Let’s see, where did I leave off? Oh yes, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

LJUBLJANA

I refuse to believe this is even a real word. If Scrabble accepted proper nouns, I’d definitely use Ljubljana on a triple word score. Anyway, the show in Slovenia was a fun one. The venue was in a DIY style squat-neighborhood type place. It was probably my favorite of these types of venues. I didn’t do much that day, as I spent the majority of it writing the previous blog entry. The show, however, went very well. Especially for WHY?’s first time to play there. The PA was a little quiet, but the mix was well balanced. At the time, I was still feeling a bit out of sorts and anti-social, so I didn’t end up adventuring around the city with everybody else. I believe they saw some sort of castle. I did eat a very tasty meal of fried cauliflower and french fries with tartar sauce. Mmmmm. It was a nice change of pace from the week of nothing but authentic Italian food. Don’t get me wrong, I love Italian food, but after a week of nothing but pasta and pizza, a change of taste is definitely desired.

ZAGREB

I started Zagreb in the same funk I had been in for the previous few days. We arrive at the venue, shower, load-in, and sound check. The room was pretty live and sounded similar to that of a cave. I had to mix the show a little bit louder than I would have liked to get clarity, but overall there was a good energy and a fun show. This is the day that I think my funk ended. I feel like I hadn’t had a show that I was really excited about until this one. There was a big crowd that was really into the show, and that definitely lifted my spirits. Up until then, I feel like most of the shows had been sub-par for me. Not really in sound quality, but more in energy. I had this feeling like I was treading in water with no land in sight. At this point I felt like I was close enough to the end of the tour to almost be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it remained just a bit out of reach. I’m glad the feelings are gone though, and back to normal. The robbery threw off the rhythm of the tour for me, and it took until then for me to get back into the groove.

NÜRNBURG

Nürnburg was relatively uneventful. I feel like everyone is just trying to get by in order to finish out the last few shows of the tour. It’s been a long one, that’s for sure. 8 weeks total. The venue was a little small, but that didn’t matter. The crowd was into the show, and it sounded nice. This was also Doug’s birthday. We enjoyed a beer in the very nice beer garden of the venue prior to doors opening for the show. It was nice, and I hope he enjoyed his birthday. For the past 4 years I have been on tour for my birthday with the last 2 in Europe. This year again, I will be on tour, but in the US. Hopefully some day, I’ll be able to celebrate it at home. But really, isn’t the van or bus just as much my home as my actual house? I spend a sizable amount of my life en route to somewhere else. After the show, Josiah, Doug, and some others went out to a pub for a few drinks. I stayed behind to chat with my favorite lady. Touring makes things very hard for a relationship. No matter who you are, being apart for such long periods of time is never easy. Thank god for Skype and iChat. Dinner that night before the show upset my stomach quite a bit, so no drinking for me and straight to sleep after the show.

MÜNCHEN

Munich was a great show. Great PA (I love a large format Crest mixing desk), big crowd, great food, good times had by all! Dinner was really nice. Vegan lasagna with a nut based cheeze on it. Mmmm…. Also, really really good homemade pretzels (non-vegan). During the day, I encountered a wretched battle with a cigarette vending machine. In the end, I got an extra 2 Euros from the machine, but no cigarettes. A Snake with no smokes is not a happy Snake at all. I really should quit sometime soon. I think I should quit drinking caffeine again too. I went 6 years without any caffeine at all, and now I’m drinking coffee everyday. Coffee sure is tasty though. AND goes great with a cigarette. Oh well.

LEIPZIG

So here we are in Leipzig. Just one more show after today, and the off to Istanbul, Tel Aviv, and back home. Our tour manager from our last European tour, Toby, is the promoter of the show tonight. It’s really great to see him again. That tour was definitely intense. We did 16 shows in 18 days or something ridiculous like that. In that short amount of time we hit Germany, France, UK, Netherlands, and Israel. It was fun, but there was absolutely no time to see anything at all. It seems like every day we were getting up at 7AM to start driving to the next city, get out of the show at 1AM, drive straight to the hotel, and get up 5 or 6 hours later. It was brutal, but I’ve got a lot of fond memories from that tour as well.

Hopefully my funk doesn’t return for the rest of the tour. I feel like I’m almost just trying to get through each day and slowly chip away at the number left. I’ll be home exactly one week from today. I haven’t cooked in 2 months and I really really really miss it. It’s one of my favorite activities at home. I cook for my girlfriend and myself about 6 nights out of the week. I miss my domesticity while I’m off the road. I miss my house. I think we’re going to start a garden when I get back. Any ideas for what grows well in Texas?

Until next time.

Cheers guys!