Sechs: Final Day

Pfoe!! So many things happened in these six days... Amazing! Having loads of fun with Solo, playing great shows, meeting really cool new people, staying up way too late... I don't even know where to start... It's so strange being back in Berlin. The city looks completely different when it's this cold. When I left Berlin in August it was thirty degrees, fourty degrees warmer than it is now. I walked through the street I lived in. Ice and snow everywhere... A lot of memories came to me, I had really happy times and really sad times in the four months I've lived here last summer. I did some writing in a bar in the afternoon. Enough to write about.. After having a good dinner we drove from Neukölln to Intersoup in Prenzlauer Berg. At the nice and cosy Intersoup we set up our stuff. It was really great to see some familiar faces from Holland at the show. Solo and I are both really sad it's already over. Hopefully we'll get the chance to do this again soon! Tonight I'm off for some serious skiing. Ten days of Switzerland. Together with my friend Nick we'll drive from Berlin to Adelboden at twelve. I'm looking forward to driving his Audi over the snowy Autobahn at night. On the road again! Talk to you soon, thanks for reading this stuff! Michiel says bye as well.

Hamburg-Berlin

Yesterday we drove from Hamburg to Berlin. Went quick. Snow everywhere, looks pretty. We're staying at Get Up Get Down's place in Neukölln in Berlin. Here I recorded Tududuh 03 as well. Last night we had dinner at Andy's place and later on we had beers with About, Thomas Azier and soundengineer Allert Aalders. Allert just came back from a gig with T. Raumschmiere in India. Funny thing, at Andy's place was a huge painting of Johan Derksen, editor of Hollands biggest football magazine VI. Some Irish guy painted it from a picture, without knowing who Johan Derksen was. Strange... Today I'll be doing some writing, I'll go back up to Prenzlauer Berg where I lived in the summer and then get ready for the show tonight. The last one already...

Vier: Ian and I

On day four, Sunday, we stayed in Hamburg for another day. Just to walk around and get an impression of the city. I saw a bit. It's a rough city, especially with the cold and so. I saw a pile of blankets lying on the pavement, it took me a short while to realise that there were about five people sleeping there. Minus ten it was.. In the afternoon we had beers with Paco, the guy who was living in the appartment we stayed in. After that we went out for some food. On our way back we passed a venue, Knust, with a big tourbus outside. The backstage door was open so we walked in to see who was playing. The concert had already finished, so we walked out again. Outside we saw that Ian Brown played there. Ian Brown! From the Stone Roses! I felt so bad we missed it.. We went back in to see if he was still there. Knocked on the tourbus, no answer. We walked back inside to find out he was still in the backstage room. We tried to bribe Ian Browns roadies to get inside. Didn't work. Finally he came out and we told him that we came all the way from Holland to see his show... He looked flattered... Little did he know ofcourse...

Drei: found it!

Remember I was talking about rock 'n roll yesterday? Found it in Hamburg! Very little sleep here. Show was great. The Hasenschaukel is a beautiful venue. If you're ever in Hamburg, forget the Reeperbahn and go to this place. The Reeperbahn is just like the Amsterdamse Wallen but not as nice. Okay, The Beatles played there, but that's a long loooong time ago. We're staying another night in Hamburg before going to Berlin for our last show. Nobody told me it would be this cold though. I heard it was minus twenty in Berlin this morning. Even colder than minus five around here.. Brrrr... Now we're off to see something of this town before it gets dark again! St. Pauli here we come!

Zwei: is this rock 'n roll?!

On day two we looked at the deer next to our hotel and visited Claus' studio. What a great recording space, and just beside the Haldern Pop festival site! We couldn't resist and climbed over the fences to walk around the fields where we've seen so many great bands play. To name a few: Fleet Foxes, Loney Dear, Editors, Kate Nash... I actually got my guitar out and played a song at the exact location of the Haldern Pop Main Stage. Just a few month early... You can watch it below. In the evening we played at the Blooming Bar in Göttingen. A nice and cosy place with the best owner ever. We had dinner in her husbands Greek restaurant and spent the night at her villa on the countryside. Take a look at some pictures from Haldern and last nights gig below, good huh? I'm enjoying this a lot, but I can't stop asking myself: is this rock 'n roll? Not quite, I guess. Or maybe just: not yet... Tonight: Hamburg!! Just off the Reeperbahn...

Tag Eins

Day one of the tour was great! We played at the Haldern Pop Bar, run by the people from the Haldern Pop Festival and the Haldern Pop Record label. The bar was full, people were completely silent. Perfect. They booked us in a hotel nearby. The owners of the hotel were on a holiday and we were the only guests staying. After some beers at the bar we played chess at the hotel. Today we're visiting a studio in Haldern from Claus, the man with whom Michiel is talking on the picture below. Acts like Patrick Watson and Das Pop recorded there. Nice fact, one of my favourite albums, The Human Thing by Das Pop, was released in Germany on Haldern Pop Records.

Deutschland

We arrived at our first stop: Haldern. Great start so far, we've got a complete hotel to ourselves(!), soundcheck went well, food was good.. More soon!

New Year New Stuff

I'll write in English since Tududuh is going international this month. Next time it might be in Dutch again, we'll see. Anyhow, new stuff is going down! First rehearsals with a band. It looks promising, I hope to have a band in a month or two. I'll keep you on the hight as they say in proper English.

The German tour together with my good friend Solo is coming close. Next Thursday we'll be on our way. It's something I've been looking forward to for quite some time now. Can't wait to pack my guitar in the back of the car, close the door and drive out of the Amsterdamsestraatweg, where I live, to the German border. I'll be updating this blog as often as I can next week with pictures and pieces of pure poetry.. or just nonsense for that matter.. just keep coming back and see for yourself.

Here's the schedule:
21-01 Haldern Pop Bar, Haldern
22-01 Blooming Bar, Göttingen
23-01 Hasenschaukel, Hamburg
26-01 Intersoup, Berlin

And as some of you might know.. Haldern is just over the Dutch border.. hint hint..