Fear the Mighty Swiss Cow
19.08.2005 23:46
The first part of the rehersal sessions at Buenzli is over. Finally, some time to write in here and afterwards enjoy the party.
Yes, we made it to Buenzli! The Epic Vehicle it's still top notch (if you forget about the noise on the LEFT transmission axel) and the Epic Voyage is still very much epic. The day after the Haujobb BBQ I went to Frankfurt and started rehearsing with the bass player from Ultrasound. The goal: a kick ass concert at Buenzli. With one little difference, we would be only the two of us on stage. "That's not Ultrasound, then!", you might think. And you are completely right, it's not Ultrasound, it's Soundblastorz. :)
Staying at Frankfurt always reminds me of rehearsing with Ultrasound, and it brings me fond memories to me. Specially playing all these wonderful tunes, it's just heaven on earth.
Between playing, cooking, eating and sleeping knuetzler and I had time to discuss loads of subjects, from war on middle east to advanced psicology. Just nice talks through the evening, just to realize that it was getting day already and we should sleep a bit.
Then, on Thursday, we went to pick up MadenMann from the station at Frankfurt. And the Epic Vehicle got as surprised as we did by the size of his bags. Apparently, he had brought his pc, a screen, a television and who knows what more. In a normal car, those would never fit together with 2 guitars, a large keyboard, bags from 2 other people and the people themselves. But the Epic Vehicle can take much more than a normal car. Yes, everything fitted and there was plenty of space left, so we decided to take 2 speakers with us, so that we could hear what we would play when we rehearse here at Buenzli.
The trip itself was just like any other... Driving, driving, stopping for 15 minutes, then some more driving, and then some more. Beside the landscape, only the license plates change. We did actually have the privilege to enjoy a beautiful sunset as we were leaving Germany, it was nice to see the sun disappearing between the mountains. It's a rare sight for a portuguese guy that lived in the Netherlands (explanation: in Portugal the sun goes down on the sea - no, it's not the Earth that is moving - and in the Netherlands there are no mountains - not that we know of at least).
For the first time, we had a border check. Because it was the only one until now, I will call it the Epic Border Check. This very nice cop/military guy/Village People fan made me stop the Epic Vehicle and told me something that I later found out it was Swiss German. I had once a girlfriend that spoke this language, and I tell you, it's weird. Normal German it's already hard for me (hard? what do you mean hard? I don't get anything from it) but this language it's like somebody had a great time yesterday evening and forgot to drink water before going to bed. Either that or they just like to speak like that. I don't think it's awful or something, I actually like the sound of it, but the problem is that it doesn't resemble anything, not even German. Really!
Anyway, the mr. Nice Cop made me stop and asked me why we were so packed. Knuetzler helped me out and spoke german with him, saying that we were going to a computer event in Winterthur and we were going to play there. Apparently, a portuguese guy driving a car which is not on his name, and carrying two german guys and a shitload of stuff is not normal around here, so he made us park on the side while he was going to do some "checking business" on the computer. My greatest fear would be that he would tell us to show what was the content of the trunk. Not that I have any illegal stuff - I even left my portuguese water bottle in Frankfurt to avoid any problems (don't ask) - but we were already 4 hours late and that would take forever to unpack and repack. Fortunately, after he finished the "checking business" he gave our passports back and told us to go. Maybe he was just checking if we were being looked for the police or if we were in the top 120 of the most wanted terrorists. I guess my name didn't pop up or anything, that fake passport really came in handy.
We arrived at Winterthur without problems (best site in the web: viamichelin.com . It's really amazing, if you follow all the indications you will get to the DOORSTEP of your destination. MAD PROPS!) and after speaking with Unlock we unpacked the car. When we arrived at the party place my jaw fell in the floor: there was a massive organ right on the stage and around it. What a sight! Would be great to play on it during the gig, but Unlock promptly destroys my dreams: they didn't get permission to use it. Oh, bummer... but what's that? It's a grand piano! I have to go and take a look... it's a Steinway! And what a sound!!! And the touch!... Unlock was not very concise about the use of the piano, so maybe in the middle of the gig I just sit at the piano and start to play. MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!
[note: I should be aware that this is the world wide web and that he can read this before the gig and give me that look... oh well, his look is anyway nice, so I wouldn't mind... hihi]
We went for a late night dinner at McDonald's where we ate nice salads and terrible burgers and payed A LOT - everything here is twice as expensive as in the Netherlands and Germany - and then came back to the party place to have some sleep...
... because at 10:30 the orgas were again busy with building up while playing loud music (damn you Perry!!!) so I couldn't sleep anymore. Ok, time to build up the practice room and work for a while on the stuff... so now I deserve some party and then some rest.
See you tomorrow! (some pictures tomorrow, sorry too tired to dig up knuetzler's laptop now...)
The first part of the rehersal sessions at Buenzli is over. Finally, some time to write in here and afterwards enjoy the party.
