Montag, 25. November 2019

Homeland-Tour 2019. November. Part III


03/11/19
Salle de la Fete, Arlanc, France & L'Octopus, Cunlhat
Day 10. Was a bit of a rough one to get up in time to catch the 7.12 train in Dijon. My first coffee in Nevers where I had to change trains. I've been to Ambert last year when touring in France. An evening and concert you don't get to experience very often. Maybe only once in a lifetime. The person who booked me and has been sort of central character of a lot of cultural /activities and regional networking, died in a car crash a few days prior to my arrival and concert. I found out by receiving an email from his account signed by a different person. The L'Elegante, everyone attending the evening, the whole atmosphere was eerie. I recall it being a difficult one to perform or even start the concert. How to find the right songs and words for a crowd of people having just lost both a very good friend and one of the key figures of local/regional social and cultural activities? Most of them about to leave for the funeral in Nice, five o'clock in the morning. I recall me having difficulties to hold back the tears during the set as some words made a new, different sense to me while singing in this setting and situation. It feels inappropriate to call such a performance one of my best shows ever but in fact it must have been. It was one with an extraordinarily unifying power though. In the end of the evening it felt like all of us in the small café were in just the right place at the right time, feeling comforted by the healing power of songs and music. Might sound quirky saying this but such was the mood that evening back in November 2018.

You might figure I've been looking forward to coming back. How did things change in the past 12 months? Did the hard time they had brought things to a halt? It's a bit of an effort to get to that part of France by means of public transport to say the least. This part of the Auvergne situated between Clermont-Ferrand and Saint Étienne is blessed with a both beautiful and wild landscape. Like in so many other places in rural Europe, industry has moved away or gone down due to globalized trade and markets, thus leaving a vast area literally empty. No employment here and the farmers still here are struggling with national and European regulations and tax policies of all kinds. In a way a doomed part of the country.
The other side of the medal is: dropping rates on rent, real estate and property opens up space for alternative concepts for living. Also, as in this rural vicinity villages being scattered across a wide area without a public transport infrastructure existing, you don't really have a choice but to network and get things sorted yourself.
For instance the place I stayed at in Cunlhat is the former branch of Credit L'Eparge, built in 1935. In the process of downsizing and digitalization I assume, the bank sold a lot of their buildings in the countryside for actually next to nothing. A group of about 15 people bought it and converted it to their home and workspace. The latter including farming, milling, baking, organizing cultural events and god knows what else. Even though, this is something I probably couldn't do myself I'm deeply impressed by it. You need some guts to move out here and start to live your own utopian dream.

This time they asked me if I'd be up for playing two shows. A first one in Arlanc, a twenty minutes drive down the Dore river valley on their annual fund-raiser festival for refugees, the second one at L'Octopus in Cunhlat, the local community's café culturally. We'll see what this will be like tonight, the one yesterday at the "Salle de la Fete" in Arlanc was a very special, wonderful thing to do.

Everyone involved, people from all the nearer villages around, were cooking, baking, setting up things, making it the event of the year. Apart from the beer everything on offer was given to the guests for voluntary donations, all going into the pot that would help refugees in trouble to survive out here. Oh, of course the food was terrific. We>'re in France, eh? Haven't seen a soup kettle of this size before, took three of them to lift it to the table. Home-made garlic bread, salads and a dream of an apple tarte with caramel sauce and ice cream as a dessert. DIY spirit at its best. Funds raised for the poorest of the poor by people who mostly just get along themselves. A different level of pleasure and enjoyment to perform in this place, for these people, for this cause.

The following day I'm booked for L'Octopus. That's the café culturelle or bar concert of Cunlhat. It's a beautiful, cosy place. Even more so as it's getting freezing cold up here. As for travelling this is probably the most pleasant one on this tour. I can walk with my gear from where I'm staying to wards the medieval church. A three-minute walk. Hip and all the other guys who were so busy setting up the stage and pa for yesterday's event are back in business, everything is prepared when I arrive around 5 pm. All a bit concerned if there'll be an audience as the party yesterday lasted into the early morning hours. There's mulled wine, there is tea & coffee, again there is food for everyone - prix libre. It's wonderful. Stage covered with carpets. Nice little pa, good sound, very attentive audience, among them some familiar faces from last year. And yesterday. One of the reasons is over the past five years, after they started with buying the bank building a lot of young people, friends, people who heard about it started to move here. Bought cheap houses. Started a life here in the middle of nowhere. It's an amazing place. It's one of a number of Utopias I've come across touring this year. It's a good thing to know there is more of them all over Europe and I do hope there'll be a lot more coming.


