Ravenna, Italy

Ciao!

We've only been gone for just over a week and already I am sick. It doesn't seem to be too bad, though. Maybe just a cold. But in the past three hours or so I've had 2.5 bottles of water, 1 tall glass of orange juice, 3 tea cups of Echinacea, fruit, veggies and a Sudafed. Lets hope I'm ambling down the path to a speedy recovery!

Tonight will be our last show in Italy. The town, Ravenna, is small and Industrial, but (a fact for the pack of trivia fiends I know) this is the town where Dante died and was buried. That's the big tourist attraction for this place, along with a music festival that occurs in the summer, right at the beach. The venue I'm writing you from is pretty nice. big stage. great sound. a greenroom bountiful with fancy cheese, fruit, tea, beer, meats, breads, some strange cheetoh thing that Travis kept throwing into people's mouths. Hope the show is swell! Things have been sounding pretty good these days.

Ok. I'm off to find a real bathroom. This is the second venue in a row where the bathroom consists of a porcelin hole in the ground... !? You have to squat! Everyone. Even ladies. not cool. not fun. I walked to a bar down the road last night with Dylan and Kendal, and bought everyone a drink, all for the sake of a real, legit toilet. Italy, I love your red wine. And your hearty dinners. But gosh, someone explain the lack of a seat!

Slovenia

Slovenia

backstage- Slovenia

Photos: Poland

Wednesday - Rome show!

! I think it finally may have just set in that we just played in Rome. Rome!! Things are so old here! haha. And the streets are incredibly narrow. Never before have I wished for the vehicle containing my body to morph into a smart car. This is why I will never drive the van in Europe.

We travel around in this behemoth of a van and have to shimmy down streets made for pixies. We (and no joke here) literally drove through one of the archways of an ancient Roman Aqueduct... !! An Aqueduct!! Why are there even roads through those? One wrong turn or slip of the hand and boom, there goes ages and ages of history! AGH! But I guess when a city this ancient grows this large, you have to forge the new right up against the very, very, VERY old.


We arrived safe and sound, thanks to Michael's skilled maneuvering (no thanks to the crazy, erratic Italian drivers). And after one of the longest, most frustrating soundchecks of my life (but really, any sound check that delays dinner becomes quickly frustrating...), we got to play a really, really fun show. I'm not sure that I'd say it was better than last night's performance in Carpi (we've been recording our shows and critiquing them), but my gosh the energy was awesome. I'd say this was our biggest European crowd yet! Maybe 250? No se. The crowd went back pretty darn far. And they were so excited!

We played our encore, then headed out to the merch booth were we sold (and autographed) an unbelievable amount of records! Twas pretty incredible! I am still blown away when people react like this, so warm and gracious and thrilled. It was awesome. Then I thought of how much the way you feel about a performance hinges on the crowd's reaction to it all. You could play some strange things, but if after walking down from that stage to mingle with people who couldn't be more pleased and ecstatic, you can't help but feel like you've done something right.


Our promoters fed us a great dinner with a feast of backstage breads, fine cheeses, fruits, crackers, and wine. And now, we're all nestled into the hotel they booked us for the night. Europe definitely does it right. It's 3am and finally feels like bedtime. Kendall just turned in. Dylan's watchin movies I believe. And I'm here in my little Ish corner, interneting like a mad woman. Life as the only girl on the road ain't half bad, if you were wondering.

till next time,
-aisha

Recap! Monday - Ljubljana, Slovenia

Alright friends, time for a little update!

I'm not quite sure where to start but lets rewind to Monday in Slovenia, just for fun. First day off! woo! We slept in, quiiiite nicely. ...too nicely, really. We were supposed to meet our promoter, Rok, for lunch at 1pm...however, I was the first to wake up, falling out of bed at 12:30, and completely oblivious to our meeting time.. whoops. Wasn't until I felt that weird feeling you get when you think you're supposed to be somewhere that I decided to walk down to the venue and see if he or the other Balms were there. Turns out everyone slept in but me. But hey, sleeping 11 hours after driving through the night--i should expect nothing less!

