Qui are currently on a two month European tour – covering Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, UK and Belgium. It’s the band’s longest tour to date, and they’ve partnered with us at New Noise Magazine to give you a look inside their European journey.
Week Three
Photo above: Hungarian road sign. You will never convince me those groups of letters mean anything.
Good evening. It is 6:37 PM and I am sitting in the backstage area at Jazz Kocsma in Szeged, Hungary. We have been on the road for three weeks and change, and we’re still digging it. Since my last blog, we have traveled to Croatia, Slovenia, Romania and Hungary. I should say, first and foremost, that I adore this part of the world. I had a wonderful time in Italy, but the former Yugoslavia/Czechoslovakia is a such magical place. Paul and I both noticed that once we crossed the border between Italy and Slovenia, after about twenty minutes we felt deeply relaxed and comfortable. It could be that the landscape is in many ways similar to the midwest where we grew up, but it seems somehow more than that, something ineffable. Bottom line, we love it here.
Before leaving Italy, we finally got copies of our new 10” EP, How To Get Ideas. The manufacturing of this record has been a maddening affair that could only be described as, Kafkaish. Since giving them the masters to press, they fucked up every single step in the process, from sending us an unplayable test pressing for approval, to damaging the sleeves, to pressing it on the wrong color vinyl. All these mistakes held up it’s release by six months and were a constant source of frustration for us and the guys at Geertruida, a small Dutch label doing the European release. I would be remiss were I to neglect saying a hearty fuck you to the incompetent douche bags at The Record Industry Vinyl Pressing Plant in Haarlem, NL. If I ever see any of you I will choke you to death with my limp dick in front of your families. That said, we’re really stoked to finally have this record in our hands. It will see official release in the US and Europe in August but we will have copies for sale at all our EU dates on the tour.
It has been fun this past week returning to some venues we have played before. We went first to Zagreb, Croatia, for a gig at KSET, an old studentrun club near the university. We played there in ‘07 and loved it. This time was no different. Everything was topnotch, all the staff friendly, etc. It was cool to come back and see it again. Can’t wait to go back next year. Next, we had three shows in Slovenia, in Ljubljana, Bisterza, and Velenje. Slovenia’s landscape is absolutely breathtaking; lush, green rolling hills and winding mountain roads overlooking small towns and farms. Having been there on previous tours, we have gotten to know a handful of hilarious people whom we are always delighted to see. In keeping with the theme, the venues were all cool as hell and the shows were well attended and lively. In Ljubljana we had the extra pleasure of sharing the bill with an Italian band called Sudoku Killer. They blew me away. I will make certain that we cross their path again soon.
After leaving our beloved Slovenia we made a long trek to Oradea, Romania, to once again play at the wonderful Moszkva. We were introduced this little gem on our last EU tour and fell in love with the city, the venue and it’s proprietor, George. Oradea is a fairly small and remote city, about ten miles from the border of Hungary and George and his partners in the club bring free jazz, noise rock, and other oddities to their gorgeous old space near the town square. Last night was even better than our previous visit and we were given much high praise. It boggles my mind that people on the other side of the world would not only come to see us, but do so repeatedly and share such generously kind words with us. I can’t adequately express my appreciation. I am truly humbled.
Tonight we are in Szeged, Hungary. We played here on the last tour, as well. We are in a different venue this time out, but working with the same promoter, Zsolt Vad. Zsolt is a hell of a good guy. For dinner he brought us paprikash that his mother made special just for us because, as he explained, last time he was not able to get us authentic Hungarian food. It was SO GOOD! Love this dude and this city, too. Suffice it to say, we’ve been enjoying the hell out of ourselves. Tomorrow we are going to Budapest for the first time then we make our fourth trip to the Czech Republic, perhaps my favorite place in the world outside of Los Angeles. If our previous Czech shows are any indicator, it’s going to be fantastic. Can’t wait
Thank you as always for reading. Hashtag FML/OMG/BLESSED/NYHC!
