I think this whole time I've hardly written anything about our touring companion Nils Frahm. He is awesome. Annnnd wonderfully amazing at piano. Listen to his music here.
photo by M. Muller.
Takin notes and keepin tabs on the road with Balmorhea from 2008-2013. Check out the archive for Aisha's previous European and American tours.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
April 7 - Brussels, Belgium
I haven't the patience to recap the last couple of days, so you'll just have to use your imagination a bit. :)
Last night we played in Gent, Belgium, which turned out to be a really fun show. I was a little nervous about it after walking into the venue. It was small, and recalling the squished, sweaty, sardine-like nature of our show in Ghent in October, I wasn't convinced we'd fit without some sort of uncomfortable situation occurring. But it was fine. They pre-sold tickets, set out some chairs and we fit nicely. They also gave us all the Belgian beer we could want and more food than most of us could really eat. Twas great.
Someone made a comment about how each of my posts describes everything we eat and I hadn't realized until today how much I've had food on the brain this whole tour! I'm not sure what my deal is...But having a good stash of snacks and some sort of huge dinner has consumed me lately. I just found a grocery store a block away from our lunch spot at Snack Seven (I had this chicken wrap with french fries INSIDE of it. weird!). I bought a tiny jar of nutella to dress up all the bread we've been eating, and a little box of chocolate chip cookies. Anyway, that was a slight digression (this post apparently isn't going to be linear at all, my appologies). Last night the show was wonderful. Andrew did a great job of making a mediocre PA sound great, and I think we all played pretty well. A success, I'd say.
We split up by twos and stayed with people who organized/came to the show. It's nice sometimes to stay at someone's house instead of a hotel. When you're always together all the time, for me at least, it's fun to do something a little different and then feel excited when you see everyone again. The hospitality of people who've never met us will continually astound me. The people Nicole and I stayed with gave us dibs on this large box full of Easter chocolates. They also provided me with the most comfortable bed I've encountered in a week. We slept so well that we slept in. But downstairs was a table full of bread, croissants, juice and tea just waiting for the two of us. lovely.
(there I go with the food again...)
Ah gosh, I've written so much about nothing at all. As I'm writing, Nills is soundchecking and the venue is getting spruced up with all sorts of lights and chairs. Maybe someone will take a picture and I can post it. The place is sort of tucked away behind this old white brick wall that has ivy strands climbing over it. And this huge stretch of what looks like wooded roots is sprawled across the side of the building. Looks nice. We have a real piano tonight that's just been tuned. It's a sold out show. Should be good, I hope!
Tomorrow, we venture off to the UK on this.
-aisha
Last night we played in Gent, Belgium, which turned out to be a really fun show. I was a little nervous about it after walking into the venue. It was small, and recalling the squished, sweaty, sardine-like nature of our show in Ghent in October, I wasn't convinced we'd fit without some sort of uncomfortable situation occurring. But it was fine. They pre-sold tickets, set out some chairs and we fit nicely. They also gave us all the Belgian beer we could want and more food than most of us could really eat. Twas great.
Someone made a comment about how each of my posts describes everything we eat and I hadn't realized until today how much I've had food on the brain this whole tour! I'm not sure what my deal is...But having a good stash of snacks and some sort of huge dinner has consumed me lately. I just found a grocery store a block away from our lunch spot at Snack Seven (I had this chicken wrap with french fries INSIDE of it. weird!). I bought a tiny jar of nutella to dress up all the bread we've been eating, and a little box of chocolate chip cookies. Anyway, that was a slight digression (this post apparently isn't going to be linear at all, my appologies). Last night the show was wonderful. Andrew did a great job of making a mediocre PA sound great, and I think we all played pretty well. A success, I'd say.
We split up by twos and stayed with people who organized/came to the show. It's nice sometimes to stay at someone's house instead of a hotel. When you're always together all the time, for me at least, it's fun to do something a little different and then feel excited when you see everyone again. The hospitality of people who've never met us will continually astound me. The people Nicole and I stayed with gave us dibs on this large box full of Easter chocolates. They also provided me with the most comfortable bed I've encountered in a week. We slept so well that we slept in. But downstairs was a table full of bread, croissants, juice and tea just waiting for the two of us. lovely.
