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Yesterday was dope!

After the Steak Tartar debacle, I was a bit hesitant to declare victory here in Lille, but last night's show compensated for any seeds of doubt that lunch may have planted.

We left the hotel around 5, walked the mile or so to Ali's spot, and hopped in the van with the French promoter who had graciously offered to meet us at the hotel and show us to the venue. As we neared the club, I began to recognize our surroundings, noting that we were drawing close to the canal next to which I had taken my morning run. Tour manager Mat made an offhand comment as we passed a stationary river boat, but I take much note…nor did I think it particularly odd when Ali started reminiscing about a boat that he, Slug, and Ant had played on in Paris several years ago. Nothing more than your average tall of days gone by, right? Ha.

Last night, we played rap music. On a boat. In Lille, France.

Mat parked the van in a parking lot adjacent to the canal, which happened to be right next to a traveling circus that was setting up shop for its first night, and we began loading our gear into the rear of the boat. Crossing a small ramp that led us into the back of the floating venue, I've never had to worry about dropping a keyboard into a body of water as acutely as I did yesterday. 

Dropping-gear-in-water concerns aside, set-up went very smoothly, and I was pleasantly surprised at the power and clarity of the physically diminutive sound system. Apparently France, along with a number of other European Union countries, imposes a decibel limit on live venues in an attempt to limit the amount of damage inflicted on patron's sensitive ears. Noble, and probably a very, very wise regulatory act, but I was a bit concerned that our live show would suffer due to the decrease in volume. Thankfully, the combination of a tightly enclosed boat cabin that was partially under water and a sound system that had been tuned specifically for the room, created an almost ideal environment for both playing and listening. Oh, and did I mention ha the green room was housed in the captain's quarters? Nothing like drinking a beer backstage…next to a giant steering wheel.

Shortly after soundcheck, the promoter led us across the street to a local restaurant that had closed off a small portion of the restaurant in anticipation of our arrival. So unbelievably unexpected. The reverence for art and music that we first experienced last week in Scandinavia is, quite apparently, not limited to the Northern countries. Acknowledging the danger in making sweeping, generalized statements like this, it's pretty clear that the general European attitude towards the fine arts is VASTLY different than that of the United States. The level of respect and hospitality that we've experienced as underground hip-hop artists  is truly eye opening. Top-tier artists in the states are certainly treated well (above and beyond anything we've ever experienced, at home or abroad), but it often seems as if that treatment is sourced from a desire for spectacle more so than it is from true love and appreciation for music and art as a fundamental aspect of a well rounded society. I digress!

Dinner was incredible, with perfectly cooked salmon on a bed of roasted potatoes, local wine, and an incredibly elaborate marble slab of creme brulee to top it off. The promoter and club folks left us halfway through dinner to head back to the venue and get ready to open doors…I was a little concerned that they were planning on sticking us with the bill and floating the boat down the river with all of our equipment and belongings on board, some kind of massive French joke on the ignorant foreigners…thankfully the boat was still there when we returned, and was damn near packed with folks ready for the show.

At 8:40 sharp, Grieves and I took the stage. I walked up to the computer that houses the software that acts as the main foundation of our live show, woke it from sleep, and was treated to a system crash. Great. It would have been more than salvageable had the sound engineer not taken our presence on stage as a sign to cut the house music and turn on a couple of spotlights that were directed right at our shining faces. Great. What followed was, without question, the most awkward beginning to a set we've ever stewarded. Grieves did his best to maintain keep the crowd's attention, but had a bit of a hard time with his trademark whale joke…something about the language barrier made it tough to translate the lengthy whale calls that function as the core instrument of humor, I suppose. In his defense, I wasn't giving him much to work with, scrambling around trying to get my computer back online, re-attaching USB cables, and trying to get a stubborn MIDI controller to get back in line. It was not our finest moment.

Technical problems aside, we managed to get everything back online, and proceeded to knock out a damn good set. The crowd was incredible, and a couple of folks seemed to know who we were, calling out for Smile For the Blade halfway through the set. Whoa!

Side note: One of the biggest problems with playing a show on a small boat? The smell. Sure, there's inevitable funk that comes part and parcel with a bunch of people dancing together in a small enclosed space, but the boat and dirty river added an element of ocean funk to the already pungent human funk…it was not pleasant at all.

Ali and BK delivered yet another incredibly energetic and professional set. Ali has such incredible command of the audience, it's 

The show over and done with, Grieves and I ventured out with a couple of folks from the audience who offered to show us around town. Good idea? Sort of. Terrible idea? Definitely.

