After a frantic rush to get out of LA, the 24 hours on three different planes seemed like a something of a relief. It wasn't too bad considering it was 9 hours to London Heathrow, a 3 hour lay-over, two more hours to Madrid, another hour layover and then another hour to Bilbao, Spain to kick off our one month Adult World Euro Tour 2003.
Our friend and the champion of all things rock & roll Kike Turmix met us at the airport. Kike is one of the last true believers in the power of rock to overcome the evils of the world and is a great host and raconteur. He took us to a superb restaurant in the village of Bergara where we were to start the tour the following day. The cuisine can be an additional benefit of touring Spain and this first stop was a feast. Considering the fine, fine fare that passes for food on the airlines and highway rest stops, this was an authentic pleasure. They're not buying any of this American style-low-fat- watch-your-cholesterol stuff in Spain, not in all of Europe really, but most definitely not here in the Basque country. They also don't have the uniquely American hang up about smoking in bars and restaurants. Life is to live here.
After finally hitting the bed after much too long I was startled awake by a sound I could not identify. A clanging and then a loud mournful moo-moo-mooing. What the hell? Cows? Tru dat, me brovers. Cows! Right outside my window! I staggered up out of the rack opened the window to view a lush green valley and grazing cows and sheep. Pretty strange for a city boy, but nice in a picture postcard kind of way.
Of course reality is never too far away and down at the bottom of this beautiful, bucolic setting is& you guessed it, a factory. The scene was the kind of perfect contradiction that I enjoy so much. Here was, on the one hand, the beautiful Basque country in the north of Spain, green valleys and simple farm life juxtaposed with a pollution spewing industrial plant squatting right down in the center of it all.
The first couple of nights on tour are when you work out the kinks and start to get the feel of how to do this thing. Technical details and song selection and a million other bits and bobs. I'm trying out a new in-ear monitoring system and it's taking a little time to get it set up right but I believe when we get it right it will make everything even better.
After Bergara we head across the country to the north East Coast and the beautiful coastal town of Vigo.
Another superb dinner of Spanish seafood. Shrimp, three kinds of local fish and for your reporter a first: Stingray. Our host was local promoter Antonio Barreiros and his friends from the venue Dominus. Joining our touring group was Kike's wonderful wife, Margaret Turmix, who helped translating and merchandising on this leg of the tour. We got finished with dinner just in time to make the advertised set time and it was a good night's music with a great response from the fans.
We are quickly learning that Spain operates on a different time frame than we're used to. Everything seems to happen when it's supposed to but that's usually an hour or two after the schedule. Laid back as a way of life. It's not so bad, once you get used to it.
The travel from city to city has been fairly easy. We are in a Mercedes touring van. It's a real improvement over the American style van. Much larger with two rows of airline type seats and a bunk in the rear for napping. The gear goes in a separate compartment in the back. Video/DVD/CD all help pass the time. It's funny but it seems I hear more new music on the road than I do day to day living in LA. Our driver and FOH man, Bee Pee, (a Frenchman and a fine fellow) brought a case of his favorite CD's. So far I have heard a very cool record by an Australian artist,Tex Perkins. Yesterday we took a trip down memory lane with the Nuggets collection from Bomp/Rhino. It was interesting to hear the production styles of the day. They were so similar from record to record. Very thin guitar sounds, cheesy organs and very loud tambourines. The fuzztone was just appearing and every record had to have one. Eric Gardner brought a bunch of his current favorites and we grooved hard with Fela pulling out of Madrid on route to Barcelona.
There was a sublime moment when midway across the Spanish countryside Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain came up in the rotation and everything just fit together perfectly, the country, the people, the tour, the camaraderie of the fellows in the band and the music. Sometimes it doesn't get much better. Good shows in all four cities with the best being the last in Barcelona. Over 400 fans packed into the KGB club.
Attendance at the shows has been the largest I've ever played for in Spain. The Spanish are serious about their Rock & Roll and really follow their favorite bands closely. They also seem to be very open minded about the music we're playing. I know I ask a lot of an audience when we play songs that they don't know yet or improvise music that can get pretty far out. But they're right there grooving with us and it's a great feeling to be connected with the audience on such a deep level.
