Combichrist UK/Euro Tour 2009

Day 8: Cologne, D

2009-06-16T12:22:00.001-07:00

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

venue: ESSIGFABRIK

It feels good to be back in Germany, mostly because it means we get good catering again. Hahaha! The started out as usual, I unloaded the trailer with the local crew and setup the stage. The venue was rather large and actually had three risers already set up for the band (which is rare if we even get one), so again, love playing Germany. The local crew were the same guys from the Pluswelt festival we played on the last tour and of course they remember our grand finale. They kindly reminded me that they won't put up with any destruction of their equipment. Fair enough.

Tonight was Uberbyte's last show of the tour. Joakim (our lighting guy) had to do another show tonight, so we had a local technician Jan knows do lights. Anyway, dinner tonight was catered and really great. The AP set went well and the Combi kept me busy running around as always. Despite the local crew's warnings, the band trashed the stage at the end of the show anyway, though not as bad as London. Trevor took a flying leap into Joe's kit, which I was planning on doing but he beat me to it. Nothing got seriously damaged and the crew were nice enough at the end of the night.

After the show, backstage there was the usual drinking and tomfoolery. Z_marr wrestled people and didn't break anyones ribs this time. Some of the fans that made it backstage had been hanging around waiting for us all day in the parking lot, skipping school and work. I have no idea why anyone would do such a thing since we cant hang out and party with anyone until after the show anyway. Anyway, things eventually moved outside, where drunken rides in a wheelbarrow rides were given around the bus. Yeah, I don't know where they found a wheelbarrow. Fun times though!

Day 7: London, UK

2009-06-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

venue: ISLINGTON ACADEMY

I'm now writing this entry weeks after it took place, so my memory is a little fuzzy now. I think that our merch guy Bjorn had to leave the tour at this point and we got a new guy, Jorn (or maybe he just dropped the B from his name. hahaha). I remember that Combichrist's manager, Jason, flew out to join us today. Anyway, it was another day were I had to get up immediately and help the local crew unload the trailer, which turned out to be detached and parked rather far from the bus. We had to load everything into a service elevator which was our only way in or out (initially). It reminded me of House Of Blues in Chicago.I set everything up on stage and the catering eventually showed up backstage (by now I'm starving).

After soundcheck, I met my best friend Steve for dinner. Steve and I have been friends since elementary school and moved to London years ago when he married his wife. We had noodles next door to the club at Wagamama and then took a quick walk around town so I could do some sight seeing. I didn't have much time though and just got back to the venue in time to play keyboards for the Aesthetic Perfection set. After that I had my hands full with the Combichrist set. Since it was London, the guys really trashed the stage... and frequently at that. As soon as I'd have a crash cymbal set up again, a floor tom would go flying past my head. I'd get that set back up, turn around and there would be another drum flying through the air. Amid these duties, I also played bar tender for Andy, which isn't uncommon.

To top the night off, Andy called Richard (from Uberbyte) up onstage to properly celebrate his birthday. That meant that Rich was treated to a chocolate cake in the face in front of the whole audience... preceded with a kick to the groin, of course. After the show, I got things cleaned up, dodged most of the wrath of the angry local crew (they weren't that bad, since we only broke one of their microphones and not all of them), loaded the trailer and went out to the bus to find a crowd gather around it. I had to squeeze my way through them since the band were signing autographs and taking pictures with people. You'd think they were rockstars or something.

We had to drive to Germany tonight. So instead of passing out in my bunk as I wanted to do, I stayed up and drank with everyone else on the bus since we'd have to get out on the ferry. As it turns out, we were able to keep a low profile and sleep in our bunks while on the ferry. Of course, it's not the most comforting feeling knowing that you're locked in the bus with no way out while on a ship that could possibly sink. Whatever, I slept through it just the same.

Day 6: Wolverhampton, UK

2009-05-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

venue: ROBIN 2

Load-in came way too soon, but I'm us to that. Luckily a nice warm breakfast was ready for us shortly afterward. I got everything set up after breakfast and came back later to find Joakim line checking Joey's drums for me (thanks Joakim). I took a look a round the club later and noticed that all the band that were scheduled to play in the next few months were all tribute bands. Seriously, there is an Eric Clapton tribute, an AC/DC tribute, a ZZ Top tribute, a Queen tribute, a Bee-Gees tribute, a Rush tribute, a Black Sabbath tribute, a Genesis tribute, and a T. Rex tribute all playing with in a month of eachother here. Craziness. And then there's Combichrist in the middle of all this. I'm sure the Combichrist tribute band will be next week.

