UK / Euro Tour: Mar. 8th - Mar. 14th

You know how you can wait and plan and prepare for something for a REALLY long time and within a blink of an eye it comes and goes?  That's how I'm feeling as I write this post and upload these photos. 

From the food, to the languages, to the roadways and the architecture, I know I can speak for all of us when I say our trip to Europe was surreal and filled with many moments of culture shock.  However, on the other side of things, there was a moment in Paris where I felt like we could have been in San Francisco.  We were outside the venue, and there were young people drinking and smoking and laughing and I had this realization that no matter where you are and how different places and people seem to be, there's comfort in knowing that everyone is working towards the same common goal - and that's enjoying life.

 Gent, Belgium

Belgium Chocolate Cake with Espresso       

We found this kitteh peaking over the stairs in the café.

Café Video - Gent, Belgium

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Clock Tower in Amsterdam

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

The French Countryside

Window Decal Inside of a Café - Paris, France

I was SUPER stoked to get a picture of this.  

On the Way to The Eiffel Tower

Arc de Triomphe

The Eiffel Tower

Underneath the Tower

The Courtyard Next to the Tower

Proof That We Didn't Make Any Of This Up

I feel we learned a lot on this trip; and not just about other people and different cultures, but about ourselves.  We came to many realizations during the course of the month, some that may bring forward big changes to Camp Dynamo in the near to immediate future.  (Don't worry, it's nothing bad.)  If anything, we're more excited and more inspired to do what we've always wanted to do, and that's making music that we love and that other people can enjoy.  

I'm sure we'll be chatting soon.

 

USA! USA! USA!

We made it back to St. Louis yesterday at 7:30pm CST.  The weather is ABSOLUTELY wonderful.  St. Louis looked marvelous from the airplane yesterday.  Seeing the Arch and Busch Stadium made all of us ready for baseball season.

So, we're headed down to Austin tomorrow for SXSW.  Here are the details on our showcase.

We'll be posting more pictures from the Euro portion of the tour within the next week or so.

We're stoked to be back home!  Let's hang! 

UK / Euro Tour: Feb. 22nd - Mar. 7th

We've been to a lot of places over the course of eighteen days.  It's weird getting in the van and driving somewhere and then waking up the next day and being in another country.  Back home, it takes eight hours to drive from St. Louis to Atlanta; while in that amount of time over here, you can drive through about three different countries.  Most of the pictures below were taken during The UK portion of our journey.    

China Town, London.

The British Museum.

 Ceiling Inside the British Museum.

London Eye.

We've tried to make food as much as possible.  We've made Dal twice now.

We made some new friends who let us stay at their seven-bedroom house out in the English countryside for four nights.  They had chickens in their backyard.  Nathan is vegan.  This is funny. 

Tour Manager, Daniel Pooley.

New Friends.

In The UK, instead of a bunch of cattle along the side of the road, they have sheep.

The Dover Cliffs, southeast coast of The UK.

I still have never seen Titanic, but I imagine it would look something like this...

This was aboard the ferry from Dover to Calais, France.

Photo by Dan Pooley. 

Today, we're leaving Amsterdam.  I'm writing this from the bar in the hotel where we played/stayed last night.  We only have three shows left of this tour and then the long journey back home will take place.  We'll be getting back to St. Louis on Monday evening and on Wednesday morning, we'll be making the thirteen hour drive down to Austin, TX for SXSW.  We'll post pictures of the Euro portion of the trip soon.

Waffles, Beer, and Chocolate.

BELGIUM RULES.  We've only been here for less than a day and the fair city of Brugge has already been too kind.  I'm writing this from a hostel in said city.  We're sharing a room with a Spanish couple.  At least I think they're Spanish.  I overheard them talking to one another and that was the assessment that I made.  I wonder how the two of them felt when they thought they had the room to themselves, and then five un-showered doods came strolling in.  Sorry to ruin the moment guys.  I can't think of anything less romantic than sharing a room with us.

Tomorrow begins the first day of our European portion of the tour.  I know I can speak for everyone when I say that I wish we could have planned more shows over here and played less in The UK, but now we know what to do for next time.

Oh, I'm not sure if we've mentioned, but we're playing SXSW this year.  We're playing at Emo's Jr. on Thursday, March 18th with our VERY BEST BUDS, Maps and Atlases.  A lot of other really great bands are playing, too.  If you plan on being in Austin that week, you should come out.  T'will be a hoot.

And like I said before, UK photo blog coming soon.  I just have to change out the batteries in Alison's camera - the one she was gracious enough to let me borrow for this trip - before I can upload anything.  

Peace Out, UK

Roughly two hours from now, we'll be taking a Ferry from Dover, UK to Calais, FR. 

 

Euro tour starts tomorrow in Belgium.

UK photo blog coming soon!

So Far, Soooo Good

So...it's been a few days. We've been a bit preoccupied; basking in the lap of luxury. For the past three days we've been making curries, sleeping in individual beds, showering frequently, baking cookies, retrieving eggs from actual chickens, and watching classic Harrison Ford films projected onto our new friend (or shall I say, mate) Brent's wall. Brent lives in the most Dickensesque village we have seen so far, a part of Kent county. He's been to several of the shows, and with this crucial stay, has single-handedly boosted band moral tenfold. Thank you Brent.

The shows have been prettay, prettay, prettay, prettay, prettay, prettay...good. We played a nice early evening in-store in Kingston the other day. We were a bit concerned that we would be playing only to cynical record store clerks and large posters promoting the new Alkaline Trio record (advertised as "sounding like the old records"), but there was actually a line of people interested in hearing us play. Heartening indeed. The night before we played with our new BBFs (Best Band Friends) Tubelord and Tall Ships in Leeds, a show that we had been looking forward to for the entirety of the trip. These are two bands worth checking out (I would link their name but I'm in a hurry, so you'll just have to do the Google work yourselves). Putting on an amazing show for us was enough, but the hospitality made us feel like King Henry VIII himself. Homemade chilli, tea and biscuits, pizzas, beers, a bottle of scotch, and a floor to sleep on....thank you Leeds.

All in all, the shows have been good, but the stays have been better. The U.K. is frigid, its beers are watery, its djs are ubiquitous, and its chips and salsa aren't free at its Mexican restaurants, but its people are fantastic.