20/04/12

Day twelve of the tour: Berlin, Friday

This morning was a serious struggle, getting out of bed was the hardest get-up yet. We got back to the squat at about 5am this morning and Callum and I stayed up chatting with Haarlem Terry for quite a while before finally crashing. We had an early start as we had to be in Berlin for 7pm. Getting everyone out of bed we then had to locate Terry and Craig who had last been seen getting backies on some bikes; off two local Dutch Students (I think Terry’s blog yesterday just about pushes the boundaries of necessary information needed to be shared on ones blog!)

Anyway moving swiftly on we made it to Berlin. We went straight to the Magnet Club and I have to say that the gig went down a storm. It was by far the tightest gig so far and the audience were captivated. The room filled up quickly and the feedback was hugely positive.

Bonanza Xx

21/04/12

Day thirteen of the tour: Berlin, Saturday

Today was pretty chilled out. We were all feeling a bit van lagged after the journey from the Dam.

I had a strange encounter the night before with an old friend from the states, John Wood. We hadn’t seen each other since going to Mardi Gras about 4 years ago and bumped into each other in the club below the gig. It’s a bloody small world! I was supposed to go watch a football game with him today but didn’t get my shizzle together in time.

We ended up taking our time getting back to last night’s Magnet Club to pick-up the van and equipment, taking in some sites on the way. Most noteworthy was perhaps the ‘beautiful contrast’ between the TV tower and the old church

or perhaps the contortionist ballet

or perhaps the creepy puppeteer outside the station

Saturday night we went to this club called ‘Picnic’ (or something like that). It was good but no one really had there dancing shoes on.

Callum

22/04/12

Day fourteen of the tour: Berlin, Sunday

Today Terry, Bonanza and I went to the flea market at Mauerpark.

Definitely my best outing of the trip so far. It made me realise why Berlin is such a cool place. There were all sorts of different people spending there Sunday together; tourists, locals, grannies, hobos, fun for all the family.

What perhaps summed up the nature of the day was the Karaoke in the Park next to the flea market. There were at least 600 people seated on the hill and in and around the stone plaza where the karaoke was situated. First up we saw a middle aged women who reminded me of a school teacher do the ‘Time Warp’ followed up by a long tall blonde with a voice like grit sing ‘Born to be Wild”. However, my favourite performance was that of a hunched over older gentleman who took to the plaza carrying his cloth handbag. He straightened up to perform a rendition of ‘My Way’ in his native German tongue. He wasn’t the greatest of singers but he had intensity and a charm as he circled to address the whole crowd as he sang. The performance was magic and he received applause at each chorus with the climax of the performance receiving a standing ovation.

Later in the park we watched two guys play hand made instruments. It was like a cross between cagon, violin, sitar and harp. I can’t remember the name of them just now but I’ll look them up. They sounded amazing. 1500 euro if you wanted the guy to make one. I’ll find the name and website and post it later.

Callum 

16/04/12

Day eight of the tour: Amsterdam/Haarlem, Monday.

After dodging a police chase on the motorway we arrived in central Amsterdam. We were about to go to a hostel in an extremely touristy area when we got a call from our home boy Terry Hosmos who asked if we would like to ‘jam with some gypsies’ and spend a couple of nights with him at his home; a squat in Haarlem. We drove straight there. Not really knowing what to expect we were more than pleasantly surprised. Terry had created a haven, he had just finished sectioning off his part of the building and had built a living room, bedroom, a beautifully serene garden and had just laid the floorboards to the kitchen (bathroom was a working progress.) Terry H took us upstairs to introduce us to his friend Pascal who kindly invited us to crash between his and Terry’s. Up this very, very steep stairway through a wee dark corridor we entered Pascal’s main room. It was, warm, inviting, full of relics from his past, art left behind by fellow squatters, surf boards on the ceiling, plants draped in the corner, his carpentry tools, instruments, a black and white cat Chubby and loads of comfy sofas with a big table and a tidy crate of beer…perfect!

