Hey everyone, just a quick note to let you all know about some year end gigs which we intend to play in December, and boy are they exciting. We’ll be kicking off proceedings in Cambridge with Vanilla Pod, Attack Vipers, We Grow Beards, Sam Russo and Broken Window Effect at The Portland on December 3rd. Its been a 10 months since we played in Cambridge so its great to be going back and to be featured on such an awesome bill.

Then the following weekend its a real treat since we get to head back to Scotland to see our good friends Shields Up! We will be spreading festive cheer in Glasgow on December 10th and Edinburgh the following day. Here’s a poster for our final gig of 2011. Thanks to everyone who has helped us out by putting on a show this year, its been a blast. Maybe we’ll have some sort of holiday sale in the online store to celebrate. Maybe.

Hi everyone, sorry we’ve been a bit quiet for the past couple of weeks. Everyone needed a bit of time to recover from the trip and we are all working hard at our day jobs. Fear not though, as we shall be getting back into a proper practice routne from next week and hopefully playing a few more UK dates before the year is out. We should really play a local release gig, but there doesn’t seem to be too much exciting happening at the minute. We’ll get round to it eventually, I’m sure.

I made this little video of clips from the last tour with Sainte Catherines and Nothington. I think its pretty cool. Give it a watch here:

Here are the final two entries from my tour brief tour diary which I have neglected to upload. Also, if you haven’t already, do pick up a copy of our album. It will really help us out!

Mannheim:

The drive to Mannheim from Stuttgart wasn’t too bad, though we were all feeling ridiculously tired today. Greg had decided to stay out til 10am partying and was really feeling rough despite the relatively short drive. We arrived at the venue delirious, and were greeted by the promoter. The venue today is a youth centre with a couple of cool gig rooms. Tom Mess is playing tonight, a friend we have know for a while. We first played together in 2009, so it is great to see him again. Also playing is a great German band called Pessimistic Lines.

I was concerned this would be a quiet show, but to my suprise the place filled up, though a lot of people hung around outside drinking beer under the canopy during the show. Still, it was fun enough. I think the Sainte Catherines were also feeling pretty tired today too. Since the drive to Bremen is so long tomorrow we decided to hit the road after the gig. We drove for an hour or so and pulled into a services to get some rest. Tomorrow is the last day of the tour. Its ridiculous. Its been a lot of fun, but I’m sure everyone’s thoughts have turned to getting home.

Bremen:

The tour had come full circle. The drive to Bremen was arduous. The Sainte Catherines had stayed in a hotel around 3 hours away from Mannheim, and we eventually rose and hit the road. We arrived in Bremen at 5pm and were able to load into the venue shortly after. I got some falafel since I was starving, but we ended up being taken to restaurant by the promotor meaning that I ate two meals. In fairness, I needed the energy.

The gig was a lot of fun and it was really nice to meet Dolf, our booking agent for the first time. Its Jord’s birthday tomorrow, so the Sainte Catherines pulled him backstage to sing happy birthday in french. It was pretty cool. Julien sang the French Canadian national anthem before they played their encore which was really funny. We were fortunate enough to have been given a guest house to sleep in for the night. It was a luxury that would at least in some respects prepare us for the gruelling drive back home in the morning.

Leipzig

We arrived at the venue, Zorro, a squat in an enormous multi level building. I felt anxious at first since the place seemed so sketchy, though the people were really welcoming and polite to us. The venue was large; the biggest of the tour so far and had a weird VW van cut in half and stuck onto the wall in there. Upstairs there was a record store and some people’s houses who lived in the squat. On there top level there was a kitchen, band area and massive sleeping room. Bunk beds covered in mesh and rigging and a firemans pole down from the top. It seemed clean enough. We claimed our beds and shortly after Nothington arrived and introduced themselves and we sat in the bar and talked about politics in England and the US for a while. Ryan from Spanish Gamble was covering on bass, and it was cool to see him again.

We’re also playing with a band from Mexico called Los Monjos today. Its pretty unusual to play with a touring band from Mexico – The Nothington guys said it was basically unheard of. We loaded in our equipment and sound checked. The onstage sound was great thanks to two very capable female sound engineers. The show got underway at 9:30 and we played first. The venue was already filling up when we played. This is the biggest crowd we’ve had of the our so far which is unusual for a Monday night! I was really happy with how we played and the crowd responded really well. Sainte Catherines knocked it out of the park tonight in the packed squat venue, and I felt my chills at various points in their set. Their lyrics are often very insightful and simple. “What about being poor as a sin. What about being proud of being fucked. I don’t like what’s pretty, I like what’s real. We’re finding beauty where it’s not supposed to be.” Nothington played last and were incredible, as predicted the crowd went wild. This is probably my favourite gig that I have ever played. Great turn out, great bands and great new friends is all you could possibly want.