We departed Spain today with full bellies and happy hearts. Good music, good crowds and new friends. I think the only thing missing was sleep. Oh well, we'll sleep when we get home. On to France.
God bless, w.
Our friend and the champion of all things rock & roll Kike Turmix met us at the airport. Kike is one of the last true believers in the power of rock to overcome the evils of the world and is a great host and raconteur. He took us to a superb restaurant in the village of Bergara where we were to start the tour the following day. The cuisine can be an additional benefit of touring Spain and this first stop was a feast. Considering the fine, fine fare that passes for food on the airlines and highway rest stops, this was an authentic pleasure. They're not buying any of this American style-low-fat- watch-your-cholesterol stuff in Spain, not in all of Europe really, but most definitely not here in the Basque country. They also don't have the uniquely American hang up about smoking in bars and restaurants. Life is to live here.
After finally hitting the bed after much too long I was startled awake by a sound I could not identify. A clanging and then a loud mournful moo-moo-mooing. What the hell? Cows? Tru dat, me brovers. Cows! Right outside my window! I staggered up out of the rack opened the window to view a lush green valley and grazing cows and sheep. Pretty strange for a city boy, but nice in a picture postcard kind of way.
Of course reality is never too far away and down at the bottom of this beautiful, bucolic setting is& you guessed it, a factory. The scene was the kind of perfect contradiction that I enjoy so much. Here was, on the one hand, the beautiful Basque country in the north of Spain, green valleys and simple farm life juxtaposed with a pollution spewing industrial plant squatting right down in the center of it all.
The first couple of nights on tour are when you work out the kinks and start to get the feel of how to do this thing. Technical details and song selection and a million other bits and bobs. I'm trying out a new in-ear monitoring system and it's taking a little time to get it set up right but I believe when we get it right it will make everything even better.
After Bergara we head across the country to the north East Coast and the beautiful coastal town of Vigo.
Another superb dinner of Spanish seafood. Shrimp, three kinds of local fish and for your reporter a first: Stingray. Our host was local promoter Antonio Barreiros and his friends from the venue Dominus. Joining our touring group was Kike's wonderful wife, Margaret Turmix, who helped translating and merchandising on this leg of the tour. We got finished with dinner just in time to make the advertised set time and it was a good night's music with a great response from the fans.
We are quickly learning that Spain operates on a different time frame than we're used to. Everything seems to happen when it's supposed to but that's usually an hour or two after the schedule. Laid back as a way of life. It's not so bad, once you get used to it.
The travel from city to city has been fairly easy. We are in a Mercedes touring van. It's a real improvement over the American style van. Much larger with two rows of airline type seats and a bunk in the rear for napping. The gear goes in a separate compartment in the back. Video/DVD/CD all help pass the time. It's funny but it seems I hear more new music on the road than I do day to day living in LA. Our driver and FOH man, Bee Pee, (a Frenchman and a fine fellow) brought a case of his favorite CD's. So far I have heard a very cool record by an Australian artist,Tex Perkins. Yesterday we took a trip down memory lane with the Nuggets collection from Bomp/Rhino. It was interesting to hear the production styles of the day. They were so similar from record to record. Very thin guitar sounds, cheesy organs and very loud tambourines. The fuzztone was just appearing and every record had to have one. Eric Gardner brought a bunch of his current favorites and we grooved hard with Fela pulling out of Madrid on route to Barcelona.
There was a sublime moment when midway across the Spanish countryside Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain came up in the rotation and everything just fit together perfectly, the country, the people, the tour, the camaraderie of the fellows in the band and the music. Sometimes it doesn't get much better. Good shows in all four cities with the best being the last in Barcelona. Over 400 fans packed into the KGB club.
Attendance at the shows has been the largest I've ever played for in Spain. The Spanish are serious about their Rock & Roll and really follow their favorite bands closely. They also seem to be very open minded about the music we're playing. I know I ask a lot of an audience when we play songs that they don't know yet or improvise music that can get pretty far out. But they're right there grooving with us and it's a great feeling to be connected with the audience on such a deep level.
We departed Spain today with full bellies and happy hearts. Good music, good crowds and new friends. I think the only thing missing was sleep. Oh well, we'll sleep when we get home. On to France.
God bless, w.
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