Home and Away

No not the popular soap opera from down under but just more obtuse rambling about my ramblings.. Just done a nice festival in the east of Holland very near to the border of Germany in a little town called Winterswijk. I have played here many times over the years in different bands but each time it has a different vibe. Although the audience numbers were down on previous years (due in the main I think to it being cancelled last year), there was no lack of enthusiasm from the audience. Due to carousing and the like with my mates Andy and Candice in Derby the night before and with a 4:30 start, I was a bit easyjet lagged and lacking in sleep to say the least and yet I ended up playing for over 4 hours without a break as one of the Dutch bands were without a drummer due to sickness. This is always interesting for me as there is usually this mixture of nervousness about how well I'm going to pull off the gig being so tired, juxtaposed with the knowledge that most of the time the lack of sleep means I tend to shut down most of my left brain controlling faculties and fall into a trance like state where the shamanic magic kicks in and the voodoo ceremony begins! This definitely happened in the last set with my band ZydeGoNutZ where we over ran our set by 45 minutes such was the dancing madness and mayhem, It definitely helped not having a break and doing a set with the Dutch band Fai-do-do in between my own sets where I could keep warm and energised.. and yet another notch on my bedpost of bands I have depped with!
It's not just about the music though when you come over to do these gigs. Just as important are the conversations and craic you have. Wandering minstrals such as I were often persecuted and suppressed, not only for their philandering ways but also for their tendency to share information, find out whats going on, and spread the real news. Plenty of that going on this weekend I'm happy to say. I guess minstrals back in the day were the equivalent to the interweb but there is still something special about face to face, heart to heart, real life communication that goes beyond Skype.
So now I am home re-packing and getting ready for a little tour of Germany with the Cajun Roosters one of my other 'core' bands that I go out with. This time I get to go to Berlin for the first time. I'll let you know how I get on when I get back in a weeks time.. Love y'all!