Hello, my name is Kid and I'm one of the guitarists in sleepmakeswaves. If you read the previous tour diary entries you would know they were done by our bass player, Alex. Apologies in advance if my narrative skills aren't quite on par with Alex's, I spent most of my tertiary years playing guitar, computer games and thinking about girls instead of studying important stuff like English and the skills necessary to write tour diaries. But here it goes...
SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER – WROCLAW, POLAND
It's the 14th day of the tour and I have woken up in Wroclaw, Poland. It's the first Polish date of the tour. Stepping off the bus you can tell straight away you're in Eastern Europe. Everything is just a little bit different... the cars are a weird shape and smaller, and the architecture of everything has a different balance.
We played a couple of memorable shows in Poland last year so returning there's a definite nostalgia in the air. Nobody really speaks much English, especially anyone who appears to be Generation X. Our start to the day is a wander down the road to a pizza restaurant. Ordering in English is going to be a problem, but after a series of pointing and waving of arms we end up with our vegetarian and Hawaiian pizzas. On the walk up the street back to the bus, there's a pop-up fruit market run out of the back of a couple of run-down Polish vans. The bananas are cheap, so we grab something, like 10 of them, for the equivalent of 1 Euro. Our band has a keen eye for spotting bananas when on tour, it's kind of the super-food which you know will get you through for the next few hours if there's nothing else to scoff down. 10 for 1 Euro is "good-val" in our books (good value).
Shortly after, it is load/unload the trailer time, a rinse-repeat operation we are more than accustomed to, now having done it 27 or so times already this tour. We are packing probably more than two tonnes of gear in the back and the sight of a series of staircases at the venue makes our collective hearts sink a little. Luckily, the venue have provided three or so loaders (dudes hired to help us carry stuff into and out of the venue).
The venue itself in Wroclaw can be best described as a youth centre or a PCYC back home, with a low stage and ceiling. It's actually a pretty cool space. The show is great, both bands nail their performances to a very lively and enthusiastic crowd and we spend the rest of the evening hanging out at the merch desk while some fans buy us Polish Wodka to pass around.
It's not very strong stuff but it's really delicious so amongst the seven or so of us we drink about a litre of vodka out of the bottle, share some drunken hugs, sign some merch and then begin the load-out.
It's probably a bit hazardous considering the amount of Vodka we had smashed just minutes prior, but surprisingly it was a pretty fun cluster-fuck of flight cases getting carted down the street in the cold Polish night-air. We smash the trailer pack with the 65dos sound engineer Tommy, give each other some high-fives and an 8.5/10 rating on ratemytrailerpack.com
SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER – WARSAW, POLAND
Waking up today, I have no idea what time it is, but I'm hearing the bus getting jolted around somewhat - they have already begun loading into the venue! I race out of my bunk bed and go straight into "carry lots of really heavy gear down flights of stairs" mode. I swear I'm still actually asleep. The only problem is that we seem to be taking all the gear into a forest. I have no idea what's going on but we're carrying heavy flight cases filled with guitar amplifiers through the bush, down old cracked uneven stone stairs getting branches of leaves in our faces until it all becomes clear - there's a venue at the bottom.
Stepping inside the venue, it's a very nice surprise - it's an old Polish swimming pool which has been converted into a club. The stage itself is massive and the sound system is very impressive. In contrast to last night's youth centre, this is a luxurious venue. We get escorted to our dressing room which feels like something out of Alice in Wonderland. It must have been a big communal shower-room in its past life, but is now the sleepmakeswaves backstage where we will chill out for the remainder of the day. The backstage area itself is probably bigger than some entire venues we have played in. All this space and we have no idea how to make use of it, so we huddle in a corner of the room while Rob, the 65 Tour Manager, sets himself up in the other corner.
Listening to the 65daysofstatic sound-check gives me a good idea of the acoustics in the room, it's going to be super-loud. Rob's drum kit sounds like it is on steroids and Tommy pulls a stadium sound from the mixing desk. Everyone is pretty excited for the show because we know it is going to sound huge. We get to show time; it's luxurious to have so much space on stage, which really lets us put on a show. Turns out we go a bit too hard on stage: Alex slashed his head on one of Tim's cymbals, and Otto's excessive rock moves cause him to injure his back. Tim and I get off injury-free, for now...
After the show we meet our old promoter friend Thomasz from last year's Warsaw show. Lots of the audience come up to get photos with us. One thing strikes us about Poland - everyone is very good-looking. Perhaps it's from being holed up with 14 other dudes on a bus for the past 15 days but everyone in Poland is just, really, really attractive. The venue provide us a generous rider of scotch, whiskey, vodka, beer, cider, cigarettes, snacks and lovely catered meals. We feel like rock stars and enjoy the rest of the night watching 65DOS smash another great performance. It's a particularly emotional, moving and inspiring set by them. I look around the room and more than a handful of people in the audience have tears running down their faces. It's a quick reminder of the greatness that is the 65DOS live show.
MONDAY 7 OCTOBOER – BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC
We roll into the town of Brno, Czech Republic. None of us have ever been to the Czech Republic before, so we are curious to see what the vibe is like. It looks like the venue is on one of the main streets about 1km from the CBD. The venue is old, but big. The first thing we have been doing when we get to the venue is sizing up the stage to try and predict how much space we will have to move around. Luckily this venue's stage is nice and wide.
The usual gear unload happens, we get a quick tour of where all the amenities in the venue are by the promoter and venue staff then head out by foot into the CBD. The city is somewhat bustling, there are people everywhere. After visiting a huge cathedral and chowing down on some roadside burgers, we head back to the venue for the sound-check. The show itself goes fine, showers, eat and drink, then load out. Unfortunately, it appears someone has decided to park their car up on the pedestrian strip directly behind our trailer. Luckily, we are a tour bus full of 15 dudes who carry heavy flight cases all day long and the process of picking up and bouncing a little hatchback car out of the way is done in a couple of seconds with ease. The owner came out later and was surprisingly oblivious to why his car was no longer parked in the same spot.