Ambert. L'Elegante.



Cunlhat. L'Octopus.

Plus L'Octopus.


Montag, 4. November 2019

Homeland-Tour 2019. October/November. Part II

01/11/19
Café Le Chez Nous & Les Tanneries, Dijon, France

Day eight. Rain. Rain in Basel, rain on the way, fog and even more rain in Dijon. Le Chez Nous, as on my last show here, a cosy harbour on the stormy seas of touring. After two days in Burgundy's finest, being fed and watered, being treated like the long-lost son or brother, this feels more than ever like some place I could imagine calling home some day. Even more so knowing I'll be without a flat in eight months time in Germany. Opening up a punk festival at Les Tanneries was a wild ride last night. No safety net, sort of back to the wall, loved it a lot. Moment like this remind me of what a good song, a voice and a guitar can do. A last one coming tonight at the Vieux Léon to kiss this city goodbye before leaving in the early morning hours for Ambert. The end of the world where souls were weeping and hearts were broken a year ago. Where the congregation of mourners were to set out for their grievous trail down to Nice. To the south. To bury the ghost that has spoken to me from the other side.

02/11/19
Au Vieux Léon, Dijon, France

Day nine. Yet another rainy day in the city of Dijon ended with a show at Au Vieux Léon. A smoky bar in the heart of the city, named after a Brassens song. Entering the bar made me instantly feel like being in the right place. The air heavy with rock'n'roll. Good spirit, lovely people, a perfect place for the kind of songs I write. At least tonight the whole scenery and atmosphere seems to be the perfect surrounding for them. As predictable things got later than planned or expected. Of course on this one tour day I have to catch an early train the next morning. Two sets. First one upstairs in the actual bar, second downstairs in the Léon's vaults. Late lunch in-between. Saw it coming but hell, no, I'll never skip a gorgeous lamb stew prepared by the boss himself if that's on offer. Delicious can't really describe it. The full monty. Of course followed by incredible cheese, a coffee and eau-de-vie. And it was a good night to hang out with Philippe who hosted me for the past days. What a guy! Nuff said.

Le Chez Nous. And the foxhole. Both fab.

Philippe et mon vin rouge.

Soundcheck at Les Tanneries, Dijon.

Dijon. Cradle of skinhead movement.

A good port. Very good. Dijon.

Donnerstag, 31. Oktober 2019

Homeland-Tour 2019. October.

25/10/19
Live Stage, Weiden, Germany

Day one. Good start. Not the biggest audience ever but very attentive. Surprise of the evening was the young couple who came all the way down from Prague to see the show. Said they saw me with the band at MisMas Festival in Bojkovice/CZ this summer and will probably come down for my second Weiden show in December again. It's little things like this that you will remember later on. People taking the effort to travel quite a bit because the songs are strong enough to make them do it. Little moments of bliss making the whole idea of travelling about / touring worthwhile.

27/10/19
Die Neue Fledermaus, Karlsruhe, Germany

Day three. Lack of sleep already. Made it straight from Weiden to Fürth, just in time to hook up with the Folk's Worst Nightmare collective for an afternoon rehearsal. Quick run through most of the songs, picking up some gear and off to Kofferfabrik for soundcheck. No time for packing all my shit for the upcoming tour weeks yet. After a late show in front of a packed auditorium taxi back to my flat. Half the night sorting all travel documents, packing gear. Up early doing the same thing trying to keep the amount of stuff reasonably light enough to travel. Still too heavy in the end. Suppose I have to sell as much merch as possible to reduce weight...
The train ride to Karlsruhe takes me through picturesque landscape, especially around Crailsheim. Sunny autumn weather, could have been a relaxing trip if the train hadn't been cancelled. The substitute train made my reservation obsolete and I had a three hours ride on an emergency seat in the bicycle compartment. Good place for musicians as it turned out. Had enough space for both guitars, the trolley and still room for the girl travelling with her concert harp. Quite a thing to drag around. Will stop complaining about what I'm carrying with me...

28/10/19
Capri Bar, Basel, Switzerland

Day four. Enjoyable, intimate show it was at the "Neue Fledermaus" yesterday. A former pub in the bar district of Karlsruhe converted into an arts space with regular acoustic shows, readings and exhibitions. Just few minutes prior to the show my old pal and ex-band mate Jay turned up whom I haven't seen in ears. Lovely little surprise. Amazing hosts, fantastic (much needed) food and a hotel room with musician friendly check-out times around the corner. Felt fantastic to wake up refreshed after a good night's sleep, having a hot shower and a decent breakfast. Looking forward to playing Basel tonight, meeting old friends from way back then and of course returning to the Capri Bar one of the most memorable shows I had the luck to play last year.

