The Unknown 2004 Euro Tour. Week One.
Written by Ken.

Day One: Thursday May 13, 2004.
Cleveland to Chicago to London to Hickstead.
"Sometimes I really need to disappear for a while...."

   For the third time in four years we were heading out overseas for our latest tour of Europe and the UK. Our flight out of Cleveland Hopkins Airport was scheduled at 7:17 AM. We were to head off to Chicago first and then to London's Heathrow Airport. All in all the total travel time was to be about 11 hours. The band for this tour was Ken, Wayne, Brian and Pete. Coming along this time was Pete's wife Rita and Brian's friend Lou. Martine and Paolo from Self Made Maniac Productions in Belgium were along as driver and tour mom.
   We got to Hopkins at 5 AM to check in for our flight and of course our first flight into Chicago was already delayed. So, in a strange twist of events, they got us on an earlier flight leaving at 6:08. Usually in these situations this spells impending doom for your luggage as it inevitably never gets on the connecting flight with you. BUT, when you get put on an earlier flight, that shouldn't be a problem. So we got checked in and went right to the gate. Things were going smoothly so far. We were actually getting on the plane when they called everyone off and told us there was a problem with the plane and all passengers had to debark. Great. We get moved up and hour and now this flight is screwed up. So we get out of line and wait. Now the American Airlines rep gets back on the loudspeaker and says our 6:08 flight is delayed indefinitely until they access the problem. Great. Now we are getting moved to the 6:45 flight. I guess American Airlines wasn't very booked up cause in a matter of an hour we were transferred to three different planes. This last time we were actually still in line to get transferred over as they started to board the plane. Finally we got on and took off.

The clan on Brighton pier.

   I can't say that the trip over was bad this time around. Our second flight was on time, and we had no hassles. A was a little boring seeing as all we had to watch was Peter Pan, Girl With The Pearl Earrings, Welcome to Mooseport and Good Morning Miami. The food was weird, not horrible, just not really food-like. We actually got all of our gear and luggage when we got off the plane in London. That was the first time ever that that happened. And we had no trouble at customs getting into the country. We found Martine and Paolo waiting for us, and we loaded our gear into our new home, a 6-seater VW Transport van from Belgium. That in itself was a task. We had a ton of gear, mainly clothes, and it was a real feat to get it all in the van. But, we did. Off we drove to Hickstead, a city near Brighton (the site of the first show on Friday), for some much needed rest at our first stop ... Travelodge!

Day Two: Friday, May 14, 2004.
Brighton, UK. Free Butt.
"We all grew up on the Beatle sound, and now I look around, it's no where to be found."

This was our second trip to Brighton and second time playing at the Free Butt. We stayed very close to the city centre so it was a quick and easy ride into town. Sine we were there in 2000, we had a good idea where to go when we go there. The first stop after parking was to head to the famous Brighton Beach. It's a very touristy city, but it is very cool. This time around we got to get our fill of fish and chips right away. We split up for a bit and walked to the beach and pier and took in the tourist stuff. There's plenty of interesting sites we took pics of, like Pete in front of the Orgasmitron and Pete and Rita in the giant wooden cutouts depicting them in wedding garb. It was a nice afternoon of walking and taking the shopping district called The Lanes. Wayne was nice enough to bring good luck to the tour by having a pigeon take a dump on him while standing in an alcove on the street in the Lanes. "That sucks," was the expected response from our drummer.
   We got into the Free Butt around 5 PM and got situated with the logistics of the evening. We were playing with Makiladoras and Mihoen, two Dutch crusty political bands, and a local band called Toketsu. Toketsu means vomiting blood in Japanese. How did I know that? Do you have to ask? Needless to say, we were the odd ball band of the night. We were slated to play second in the night but we got bumped to 4th.
   It was a decent first show. We didn't fit in with the other bands, but we still had a great time.
   This was our first show and our first experience with the drumset we rented as well. It wasn't a bad set, but it had some annoying problems. One, the hi-hat pin was bent, and it literally took all of Lou's strength to pull off the hi hats and the clutch. This is a bad thing. Also, the stands don't open and close very easily.
   After watching the first three bands we got up and rocked out. It was late, well late by UK time, and we got up and started at about 10:15. Unfortunately we only had time to play til 10:35. I think we pushed it a bit farther. The set for Brighton was: Never Be The Same - Postcard - Disappear - Pretty Identical - Radio Lied To Me - Teenage Dream - Do You Know That Girl? - Tongue Tied - Femme Fatale. We played well and had a decent sound going on. We went over well and even appealed to some of the crusty types. There was one guy wearing a Bad Religion t-shirt that sat in the back of the club all night, and I had a feeling he was there to see us. Turned out I was right, he came up after the show and had us sign an old Puzzles 7" that he picked up years ago and the Radio Lied To Me CD as well. It was very cool to have someone there that into the band and there for only us. It's a nice way to start off the trip.
   We had planned to hit a close Travelodge after the show but of course that was easier said than done. We drove a couple hours toward Southampton, and the first hotel we saw was of course booked solid. Long story short we got into a Travel Inn at 3:30 AM and got to bed about 4. Hey, sometimes things don't always work out.

