from the mundane to the mundane and back again

Monday 3/2/15- Red Bank, New Jersey

ScumBASH was an odd festival even by Dutch standards (The Exploited, Rev. Horton Heat Sham 69, Monster Magnet and many unknown roots-a-billy bands). The crowd was a cross between Neo-rockabilly guys their Betty Page-ish counterparts, doughy middle aged guys in Mohawks, and artisan beard farmers. By the end of the festival after a long day of drinking everyone was staggering around and it looked like the cover of a Back From The Grave* compilation (minus the murder and mayhem). The best part of the day was checking out the old Van Nelle  factory where the festival was held. An amazing building from the late 1920’s and a great example of the International Style of architecture. The worst part was that there was no record sellers in the “Cutthroat Bay” of retailers. At most of these kind of festivals and especially if there’s any rockabilly or punk contingent there’s gonna be a couple of guys hawking records. Nope, there was an old-timey barber, a couple of guys doing tattoos, a nail place and a t-shirt guy who seemed to only sell shirts that had Johnny Cash on them or the word Psychobilly. 

Now I’m home again and everything is a little more right in the world. Back to work tomorrow.

Voeding Kracht, the mechanical overlord of ScumBASH.

*if you don’t have any of the Back From The Grave compilations, buy them all and buy them now.  



Friday 2/27/15, Dresden Germany

Second to last day of the tour. With ScumBASH/FEST/CON/etc. tomorrow which at best is gonna be a mess (christ, it’s called ScumBASH. A rare case of truth in advertising), today is the best day to start packing. Trying to get the toothpaste back in the tube with some extra toothpaste (in the form of records and books). The final pack is always frustrating, never enough room and questions about why I brought certain things in the first place. Did I really need to bring my entire collection of tiny hats in their tiny hat boxes? Probably not, while they brought me great comfort and joy while on the road, they did take up a lot of room. However I did make a little extra money when I set up Tim’s Phantastigal Tiny Hat Museum at the merch counter (5€, cash only). Some say it was a bigger draw than the actual concert, families would come from miles around and buy concert tickets just for the chance to see the “best curated tiny hat collection on any continent”* but I don’t want to stop here. Eventually I want to have a tiny hat revue with small birds waltzing around a stage wearing the tiny hats. The next step in world tiny hat domination will be even tinier hats for insects. Imagine a wood louse in a tiny fitted homburg…

I need some sleep or strong coffee

Show today in Dresden at an old slaughterhouse, most venues in Germany are at old slaughterhouses.

*NY Times, 2/10/14 from the article Tiny Hats, Why Now?



One of the highlights of my tiny hat collection

Wednesday 2/25/15, Bremen Germany 

Getting sick on road is one of the more miserable aspects of touring. The same cramped living situation plus you feel like shit. So over the years I’ve been bringing more and more stuff to stave of sickness or make it bearable when I do. It has grown into a giant zip-lock that’s like a  middle class voodoo Gris Gris bag. I have to have everything: DayQuil, NyQuil, DuskQuil. Ibuprofen and Excedrin, because it has caffeine and I’m sure the Euro’s haven’t figured that out yet. Every type of stomach aid I can find. Band-aids, do Europeans even have band-aids? Maybe they just use spider webs and mud. I have it broken down into 2 smaller bags, one for the main suitcase and one for the satellite case that I keep on the bus. You need a Rolaid? Should have thought of that before we left America, fella. I’m sure these savages over here don’t know what an antacid is and I only have 9 rolls left, sorry.



Keep away sickness

Saturday 2/21/15, on a ferry between Denmark and Sweden

7am ferry to Gothenborg, had a couple of Danish kroners left and I got the “breakfast special” coffee and a Semla which looked like a light whipped cream pastry but was really a hard roll with unsweetened whipped cream on it, at least the coffee was hot. ish.

The Effenaar in Eindhoven has an elevator to go between the five floors. I have been reading a book on Stiff Records and I was on the elevator and looking at the tour dates on my laminate, I saw Aarhus and I was started to sing Our House by Madness (who were on Stiff Records) but substituting Aarhus. “Aarhus…in the middle of the street…”. The elevator door opened and the drummer from the opening band Bombus* was standing there and just stared at me as I trailed off “AARHuuuus….ssss..ss….” He didn’t get on and just backed away as the door closed.

*Bombus are a solid outfit from Sweden who sound like a cross between Motörhead and High on Fire.

Still life with disappointing Semla