Ladies & Gentlemen,
Sadly, here is the final part of our tour diary…
Berlin, at Levee Club Friday 11th February and it’s the official E.p1 launch party.. It was great to be back at ex Bang Bang Club after so long, but the avant-garde ‘Jungle Book’ style toilet decorations were slightly bizarre it has to be said.. not to mention the pig’s head on a platter we found in the storage room, as well one or two stragglers surfacing from dark corners of the toilet.
We were supported by local Berlin band ‘Children’ but we sadly didn’t get to watch their set as we had two interviews before the gig, but what we could faintly hear sounded pretty good.
One was for Motor.de (complete with embarrassing hand drawn self portrait..)
The other was with Sebastian for Fast Forward Magazine..
We played our full set and were kindly asked back for an encore.. our set included a cover of Psychedelic Furs ‘Love My Way’ which went down a treat.. After the gig we hit the town.. and NO ONE parties like Berlin parties..! they go out at 5am here..! the party after our gig at Levee Club went on until 6pm the next day..!
..but we were whisked away by Humming Records to some bizarre swing party in a tent.. which was like an 80’s Jewish wedding reception.. well.. what I’d imagine one to be like anyway.. and after lots of laughter and plenty of ridiculous dancing it was off to Magnet Club to see the dawn in.. when in Rome…
After an extremely roundabout way of getting a few stops on the train back home.. well actually 4 trains, 2 wrong directions and several slurred conversations with fellow dawn travellers we bundled into the local kebab shop while the sun was coming up.. Berlin does the best kebabs.. London,. you’ve got a lot to learn…
A couple more clubs.. a party, numerous bottles of good German beer and several Euros spent on kebabs our two days off in Berlin came to a close.. but not before we were invited to play an acoustic set at Berlin’s Ramones Museum.. setting foot on the stage like so many fantastic bands before us and finding a patch on the cluttered wall to tag Red Drapes amongst the sea of great bands was a pleasure..
Once again it was great to be able to say ‘ich bin ein berliner’ even if to the locals that does mean ‘I am a donut..’
it went fantastically well and we left fully clad with complimentary Ramones t-shirts.. we were honoured to be asked to play.. it was also filmed so stay tuned for the footage coming soon.. thanks to Flo..
Sadly and lethargically, we left the relentless techno and electro parties, epic kebab shops and the painfully efficient public transport system of Berlin and headed to our next date at the Astra Stube, Hamburg.. which is pretty much the smallest club we have ever played..! but what the Astra Stube lacks in physical dimensions it makes up for in charm and spirit.. we had a great gig that night with a warm reaction from all who attended.
Adam was offered a beer from a kind gentlemen in the crowd, but when given it seemed half empty which was questioned of course. In short he was just giving away his mates drink as he had gone to the toilet, a refreshing free beverage all the same.
Also the smoking laws have definitely been ignored by the bohemian types as the oxygen to smoke ratio was very much in favour of a generous haze of tobacco.. (xmas for British smokers..) and playing a venue as small as the Astra Stube means the place gets so smokey it’s like playing in an ash tray.. but a happy one.. we were supported by label mates ‘In Golden Tears’, a great night had by all..
One dodgy shower, slice of reasonably priced pizza and a non-intentional stroll past the local drug dealing site we’re back in the van and trying to fire up the heater (as always) to get back on the road..
Our last stop was at the Café Glocksee, Hannover.. this was an ace night..! Saving the best until last is always welcome and this came in the form of the hospitality and rider that was ace and the venue was packed! Opening a fridge back stage to a glistening bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin and fresh lime is a sight to behold to the men of Red Drapes.
We had an amazing response at this gig.. so much so we played two encores..! We seriously enjoyed this gig and it was a fantastic send off on our last date of the tour and we subsequently danced the night away till our legs became trombones.. thank you Hannover!
The Mighty Boosh - Trombone legs..
We also had an interview with Peter from Radio Okerwelle that night..
..thanks to Ralph for putting us up in his amazing old school Oriental style flat that night in Hannover. It would be a travesty if we found out that that man was not a former roady with his charcoal vintage Levi jeans, long grey locks, 80’s print t-shirts draped over antique furniture and of course, an aspidistra proudly displayed in the loft window.. a bloody nice bloke..
9am.. back in the van.. Autogrill balloon, Burgerking crown and kingsize Twix in hand, we wearily made our way back to the Eurotunnel.. and to our amazement, it was straight through passport control and no 5 hour delay like last time..! Joy oh joy..
So we’re back in London’s humdrum, drizzly grey backdrop with only pictures and a handful of fond memories.. plus several bottles of beer, numerous snacks which we have no idea what they are and some suspect ‘jazz mags’ picked up in autobahn gas stations..
The first thing we did when we got back was have a good old English fry-up and a cup of tea..! both of which were dearly missed on the road..
We’re getting back too the grind straight away so stay tuned for new tracks, releases and more live dates soon to be announced..
Germany & Austria.. “we’ll be back..” (said in an Arnie style accent..) sorry to be cliché but you cant beat the classics..
Thanks again to Colin, Vivien, Jörg & Peter at Humming Records & Carsten at Hazelwood Touring..
P.s. Link to a video of us playing Levee club in Berlin coming soon, once our vintage Macs painfully handle new technology..
Thomas & Red Drapes
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