Knowhere - Tour-Tagebuch 2006

Thursday, October 5th, 2006 - Starting the tour at Werk 21, Zurich (Switzerland)
Starting the tour was pretty relaxing for us, as the Werk 21 is quite close to where we live anyway. First contact with our fellow musicians was established quickly and Johan Bergebäck's hearty "Hej" would not be last one on this tour. After the soundcheck we had some time to check out the tour bus, which wasn't one of these classy black nightliners, but rather one fitting the category of the Scooby Doo posse's hippie bus. Whatever. We didn't have much time anyway, as dinner was ready and we had to get on stage soon, too. Local supporters BITTERNESS played after us due to us having a lefty-drummer.
. . .	After a pretty sweaty gig we got to know our tour manager Jörg and merchandise-master Eumel. REQUIEM-Phil offered some last advice on touring, if advice of this kind exists at all. Kov and Fuhli went home afterwards to enjoy their own beds for a last time, while Arlette and Zappi got to sleep in the cozy (read: narrow) bunks of the tourbus. Hence the first night with NECROPHOBIC, RAISE HELL and ORIGIN BLOOD was spent at the Fressbalken (meaning: gorge beam) in Mordor.

Friday, October 6th, 2006 - Kulturwerk 118, Sursee (Switzerland)
The trip to Sursee was peaceful, surrounded by Swedish chatter we arrived in Sursee quite early. Happiness arises due to the local Hooters bar. A bit later, Kov and Fuhli showed up as well, so we were complete and ready for soundcheck. The remaining time was spent drinking beer, re-adjusting guitars strings and arranging oneself in the new moving home. After all, we were heading for a 14 hour-trip to Berlin this night. In order to get a timely departure, the BITTERNESS gig was moved to the last slot, while we were the opening act of the evening again.
During headbanging, one clearly felt the neck workout from the night before, but in the following hours one had plenty of time to recover. We were heading for the city the Swiss soccer team did not reach this year: Berlin. Collective singing along to the best metal album of all time: GUNS'N'ROSES "Appetite for Destruction". Rockstar feelings surface. Fuhli and Kov travel feet first, Arlette H.D. and Zappi go head first. A Swede takes a smoking break at the end of the bus and tests, whether Zappi's foot is alive or the one of a rotting corpse. After all, the bunks were only 1,90 meter long. Furthermore, indulging the necessary chemistry: Immodium, Stugeron, Buscopan.

Saturday, October 7th, 2006 - K17, Berlin (Germany)
	First pit-stop in the morning at a gas station in Frankish Switzerland. Bavaria is huge. Thuringia imitates Bavaria, hence, it is a Free State, too. Guzzling kilometers to Berlin. The CD player is fed with IRON MAIDEN and 16 HORSEPOWER. Surprisingly, Berlin isn't a concrete jungle. Lots of green. Kov counts all the kebab joints. The kebab must have been invented in Berlin. Two metal statues in the water.
Arrival at K17. Small backstage area, some groupies. Soundcheck with AC/DC, Locke is a soundcheck magician. Food somewhat late. Quickly swallow a yummy vegiburger. Carnivores like them, too. Up on stage. During playing some burps with spelt taste. Good sound, but a small audience. Miss Gore comes, but too late. After the gig quick shower, everybody needs a shower after their gig. You have to go pass the shower to get to the toilet. But no fear for the female: "We will just say that the bass player female is in there - then everybody will come and look", quoted from one of the NECROPHOBIC guitar players. RAISE HELL-Jimmy is a gentleman.
After the concert night, metal disco on the third floor. The DJ looks like a pumped up Bapho. Bizarre headbanging on the dancefloor - is this still a dancefloor? The playlist includes FALKENBACH, DARKTHRONE and SLAYER. Sound chaos. The other floors only offer crappy music and typical partypeople. A bit chichi, a bit downtown, a bit fucked-up Kaufleuten feeling. Arlette H.D. goes to sleep. Others move on, party on. A groupie in the bus, but no success. Departure to Munich at four o'clock.

Sunday, October 8th, 2006 - Metropolis, Munich (Germany)

Munich, beautiful weather. Hangover. Arrival at the Graffiti-enhanced, alternative looking Metropolis location. Another small backstage area, but yummy Pretzels and plenty to drink. After soundcheck a true feast upstairs, a nicely decorated salat buffet and a real chef. Tobbe enforces the vegetarians' rights to an own dipper. Pasta galore. Unfortunately, not a lot of time to eat, Kov gets no real meal again.

Nice gig, but not a lot of people. At least we met the nice journalists from heavyhardes.de and the friendly Fotozwerg. Later on military style shower drill. Only cold water. Shower time restricted to eight minutes in order to be finished before the ORIGIN BLOOD-gig. The organizer explains that the water has to run across the whole area and somewhere the pipes aren't really working. Mysteriously, warm water should appear after 15 minutes of showering. It doesn't. Hence, taking a cold shower is war! And NECROPHOBIC will realize that there is a completely different edge to their song "Frozen Empire", hargh! Anyway, that was a lot for one night, so some head for their bunk. Others prefer a different kind of action: vodka, gin tonic, Sebastian shows his style of dancing on a dancefloor, a puking contest takes place somewhere else, a strip joint, cars, police. The tour is re-named as "Get arrested"-tour. Or, alternatively, "The no posters tour".

