we soon found a cosy little place.

Once inside we got a round of beers and as I looked around noticed people were looking at us a lot and that they were mostly muscley men in white sleeveless t'shirt's. Started feeling a little uneasy and then we were told it was a GLS club. Apparently common in Brasil it means gays, lesbians and sympathisers!! Arghh help! Couldn't look at anyone cause if you did they would fix a stare and not look away, it was genuinly awful, I found a safeish spot with my back to the wall and started calculated the best route out of the place, then Hoggy the bastard made me jump out by pinching my arse, (must say Hoggy looked quite at home in the place) you would need to be there to understand the atmosphere of the place, I could just about remember the way back to the hotel, so I beat a retreat, I told everyone I was leaving and Dan said he'd come too so we left together, or he would have except they wouldn't let Dan out as he hadn't got the slip of paper you needed for free entry. Thought about going back in to help, but decided against it, it was everyman for himself now as far as I was concerned.

BTW I am not antigay at all, it's just that this particular place was very oppresssive.

Got back to the hotel and then Dan arrived, unlike me he had ommitted to get his room key from Shohan, never mind mate see you in the morning I said cheerily as he disappeared from view behind the closing lift doors.

Just got settled im my room and there's a bang on the door, it's Pete.

Pete. "have you nicked my f'ing bottle of wine"

Me. "corse not don't even drink the stuff"

Pete. "Come off it, I know you had one before now what you done with it", his eyes were darting around my room.

Me. "Pete honestly mate I ain't touched you bloody wine, what would I want with it."

Pete. "Look I know you had it your the only one back."

Me. "Dan's back too!"
Pete. "did he have a friend with him"?

Me. "Dunno but there were some funny noise's coming from up the corridor!"

Pete. "OK, where you hidden the wine?"
Me. "oh all bloody right" I pulled it out from behind the telly and gave it to him, "ain't got a corkscrew though!"

We got it open with two knives and a book, it tasted horrible so Pete warmed the bottle under a tap explaining that this was how you turn crap wine into good wine. It was marginally better but still undrinkable, Pete then added some coka cola to it "this'll do the trick"

We gave up and went to bed.

So that's it for SA, flying tomorrow evening back to LA via Dallas, I have generally enjoyed it down here although slightly marred by the health problems especially Argentina for me. Brasil is the pick of the three, great hotel, great restaurants, the promoter really looked after us.

Gonna be nice to get back to Pete's, get some washing done, try and get a hair cut, and meet up with the rest of the guys again to prepare for the final 5 gigs.

Off to sleep now but don't feel very tired.

Hello Mick Whalesby

2009-03-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

Noticed you were a follower mate, how the bloody hell are you, great to have you along, I know you like this sort of malarky!

First gig Sao Paulo

2009-03-28T19:59:00.001-07:00

Aiport to a very nice hotel, then half hour later the promoter is wining and dining us in a very nice restaurant! Note Kid waving maturely to the camera!

Monk liked the chicked hearts, can you count how many chickens it took to produce those two skewers! I would but I can't be arsed.

Great, enthusiastic crowd.

The whole band aways seem to give it 100%

Monk and Pete.

Lay in in the morning, whoopee!, it's now midnight, quick shower then bed, set my alarm for Midday. as Phil would say Faaanntastic! nearly fully recovered from the stomach bug, feeling much better. Early gig tomorrow night then another lay in!

Then it's back to the good old USA. Really missing the family now, but the Harry & Charlie are on hol when I get back so were gonna do some good stuff!

Sat 28th at hotel sao Paulo

2009-03-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

Good flight, I was asleep before it reached altitude and woke when it was landing, result!

Still feel a bit crappy.

The people amongst who drink a lot beer seem in better condion than the rest, we think the unmarked bottles of water in Caracus may just have been tap water. There's a moral there! Beers better for yuou than water!

Off to sound check now.

Sat AM. back from the gig.

2009-03-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

Got a couple of hours sleep after sound check. Great gig, great audience, Wierd to see them singing all the songs when the band are on a country they haven't been to before. we didn't sell much merch as they had bootlegged the T's, I have one!
Feeling slighty better, maybe adrenelin helped. Haven't eaten or drunk beer for 24 hours, Kid says my colour has come back and I am starting to feel hungry. think I have never drunk so much warter in my life, yet hardly ever go to the loo, it's so hot I think we are all dehydrated.
Monk and Dan not well now.
05.30 start in the morning.
Were in San Paulo for two days so we can all get lots of rest, can't wait.
Then in back to the US for the last phase of the tour, Phew! We will be flying from San Paulo to Dallas then onto LA. that'l be the end of the flying then till I head for the UK.

Friday morning ( i think) at hotel Buenos Aries

2009-03-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

Finally got to hotel about 11:30 AM, we were all wasted. Everyone went straight to bed to try to get 2 hours sleep before sound check.
Were all up now, walking Zombies, both Pete and I can't eat and feel like we've been punched repeatedly in the stomach, drinking tonnes of bottled water.
If we can get the sound check done quick maybe we can come back here for some more sleep before tonights gig. Need Sleeeeeeeeep!
Flight to San Paulo is at 10:00 so an early start tomorrow too!