(there I go with the food again...)
Ah gosh, I've written so much about nothing at all. As I'm writing, Nills is soundchecking and the venue is getting spruced up with all sorts of lights and chairs. Maybe someone will take a picture and I can post it. The place is sort of tucked away behind this old white brick wall that has ivy strands climbing over it. And this huge stretch of what looks like wooded roots is sprawled across the side of the building. Looks nice. We have a real piano tonight that's just been tuned. It's a sold out show. Should be good, I hope!
Tomorrow, we venture off to the UK on this.
-aisha
From Amsterdam April 5
Beautiful photos from our show in Amsterdam!
http://milov.nl/photos/5141/balmorhea-at-paradiso-amsterdam
Courtesy of Milo Vermeulen
Sunday, April 4, 2010
April 4 - Ottersum, Netherlands
Well, we made it! Just 20 minutes after I dosed off to sleep, Kendall woke up me up with a few taps on the back, bright (well, dark) and early at 4:40am. We brushed our teeth, grabbed the box of food the venue left for us and piled into the van. It was fun to watch the world get light. From black to blue to a paler hue and so on through sunrise. I remember staring out through the window in that kind of stare that traps you and keeps you from turning away. I thought through a lot of things that have been running through my mind the past few weeks, months even (I love that touring gives me space for that). I thought then about writing them out. But then, in a careless mistake, I thought about sleeping and that was the end of it all.
There are few things I remember about that 6 hour drive. The sound of Michael laughing comes in pretty clear, however. He, Rob and Kendall stayed up the entire tiiiime. Insane! But someone had to keep the driver awake. Today definitely could've been some sort of commercial for the benefits of coffee drinking. I woke up to "Boy From School" by Hotchip commin through the speakers and Michael yelling that we were only 15 minutes away and almost in the Netherlands!
Our show was in what was once a monestary and is now a venue. This place is amazing. We played in what could've been the old chapel, huge stained glass windows, high white ceilings and a stage enclosed with blue curtains. Things went quite well. Andrew thinks its the best show yet. We drew an older crowd somehow, eighty-eight people total. Did another encore, yet again. This is crazy.
After the show, we went back to our greenroom and had dinner. And oh man, I'm not sure if you read my last post, but I've been ridiculously hungry. Annnnd I ate so, so much! There was chicken in some sort of curry sauce, kous kous with tomatoes, salad, and quiche! Quite the feast! I went back four times. Twas delicious.
I'm writing you now from the gals room in the B&B we're staying at in Germany. It's so awesome! We have the whole upstairs to ourselves, four bedrooms and a common room for us to roam. It's maybe one of the cutest places I've ever stayed. It's 8:40pm and all I want to do is go to bed. Sleeping for 5 hours in the van was lovely but definitely not enough. There was some sort of crazy bonfire/ party happening around the corner that I think the guys went to, but I'm in such an exhausted state that I don't realllly feel much like talking. I'm in a bit of a hiding mood and mostly unashamed of that. Think I'll take a shower, get into my pjs and curl up under the covers. :)
Amsterdam tomorrow!
There are few things I remember about that 6 hour drive. The sound of Michael laughing comes in pretty clear, however. He, Rob and Kendall stayed up the entire tiiiime. Insane! But someone had to keep the driver awake. Today definitely could've been some sort of commercial for the benefits of coffee drinking. I woke up to "Boy From School" by Hotchip commin through the speakers and Michael yelling that we were only 15 minutes away and almost in the Netherlands!
Our show was in what was once a monestary and is now a venue. This place is amazing. We played in what could've been the old chapel, huge stained glass windows, high white ceilings and a stage enclosed with blue curtains. Things went quite well. Andrew thinks its the best show yet. We drew an older crowd somehow, eighty-eight people total. Did another encore, yet again. This is crazy.
After the show, we went back to our greenroom and had dinner. And oh man, I'm not sure if you read my last post, but I've been ridiculously hungry. Annnnd I ate so, so much! There was chicken in some sort of curry sauce, kous kous with tomatoes, salad, and quiche! Quite the feast! I went back four times. Twas delicious.
