Things I Learned in Europe

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

Peace out NJ

I'm leaving on a jet (blue) plane in a few hours to spend the next week in Daytona, FL w/ my favorite Floridian, Annie. I'm real excited to see her, and wear shorts again! While I'm there, I'll be at This Is For You Fest. My bands have played the fest in previous years, and it's always really diverse and fun. I made up some posters to sell for some extra cash, and to trade for band merch.

Last night one of my new bands, SPG played our first show @ Rancho Relaxo. It was a show I booked, and we shared equipment with the Kanamits. We sounded ok, definitely need some more work before doing another show. My stupid A string went out of tune real early in the set, but otherwise it went well. The show ended up ok, but started a little rough, since not many people came and the bands were super late. I wasn't sure if Blank Stare was going to show up, but they got stuck in traffic and got there at 9.

I uploaded crappy quality video clips of SPG's set on the infamous youtube:
1st song
2nd song
3rd song

Just to Get Away

I'm back from Florida, and had a great time hanging out with Annie. Saw some great bumper stickers (If you can't stand behind the troops, you should stand in front of them), saw some sketchy weirdos (they call me "the Rooster"... you know like that Alice in Chains song), did some beach and went to Islands of Adventure. Hopefully it won't be too long before I get to go back, and I hope she didn't get sick of my crazy ass being around for 5 days. I had so much Sweet Tea, lots of fun!

I'll be putting up another post either tomorrow or Thursday, I had some thoughts, and got 3 records in the mail while I was gone. This weekend I get to see one of my favorite bands, Tragedy. It's been almost 2 years since I've seen them, so I'm really glad I get to see them twice and get their new LP.

Florida and records

This'll be my last post for a few days, I'm going to Florida Wednesday night until Monday night to visit my favorite Floridian, Annie. I'll be on the beach, while it's raining and crappy in NJ. I'm also going to go to Islands of Adventure, where they have a Marvel comics themed park. I'm hoping to get a picture with someone dressed as Wolverine.

Recent Record/CD Purchases:


the Ergs- "Jersey's Best Prancers"
This was recorded a while, and just took forever to actually come out. While it may not be as fast as "Dorkrockcorkrod," it's still really really good. Sounds like they've been listening to the Replacements a lot lately. Most notable might be that Scott Reynolds from ALL sings backup vocals on one of the songs... I know crazy right? Seriously, this CD rules and the Ergs really are bigger than Jesus (in my eyes that is).


the Yah Mos Def- "Plays Ugly For Suckers"
A 5 song EP from this Philly hip hop group, scroll down to the show review to get more info about them. Basically it's as if the Beastie Boys had kept the punk energy and sound. Great CD, and it leaves you wanting more.


the Jury- "I Hate the Future"
Great debut for this upstate NY band, sound wise I get a 9 Shocks/ Poison Idea vibe. Fast raging distorted hardcore with strained vocals. Word out on the street is that it's limited, so track it down, before it goes on eBay.


Black SS- "self titled"
I was putting off buying this, since the few songs I heard online were kind of ok, but not mind blowing. I decided to pick it up from the Jury last week though. I'm glad I did, it's real good mid-paced hardcore punk. It's really good to see straight edge bands that lean more toward the punk side of the fence than the jockish hardcore side. I'd like to see them live and pick up some more records by them.