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My summer in Pardubice
After a long, long way home. Fast meal and decent bike ride to remedy my cycling addiction I am here in front of my lappy to tell you the true story of BTB and Hirnlos summer tour. Before I start I’d like to thank again all people that where involved in this whole thing. Punk rock colleagues from Hirnlos, Danik and Andza for support. All show organizers around cities and countries, head-cooks all around venues, party people who came to our show, money spenders on our stuff. Heavy metal! Keep on rollin’ baby!
1st July, Riga Gig place: *****
The new gig venue. A squat that isn’t really a squat anymore. Just a place to hang out. First gig ever. Really small place. Surprisingly filled with people who came to the gig. I couldn’t figure it out in the end, was it fresh ‘all star’ band Janis Cakars or the place it self that lured so many people. Show started with delay as usually, but was great fun for people who came. Everything finished with no problems from police or local people, who where passing the place with surprised expressions on their faces. Put your hands up for the BTB!!!
This is Brutal mosh! 2nd July, Kaunas Gig place: **** On the rooftops of abandoned construction site chased by a dog Next morning we woke up early to clean all the shit and bring back PA to rehearsal room. Take off 1pm to Kaunas / L(A)B (LT). In winter we where way late for the gig because of bus failure and this time we moved out extra early to be strictly on time. And we where. Arrived super early we had a lot of time to walk around town, check out the ‘gasoline river’ and abandoned construction site near by, where some of us got chased by guard dog. Everything ended up ok. Back to L(A)B to have some delicious and long awaited supper.
Not many people came to the show, but anyway gig turned out pretty good with crazy monkey break dance moshing of local inhabitants.
Who is more hardcore strawbery dwarf or emo madball ??? After the gig we chilled a bit on the balcony with Estonians having a beer and smoke and then went on night trip around L(A)B building complex. Karu got tired very soon and we had to leave him in the wheel chair. We continued with Pugu and Chipsix. Discovering new areas of the building, going up and down stairs, found some medical equipment in the basement, a way to the rooftop. Psy room in Kaunas, so sweet! Crazy trippin’! In the end local girl showed us a psychedelic room full of colorful sponges and drawings on the wall. There we had found our rest. Chipsix found new friends and a new cat 3rd July, Warszawa day off Who the fuck are those guys? Feeling hot in the psy room I woke up early. Fast tea and ready to go! Everyone at the bus ready to take off, ignition… ignition…. Nothing happens!!! Not again! Fuck! Luckily that was nothing serious – we just run out of gas, just right at the venue point! Filling up! Ready to go! Next stop Warszawa. Weather was hot so we got some water activities on the way to capital city of Poland. When we arrived at Elba we had lots of time to go get some food and prepare it. In the evening we enjoyed The Fights’ birthday party show @ Elba from outside coz nobody really had the money to go in. Anyway it was great to hang outside with locals and ride around on freakbikes. Going to sleep late. Tomorrow Torun.
4th July, Torun Gig place: **** Chillin at PILON Waking up early and having pearl-barley porridge instead of oat porridge by mistake (not knowing polish) we are ready to go. At Torun we are early again. PILON bar is closed. We had a lot of time to hang out in old town, get some ice creams coz heather is super hot, visit some very old castle ruins on the other side of Wisla. When we got back we met Kuba the organizer. Show is delayed coz little people came and The Fight is late with their equipment.
Hour later Hirnlos are already blasting in narrow corridors of PILON. Nice show but Ilja said that he was suddenly scared of something or someone, so he couldn’t express himself and was pretty silent that evening. The Fight did a great job shaking up the whole venue with their fast and powerfull hardcore punk. I missed Spanish guys though talking with Asia. Then our turn came.
