7/1/12
Travel day. Nine hours over to our new Central Europe headquarters to
leave our bus for the next tour and get a day's rest before flying to
Finland.
7/2/2013
Day off. If by day off I mean doing laundry all day. It has built up
to surreal proportions. At least we caught some decent food and
some rest. Fly to Finland tomorrow.
7/3/2013
Flew into Vantaa, (Helsinki) Finland and was met by my bro Sami
who I haven't seen in way too long. Tonight is Tavastia, probably
the most famous venue in all of Finland. Had an enthusiastic crowd
show up, and was glad to play. Beer in this town in a bar is about 8 bucks.
It's just after midsummer time and Finland is the place to be. The sun
barely goes down at night. I have loved this country since I first came
here 14 years ago.
7/4/2013
Five hours up to Joensuu today to play La Barre. We have played
here many times, and always look forward to a return visit. To bad
we can't play on the roof this time, the weather is perfect. They've
been getting noise complaints though, so we are inside. Spent the
afternoon at Sami's eating fabulous grilled salmon and hanging out
in his wigwam he built. Then we had a great real deal outdoor sauna.
Unbelievably nice.
7/5/2013
Few hours down to Heinola, Finland. Cool venue, although there
were some sound problems when our buddies Slidemobile played.
Not the band's fault at all, of course. Had a good solid gig with
some great screaming fans. :)
7/6/2013
Before the short drive over to Hyvinkaa, the promoter in Heinola
took us to a motorcycle museum that was unbelievably awesome.
Russian bikes, Czech bikes, American bikes, English bikes, you name it.
I could go on and on about it. Then we went to the top of a Ski jump
tower in Lahti, Finland. What a great morning! We went on over to
the gig after that and loaded in. I'm always sad to see a tour end,
and this one is no exception. At least we had (for the first time in
Europe) REAL American BBQ. It was SERIOUS and tasted just like
somewhere in Texas. Good gig though we didn't go on until midnight.
Saw some old buddies and had a blast. Tomorrow the guys are
going home and I'm gonna go do some business and work on
some new songs. See you in about a week.
Travel day. Nine hours over to our new Central Europe headquarters to
leave our bus for the next tour and get a day's rest before flying to
Finland.
7/2/2013
Day off. If by day off I mean doing laundry all day. It has built up
to surreal proportions. At least we caught some decent food and
some rest. Fly to Finland tomorrow.
7/3/2013
Flew into Vantaa, (Helsinki) Finland and was met by my bro Sami
who I haven't seen in way too long. Tonight is Tavastia, probably
the most famous venue in all of Finland. Had an enthusiastic crowd
show up, and was glad to play. Beer in this town in a bar is about 8 bucks.
It's just after midsummer time and Finland is the place to be. The sun
barely goes down at night. I have loved this country since I first came
here 14 years ago.
7/4/2013
Five hours up to Joensuu today to play La Barre. We have played
here many times, and always look forward to a return visit. To bad
we can't play on the roof this time, the weather is perfect. They've
been getting noise complaints though, so we are inside. Spent the
afternoon at Sami's eating fabulous grilled salmon and hanging out
in his wigwam he built. Then we had a great real deal outdoor sauna.
Unbelievably nice.
7/5/2013
Few hours down to Heinola, Finland. Cool venue, although there
were some sound problems when our buddies Slidemobile played.
Not the band's fault at all, of course. Had a good solid gig with
some great screaming fans. :)
7/6/2013
Before the short drive over to Hyvinkaa, the promoter in Heinola
took us to a motorcycle museum that was unbelievably awesome.
Russian bikes, Czech bikes, American bikes, English bikes, you name it.
I could go on and on about it. Then we went to the top of a Ski jump
tower in Lahti, Finland. What a great morning! We went on over to
the gig after that and loaded in. I'm always sad to see a tour end,
and this one is no exception. At least we had (for the first time in
Europe) REAL American BBQ. It was SERIOUS and tasted just like
somewhere in Texas. Good gig though we didn't go on until midnight.
Saw some old buddies and had a blast. Tomorrow the guys are
going home and I'm gonna go do some business and work on
some new songs. See you in about a week.