.gif "Sixtoo / Ghislain Poirier European Tour Diary.")
Thanks again to everyone that came out. We had a really fun and amazing time! - Sixtoo, Ghislain, Chris and Graeme.
Saturday October 20th
Trix, Antwerp, Belgium. .
Within minutes of our arrival in the city center, we found some cool girls with a UFO and silver trays full of goodies. Chris had his blue lazer jacket on, which gave us an 'in' with these creatures from another planet offering us free shit. Lazer girl number #1 informed Chris that they weren't allowed to leave the UFO with their 'lazer suit' to see the 'lazer rap' show. Instead, flyers were exchanged for candy, Chris teleported into the future for a second, and we were on our way to castles and shwarma huts with visions of Jetson's waitresses dancing in our heads, before returning to the earth venue for a second dinner and showers.
Eppo has good taste and is a gentleman to boot... he thought it to be a good idea bringing us a bottle of Jamesons. Six Vicious turned into lazer-dad and decided it best to share with the smallish-but-appreciative crowd that turned out, instead of wilding until the planeride. People had fun, Sixtoo's computer finally crapped out in the last song of the set, and we sold all our remaining merch to rockabily kids in the street before rolling to the hotel.
As always, an great time in Antwerp. Nice to see the friends as well... Ina, Eppo, Arne, thanks for a fun night, hope to see you soon!
Post Tour Damage Toll:
4 brains that make the sum of one.
5 broken drumsticks,
1 cracked cymbal.
5 battered heads,
1near-dead laptop,
4 broken cables,
1 lost headphone adaptor, 1 borrowed.
1 wheel lost from luggage,
1 channel mixer near death,
1 shirt lost to fermented Jager,
1 handle ripped off bag,
25 dead batteries.
Thanks to everyone that came out.
Sleep time.
Post Tour Update in a few days.
Thursday October 18th / Friday, October 19th.
Worm, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Our day off (travel day) saw everyone (except "the driver") losing momentum and getting leaned off Jager during the drive. We arrived in Rotterdam late, and wandered around the bizarre town in drunken stupor... 2 hours half-mingling with stoned dudes looking for anything other than Doner before arriving at the hotel. Everyone has grown exponentially from their normal montreal size, and have learned the value of beer as a food group... we are all officially ready to hibernate for the winter.
Worm is an amazing modular venue / bar / movie theatre / record shop / art-space in a heritage property in West Rotterdam with a killer staff who throughly appreciate all facets of electronic and digital culture. After spending the day working in the venue, someone thought it would be funny to show me their "little studio" in the back room. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD this place had synths!!! ARP 2500 (with a Stockhausen banner) 8ocs SERGE modular with sequencers and filters intact. Telefunken 1/4 tape machines, EMS stuff (including a suitcase version) and a ton of random handmade filter / effect boxes. Turns out that the Worm ate the Amsterdam School of Electronic Music's equipment, and has a studio here for residents!!! Needless to say we all got our minds blown that one of the best synth collections we have ever seen is just randomly tucked in a random cool arts venue in Rotterdam.
The show itself was packed, Ghislain and Chris really kill it for some really friendly/receptive people. It was nice to get to run into some old friends and meet some new folks as well (wattup yall!) The people of Rotterdam (and the people that travelled to catch the show) are obviously fans of electronic music. Thanks to Sascha (and Hans and the rest of the staff) for one of our best nights of the tour. Fantastic city, fun night, great hospitality A+.
* Cutesy DJs with great taste in music, super cool record boxes, and the ability to party for hours on end.
* Rotterdam also has a problem with Doneria.
* "Sensitive" buys questionable 'romantic' material at truckstop. His taste in film reflects his nickname.
* Six Vicious tries to circuit bend Graeme's Ipod, shit doesn't work (shhh)
* Six Vicious find his blue striped shirt lazer twin.
* Laptops suck for playing live, 20 ms of latency is enough for anyone to miss some cues (sorry duders BASS!)
Antwerp!!!
Wednesday, October 18th.
K4, Neremburg, Germany.
"Travel Pussy gave me Doneria".
