Summer Tour Blog

Internet access was pretty scarce on our UK adventure, so I’m just now getting to my final post from back home in California. Let me just first say that it was an amazing trip. I am incredibly glad to be back home, but we had a great time over the course of the last six plus weeks. Things I missed the most about home are of course Stephanie, and also a bed bigger than my freshman dorm room cot is also very nice. Also being able to walk into a room and know that there aren’t 11 other people trying to occupy the same space is a comforting thought. In retrospect, the tour will break down in my mind into five different legs. The first leg was the five California shows, which at this point seem like a long time ago and relatively forgettable. The second leg was the first 10 days in Europe. We had 16 different flights and were staying in hotels every night. The bad part about that leg was never getting more than a few hours sleep at a time. The good part about it was knowing there were clean showers every day (and I didn’t have to wear slippers!). Russia was part of this leg and will remain in my mind as the most memorable stop of the tour. The third leg was our first week on the bus. Callie was with us and we spent most of the time in Germany, save for a two day stint in Warsaw. It was a fun week filled with a lot of partying, and catching up on sleep at the same time. Leg number four was our adventure to Eastern Europe, exploring some new places and trying out some new markets for the Caddies. Stopping on the side of the road and purchasing super hot Hungarian style chili peppers from gypsies kept spicy food in my future for the rest of the tour. The fifth and final leg was our last 8 days of the tour where we visited Ireland (Northern Ireland as well), Scotland, England, and a final stop in Hamburg, Germany before flying home. This was probably the most trying leg of the tour, as everybody was ready to be home and quite frankly sick of each other. They’ve been touring together for about 14 years, so they’ve spent a lot of time together in close quarters. Having the downsized tour bus (and still inviting extra guests) was really the final straw. I was still enjoying myself and pretty much tried to keep to myself for the last few days. We started this stretch in Dublin by heading to the Guinness Brewery for a few delicious Guinness. We didn’t have much time before sound check, so we raced through the museum before finally reaching the bar on the top floor.

Me inside the brewery on the way to the top

Between the brewery, soundcheck, dinner, the show, and the bars afterward I have no idea how many Guinness I consumed that day. One of the last things I remember about the night was yelling at a bartender who was trying to tell me that New Zealand makes the best wine in the world. Dustin politely told me that we should leave the bar, and he was probably right. I had no business going to other bars after that, but it didn’t stop me. I really payed for it the next day with my most hungover day of the tour in Belfast. Belfast was probably the weakest show of the tour as far as attendance goes, but hey, it’s Belfast. We then ferried over to Scotland, where we had a fun club show and were able to walk around the city a bit. I had been to Scotland before but I think I was six so needless to say I don’t remember it much. It’s a pretty dreary place. Great scotch, however. We then headed down to play the great Leeds and Reading festivals, for which my friend Zack Bailey came out and joined us. We stumbled upon a great “super group” at Leeds called Them Crooked Vultures which consists of Dave Grohl, Joshua Homme & John Paul Jones. I had never heard of that lineup but they were awesome. That was probably the highlight of Leeds because it was pouring down rain and muddy as shit. It was pretty disgusting, actually. We played a fun show on the Lock Up stage and Zack watched from the back and took a few pictures.

Compliments of Zack Bailey

The weather was better at Reading, and we were greeted with a nice surprise. We had been watching a hilarious Doug Stanhope comedy DVD on the bus, for which Sascha is a big fan. Without knowing he was there, Sascha actually ran into him backstage. As it turned out, Doug was performing and Reading as well, Sascha introduced himself and gave him a Caddies t-shirt. When we went to watch his comedy act he was wearing the t-shirt and even gave the Caddies a shout-out. It was pretty cool. We played our set and the Caddies former bass player Chris (who is from Birmingham) was there to enjoy it. The only reason I went on this tour is because he just bought a house and needs to keep his current job. He’s one of the coolest people you’ll ever meet and was on the Wil Ridge/Mad Caddies tour we went on in 2008. He played on the song Monkeys at the end of our set. It was great to see him. We left immediately after the show to head towards our final show in Hamburg. It was called “T-Mobile Extreme Playgrounds” and was a BMX and wakeboarding international competition in addition to being a music festival. We played with Rise Against and International Noise Conspiracy. A cool highlight reel was made that you can see here. I think that’s a Rise Against song playing during the clip, but it’s definitely not a Caddies song.

