Gig 9: Tuesday Night 6th Sep - 'Dreikonigskeller' in Frankfurt

Well, it's been a while since I've had a chance to update, but better late than never :). So we made our long drive back, about 5 & a bit hours, to Frankfurt to return our tour van and prepare for our following days flight to Spain. But before we do it's a chance for one final show in Germany, so our good friend Bernd from the 'Jungle Tigers' hooked us up with a little venue in Frankfurt called 'Dreikonigskeller' ( which stands for 'Three Kings Cellar' ) and we arrive in the early evening to setup.

Down a little alley we are eventually greeted by a large ominous figure worthy of a horror movie, his name was Nicko, the sound tech and bar person. This big Russian who didn't say much, became our next friend and was a hell of a guy. The venue is an old cellar on a split level and was full of character, however it was a Tuesday night and a last minute show so not much advertising happened and thus just a small crowd of about 10 or 12 people maximum but was a great show and sold a CD to almost all who attended....very groovy venue indeed.









(Sorry for the photos but it was a very dark venue, should have some better shots when I get hold of Leo's camera upon our return. Check back on our Reverbnation website in October).

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Location:Frankfurt, Germany

Day Off.....Amsterdam here we come! - Mon 5th Sep

We accept the local knowledge and guidance from Leo's best mate Dave who has been living in Amsterdam for sometime now. We venture down to the city via train from Hoorn and settle in to a bar just across from Central Station while we wait for Dave. We grab some local delicacy around the corner called FEBO.....basically a big style vending machine for fast food....hahaha, apparently it's just something you have to do whilst in Amsterdam. Then it's a short stroll through the Red Light district, waving to all the scantilly clad ladies in the windows and doorways......not as seedyas I had imagined it to be, a cafes and restaurants are dotted between the same streets and families and general tourists just walking around looking.

We then head on over to A Gin House, one only a couple of wooden building left in Amsterdam after fires destroyed many sometime in the 14 or 1500's I think he mentioned. Anyway, the Gin was pretty smooth and the surroundings were pure history, next stop, one of the local 'coffee shops' to see what it's all about. After we had some "coffee", we then were directed down a few streets to another quaint little bar on the corner of some of the nicer, less tourist areas where we had, yes, more beer and some of the best Apple Pie we've tasted. Then to finish off our little tour we visited a great Moroccan restaurant and enjoyed some great company with Leo's friends and Felix's sister Ella joining us. Then it was time for some of us to wind down and head for our accommodation back in Hoorn with Jeff & Marielle for an early rise the next morning to head on back to Frankfurt for our last show in Germany before meeting up with Rachel & Lyndie at Frankfurt airport where we all head to Spain for High Rockabilly.

Until then......see ya.

(photos to come.......maybe) ;)

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Location:Amsterdam, The Nederlands

Gig 8: Sunday Night 4th Sep - t'Kroegie Cafe, Hoorn

It's north, towards Hoorn......we cross the border from Belgium to the Nederlands, already you can tell the roadsigns are changing. We spy our first Windmill, we're headed in the right direction. Around Amsterdam and into Hoorn....a great little town with more small roads to navigate the big old tour van, but once again very picturesque. A very clean looking suburb, we slowly wind our way through the narrow streets then get stopped by some sort of official guy and in front of us stands a small set of traffic lights which activates a large metal post that contains red lights on the top and rises from the ground so as to not allow vehicles through. The guy activates the lights to allow the pole to descend into the ground but apparently we must be quick as it comes back up out of the ground in a certain amount of time and has been known to strand vehicles with wheels off the ground.

We find the venue in the middle of a group of cafes, etc and find a parking spot, amazingly enough, that will fit the mammoth van. We get out and within minutes a guy rides his bike past us immediately asking if we were the band....guess it was pretty obvious I suppose :). We load in and right next door is a 'coffee shop', I was looking at it when a local said....."ah, ya don't get "coffee" there". Yep, the smell of the infamous green weed was prevalent, we aren't far from Amsterdam that's becoming obvious, hahahaha.

As we are grabbing a bite to eat before our show, our friend Marielle drives by in her 64 Chevrolet Impala stopping to welcome us in town. She arrives back a little later with friends in tow and we prepare for our first and only 3 set show for the tour. The venue is quaint and reminds us a lot of The Gem....intimate, wooden bar, floor and a great vibrant crowd there to have a good time. Sound was great, crowd was great.....all about that night was just spot on....the band performed and absolutely sweet three setter. We were honored with some very positive comments and managed to sell some more merch too.

What a crazy night, plenty of laughs.....Leo caught up with a few old friends from his past who are living both in Amsterdam and the UK, etc. I had some old times revisited with good friends Marielle and Jeff and made new friends with Anneke and Michel who helped line up the show for us.

So another successful show down, but some sightseeing is to be had the next day in Amsterdam! Let's go!















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Location:Hoorn, The Nederlands

Gig 7: Sat arvo 3rd Sep - 'Rockabilly Day', Belgium

Traveling the autobahn once again, we quickly make our way towards the border but before entering Belgium we cross the border into The Nederlands briefly then it's back to Belgium.

