EuroAustralia Ride the Whirlwind!

WOW! What a month - and it has flown by. We have only been home a few days and we go back out within a week!

We had an absolute blast in London and Europe AND Australia- it already seems like forever ago we started off in London. What visit to the Uk is complete with out the ultimate British Breakfast! Fry it all please, bread too. It helps with jetlag, honest. We met our openers, Supercharger from Denmark, as they arrived, one by one- during their own set at the Underworld. Gotta give them credit for pulling off the gig missing half the band, then continuing while the remaining members raced across London and joined them on stage for the last few sogns. Way to start the tour boys. Supercharger continued to rock the house every night and we look forward to sharing the stage with them again. As quickly as we arrived we were off and on the ferry from Dover to Calais and back to the continent.

We started off Europe in Holland (I think) and drove back and forth on the same highway from Holland to Germany to Belgium to Germany to Holland etc etc. Hooked up with a bunch of old buddies, the guys from Peter Pan Speedrock came out to party along with a pack of good friends form tours past. Our houses were packed night after night. Great crowds pretty much everywhere. One day in Colmar we pulled up into what seemed to be a full on Gypsy campground, nothing but caravans, Bad Snatch imitations continued all day. We weren't in the club more that 10 minutes when we got downright swarmed by these gypsy children. It was kinda freaky, they were all excited jumping around and turning cartwheels while some of the more cynical of us took a step back with our hands on our wallets. It was kinda creepy. I i swear the 8 yr old boy was trying to break into the bus when we weren't looking, it was pretty depressing, luckily we got away unscathed- I hope those kids get a chance to get out of their situation. Colmar used a photo of Karen for a HUGE poster.







We had a ball that day wandering around the crazy streets of the old town. Each house looks like the 7 dwarves are gonna pop out. I can't believe it took me 3 trips here to finally see what I bought on a postcard the first time through.
We hit crazy snow in Germany, I had to run out barefoot one morning to retrieve my Whisky - a certain fan made off with (and left it by his car while he slept) that was the first quote of the tour "STOP THE BUS! I'M GETTING MY WHISKY BACK!!" that quote was replaced later by 'I seee you gypsy'. Crazy snow continued through Switzerland, But did not stop the crowds. We had to say goodbye to Supercharger after the gig at the Bikini in Switzerland. They had to drive home so couldn't even have a last drink with us, well they had a few... we had a few more for them after they left.



So Blaine's bad tooth finally reared it's ugly head and we had to go to the dentist in Italy. Of course the dentist was Italian and therefore damn cool, wore like 1000 dollar glasses and put Blaine on antibiotics. He couldn't pull the tooth because of the infection and also because the painkillers they had were 'no so good'. Blaine was slightly relieved cause they didn't pull it but couldn't drink for the rest of the tour. He finally got it pulled in France and was like a changed man, he was jumping around on stage like a freed convict.


Check out this awesome Italian fan Tattoo of Blaine's Lyrics from Hell To Texas - He Did it himself! Talent and taste!

The final shows in France were off the hook- packed houses and some of the loudest audiences we've ever encountered. We signed autographs every night until they locked the doors and kicked everyone out.
We met up with Chris the wine guy and he presented us with some fabulous wine from our vineyards at Chateau Nashville Pussy including a 17 year anniversary wine for Blaine and myself! Very cool! Of course French Pussy Time came out and we had a nice albeit short visit. We had to fly the next morning which means extra time spent trying to cram all that booze into our suitcases! We got caught in Le Hurricaine and our flight was delayed by 24 hours- it was pretty bad for the day we spent in Charles De Gaulle getting herded from one place to the next , not knowing if we'd make it home in time to fly to Australia. but at long last we did managed to get on a flight with 12 hours to spare we were back in the air and off to the other side of the globe!
What a plesant change from the winter we'd been experiencing- Australian winter!! Wow - the most beautiful day met us as soon as we set down in Sydney Australia! we met up with our old buddy Dave Batty. Dave and Jeremy took up where they left off years back- with their ongoing competition of Knifey Spoony! it's still a draw- we'll have to go back for a rematch!

OK, Australian Breakfast is very much like a British breakfast...




In Sydney we ate a famous TIGER PIE- a meat pie in a delicious crust covered in mashed potatoes, mushy peas and gravy! Yum! Now two Kentucky icons have eaten there. The Col. Sanders and Blaine!


Our favorite show was GOLDEN PLAINS - there had been insane weather and tons of rain/hail so we didn't know what to expect at an outdoor festival in Merideth. Little did we know we'd wind up rocking out with 10,000 Aussies - holding their Wellies in the air! We heard if they didn't like us they'd throw the gumboots at us - so I guess we passed the test. It was Blaine's birthday and it was well spent, with a few of our new friends...




We wound up back at the old Cherry Bar run by Billy from the Cosmic Psychos off AC/DC lane til the wee hours. And had a blast across the whole country. And yes, we finally got to hold a KOLALA!!!
Now we just have to go to PERTH!

We are back on the road for the next two months- can us if you can, we'll be pretty much everywhere in America! We'll be back to Europe for summer festivals so USA here we come!