Italian wrap-up and beyond

Hey everyone. This will again be a shorter update than I'd like, but I figured I'd write something while I have access to a qwerty keyboard, which feels like a luxury at the moment. Still no pictures, but maybe I'll be able to upload them tomorrow.

So Italy was great. The first three shows all went well. We rolled back to Bologna from Cesena as the sun was starting to come up to catch some sleep and switch vans. Our last Italian show (till Pannone) was in Bolzano (also called Bozen cause it's near the German border and is a very German area). We drove up a curvy mountain road to get to the show, which was in an abandoned tunnel. The show was powered by a generator, and we were surrounded by wooded mountains with a river running below us. The pictures I took don't do it justice. We slept in the van after the show and then made for Mannheim. Mila and Koppa were warning us that the cops in Bavaria pull foreign vehicles all the time looking for drugs, so we were prepared to be stopped and bothered without cause. Apparently we looked harmless enough in our brand new €30,000 Mercedes Benz tour machine and escaped harassment. We didn't know until we got there, but the show ended up being with World/Inferno Friendship Society from NYC. More people were there to see them, but we played well and got fed well and had a good time.

We had been planning to make the marathon drive to Copenhagen the next day to see the killer Japanese band Framtid on our day off, and then we got word that if we got there in time we could play the show. We slept in the youth center in Mannheim and planned to take off really early, expecting a 12 or 13-hour drive. There was a delay in the morning, as none of us knew where Justin had slept the night before (the youth center was two floors with lots of potential sleeping nooks). We spent at least a half hour looking for him before discovering he had been sleeping in the same room Mila, Koppa, and I had but was completely obscured by a blanket. We hustled his confused ass into the van and hit the road around 7:30. Koppa's the only one driving, and he did a superlative job navigating through rain most of the day. We arrived in Copenhagen 11 hours later in beautiful weather, plenty of time to play the show.

We played well and for the first time scored non-negligible merch sales. Framtid killed it as expected. I have pictures.

Tonight is the show we were scheduled to play here. I'm actually writing from the venue. It poured all day today, so we didn't have a chance to see anything; but we have another free day here (no show over the bridge in Malmo as planned). Hopefully things will clear up.

I'm sure I'm leaving out plenty of amusing details, but I'll try to fill in the gaps as I go.

Later.

My insides have turned into pasta

I have to keep this brief, but I wanted to write something of substance before we hit the road today since I'm not sure when I'll next have the opportunity. Other than missing our connecting flight from London to Milano, travelling was low drama. No passport or customs issues at all. Alitalia has more leg room than Virgin, fyi. We landed in Milano mid-afternoon on the 20th, where Mila and Koppa picked us up in what will surely be the biggest tour van I ever tour in. I can't do pics in this post, but I'll put some up later. It can seat nine and still have room for a full set of equipment for two bands. And chandeliers or mobiles or something. We took a smaller van around Italy for our first few shows, but we're loading up the green monster today.

All three shows so far have been great. We even played well for two of them. They've all been in well-run squats, which is such a radically different experience from anywhere I've played in the states, save the Long Beach Warehouse (which is currently in limbo, I believe). The one in Bologna, the Atlantide, is prime real estate right on a main drag. Wouldn't last two minutes in the US. The Pirateria in Rome is much bigger, it's more of a warehouse space. Most impressive is the squat we played last night, Al Confino, which is in the countryside in Cesena. Seriously, there are fields all around it...it's beautiful. Can't imagine ever playing in a place like that anywhere else. Plus it was a great show, preceded by great food and followed by a goth dance party. Trust me, pictures of all this will follow when I have the time.

Some of you will be pleased to know that the porco dios are flowing freely.

Aghast Old World excursion 2007

We're in Bologna. First show is here tonight. I'm hungry. Will write more later.