Clown, bicycle guy and cyberindustrial gay punk @ PILON Despite sudden laptop glitches and even first time in my life full stop of whole system during the show, we have blown up the place. Playing all songs plus two bonus songs Tutty Frutty plus unrehearsed before with Reinis Their law. It came out pretty good. After the show we are going dressed in concert costumes with some people from the gig to a fountain seen around while we where walking round during daytime. It was soooo refreshing!!! No need to take shower at Kubas’ place. The fountain turned out more psy then psy room and refreshing also
Afterparty at Kubas' place
5th July, Poznan Gig place: ***** Is that the guy from Millencolin Story of my life video? We woke up in the morning a decided to go around town and check out some local second hand shops. Never seen so many on one street!!! Chipsix scored a new one peace girly toxic green swimming suit for the show.
Check out the new suit!!! On the way to Poznan we got some swim in a strange colored but very warm lake. Arrived at Rozbrat we got ourselves a delicious meal prepared by local crew. But we got a bit carried away with portion sizes. Sorry for that! That night first played some guy from France. On the poster it was said that he’ll do some anarcho beatbox, but actually he had one cool sample box with punk and fast electronic rhythms, playing along disorted guitar and screaming. Impressive! Next - Hirnlos totally enjoying DIY atmosphere of Rozbrat. Then our turn. After two days of lags with computer today was smooth except the fact that I forgot to plug in AC power and computer goes to sleep mode in the middle of the last song. That was funny. Plug-in, turn on, and we continue from the place where we left. After the show we’re hanging out and having fun. Sven shows his harmonic skills and Ilja does the real beat box.
Lonley guy
6th July, Leipzig Gig place: **** Taking a rest after great meal Waking up. It’s a rainy day, but not a problem for me, felt quite refreshing after many days of hot sun. Take off, we are on the way to Germany. First time for me. In couple of hours we are doing 130km/h on German autobahn. Germany seemed very nice for me. Public toilets where you can go with bare feet, friendly citizens, people talking and understanding English, massive supper at Zoro squat, fridge filled with beer and sodas. My country seems to me again like a rat hole. Today we’re rocking with UK harcore/punk veterans Active Minds. Good show made only by to people on drums and guitar. Then Hirnlos bust a move. Seems like locals like their stuff. Now it’s our turn. I heard somewhere that Germany likes industrial, gabber and all different types of aggressive electronic music, but I think people who came to the show didn’t understand us. This time I’ve got scared! And again computer glitches! WTF?!?!?
At night we’re going dumpster diving and checking out local hood. I scored wasted Haribo candies! Very pleasant trip. Leipzig is very silent at night. Next morning we are having a mega breakfast German style and hangin’ out with Seb, who shows us local stuff. Unfortunately time flies when you’re having fun so fast - 4pm on the clock, time to leave to Schwarzenberg. Hey dude! What's in the bottle? Message? Gienie? 7th July, Scwarzenberg Gig place: *****
Beautiful panorama and my ugly face Scharzenberg as the name suggests is located in mountain area near the border of Czech Republic. The trip is so exciting. Road goes up and down and beautiful sights are all around. We play at Unanbeatbar. Very cool small DIY place in the mountains. Something similar like ours Zabadaks in Kuldiga. We’re waiting for the show, playing table football witch is nearly at each venue where are playing. Then the supper time came. Again Germans turned out to be super generous. We are having many types of different food to eat in enormous quantities. I’m filling super full and supersized after this.
Tonight only two our bands are playing. Hirnlos goes first, scoring great ovations from local guys and girls and playing extra 3 old songs. Now it’s our turn. We go out a bit worried that we have to play for Germans again and maybe we’ll be again misunderstood. But everything went out right in the end, maybe it was just a case of Zoro squat public. Great swimming suit show and everyone is dancing. People where restless so we had to put some aferparty electronic stuff from our lappy. It took also a whilefor us to come down, jumping crazy in stroboscope blinking lights to happy hardcore beats. Afterwards having a good rest at super cozy beds in the backstage. Cozy yard of Unanbeatbar. feeling like home! 8th July, Prague Gig place: **** Cmon Sven! Bring the noise! Finally I’ve got some great sleep. Otherwise I started to fill bit dull from non stop late night parties. Almost missed a breakfasts. In couple of hours we are on the road again. Rolling up and down hills. Mountain beauty is all around us. In some hours we are in Czech Republic struggling uphill. The van goes very slowly in second gear doing a hard work.
