Pietasters Fall 2002 European Tour - as told by Steve Jackson!
10/9/02 - We get in to Heathrow, through immigration and customs with no problem. Our bus meets us and we head to a bus parking lot outside of London. The Slackers recommended the lot to us and we find it just as expected; an east coast style do-it-yourself campsite. We find beer, kebabs and cold showers so we’re happy.
10/10/02 - London - The Underworld - The Underworld is in the Camden section of London. It’s a great club. We spend most of the afternoon upstairs, belly to the bar, later it’s a great show. We meet Liam our UK promoter. He kind of looks like Dicky from the Bosstones. After the show we walk up the street to a pub that Madness got their start at. We drink the night away and dance to the 80’s tunes in the back room. Erick puts on an impromptu breakdance show. This turns out to be the first of many breakdance nights.
10/11/02 - Turnbridge Wells - Forum - Carlos and Erick have a little fun in the back lounge of the bus on the way to The Forum. Erick is practicing some breakdance moves.
This guy is Bartley (in the 2nd picture). He sells our T-shirts and CD’s for us. He’s a college graduate. Stay in school kids! We’re still at The Forum. It’s cold as heck outside so everyone is hanging out inside. The show was a success but the curse of the bus is that we have to drive each night.
10/12/02 - High Wycombe - Whitehorse - OK, this club was close to perfect. We showed up at noon and found that it is a Gentleman’s Club until 4pm. Woo-Hoo!
10/13/02 - Leeds - Josephs Well - So it’s our last night in the UK. We’ve had a great time. Now we’re off to Amsterdam. Jorge looks like I feel after a 3 hour ferry ride with 12-15 foot seas. It was a very long 3 hours. I spent most of the trip in the head puking with about eight English school boys who were just as sick as I was. Needless to say, I didn’t take any photos. Sorry. I can still taste the bile.
10/14/02 - Amsterdam - Melkweg - Ahhh, Amsterdam. It’s an adult playground and we took full advantage of all the freedoms. Streetcars, Toby’s own kebab shop and the prostitution information center. It’s amazing what you can learn in a foreign country. We are opening for the Bosstones tonight. Also on the bill are Snuff (who Erick played with a few tours ago) and Blood and Whiskey, a great bunch of Irish fellows. Jorge from Make My Day Records is here tonight to deliver our new CD, “Turbo”. We should get the LP versions soon. Everything is off to a great start. The show is sold out. Everyone loves the merch stand. The single guys try to meet girls, the other guys just look at girls. Plus, it’s the best place to find contraband. Not that that is hard in Amsterdam. The best part of being in a band is getting to hang out with cool folks like Mr. Barrett from The Bosstones. We go waaayyy back, I swear, we’re friends. This is the wonderful crowd that we got to warm up for the Bosstones. The people were on fire which was a good thing because it was cold and rainy outside. Too bad we couldn’t have done the whole continent with the Mighty boys. They already let us tag along way back in 1997 though.
10/15/02 - Sittard - Ernesto’s - Sittard and Ernesto’s are our favorite town and club in Europe. The Slackers have recorded a live CD here. We’ve tried to record three times but each time a technical glitch scrapped the recordings.
We had a day off and spent it drinking tequila with all the folks at Ernesto’s. I can’t give out any more info as I don’t want this place to become too popular and overrun. Rest assured though, if I ever have to go into hiding, you’ll be able to find me here.
10/18/02 - Haarlem - Patronaat - Like I said, the nice part of being in a band is getting to play with bands that you really like. Tonight we get to open for the Selecter. We’ve seen them in DC lots of times. They’re a great band with a lot of great songs and tonight we get to break bread with them. Alan found buckshot in his meat tonight. Seriously, buckshot. More than one piece of shot. Do they kill cows with shotguns here? Well, that’s nothing that a little beer won’t help.
10/19/02 - Hoogstraaten - Cahier - Man this town was nice. We all seem to have some sort of black plague at this point of the tour. Perhaps it’s the filthy bus? We’re all looking for a pharmacy but no it’s Sunday so... The nice folks at the club hook us up with some sort of natural remedy that you pour into tea. It loosens up our congestion so we decide on more beer. The food was delicious. And the games continue in the back lounge.
10/20/02 - Chur - Safari Beat Club - This place was amazing! The countryside was breathtaking. The streets were so small that the club had to send it’s Vespa powered equipment transporter to fetch our gear. The club owner was really nice. We hung out there all afternoon with Michael and Martin. They had the club decorated with all of this cool welded industrial style stuff. There was even an F-16 control stalk sprouting from the bar tables. That was fun to play with. After the show we went out to another club where Michael lost his pants on the dance floor. Luckily he was dancing with a girl.
10/22/02 - Zurich - Borgen 13 - What can I say. Switzerland is friggin’ beautiful. We played a cool club under a viaduct in Zurich. The building next door to the club was more architecturally engaging. Martin ran the show. His ladie-friend was the chef. We ate well and rocked hard. I hope we get to come back to this town soon.
10/24/02 - Genova - Transilvania - Italy is fantastic. The food is unbelievable and there’s so much of it. Bologna was a hit. There were a lot of people at the show. After we played there were reggae DJs. The Pietasters danced the night away. When we got to Genova, Bartley decided it was time for a shower. This club didn’t have a shower but it did have a train bridge with a hose hanging off. We’re still waiting for him to develop lockjaw. Jorge helped him scrub his back. Then Bartley had to go back to work rolling t-shirts. They stay organized better this way.
Genova is the home of pesto. Did I mention how good the food is?
10/25/02 - Milano - Once again, the food....
We ate, ate and ate some more. Tonight we played with a really good band called Vallanzaska. We always like to play first because then the bar is still open when we get done. When you play last, by the time you get off stage everyone is leaving. We had to drive to Vienna so off we went for a wrestling match in the bus. Watch out for Rob. He bites.