After 45 minutes of confused navigation through the vacant streets of Lille, we found ourselves at "OZ", Lille's only Australian bar. Great. The company was good, save for a uncomfortably friendly Irish fellow by named Collum who insisted on buying drink after drink after drink for us, leaving the original 4 of us at the table in a rather sorry state of awareness by the time the shuffled us out of the bar at 2:30am. Aside from Collum's unsolicited presence, however, the night was a good one…with a lot of broken french-english-portuguese spoken, mis-interpreted, and explained in pictures. It's really amazing to be in a place where English is not freely spoken, and where making yourself understand and, in turn, understanding people that are trying their best to communicate with you, is not a foregone conclusion.

After last call, we made our way back into the streets of Lille, walked ourselves home to the Suitehotel! and climbed into bed for a couple hours of sleep before this morning's van call to Belfort. Due to the festival restrictions, Grieves and I weren't supposed to have a set tonight, but thanks to a last minute cancellation we have 45 minutes to rock in front of a festival crowd!

More tomorrow!!

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Yesterday was another travel day, spent heading Southwest from Hamburg to Lille. The drive took us through 4 countries, originating in Germany, briefly crossing through Belgium and Holland, finally arriving at our French destination relatively late in the evening. Save for a brief, and somewhat bizarre, stop at a Dutch gas station, I didn't get the opportunity to see any significant part of Holland or Belgium. A shame, as those are two countries that I'm certainly curious to explore a bit. Next time, next time.

The drive itself was about as uneventful as it could have been. We left Hamburg at noon. Drove for about 9 hours. Arrived in Lille. We did have a chance to spend the lunch hour at a German travel stop, which provided a bit of entertainment as we noted that the bathrooms required a .50 Euro deposit, the lunch buffet provided more than ample amounts of both red wine and Jagermeister (two ingredients not normally suggested for those taking a quick break from a long drive), and the gift shop had a wide selection of Che Guevara-adorned apparel…Nothing like a "Viva La Revolucion!" cap to give purpose to that long haul from Berlin to Dresden….

Grieves and I are staying at a different hotel than the rest of the folks, and while we had grand plans to venture out into the town after checking-in, we quickly realized that the night was more appropriately suited to hotel beat-making and, in my case, a cup of weird pureed mushroom soup. 

I woke up at the oh-so-early hour of 11:30am today, threw on my running clothes, and headed towards the city center. From what I was able to see, Lille is a pretty amazing little town, with an old, centrally located cathedral, tons of winding cobblestone streets, lined with little shops, bakeries, and restaurants. I'm excited to get a good meal and relax for a bit before our 5pm load in for the show this evening. After 3 days off, it will be nice to get back on a stage, and I'm super curious to see how the French crowds react to our music!

Side note:

Grieves and I just ventured into Lille's downtown area for lunch. He ordered Steak Tartar. Confidently. The waiter seemed a little hesitant, awkwardly asking Grieves if he knew that the dish was served cold. Seemingly undeterred, Grieves waved him on. Several minutes later, a plate containing small piles each of chopped raw onion, capers, and parsley, all surrounding a massive heap of raw ground beef with a raw egg on top, was placed on the table. Grieves tried his bet to remain calm but, several bites into the dish he sheepishly admitted that he thought he was ordering a well cooked steak complemented by tartar sauce. Whoops. 

To his credit, he tried his best to choke down a couple of bites, but it quickly became pretty clear that he wasn't prepared to make any sort of appreciable headway. Raw beef: 1 Grieves: 0. We then walked around Lille for a bit, exploring the myriad shoe stores, patisseries, and wine shops that the town has to offer. Wide streets, lots of trees, hatchback cars, and folks that don't speak a word of English. The change in the number of folks that speak English out here, especially relative to the Scandinavian countries, is pretty striking. As confusing as it may be, there's something incredible about being in a country where you really truly have to work to make yourself understood, and where, in turn, being understood is not a foregone conclusion. 

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Yesterday was a long travel day, though due to the fact that it was broken up into 3 different "mini-journeys", it didn't feel quite as long as it should have.

After a relatively leisurely 11am check-out from the Comfort Inn in Stavanger, we piled into the van and headed south towards Kristiensand. The 3 hour drive was relatively uneventful, with a couple of folks climbing into the bunk behind the passenger cabin to get a bit of extra sleep. 