Soundcheck was the usual affair. Daniel checked Andy's mic for him and did his best impression of Andy's stage moves for our amusement. The rest of the day was really slow and we all pretty much just screwed around on the internet with our laptops. Just before showtime, Combichrist started their new "8 Minute Abs" exercise routine they do. It's very amusing. The AP show was ok for us, but not a great reaction from the crowd. Combichrist got a better response, but that's not surprising. The destruction at the end of the show wasn't as bad as some of the other gigs. Through out the show, Joe kept losing (or throwing) his drums sticks into the crowd and ended up going through 11 pairs. He had to finish out the last three songs with one last pair.

It was Uberbyte Rich's birthday come midnight, so we celebrated in true Combichrist fashion... by duct taping him to a chair and forcing booze down his throat. Oh and punching him in groin while dumping pasta salad over his head. Good fun! This was all done in the dressing room of course, and the second we were finished we ran out of there like kids afraid of being yelled at. We relocated the party to the bus and drank until the wee hours as usual. It's a routine, yes, but it could be worse.

Day 5: Sunderland, UK

2009-05-26T11:48:00.001-07:00

Monday, May 25th, 2009

venue: INDEPENDENT

Slow rainy day today. This was is the smallest stage of the tour so far, worse than Edinburgh. I loaded in, got everything set up, and replaced broken drum heads. The local sound guy laughed when he saw the condition the drums were in and most of them are new too. It's always fun explaining to the local crew why it would be a good idea to use cheaper quality mics on our gear. I was told he had no cheap mics so we ended up using our emergency backup mics on Joe's kit (the ones we were forced to buy after the gig in France a few months ago). Trevor (CC's percussionist) flew in to join the tour and got to the club just as we were about to soundcheck. It's good to see him again. The soundcheck went well, but unfortunately monitor sound didn't go so well come show time.

Daniel, Joey and I set out to find some dinner with our buy-out money and found a weird semi-posh bar/casino that served food. We all ended up with fish and chips (again) with mushy peas (sounds bad, looks bad, tastes good). Got back, watched some of Uberbyte and then went onstage to do the Aesthetic Perfection set. Two songs into the set, Daniel grabbed my keyboard (which is on wheels) and tried to spin it around. It crashed to the floor, landed on the midi cable which promptly broke off and the power went out on the keyboard. I spent 5 minutes scrambling around backstage trying to get a power adapter and a new midi cable, while Daniel talked to the crowd. By some miracle, we got things back up and running, but had to skip a song in the setlist to make up for lost time.

As I mentioned, when Combichrist took the stage, somehow all the monitor levels were messed up. I spent most of the first part of the set running back and forth between the stage and the sounddesk (cutting through the crowd is always tricky). Then Joe's drums kept falling apart or the kick drum would keep slipping away from him. I got hit in the face a few times by his drums sticks, but that's nothing new. Working for this band is like working in a war zone. It didn't take long before the painted wooden stage was covered in water, making it even harder to run on. The band of course completely destroyed everything on stage during the final encore, much to the applause of the crowd.

It's really tough going from playing on stage to immediately "teching" for Combichrist. It's both exhausting and humiliating. The whole time telling myself "that's it, I quit" but somehow pushing through it each night. Anyway, I got the trailer packed up fairly early thanks to the help of Bjoern (our merch guy), Joakim (our light tech) and Uberbyte. The rest of the night was the usual affair of drunken singing and dancing on the tour bus. I was exhausted and called it a night fairly early, but tried by best to be social in the meantime.

Day 4: Edinburgh, UK

2009-05-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

venue: BONGO

Today was fairly straight forward. The drive up was an amazing view of the country side and ocean. We loaded into the venue straight away when we arrived. The stage was tiny and triangular, so it was difficult setting everything up. But the backstage had internet access (finally) so I was able to connect with the rest of the world for a little while after soundcheck. The added bonus was that we are in the UK so there were prawn cocktail sauce crisps in our catering (probably my favorite kind of potato chips). Dinner was fish and chips which I'm sure will be the first of many here in the UK.