The old GPS has lead us up a little farm road with only a sports centre and plenty of vacant land surrounding us.......oops, have we been lead astray?
We decided to head to the nearest Service Station first and it so happens that the guy behind the counter picked us straight away as potential patrons of this festival and so gave us the exact directions to get there, seems Tyne GPS was just a little off......it was kind of across a big paddock that you couldn't see or get to by car. So we eventually found the entry and the fantastic surroundings they had established this festival in, beautiful tall forests with a small lake and plenty of camp grounds around it. An extremely professional setup for such a big outdoor event. Officials everywhere, artist entry points with our own shower and toilet demountable and parking right behind the main performance tent, which allowed us to park our 'Winnebago' right near the backstage/greenroom area.....we felt like real rockstars....hahahaha. Huge spread of food for all the performers and an endless supply of beverages......it was the 'never empty' fridge ;)

We made ourselves familiar with the surroundings then caught some of the first act that afternoon which was the Big Bayou Bandits from Belgium. Nice mix of Cajun, Hillbilly and Rockabilly with squeezebox, washboard, etc. Then it was our turn, man....was it hot and humid....was like a summers day back on the Gold Coast, before we even hit the stage sweat was dripping of us. We kicked off with our regular Hillbilly set which seemed to go down well and it looked like we definitely grabbed there attention from the getgo which was nice to see. We got about 3 or 4 songs from the end of our set when the heat began to affect Leo's strings and one by one they busted and popped out leaving him with just 3 strings to finish off the show, so what else can you do but go a little crazy. He threw his guitar over his shoulder and we carried on with the last few rockin' tunes without acoustic guitar.....it was very Rock'n'Roll.....sweat, broken strings, wild vocals and cowboy boots kicked off (Leo got too hot with his new boots on) :D

All in all a good day for the sale of some CD's and T-Shirts and a few autographs thrown in. So we then hang backstage for a bit meeting some of the other performers from UK young band, 'Knoxville' and 'The Caesers' as well as '49 Special' (from Portugal). Met a couple of Burlesque performers from both France and the USA as well.

So back to our problem with no more strings for the acoustic guitar and it being a Sunday the following day......no Music shops open and we had a show todo in Hoorn, The Nederlands the next night. So after a quick chat to one of the sound technicians at Rockabilly Day, we discovered he had a full new set at his house, so the next morning before we left we headed back to the festival and bought them off him....all set now!

We hung around for some breakfast, we also met up with our friend Catherine who happened to be in Belgium too, so she hitched a ride to Hoorn with us the next day then she was heading back to France.

Back on the road for a 2 1/2 drive to Hoorn via Amsterdam.....the road trip continues.















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Location:Watchacheke, Belgium

Gig 6: Fri Night 2nd Sep - Hapa Haole Tiki Bar, Witten

Another short trip of about 2 to 3 hours between Hannover and Witten and we found ourselves driving into the most beautiful little village. Surrounded by lush green grass and trees, the place was very farmland oriented. Down some small one lane roads and we pull up in front of what looks like an old German barn with extra rooms or small building attached. The sign out the front says 'Hapa Haole Tiki Bar'.....man what an awesome venue. It has a great outdoor Beer Garden on one side and a restaurant on the other side which opens into this huge venue in the middle with polynesian motifs everywhere to give it that touch of South Seas in rural Germany.

Slowly a decent crowd came from all over, possibly around 100 or so, we were first up and played a killer set with requests for a couple of encores, next up were French band, 'Electric Crown Combo' which turned out only to be Philippe who was French, the other two members were local German Bassist & Drummer from a band called The Jailbirds backing Philippe. The sound engineer was pretty hopeless that night but I think we got by wi our set but for some reason he did the second band no justice with his mixing which was unfortunate.

Once again we were well looked after with food, drinks and accommodation that night. So the next morning we're up early again to hit the road for another short 3 hour trip to Gent in Belgium for 'Rockabilly Day'.

(Photos to come later)

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Location:Witten, Germany

Gig 5: Thursday 1st Sep - Local Street Festival in Hannover.

After a successful 3 days in the recording studio in Berlin, we packed up and headed for Hannover about 2 and a half to 3 hours drive. Arrived in the afternoon to meet up with Bernie's old friend Tom who helped book us for the show that night but last minute the week before we left, had arranged for us to perform at a local street festival. It was a very small affair, just one street blocked off with a few small cafes around and some locals about. It went down ok and some rockin crowd turned up to get a sneak preview of the band before that nights performance. We were made to feel very welcomed once again by the local publican and Tom.

So after leaving the small festival we headed to Toms place to grab a shower and find a laundry mat to wash a weeks worth of old clothes ;) then headed on down to Heartbreak Hotel to get ready for the show that night, upon arrival, we found out just how small this venue was. ;). It was about 1/3 of the size of the Gem.....that small, but it did have a stage.....about 1m high off the ground and about 1m x 2 1/2m, yes, that small. Well, we made the best of it and only had about 40 or 50 people there which made it quite cosy. And it was situated between a couple of whorehouses.....don't worry, we didn't venture in there.

Real nice people that ran the gig and an appreciative crowd.

Some photos to come.

On to Witten!












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Location:Hannover, Germany

Gig 4: Mon Night 29th Aug - White Trash Fast Food, Berlin

So after a day recording in the studio we headed to our next show right in the heart of Berlin called White Trash Fast Food, kinda like a TGI Fridays back home. It was pretty busy for a Monday night, and quite a big place with different levels throughout. We started at 10pm and played 2 sets last night....and it was not a 'rockin' crowd but more general public and tourists but it went down well with people yelling for more after our last song, we were very surprised of the reaction we got in this venue.
















Our band table was reserved.......for 'White Trash'....... Hahahaha :)

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Location:Berlin, Germany