It's Done!

It’s done.

Another slice of Eternity.

Switzerland was a good place to finish. Beautiful scenery, excellent venues and government sanctioned mustaches for all. We raised a glass to an über successful tour, during our final meal together. Joe dined on fondue, while Muddy and I went for the steak tartar. That’s raw chopped beef to you. I’m beginning to agree with Daniel, our esteemed soundman. whose advice I now look to, in all matters of the vigneron and gourmand. His food philosophy? “Cut to the chase and avoid all additional trappings with meals. Eat it as raw as you can. As long as you accompany the meal with a good Côtes du Rhône or a Chardonnay, you are o.k. If it walks on the earth or swims in the ocean, then it’s o.k. by me.” Daniel Vetter has a huge appetite, which belies his short stature. He has been seen to eat 24 ounces of raw rib eye at one sitting. Daniel is indeed formidable. After a recent food order, where he consumed 36 raw oysters, we now call him “Monsieur Mange Tout! Mind you, we’ve all sampled everything on this tour, from wild boar to buffalo burgers and it’s no wonder that you’ll see eyes rolling when we are asked out for yet another meal when we return home. Time out please!

Anyway, enough of our gastronomic pursuits. It is true that this band works better if it’s fueled on good food, but the real story is THE MUSIC, of course! After a short, three day break, the band came back, with renewed vigor, for the final Swiss shows plus the one in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Incidentally, for those wishing to know; Friedrichshafen was the home of the Graf Zeppelin company, which pioneered airship travel. This all ended after the tragic disaster of the Hindenburg.

These final shows, in my opinion, truly rocked. Some days earlier, in Germany, we had all the Fender amps serviced. Faulty pots were replaced and all new tubes (valves) installed throughout, including biasing. This made huge difference to the clarity of the guitars and enabled us to run the amps at an even lower level, which is always the goal soundwise. It’s amazing how, the new in - ear monitoring allows for a much cleaner on stage sound, while at the same time providing more separation and punch out front. Our next goal is to add some expensive compression on the vocals, together with some small audience directed monitors to fill out the centre of the audio picture. Daniel’s set of custom mikes on the drums have definitely improved that side of it, along with Joe’s very musical tuning of kit. He’s gone over to Sonor drums recently and very good they sound too. I’m also trying out another German musical product – Duesenberg Guitars. At the moment I’m featuring their Rocket II and I also have a semi acoustic model on order. They are very cool axes, with an Art Deco influenced design, German engineering, precision and great tone.

Back to the people. I cannot speak more highly of this team. It’s a happy one. The combined effort truly produces great results each and every night. Those behind the scenes; bookers, logistics people, publicists, projectionists, tour managers and labels have all pulled together to make this Euro tour a bigger success than initial pointers were indicating. Special mention again to Daniel, to tour manager, Holger Brandes. For tour planning - Sandra Weinberg, Guy Roberts for everything, Patrik Mertens – booking the dates, Andy Clark for the excellent lighting and on - stage projections, Big Harry - security and Guy Holt (standout job on backline and merch) and last but not least Da Band! Skeaty - you continue to inspire, Mudster - you ARE a tone monster. Joe - your wit and Northern down - to - earthiness have kept us entertained with the blogs, on an almost daily basis, to say nothing of the fire and flair you bring to the drum thing.

A weak German economy meant that we had smaller ticket pre-sales than last year, but bigger walk-ups on the night. We’ll be back next year to do it all over again – promise! We’ve developed this amazing network of fan power over the years and many of the small jobs, which actually amount to a lot when you look at the big picture, are fulfilled by fans and fanagers, These tasks cover a range, but include matters, promotional, pharmaceutical, medical, recreational, horticultural, financial, logistical (including random airport pick-ups, particularly for the Mudster - forever in search of his beloved homeland in the frozen North.)

It was fun working with Doctor Feelgood who put on a great show with us in Münich. Also, a special mention to our opening artist on all the German dates, Canada’s David Go Go together with his band. He really delivered the goods every night and drew some Oohs and Aahs from guitar aficionados, with his special brand of guitar pyrotechnic blues power.

O.K. so we’ll all be taking some time out. Me? I’ll be putting the finishing touches to the upcoming U.K. tour arrangements plus hopefully researching Club Med in Florida, home of this year’s upcoming AshFest . (Well, somebody has to do it!) Bob is playing some dates with Bad Influence in London. Muddy will no doubt be exercising his girlfriend’s 4 Collie dogs in the Finnish woods and Joe heads off to Paris in search of romance. See you in Blighty - Rock the World!

A.P.

P.S;. How ‘bout that Florida, Club Med thing?? I challenge anybody to a water skiing contest!!

P.P.S. Our heartfelt hopes for a speedy recovery for our former AshFest soundman; Boogie Brother – Steve Romano. Get well soon Steve – you are in all our thoughts!