Germany is full of perversions. Toy sex dolls in Gift Shops. Truck stop porno viewer booths. Glory Holes in public bathrooms. Crazy. The most traumatizing and curious item we came across in the travels so far was the "Travel Pussy", which is available in Bathrooms across Germany for the totally reasonable cost of 1e. Everyone in the van was too shocked to try it. Needless to say the humor has reached all time lows.
We passed the Puma outlet on route to Rotterdam. Graeme pulled "Dad is Driving" rank and implied that we aren't allowed to buy more than one pair of shoes a day (got some Flight 4s in Nuremburg). We have our first and only day off today. We will hit Rotterdam in about 6 hours. Some of us need laundry more than others. Chris is getting renamed if he doesn't do his. as he announced today "I am just going to shower more, and hope that the clean will rub off on the clothes". Deerhoof is the best driving through Germany music.
Nuremburg was a surprisingly welcome spot with some fantastic folks and a great turnout. Our friend Karina brought us some local delicacy (some type of advanced gingerbread formulation) that has got people playing card rounds for the remaining crumbs. SO AMAZING!! Thank you Karina! Hopefully we will get to come back soon.
Too tired for list.
update/edit.... *Chris has been renamed "sensitive".
Tuesday October 17th.
Rhiz, Vienna, Austria.
We have figured out the secret to the Euopean food groups. You can feel free to use these at your own discretion, or to try and prove us wrong. There are 4 food groups in europe,... same number as North America, except that the food groups consist of Meat, Cheese, Coffee and Bread (which can be supplemented with Cake). The vitamin supplements of europe are Vitamin B (Beer) C (Cigarette) and for people coming from Montreal as guests, Vitamin J (Jamesons).
Vienna is an interesting town full of porn shops sandwiched between proper aristocratic architecture and kebab stands. Gee (our promoter and all around good dude) out together a cool show in a nice venue that somewhat resembled the Zoobizarre (our favorite spot) in Montreal. Some old friends (DJ. Zuzzee, Kim, and friends of good friends) came out and made it feel like a cool mix of people that have nothing in common except for the music. Fun, interesting night for sure. Thanks to everyone that came!
All of the dudes traveling on all have the exact same cold. We are eating small children to try and absorb their lifeforce. Nothing is working. I need Olympico and Thailainde.
* Castles beat condos, no question.
* The austrian countryside has been littered with pig crap, the whole country smells like a barn.
* There is a strange support for a 'new right' in many parts of europe that is fucking scary. Several regular looking men have looked at me like I might eat small children.
* People like our clothes. I have gotten sweated for my Glife and We stuff more than once. Topshelf Motherfucker draws eye darts.
We ball hard, sons. Game recognize Game.
* Lots of lazer-rap fans over here. We need Megasoid to come back here soon. The Megasoid / Ghislain remix has been going big, as is the Modeselektor one. Bangzilla.
Nuremburg with fury!
Tomorrow = DAY OFF!!!
Monday October 16th.
Treibhaus, Innsbruck, Austria.
I love Innsbruck. Best show of the tour, best people, and most chill vibe... perfect precursor to the best Monday night show of any tour.
Albi and Stefan and the rest of the IBK posse = the shit. Dudes hooked up some plans for the NLK x. Weaponshouse Megasoid super limited triangle vinyls / some postcard sized vinyls / flyers / etc. We would have been cutting records all day provided "the accident" didn't happen, instead got to wax poetics about rap, digger nerd shit, beats and records.
Tour team arrived at Innsbruck about 5pm, dropped gear at the venue and then proceeded to the NLK headquarters. Dudes have been doing jukebox soundsystem shows, where they cut their own vinyl for their jukeboxes... bring these full sized Wurlitzer's and throw down! (even doing shit like"djing" for Bleubird off these things!!) . Needless to say, the dudes are next level, and doing some real cool stuff!!!
The Treibhaus was an amazing venue, with a great cafe downstairs, amazing line ups, great graphic design and a really well layed-out space. The show itself was really dope, the folks were fantastic, and the support for what we were doing was very evident, mostly because of the efforts of our close friends there!!
Thanks again Innsbruck!
*Got some super cool markers in the local tobacco shop.
*Mountains surrounding the whole town = insanity. So humbling, Weird air. Can't breathe.
*Ghislain's record dropped today in North America... congrats homie!
*"No cover, never, Jameson's backstage forever" This is the new motto.
*Super cute girls with strange accents and good shoes riding bikes = A+ for straight men.