Departing Hotel for flight to Buenos Aries

2009-03-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

Ok we are now at the airport and checkin for our flight to Argentina, I think the next 48 hours will be the toughest yet, depart at 19:30, 4 hour flight to Lima, Peru, then after a couple of hours flight to Buenos Aries another 4 hours. Then hotel to get ready for the evenings gig, then at 10 the following morining we have flights to San Paulo.
Heard from the Alex the promoter that the nutter from last night got nicked!
Will post ASAP.

26th Thursday 11AM Venesuala

2009-03-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

Just got up, wild show last night, fighting outside the venue before the gig, no front of house engineer so I had to do all that, was out at at the desk waiting to start the bands intro music when got a message to go to the dressing room, arguments over payment, I grabbed a coke and left them to it. Band finally went on half hour late, the gig was wild, Couldn't see the band for the first 3 songs as security guys right along the front of the stage. Got the sound pretty good considering I wasn't familiar with the equipment, nice and loud.
The audience were completly blown away by the band, they even had me signing autographs despite my protestations "but i'm not in the frikkin' band" people kept coming up to me at the desk and getting photo's of me with them "but i'm just the sound engineer"
I think this was a big show for Venesuala. At the end of the show hoggy and I had to frantically clear all our gear from the stage as the wanted to nick everything, the picks had disappeared off the amps while the band were playing.
Sat in the dressing room for an hour after the gig drinking beer and chatting with Hog whilst the band met with fans and a couple of journalist's
Pete wasn't feeling well and tried to leave early but someone tried to pick his pocket and in the ensuing struggle Pete's right hand got mangled and it looks like there maybe a broken finger at least, luckily it's his strumming hand!
When we left the gig there was still a crowd outside and one of then tried to steal Shanan's jacket, took a couple of us to get it back off this character who kept hanging around looking threatening.
We told him to f off but he didn't, got every one in the van and as the door shut Pete saw this character pick a bottle up, we sped away and the bottle smashed on the road by the van. Don't matter where you go there's always one nutter!
Didn't get any photo's it was all to frantic but asked the radio people to mail me there's so we will see if they do.
Flying to Buenos Aries later, gonna be a long day again! This is a crazy life style! but fantastic in a funny king of way.
Polly has been mailing tourist advice info. and I have been reading it out to the party when were sat together, it's useful to have background when going into these places.
Hope you got the flowers Pol x. Email prob's so will phone later.

Video from last night http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50HYd4EwNuk

Wed 25th 10am, just woke up

2009-03-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

Just had one of the best sleeps I can remember.
The promoter took us out last night. went ta a steak restuarant which was great plenty of wine and beer and enery time you ate your steak they brought you another, I had 3,
Monk , shahan and I were then taken to the local radio station, we were late so the journey across Caracas was like a high speed pursuit, me and Monk in the back were giggling like children (nothing to do with the wine and beer of course), when we got got out Monk thanked the driver and told him we hoped to have him for the return journey.
They interviewed Monk and I even said a bit, wasn't asked to but can't keep my mouth shut. Then were whisked to a bar, where the rest of them had already been taken to. Kid was blithered, and before long Monk was pretty much the same, I was sensible, dunno what's wrong with me, getting old! no to be honest it's the lack of decent beer and I didn't wanna drink the local rum. BTW Kid is lovely and a proper punk in everyway, he is the really nice to people. Calls me the school teacher! draw your own conclusions why, I am not totally sure.
Killed a cockroach in my room when I got in.
The promoters coming at 13:00 to take me and Hoggy to the Moulin Rouge which is tonights venue, were gonna make sure we are happy with everything. Sound check is scheduled for 16:00 so probably wont get the band over much before then. Think were changing hotel today but i'm not that bothered, the beds ok and thats most important, I could have lived with the rest. I have had much worse.
Looking forward to gigging tonight after 2 nights without.
Gig is at midnight tonight, think there playing indie music till then as no support bands.
Dunno what time we are flying in the morning.

At the hotel

2009-03-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

I New I could rely on you Rob for a sympathetic response to our predicament.
Anways we woke the booking agent in the US up and finally made contact with the promoter. The excuse was they had the wrong itinery, they didn't and were given short thrift by both Kid and Pete, Once the bollocking was complete the bus went quiet, a few minutes later the promoter plucked up courage to speak,"have you been here before guys"
YES 5 FRIKKIN' HOURS AGO! was the reply.

We are now at the hotel. they have us in the Savoy.. yeh, I know what your thinking, sounds a bit plush dunnit. Well if I tell you there are two kinds of Savoy's in this world Good ones and bad ones you may start to think again.
Our Savoy has a SHOWER and BATH but unfortunately no hot water to go with them, it has air conditioned which manages to both make the room warmer and contravene the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005.
To be fair we have a fridge, unfortuantly there's fuck all in it, i'm gonna leave the door open and see if it cools the room down a bit!
At least we have a tele although when we checked in they gave the room key and a tele remote, being tired I immiediatly dropped the latter on the floor and it broke into 5 different pieces, (don't think they noticed) gonna get my new soldering iron out later and see if I can fix it!
Gonna get a couple of hours sleep now, were all meeting in reception at 18:00

Problems

2009-03-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

We are stuck at Caracas airport, the promoter hasn't turned up and we can't contact him, it's not looking good.