Day Three: Saturday, May 15, 2004:
Southampton, UK. King Alfred's.
"I promise I'll come back to here..."

   We woke up after about 5 hours sleep and discovered that the Travel Inn was basically a block down the street from King Alfred's, the club we were playing at this evening. So this made or a nice relaxing day. We played in Southampton in 2003, and we were pretty familiar with what the city was about. The eight of us basically took a leisurely walk around the city for about 4 hours. We checked out some shops, finally hit an internet kiosk and took in the sites of Southampton. Brian and Lou found the place where the Mayflower left from and checked out a 10th century church.
   We reconvened at the King Alfred at about 5 and headed to Ben from Salt Union's house nearby. He and his friend Georgia made us a great meal of tofu, broccoli and noodles. Ben was responsible for getting us on the show for the night and his band was also playing. King Alfred's is a cool pub with a small playing area upstairs. We payed there last year and we knew just what to expect.

Matt and Rob help out on Group Think

   After figuring out the lineup and logistics of the night we were put second after Salt Union and before the two Dutch bands that we had played with the night before. This time around however, Salt Union was a bit more our style and it was even 2-2 instead of 3-1.
   As we hung out at the pub slowly but surely people started showing up. Many familiar faces too. Cov John, the guy who promoted last year's show, and the whole Guildford crew turned up for the show. What a freekin delight to see so many familiar faces. The overall turnout was small, maybe 50 people, but it was a cool crowd.
   Salt Union put in a cool set of punk rock including a cover of Dag Nasty's What Now.
   We got up next and were ready to rock out. The set tonight was: Never Be The Same - Postcard - Disappear - Pretty Identical - Radio Lied To Me - Two Weeks - Merry Go Round - She's Sorry - Femme Fatale - Seven - Group Think.
   As expected, the whole Guildford crew and Ben and Ross the promoter, joined in on the backups for Group Think. It was a fantastic show despite only a vocal PA and hard sound. All in all a good second night. Although, the drums Wayne used tonight were from the Dutch bands, he still had to use his rented hardware, which was a problem as I explained before. We were gonna have to do something about it at some point.
   We stayed up and went out for some late-night Kebabs and Pizza and sat around at Ben's flat. We had to get up early tomorrow for an 8-10 hr drive, so we chomped our food and asleep we went. Well... you know, as fast as we could.... The sheep of Scotland tomorrow!

Day Four: Sunday May 16, 2004:
Glasgow, UK. Rockers.
"No Time For Words...."

   We woke up early at Ben's flat for the long drive to Scotland. We had to get moving as fast as we could. We were expecting about 8-9 hours. We actually did leave at 8:30 which was close to what we wanted to do. Not much went on except that some drunk guy was riding by on his bike and totally wiped out face first in front of us. He was all bloody and staggering. We tried to call the ambulance but the guy got up and walked away. The ambulance guy did show up but all we could do was point him in the direction that the drunkard went.