We finally made it back to Santa Barbara just after midnight on Monday night. I’m back at the winery now, and am waiting for our first fruit of the year to come in, so I’m getting back into the swing of things. I have 1.5 tons of Gewurztraminer coming today for my Sforzando label, and am quite excited to get the harvest going. The Caddies are heading back to Portugal at the end of October and are off to Canada for the month of November, and as much as I’d like to go I’ll be making wine and need to stay here. There’s talk of more touring for next year, and as long as it fits into my work schedule back home I plan on doing as much of it as I can. I hope everyone enjoyed my blog, and I’ll continue to do it for future music travels as well. Thanks again to Mikey for setting it up. Until next time…

So we’ve had to switch buses, but before I get to that I forgot to mention one great thing about Prague. Well, it was actually about an hour outside of Prague but we stopped at the Kostnice Ossuary. For those that aren’t familiar (and I wasn’t either) it’s a church that houses the bones of over 40,000 dead humans. Sounds morbid, and it was. Apparently when rebuilding the church they had to dig up a mass grave left over from the black plague, and a half-blind monk started to artistically arrange all the bones. The result is a huge chandelier, coat of arms, and many other figures made completely out of human bones.

Here’s the coat of arms

It was weird to wake up early and walk around this church completely hungover. Quite a sight. Anyhow after Prague we had a weekend of great festivals. Friday night was Area 4, where we opened for some great bands. The festival filmed an HD DVD video that was given to us right after the concert. It looks great and there were tons of people there. I’ll show it to everyone when we get home. Saturday was fun as well as we played Pukkelpop, the biggest festival of the tour. There were 8 stages, and probably 70 bands. It covered a huge amount of ground. We then headed for Paris on Sunday where we played a fun club show. Young Buck (our stage tech) had never been to the Eiffel Tower before and since nobody else wanted to go with him I went. The last time I went it was nighttime and winter. This time it was daytime and summer, so at least it was pretty different. French beer is terrible. At least there was some decent rose to be had at some cafes, but check out the wine we were given backstage.

Laughable, at best

After the show on Sunday night we were forced to change buses at the Port of Calais. The AC broke in our first bus and the thought of traveling one more week without it was to much to handle. We downgraded from a double-decker with 14 bunks to a single decker with only 12 bunks and smaller lounges. Needless to say most of the people in the band are pretty upset about it. I don’t really care. There’s only a week left. We took our new bus to London yesterday for our day off, and eventually took the overnight ferry to Dublin where I sit today. We’re currently at a truck stop with good showers and bathrooms, and a few of us are about to head to St. James Gate Brewery where we’re going to knock back a few Guinness before the show. 2009 is the 250th anniversary of this delicious beer, so were expecting some special treatment when we get there. After today we spend the rest of the week in the UK, hitting Belfast, Glasgow, and Leeds & Reading Festivals. Then it’s on to Hamburg on Sunday for our last show before flying home. See most of you in just over a week!

After playing a relatively average show in Klagenfurt, Austria on Monday night, we headed east on our way to Serbia. It proved to be tougher than we thought to get in. First off, we were denied access to Croatia on our way. Apparently our paperwork for the merchandise allowed us to both “enter” and “exit” Croatia, but not “pass through.” You tell me how that makes sense. Another error on the part of our booking agent. We turned around and drove 1/2 hour back in the other direction, got proper paperwork, and finally “passed through” Croatia. When we finally did reach the Serbian border we were greeted with a full bus search which took almost an hour. Luckily for us they didn’t find anything. We finally made it to Belgrade in the late afternoon, and the entrance to the city was lined with the most disgusting gypsy village I have ever seen. Over a mile worth of gypsy huts and tents with people burning trash and all kinds of crazy shit. Pretty gnarly. Within the city limits there were buildings all over the place that had clearly been bombed or hit by missile attacks. It’s interesting to go to a place in Europe where all the kids hate Bill Clinton more than George Bush. “Clinton did all this to us,” they would tell us. After sound check and before the show a few of us went to the Kalemegdan fortress, which has stood for centuries. It was attacked by the Romans amongst many others. They have built a park around what still remains of it.

Not a great picture because it was dark, but it was beautiful

The Caddies had never been to Serbia before, and it turned out to be a great show. It’s easily the hottest show I have ever played. Small club + no ventilation = raining sweat. We left Belgrade that night and headed for Slovakia, and I think all of us felt good to be back in the EU. We had some time in Bratislava before the show so we were able to walk around the city center a bit, and have a few beers.

Eddie buying some real authentic crap in Bratislava

Slovakia was also a first for the Caddies, and I have to say that the show in Belgrade was better. More people, more die-hard fans, and better energy. It was still fun to visit this very old city. Yesterday we were in Prague, where the Caddies have been before but haven’t done very well there. Everyone said it was the best Prague show yet. Good crowd, and the two opening bands were both great. The Flatliners and A Wilhelm Scream. Check them out. We just arrived to Ludingausen, Germany, to play the Area 4 festival. It’s one of the biggest shows of the tour, and we play the main stage at 5:45. The lineup today starts with CJ Ramone then goes Zebrahead, Turbostaat, Mad Caddies, Jet, Deftones, The Offspring, and then Die Toten Hosen headlining. Should be a good one!