The following was written in June 2022 at the times and in the places indicated. Usual rules apply.
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| Ruts DC and Die Artze backstage at Parkbühne Wühlheide Berlin on 07/06/22 L-R Segs, Farin, Dave, Bela, Leigh, Rod |
Tuesday 7th at 9.48 am in Room 305 Ibis Hotel in Kurfuerstendamn Berlin
Life is funny stuff sometimes isn't it?
I'm sure I've written that here before. Oh well.
It's been an extraordinary, some might say ridiculous couple of years hasn't it? Last time we were in Germany it was December 2019 - we played at Huxley's in Berlin with The Stranglers, and it was a wonderful evening. As we stood in the dressing room saying our various goodbyes I shook hands with Dave Greenfield and said something like 'see you back in Blighty then'. He laughed that wonderfully mad laugh of his, then said more-or-less the same thing to me.
Of course, it never happened.
However since then it feels as though a million things have happened, one of which became all too clear when we (Ruts D.C.) entered passport control at Brandenberg Airport. I went to walk through the EU channel as I have so many times before, then abruptly realised that I couldn't. As I stood in the 'All Other Passports' queue I felt a strange sense of sadness, even bleakness. Little Englanders who never leave Little England had done this and more to me and millions of others. The bastards.
The young man behind the glass was friendly enough, which was something of a relief as I had by now convinced myself that he (a) was carrying a gun and (b) hated me and everyone else from the afore-mentioned Kleines England. He asked how long I was planning to stay in Germany and I mumbled something about playing some shows, before surprising us both by blurting out that 'I didn't want to leave Europe, this is ridiculous...'
He smiled, then almost apologetically said 'no English person who comes through here did' before stamping my passport and wishing me a good stay.
We're in Germany to play two shows with Die Artze. No, I hadn't heard of them either, but they are massive. MASSIVE. The first show is tonight, open air, 20,000 capacity and sold out. Apparently Thursday's show in Dresden is bigger. Excellent.
Last night Mutti and his wife Monica took us to what I suspect is the only Italian restaurant I'll go to that has a wall signed by Charlie Harper, CJ Ramone and other punk rock luminaries. By the time I had gamely battled my way through mountains of pasta and pizza it had been signed by us too. Of course it had. It's probably the only Italian restaurant wall that I will ever sign, although I suppose you never know. We then repaired to the bar opposite our hotel for, well, ages. Of course we did.
We leave for the venue at 11 am. That's early isn't it? Time to get ready then.
Wednesday 8th at 10.16 am in the same hotel room
Well.. What a day that was. I'll have to think about this one...
10.57 am
I've thought about it, and I'm still not sure what to write here. Oh well - let's see what comes out shall we?
Our day began with a hotel breakfast - it was one of those 'ooh look, we're back in Germany' moments with what seemed like tons of cold meat and cheese everywhere. In a rather sad attempt to eat healthily after the previous evening's excesses I opted for muesli, fruit salad and yogurt. Well, it's worth a try isn't it?
At precisely 11 o'clock Mutti arrived in the bus - within minutes we were on our way to collect his assistant Andrü from Coretex Records where he also works before making our way through the city to Parkbühne Wuhlheide, the scene of the evening's festivities. After collecting our passes and leaving our guitars and gear in our dressing room - actually a tent, but you know what I mean I think - we went out front to have a look at the venue.
It's big. Ooh it's big. This really could be one to remember.
We had been asked to arrive at the venue at midday which we duly did although we all wondered if this was rather early - in the event we waited for around 3 hours before anything of any real importance took place. This was a little annoying in some ways although it did give us chance to sample the backstage catering (oh gawd - more food!) and to catch up with Berlin photographer Raven who has come along to capture the event on our behalf. He first photographed The Ruts in 1980 so has a lot of history with Dave and Segs - he took quite a few shots of us including some in a nearby wood - possibly an unlikely location? - so it'll be interesting to see how they turn out.
The Die Artze soundcheck started at 3.15 - with the doors opening at 4 o'clock it was somewhat inevitable that we would be setting up and soundchecking with people coming into the venue, and this indeed turned out to be the case. Aside for a few problems with Segs's bass set up - it turned out to be a malfunctioning speaker cabinet - sound check went well and we returned to our dressing room in an optimistic mood.