Pete and Ken in Scotland

   The drive up was very uneventful. There's not much you can do when you are packed in for an 8 hour drive.
   It was nice to see the rolling hills and the sheep of the Scottish landscape again. We hit a rest stop or two before driving into Glasgow among a bevy of football fans walking and galavanting in the streets. Was that four guys with the same jerseys fighting in the door of the pub??? Hmmm....
   We got into to town and soon found Andy's flat. It was the same place we stayed at last year when we did this city. Andy is the drummer in Barefoot, and the one who got this show together. He made us a fantastic meal of veggie pasta for Martine and Paolo and meat and potatoes for the rest of us carnivores.
   We had the quick bite and got over to Rockers, the club for this evening's show. The bar was very cool. It was just the kind of club we like to play at. It was specifically a music venue and the guy who ran it, H, is an old punk himself that plays in a band called Red Eyes.
   The first band that played was We Become Less, a screamo type kid bad that was the oddball fit of the night.
   Next up was the Cherrykicks. We played with them last year and they were more rock n roll this time around. Kinda like the Lemons or Social Distortion. They were quite good. Next up was our good buds Barefoot. They sounded great. A great night of bands. We got up last and had our best night so far.
   The set at Rockers was: Never Be The Same - Postcard - Disappear - Pretty Identical - Radio Lied To Me - Whether - Do You Know That Girl? - Tongue Tied - Cyclone - Seven - Merry Go Round - She's Sorry - Femme Fatale - Give Me A Reason - Leave Me Now.
   It was about a hundred and fifty degrees in there but we played to it well. Wayne had some problems with the drum riser being too small, but he got through it. I have discovered a new tool in the fight against losing my voice. Throat Coat tea. Works wonders.
   After the show we hung out and talked to H some more and got him to put up our t-shirt on the wall of club with some of the other shirts from bands that have played there.
   We hung out with Andy at his flat afterward drinking Macallan whiskey and jamming to the Pavers, Beauty School Droput (an old band of Andy's) and at our drunkest, Drag The River. Weird how a Scot can get into American country. It was a fantastic night.

Day Five: Monday May 17, 2004:
Day off.
"What's old what things are new?..."

   We got to sleep in since we had a leisurely drive down to the Leeds area to meet up with Matt(Scarper) and his girlfriend Kim. We woke up to Martine fixing us a fantastic breakfast of omelette's and toast. We checked our emails and said our goodbyes to Andy and headed toward Harrogate.
   We met up with Matt and Kim at a Sainsbury's near their home in Harrogate. We went for a quick pizza and headed to Matt's dad's flat in the nearby Otley to spend the evening.
   We walked about in the very small quaint city of Otley and hung out at the Joiners Inn. We caught up with Matt and Kim while listening to some vintage English acoustic music in the next room. It was good to catch up with them and hear how their lives have been over the last year and a half. We called it an early night since we had to get up early dude to Matt having to go to work at 7:30 am. Matt gave me a very important piece of info to remember on the tour. I was saying tuppence as a word for a two-pence piece. Well, evidently, that means vagina. Potential problem averted.
   We stumbled back to the flat, and we closed the evening watching the Steve-O DVD and stinking up Matt's dad's flat.

Day Six: Tuesday May 18, 2004:
Stoke, UK at the Talbot.
"Whoa oh, Nothing to do, uh oh nowhere to go..."

   Leaving somewhere at 7:30 AM when you are on tour is necessary sometimes. It's not very fun however. The drive to Stoke was only about 2 hours which meant we had to really kill some time today.
   We started off by eating at a cafe in Otley. Got some nice big greasy All-Day Breakfasts. We then started the country drive toward Stoke on Trent.
   Sometimes when you have hours to kill in a new city it's really really cool. There's usually a nice city centre to investigate and tons of shops. Well, Stoke is very different. It's very boring. In fact, other than an internet cafe and the usual pubs, there was nothing but an old church. We killed 6 hours somehow. It's really hard to remember what we all did. We split up as usual and kept running into each other cause there just wasn't really anywhere to go. Plus, this odd English weather continued and we baked in the sun all day long. So hit that pub, take a nap, take a walk, write some email, take a nap, have a piss, etc. etc. The last pub we hung out in before the doors opened was just around the corner from the Talbot. We were drinking a few pints and admiring the pictures and history on the wall when we all looked out the doorway and saw this old lady. Immediately Lou was like, "hey isn't that the same lady in that picture on the wall?" And I'll be damned if it wasn't, or at least a relative. The photo on the wall was from the 30s or so and this old woman was the exact duplicate of her. It was creepy cause we were just talking about the photo when she walked by.