* * * * *

I might have mentioned this before somewhere. This is my first ever large-scale European tour I'm doing solely by train/public transport. Means there are a lot of new things I'm just in the process of figuring out or understanding. Among those new insights I'm just starting to achieve in - particularly - German public transport ways are the seat reservations. They're EUR 4.50 and in theory this entitles the passenger to have a guaranteed seat in a train that might be very crowded. Unless... Well, unless it's a substitute train without numbered seats that's servicing your connection, what actually happened yesterday. Or unless a wobbly, elderly person has taken your seat instead of the one she initially has booked. Which in consequence, as in my case, means, the seat I booked thinking about the space behind it for my guitars, was taken by a cat transport box and aforementioned lady not being very compromising to shift all her luggage and pets to a different place... If you're a very patient person and got a lot of time to kill you might in fact join the line at the service counter at the next train station, show your ticket and reclaim the reservation fee. They do that. It's just all up to you if you want to queue in for 45 minutes to get those EUR 4.50 back.

* * * * *

Got picked up at Badischer Bahnhof by Michu and Kati. Tramride to Capri Bar, one of the nicest shows I had on my last year's tour. Been looking forward to this for quite some time. Apart from that I love Basel. Any time I played here since the early 2000s something special, out of the ordinary is connected with those shows. Including one song on my first solo album. This might sound funny for you but for me this town has got an air of strangely fertile creativity whilst at the same time being a bit sloppy and laid back. Especially for a Swiss town. What adds to it is its a river town. In my experience a different quality of energy in such places.
Had a smoke prior to the gig. I always do this if possible. Felt empty. Just totally blank. Physically and mentally. Kickin off with Tuesday Lilies flicked that imaginary switch that sometimes gives you a bit of an extra ignition spark. Or boosts that machine that is just too beat-up to work properly. Or feels like that. In retrospect, it was a 200% performance. Again I'm wondering how to keep up this energy level for the coming forty shows. This tour has just begun. It's a bit scary. When clearing the stage after the show we just found out the carpet they borrowed me for the concert was a handwoven one from Finland. Model "Pelimanni". Weird little coincidence.

You feel it must have been a good one if your moneycomes with a flower decoration. Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe.

Decent flyer. Basel.

Stage carpet. Basel.

Montag, 15. Juli 2019

Goodbye Andy

The first European tour of the Anglo German Low Stars in 2001 (https://9pm-records.de/cosmos_1.htm) is, to quite some extent, responsible for what I'm doing now for many years. Formative. Touring, writing songs, collaborating with wonderful artists I come across. It was then when I met Andy Keeble first. Fiddler with Grae J Wall. My first longer tour performing solo and alongside like-minded songwriters/musicians in a loose and slightly chaotic collective. Most of them people I hardly knew or just heard of prior to meeting for our first show in Berlin. Among them Andy. Without him I suppose that whole four week stint wouldn't have been what it turned out in the end - an inspiring moment in life and the birth of numerous ideas, projects and - most of all - long-lasting friendships.
Andy made us smile when there was no reason to smile, crackin a joke when things got too tense and most importantly - encouraged me to keep on going my way as a performer/songwriter just by doing his thing and being an example. For four consequent years we were touring in that lose line-up varying from four to eight artists. As touring is what it is there were both magic and exhausting moments, good times and difficult times. What made me keep going was this cheerful chap from St Albans. What a friend.

After the last Low Stars tour we regularly met when I was playing the UK, either sharing stage with The Trailer Trash Orchestra, Los Chicos Muertos, popping into Bill's Blue Angel Acoustic Sunday or just hangin out and chatting about over a couple of drinks. So many memories... Playing pinball the whole night after a Kulmbach show, Andy showing me around gardens in Hertforshire he took care of, having my first ever full English with him in Portsmouth. The night we spent talking, talking, talking till dawn in that trailer he used to live in then somewhere near Luton.
I never gave up hope Andy would make it over to the mainland for a tour together. Revisiting the places we played before, exploring new ones, going crazy and making friends with new people. Spending time on the road with one of the best mates you can be on tour with. It's not going to happen. A bleedin shame.

I'm glad he found the time to contribute some fiddle to my last album early 2018, and we had the opportunity to perform together in London this year February. Means a lot to me. Hope they're well-stocked up where we'll probably meet next. There'll be time for a decent bottle to share, brother. I know you'd like that. Bye Andy.

Fürth, 12 July 2019