I'm writing you now from the gals room in the B&B we're staying at in Germany. It's so awesome! We have the whole upstairs to ourselves, four bedrooms and a common room for us to roam. It's maybe one of the cutest places I've ever stayed. It's 8:40pm and all I want to do is go to bed. Sleeping for 5 hours in the van was lovely but definitely not enough. There was some sort of crazy bonfire/ party happening around the corner that I think the guys went to, but I'm in such an exhausted state that I don't realllly feel much like talking. I'm in a bit of a hiding mood and mostly unashamed of that. Think I'll take a shower, get into my pjs and curl up under the covers. :)
Amsterdam tomorrow!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Day 3 - April 3 - Rostock
There is probably a lot I could say, but all I want to say is that it's 2:30am and I'm laying on a top bunk while some terrible German version of a 90s grunge rock ballad is sadly creeping through the red, tagged walls around me. It's not alone though. It's keeping company with the voices of people who sound like they're conversing with their faces buried in pillows and the clanking of beer bottles being violently introduced to trash cans. silly. The backstage area of this venue has two rooms with bunk beds for the bands to stay in. As usual, Nicole and I are in what has become a gals room and the guys are across the hall. But just a few yards away is this troublesome bar, entertaining a drinking crowd. Not the best sleeping conditions.
Good thing I'm not planning on sleeping.
Somehow, in the wonders of booking, after headlining tonight's show, we are expected to be in the Netherlands by noon tomorrow, following what is no less than a 6 hour drive. This means that we have to leave here by 5am. The clock tells me it's 2:45am. My brain tells me I just might regret this, but I'm not sleepy in the slightest! We've been getting to bed so late, around 3 or 3:30 really. And I'm starving. We haven't really been eating lunch. I think we've been driving through lunch time, and arriving in town just in time for our load in and sound check. Our dinners have been pretty great but man, skipping that meal leaves my stomach screaming for something around midnight each night. So yeah, an empty stomach plus a bizarre internal clock is definitely keepin me from even attempting to sleep. Or even changing into my pajamas for that matter.
Anyway, enough griping. I'm not as uncomfortable as I sound, promise! The highlights of my day were as follows:
1) playing Nintendo on my computer (with a real controller!) today with Andrew and Travis.
2)a pretty filling breakfast served by a disgruntled indie looking German man
3)seeing a grown man walk down the street with a giant horse balloon floating in the air before him, tied to the zipper on his sweater.
4) oh yeah, and the show was pretty fun too :)
Good thing I'm not planning on sleeping.
Somehow, in the wonders of booking, after headlining tonight's show, we are expected to be in the Netherlands by noon tomorrow, following what is no less than a 6 hour drive. This means that we have to leave here by 5am. The clock tells me it's 2:45am. My brain tells me I just might regret this, but I'm not sleepy in the slightest! We've been getting to bed so late, around 3 or 3:30 really. And I'm starving. We haven't really been eating lunch. I think we've been driving through lunch time, and arriving in town just in time for our load in and sound check. Our dinners have been pretty great but man, skipping that meal leaves my stomach screaming for something around midnight each night. So yeah, an empty stomach plus a bizarre internal clock is definitely keepin me from even attempting to sleep. Or even changing into my pajamas for that matter.
Anyway, enough griping. I'm not as uncomfortable as I sound, promise! The highlights of my day were as follows:
1) playing Nintendo on my computer (with a real controller!) today with Andrew and Travis.
2)a pretty filling breakfast served by a disgruntled indie looking German man
3)seeing a grown man walk down the street with a giant horse balloon floating in the air before him, tied to the zipper on his sweater.
4) oh yeah, and the show was pretty fun too :)
Day 2 - April 2 - Berlin
Berlin!
Only a 2 hour drive today, which made for a nice slow wake up. Aside from my cold shower (guess that's what happens when 5 people get their act together before you do), the morning was great. Ralph, the guy we stayed with, made coffee and tea, toasted a basket full of bread, made some hard boiled eggs, and laid out plates of cheeses and dips for us all. So, so nice.
In Berlin we had about a half hour to sight see. We took a walk along the east side of the Berlin wall, bordering the river. I'd never seen it up close and was momentarily astonished by how short it was. It seemed so easy to climb over, but then I remembered that the height of a wall so heavily and explosively guarded is irrelevant. It's a work of art now. Each panel is completely painted over and stylistically independent of the one before it. It's quite the mosaic now, and draws probably hundreds of people daily who stop by just in front to get their picture taken. It's nice when things like that get turned into something beautiful.
