Antillectual

The longest tour we’ve ever done. 29 shows in 32 days with our friends from Timeshares. Before entering the nine-seater van we shared, we didn’t know each other, and we had never met. But we were happy to be crammed into one van for over a month with such a sweet bunch of people.

We had done some European tours by that time, and we had already played most of the cities we visited on that tour. But we had never done this many concerts in a row with only 2 days off. Quite an accomplishment to play, but also to book, hats off to Glenn from Mighty Vision Bookings! I did a couple of solo acoustic shows because our bass player, Glen, had to be home at some point, which worked out well since solo acoustic artist Andrew Cream also joined for a couple of shows. Joining us were roadie Julian van de Sande, Ruud van den Berg and Tom Roelofs.

What I’ll never forget are the vocal warm-up sessions the Timeshares folks did in the van during rides. They would sing along to a (bootleg?) recording of Al Barr from Dropkick Murphys doing a vocal warm-up. Vocal warm-ups can be awkward, but Timeshares made it into a fun pastime.

Another thing they did was yell “Tunnel, tunnel, tunnel” louder and louder as we approached a tunnel, until we’d enter, go all quiet, then start yelling “Tunnel, tunnel, tunnel” again as soon as we left. Interesting gang to be in the van with!

Last July we met Mike when he toured Europe with MakeWar. Though briefly, it was awesome to be reunited!

Pre-AI tour poster!

Aug 30 2013 DE: Meppen, Kleinstadtfest
Aug 31 2013 DE: Trier, Roeds Rock Festival
Sep 1 2013 DE: Wiesbaden, Kulturkneipe Sabot
Sep 2 2013 DE: Stuttgart, Kap Tormentoso
Sep 3 2013 CH: St. Gallen, Grabenhalle
Sep 4 2013 IT: Milano, Spazio Ligera
Sep 5 2013 AT: Salzburg, Shakespeare
Sep 6 2013 AT: Hollabrun, Alter Schlachthof
Sep 7 2013 SI: Ljubljana, Gromka
Sep 9 2013 AT: Graz, Sub
Sep 10 2013 AT: Wiener Neustadt, Triebwerk
Sep 11 2013 DE: München, Backstage
Sep 12 2013 DE: Leipzig, Kulturcafe Manfred
Sep 13 2013 DE: Nürnberg, Zentralcafe
Sep 14 2013 DE: Langenau, Kaos Keller
Sep 16 2013 DE: Hannover, Secret Show
Sep 17 2013 DE: Köln, Sonic Ballroom
Sep 18 2013 LU: Luxemburg, Soul Kitchen
Sep 19 2013 DE: Essen, Weststadthalle
Sep 20 2013 NL: Gouda, So What
Sep 21 2013 BE: La Louviere, Boripunk Festival
Sep 22 2013 GB: London, The Black Heart
Sep 23 2013 GB: Cardiff, Gwdihw
Sep 24 2013 GB: Leeds, Santiagos Bar
Sep 25 2013 GB: Birmingham, Scruffy Murphys
Sep 26 2013 GB: Exeter, The Cavern
Sep 27 2013 GB: Southampton, Unit Club
Sep 29 2013 DE: Trier, Ex-Haus
Sep 30 2013 DE: Mainz, Kulturcafe

Pics by Tom Roelofs, Roos de Huu