*Krime clothing = super cool people, really cool print processes.
*New tat design being hooked up for Elfi... this should be great (ps: Kyle... your shit is being sent as soon as I get back, promise!!)
*Fingers crossed for my laptop... dude is acting a little strange after lack of sleep and strange diet.
*Wireless in Europe sucks... badly.
I came very close to buying the LG Prada phone, but figured it is probably best to pay next months rent instead. My new mission is self restraint. Fortunately I missed the best spots to get kicks on this tour already, so I think I am doing alright.
Gino, please clean my crib, I am gonna sleep for a week when I get back.
Hadjitron: no tickets on the van, son!
Montreal Homies: I miss you.
Sing SIng / Kopshop duders: congrats on everything with the restaurant and new gallery. The hard work payed off, and you dudes can sleep for a minute!
Isiaiah: you have my undivided attention as soon as I get back, lets get it done, dun.
I will hopefully have the prototype of the WH.Dondi rings today! Will post up if it arrives!
Next stop, Vienna! I am gonna eat the hell out of some cakes.
My goal = 210lbs by October 21st. I wanna be a fat ass skeleton for for the Yves Laroche show!
Sunday October 15th.
Dachstock, Bern, Switzerland.
After the madness that ensued @ L.U.F.F. Tour manger / part time psychiatrist Graeme thought it best for us to hang out with some civilized folks in a neighboring town (Fribourg) en route to Bern.
Julia and Allie met us at what I can only describe as an ex-illuminati meeting spot / cafe / farmhouse... Amazing coffee and great mountaintop view of a 13th century masonic temple. Sexcult art deco fountain scultpure / installation and abduction garden / swimming pool sets the tone for most absurd comedy throughout the afternoon. Needless to say there has been a dynamic juxtaposition beween the venues and shows that we have been playing, and the countryside that we are driving though. The quote "I think I may be really losing my mind" were muttered more than once during the afternoon, and the smile in the photo was eliminated by electric fence ass-shock milleseconds after that photo was taken. Amazing afternoon. Next time we are in europe, Fri-Son is certainly on the list of venues that we will play. Great peoples and beautiful country.
We left and drove through the mountains with GPS turned off. Ghislain Poirier Systems (aka GPS) has been re-named "The Balkan".
Our evening consisted of an amazing meal and conversation with the always interesting folks @ Daschstock before playing to a smallish crowd on a random as hell last minute sunday night booking bill.
Posters read: Sixtoo, Ghislain Poirier, Mono and Mir. aka "The Night Of Last Minute Bookings". Everyone in all bands were so tired that it seemed like the living in perpetual delirium summit. Mir were amazing, and Mono rattled our collective asses to much needed sleep... fun night as usual in Bern! Great to see how much has gone into this venue in such a short amount of time.
*Drunk old dude jumps on stage... kinda wants to be antagonistic, but quickly leaves at the prospect of being called "Dad" by the people onstage.
*Mir KILL it on some "Sleep meets OM meets Swans meets Pink Floyd meets Shellac" type shit. Really amazing.
*Sabine cooks diner for an entire family of nomads, the food was fantastic. Thanks again.
*Goran rolls though and gets to talk for a full 3 minutes before dipping off on the train!
*I get approached more than once during a single phonecall (by different people) offering me heroin + clean gear...
Next stop, Innsbruck!!
L.U.F.F. festival was by far the most interestingly bizarre evening we have had so far. We were greeted by former MTLien SIC.. who started the evening with the most repulsively erotic video I have seen in some time... and pretty much set the tone for an evening that included strange energy / great performances / other unexpected turns (near physical confrontation ensuing) + Milanese owing it! (amazing dude, pure comedy hour, SICK set) and Cursor Minor who just rammed it until the club closed (people that want to party should check for dudes live sets...really dope styles!) ...
Thanks to everyone in Lausanne for the crazyiest night of the tour so far, hopefully we will get to do it again!!
*Bottle of Jameson's backstage, say word!
*Ghislain Poirier officially renamed GPS in lieu of uncanny ability to navigate.
*Nobody wants to eat cheese anymore... SICs fondue video has given us a Lynch-esque trauma attaching our stomachs to our sexuality.
*Graeme is our saviour, memory bank, and future payroller.