Later we took a stroll through a Turkish neighborhood and stopped at a Turkish bakery where I was hit by a German bird! Yes, a bird. Please, do me a favor and try to recall the last time a tiny little bird miscalculated and sailed straight into you. I remember looking down and thinking, oh hey, look at those little guys, they're cute. And then right in the middle of my stride, about 10 seconds later, I felt this semi-forceful thud right into my shin! And then the little guy flew off. what. the. heck.
Our green room was stocked with water and beer, a basket of bread, and plates of cheeses, vegetables and fruit. Oh and a Sega Genesis with a tower of games. Really there was absolutely no reason for me to write anything about the green room, I just liked that someone put a Sega in there...
Tonight was our first show with in-ear monitors for the strings. It's tricky to get used to, but I think things went well. We got another double encore. It's crazy out here in that way. People love their encores. We tip toed through the mess of chords and hopped off the stage into this teeny tiny stairwell that was definitely not large enough for the six of us. Awkwardly close, we paused with the door slightly open (funny), because if it closed it might've locked, and then returned. Our newest untitled song is coming together quite well. And where it used to completely terrify me (in that it is so energetic and there's so much quick movement, it seems as though it could almost explode), I keep catching myself grinning in the middle of it. It's one of my favorites now, without a doubt.
After the show, we took a walk with all of our bags to a hostel 10 minutes away. It's sure nice when housing is free but it's even nicer when its not full of blaring 80s music till 4am...
Next stop, Rostock.
Only a 2 hour drive today, which made for a nice slow wake up. Aside from my cold shower (guess that's what happens when 5 people get their act together before you do), the morning was great. Ralph, the guy we stayed with, made coffee and tea, toasted a basket full of bread, made some hard boiled eggs, and laid out plates of cheeses and dips for us all. So, so nice.
In Berlin we had about a half hour to sight see. We took a walk along the east side of the Berlin wall, bordering the river. I'd never seen it up close and was momentarily astonished by how short it was. It seemed so easy to climb over, but then I remembered that the height of a wall so heavily and explosively guarded is irrelevant. It's a work of art now. Each panel is completely painted over and stylistically independent of the one before it. It's quite the mosaic now, and draws probably hundreds of people daily who stop by just in front to get their picture taken. It's nice when things like that get turned into something beautiful.
Later we took a stroll through a Turkish neighborhood and stopped at a Turkish bakery where I was hit by a German bird! Yes, a bird. Please, do me a favor and try to recall the last time a tiny little bird miscalculated and sailed straight into you. I remember looking down and thinking, oh hey, look at those little guys, they're cute. And then right in the middle of my stride, about 10 seconds later, I felt this semi-forceful thud right into my shin! And then the little guy flew off. what. the. heck.
Our green room was stocked with water and beer, a basket of bread, and plates of cheeses, vegetables and fruit. Oh and a Sega Genesis with a tower of games. Really there was absolutely no reason for me to write anything about the green room, I just liked that someone put a Sega in there...
Tonight was our first show with in-ear monitors for the strings. It's tricky to get used to, but I think things went well. We got another double encore. It's crazy out here in that way. People love their encores. We tip toed through the mess of chords and hopped off the stage into this teeny tiny stairwell that was definitely not large enough for the six of us. Awkwardly close, we paused with the door slightly open (funny), because if it closed it might've locked, and then returned. Our newest untitled song is coming together quite well. And where it used to completely terrify me (in that it is so energetic and there's so much quick movement, it seems as though it could almost explode), I keep catching myself grinning in the middle of it. It's one of my favorites now, without a doubt.
After the show, we took a walk with all of our bags to a hostel 10 minutes away. It's sure nice when housing is free but it's even nicer when its not full of blaring 80s music till 4am...
Next stop, Rostock.
