Last month I accompanied Coke Bust on their first European tour. I had a great time, met a lot of cool people, went a lot of cool places. I kept a journal with me, and wrote about each day. Rather than bore you with a long Tour Diary post, here's a list of things I learned abroad.
-Europeans think I'm fat
-Coke Bust covering Youth of Today with me on vocals was better than the "real YOT" which toured Germany the month before
-Squats in Germany are better organized than some legit venues
-The food we got for free that people made for us at shows was better than the food we paid for in restaurants
-Poland is 10% on fire at all times
-Most stereotypes I had of Europeans were all absolutely true
-Hostels aren't as creepy as I assumed they would be, and were actually quite pleasant
-European punks take things more seriously, and there are a lot more older people at shows there.
-The ban we have on indoor smoking in the USA is a good idea
-British people have a real snarky attitude, which rules
-Breakfast of bread and various spreads is common
-Soda tastes way better there, since they use sugar instead of corn syrup.
-Jubert can lose all of his clothes, and come home with nicer ones for free
-In Poland, prostitutes hang out in the woods wearing coats in the afternoon
-The hookers in the Red Light District are mediocre looking at best
-Sheep are more common than trees in the UK
-Pizza in northern/ eastern Europe is terrible (corn? really?)
-Nico is the coolest guy in all of Europe
-Dierk has the coolest stuff in all of Europe
-The British really are into tea (with milk and sugar of course)
-"Brown Sauce" is a staple in a proper British breakfast; it goes well with beans on toast.
-If regular haggis is as good as vegan haggis, I wanna try it
-Belgians will make you waffles if you ask nicely
-There aren't many skin byrds in the UK
-Don't brag about you encounter with a skin byrd on Facebook, it makes your girlfriend very mad.
-Coke Bust severely overestimated the European straight edge scene from a t-shirt sales perspective.
-Jubert loves soda, and gets real sassy after 2
-Germans love to play kicker (fooseball) at shows
-The phrase "Good Night White Pride" can be funny when said like "Good Night John Boy"
-Some European urinals are like a horse trough
-Some European toilets have the "poo shelf" which keeps the poo out of water, and keeps it stinky. Not backed
-Burritos in Germany are just as bad as you'd assume they'd be
-German rest stops expect you to pay .70 Euro to use the toilet, but you can pee outside for free
-It's way easier to steal stuff in Europe
-UK showers have no water pressure
-Fish and Chips tastes just like I assumed it would: greasy and delicious
-Donner kabob (sort of like a gyro in the US) is pretty damn tasty
-Schnitzel is pretty damn shitty
-Robert Refuse is the Nick Baran of Europe
-Europe has a much better selection of bootleg LPs
-The landscape of most of Europe looks like northern Pennsylvania
-The Czech Republic has a tourist trap rest area similar to South of the Border
-The Anti-Fascista movement is 90% stickers
-Eastern Europe really over compensates for the whole nazi thing
-There are 5 black people in all of Europe, which makes the white pride movement even more ridiculous
-Top 3 bands we played with: Ruidosa Inmundicia, Sick Fuckin-O, Short Fuse
-Top 3 songs of tour: "Bed Intruder Song," "Ba Ba Americano," "Teenage Dream"
-Nico used to mosh hard at shows, and earned the nickname "the Butcher" in the pit
-South Park is possibly the best American export
-Hearing English people talk with American accents is hilarious
-"Handy" and "Blowy" are (or at least should be) new British slang for sexual acts
-Nico is a better wingman than Nicktape
-Swedish people like to talk about how cold it is, or will get
-Most European shows take place in bars, or places with bars, which maybe gives the sXe stance more meaningful there
-Bands get paid better, and treated nicer in Europe than America
-Punks carry tote bags to shows for their records; I support this
-Vita Cola is the best soda in Europe, followed closely by Mezzo Mix. Both are orange flavored cola
-Sleeping on a tile kitchen floor is just as uncomfortable as you would think
-Chris at all times travels with at least 4 layers of clothing
-There are no fat people in Amsterdam
-Most of Amsterdam travels by bicycle, including women in short skirts. BACKED
-Seeing Coke Bust 21 days in a row didn't get boring
-Germans love David Hasselhoff
This grenade is for an art show at Finder's Creepers in IA, where every artist customizes a grenade in their own way called "Fire In The Hole!" I decides to paint mine like a clown, which I've decides to call "Rambozo the Clown." As usual, I painting the whole thing with spray paint, then added a black rub to get the darkness in the detail. While painting it, I had some issues with the paint flaking off, but I think I was able to conceal it a bit. I added the arms from a crappy old action figure, to give it a more ridiculous character look.
Because I'm such an exciting guy, I decided to spend my Saturday finishing up some other toys I started. First is yellow vinyl Blowfish by Brian Flynn/Super7. I wanted to try a new idea I had, where I cut out some circles with painter's tape and placed them inside. I then painted the inside blue, so that it would look green, and peeled off the tape circles, leaving clear yellow dots. It came out pretty cool, and looks real good when in some direct light. I also did a dry rub, but it was so round, that it's very subtle.
Next I painted a clear vinyl RealXHead Ashira, which is a version of the one eyed fortune cat that I love. I painted the inside light green, then taped off the robe and flower to spray paint pink. The black rub gives it a look of a weathered jade statue.
Lastly, I had this Chaos head from the Glyos Custom Corp for a while. The body it came on wasn't nearly badass enough for it, so I made this for him, but had it un-painted for months. Again, not badass enough. So in my painting last night, I decided to try a white rub, and added the detail to the glow pieces with a fine point paint marker. Finally, think he looks badass enough.