Yes, we made it to Buenzli! The Epic Vehicle it's still top notch (if you forget about the noise on the LEFT transmission axel) and the Epic Voyage is still very much epic. The day after the Haujobb BBQ I went to Frankfurt and started rehearsing with the bass player from Ultrasound. The goal: a kick ass concert at Buenzli. With one little difference, we would be only the two of us on stage. "That's not Ultrasound, then!", you might think. And you are completely right, it's not Ultrasound, it's Soundblastorz. :)
Staying at Frankfurt always reminds me of rehearsing with Ultrasound, and it brings me fond memories to me. Specially playing all these wonderful tunes, it's just heaven on earth.
Between playing, cooking, eating and sleeping knuetzler and I had time to discuss loads of subjects, from war on middle east to advanced psicology. Just nice talks through the evening, just to realize that it was getting day already and we should sleep a bit.
Then, on Thursday, we went to pick up MadenMann from the station at Frankfurt. And the Epic Vehicle got as surprised as we did by the size of his bags. Apparently, he had brought his pc, a screen, a television and who knows what more. In a normal car, those would never fit together with 2 guitars, a large keyboard, bags from 2 other people and the people themselves. But the Epic Vehicle can take much more than a normal car. Yes, everything fitted and there was plenty of space left, so we decided to take 2 speakers with us, so that we could hear what we would play when we rehearse here at Buenzli.
The trip itself was just like any other... Driving, driving, stopping for 15 minutes, then some more driving, and then some more. Beside the landscape, only the license plates change. We did actually have the privilege to enjoy a beautiful sunset as we were leaving Germany, it was nice to see the sun disappearing between the mountains. It's a rare sight for a portuguese guy that lived in the Netherlands (explanation: in Portugal the sun goes down on the sea - no, it's not the Earth that is moving - and in the Netherlands there are no mountains - not that we know of at least).
For the first time, we had a border check. Because it was the only one until now, I will call it the Epic Border Check. This very nice cop/military guy/Village People fan made me stop the Epic Vehicle and told me something that I later found out it was Swiss German. I had once a girlfriend that spoke this language, and I tell you, it's weird. Normal German it's already hard for me (hard? what do you mean hard? I don't get anything from it) but this language it's like somebody had a great time yesterday evening and forgot to drink water before going to bed. Either that or they just like to speak like that. I don't think it's awful or something, I actually like the sound of it, but the problem is that it doesn't resemble anything, not even German. Really!
Anyway, the mr. Nice Cop made me stop and asked me why we were so packed. Knuetzler helped me out and spoke german with him, saying that we were going to a computer event in Winterthur and we were going to play there. Apparently, a portuguese guy driving a car which is not on his name, and carrying two german guys and a shitload of stuff is not normal around here, so he made us park on the side while he was going to do some "checking business" on the computer. My greatest fear would be that he would tell us to show what was the content of the trunk. Not that I have any illegal stuff - I even left my portuguese water bottle in Frankfurt to avoid any problems (don't ask) - but we were already 4 hours late and that would take forever to unpack and repack. Fortunately, after he finished the "checking business" he gave our passports back and told us to go. Maybe he was just checking if we were being looked for the police or if we were in the top 120 of the most wanted terrorists. I guess my name didn't pop up or anything, that fake passport really came in handy.
We arrived at Winterthur without problems (best site in the web: viamichelin.com . It's really amazing, if you follow all the indications you will get to the DOORSTEP of your destination. MAD PROPS!) and after speaking with Unlock we unpacked the car. When we arrived at the party place my jaw fell in the floor: there was a massive organ right on the stage and around it. What a sight! Would be great to play on it during the gig, but Unlock promptly destroys my dreams: they didn't get permission to use it. Oh, bummer... but what's that? It's a grand piano! I have to go and take a look... it's a Steinway! And what a sound!!! And the touch!... Unlock was not very concise about the use of the piano, so maybe in the middle of the gig I just sit at the piano and start to play. MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!
[note: I should be aware that this is the world wide web and that he can read this before the gig and give me that look... oh well, his look is anyway nice, so I wouldn't mind... hihi]
We went for a late night dinner at McDonald's where we ate nice salads and terrible burgers and payed A LOT - everything here is twice as expensive as in the Netherlands and Germany - and then came back to the party place to have some sleep...
... because at 10:30 the orgas were again busy with building up while playing loud music (damn you Perry!!!) so I couldn't sleep anymore. Ok, time to build up the practice room and work for a while on the stuff... so now I deserve some party and then some rest.
See you tomorrow! (some pictures tomorrow, sorry too tired to dig up knuetzler's laptop now...)
posted by jeenio at
11:46 PM
2 Comments:
Jeenio, I don't remember if you told me before you were asking to play the piano that you're some kind of professional piano player? Normally, it would just have been okay if I knew ;-) Well, the guys that are owning the piano said something like "don't touch it" but I think it would have been able to tell them that you actually knew what you were doing ;-) .. and the small concert before the prizegiving... WOW!
By
Anonymous, at 1:44 PM
yeh the small concert before prizegiving ruled. maybe even more then the soundblastorz gig. simplicity shines so much brighter sometimes. :)
By
Filipe 'ps' Cruz, at 12:29 PM
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