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Well yesterday opened up slow. Got off that plane and as awake as i thought i was that feeling quickly dived as my body took hold of some jet lag and dragged me down to a sleepy abyss. We arrived in Belgium to find our european tour manager chris waiting to take us to the venue. Chris is awesome. American living in Europe for the last 10 years and honestly, i envy him, there is so much more culture over hear that americans just take for granted, but hey we won’t get into that…
Upon arrival at the venue we had to wait for it to open so we took a stroll around the city and saw some amazing architechture. You know you see the cathedrals and things in books and magazines but to stand in from of this 1000+ year old structure built from stone and covered in gothic steel there’s just nothing like it. The venue finally opened for us around 11 and needless to say I was still jet lagged so the minute it opened I was straight in looking for a place to lay down. Once I found the couch upstairs in the venue i was out COLD! The venue we played was a rec-center and from what i understnd while i was asleep there was a huge group of kids playing foose ball downstairs… like i said i was out COLD! I awoke around 5 went downstairs and walked with chris to find some Coffee. We found a small Cafe around the corner which sat probably 25 people max and was facing a small courtyard with some local shops and eateries. As we sat and had a few Cafe O’ Le’s chis and I swapped tour stories and talked about the life of touring and how glamorous people think it is. Needless to say we had a good laugh :) When we arrived back at the venue we walked in and WTF!?!? Pour Habit is playing on the stereo! I was like HOLY SHIT FUCK YA! I mean its not the most unusual thing in the world, they have toured europe with NOFX so its obvious that people would know who they are but when its your first time in a new country, at a new venue and the first thing you hear is some very close friends of yours on the stereo its pretty awesome!
Later that night the show kicked off with probably about 100 or more kids packed into this tiny little room driking beer and conversing. Justin and I we siting by the merch booth talking about how cool it was that teh punk scene was so alive and well over here. I mean these kids were listening to all of our favorite punk rock CD’s from the 90′s to now and singing at the top of there lungs it was crazy! Each of the bands that opened were awesome. 2 of the bands were local and 1 of them was from the Manchester area in the UK. I met there bass player Danny and I stood laughing because he reminded me so much of my boy Keith. Danny and I talked for a while and then they hit the stage terring it up in classic punk format, “here’s another song, its called FUCK YOU!” haahha! awesome!
We took the stage at 10 and I wasn’t sure what to think ya know. Were the forign band, I didn’t know how many people knew of the band or what so it was just simply, setup, rock out and hope for the best. Now what i was in store for I wouldn’t have guess in a million years. We opened with “Everyday” and the place serioulsy Erupted! I think the stage we were on moved back about a foot from the massive pit that broke out. The energy in the place was unreal, kids flying everywhere, running in a circle in classic punk/ska format and just all out having a good time. They knew almost every word to every song and man when we got into such songs like “Passage” or “No Regrets” Jason didn’t even have to sing the chorus! In fact I think he was singing but the crowed was so loud you couldn’t hear him. All in all the night wen’t off like an atom bomb and we has such a blast!
As the night came to a close we all hung out at the bar, sung some of our favorite punk tunes from the last 20 years at the top of our lungs and drank some awesome Belgium beers. This is definitely one of those days i’ll never forget.
Cheers everyone, thanks for following.
Glad to hear everything is going well. Belgium is an awesome time. Let me know when you get back home!