European Touring Advice

[Abanoise]

Hi man, hope I can see you in Italy. Where will you play here?

[Muff_Diver]

Hi man, hope I can see you in Italy. Where will you play here?

Currently Castiglione delle Stiviere on 5/24 and possibly Milan that following day.
What's the shorts-culture like in Italy?

[futuresailors]

FORBIDDEN

[voerking]

some random euro tour thoughts:

our drummer put some cymbals in a hard case checked them & TSA/customs still managed to crack them. it sucks trying to fly with them, basically.

euro style washing machines take like eight hours to do a load.

pace yourself. drink plenty of water. (although it will be hard sometimes to find non-sparkling water there)

are you guys driving yourselves? i hope someone knows how to drive a stick!

[Muff_Diver]

some random euro tour thoughts:

our drummer put some cymbals in a hard case checked them & TSA/customs still managed to crack them. it sucks trying to fly with them, basically.

euro style washing machines take like eight hours to do a load.

pace yourself. drink plenty of water. (although it will be hard sometimes to find non-sparkling water there)

are you guys driving yourselves? i hope someone knows how to drive a stick!

-Ugh thats what Im afraid of. I emailed our TM about getting cymbals as part of the backline but have yet to hear back from him. Worst case Ill probably stuff some t shirts in the case to prevent any internal movement.
-I think the only time i did laundry was on a 2 month tour; im comfortable basking in my filth.
-Thanks for the heads up!
-We do have a driver, so there's one less thing to worry about.

[jrmy]

I'm not Euro and have no useful touring advice, but I really dug the song! Dude, hype your band more! Links!

[Pepe]

euro style washing machines take like eight hours to do a load.

Our machine's longest program takes four hours and we seldomly use this one (economic, pre-wash, water plus). It's a modern Siemens washing machine and the normal program is around 2 1/2 hours for a 8kg (17.5lb) load.

pace yourself. drink plenty of water. (although it will be hard sometimes to find non-sparkling water there)

Here in Germany you can buy non-sparkling, medium sparkling and "classic" mineral water in whatever shop you go in.

[Muff_Diver]

I'm not Euro and have no useful touring advice, but I really dug the song! Dude, hype your band more! Links!

Thanks dude! https://www.facebook.com/spillrock/

Here in Germany you can buy non-sparkling, medium sparkling and "classic" mineral water in whatever shop you go in.

What about non-mineral water? Is that not really a thing?

[voerking]

Here in Germany you can buy non-sparkling, medium sparkling and "classic" mineral water in whatever shop you go in.

What about non-mineral water? Is that not really a thing?

you can ask for "tap water" but people look at you like you're a savage!

[voerking]

euro style washing machines take like eight hours to do a load.

Our machine's longest program takes four hours and we seldomly use this one (economic, pre-wash, water plus). It's a modern Siemens washing machine and the normal program is around 2 1/2 hours for a 8kg (17.5lb) load.

2.5 hours is still around 3 or 4 times as long as a large load takes in a US front loading machine. It was quite a surprise when we tried to do some laundry on a day off!

[misterstomach]

Agreed on the laundry thing. it's really a challenge there. often, when you find a washer, there will be no dryer, which is good in the sense of conservation and all that, but sucks if you're a touring band and don't have time to wait around for your clothes to dry on a line. i'm filthy and don't care about washing clothes, so it wasn't a thing for me really, but tour mates had problems with it.

-just bring a bunch of socks. every time i've bought socks in europe they've been really thin and felt like they were made of plastic.

-i recommend keeping a journal of the weird toilet designs you'll encounter. i'm not generally real patriotic, but we really hit it out of the park with toilet design over here. euro has some weird stuff going on. you may encounter the weird porcelain platform that you squat on and poop into a little hole in the ground. that's the weirdest. there's also the toilets where you poop on a weird shelf in the toilet and your poop just sits there in a gross pile all stinky and then when you flush it's like a tidal wave blasts through and washes it away. the best way to enjoy these toilets the most and counter the stink is a method called the viking funeral, wherein you set a piece of toilet paper on fire and drop it on your poop before you flush and it all gets sent away to poop valhalla. i wish someone had told me about the viking funeral the first time i went over there.

-if you like spice and flavor at all, i highly recommend bringing your own hot sauce. you'll be glad you did. you don't run across a ton of it over there.

-seconded on the falafel. eat tons of it. and shwarma and all the other delicious Mediterranean sandwiches. and when you see it, get halumi on your sandwich. it's a delicious fried cheese you can get on it that i've not really seen in the states much but it's awesome. mostly i've seen it in germany.

-this one should be fairly obvious, but don't buy drugs on the street in prague.

-this may not be for everyone, but i will share my secret to dealing with the long and miserable flight. if you don't drink, then ignore this, but if you do, recruit a bandmate who also drinks. go to the duty free store before your flight and buy a bottle of whiskey. they will bag it and hold it til you get on your flight. when boarding they will hand you the bag and it'll be sealed and say things like, don't open this til you reach your destination and yada yada. get seated. when the you're in the air, disregard the labels and open the bag. you and a buddy or two then have to drink the entire bottle whiskey. get shitfaced. but be classy and don't get pukey or anything. now you're wasted and the miserable flight is fun (for you, but probably worse for those around you) until your drunk ass passes out and you sleep til you land.

every time i've been, we had to check the cymbals. i think it's just the way it goes, although we've carried on guitars and pedalboards. you're going to have an awesome time. touring in europe is super fun. in general, bands just get treated a lot better. you'll mostly be fed well and put up in decent places everywhere you go and get tons of snacks and all the beer you want to drink. and it's interesting and different and you'll meet tons of cool people. i'm jealous cause i haven't been in a long time and don't know when i'll go again. good luck!

[Muff_Diver]

Great stuff here. Thanks a ton mrstomach.
I think my band and I are able to kill a fifth in 8 or so hours
But now I'm anxious about this whole toilet thing- Never really thought of that :|

[D.o.S.]

-this one should be fairly obvious, but don't buy drugs on the street in prague.

Married life changed you, dude.

[More_Divebombs]

Play your shows shirtless. It will preserve your shirts, as they won't reek of armpit acid. It also looks badass.

I used to wash my shirt in a sink, then tie it to the side window of the van and let the wind blast the moisture out of it as we pinged down the motorway. I thought this was a genius idea, but it always resulted in being covered in smashed up bugs and sometimes bird shit. Don't be like me.

Are you playing any shows in Hamburg? I fucking love Hamburg. That place is Party City.

[Chankgeez]

-this one should be fairly obvious, but don't buy drugs on the street in prague.

Married life changed you, dude.

If that's what you wanna call a Czech jail, go right ahead.