Monday, October 9th, 2006 – Klub MC, Maribor (Slovenia)
Another day in the bus. Watching movies, listening to music, a pit-stop somewhere at a gas station in the morning. Getting breakfast, take care of number two (coz it isn't allowed/possible in the tiny bus bathroom). Just as we are leaving, a truck with a burnt tire arrives. Slovenia is green and hilly, quite some farming going on. Meeting the organizer at yet another gas station and following him to the club. Arrival at Klub MC, another counterculture location, a mix of KuZeB and Wohlgroth, but with a classier atmosphere. Outside a shrine, where you can take a piss at George W. Bush and Jörg Haider. A More Haste, Less Speed-game sprayed on the ground. The pawn in the game are empty cans. A peaceful atmosphere.
	NECROPHOBIC go and take a shower. Food Balkan-style: Börek with lots of meat, respectively cheese, and fat. Dinner consists of real Cevapcici, onions, hot sauce and bread. The vegetarians (one per band) get a vegetable lasagna with lots of onions. Food for real farting men. That's the way the cookie crumbles in the Balkan. The bathrooms are okay, but some men's rooms don't have locks, so some men become women when they want to take care of number two. The concert room smells strange, but that doesn't matter.
Sweaty concert, quite some people. The audience reacts with excitement to Kov's announcements in Croatian. Afterwards warm showers. Finally. Fuhli and Kov are faster than Arlette H.D. all by herself. She just lacks the Swiss military experience of those two. After the show relaxing in the club. Playing table soccer. Talking. And learning that Slovenian differs from Croatian about as much as Zurich Swiss German from Wallis Swiss German. At five o'clock we depart for Hungary.

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006 – Blue Hell, Budapest (Hungary)
	The landscape becomes flatter. Pit-stop at a gas station. A farmer shoots up illumination rockets to scare away a thieving swarm of birds. A detour in order to avoid the Croation border. Local cheese cake for breakfast. The movie watching level goes down, down to Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein". Lots of neighing. Thanks to the navigating system quick arrival in Budapest at the club. Jörg leaves the bus to check out the location. Boredom arises, as it's not possible to leave the bus and smoke. Suddenly, an old woman draws the attention of the traveling musicians to herself. She puts down her grocery bags, takes out a cup. Puts the cup under her beige skirt. Takes out the cup, filled with yellow liquid. The audience in the bus is fascinated and applauds frenetically. The woman does not know about her five minutes of fame.
Arrival at the club. Attila Csihar - owner and undead singer of MAYHEM - is in the USA to record some stuff for a side-project of his. But there is a shower. And lots of food. Sandra cooks with lots of love. A huge backstage area, which is usually used as another club named "Red Hell". Therefore we spread out our stuff in the backstage area. Some hunt each other with ketchup before their gig. Pörkölt, stuffed roast, vegan pasta. Food is absolutely sensational. Strangely, there isn't a lot of toilet paper in the bathrooms. Think first, sit down later. The gig is weird, quite a small audience. After half of the setlist, a strange subwoofer-like noise conquers the monitor boxes. Zappi makes some announcements in Hungarian, Kov sticks to English for the rest.
	After the concert again time for a shower. Zappi and Fuhli find a dead rat outside with (literally) telescope eyes. Inside there is a poster promising that Jesus Christ brings salvation. Leaving is quick as we have to sleep somewhere outside the city. Emptying the bus bathroom somewhere. Enjoying SAMAEL, CELTIC FROST and BATHORY music together with our Swedish companions. Good old times. Small German course with Johan. "Jörg und ich, wir sind ein Paar". "Ich muss Kondome kaufen". "Meine Freundin Barbara wohnt hier". "Ich heisse nicht Ofen". "Ich bin ein Panzerfaust". "Ich bin ein Schützengrabenzerstörer".
Midnight passes, it's Fuhli's birthday. A welcome change. But kungfu-master is already asleep. "We must wake him up. It is not good for him to meditate in this bed where old German people used to sleep. They left their bad energy". Okidoki. The waking commando succeeds. A bottle of Jack Daniels is a good birthday present. The Slash-cliché is alive.

Wednesday, October 11th, 2006 – Endorphin, Althofen (Carinthia, Austria)
In the morning a pitstop at a gas station close to the Austrian border. Afterwards watching "The Return of the King". Smooching noises from the Swedish rows, n'sync with the homoerotic scenes of Frodo and Sam. Detour via Graz to pick up our follow-up band EVERMOORE. One hour delay. Checking out the fresh Swedish band. Youngest member is 14 years old, the other ones are 18.
	Delayed arrival at Althofen, Dieter shows off his parking skills with the hotelbus. Applause. Yummy food. We soundcheck with "Paragon Belial", then start our set. It's hot. No sound from the monitors whatsoever. "Snowball" is dedicated to the whole crew of the Alfons Meilhammer-bus. Joakim jumps to the stage and shows off his headbanging skills. Later on, NECROPHOBIC dedicate "Frozen Empire" to us and offer KungFu-master to do the "Fuck you, Christ"-routine during "Nailing the Holy One". Absolutely awesome gig.
Afterwards chilling backstage. Signing CDs, swapping addresses. Shortly after two o'clock Kov, Arlette H.D. and Zappi move on to the hotel Prechtlhof. Fuhli stays at Endorphin and takes care of a) the Rock'n'Roll-factor of KNOWHERE and b) the development of a fan base. Lots of padded dead animals at Prechtlhof, a shower and a bed where you can really lie down. But somehow we miss the Hotelbus.

Thursday, October 12th, 2006 – from Althofen to Zurich

And the story ends. Riding the train with normal people is no suitable way of traveling for bands after a tour. Everything is surreal. Do you play Schlager / pop music? Well, people need rock music, too. At least you young people say no to drugs. The train is delayed. Finally, a stand-in Jesus, bikes and scaring bourgeoisie.

The tour is finished.
But after the tour is before the tour.

What else?

An objective concert review regarding our gig in Munich can be found on heavyhardes.de: http://www.heavyhardes.de/live2006_1_278.html

Further reviews and photos will follow... If you have taken some pix yourselves, please contact our webmaster at contact(at)knowhere.ch