When we first heard that the bros in Ladyhawk were going on a massive European tour we were like Oh weird, and then we were like, this is awesome, so we got them on the phone (we emailed them) and asked if they wanted to blog their thoughts on the tour for us. Lead singer/guitarist Duffy Driediger cautiously said "sure," and away we went. After the jump read the first installment from Ladyhawk's first ever European tour, and stay tuned for another installment every day until we run out.
Part 1: Natural Champagne
Well, 4 days in and so far so good. We're on our way to the ferry, playing in London tonight. just stopped at a belgian gas station where I flipped through a magazine article about a pop group called Milk Inc. The toilets here have this little ledge so you can take a peek at your handywork before flushing it away, at least that's what I assume it's there for. Nothing terribly interesting has happened, spent the last 2 days stoned out of my mind in the Netherlands. Legally. we went to a "coffee shop" in Tilburg and it was amazing, no secret codes, no waiting around, no goons, you just walk up to a counter and say, "hi, can I get some weed?" and they give you a menu with 20 different kinds of weed and hash with amusing names and even better descriptions. I know it sounds stupid, but it was almost an emotional moment for me. I mean, weed is not hard to find back home in Vancouver and it's pretty much legal, but it's not like you can just walk into a store and buy it. Well, there were a few stores like that for a while, but they all insisted on the above mentioned secret codes and goons, not a mellow vibe. Anyway, pretty cool. Pretty weird. Lots of alien head bongs.
On the first night we played in Antwerp, Belgium. the show was small but fun, people were nice, they fed us and gave us a place to stay. However, I received a 20 minute lecture from the sound guy after our set about how we fucked it up for ourselves by playing too loud and bla bla bla... it's comforting to know that sound guys are the same the world over, united in their hate of Ladyhawk. Maybe it was the jetlag, but that night after the show things got real silly real quick.
Next was Brussels, birthplace of Jean Claude Van Damme (the muscles from Brussels), where we played with our old cronies the Constantines. I don't need to tell you that things got weird. The promoters put us up in a 4 star hotel that was done up in an Ikea Techno Future Lounge 2000 vibe. Only in Begium...
then we went to Tilburg and played the "South by Southwest of Holland" called ZXZW (I guess "Zouth by Zouthwest"?), where we bumped into some friends of ours from Austin who were in town for a poster art show as part of the festival. Small world. Tilburg is easily the cleanest city i've ever seen. You could eat off that shit! In fact, I found a muffin on the ground and was tempted to eat it.
Our show was good, people seemed to like us. I got a pretty insane booty call, but was too stunned (stoned?) to react. Oh well. We stayed with a rad guy named Louis, listened to Dio and Anthrax and Thin Lizzy. His girlfriend smoked weed for the first time in her life. amazing. Met up with the Cons again in Amsterdam, where by some weird fluke of circumstance they opened for us. Like Metallica opening for Hanson. Amsterdam is a beautiful city, my first time there. Never got to the famed red light district, which is probably for the best. Everyone here rides bikes. Everyone. It's awesome. They've even made it illegal to drive your car on sundays at certain times a year! Can you imagine how outraged people would be if they tried that in North America? Also, s.u.v.'s don't exist here, nobody drives trucks. I guess people here just don't share our "fuck the world" mentality. Go figure.