Last night we played a show in Leeds with Port O'Brien. It's rare that we play and it seems to pass everyone by. It's by far the loudest Glissando has ever played. Now we have to lose Tim for the trip which is sad.
So it's up at 6am and off at 7 to catch the bus to London. I get interviewed by the BBC in St Pancras station about the exchange rate which seemed to amuse Sophie and Elly as they throw food down themselves while I have a massive thrust in my face.
The tiredness is kicking in round as we arrive via Eurostar into Brussels to meet Chantal from Sleepingdog who we are playing some shows with. We head off to find much needed alcohol and food and meet Adam from Stars of the Lid. Wine, Ricard and pizza are all consumed at Adam's place and we get on the wrong train to Leuven to meet Chantal's partner Mark in the bar he works at.
We're all in various forms of drunkeness by now and head off to Chantal and Mark's beautiful house in the countryside.
Elly's new favorite shop
Chantal and Adam
Sophie's new favorite shopEINDHOVEN
We all awake with various forms of hangovers but Darko the dog is friendly now and he helps us feel better. We eat sugar for breakfast and then Sophie and I take a short ride on Chantal's Icelandic pony before packing the car for Eindhoven.
We meet Christophe and Nick along the way who are playing in Sleepingdog at the moment. The traffic is not so great and we arrive a little late. Tonight is a matinée show so we play at 5pm. The venue is a huge arts centre, right opposite the PSV Eindhoven stadium! The show is bad for us and Sleepingdog, the sound was awful and the general atmosphere was pretty difficult. We eat some insane food you have to boil in a pan (in the venue) and to Gent with Nick.
MALDEGEM
After a rather needed sleep in, Sophie and I tuck into the lovely food Nick has bought for us and listen to the Bon Iver record before planning on walking into Gent but then not bothering. Nick picks us up and we head off to get on the bus to Maldegem.... some illegal driving/parking later we just make the bus and arrive in Maldegem to be greeted by the lovely Deiter who is promoting the show tonight.
Soundcheck is awesome, we get fed some home-made spaghetti, do an interview for Belgian webzine DaMusic and watch Cecillia::Eyes who are opening for us tonight.
The crowd is really nice and we play as well as we have done in a while. Some people at the show have traveled across Belgium to see us which is very humbling to say the least. Pretty much the perfect show tonight. We buy wine and more Salt n Pepper crisps (which are now a tour favorite) and head back to Nick's place again.
ANTWERP
Today we go for a walk into Gent - a really beautiful place. We freeze our balls off as the hail-stones come down and we have to take shelter under a bridge for ages. God damn it. Then it's off to a cafe for the worlds smallest cup of coffee before wondering aimlessly around the town looking for food/hats/bags/postcards. Elly seems to have put grease on the bottom of her boots and struggles to even walk 20 yards without almost falling down.
We all awake with various forms of hangovers but Darko the dog is friendly now and he helps us feel better. We eat sugar for breakfast and then Sophie and I take a short ride on Chantal's Icelandic pony before packing the car for Eindhoven.
We meet Christophe and Nick along the way who are playing in Sleepingdog at the moment. The traffic is not so great and we arrive a little late. Tonight is a matinée show so we play at 5pm. The venue is a huge arts centre, right opposite the PSV Eindhoven stadium! The show is bad for us and Sleepingdog, the sound was awful and the general atmosphere was pretty difficult. We eat some insane food you have to boil in a pan (in the venue) and to Gent with Nick.
MALDEGEMAfter a rather needed sleep in, Sophie and I tuck into the lovely food Nick has bought for us and listen to the Bon Iver record before planning on walking into Gent but then not bothering. Nick picks us up and we head off to get on the bus to Maldegem.... some illegal driving/parking later we just make the bus and arrive in Maldegem to be greeted by the lovely Deiter who is promoting the show tonight.
Soundcheck is awesome, we get fed some home-made spaghetti, do an interview for Belgian webzine DaMusic and watch Cecillia::Eyes who are opening for us tonight.
The crowd is really nice and we play as well as we have done in a while. Some people at the show have traveled across Belgium to see us which is very humbling to say the least. Pretty much the perfect show tonight. We buy wine and more Salt n Pepper crisps (which are now a tour favorite) and head back to Nick's place again.
ANTWERP
Today we go for a walk into Gent - a really beautiful place. We freeze our balls off as the hail-stones come down and we have to take shelter under a bridge for ages. God damn it. Then it's off to a cafe for the worlds smallest cup of coffee before wondering aimlessly around the town looking for food/hats/bags/postcards. Elly seems to have put grease on the bottom of her boots and struggles to even walk 20 yards without almost falling down.
Lots of crisps
The hail and Elly's burp in Gent
Beautiful Gent
The truth
Back to Nick's and off to Antwerp for a living room show with Sleepingdog. The traffic is heavy and Sophie is bored yet again and takes pictures of everything including two army trucks which you don't see very often according to Nick. The show tonight is in a beautiful apartment, we have to change what we do a little as there are no microphones etc... so we mess around in soundcheck and I end up playing percussion and a little guitar. It sounds great and the audience is so quiet. Good times. Sleepingdog play a really moving set and everyone is happy.
Tonight we go to Leuven. We head to venue called Stuk to meet Geert who runs Sleepingdog's label in Belgium. More drinks later and it's really late so bed time as it's home tomorrow.
HOME
Breakfast in Leuven is good and I spend my last Euro's on records in a cool little independent shop. I was doing so well with money on the tour and blew it all in the last half hour. Balls. We say sad goodbyes to Chantal and Christophe drops us at the station in Leuven. The journey is pretty good until we get to London and see chavs (they dont seem to exist in Belglium) and the coach to Leeds and it's delayed by an hour. We get to Leeds at midnight, tired, weary and cold but happy.
Tonight we go to Leuven. We head to venue called Stuk to meet Geert who runs Sleepingdog's label in Belgium. More drinks later and it's really late so bed time as it's home tomorrow.
HOME
Breakfast in Leuven is good and I spend my last Euro's on records in a cool little independent shop. I was doing so well with money on the tour and blew it all in the last half hour. Balls. We say sad goodbyes to Chantal and Christophe drops us at the station in Leuven. The journey is pretty good until we get to London and see chavs (they dont seem to exist in Belglium) and the coach to Leeds and it's delayed by an hour. We get to Leeds at midnight, tired, weary and cold but happy.
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