The lame adventures of K@

Wednesday 8th October - Saturday 11th October 2008

I'd never played outside of England before. Not even Wales! So these next few shows in France were going to be a big step for me.
Especially as I cannot speak, read or understand a single word of French!

We hired another Tour van from Vans for Bands >>>
It was quality!

So we set off from Northampton to get our gear loaded from the Studio at about 11:30am
We had a very long journey ahead.
We Caught the Ferry across from Dover.
I'd never done that before.
Stevie's Sea legs are crap... so she needed some courage in the shape of a bottle of beer!

The Ferry was MASSIVE! It was almost like an airport terminal on water. With loads of seats, places to eat, drink, money exchanges, duty frees e.t.c

When we got to Calais we started Driving again.
We Stayed the night in a Hotel Formule 1 in Amiens.
These are very basic rooms which communal toilets and showers. but for about 31 EUR per night.. its pretty good!
We went to find a bar for a night cap. But the place was a ghost town.

I shared with Stevie the first night. But IT doesnt handle mornings very well...
I set my alarm for 7am local time (thats 6am UK time... urgh)

When we went down to reception we sat down on the seats, because our bags were heavy.
Then some jobs-worth came and told us off, as the seats were for the people eating breakfast!

Soon we were in the van and off to Poitiers!!
But with a breakfast stop of course!

According to the wisdom of Dave, a lot of the First World War was fought in the feilds we drove past. I think it was more spooky because the feilds were covered in a thick ghostly mist.

The place we stopped for Breakfast was humourously called l' Arche

Stevie however did not partake in the awesomeness of a French breakfast, and chose to sleep in the van instead.

YUM YUM

Back on the road again!The motorways in France are privatly owned by different companys.
So there are loads of different Toll roads, so travelling long distances can be very costly!

Some Sights on the road:

we made quite a lot of stops because of the distance we were travelling.

We had lunch at one of the services.

I had a bagette and come cheesy dip things.. but i think stevie had an ice cream for luuunch.
There were all these little birds around us which we insisted on feeding.
It was nice to be out of the van for a while and sit in the sun.
But then it was time to get back in the van..

The venue we played at in Poitiers was called Maison des Etudiants.

It was a large place for Students. The stage was MASSIVE.

We had our own dressing room with a fridge and a massive mirror!!
Sure it had the wrong name on the door... but it was all good!

We had to restring my guitar, as the previous gig in Northumberland had cut my fingers open on the strings and i bled all over the guitar and stage.
Dave decided to help me.... well.. when i say "help" i mean put the wrong string on and then blame me!!
The bands were all given backstage passes..
but being a twat, i left mine in the hotel!! durrrr

when we were soundchecking mine and stevies Radio Pack frequencies were the same and we were coming out of each others amps!

The two bands we played with were Pussydelic! and We Want Sound!

The bands were all given food before the show.
There was salad, bread and this cheesy/ham thing which smelt so good.. Even though i knew what it would do to me.. being melted cheese, i still ate it.

DOOOM

shouldnt of done that...
Spent a lot of time in the toilet..

HORRAY FOR IMODIUM!
anyways..
I didnt actually get a change to catch We Want Sound's set.. as i was to busy being ill.

However...I did watch Pussydelic with Chels... and i thought they were great!!

obviously all were impressed... especially the girl behind us!!

was it a girl??

The girls' friends from Machine Gun travelled hours to see us play.

We actually played arond Midnight.
It was so scary waiting for the curtains to draw open. Never been so nevous in my life.
well.. apart from the first time i ever played at school in the good ole Hammerfluff days.... :)
HOWEVER.. this clearly.. much much bigger and scary!

The show was awesome..
I remember one point.
where i looked across the stage at the band.. and then back out at the crowd.
and i've never felt so much that i belonged in my life.

Check this!
COINS

Got to bed about 3am.... and didnt get much sleep before it was time to get up and travel again.
Destination... Nantes!

But first. Dave wanted to go to a place called Futurescope.

Unsuprisingly .. someone stayed in the van to sleep...

this place was a 3D, virtual-reality, visual themepark...
which was sadly stuck in the 90's.
As Loz says... it must of been pretty good in its day, but when we went.. it wasnt as amazing as first thought.
The Layout of the place itself was quite nice... But everything was closed!

There were these proper crap sculpters littered about the place.
This one is titled.. "Romeo and Juliet"
oh dear...

The First Attraction we went on was a massive screen.. with screens by your feet.
Similar, i image to an I-max cinema.. but not as mazin...
However it was ok.. Apart from the motion sickness
blergh :)

Then we went on another one.. which you had to wear massive goggle things.
And wave something which was strapped to your hand in front of it.

Course i let out the gayest girly scream when a spider popped out

My favourite part was probably the kids play area..
In which Chels and myself both recieved injurys!

By some mystical force, chelsea managed to concuss herself on the metal slide..
Where as i just twatted my head on the metal bar...
Well.. thats what you get when people in their 20's play on childrens play areas.
She also managed to sit in something rather moist...>>

Anyway...
after much fun it was time to start travelling once again.

We stopped off at a super market to stock up on supplys and cheap booze.
There were some Buffy Hardbacks... i wanted them more badly then the beer!
Look at them... they were exquisit!

Inside there was the fish section..
Chelsea and i were looking at the crabs.. and they were still alive!!
all cold and frozen. poor things.
We wanted to buy one so we could keep it as a pet..

It took us quite a while to get to Nantes. The Venue we were playing at was called the Live Factory.
When we arrived, Stevie and Dave went inside to check things out, whilst Loz, Chelsea and myself basked in the beautiful French sunshine...

After the gear loading it was time for soundcheck.
I'm still finding it strange playing in a band which headlines a lot...
Soundchecks before were not so much "sound checks" but line checks, if that!

The stage was quite high up and a nice size.

We had our own dressing room up above the stage. There was some yummy food and wine for us. But i missed out on the wine.. No drinking before playing.

Here are some live pics taken from http://www.trasher44.canalblog.com/

I got really over heated and i dont think being tired helped at all..
And i started to panic a bit.. but i managed to just about finish the set...
I RUINED IT FOR EVERYONE...

Especially the children!

it took me a while to cool down after the set. I rememeber Loz slapping a wet flannel on my face...it smelt funky.
I sampled the local Nantes beer.. mmmm
was goooooood. Stevie found herself enjoying the local wine! hehe

Then it was time to get in the van and go to the hotel for our last nights sleep in France.
This time i shared with Loz.

The next day was probably the longest drive of all.. and probably the longest one i have been on in my life.
From Nantes to calais.. to dover to northampton!
we started out at 8am Local French time.. and got home about 11pm gmt.

Here a few sites from the front of the van.
:)
xxx

French morning light