Ouch. Heavy night. Great fun hanging with old friends in Amsterdam but man are we feeling the effects today. I’ve managed to catch about 2 and a half hours sleep and that was on our friend’s floor. The charm of doing things DIY can wear off real fast when you’re crashing on floors or couch surfing all the time, and I’m really bloody glad we don’t have to do it as much as we used to.
We leave our friends and walk back to the venue where the van is parked. Amsterdam is a beautiful city, one of my favourites out of the cities that I’ve seen in my life, but the canals it is so famous for serve to make every street look pretty much the same. It is VERY easy to get lost in Amsterdam, especially when you’re us, and even more so when you’re us and hung over. A five-minute walk takes half an hour and when we spend another good half an hour deliberating over what to eat for breakfast we are well on our way to being late before we manage to get to the safety of our van. We crawl in and assume the position - earphones in laptop out, TV show/iTunes/whatever running, and brain off.
Somehow Ben has gotten chewing gum in his hair and slept with it in, which is the only thing that keeps me alive – laughing at Ben is a great way to pass the time!
I watch some more of The Wire and work on more tour diary stuff while everyone else sleeps, and then I succumb as well and wake up as we arrive at the venue, face imprinted with the faint shapes of a mac keyboard. Coupled with my Movember moustache which I truly hate this is a strong look. On that note, if anyone isn’t aware, we are all growing moustaches throughout the month of November in support of raising awareness and raising money to help combat prostate cancer in men. It kills one man an hour which is a pretty horrifying statistic so if you want to help us out make the pain of all looking ridiculous for a month, and get involved with a worthy cause then head over to UK.Movember.com and do a search for either myself Gustav Wood or our team Young Guns UK (or indeed any of the guys in the band or crew if you know their names) and donate whatever you can. Even 1 pound or 1 euro, whatever you can – it all helps.
We play the show and somehow, despite all feeling like crap and being pretty certain that we were going to suck, it’s one of the better shows of the whole 6-week tour. The sound is really good and everyone is into it. Awesome. Afterwards we sit upstairs with our managers and have a meeting where we talk about our plans for next year, touring, writing; recording etc., and also the upcoming UK run. We are so fucking excited to be doing these shows. The biggest we’ve ever done, and with a bit of luck, and the help of some of you guys reading this, the best. I can’t believe we’re headlining a show in London at the Electric Ballroom, but more about that another time.
We wrap the meeting up, I head down to talk to people by the merch stand and say goodbye to a few of the people that have travelled loads over the past few weeks to see us. Sad to say goodbye but we’ll be seeing them again in February seeing as we just announced that we’re coming back over here on tour with our friends in All Time Low. Can’t wait for that.
We load the van in the rain, say some more goodbyes and are given a few more presents by people (thanks!!!) and head back to the hotel. Our TM Emre has gotten us a deal in a nearby hotel. The hotel turns out to be a 4 star hotel and we spend the nights doubled up in the nicest most expensive looking hotel I’ve ever stayed in. After a few floors and a lot of Formule 1 hotels, this is an amazing luxury, and I spend ages underneath the gigantic shower and crash out in the world’s most comfortable bed. Next to Emre, granted, but still better than every other sleeping space so far.
-Gus
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