We arrived in Kristiensand at around 3:45, with about 45 minutes to spare before boarding the Colorline Ferry to Denmark. I had fond memories of the Colorline, an was oddly excited to be re-united with the hulking mass of a vessel. During the year that we spent living in Bergen, Norway, my family and I traveled via ferry to the United Kingdom to visit my father's family. The Kristiensand - Edinburgh route was a bit more of an ordeal than yesterday's 3 1/2 journey, and the 20-or-so hours we had to spend on the Scotland-bound boat allowed for an early introduction to the wonders of slot-machines and duty-free shopping. Looking back on it, it seems pretty bizarre that a 10 year old child was allowed free reign around such instruments of vice, but it seemed pretty damn logical at the time. I recall winning enough Norwegian crowns to buy a nice Swatch watch, while my younger brother, who couldn't have been older than 5 or 6 at the time, somehow accurately guessed the weight of a rather large salmon that had been on display. The prize for such precision? The fish itself, which proceeded to defrost itself while sitting inches above our heads in the back seat of my dad's SAAB as we drove South towards Liverpool. By the time we reached the Mersey, the entire car reeked of rotting fish. Winning ain't easy, folks.

I digress.

We boarded the boat at 4:30, and settled into a 3 1/2 hour ride that included a healthy dose of terrible ferry food, some nips from a duty free bottle of Aquavit, and curious attention of what seemed like thousands of small children, running free around the cabin. We, for some reason, decided to set up shop right next to the "Kid's Movie Area", which was a small room with large glass windows, a movie scree, and a couple of pathetic looking toys. Filled to the brim with children eager to take in the cartoon on the screen, the unmistakable smell of human shit began to waft out of the doors in increasingly concentrated doses. I suppose the excitement of cartoons was a bit too much for their young bowels to handle? Whatever the case, unable to deal with the smell much longer, Grieves, Ian, and I retired to the outside deck. The sun was beginning to set, and the open sea was exceptionally beautiful. 

The ferry docked in Denmark, and we re-boarded the van in anticipation of the final 6 hours of travel to Hamburg, Germany. I staked out a bit of space in the bunk for myself, and managed to get a couple of hours of strange sleep before climbing back down to the passenger area for the last couple of hours of driving. Ali, BK, and I sat and talked for a while about the general state of underground Hip-Hop. I know I've said it before, but it's such an incredible honor to be able to spend time with with these guys and, most importantly, to learn from their incredible experiences and unique insight. I'm a lucky dude.

We pulled into Hamburg around 1am, stumbling into the "E-Tap" hotel and heading upstairs to try and get some rest. E-Tap's are, apparently, a Europe-wide chain, renowned for the odd placement of their in-room shower. It's in the middle of the fucking bedroom. Also, it seems as if European hotels, and perhaps Europeans in general, have a bizarre aversion to Shampoo. No judgement here, but it is a bit…curious. 

I woke up a bit early this morning, and took the opportunity to take a long run through downtown Hamburg. I've never been to Germany before, and it was cool to take a bit of time to explore a truly foreign place. A weeeee bit dirtier than its Scandinavian counterparts, Hamburg still had the unmistakable feel of a city rich with history, art, and distinct culture. My run took me past a carnival that was in some middle stage of con/de-struction, through a couple of city parks, and into the center of commerce, which was lined by a series of small lakes and canals that were filled with gondolas and other small vessels. So damn cool!

After returning to the hotel, Grieves and I enjoyed yet another incredible, and free, hotel breakfast. What these places lack in shampoo, they more than make up for in complimentary food. Nice cheese, Nutella, fresh fruit, good coffee. Not bad at all. Finishing breakfast left me with about an hour of free time, which I spent walking around the area near our hotel…which also happened to be something resembling a Red Light district. Even more depressing during the day than I imagine it to be after the sun goes down, I trekked my way past numerous sex shops until had reached the markedly more picturesque waterfront area. An hour well spent.

Back in the van now, heading towards Lille, France, which looks to be a mid-size city based around a university, and with a pretty vibrant arts scene. We have another travel day today, followed by our first French show tomorrow night!

Grieves and I have been brainstorming ideas for new music, and I'm in what feels like a pretty creative space these days. I've spent a bit of time over the past few days working on some new songs, and I'm feeling pretty excited about the direction their taking. New scenery…new sounds…and the fact that I've been listening to The Refused on repeat isn't hurting the process.

Until tomorrow!

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Staring out the window of this Etap hotel in downtown Hamburg, it's hard to imagine that I'll be in Austin, Texas next week...but I will! Here's a bit more info on one of the official showcases we have lined up. Keep in mind that you'll need a wristband to get into this one:

We'll be playing on the main stage at Emo's with the following lineup:

7:15-7:45 – Grieves w/ Budo

7:45-8:15 - YelaWolf

8:15-8:45 - Fashawn

8:45-9:15 – Evidence w/ DJ Babu

9:15-9:45 - Blue Scholars

9:45-10:15 - Wiz Khalifa

10:15 -10:45 -Freeway & Jake One

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