Geordie's Rule

Swansea was a DUMP!!! Eddie Spaghetti said on stage the club was so sticky it's like the floor is made of DUCT TAPE! Fucking funny. I had to see how far I would get on my knee slide and I pretty much went about a foot before I stopped short. Pretty funny. We have another gig in Wales in a week - so we are not out of the fire yet. So far all in all England has been fucking excellent. We had a few shit shows - Swansea and Birmingham of all places (hard rock capital of the world practically, in the 70's) but Manchester was 'Top' and last night in Newcastle we were 'Mint'. Both nights we played SUPER early- like 7:30 - because it's the weekend and to quote Blaine - 'the entire country turns into a Disco at midnight'. Luckily everyone knows this so the rockers come out early for the show - and we all can go to the pub together while the children do the disco.

We are in Glasgow today- got here early and I have to say- the rock gods seem to be smiling on us because for the second time here - the sun is shining and it is actually beautiful out. I am doing an interview in the GUINESSS factory when we get to Dublin on our day off - so I think everyone is going to tag along for that one. Oh and yes, the quality of the Scotch has improved immeasurably already!

We had an amazing experience after the Birmingham gig. Our tour manager Simon pulled some magic strings and had one of the best Indian Restaurants in the world stay open late for us. Supposedly Chicken Tikka Masala was invented in Birmingham as well as Cobra beer. We didn't even order - they just started bringing us food. What a glorious evening. One of the dishes was Chili Paneer - a super spicy and sweet sauce over fried paneer cheese. Very much like that Indian/Chinese food we've been enjoying in Atlanta. Anyways we were ecstatic, Rogan Josh is one of my new favorite dishes - though I keep forgetting the name and call it Seth Rogan or Josh Rogan, check it out- it might just be British ...

Wish us luck - we are off to Belfast tomorrow! And the Hawks are in the playoffs starting Tonight!!!

love and steak and kidney pie! - I'm eating HAGGIS today!

Ruyter

Proper Fish and Chips!

We are at the beach in Brighton enjoying the fish and chips. We have a wonderful day off on this bank holiday while the Supersuckers have another show. The sun is shining and the place is crawling with tourists, we met a guy on the beach who said we must have brought the good weather with us. It is absolutely beautiful out. Almost nice enough to lay on the rocks on the beach. I tried to relate to the argument as to why rocks are perferable to sand ie 'rocks don't get stuck in your nooks and crannies, won't get in your food etc. But it still looked kind of uncomfortable.

Last nights show went really well. We played very early, 7:55. And on Easter Sunday. I think most people had just come from family Sunday dinner. We definitely played to a lot of new people which is fantastic. We had a very positive article and album review in Classic Rock magazine, 8 out of 10 stars. So hopefully we'll win over some fans here cause we'd love to come back.

Our London show might have been the best London gig to date. The club ULU is part of the University and unlike our shows at the Garage, Underground and Astoria, this was not frought with technical mishaps, tainting the show. No electrocution, no power outages and no fires! What a relief to finally be able to play a proper gig on a stage high enough that everyone can see. We had a really good performance and had an excellent time after catching up at the Crowbar with friends in town. At one point the bar was so full at the bar I think I was lifted off the ground and moved a few inches.

To end our perfect day in Brighton we had an excellent typical pub meal. I had the Cumberland Sausage Toad in the Hole style and Blaine had a steak and ale pie. Then we wandered the tiny crooked streets trying to find landmarks we only know from Quadrophoenia. Finally in search of local fried dough and sugar we hit the famous Brighton pier which has indoor gambling and games for all ages and an outdoor amusement park at the very end. It looks amazing at night all lit up. We found our dessert made by a machine called the Donut Robot and served by a young blond named Hedvig.

Next time we have to see the garden that Lewis Carroll based Wonderland on. Supposedly there is a 'rabbit hole' that is essentially a tunnel that travels from a field to the sea. Now it's a big gay hookup area. Maybe it was back then too.

Lotsa love from sunny England, off to Bristol where tonight I get to visit with a girl I used to babysit!

Ruyter

Back in the UK!

We just got off the ferry from Calais and are en route to London. Dover's filthy chalk cliffs never looked better! The immigration guy had seen us play before in London and he gave me one of his picks. His band is called Die Fishboy! He told me to Youtube it!

We are back in the short bus and trying to sleep as much as we can today as last nights sleep was broken up by gear transfer and packing and moving into shorty here.

The tour is at the halfway mark.

R

Leaving the Continent ...

We are driving on the road to Calais, we switch from our huge double decker back to the short bus AND lose our incredible merch woman Anika from Holland. We are sad to lose her to Cradle of Filth. Then we start the UK part of the tour. I only hope we can downsize all our souvenirs to fit the new mini bus.

The last show on the continent was spectacular. We sold out the Astrolabe in Orleans and made Jean Juc proud. We drank the Nashville Pussy wine from Chris the wine man from Bordeaux with our new crew and old crew. It was delicious. It had our Jesus logo and Blaine's lyric on the label 'he walked on wine'. Fabulous! Stefane our old TM was back from Darfour where he worked with Doctors Without Borders, and Steven was there who did our sound for years and Remy for 10 years ago and Bertrand and on and on. I had the honour of giving away a Gibson SG on stage to a lucky winner. Nice fucking guitar too!

The show was very very good. It is a pity we have to leave France so soon. But London will be a nice reward! We have a lot to do in the UK. And most of it is eating!!! And rocking too.

Much love from the road!

Happy Easter

R

Portugal!

Hey everybody. We are in Portugal, just pulling into Lisbon. We had one of the best shows ever last night in Vigo Spain. The club was absolutley bizarre. No one had seen anything like it. Not only was the place huge but the stage must have been 15 feet in the air. We had to practically climb a ladder to get to the stage. The show wound up being absolutley packed and the audience was fantastic even though they were really far down there. The sound was incredible and both the Supersuckers and we had a ball. It was really like an indoor festival.

Since the bus fire the tour has been smooth sailing. Our new apology bus is a double decker so we have lots of room to spread out and drag friends along from town to town when we want.

All the shows have been pretty much sold out, even though most of our audience has been at the acdc show the day before. It seems we have been following acdc in both Switzerland and Spain. Our good buddy Norah from the band the Pleasure Fuckers In Madrid had a baby a year and a half ago. She named him Angus after Mr. Angus Young of course. Well she actually managed to bring her young Angus to meet and take a picture with Angus Young himself. Pretty damn cool. Big Angus wasn't actually that much bigger. A few people at our show brought pictures of Angus from the night before for me to see.

Hopefully tonight will rock as hard as last night but I don't know if that is possible. So far the city and weather is beautiful. We are surrounded by palm trees and the ocean right now. Last time we played here Blaine and I got food poisoning so I am sure this time will at least not result in us throwing up. Here's hoping!

See ya down the road