TUESDAY 8 OCTOBER – PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
Hi there, I'm Otto from this band called sleepmakeswaves which, if you've been following these tour entries, is a band you probably already know entirely too much about. I'm tagging in here and there for a few days of observations. This is partly to keep things fresh and partly to avoid an entire tour diary in which my actions are described by Alex and Kid without any opportunity to defend myself. This speaks for itself.
Let's begin.
I wake up, as I have for the past the weeks, in total darkness. My bunk on the rolling city that is the 65dos tour bus is right at the back. In the bottom bunk, you are thankful for the constant noise of the air vent, because it reminds you you are still alive and not travelling in a tight-fitting coffin to some unknown extraterrestrial terminal.
It's already 1pm or so. This is annoying, as I had hoped to wake up earlier to explore this famously beautiful and ancient city, but now that I am firmly integrated into the nocturnal cycle of the tour life, morning wakeups are a struggle. Compounding this is the state of the Czech roads over which we have travelled last night. The constant rumbling and violent vibrations are reminiscent of a theme park ride, perhaps entitled 'the bone-rattler' or 'the tooth-breaker', one which you have no choice but to ride over and over. It makes sleeping difficult and the delightfully smooth autobahn of Germany is a distant memory.
I emerge from the bus blinking in the soft European daylight. The subsequent ritual is one with which I have found a comforting familiarity: Find the venue. Navigate the venue to backstage. Find the wi-fi. Eat. This venue is quite large and cavernous. It holds over 1000 people and as I walk down the marble stairs, I am struck by the thrill that tonight it will be full and we will be playing here. The backstage is like a dungeon, with exposed brick and low light. It's very cool and the large platter of food is a welcome sight to the weary traveller.
Some of the touring party are also backstage milling around. I see that I have just over an hour until load-in, so I decide to take best advantage of the small time I have to explore this foreign and gothic place. I load up a map on my phone and remembering the advice of a helpful Czech fan from last night in Brno, I head towards the river.
My route takes me through the cobbled streets of the city. Even swarming with tourists of all creeds, the beauty and age of the buildings and bridges and reflections in the river is quite humbling. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be here in Europe.
You rapidly come to an understanding of a city while touring. Unlike a tourist, who will view a city like a novelty, engaging with the unique aspects and attractions of it that they are primed for, a touring band member views each city like a labyrinth which they have to negotiate to find what they need. This is usually some combination of coffee, cigarettes, shower gel, batteries, laundromats... You arrive and immediately have to engage with the city as a user, not a visitor.
Cities are not to be admired and leisurely strolled through (although we will do this when we can), they are there to be navigated. It feels closer to discovering the heart of what a place is about, even in a short time. I arrive back in time for the load in. To us at this point it is a finely honed routine. The quality of the day will depend in no small part on the quality of the load-in/out. This depends primarily on several variables (here in order of importance):
Flatness - are there stairs? When carrying large heavy road cases stairs are anathema. Wheels are our friends and stairs render them useless.
Extra hands - Does the venue have some roadies on hand to provide assistance?
Distance - how far from the trailer is the stage? Sometimes we can get the trailer parked literally metres from the stage via considerately-built crew entrances
Space - how much room is there to drop and unpack and stow cases and gear and 'deadcases' (cases which are empty). Today's load-in unfortunately has many stairs, is quite far, but has plenty of space and a few stoic looking Czech men to lend assistance. This alleviates what may have otherwise been a lengthy experience, and we are grateful.
Once all the gear is loaded, I get a buzz on my phone from my good friend Dave from back home in Sydney. Dave has been travelling Europe with a mate of his for some time and our paths have serendipitously aligned here in Prague today. I am excited to see him and my other friend Isabelle who is also passing through. I meet them and we go for a walk to find a restaurant that isn't a tourist trap. We laugh and chat and it is in no small way very refreshing and heartwarming to engage with friends after all this time in the company of the same 14 guys. We say goodbye after a happy photo of our strange and unlikely time together. I walk back inside and begin re-stringing my guitars with a smile.
I try to re-string every three or four shows, which come around always with increasingly surprising rapidity. 'New string day already?'. As I do, I re-visit the last four shows in my mind, coaxing them back out of the blur which they have fallen into...Brno..Warsaw..Wroclaw..Berlin...Later, we have dinner at a vegan restaurant and from the entirely baffling menu I order something called 'Cheerful Balls' and get them for takeaway so that I can finish my restringing before we play.
The show is large as expected. We try to view each show with the same earnestness and gravity - each one requires our 100% energy and commitment. European crowds really detect and appreciate this, and the energy is often reciprocated. Scanning the faces is coming up for air - a brief moment to enjoy the looks of happiness and excitement. This is why we are here, and we come off stage feeling pleased with the performance. 65 soon follow and remind us, over and over, what we should be striving towards and what we can aspire to in a great performance.
It's Alex's turn to man the merch desk so Kid, Tim and I begin packing down the gear in a space separated from the crowd via an archaic-looking iron grill. I shower and go to merch, we chat with fans, we sign CDs, and we gratefully accept compliments, equally happy to hear that it is someone's first time seeing us, or from someone who came to the show specifically to see us.
At some point we load out all the gear back into the trailer and later on, Tim and I drink a beer with a man called Sergei from far eastern Slovakia who has travelled far to be here for the show, and before we know it we are again in motion, bound for Budapest and our first day off in 10 days.