Europe Tour III - Day 1
Day 1
(Sidenote: I wrote this days ago and just now realized I never posted it. whoops...enjoy)
We just finished the longest day ever. I first woke up Wednesday at 7:40am, central time. Got on a plane at 11:40am, flew to Dallas. Then sat down on a plane in Dallas, set to take us to Frankfurt Germany at 2:15pm. Then began the great sleeping fest. I woke up only to eat some lunch. Then slept again...for 6 hours (That's the kind of in-flight sleep that happens only after staying up till you're falling asleep while at a computer finishing your taxes at 6am). After a couple hours of flying and some mystery chicken in strange gravy amidst some sort of mashed potato substance, we landed in Germany. And suddenly I was forced to pretend that there really are only 9 hours from a Wednesday afternoon to 7:30am on a Thursday morning. awesome.
Lets skip all the driving and surprise mini snow falls to our arrival in Hannover, Germany. Finekost Lampe, was the venue. It's a small place, run by two of the friendliest people I've ever met. The inside feels like a cozy living room, couch seating, low ceilings and dim lighting by way of many many lamps. Here we met our new friend Greg, who opened for us and will catch a ride with us back to his home in Berlin. The owners made us dinner and shoved Club Matte into our hands. I think about half of us are obsessed with this bottled mystery caffeinated drink. It's some sort of tea-lemonade fusion that's pretty delicious. But it's only in Germany! so we're takin it while we can. Anyway, the show! So, so nice. Our set went pretty well--sold out crowd, double encore, a few questionable moments, but mostly really, really fun. Few times have I been a part of a room so crowded.
Afterward, we hung around and sold some merch, signed some things. Michael did one of his incredible van parking moves and somehow squeezed our 8 seater Sprinter through a path with only inches of breathing room. such skill! We spend the night with a man named Ralph, who we stayed with a year ago. He seemed to like us pretty well. He's had probably hundreds of bands stay in his home. I think we all got beds and pillows and some internet time, and awoke this morning to a mini breakfast buffet of breads, cheeses, eggs, fruit, coffee and teas. Now we're in the van, most of us in headphone land, leaving things quite silent and me on the verge of sleep again. Feels good to have the German countryside filling my windows. Next stop, Berlin!
-aisha
(Sidenote: I wrote this days ago and just now realized I never posted it. whoops...enjoy)
We just finished the longest day ever. I first woke up Wednesday at 7:40am, central time. Got on a plane at 11:40am, flew to Dallas. Then sat down on a plane in Dallas, set to take us to Frankfurt Germany at 2:15pm. Then began the great sleeping fest. I woke up only to eat some lunch. Then slept again...for 6 hours (That's the kind of in-flight sleep that happens only after staying up till you're falling asleep while at a computer finishing your taxes at 6am). After a couple hours of flying and some mystery chicken in strange gravy amidst some sort of mashed potato substance, we landed in Germany. And suddenly I was forced to pretend that there really are only 9 hours from a Wednesday afternoon to 7:30am on a Thursday morning. awesome.
Lets skip all the driving and surprise mini snow falls to our arrival in Hannover, Germany. Finekost Lampe, was the venue. It's a small place, run by two of the friendliest people I've ever met. The inside feels like a cozy living room, couch seating, low ceilings and dim lighting by way of many many lamps. Here we met our new friend Greg, who opened for us and will catch a ride with us back to his home in Berlin. The owners made us dinner and shoved Club Matte into our hands. I think about half of us are obsessed with this bottled mystery caffeinated drink. It's some sort of tea-lemonade fusion that's pretty delicious. But it's only in Germany! so we're takin it while we can. Anyway, the show! So, so nice. Our set went pretty well--sold out crowd, double encore, a few questionable moments, but mostly really, really fun. Few times have I been a part of a room so crowded.
Afterward, we hung around and sold some merch, signed some things. Michael did one of his incredible van parking moves and somehow squeezed our 8 seater Sprinter through a path with only inches of breathing room. such skill! We spend the night with a man named Ralph, who we stayed with a year ago. He seemed to like us pretty well. He's had probably hundreds of bands stay in his home. I think we all got beds and pillows and some internet time, and awoke this morning to a mini breakfast buffet of breads, cheeses, eggs, fruit, coffee and teas. Now we're in the van, most of us in headphone land, leaving things quite silent and me on the verge of sleep again. Feels good to have the German countryside filling my windows. Next stop, Berlin!
-aisha
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