The Unknown 2003 Euro Tour. Week Three.
Written mostly by Ken.

Day 15: Friday April 4th, 2003.

We woke up in the office and went down to the Cavern Club for breakfast. They were a cafe by day and they made a freekin' great breakfast. After a few hours of hanging out we left for Cardiff. The good thing about writing in retrospect is that you know what you are going to say immediately. Cardiff was great and shit at the same time. It was a quick drive in from Exeter, only like two hours or so. We got into town and called Monk Dave (from Fracture and past roadie/merch man driver from the previous Unknown UK tour in 2000). He came and met us near the Cardiff castle, and we went back to his place for some pre-show pasta. The show was at the OZ Bar, an Australian themed bar on the main strip of Cardiff. As usual, we would play in the sordid underbelly of the club. This was always for the better, but it's funny how nice the clubs look on the outside, and then there's this place inside for punk shows. The first band on the show was Shaped by Fate They played a hardcore-metal type emo thing. They were OK. Next up was Nozzle. Nozzle was a cool pop punk band that sang very well. We enjoyed them. We were up next, and for the first time on this tour all the damn people left. As I write this a few days later, Mat, Dious, and I are talking about how kids come and see their friend's band play and then leave without seeing the main band. This happens all the time at home and apparently a lot in Europe as well. It is annoying. So we went up and played to a small but good crowd. The set, for the first time, is lost, and I can't remember what we played. I know for sure it included; Merry, Postcard, Radio, Sorry, Never, Cyclone, Young Ones, Seven, Group Think. The night was going fine until later when we were back at Monk Dave's. We were hanging out and having a good time. I was getting tired and headed down to the van to get a sleeping bag to turn in for the night. I went down to the van in my socks thinking I'd only be a second. I opened the back of the van and started looking for the bag. As I went in I noticed some dude standing in the doorway of the flat where the van was parked in front of. While I was in the van I heard the front door shut. What the hell was that? Well apparently there was some fucker in the van. He had just broken the window and was in the middle of ripping us off when I went into the back. I startled him and his accomplice so when I peaked my head back out of the door to see what the hell was goin on they were gone. All I saw was the busted window and glass all over the street. I ran back upstairs and got everyone and the bunch of us that were still sober and not passed out came down. I was convinced they ran into the flat because I would have seen them running in one direction or another if they ran down the street. They didn't. We pounded on the door of the flat that I saw the dude standing in front of and finally some guy answered. He came out screaming at Monk about how late it was. It seemed fishy. We called the cops and soon after they showed up. We figured out that they stole 2 cellphones and a CD discman. They questioned the guys in the apartment but it really didn't do much good. We got the number of an all-night place to get the window repaired and decided to get it done at 8:30 in the morning. That was only 3 hours away. It only cost 100 pounds to get the window fixed and the insurance for the van should cover that. But it really sucks ass to be on a tour having a good time, hanging out with friends and then this bullshit happens to you in the middle of a foreign country. Fucking Wales. So much for that first experience.

Day 16: Saturday April 5, 2003.

Birmingham was a huge city. Second largest in the UK, and it was really close to Cardiff. We were supposed to get there early, around 5, but because most of us were awake past 5 AM because of the van situation, we didn't leave Monk Dave's until about 3:30. I phoned Aston before we left to tell him the bad news and that we would be late. The gig today was a free one that included Aston's band Benny on the bill. The bands were: General Winter, Hacksaw, Stuntface, Eastfield, Benny and us. The show was at the Market Tavern in an industrial area of Birmingham. Most of the bands were pretty hard edged, hardcore kinda bands. Most of the people were pretty tough as well. We were a bit worried we wouldn't go over very well. Eventually it was our turn to go up and we scorched. The set was: Sorry, Stare, Disappear, Postcard, Young Ones, Cyclone, Radio, Never, Listen, Merry, Group Think. Everyone totally got into it. It was great. Turned out to be one of the best merch nights. Lots of people came up and talked to us after the set. A lot of them were old time punks with mohawks or tattoos on their heads. It was weird, but all the people were way cool. Birmingham people had an interesting accent. It was really hard to understand them as they tried to say nice things to us in their wacky British. After the show was over we decided to try and make the trek up to Leeds to stay at Russell's house. We had been waiting all tour to see some of the Scarper guys. So we phoned him, and it turned out he was with fellow Scarpernian Micha. That sealed it, we'd go to Leeds. The ride up was only suppossed to be about 2-3 hours. After numerous detours and construction, we finally got onto the highway after 30 minutes. At about 4 AM. We rolled up to Russell's bare ass mooning us on the street as we pulled up to him meeting us on the corner. We stayed up til about 5 AM talking and doing the reminiscing thing. It was awesome to see Russ and Micha again.