Belinda made it out to the show tonight and ended up getting Ryan and I lost on the way to a bar, which was pretty funny. We made it back for more drinks before turning in for the night. I’m really looking forward to playing with Nothington again in Giessen.

Erfurt

We headed to Erfurt where we had last played in January. Since we had arrived so late last time it was nice to actually see the city in the daylight. The town is really well maintained and picturesque, and it was especially so given the Pope is due to visit soon. Preparations were already being made, with manhole covers being sealed shut in order to prevent assassination attempts. Quite bizarre. Upon arrival we struggled to navigate the tight winding roads in the city centre on the way to the venue and were constantly impeded by roadworks. Whilst pulled over some police arrived and checked the passports of our canadian friends. They didn’t make a big fuss and the ordeal was soon over.

We arrived at the venue and unloaded into the cellar bar. We instantly recognised the sound lady and said hello to Atze, the promoter.We took to the stage at around 10pm and played a tight and fun show to a fair sized crowd. I really enjoyed the show and was happy to be playing so well at so many of the shows. We were a little loud apparently, which was disappointing but the playing was pretty much faultless so I was satisfied by that. Sainte Catherines played great tonight an I managed to get some better photos of the guys as well as some videos. I chatted to Atze after the gig for a while about his little son who is called Paul and about his aspirations for the venue. He wants to move punk gigs into a smaller room with more controlled sound which makes a lot of sense to me. I like the venue but it could do with some improvements. Erfurt has been one of the places that has supported us the most and I always want to play well there.

Giessen

We pressed on to the next gig in Giessen. This will be the fourth time I have played there and it has always been very quiet, though I was hopeful for tonight given our experience with Nothington a couple of days ago. We arrived back at AK44 at around 4pm and were joined by Stu and the Sainte Catherines soon afterwards. They too had been stuck in the roundabout system for a while. Tim showed up around half an hour later and we loaded the equipment into the venue. Nothington showed up soon after we had loaded.

Eric, their drummer, picked up a couple of t-shirts from is and decided to wear one as he played, which meant a lot to me. They mentioned they had listened to our CD on the way to the show which is awesome. They are genuinely nice guys and wish them every success. Hopefully we can work something out when the next come to the UK or Europe.

The place was filling up and many people came in to watch us play. I had no idea that so many people were into punk rock in this town. It was definitely one of the best shows of the tour, something that I would never have expected from Giessen after our past experiences here. Tim was beaming the whole night and I felt really happy for him. He had supported us for years, given us a break with the split 7″ and finally he had put on a profitable show. I really enjoyed playing to the receptive crowd and really enjoyed Nothington and Sainte Catherines who unleashed a massive amount of energy on the stage. We had a short electro dance party in the band room backstage and a lot of whisky was flying around, which was pretty dangerous. I was pretty drunk tonight, as was everyone I think.

Stuttgart

We were greeted by Timo, the promoter and we loaded our equipment inside for a sound check which was completed by the local support band Pessimistic Lines. They are a hardcore band and were nice guys, very helpful in carrying equipment. We have played this venue twice before to very few people and last time we swore to never return to the venue, so I was pleased to hear that Timo was expecting a lot of people to attend tonight.  Sure enough people began to flock into the venue and there was even a small queue outside before the venue opened. Shortly before the first band played I was informed that the show was already very close to capacity, and it made me curious as to why no one had ever attended a show here for us before. I would always see posters of high calibre acts but never see an audience.

Our set went down really well tonight and we played one of the tightest sets of the tour to a packed room. Sainte Catherines were also on top form tonight playing to perhaps their most receptive crowd of the tour. I was pleased to have played so many great gigs after a fairly slow start to the tour. Tonight they did two encores, on with the band and one with just Hugo and Fred which was awesome.

After a protracted load out in order to make way for a disco and still in high spirits, we packed our bags into Stu’s van and Jonny and I travelled to Timos apartment to unload and have a quiet night in.