First, the characters, or the people I've been spending 24 hours a day with for the past month.
Emanuel Ayvas - the eponymous front-man, and I hope he doesn't read this because I'll actually be saying nice things about him. Definitely one of the most brilliant musical minds I've ever had the privilege of working with (and I've worked with some amazing musicians), in any genre. And quite the character. Always writing music or lyrics, or recording random snippets of sound or video on his iphone, and sometimes basing entire songs around them. Probably also the most gutsy and ambitious person I've met, as well. This tour is funded by him, and we all get paid by him (I think a lot of people don't realize this, but the reality is that for a bunch of free-lance musicians, we could never go on tour without getting paid something, no matter how much we love the project. Just isn't feasible).
The rest, in no particular order:
Jeff Gretz - our drummer. Another brilliant musician, and well-versed in quite a few styles (classically trained, then worked with heavy metal bands for years). I sometimes think he could survive for months on only coffee and cigarettes. Has by far the most industry experience of any of us, as he has been touring regularly with various bands since his mid 20's, and also has a day job at a record label. Basically, co-manages the band along with Emanuel, and without his insights, I guarantee a lot of stuff would be much more difficult for us.
Nic Cowles - our flute player. Trained primarily in jazz flute, although also comfortable in many styles. Funny guy and, like Jeff, has a lot of industry experience. Unparalleled ability to see through and dissect bullshit.
Liz Hanley - violinist and backup singer. Amazing, bluesy voice, although can also hit the high C in the Queen of the Night aria. Talk about versatility. Trained classically, but now spends most of her time as a traditional Irish fiddle player and singer. The only female on tour with us, but handles it with great aplomb and patience, although her raunchy sense of humor is on par with anyone else's (except maybe Nic).
Gil Goldin - bass player. Trained in jazz back in his home country of Israel. Many people think bass players are a dime a dozen, and in NYC that's somewhat true, and for many bands this is fine, but I'd never want anyone other than Gil. Adds a dimension to the bass lines that just wouldn't be there with so many other players (although in all fairness I must say that the one sub we have had for him occasionally in the past covers the part admirably well), and is constantly throwing little nuances into the live set that never made it into the recordings.
Dennis Adler - our booking agent and friend. Without him, Europe would not be possible.
The list:
Best venue - Treibhaus, in Luzern, Switzerland. Great sound, nice, modern equipment, a band flat in the venue, and a good restaurant out in front where the band eats. What more could you ask for?
Worst venue - actually, not an easy one. While our second London show was our worst show, the venue itself was decent, with good equipment, and definitely had the capability of putting on a good show. The stage in Gent, Belgium was small and oddly shaped and thus very difficult to work with, but the sound worked out well enough and they put us up in an amazing hotel. Fucecchio treated us really well but it was like playing in a barn, with no soundproofing and high ceilings. This works well for some bands. This does not work well for this band. So there really was no worst venue, just different difficulties at different places.
Best (stage) sound - for me, at least, Faenza. Of course, I heard that it was due to the cello being overbearingly loud, but hell, I'll take it.
Worst (stage) sound - Manchester. The sound guy had no idea what he was doing; we eventually gave up and played the show acoustic. That said, I don't want this to reflect poorly on the venue which, on top of treating us very well, had an excellent system. They just had to bring in someone new for some reason that night and I guess maybe he lied on his resume?
Best crowd - tie between Lille and Reutlingen. Amazingly enthusiastic and made us feel like rock stars.
Worst crowd - London. Didn't care about us at all, talked through our entire set, and left early. Just can't play well under those conditions.
Best accommodations - 3-way tie between Lille, Haldern, and Gent. Gent had nice rooms, and I could see the spire of the cathedral out my window. Haldern was a wonderfully quaint quintessentially German bed and breakfast run by a couple who didn't speak much English, and had amazing showers. And of course Lille I spoke on at length.
Worst accommodations - London. 'Nuff said. Generous, warm host with no business hosting a 6-person band.
Most beautiful women - Tie between France and Switzerland. Closely followed by Poland and Italy.
Tour name - The Highway to Hull Tour
Moment of the tour - Visiting Bach's grave, or seeing Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo.
Meal of the Tour - Faenza. 3-course gourmet Italian. OMG.
Rock star of the tour - Liz Hanley
Tour theme song - Baker Street, by Gerry Rafferty
Party of the tour - Tie between Poland and Lille. Lille was a crazy dance party. And Poland, well . . . as our drummer put it, "First time in Poland and I barely remember a thing."
Bartender of the tour - I forget his name, but the guy behind the counter in Poland. Brought us multiple rounds of shots during our set.
Character of the tour - our host in Faenza. On top of running sound at the venue, she tended the bar, did work in the restaurant, cleaned the place a bit, barked orders, and had a hilariously dry sense of humor. Do not fuck with this woman, was the vibe.
Beer of the tour - Hofbrau Dunkelweiss, or the Franziskaner Heffeweisse on tap. Or this Belgian beer I had in France. Or maybe this really tasty British Lager in Manchester.
Drink that everyone in EatFear can agree on - Whiskey. Bourbon, Irish, Scotch - we drink it all.
And to sum up, here is a ridiculously stupid iphone video we shot, mostly in Berlin. I think the emptied handle of Johnny Walker Black in one of the scenes says it all. A little explanation: that bit at the end is a shot of a brochure we picked up at a Swiss truck stop. It was so ridiculous we couldn't help but use it.
In order of appearance:
Jeff Gretz
Emanuel Ayvas
Brian Sanders
Liz Hanley
Dennis Adler
Gil Goldin
Our Belgian hosts
Nic Cowles
The audience at KOHI in Karlsruhe
Our tour van
Random Swiss brochure
Two squirrels
That's it. Tour is over, I'm home, and I'll be posting sporadically when I feel like it.
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