Day 17: Sunday April 6, 2003:

Our first day off in over a week. We needed it. We all slept in til the mid afternoon. We decided to basically just go out to the pub. Mac showed up just after we all woke up and by the time we were all ready to go it was around 4 PM. It was Sunday and we were in the college area of Leeds. We walked up the street to where the main drag was and found a restaurant to chow. The rest of the night involved a couple pubs, much fried food and entirely not enough talking and bullshitting. We ended up watching Return of Spinal Tap at Russ's and staying up til the wee hours of the morning. Mac was definitely in the worst shape. He had to leave early, like 7 AM, to get a train back to Hull.

Day 18: Monday April 7, 2003.

Here we are with another day off. I'm gonna keep this day short. We did laundry, slept and watched TV and movies. One notable thing was this bakery that we bought sandwiches at. The bread was a type of Chibatta bread with huge chunks of bacon and egg. Man they were as good of sandwiches we have had.

Day 19: Tuesday April 8, 2003.

We woke up kinda late and said our goodbyes to Russell. The ride up to Scotland was suppossed to take about 4 hours. We left around noon and headed up the coast. About 6 hours later we arrived at Andy from Barefoot's house. Yeah we were late, but we still had time to eat a great chili meal prepared by Andy. Andy greeted us with that thick Scottish accent I was waiting for. The food still is just top fucking notch on this tour. After the quick meal we headed to the Stereo near downtown Glasgow. The Stereo was a cool bar. It was punk and small. The perfect kind of spot for us to play. Glasgow itself was pretty modern. There were more bigger buildings here than in most places. There was a lot of construction going on as well. It reminded me of the dirty parts of New York or Detroit or something. It was very US like. We got to the bar about 7 and loaded in. The gear barely fit into the stage area. The first band up tonight was The Cherrykicks. They had a Ramones/Stiff Little Fingers thing going on. It was pretty cool. I dug it. The crowd was fairly receptive. Next up was Andy and his band Barefoot. Barefoot is a fellow Boss Tuneage band, and you can see why. They did a kick ass pop punk set. We met up with a guy who saw us play in Leven in 2000. It was cool, he was wearing a 2000 tour shirt. We got up next and kicked out our first set in two days. We played; Seven, Disappear, Listen, Postcard, Real, Radio, Puzles, Girl, Cyclone, Sorry, Merry and Leave. We went over OK. The crowd stayed back and was polite, but it seemed like we didnt go over that great. We played well. After the show we went back to Andy's flat across from some cool churches. Scotland has been good to us so far.

Day 20: Wednesday April 9, 2003.

Today was a good day from the monet we woke up. Aston phoned to tell us that the new issue of Kerrang! was out and it had pictures and a review of the London show with K-Line, Blocko, us and Hot Action Cop. It was fucking great. Here we are in one of the biggest music magazines in the UK, in full glossy color mind you. Warner Brothers really got their money's worth on this one. You can tell they wanted to slam HAC in the article but stopped short of that and said stuff like "it's all too much for one poor chap, who's swiftly evicted by one of the band's bouncers for the crime of holding his middle fingers aloft in the frontman's line of vision." Yeah that was pretty much what was going on. And instead of saying their songs were annoying and shit it said; "Fever for the Flava - an ode to begging for sex that's so irritatingly catchy it makes you want to rip your own skin off." It goes on to say we were a Descendents tribute, silly, but it also said: "...the first real unification of the night, the now well-refreshed audience bouncing off each other and the walls to their take on the Yong Ones.." There's a full color picture of me plying and Zac from K-Line too. It's one for the scrapbook, that's for sure. Fucking hell KERRANG! Ha. The drive up to Dundee was longer than we thought. It was totally in the middle of nowhere. It was a bigger city than I thought, but still a tiny spek when you compare it to other places we have been to. The club, Drouthy Neebors, was posh on the top and punk rock in the basement. It was another small venue that would be using a vocal PA. We got fed another amazing meal by Paul the guy doing the show. Barefoot played first and were followed by the locals, the Ritalins. Barefoot sounded fucking great. The sound down there was fantastic. I was amazed. The Ritalins were next with their poppunk ramones type rock. We got up last and tore it up. I don't have the set from tonight. The crowd response was much better than the night before. Problem with this place was that there were too many tables and chairs set up and most of the people were sitting down. They were into it, but not the way you'd like. Scott and Joyce came out for this show as well. We stayed with Paul and Linda and Clair across the way from a castle and partied all night.

