IN DER KIRCHE TOUR JUNE 2005

The cast:
WEREWOLF IN DER KIRCHE : guitar+vocals
GREASER IN DER KIRCHE : guitar
GAINESVILLE IN DER KIRCHE : bass
SKINDHEAD IN DER KIRCHE : drums
Plus MAD DRIVER IN DER KIRCHE : pedal to the metal

And Gerri, Kwixi and Peter collectively known as HALLO KWITTEN

3.6. ALMOST TOO EASY :
Tampere-Helsinki-Hamburg-Flensburg (Volxbad)

If you know Manifesto Jukebox, you know we don’t like things too easy. And that’s exactly what leaving for this tour could have been, the merchandise was already at the first venue, equipment was waiting for us there as well… we only had to get our asses to get airport in time. But yes, that would have been too easy.

Instead there was total panic after Jukka managed to miss his bus (the last one possible of course) from Tampere to the Helsinki airport. Well, after a long desperate while he managed to find a friend to drive him to the airport.. said friend had just gotten back from the hospital with his family’s new born baby 5 minutes before this emergency but still he was ready for a full speed drive with our drum artist! Can’t thank him enough… I was already sitting on the plane with Ville and it was one minute to the scheduled leaving time when Jukka appeared on board. Phew…

In Hamburg Turbostaat/Hallo Kwitten drummer Peter’s wife Mara picked us up from the airport and drove us to Flensburg where everything was already waiting for us. The Volxbad is an amazing venue with a perfect sound… then there was nice food and cold tasty north german beer… and of course our old friends TURBOSTAAT and HALLO KWITTEN!

This was one of the very few times Turbostaat plays in their hometown and the venue was completely packed already before we started, and the people seemed to like it and stayed while we played… well, there was not much of a choice because the room was too full for people to move and outside there was a lightning storm and it was pouring rain! So, a nice beginning of the tour for us, could not have been much better. Obviously Turbostaat rocked the house when it was their turn, the crowd was super into it and it was great to hear a couple of new songs as well from this band that is a fast and productive as us! Afterwards the venue turned into a disco inferno but we went to sleep because we were supposed to wake up at 7 in the morning and start driving to Berlin…

4.6. PUNX PICNIC OI OI OI :
Berlin (Kulturschock Festival)-Potsdam (Black Fleck)

…which we did! No fun. Luckily there was a loft in the van and i was the first one to notice. The Kulturschock fest took place in some suburb far away from the city and we had been requested to show up at 13:00 which we did. What a surprise, nothing happened for a looooong time. But anyway it was nice to hang out. In the poster it read simply that we are ”rock’n’roll”. That’s it. Depends on definition of course and most of the other bands were ska, hip hop or that kind of stuff but still i disagree as would propably most of the people who might be into our band. Whatever. We wandered around in search of coffee and eventually got to play around 4pm. There were already hundreds of people there but it was very crusty crowd overall, our friends Unkind would have ruled the place but it was not exactly the right time or place for us to be… still it was not as bad as playing in open air at 4 in the afternoon could have been.

We had also booked a gig in the nearby city of Potsdam for the night so we left there pretty soon. The last time we played at Black Fleck we got some of the best diner i have ever had in my life, any restaurants included, so hopes were high. And it was great this time too, not as magical but great! Food was maybe the thing we expected the most because Potsdam is very near to Berlin and so many people were at the festival… but still a decent amount of people showed up, it’s a small room with no stage so the feeling was intense despite our many technical problems, everything was falling apart. Oh well. This was also the first show of the tour for Hallo Kwitten, they did not play in their hometown because Turbostaat did, and could not get booked at the festival. It was fun to see them play again, not so many new songs since we toured with them with I Walk The Line but some new tricks to amuse the crowd ha ha… Afterwards not so surprisingly kicker, beer and sleep.

5.6. SOY NOT OI :
Prag (007 Club)

I just had to book a show in Prag so we could buy cheap soy stuff to take home from the tour! You can’t find these things stuff in Finland or if you do it’s crazy expensive. So it did not matter that the only gig we could get was supporting the US punk rock’n’roll band Turbo Acs at the 007 Club. It’s a very nice place so i said yes even though i knew we might not get any money unless the show goes well and there is a good turnout, which i thought there would be as everybody said they are a popular band in this area. Not true. There were only about 70 people so we (and the promoter lady) lost the gamble but whatever, it was still a good gig for all bands, good feeling and great food, great beer… and a good party at some punk bar downtown afterwards.

6.6. HOLIDAY IN BAVARIA :
Regensburg (Alte Mälzerei)

In the morning we had plenty of time for touristy stuff in Prag so we made the most out of it with our host who we will now call Steppenwolf. Mountains and churches can’t go wrong!

When we arrived in Regensburg i noticed Uriah Heep had played at the same venue before, whoa!! What a feeling. There were maybe 6 or 7 crates of beer backstage for 8 people on a monday night and we got fed with amazing vegan lasagne. Also the show was surprisingly good for a monday, we played really well and were sweating like pigs. Do pigs sweat?! Whatever. Gerri’s going fishing.

7.6. WAKE-UP SIGHT FROM HELL
and later Nuenchritz (Kombi)

We stayed in a flat in a house that was kind of under construction… and at between seven and eight everybody woke up to the sounds of drilling concrete and other not so pleasant noises. There were Bavarian constuction men at the balcony and even the germans could not understand what they were talking about. We thought about engaging in some homosexual activity, maybe that would have scared them off… didn’t do it though. Gerri only danced some ballet but to no avail.