We arrived at Prague at late afternoon having a lot of time to spend in the city and figure out what is local money course towards our money. Pretty hard calculations when it’s +35 degrees. Prague is filled with tourists. We met a lot of Russians that surprised us and also that lots of people are smoking weed witch turned out has some kind of legal status in CZ. At least that what locals said to us. Anyway cannabis culture is very developed in CZ: grow shops filled with accessories, local newspaper, cannabis festival, different king of cannabis drinks. Newer thought it’s happening in CZ.
OK it time to go to the venue, where we are having very hot chili beans with potatoes and bread for change. I missed the first band an almost the second one, but as I heard from the others I didn’t miss much. Estonians did the best again entertaining and educating local punks. Our show went out also nice and energetic. All people who where standing before now are moving their asses to our beton beat. But the emo hipster fixter DJ afterparty was above all!!! With all those little girls on pills that seemed just walked out of the walls. Where were they during our set? Anyways - music is pumping, everybody jumping, And we have to go to sleeping place! That was a bit disappointing!
Girls on Pills Our sleeping place was local infoshop where at the time that we arrived another punk gig was happening with some foreign band. We had enough of loud and noisy music, so we reached in the bag of good mood went out to the city on foot searching for some action and beer. Witch we had found in a local non stop bar. With freaky guy listening to Deep Purple. Handing with a 2L Coca Cola bottle filled with ice cold beer we found a cool place on the mountain top to stop and watch at the city from above.
9th July, Pardubice Gig place: ** Next morning we are again in the center of the Prague walking around, enjoying the weather. In the center we found a great hill by the river. And went to the top. I took us a while to get to the top, all sweaty and a bit disappointed that we couldn’t look at the city coz trees where all around the hill top covering the sight. Look at the watch .. oh shit! We are late for the meeting with Estonians at the bus. We started to walk fast down a steep hill and find our selves at the doors of psychedelic museum of some guys’ paintings.
This is sooo psychedelic We couldn’t go by! Only for 2 Eur we could see two stories of psy paintigs, freaky interior, cozy couches, free lemonade, sangria and candies. We are in! The room is fresh and cool. We are sitting in the couch, talking bout paintings and having a drink… oh shit! The bus! On the run again! To speed up the descent we started to play catch to the end of the hill, running downhill like crazy monkeys. 1
Tarzan in the center of Prague 5mins and we are at the bus. Bus is like sauna, Hirnlos are roasted in the sun. We have to get on going in the hurry to cool down. Tank filled full, we are rolling down CZ autobahn, doing 130km/h. We are all waiting for a show that is since winter in the making, probably will be the big one. We gonna play with some band from France and legendary as we have heard from someone Brutal project crust/d-beat from Spain. We are rollin rollin rollin… and suddenly. Water indicator stats to blink, temperature goes up. We are stopping on the side of autobahn to see what’s happened. Steam goes out of motor. And this is the point where our trip became a BAD TRIP. Everyone suddenly became and expert in motor mechanics. I’m feeling kinda nervous. Not again! It can’t happen to me two times in a row. In a while highway patrol car stops saying that we can’t stand on the side of the autobahn. We explain to them that our car is broke and we can’t move. For an hour they try to solve the problem walking around our car making a smart face while looking at engine. No success. Then suddenly cop car stops near by collects all our passes and says that they will give us a fine for standing here. WTF!!! Luckily they are talking English and we can explain a situation to them again and get some answers. In the end we had to call tow truck, witch towed our car to Pardubice and a taxi that took us all also there. That’s how we came in time to the gig and became 210 Eur free. Shit!