Around 20 minutes before our showtime of 6.15 we met Die Artze for the first time - they were great, really nice people and big Ruts and Ruts D.C. fans. After a few photos of us all together guitarist Farin and bassist Rod said that they would like to introduce our show - drummer Bela stood next to me in the wings, told me that they had just said that their main influences were Bob Marley and The Ruts as a big cheer went up. As we walked out onto the stage I got my first view of the crowd - it was quite a sight.
We started with Something That I Said, then straight into Kill the Pain - Segs said that he had recorded the next song with Die Toten Hosen before we swung into Staring At The Rude Boys. There was just about time for a swig of water before Born Innocent had the crowd clapping along with their hands above their heads, and Jah War saw much dancing and (yes!) singing along. From there it was an easy way home - In A Rut and Babylon's Burning felt great, and Psychic Attack ended to a reaction that many-a headline band would have been proud of. Our 30 minute set was over far too quickly, but it was a great - make that GREAT - gig.
After all our gear was packed away it was time for yet more food (as my nan used to say when I ate too much - 'you'll be as big as a house you will!') before I went out into the venue to watch a bit of the Die Artze show. And very good they were too! Mutti then suggested that it would be good idea to leave before the end to avoid getting caught in the post-gig traffic - this was a bit of a shame as we'd been invited for a drink with the band afterwards but we all agreed that it was probably a good idea. This somewhat inevitably meant that we ended up in the bar opposite the hotel again - with Germany leading England 1-0 the atmosphere was 'interesting' to say the least, and when England equalised from a controversial penalty it became more interesting still... our friend Oliver arrived to general jollity (he promoted our show in Hong Kong a few years ago) and we eventually got back to our hotel at around 2.15 am. A splendid evening. I think.
Today is a day off - Dave and myself are thinking of going to the Technical Museum, and The Rumjacks are on at SO36 tonight so let's see what happens. Sleep, the way I'm feeling at the moment...
Thursday 9th at 9.24 am in the same hotel room
Sometime around 11 am yesterday my phone went ping. A few seconds later it went ping again. And again. The messages were all asking if I/we were ok. I replied that we were, although I had no idea why they were all asking.
The terrorist incident that they knew about had happened a short distance from our hotel. Thankfully we were all blissfully unaware of it. But it makes you think doesn't it...
Dave and myself had intended to have a day out and about in Berlin, including a visit to the nearby KaDeWe superstore (a) out of curiosity and (b) to see if he could pick up a replacement Leki walking stick as he had mislaid his one the previous day. We were going to go out around 10 o'clock but upon discovering that the shop didn't open until 11 Dave scheduled a phone interview about the upcoming Kirsty MacColl boxset (he drummed for her for many years) for 11.15 which meant that we didn't leave the hotel until nearly midday. They didn't have any sticks at the superstore so after a few seconds on Google we took a taxi across town to a suitable shop - traffic was heavy and there more than a few diversions but we got there in the end. We then perhaps rather wildly decided to walk back to our hotel - 'twas further than we thought but it was interesting to be walking rather than be in a vehicle. I stopped to take photos here and there along the way, including one of a rather splendid-looking church - as I looked closer I saw the police tape cordoning off the surrounding area. It was the site of the terrorist incident, and it was a few hundred yards from our hotel.
Supposing we had gone out earlier? Went for a walk and turned left instead of right? Went to look at a local church someone had recommended as 'interesting'?
Incidentally after we'd realised all of this we obviously decided to go to the bar opposite - Dave's walking stick was hanging on the wall outside. Of course it was.
Friday 9th at 10.01 am in the same hotel room
Another great gig, this time in a football stadium. A football stadium. Who'd have thought it eh?
We left for Dresden at a quarter to eleven yesterday morning - just under three hours later we arrived in the city. Mutti did his usual excellent tourist guide announcements ('and on our left...') which are always interesting - he pointed out the Rudolf Harbig Stadium where Dynamo Dresden play on our right, then turned the van towards it... I've been lucky enough to play some classic venues over the years, but a football stadium had up until this point eluded me. Excellent!
The first person we saw was Rod from Die Artze, who said how much he had enjoyed our show and that he was disappointed that we had not been around for a drink after their show. He then rather sheepishly asked if we would sign a copy of our '40 Years Of The Crack' CD for him and said that Segs was one of his heroes. Amazing.