The show ended up being amazing, especially for Edinburgh. The club was packed and the audience went nuts the whole time. Though, my perspective on it was pretty much the same as always.... a giant blur. Lot of running around, fixing things only to have them thrown across the stage a second later. Mark was very hesitant to do anything to his drums, but since it was his last night with us, he indulged. Sure enough, while Joey was destroying his kit, I looked over to see Andy throw something at marks drums and Mark just leveling the rest. Good fun, but a huge mess for me to clean up. The other thing I remember from the show was the pregnant teenage girl in the front row. I can't imagine she's doing her unborn child's ears any favors.

Once I had everything packed up in the trailer after the show, the real fun began. I hadn't had a shower since Dusseldorf and I was told we had a room at a 4 star hotel down the street. Jan told me a room number on the 6th floor and I set out to find it. Of course, turns out you need a key card to even operate the elevator. So I ask the guy at the front desk if I can get upstairs somehow, but I have to prove I belong there in the first place. I tell them the room is under Jan's name, but they say that's not the case. I try Andy's name, but that's also not it. They eventually notice that Jan is indeed checked into a room on the 4th floor. I get a key card and go up to the room. I hear someone inside and find Mark standing there naked in a towel. Oops. It's his room Jan booked for him. I then took the stairs up to the 6th floor to try that room, but couldn't get the key card to work on that floor entrance. So, back down to the desk.

Wrong room, try again. I found out from Mark that It might be under the promoters name and sure enough it was. On the 6th floor too. They gave me a card and try to use it in the elevator, to no avail. Back to the desk. "Oh sorry, we forgot, no one can access the 6th floor after a certain time of night". Awesome. They agree to escort me up there and I eventually find the room. Unfortunately, Andy is asleep in the room and I wake him up. Doh! I feared the worst, but he was cool about it and I got my shower finally. Yup, that was a long boring story, but that's my life on tour I suppose. I went back to the bus where people were still hanging talking. Somewhere around 4am it had become light out again and was my cue to got to bed.

Day 3: Sheffield, UK

2009-05-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

venue: CORPORATION

Woke up early in the morning at the UK border, being grilled by immigration officers. Joey was drooling on himself and being... well, Joey, and we were convinced that they probably would throw us in the English equivalent of Guantánamo Bay. Somehow we made it through and got the bus on a ferry. I went back to sleep and woke up again when we were parked outside the venue and time to load in.

Soundcheck went much better tonight for both bands. The band Uberbyte has now joined the tour as of today and will be with us on the bus opening each show for the rest of the UK dates. I had just enough time to eat some dinner and catch my breath before I had to go on stage and play the Aesthetic Perfection set. This show was a little better than Utrecht, but the crowd wasn't really making much noise. The worst part is always after the set when I have to run around and get everything setup for Combichrist without any break. From the point I go on stage with AP to the final moment I've loaded the trailer, I am working non-stop. I'm pretty sure no one in the band really has any idea just how much I have to do at all times. I'm convinced that the only way to tour is to be a hired musician. All you have to do is get on stage, play the show, have fun, and get drunk all night after. But, I have to pay my dues, so here I am.

The Combichrist set went really well (but I forgot to put out set lists for everyone, doh!). Mark really seems more at ease now playing the drum parts. He mentioned that playing acoustic drums for CC is vastly different than playing electronic pads for VNV Nation. Having some experience with both, I completely agree, they're pretty much different instruments. During the show, Joey grabbed some extra large glow sticks from a girl in the crowd and played the rest of the setlist with them instead of drum sticks. The set ended with a grand trashing of the stage which always gets mixed reactions from the local crew. They are both kind of miffed and sorry for me at the same time.

Once I had everything packed up and loaded into the trailer, I was able to join the drunken festivities backstage already well under way. Mark's wife Sarah joined us and celebrated her birthday come midnight. There were alot of familiar faces around as always, including our friends Susanna, Fitz, Amiee, and Gus. And then there are the"Naked Sisters" (as coined by Andy) who always love a chance for a photo shoot with people. I have no idea what their deal is but some how they talked there way onto the bus. Things raged on until the wee hours of the night and when I started to see day light, I called it a night.

Day 2: Utrecht, NL

2009-05-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

venue: TIVOLI

9am came too soon and I had to head over with Jan to our friends Herman's storage space in town, where he was holding onto some of Combichrist's instruments from the last European tour. We met up with the tour bus there, loaded up the trailer with all the gear, went back to the hotel, got the rest of the band and headed out. We got pulled over by a motorcycle cop who demanded to see everyones passport and then just let us go after only looking at one of them. Um... ok. So running late as usual we end up with the bus stuck on a crowded street in Utrecht because the bridge ahead couldn't hold the weight of the bus. So the driver had to somehow back the bus out of the busy, curved, one-way street while people on bikes practically rode straight into us oblivious. I would have been a complete nervous wreck if I had to do it. After that we ended up on another street that had a bridge that was too low for our double-decker bus, so one again we had to stop traffic and back out of another street. Gotta love the Netherlands.