Anyhow, we had a great, relaxed day. Ate some Falafel (twice), hung out at a coffee shop where we met an American working in Ljubljana as a bee keeper! crazy. Large rolls of colorful tape hung from the walls of this place, which were filled with patron's little creations. kinda fun. Trav and Kendall left a little Balm trace for all to see.

Later that night, we sat down with Rok, our promoter, and Samo, a man who helped with the production of the show. This guy was pretty cool! The boys spurred what became a contemporary Slovenian history lesson for us all. In the middle of that, he fell into the story of the venue we played at just the night before. It was one of four or so buildings on the edge of a small courtyard. The outsides were covered in graffiti art and eerie, obscure sculptures. For you austin kids, from the outside, it had the feel of the 21st st. co-op, but was a space run by artists. In the early 90s, Slovenian artists squatted these buildings, which were once military strongholds.

The city government however, wasn't too keen on this. They spied on the property, searching for every opportunity to out the squatters, not stopping short of cutting of the electricity and water. But Samo, ha, Samo, he was the one who found a way to steal electricity from near by towers. He was also the one to run out in the middle of the night and turn the water back on after the cops shut it off, only to run out again the next night and do it all again.

This went on for a year and a half, the creatives fighting to keep this public space. And eventually, the city gave in. The artists (dancers, musicians, painters etc) were permitted to stay, hassle free. And since then, the area has been a hub for the arts in Ljubljana. The club hosts shows throughout each week and cooks a mean vegan dinner for its bands.

awesome.

If I remember correctly we stayed up way too late. Our bodies don't really know what to do since we drove through the night a few days ago. It's currently 2:40am. I've given up on trying to sleep any sooner. Today was swell. I'll tell you all about it soon! Check out Slovenia if you ever get the chance!

-aisha

Wed. Rome

Just played an awesome show in rome!!! Woo!!!

Sunday - Slovenia

Im typing on a keyboard that has things in weird places. i gave up trying to log into facebook because i dont understand why pushing shift followed by the q which holds the key to the "at" button does not in fact type the at sign. there will also be no apostrophes in this message because i just dont know how. Anyhow, we did the craziest thing yesterday. We played a show in poland to an underground room packed with 50 people resting in living room furniture. it was the closest ive been to the audience. one man was literally 4inches from my foot, and andrew had audience members siting beside him at the mixing board.

then. then, ha. we drove. ..and drove some more.

...and more even still.

12 hours of driving.

Slovenia is far, far away. rob drove the entire way. the rest of us, aside from mike, tried our hardest to sleep but failed horribly. i watched the sky grow lighter and lighter until we finally arrived at this venue for tonight. feels like an artist co-op, made of mulitple buildings. 11:30am. we spilled out of the van like zombies and wandered our way up to a freezing little room with 7 tiny mattresses.

crazy.

but after sleeping 2 hours there and 5 more at our hostel we were refreshed and ready for what would be the best sounding show we ve ever played. it sounded awesome. andrew brought along a mic for the violin that is blowing my mind. FINALLY, the amplified tone of my instrument sounds like what a violin really sounds like!!

fun times.

its 1 am. we are in great spirits, but ready to sleep. we figured out that since leaving on tuesday, we have only had 2 nights of sleep. ...!! that..is..ridiculous. i am ready for a bed. much needed day off tomorrow!

-aisha

Day 2 - 1st show!

I'm writing from my iPod touch so forgive me for the brevity! At some point I will explain why travis' bass didn't get on the plane and why half of the boys spent our evening off driving 5 hours to go 20 km. But until I get to type with all 10 fingers, you'll just have to wait and wonder and choose your own adventure. Do it. It's good for you. :)

today we drove for quite some time. Took us 4 hours to do a drive that shouldve been 2.5. Ugh. Poland, how do u shut down a major highway and provide only 1 detour lane? Anyway, we were very late, and in turn extremely rushed. Soundcheck was fast. It was the first time many of us had played since the begining of the week. Felt weird to me! But I think we did pretty swell. Double enchore!