After breakfest we tried to walk around in Regensburg but there was not a whole lot to see or do but we did get the best chinese food on the tour before heading to Nuenchritz. We have been to the Kombi many times and it’s always been a lot of fun so even though it was tuesday i had some expectations. But it was really quiet, it’s such a nice place that it was definitely not a bad experience, but maybe about 20 people… you can’t always win. Also Strength Approach from Rome showed up and played because they had a day off so there were at least a bit more people ha ha!

8.6. BLAST FROM THE PAST
in Göttingen (Juz)

This was one of the gigs i expected the most and again Göttingen ruled! The stage at the Juz is just perfect, like pretty much everything else too. The organizers are super nice, there always seems to be a decent amount of people, enthustiastic feeling and good distros present! Merch-sales-wise i think this was the best night of the tour for us, i guess that says at least something.

My friend who booked the show with his group, Benni, has always been into taking photos and he had just realized he had some photos of my and Antti’s old band Aurinkokerho and Peter and Kwixi’s old band Zack Ahoi playing at the same festival in Rostock in 1996, crazy! None of us knew each other back then, it would be a few more years before our paths would cross again and that would happen.

9.6. CHAMPAGNE & STRAWBERRIES :
Cologne (Mutze)

We bounced around Göttingen for a good while searching for shoes but none were found. Mission not achieved. Must find shoes on tour. So we drove off to Cologne empty handed and arrived at the venue early enough, then went to our friend Franz’s place for diner. Good stuff but dessert was the best, Franz is a man of style : champagne & strawberries. Mmmm… i think this just might become our new tour drink, replacing cheap Jägermeister copies and rum ha ha! After this the night had to be good and it was, despite the kind of disappointing turnout on a thursday night the show was good especially for Hallo Kwitten.

10.6. THE BOMB GOES OFF
in Munster (Baracke)

In Cologne it took about 3 hours to get moving from the sleeping and obviously we just had to check out Der Dom once again. If the name does not ring a bell it’s a dark, fucking monumental church. We also went to check out one of Europe’s biggest music stores but it was kind of boring especially with as much money as we have, which very surprisingly is not very much.

We were expecting the night’s gig quite much because we have old friends in Munster but we had never played in the city before. At the venue, Baracke, the gigs must be finished very early because of the noise so it also started very early and still then it was very quiet. The first band Hodz featured Toni (previously of Harum Scarum) on guitar and was pretty good actually, a nice surprise. Rough female vocals, driving punk rock with nice guitar playing… yep! We had been told when we arrived that there are also some other shows tonight, you know the usual excuses for not enough people showing up… so during Hodz’s set i asked my friend Thomas what other gigs they were. He said The Dirtbombs and all of us went crazy! Well all except Jukka as he played drums on the final Harum Scarum tour and wanted to stay at our venue with Toni & other friends… anyway, this might sound over the top but really get don’t get bands like that coming to Finland. So from now on i was euphoric! Actually a quite good amount of people had turned up before we went on and it was really good, for me maybe the best show on the tour because i was just so happy i would get to see the Dirtbombs that everything i did worked… or if it didn’t, i didn’t mind!

Of course everybody took their sweet time afterwards and i was really scared we would miss the Dirtbombs by the time everybody was in the van. And it got better – obviously we were in too much of a hurry to stop at the red light and the cops pulled us over! We were almost in front of the venue but could not leave, arrgghh… but in the end we only missed the first two songs. From then on it was amazing, totally packed and the Dirtbombs delivered the goods! Two drummers, two bass players, an amazing frontman/guitarist and of course great songs! Just perfect. And the best pizza of the tour in Döner King afterwards… not to forget listening to and praising the lords of music, Hot Snakes, at Thomas’ place until very late hours. Pretty close to a perfect night in my book.

11.6. MORE CHAMPAGNE FOR THE BIRTHDAY BOY :
Braunschweig (Nexus)

After checking out the obligatory record (totally awesome!), shoe (none again), church (not big enough) & pizza (jawohl!) scene we drove off to re-unite with Turbostaat for the last show of the tour. The next day would be Pekka the driver’s 30th birthdy so he swore Finnish style that he would not remember anything of this night afterwards. This would be true. Because we told him afterwards, he now knows that we brought him a big bottle of champagne to the distro table at precisely midnight, it was opened and half the crowd was also soaked, he crowd-surfed when Turbostaat announced on stage that it’s this guy’s birthday, and fell on his back to the corner of a big monitor cabinet. That looked really bad but as always drunken people had all the luck.

So the venue was packed and it was a perfect end for the tour, we played well and people were into it. Turbostaat did what they do and everybody went crazy, not least us and the Hallo Kwitten people… we were throwing tomotoes at Turbostaat, shooting them with bubble guns and getting on stage with (luckily not plugged in) instruments… oh well. It was a long night after the show as well, praising the lord and doing other stupid shit mostly. Diving into bushes and pogoing around to official tour anthem Jew Driver’s ”Skinhead In Der Kirche” at 6 in the morning.

12.6. POST-TOUR ATHLETICS :
Hamburg-Helsinki

It’s not difficult to guess that our condition was not the best this morning. And Peter had a nice job in store for us – he was moving from Hamburg to Flensburg with his wife and we were to drive to his old place and carry everything they own downstairs from the 4th floor - no elevator. No shit. It still amazes me that we really did it. Well, there was no hangover after that! I did not sweat so much at any show no matter how hot they got!

All in all what can i say, it was a really good tour, a good amount of people still remembered us even though there was no new record, no promotion… so can’t wait to practice more, play new songs, make the new album and hit the road again! See you all next year!