THE BENT MOUSTACHE: Bremen Friday 26 May 2006

That was a long day in Antwerp. Stuck for more than 12 hours in an industrial dumping ground, with the town miles away and nothing of interest around to visit or to stretch the mind. I have to say that John Robb's new book about punk rock (an oral history of British punk rock) is a cracking read and has been a great way to escape from the mundane aspects of touring....like being stuck on the outskirts of Antwerp. Everybody dragged their heels looking for something to do. J has been immersing himself in HBO lesbian series "The L Word" on dvd....could only hear grunting and shouting coming outta his 'puter speakers. Kevin gets crackered and lies in a heap on a couch with eyes that barely open, and Kyle scans EBay for money to spend on high end audio gear and plunge his debts into regions unknown. Lou, Kath and Hanny are always at the hotel and Murph inevitably always ends up at the hotel to sleep before the gig and return for brews and stick action. Dan, the tourmanager either is out taking arty photos, or in front of his 'puter planning the next Sonic Youth live payday, and looking forward to being in a touring group that isn't as high maintenance and dealing with a band manager who isn't hanging over his neck the whole time.

The gig itself was mediocre in my opinion.....bass rig falling apart, Louis all tiddly onstage, the sound never tightening up even with a full house, and crap mixing desk provided by the promoter. The in-house crew turned up in the morning expecting a big desk and all the trimmings, but were instead provided with a shitty little home studio desk and we were forced to improvise around it all. The gobshite promoter had the audacity to come up to me at the end of the night and complain about the band being too loud! I gave him an ear full and some more for not being accountable the whole f@#$*ng day for serving us shite gear! Why couldn't we play in the AB in Brussels? Some local artist painted a picture of the band whilst they played. He was the only winner in Antwerp. He told me about painting The Fall a couple of months ago, and MES was impressed (and drunk enough) to tell his group to give the painter the band's backdrop!