*Innsbruck peoples mobbed deep in the place, as did the Geneva mixtape killer DJ Raze, all who were down to roll with the sounds. The people drank. Everyone had a good time. We are on our way to Bern... Sunday night burner.
October 12th, Nancy =
Fantastic long running and incredibly eclectic festival with great organizers and a fantastically drunk crowd. Justine, thanks!
Bullshit Wifi everywhere, including hotels, hostels, festival grounds and cafe's.
Fence-hopping girls that try to steal booze at 2:30 am... you get temp montrealer status,
Circus tent = best soundudes (aside from the one in Lyon who emailed to say he wants his headphone adaptor back!... sorry man, you need to track us down in Austria!)
The French African posse buying rounds like you can submerge the Canadian, lighta flicking ain't the same as drinking homies, but thanks for them things!
Rob Swift comedy hour was amazing.... "France!!! You motherfuckers ready for some motherfuckin' shit?!!!!" with Philastine (thanks for the beer homie!) and Josh Dolgin (a legit randomizer and distinguished world traveller)...
A+ to Josh Dolgin who was randomly mobbed on by hoards of cute girls on groupie status (he really is the king of mile end [and Europe's festival circuit apparently]). I secretly suspect that Katie Moore is the queen of pot smoking in mile end... which would explain why she is the nicest random face to run into in another country.
==
Hangover city... 5 hours to Lausanne.
Chris gaffled the shit out of the hospitality.
Ghislain Bounced Le Gros out of the mayhem tent.
Birdy Nam Nam dude was too drunk to talk, but thanks playing the game.
Thursday Oct. 12. Lyon=
Live as hell!
Best food and hospitality.
Best Boat Venue (how is it possible that a crappy old boat in Lyon is better than 9/10ths of the legit venues in Montreal?).
Morceux de Boucher = A+
Medium Rare = Bloody.
"Borrowed by accident" a headphone adaptor for new baller headphones (what kind of 160e headphones come with no 1/4" adaptor?)
*Lost my france telecom phonecard, which is fine since there are no payphones anywhere in Lyon.
Next stop: Cabaret, Nancy, Circus Tent Action!!
Wed October 10th =
Paris =
Bomb as always +
Expensive as always.
Super Baller Purchases =
160e Audio Technica ATH-ES7 Headphones.
40e M*** J***** DVD.
40e super random ass cobra pattern print packing tape and handgun shape ruler.
10e Petit Dejuner... Cafe, Croissant Chocolatine, Omelet Fromage, Baguette and Jam.
50e 300watt power transformer.
20e x 2 B&W Spy cameras.
15e France Telecom Phonecard.
*Kitsune was closed, but the shirts on the rack looked super baller, people should buy & send me a 16 and 3/4" inch baby blue one for future sushi dates and new-money role play days.
*Parisian punk rock dives are not the same as Montreal punk rock dives, but the smoked meat is amazing with beer jager and familiar faces.... Honet's ghost dude looked astonished by the presence of "the anglo".
*Point Ephemere has the best staff on the planet, and let me lamp all day sponging electricity and coffee before the show.
And why was I sponging electricity all day?
Some dickweed spilled RedBull in my Machinedrum @ the Glitch Pop party this weekend [Hey pussy that spilled your drink in my drummachine... next time please man up when it happens so that there would be a chance of saving a $1500 drummachine, thanks - Six Vicious]. On a sidenote, that was the craziest loft party I have been to in Montreal, Glitchmob owned it, Daedelus was amazing (dude, did you get paid?) and Blingmod is my new favorite person to DJ with.... Anyways, thanks to everyone that came and didn't try to get backstage... you are my favorite people.
So yeah... In lieu of this little mishap I am officially running Ableton for this tour. First show went great, so I think things are going to be fine with 5 hour drives between sets. I am currently typing this between edits and midi assignments! Hey Ableton, wanna sponsor a dude who doesn't suck? Send me version 7! Six Vicious needs to spend his hard earned $s on the shipping overage for the 300 Weaponshouse x Goodlife shirts that came with us to europe!
Next stop. Lyon Boat Party Raid.
ps: Graeme is the f*cking best tour manager/merch dude/comedic genuis.
.gif "Sixtoo / Ghislain Poirier European Tour Diary.")
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