First things first…supplies. Terry took us to the local coffee shop to sample some Cheese. Then off to the super market. Everyone was craving meat so pasta bolognaises and salad was on the menu. Callum and I ended up cooking the dinner fortunately we managed to pull it off and fed about 15 people. Was a bit touch and go for a bit cooking in the dark on some gas hobs but with bellies full the session started. More and more people poured in and with 5 guitar players, the banjo the bucket bass and Kai on the Cajon it was a brilliant session that last late into the night. The crème de la crème was defiantly Marie who to our surprise brought out a Saw; she played it beautifully and we were all mesmerised by the sound it made and also by her incredibly angelic voice. We never thought we would hear ‘Sleeping off ecstasy’ accompanied by a girl playing the saw.   

Bonanza Xx

17/04/12

Day nine of the tour: Amsterdam/Haarlem, Tuesday.

Arrived at the studio, no one there. Found a pub where the bar lady told us the radio/TV station had closed down two years ago (Sh*t). Luckily Terry had popped out to the van and was spotted by two guys crossing the road they took one look at him and asked, “Are you the Scottish?” Thank god we were in the right place. They set up an acoustic set (with the Hammond too) in the studio which was in the basement of the town hall. Thanks to the team of volunteers at the radio station it was a great session and the guys played great. There may have been a wee bit of difficulty understanding some of the Scottish accents but all in all it was a success. You can follow the interview links on our facebook.

Back at Terry H’s we learnt a lot about the Squatters community and their rights. It turns out that Holland looks after it’s squatters and they have rights and are protected by certain legislations. It was great hanging out with Terry and I think he was really proud to have a bunch of Dunbar younger generation musicians to stay for a few days and hang out with him and his friends.  

Bonanza Xx

18/04/12

Day ten of the tour: Amsterdam/Haarlem, Wednesday

Today has been a strange day for the band and this morning tensions were running a wee bit high, nothing in particular just a mixture of tiredness, maybe not enough food and maybe too much drink. It’s intense being with the same 7 people in a van for a month (well I think we’re on day 8 of our tour.)

It’s amazing how quickly your mood can change Club 8 was one of the best gigs the boys have done on the tour shame it was practically empty. Gill and Lawrence turned up in Amsterdam today which was lovely always great to see them and thank God as for this gig they were the bulk of the audience.

Terry H spent the day making an awesome Stagger Rats stencil for the van, it also ended up on his kitchen floor... 

Cheers Terry, big love!! 

Bonanza Xx

19/04/12

Day eleven of the tour: Amsterdam/Haarlem, Thursday.

4 in the bed and the little one said, “Oi that’s ma hand Craig!!!”

 We all awoke to another marvellous “Bonny special” breakfast, yummy!  Went into Amsterdam around half 3/4ish to get some busking done.  Bonny, Jimmy Jazz an Callum went to a lecture at the ‘Dam Uni about the Slovenian music scene or something, during which we played outside for an hour or so while Terry (Haarlem Terry) handed out some flyers for the gig this eve.  Nearly made a girl fall off her bike with my dulcet tones.  After busking, Haarlem Terry took us to an amazing wee bar called Café Belgique (the smallest bar in the Dam) where the beer was good and the tunes were better.  The DJ/barman was spinning some tidy beats. We met a group of high flying American pilots, older guys, in they’re 50’s, who fly on commercial air lines they were having a drink and a smoke… so that’s what pilots get up to in they’re spare time J En route to the gig at Bourbon Street music club there was a slight navigational error and we ended up stuck on the tram tracks, with one tram behind us and one in front, my oh my.  Police sirens didn’t help! :)  After we regained our bearings we still had a struggle to get the van to a good location for unloading, but eventually we got it sorted out and we were ready to play.  It was definitely an interesting evening, what with us having to play four forty min sets and only having material to fill around 2 hours.  The fact that oor Craig was a wee bit topsy-turvey added to that too.  But, through God’s good grace we pulled through.  Some whiskeys later Craig and I ended up seeing some of the local colour… then sharing a bed!! Bang Tidy!!