We got to the venue and unpacked all the new drums Joe brought with him. He spray painted them and got the drum kits set up. This took longer than expected, so now were running really late. Plus, Joe also thought he forgot to bring a drum seat, so we sent a girl from the club out on her bicycle to buy one at a music store. When she returned, I had found Joe's seat in one of his bags, so she had to turn around and pedal back to the store to return the new one she just bought. She was good natured about the whole thing and I felt really bad for her.

Mark Jackson is filling in playing Trevor's drum kit so he had to specially taylor it a bit since there is a big height difference between the two of them (Trevor being the shortest member of Combichrist and Mark being a 7 foot giant). Soundcheck took forever due to the monitor amps kept cutting out the whole time. The local crew was friendly and trying their best, but oddly enough all had very red bloodshot eyes (I wonder why).

No sooner did we finish up soundcheck and eat than Daniel and I had to go on stage to do Aesthetic Perfection. The keyboard setup was different this time and I forgot most of my parts. On top of that the crowd was basically asleep the whole time, so it was a rough one tonight. Combichrist had a better show and the audience was a little more appreciative but not by much. People are far too chill here. Though the most energetic thing they did was after the band finished and walked off, several people rushed the stage and stole drum sticks. One would distract me while 3 others would grab them behind my back.

Load out was difficult because of a problem we completely overlooked. This is the first time the band has travelled with all their own gear in Europe and not renting anything. So all the drums came packed inside eachother in a couple boxes and when I went to pack them up at the end of the night, I realized that we have no drum cases for them or all the hardware. We ended up clearing out one of the large merch bins and put all the drum hardware in that, but eventually the band is going to have to get the real deal. Eventually got the trailer all packed up and then joined in on the obligatory Combichrist drunken shenanigans. Daniel was, of course, "so wasted" (a rather accurate phrase often found emanating from him at the end of many a night).

Day 1: Dusseldorf, D

2009-05-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

DAY OFF

I left Boston the day before around 10pm and arrived today in Dusseldorf at 2 with a one hour layover in Zurich. It was one of the worst flights of my life and didn't sleep a wink. I was stuck in the middle seat in the middle row of the plane with no air vent. It quickly became unbearably hot. The kid in front of me put his seat back all the way and kept it there the whole flight. The old ladies on either side of me kept trying to take over what little space I occupied and even knocked my drinks off the tray in front of me. The jet engines even cut out (or something like that) on our descent into Dusseldorf and the pilot quickly revved them back up full blast, struggling to keep the plane steady. I thought we were going to die. We ended up landing on the back left tire first, then the back right came down and finally the front. It was scary. Of course no one in the crew said a word about it. Thanks for flying Swiss Air. Auf Wiedersehen!

Our tour manager Jan picked me up from the airport and drove me to the hotel where everyone else in Combichrist was already checked in and sleeping off the jet-lag. I ran into Mark Jackson (from VNV Nation) in the lobby, who is playing percussion for a couple shows with us since Trevor can't join the tour right away. I decided to combat my jet-lag by just staying up until later tonight. So I went out around town with Mark looking for places to eat. We first hit a pizza place, but Mark was still hungry, so we went to McDonalds. I always feel kind of ashamed everytime I'm in a cool historic European city and I end up eating American fast food. But it's so good. hahaha!

Next I got a phone call from my good friend Uwe (from the Armageddon Dildos) asking if I'd like to go have a drink. I haven't seen Uwe in years so it was great to catch up with him. He showed me all around town, stopped for many a beer, sampling the finest in local brews and got completely drunk (like ya do). We had dinner at his place afterward and he played the brand new material he's working on for the next AD album. It was a lot of fun and just a great night.

I got a cab back to the motel, was about to go to sleep when I looked out the window and saw Joe Letz in what looked like a different hotel. It took a while but I figured out how to get over there and discovered it was actually part of the same hotel but had to take a secret elevator to get there. Weird. We went out, got some good (and cheap) beer across the street, and stayed up drinking much later than I intended. Somewhere around 3 am I got to bed and had to be up the next morning by 9 to start work.