onwardandupward:

Between helping my Aunt and Uncle get settled in at their new place, rehearsing, and being a fuckin’ tall dude with a fuckin’ tude, I’ve had little to no time to catch my breath. I’ve been without Internet for 3 weeks, and that involved walking down to the Starbucks every goddamn day multiple times PER day, HEARD OF IT, to get access to the world wide web. The first day, a Starbucks employee came up to me, and with my iPhone out, attached to my computer, asked if it was mine. He looks next to me at these two guys who had been hanging out—milling about, even—around my table. Starbucks employee says, “maybe you should put your phone away. Thieves operate in this area (long look to the guys next to me again). These assholes get up right then and walk away. Cops were in there most days. Turns out, being across from Harrods makes you a Starbucks that crooks want to take advantage of. So needless to say, the Internet in this awesome house is a joy.

This past week, I’ve played 3 gigs in various places. Jeeps, the group I’ve been playing in since I stepped foot in Berlin, played in Camden. I was then hit up to perform with William Nein at his CD release party, which I proceeded to take a big shit on because of how nervous I was. And yesterday, had a gig in Winchester, a city an hour outside of London, with a band called FOE.

This story will be made all the more interesting with some photos of the people involved, so here is a photo essay of the band.

Glen: Lead vocals, guitar, songwriter, wine, global

William: Bass, backing vocals, lagers, Berlin

Eddie: Keyboards, backing vocals, spirits, Stockholm

Right. So there’s that. We had this Winchester gig with FOE, who, after a bit of research, we discover is kind of on the up and up—on Vertigo Records (subsidiary of a major label), press coverage in most major British music publications, as well as the BBC, and has played huge venues opening for bands such as Atari Teenage Riot. When you have a rap sheet like that, you’re going to make idiot amateur idiots like me nervous. But we were preparing adequately, and were feeling pretty good about the show.

Glen and our friend James rent a car and some hotel rooms, and we decide to make a trip out of it. Winchester was the capital of England at one point, and stories of its rise involve battles with Vikings, old clocks, and, turns out, a huge cathedral—the longest in London.

As I walked along that path in the first picture, I found it strange that it ended so abruptly, as you may notice. My friend Marcin and I decide to walk across the grass here.

You can spot the gravestones, and just beyond this creepy looking tree, is a poorly-lain brick path that we decided would lead us to the front of the cathedral. Turns out, those bricks are several hundred years old, and were where the Kings would lead a procession inside. So, quite possibly the least appropriate place to be walking.

Anyway, the gig is at this place called the Railway. We didn’t know the name of the venue, or how to fucking get there. We just knew it was by the station, and that FOE would . Railway. Station. You do the math.

We find it. It’s closed. Big deal. We decide to walk around a bit more and grab some lunch.

That’s James, AKA Jet Tea. Gig time was approaching. The fun begins.

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1:16 am  •  29 January 2012  •  2 notes