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
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