The Unknown at the Talbot Hotel.

   We finally got into the The Talbot at 6 PM to set up and soundcheck. The Talbot used to be a hotel and now is a pub on the first floor with a nice stage set up in the back. We found out when we arrived that the sound guy was wired to record the whole show. We also took apart the hi-hat stand and set and fixed for the most part we were having with the pin being bent. Problem solved.
   May 16 got up and played first. For some reason their drummer couldn't make the show so they played acoustically as a three piece. It was pretty good. They were a good band. They probably would have sounded great as a full live ensemble. Drag Cars Drive Too Fast ws next. They had a bunch of problems and ended up having to use Brian's bass since their's was screwed up. They raged through a set of Bad Religion-eque hardcore. It was good.
   We got up and played a decent set. Sound on stage was not great, but we managed to get through most of the set without any major mishaps. As Pete said, the hard drive will tell. The Stoke set was: Never Be The Same - Postcard - Disappear - Pretty Identical - Radio Lied To Me - Whiskey Romance - Do You Know That Girl? - Tongue Tied - Cyclone - Seven - Merry Go Round - She's Sorry - Femme Fatale - Give Me A Reason - Leave Me Now. It was another night of our basic set with all five new songs in the mix this time around. We wanted to hear them recorded.
   After the show we had to drive over to Wakefield because our sleeping places for the night got screwed up. It was a quick 2 hour drive. We stayed at the same place we would be staying at Wednesday night. Jarv put us up last year as well, and he was kind enough to meet us at 2:30 am to get us a spot for Tuesday as well. We came in and crashed immediately.

Day Seven: Wednesday May 19, 2004:
Wakefield, UK at the Jockey.
"Group Think Group Think Group Think!"

   Finally. We got to sleep in. Pete actually slept til 11. I rolled off of my assigned floor space at 1:30. We felt great. Showers for all, breakfast, laundry. It was like being home. Pete started to come down with some sort of cough though. We spent all afternoon at Jarv's house seeing as the Jockey was only a 5 minute drive away.
   This was a very anticipated night. We hoped to see Mac and Matt from Scarper and hopefully there was gonna be a good crowd like last year.
   We got over to the club around 7 and set up. We sound checked through a crappy PA. This was gonna be a hard night for sound. We didn't care though. Paolo helped out the bass player from Drag Cars fix his bass with a soldering gun.
   Eventually things got under way. Drag Cars Drive Too Fast played first. They were better than the night before. A good set of punk rock ala Bad Religion. Dina was the next band up. We played with them in 2000 in Liverpool. Again it was nice to see some more familiar faces. They turned out a great set of indie pop rock.
   Matt and Kim showed up just before Dina played and gave us the bummer news that Mac wouldn't be able to come down to the show. That bummed us out, apparently he had to be in for an interview early Thursday morning. Sucks, but we understood. Matt said he'd try and make it down to London on Saturday.

The Unknown live in Wakefield.

   In any case, we were stoked to play. The crowd wasn't as big as last year's show at the Jockey, but about 50 people were there throughout the night. It was a good crowd for the room. We busted out a long and tight set. It was: Never Be The Same - Postcard - Radio Lied To Me - Listen To Me - Disappear - Pretty Identical - Do You Know That Girl - Tongue Tied - Cyclone - Seven - Merry Go Round - She's Sorry - Femme Fatale - Puzzles - Give Me A Reason - Group Think.
   We got Matt and the guys from Drag Cars to come up for the backups on Group Think. It was nice to embarrass Matt a little bit and get him up to sing. He hadn't seen us play that song live seeing as he and Kim were out on a world trip last year.
   We were very happy with the show. Merch was good, better than all the previous nights, and we went back to Jarv's with a few pizzas and a case of Carlsberg. We closed out the evening talking and watching Scarface on the tube.