Day 21: Thursday April 10, 2003.

Today's drive was the crappiest of the whole tour. Dundee to Wakefield. It took us about 8 hours to make the trek down. It wasn't horrible, I mean this is the last leg of the tour, and this ws the longest drive we have had the whole time. We couldn't find the club cause we had no directions. So we drove around asking people where the bar was for like 30 minutes. Eventually we stumbled on to it. Later I found out that Russell had posted the directions to the show on our message board. We got into the Jockey and marveled at the paintings and logos of metal bands all over the walls. The UK seems to love metal, we learned that last time. After a quick set up we went over to get some food with one of the guys doing te show, Rob from Pylon. This place we were going to stay at for te night was fucking amazing. It was a mansion. Rob's parents were away to France, and we'd have the place to ourselves. There was beds and comfort for everyone and anyone who wated to come back after the show. There were stained glass windows in this place for God's sake. We got back to the club after a great veggie burrito type meal and the place was packed. Literally there was nowhere to go at all. The cribs were the first band of the night. They reminded me of exactly the type of band that did Speak In Tongues for all those years at home. They sounded like Coffinberry from back home. Next up was Dugong. We played with them the last time we were in the UK in Manchester. Dugong sounded great. We couldn't watch much of the bands simply because there was so many people in the "concert room." It was hot as hell in the room and in the bar area too. While the openers played all of our new and old frends started to show up. Martine and Paolo drove in from Belgium to see the last three shows and coordinate the departure. Mac, Russell and Elaine drove in from Hull and Leeds. We knew it would be a good show once they all showed up. The set was; Never, Postcard, Seven, Puzzles, Disappear, Radio, Whether, Sorry, Girl, Young, Cyclone, Merry, Group, Leave. It was a special night for us when we played Group Think. Mac sang with me, and we went back and forth with the lead vocals. Russell sang backup with Louis ad the French guys. It was fucking great. The crowd really got into it as well. It was one of te best shows of the tour. Even the owner of the Jockey came up to us after and expressed how much she wanted us to come back and play. We headed back to Rob's mansion and hung out al night talking and drinking beer. There must have been at least 12 or 15 of us hanging out. It was fun.

Day 22: Friday April 11, 2003.

Tonight's show was an impromptu gig set up by the guys that did our first UK show in Guildford. Tom amd Matt found out we had a day off and they told us in Southampton that they could throw together a show for this Friday and at least give us something to do instead of wasting our time. They set up the show at the Guildford Youth and Community Center. It wasn't too unlike many of the VFW halls we have played over the years. After the 6 hour drive down from Wakefield (2 of it stuck in London traffic) we showed up to more friendly and familiar faces. Hooray For Me was the first band of the night. They were the most interesting band of the tour. Musically it was fat wreck type stuff, but visually was the thing. They had a little guy playing guitar that was about 3 feet tall. He fucking tore it up too. He was great. It was a treat to watch. Next up was Pickled Dick. They were better than their name would suggest. Good singers, decent set. Another band played, but I have no idea who they were since they weren't listed as playing. It was straight ahead punk rock. We got up next, and well this would turn out to be the most interesting show of the night. A lot people showed up for the show including Aston and Julie, Ed from K-Line, Martine, Paolo and of course the kids who put on the show. When we went on there was a god 80 or so kids assembled waiting for the rock. We started with Seven and went to do Postcard, Sorry, Stare, Disappear, Real Thing, Never and The Young Ones theme. Each song made the place go more crazy and ballistic. We were making the kids go crazy. It was fucking great. Circle pits, hoisting people in the air, massive singalongs to all of our choruses. It was great. All was going well. Then in the mass hysteria that was brewing, a bunch of fireworks were going off. Not real fireworks, the kid where you pull a string and there's a pop. Well do about 15 of those at once and you get the fire alarm to go off. Yes we were in the first verse of Cyclone, and bam the fire alarm went off. So we stopped playing and everyone headed outside because the fire department wwas thought to be on its way. Eventually the firemen showed up and started lookign around. All the kids scurried to get the beer hidden and there was a general fear that the police would show up and shit the show down. The firefighters looked around for a bit and eventually left without any incident. We got back into the stage area after a now 30 minute or so break and busted back into the set. A lot of people left and it was hard to get momentum back, but we did it. From then on we did Cyclone, Annie, Puzzles, Listen, Merry, Group and Leave. Group Think was a complete party and most everyone there was singing along. Tremendous. Fantastic show. Then the reality of the night set in. We had to start our drive to Luxembourg. After we hung out and said goodbye to everyone, we packed up and started the trek to Dover to catch the ferry to Calais. By the time we all got to Dover it was around 3 AM. We were frazzled, but we needed to do this to get to Luxembourg in time for us to get a hotel room and get a few hours sleep before the show. We ended up on the ferry from 4:30 to 5:30 AM. Martine and Paolo had to stay behind and take a different ferry since they had already bought tickets for a later time. We would meet up with them at the show. We go to a hotel room near the Luxembourg airport at 12 noon. We had been awake and frazzled all night long.

