European Tour Diary: Day 13 - Nuremberg, Germany

The plan is to get up really early so that we can travel early and see some of the famous sights of Nuremberg. Nuremberg was (as far as I know) the place where the post WW2 tribunals were held, many Nazi army figure heads were tried here, and the city was the place of the infamous Nuremberg rallies, as well as the site of the Nazist Coliseum. By this point it will surprise none of you to know that we fail to make it there to see any of these amazing things. We are out the door by ten but make a stop off at a gigantic music warehouse outside Nuremberg called Thomann’s. Emre needs some microphone clips for his drum kit mics, and as a band you can never have too much gear so we muck around trying out all the different pianos, guitars, basses etc. Why are instruments so expensive!!!! Music shops are funny things, people are always trying to out-play each other, me and Fraser are fucking around on a cool keyboard we’ve had our eye on for a while, when some middle aged German dude comes up, muscles us out of the way and starts shredding out some jazz on it, before sauntering off without even looking back at us. Dude alert.

Simon buys a cool new pedal for his bass that makes it sound even more rowdy, and we collect Emre’s clip and head off. We are stupid for spending too much time in a music shop but it always happens. Damn it.

We turn up at the venue and make our way to our dressing room. It is approximately the size of a matchbox, but we’re used to that so we all squeeze in and set up our little stations where we can eat, surf the web, warm up or whatever. Being in the room is like being in a game of Tetris, you all have to work together to be able to be in there at the same time, fitting around each other. There is a small table with one chair, again this doesn’t bother us as we’ve played small shows for years, but why they provided one chair at all is a mystery. Maybe it’s to see who will assert their dominance, and so the game of musical chair begins. We eat, play, and watch Linda strafe the crowd combing for signatures. Go Linda!

It seems the further we get into the tour, the more people are coming to the show already fans of us. Small numbers, but it’s still really encouraging to see, so we hang and have some drinks by the merch (I’m on water as I don’t want to get properly ill and still feel a bit shit) and get back to our old tricks of hustling CDs to people as they make their way home. When you’re just starting out as a band it’s just what you have to do to make cash to eat with etc. Maybe some times you feel like a dick selling your EPs or whatever like you’re working on a market stall but you simply have to do it, and I actually quite enjoy it, engaging with people, persuading them to part with their hard earned money. I am pretty confident that if people take the plunge with our music they’ll end up liking it anyway so I don’t feel bad. It works though as we end up selling out our CDs that we brought with us on tour. I can’t figure out if we’ve shot ourselves in the foot or not. Will have to order more from home I guess. Good to feel like we’re making progress. If you can get someone to take a CD with them if it’s the first time they’ve heard you, you have a much better chance of getting them to come back to see you next time you play the area, instead of forgetting you exist, so job done!

We leave the venue tired but happy and make our way to the hotel. John Emre and Simon demolished the whisky on our rider so they have a little disco while the rest of us sit there in the dark getting elbowed. Good times. I’m jealous, but have to try to stay focused, and as boring as it is sometimes it means not partying. It’s a small price to pay or getting to sing in a band so whatever. Hopefully see you next year Munich.

-Gus