Enjoyed Amsterdam a bit too much I think, although there were no red lights’a Rollin!!              

Terence the terrier……. T-Bo…… x

14/04/12

Day 6 of the tour: Arras, Saturday.

Arras is a very grand French town, with beautiful main squares, an old Cathedral and some very grand surrounding buildings. When we arrived at The Blue Devil it was closed. We wondered around for a bit trying to find somewhere to stay but the youth hostel had closed down and the cheapest hotel was about 75 Euros a night. Luckily we met this friendly group of young French locals Patrick, Debora and Laura and they jumped in the van and took us to a cheap hostel out side town (10 Euros a night.) They were great we gave them an EP and invited them to the gig.

The Blue Devil was run by Hiver; an old Rocker who was obviously renowned for putting on live gigs. Our friends from earlier turned up with a gang and seemed to have a great time, they all bought t-shirts (big thanks goes out for that). The gig went down really well, the venue was small but it was filled with about 60 people. Every one of them was wearing a Stagger Rats badge. The Blue Devil looked after us well with cheese and ham toasties soaked in the local beer and free drinks till 6am. We had a great laugh. The fiery Sambukas were also in no shortage.

Stumbling out at about 6am Jazz (who had been asleep in the van all night) drove us back to our cosy hostel.  When I say cosy the first room had a double bed with a bunk above it Kai and Craig shared the double, Jazz was in the bunk. The second room had Daniel in the bunk, me and Callum in the double and Terry on the floor….Happy Families!!

Bonanza Xx

15/04/12

Day seven of the tour: Arras, Sunday.

We had a well deserved lie-in, some juicy hot dogs, a wee donder, some sight seeing, collected the equipment from last nights gig and we were off following our new friend Hiver on his massive Moto Guzzi to a gig he invited us to the night before, “The Jancee Pornick Casino” (check them  out on you tube.)


We walked into a converted shack, a biker hang out which was decorated from head to toe in biker memorabilia not to mention the hundreds of old dusty cowboy boots hanging from the ceiling. There was a log burning stove and a very relaxed friendly atmosphere. The gig was great the band were an interesting mix of Russian-American referred to as “The Rasputin’s of Rock”.

The Stagger Rats saved the day when the band realised there bass guitar was on the blink luckily Terry came to the rescue and lent Vladimir his bass which ended up in some Russian-Scottish style whisky drinking at the end of the night.

Bonanza Xx

Friday the 13th of April

The Day is Sunny the Beach is Long cont.


The Calais gig was horizontal. In the sense it was laid right back. After getting a bit of burn at the beach we headed back to Babel for a sound check. Our hosts Pierre and Polo were right on time with our dinner and we devoured the pizza that was served up.
The gig filled slowly. Too slowly if you ask me, to the point we were getting the fear no one would show. But soon enough it filled up. To our pleasant surprise a young chap called Tibo also turned up. We'd bumped into him that afternoon and told him he should come along. He started messing around with one of the guitars and it only turns out he's a bloody genius. We got him to play before us and he had everyone mesmerised. Just one young chap and my acoustic guitar taking you on a journey; DADGAD baby! I've not had a chance to check out his stuff online yet but here is the link:

http://www.myspace.com/TiboArticWorld

The Rats side of the bargain was pretty hazy from my point of view but the crack was good and the crowd was good and we all went back to a party and lived happily ever after.

Big thanks to Polo and Pierre at Babel and Julie for looking after us.