Day 23: Saturday April 12, 2003.

After a few hours of sleep we left for the show in Luxembourg at Cafe No Mans Land. The bar was literally at the border of France and Luxembourg. It was weird. I was able to walk back and forth from the two countries in 2 minutes tine. Definitly in the middle of nowhere. This show was with Everest and Narayan. Both bands were good and went over pretty well. One was from Germany and the other was a local band. We got up and played and OK. Definitely not our best of the tour, but considering the circumstances, we did OK. I lost the set list so I can't tell you what we played. I do know it included Group Think at the end with the guys from Demzel up on stage with us singing the backups. Martine and Paolo paid the drivers for the tour and took the backline money we had made and it looked like at this point that we would come home with some cash. Amazing. After th show we went over to the Friet place across the street for some fries with mayo and cheese and kethcup. Fuck yeha they were awesome. Perfect food for after a show. I had to order in French. That was weird. After we finally got all our crap together we left to go bback to the hotel room. Unfortunately we weren't going back to go to sleep. The plan had been to have the hotel room available for us to shower up before drving to Brussells to catch our plane. Louis would be staying behind to take care of the rooms and then go on to Switzerland.

Day 24: Sunday April 13, 2003.

Saturday blurred into Sunday as we began the day in the van heading to the hotel room to get cleaned up before heading to Brussells to catch our 10:30 AM plane to Atlanta. We got into the room and took quick showers and said our goodbyes to Louis. The clean-up only took us about an hour and a half. Off we went to the airport. After three weeks, well a little more, we were leaving our newest roadie. Louis did a good job, was a great friend, and we were, are, going to miss him while he is away for a year. We go to the airport about 5:30 AM. The drivers and Martine and Paolo were totally wasted from being awake and drving. We werenn't exactly doing that well either. But at this point it was pure adrenaline making us move. There had only been about 3 or 4 hours of sleep since the Friday show to this point, and there wasn't any sleep in sight. Martine, Paolo, Mat and Dious stayed with us at the airport for about 30 minutes. It was then time to go. We said our teary goodbyes and promised that we'd all get together next year. We were gonna miss those guys like you wouldn't believe. It's amazing how close you can get to people who don't even speak your native language. Well, sorta, well, you know what I mean. After over 3 weeks, we were on our own. At 7:30 the ticket gate opened, and we found out that our connection flight from Atlanta to Cleveland was cancelled and we would have to go from Brussells to Atlanta to Cincinnati to Cleveland. Now instead of getting home at 6 we would come in at 10 PM. That's Cleveland time. Belgium time it would be 4 AM. We were about to embark on an 18 hour journey. YUCK. There's not much to say about the end of the trip. It sucked. Planes suck. They are uncomfortable, they are stale, and they have boring movies and tv shows. Delta was the best airline we have flown, meaning they didnt lose anything. The most annoying thing about the way back was when we were getting through the Atlanta airport and the fuckers decided that the chain wallets that me, Pete and Wayne had on were weapons to choke someone with. Not the power cords I had in my back, no my 6 inch chain that would fit around no one's neck. So they took those. What a pain in my ass. 7 countries of no problems, and then we get home and people are annoying. Typical. F'in typical. The flights were all on time, the luggage made it (the girl at Delta in Cleveland actually went and got the guitars from the luggage area for us), and we made it. Denny picked up Brian, Wayne and me, and Rita picked up Pete at the airport, and we went home for some much needed sleep in our own beds.

THE END.