Once again we set up and sound checked as the audience were arriving - it had been sunny at the Berlin show but it was a greyer day here, they seemed unperturbed by the possibility of rain as they applauded our 'one two one two'-ing into the microphones. After sound check I bumped into Farin who also said that he'd enjoyed our show, and asked how I got my guitar sound. I often feel a bit awkward when people ask things like this - as an undisputed nerd I usually start rather nervously then bore them to death with details, but he seemed to be really interested. What a nice chap.
Our show began at 6.05 pm - once again Farin and Rod introduced us, and once again our 30 minutes went by far too quickly. Another unforgettable show.
Drangsal were on at 7.10 - I watched a couple of songs then went to the catering tent. I will indeed be as big as a house at this rate... and yes, you've guessed it, we were back at the bar opposite our hotel by 11.20. Of course we were.
Today we rehearse 'The Crack' for North West Calling tomorrow night. Rehearsing in Berlin? No, I never thought I'd ever type that either - but as the past few days have shown, anything is possible.
Saturday 11th at 9.47 am in Room 440 at Gatwick Travelodge
When we got here at whatever-time-it-was last night - around 1.10 am I think - the last words I expected to hear were 'the bar's open'.
Oh God.
Anyway - if you ever find yourself in Berlin looking for a place that your band can rehearse at I can heartily recommend The Noisy Rooms. And not just for the name, excellent though that it - it's clean and tidy, all the gear works (including the air conditioning - oh yes!) and yes, you've guessed it, you can get a beer there. It took a bit of finding - it's round the back somewhere, if you know what I mean - but it was well worth the effort. With a performance of 'The Crack' due the next day we thought that we should run through the songs that we rarely play, indeed in some cases hadn't played for around three years - Dope For Guns, Savage Circle, Criminal Mind, Out Of Order and Human Punk all went well. After that we went with Mutti for a quick farewell drink at the bar opposite the hotel - of course we did! - before a taxi took us back to Brandenburg Airport. We'd only arrived there 4 days earlier, but so much had gone on since then it seemed like ages ago... a near-empty flight got us back to Gatwick Airport around 11.40 and, well, you know the rest. Or you can guess it if you don't...
We leave here at 11 am. Again. Time to get ready then.
Sunday 12th at 11.41 am on the road home
Do you Like Ed Sheehan? How about The Killers?
I don't know much about either of them to be honest. Ed's the little red-headed fella isn't he? Elton John's mate, owns a loop pedal or two, bafflingly popular - that's him isn't it? And The Killers had that song about your boyfriend looking like your girlfriend or something didn't they? And that one that all cover bands play but that's too difficult for me, mister something-or-other? Bafflingly popular again. Anyway they both played in Manchester last night, somebody reckoned that there were something like an extra 400,000 people in the city over the course of the weekend - great for the local economy, but not too good if you needed to get a hotel...
We stayed in, of all places, Stoke.
It worked out well - a nice hotel, Rubber Soul Records nearby, we were only an hour from The Ritz... that said after our gig we ended up in a traffic jam long enough to be seen from the moon and didn't get back to Stoke until after 2 am so I suppose that it wasn't all good news. Oh and when I unpacked my very sweaty gig shirt I realised that I'd left my waistcoat and tie (both worn in a desperate attempt to smarten myself up, and because I decided that no one else at the festival would be wearing either) at the venue. Bugger!
Our show was good if a little fraught in places. Maybe we'd been a bit spoilt by the previous few days but to begin with everything seemed a bit too much like hard work. Opening with Babylon's Burning is tough at the best of times - it's bloomin' hard to play! - but ending it to muted applause is tougher. It was then that I realised that much of the audience, many of whom had been watching bands since midday, were either (a) getting jaded, (b) nearly asleep or (c) catatonically drunk. Not all of them though, and things got going in the end, with The Outcasts joining us on group backing vocals for In A Rut (much merriment around my microphone) and H-Eyes bringing things to a suitably raucous end. A great show - eventually. We do it all again at North East Calling in September, but there's a lot going on before then, not least finishing our new album, playing The Rebellion Festival and more. And I'm tired now, very tired as it happens so it'll be time for a snooze soon - it was indeed a long back to Germany, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Forwards!
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