Callum

The Day is Sunny, The Beach is Long

         After the Barfly, we left Camden and ventured to West Sussex. We traveled down Spithandle Lane to Fair Oak Farm, Uncle Johnny Goring's house where we made camp for a couple of nights.  During the day we did a photo shoot round the grounds.  Terry got friendly with some large bulls, and we got some great shots round the barns.  Afterwards Uncle Johnny cooked us dinner; an exquisite meal of asparagus, fennel and cheese, followed by a bang tidy spicy rice ensemble (flavour flav).  Terry hadn't had fennel or asparagus before and he wasn't entirely sure if it was animal, mineral or vegetable. Terry's first comment regarding the Fennel had us in stitches, "So, is it like a big onion soaked in Sambuca?" Close enough for a boy from Falkirk.  The rest of the evening turned into a great session, with the boys cobbling new songs together.


Unfortunately we had to postpone the Paris gig due to technical difficulties, luckily our French connection Julie Barbier organised a gig at Babel Cafe Restaurant in Calais instead.
                 We set off Thursday morning bound for France via a P&O ferry.  We arrived around 5pm to the venue for the gig that night only to be told that we were a day early.  Doh!  However, Pierre and Polo invited us in for a drink and we negotiated an acoustic set for that night.  We had a relaxed evening of drink and chat until the band came on and stirred things up a bit.  The french crowd were loving it and it was a spicy taster for tomorrow night's full electric barnstormer.  After our impromptu show we headed back to our hostel with the mostel for the night.

                 Friday afternoon has been spent soaking up the sun on Calais beach. Kai, Craig and Terry braved the great Ocean and managed to dodge the tampons and dead rats.  Jimmy Jazz decided to teach the young chaps to play chess properly and they're learning slowly but surely.  Callum in particular was really rubbish and Danny Boy didn't fare much better.  Jazz rules OK.  That's all for now folks, the van needs unloaded.
Shabba.

Many of you have mentioned that you want to see the tour schedule - so here it goes:

Hope you can join us for some of them. If not, keep in touch with us here. xx

The shoe string tour begins. Gloss pennies all round!

We eventually left from church st. Dunbar, Reality, around 6.30pm. Arrived at fridgemasters grandpa, Rogers around 12.30 pm. There were many songs being sung including a random new number entitled 25p tae feed ma dug! classic that went on for some time in a comedy stylee.! with various harmonics and versus. bang tidy! It felt good to arrive somewhere, I drove the last 250 miles after a sterling effort from kai. Tho the thought of the rest of the boys lounging in the back drinking the cider dry obviously got to him, and he gained a well deserved rest.

I was glad Id made a tidy packed lunch(never leave home without a piece in your pocket) one of my own mothers great philosophies! so the last egg roll was scoffed for supper.

Theres a good vibration in the van, no stressfull vibes, I guess music and harmonies create good harmony.

Theres deffinately a sense of adventure in the air. We blessed the van with a can of guiness I also brought Cedric the seal(Church of gloss products) who nods his approval to us frequently whilst twitching his whiskers mystically.

I write this on the eve of the barfly gig, I get the feeling its going to be electric and really spark the first fiery tingles of this hot and spicy shoestring tour.

Jimmy Jazz

(chauffeur)

10th april shoestring tour(day 2)

The rats are out there nests, clean socks and vests. Easters on breakfast detail, tidy scran too. Not quite Burning Man spicy eggs and cactus(C.O.G. recipe book) but no ones complaining.

Shoestring trip to liddles for supplys. Kai and terry got excited to see 12 litres of cider on the front seat, with our cheese and bread. The mood in the camp is rising as the barfly gig draws closer. They begin tuning up in their own ways Terry on guitar and singing in the foyer and Daniel on out of tune funkadelic piano, in the lounge. Its great to wake up to live music played sweet in the morning, the honey is flowing and the rats are glowing.

Bonny bonanza has been working diligently in the kitchen getting our cheese sandwiches sorted for the journey into London.

Arrived early in Camden, went for a soundcheck which went well. Too good for Mr, Easter as he reckons good sound check, rubbish gig!

The barfly gig turned out to be a stunner, and very well received. The management are more than happy for the stagger rats to play there any time. resounding success and the band are very much on song. Bring on France and the next leg of this epic shoestring tour.