10/26/02 - Vienna - Arena - We rocked Vienna. The place was sold out. There was a Spanish band playing in the other room. They were pretty cool although I can’t remember their name. The Arena is this cool old slaughterhouse that has been turned into a compound of sorts. There is a house for hospitality and offices, three separate buildings with different size rooms in each and an amphitheater for fair weather shows. The bad part is that the club is in the middle of nowhere. After we played Jorge and I spent $50 on a pizza. Mostly for cab fare. Good pizza though.
10/27/02 - Ilirska - Mladinski - We hid all of our t-shirts and CDs and headed across the border into Slovenia. It was a Sunday but the show still turned out cool. There was a guy who looked like Balki from that stupid sitcom. Well the guy at the show was so drunk he kept falling over and knocking down all the people in the audience and on stage. I was so entertained by this fool that I forgot most of the words. We had to do four encores and play some of the same songs three times. I miss the sixty minute US sets we play. My voice can’t handle two hours a night. Or can it?
10/28/02 - Salzburg - Rockhouse - The last time we played here someone stole my pants. This time it was COLD. We walked around town, saw what sights we could (it was late, everything was closing) and bought the requisite post cards. Back at the club, another sold out night. The people at this place were fantastic. Both the staff and the audience. I wish all of the shows could be this good. Note to self: play Austria again, a lot. We seem to go over well here. My new most favorite place.
10/29/02 - Erlangen - E-Werk - It turns out that Adidas and Puma are located in Erlangen. We went to the outlet stores and stocked up on gear. We all found bargains galore. The show was good. The worst part is that the room we play is on the fifth floor uggghhh. There was some vampire band playing the big room. All of these goofy goth people were lining up outside. It was pretty funny. Halloween is still two nights away.
10/30/02 - Koln - Underground - Hey, were in Koln and who should show up but our pals from Sittard. Once again, the show was incredible. The audience was brave, they jumped up on stage and helped themselves to our beer. The guys from Sittard brought a few bottles of tequila, a bottle of scotch and these were all handed around the crowed. It was a love/drink fest.
10/31/02 - Belgium- OK... This show was added as a last minute fix for a show that Ossi and moskito were supposed to have set up in Hamburg. Therefore, I don’t remember the name of the town or club. I don’t think anyone ever told me. It was really fun though. Like I said before, the beer in Belgium is out of this world. We hung out here as late as we could, then it was off to Switzerland again.
11/1/02 - Basel - Kasener - What a show. We got to play with Stanley Beckford, The Hotknives and Kalles Kavier. KK was a local band who were really good. Stanley Beckford played a great set of mento/soca/reggae that captivated the Pietasters. The Hotknives rocked well into the night. By the way, they grow some weird stuff in Switzerland.
11/02/02 - Dudingen - Bad Bonn - On the roof of this club which sits in a field in the middle of nowhere is a sign that says, “Where the hell is the Bad Bonn?” It’s a very fitting sign. It’s location didn’t hurt the turnout though. We made lots of new friends here. Those of us with a cold slept but word has it that the boys shut this place down. As the sun rose.
11/03/02 - Freiburg - Atlantik - Freiburg is a cool college town that we’ve played a few times before. The people at the Atlantik always treat us right. What’s that? Oh shit, Colonel Klink, I mean ossi has forgot to send the contract and the show has been cancelled. The tour seems to have hit a brick wall. But tomorrow can’t be as bad, can it?
11/04/02 - Frankfurt - Cooky’s - We made it in late last night because the Freiburg show was scratched. Luckily we found a Mcdonalds that was still open. This morning I make my way back to the Mcdonalds. There is the usual “guy in the bathroom collecting money” that is standard fare in Europe. At least there is a toilet and not a hole in the ground like they have in so many bathrooms. We get to spend the day in Frankfurt. I have pneumonia, I think, so I need to get some cough medicine. I find some thanks to a very helpful pharmacist. Dinner is good and the show was pretty fun. We hit the showers and get ready for the next town but first we head over to the red light section of town, just a few short blocks away. Take my word for it, Amsterdam is #1, Hamburg is #2 and Frankfurt’s red light district is about #58. I won’t be too graphic but we left after being hounded by a junkie who was following us with needles in his hand and blood that was puddling around his leg from his track marks. I wouldn’t change a thing.
11/05/02 - Augsburg - Kerosin - Really cool decorating in this place. It’s all futuristic bachelor pad style. We found out that our friends the Woggles have just played. They are perhaps the best garage band in the world. We’ve been lucky enough to tour with them in the states. In Germany though there isn’t an opening band in sight. We’d even open for someone at this point if we thought it would get some posters mailed to the clubs. It seems like the German promoter booked these shows yesterday. Well most of the tour has been good. Leave it to one fuck-up to leave a bad taste in your mouth. Speaking of that, a guy offers some nice whiskey, unfortunately he wants me to go to the sauna with him to get it. No thanks. I wondered why the club was decorated so well.
11/07/02 - Berlin - Kesselhaus - Berlin was a pretty good show. It was snowing out so all that I saw of the city was the inside of the club and the inside of the bus.
11/08/02 - Munster - Tryptichon - Munster is the last night. Vin is here, he’s our main man in Europe. Jorge from Make My Day is here, as is the shitbag promoter who screwed off. The show is good though. A bunch of psychobilly bands and us. As soon as we get off stage we’re on our way to the airport, 30 shows in 32 days. Damn.
Next time let’s come back in the spring or summer.
(c) 2003 Steve LaPlaca. All rights reserved. Terms of Use. The Pietaster's logo and all other used pics are the property of their respective owners.