It's nearly 2 am and we just got back to our hostel. Our promoters took us out to a underground bar (literally), which was entirely unmarked, save for the little red door. Good people, the promoters. It's so refreshing and exciting to be around ppl who work in music and love the art itself more than the bottom line. America, you've got a lot of catching up to do.

Anyhow, perhaps it's time for bed. We are all in bunk beds in one little room! You guys know how much I like camp Balmorhea! Haha. Ok.
Signing off frm poznan Poland ,
Aisha

We have arrived!

I'm posting from the van! I'm posting from the van!

We are in Berlin on our way to pick up dylan and andrew from the airport. Oh what a day we've had already. ...it's fun when you get to the airport and your airline refuses to fly your double bass to europe...(!)

it's cold as heck and we're flyin by the seat of our pants here, but hey, at least theres free wifi in the van... :)

more later!

-Aisha

Pre-Tour All Nighter

It is 5:56am, and I am sitting at my computer next to this adorable little dog who, unlike myself, can barely keep his eyes open. Forty minutes ago he abandoned his bed to follow me mindlessly around the apartment: to the kitchen to get some water, to the bedroom to internet (yup. its a verb), back to the kitchen because I forgot the glass of water on the counter. Everywhere I go, he replants himself. He lays chest down on the floor staring at me because not only am I keeping him awake (somehow), but I am boring him. Writing things. Typing things. Ignoring the braided rope-like toy he keeps dangling at my feet. And after the shortest bit of time, his Puggish eyes slowly droop down to a close. It is the cutest thing.

I, on the other hand, am wide awake. All it took was one long 2am shower and some OCD-style apartment cleaning, and I'll be watching the sunrise in no time! This is the game I play before every European Tour, starving myself of sleep in hopes that I'll hibernate on the plane in a pseudo night's rest and wake up just before landing jet lag free! Works like a charm. ...However, we are driving to Dallas this time around which has upped the ante to challenge mode, as there are few things better than an early morning 3 hour car ride to lull you to sleep.

crap...

WELL--I've made it this far. Rob and Mike (Rike? Mob?..I'll work on this) will be here to pick me up in an hour and half. Bag's all packed! I'm ready to go! Fourth time to Europe in a year and half (At what point do we just invest in a house there?). Austin friends: See you in a month! European buddies: Here we come!

Europe: Round FOUR

That's right. It's that time again. Get ready for some tales...

s c h e d u l e

October 22
Kontenerart
Poznan, Poland

October 23
Pod Baszta
Ostrzeszow, Poland

October 24
Menza Pri Koritu
Ljubljana, Slovenia

October 26
Mattatoio
Carpi, Italy

October 27
Init
Rome, Italy

October 28
Teatro La Claque
Genova, Italy

October 29
Tetris
Trieste, Italy

October 30
Bronson
Ravenna, Italy

November 3
Cafe Del Teatre
Lleida, Spain

November 4
Lopez
Zaragoza, Spain

November 5
Jazz Cava
Vic, Spain

November 6
Cafe Pop Torgal
Ourense, Spain

November 7
La Iguana
Vigo, Spain

November 8
Sala Berlin
Zamora, Spain

November 9
La Boite
Madrid, Spain

November 11
Le Colisee
Colmar, France

November 12
Sint-Elisabethkerk
Gent, Belgium

November 14
Tivoli
Utrecht, The Netherlands

November 15
Steinbruch
Duisburg, Germany

November 16
Haus 73 Saal
Hamburg, Germany

November 17
Stubnitz
Rostock, Germany

November 18
Nato
Leipzig, Germany