Woke up today and drove to the ferry. The border cops fucked with us hard. They almost didn’t let us in, but luckily my lies got us thru. They are strict about American bands coming in and getting paid so we told them Zach fills in for the Witch Cult (which is true) and that Mr. Shit and I came along to just travel Europe. They didn’t buy it for a while but finally let us thru. I wish I could just explain that we don’t make money, we lose money, and we are spending the money we have in their country so they should just fucking let us in. We missed the ferry we were supposed to take so they put us on a different one and we had to sit at the border for 2 extra hours. I hope this doesn’t happen with going to and from Ireland. The ferry today was not too long but it sucked. The currency exchange on board said 0 comission so I figured it would be cool, but when I checked the exchange rate online later they also fucked us.
After the ferry the drive was short. We got to the venue which is called Platform 5. The show isn’t actually in the bar, it's in a tent out back, and it's not warm enough out yet for a show in a tent. I was told that there were 9 bands playing, which is about 4 too many. 2 bands dropped off luckily. When the show started I thought there were a lot of people here, then I remembered most of them are in 1 of the 7 bands. Dashwood, Cry Wolf, Self Loathing and Let It Die all played. I missed the first band because we were off getting food. Then BearTrap played and kids went off, and sang along. It always blows my mind. Same happened for Witch Cult. This show could have been a disaster with timing/people getting bored and leaving cause of too many bands, but it actually went really good. Thanks to Josh for booking the show and running it smoothly. After the show we went back to the place we were crashing and I took my first bath since I was about 5. Then we slept because that’s all we do.
Day 56/Show 49/ Leeds, UK
Woke up today and sat around for awhile. Watched some mtv and then drove to Leeds. The drive wasn’t too bad, and the weather didn’t get shitty either. The venue tonight was called Fox and Newt. We heard that “people went crazy in Leeds” but that wasn’t the case. There were 3 bands on before us, and 2 of them left after they played. Closure was the only band that stayed, thanks to them for that. The show was ok, not to many people, and most of them stood far away. After the show we went to one of the dudes from Closure's tattoo shop. Some of us got some work done. Then we went to the promoter's house to sleep. Tomorrow is another ferry and a border so we will have to wake up early to account for the time we will waste being fucked with by cops.
Day 57/Show 50/ Dublin, Ireland
Today we woke up early and got to the ferry early. No one even checked our passports or anything. The nice old lady who was supposed to check our van for drugs or whatever asked if we were a group (band) and if she should know us/were we famous? After we laughed with her about it she let us go and didn’t check a thing. 2 hours later we got on the ferry with no issues. It's crazy how some are so strict and some are so relaxed. After 3 hours of zoning out on the ferry we got off and drove thru Dublin to the venue.
The place was called Thomas House. It was the basement of a bar and a weird set up. Very narrow and at the end was a small rise for bands to play on, but the bar stuck out half way across the stage so Mr. Shit and half the drum set were hidden behind it the entire time. There was an alright amount of people for a Monday night, aside from that nothing went right. After we played and loaded out we figured out where we were staying and drove there. After that we made some pasta and went to sleep. The ferries to and from Ireland are super expensive so I think we are gonna have a loss on our hands.
Day 58/Show 51/ Galway, Ireland
Woke up today cold on a hard wood floor. Perfect end to last night/start of the day. Then we sat around forever with nothing to do. We drove to Galway and the weather was shitty half the drive, and then real bad when we got there. We sat in the venue for about 4 hours till people showed up for the show.
The venue tonight is called Sally Long's. The show is in the bar and I was told this will be the best Ireland show. Jack, who put out our record in Ireland, got us the 3 shows. Thanks to him for that. This show started around 10 and when it started there were a good amount of people there. Vagrants opened the show. They played with us yesterday in Dublin also. They were good. Then Witch Cult played and people moved around and went off. Then for the BearTrap set it was pretty wyld. Kids really appreciate it when bands come over to this side of Ireland I guess. People were going crazy and a bunch were singing along. We sold a lot of shit too. This was one of the best shows of the tour. After the show we went to the place we are sleeping and set up camp in the living room. Then we watched videos of our old and current bands on youtube. Losers.
Day 59/Show 52/ Belfast, Ireland
Today we woke up in Galway, sat around for a little bit and then drove to Belfast. We avoided toll roads so the drive was more scenic and nice. The weather was erratic like every other drive. It would rain real heavy for 10 minutes and then be really sunny and nice the next 10. When we got to Belfast it was really nice out. This city is super nice too. One of my favorite cities so far. We walked to a grocery store, then skated thru the center to an awesome skate park under a bridge.
After that we went back to the venue for dinner. The venue tonight is Warzone center. The show started around 10. There was an alright amount of people but it didn’t seem too lively in there. They would clap between songs but otherwise seemed pretty uninterested. A few people bought records tho so that’s cool. After the show we went to where we were sleeping. I did my usual calculations and we lost money on ferry tickets so next time play 4 shows instead of 3. Sleep.