BAD TRIPIN'!!! Nice ass crack Pugu :D
The venue at Pardubice is some kind of local bar. I look inside and what do I see. A French band is playing for maybe 7 people on Fridays night on a gig that was in preparation since winter. Damn! We get some nice food and our turn came to show those 7 people what we have got. Put on our best suits, have good look in the bag of good mood we are on the stage tearing our throats, jumping around, acting freaky to catch some attention and get rid of negative emotions we’ve got lately. All people stood round us looking at us like some kind of clowns that we where that night, so that means everything whent out according to plan. Hirnlos played well that night, 3 local punks liked the show. I’ve missed most of brutal project, but what I’ve heard wasn’t so brutal at all. The guy didn’t organize the sleeping place so we had to find our own. That is how we ended up with Chipsix on the rooftop of 5 floor office building totally high!. Rooftops and water activities 10th July, Brno Gig place: _
Next morning we woke up because of burning sun. Got to the bus, that was still dead. All services will be open only on Monday. That is in two days. Hirnlos come up with idea. We have to go to Brno on train. Play a gig, get some money, fix the bus and maybe be on time to Vilnius to play the last show. Intelligence service informed that the ticket price is 9 Eur to Brno. Both bands should go. Reinis hopped on the bus with Brutal Project. They where also playing with us in Brno. Hirnlos took the train and I and Chipsix decided to hitchhike to save money, witch we had very little. 12am we are at the border of Pardubice with huge sign ‘BRNO’. 30 mins later we catch a first car with a driver who looked like the sexy man Gunther. He took us 15km from Pardubice. We’re standing again in burning sun. Lots of cars – nobody stops. Starting to think that it’s a mistake what we are doing. 40mins pass – next car stops. Young guy not speaking English is taking us some 10-15km further. We are on the hill top again ‘enjoying’ the sun baths. 5pm on the clock we both agree that it was a mistake to hitchhike to Brno. If it so hard to get there it’ll be impossible to get back to small Pardubice. Reinis calls saying that Hirnlos are at the venue an ticket coasted just 4 Eur. Now I’m feeling like a roasted jerk, dumbass that is standing on the side of the road in burning sun just to save 4 fucking euros. I want to punch myself in the nose! Damn! We turn around and head back to Pardubice. It took us whole day to get back. At leas we got some cherries on the way back. In Pardubice we meet our guys and go around town to find a place to sleep. My feet are toasted. Never walked this much in my life. Miss my bike so much! This night we are sleeping on a different rooftop, enjoying cool of the night and beers.
Next morning I realize that we are totally fucked. We are stuck in a fucking town with nothing to do, nowhere to go and no one speaks English here. The best we could do is to spend our time by local river that didn’t look very clean for swimming. While outside where +38C. Hirnlos came back in the evening with the money and seemed that they had a good party in Brno. And we fucked up everything with BTB. The tour is over. We are calling owner of the bus, who said that will be in 24h to pull us back to Riga. Now we have one more beautiful day to spend in this ugly town. Next morning we woke up again on the same rooftop. Almost like home. It’s Monday. Pardubice looks more alive in working day. Everyone is running somewhere despite the heat. Again we spend the day by the river waiting for evacuation. Guy from bus rental came to save us in 16h. It’s +40C outside, chocolate, ice cream and my brains are melting. We get packed and head home. It took us many exhausting and boring hour to get to Riga. Don’t remember much, tried to sleep all the time.
In conclusion. This is how I spent my summer in Pardubice. I was great fun touring in summer with friends, going around towns and enjoying the weather. We’ll be on tour next spring/summer for sure! Hope it was the last tour that ended up like this otherwise I’ll start to think that I’m cursed or something. Well… till next time tata. Back home!
STA666 // Beyond The Borders
The present from the band for all the fans
4 FREE
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