Antillectual

Italy is the country where we did our first tour of multiple days, it is the first foreign country where we found a label, No Reason Records, with whom we still work to this day! Italy is also the first country we flew out to for a single festival show: Give It A Name Fest!

When Groezrock started to grow bigger and bigger, other events in the weeks around it started to emerge. When bands are coming to Europe to play Groezrock, they might as well play other shows while they are over here. Give It A Name was probably the first festival that organized multiple events in the periphery of Groezrock. Originating in the UK they started doing events in other countries too. Because of our tours and releases in Italy the bookers of the Italian Give It A Name Fest knew us and booked us for their 2008 edition. I remember talking to the booker of Hub Music Factory, the organization of the festival, who mentioned that Hans from Groezrock even recommended us to them. Which I told them was nice of him, while thinking it was weird that he hadn’t booked us for Groezrock yet…

The festival itself was huge, in a big indoor hall. Too big for a punk show and way too big for a Dutch band that was used to playing venues the size of just the stage. I remember it wasn’t our best show ever as we played borrowed instruments, preparations for the set were minimal and it was the first time playing such a big event. We did enjoy being at one of those big festivals that we attended ourselves many times. Weirdly enough what stuck with me most is visiting a bakery at 4 in the morning. The fact that the bakery was open wasn’t that weird, bakers bake their bread early in the morning to make sure it’s fresh for customers’ breakfasts. And maybe even the fact that Italians visit bakeries at 4 in the morning after they have gone out drinking to get a midnight snack isn’t that weird either? The freshly baked bread and rolls we got there were heavenly! But the combination of drunk kids and the bakery staff all being 70+ and 80+ and everything seeming so normal, like a weekly routine, that was definitely a pleasant surprise to some Dutch kids that had never seen the inside of a bakery before. At least not an Italian bakery at 4 in the morning.

Eternal thanks to Ste and Dami from No Reason Records for supporting us all these years, and for taking us to a bakery way after midnight!