Bilbao – and the new axis of evil in two cars…

February 21 SPAIN – Bilbao
Driving through the Basque country was fantastic. I felt at home. The show was at a squat venue. It went ok. Where it got interesting was on the way home. We got stopped on the way out of bilbao going to where we were sleeping. It was a road block by very heavily armed Guarda Civilia who i must say were a bunch of fucking pricks. They had machine guns and were hassling the Basque Guys in the car looking for weapons. The Brendan Behan quote flew into my head..” the terrorist is the one with the smaller bomb” I just kept thinking of how much it reminded me of border crossings in the north during the troubles. Then i started to think of how funny it was… an bunch of basque guys and Irish guy and a Sri Lankan. The guards must have thought ETA, IRA, and Tamil Tigers all in two cars. Austin powers…EEEEEEVil. The guard with the machine gun and no brain was not impressed when i gave him a military salute as we left. I always do this in countries with military guards…try it next time as you pass them in a car and watch the reaction. salute them in all seriousness, a nice crisp salute. They cannot help but salute back, its instinctual. Some even click their heels together. You can see them thinking who the fuck is this guy…i better salute just in case he is important..maybe the hippy looking freak is undercover…
We got to the place we were staying and ate food. I listened to them speak Basque which is a cool language. I listened to stories of harassment and torture etc…all the usual. It was all set in a picture when me an Tully went walking in a small town for a coffee in the morning. The calender on the wall of the cafe was full of political prisoners. It reminded me of the H block hunger striker era in Ireland. I turned to Tully and as we were walking towards the car and said it reminded me of a “Ra” (IRA) town in Ireland. As i said it i spied this graffiti for IRA and ETA on the wall. The world is a fucking strange place.

Oviedo

February 20 SPAIN – Oviedo -Venue: Cafe Masaveu 55
Cool place and the organizers of the show were fans who did a great job. We also ate salad. Green things are good on tour. Sang a song about Sergio’s pyscho cat that kept attacking turlough. Gato Peligroso. This entire tour has been called no drogas para los animales. me and the cat had an understanding. She wouldn’t attack me and i wouldn’t eat her. I let her take Poland (Tullys calf muscle).

Zamora

February 19 SPAIN – Zamora -Venue: Sala Avalon
Some fans had driven 100km to see us play. I hope we were worth it! they took a vid on their phone of a new song which will be going on the album called “beautiful one” here tis

One night in Don Benito ruined my life…the story of a cellist and a broken dream.

February 17 SPAIN – Don Benito – Venue: Rincón Pio Sound
Drove to Don Benito for a night of insanity. The crowd were rabid in the best possible way and ate the music. Everyone there was fucking crazy…me and tully loved it. The venue was awesome as was the pa and we were treated like kings. My shruti box barely held up. here’s a clip from youtube After the show I ate cheese from the fridge (so much for no dairy for my voice on tour…pure rock n roll madness). Turlough dissapeared to a local disco in a supermarket with a Spanish lady after consuming a vast quantity of Don Benito’s hard drink with the locals. His Zoolander smile was priceless, but the laughing from Sergio and me at 6.45am was even beter when the Old Hotel Guy wouldn’t let him take her back to his room. He looked like a five year old who has just dropped his ice cream. Sergio left for Barcelona in the morning and we could hear him laughing for the next 8hrs.

Caceres…

February 16 SPAIN – Caceres -Venue: Sala Aldana
All tiredness disappears as we drive up through the narrow medieval hilltop streets to the venue. This place is special. Franco used this place as his headquarters so i am asking too many questions and pissing everyone off as I am a nerd and obsessed by things like this. Don’t get me started on Stalingrad… We met the guys from Rincon Pio sound who are doing the shows here and tomorrow. they did a great job and the shows are fantastic. We did two interviews for Spanish TV and they filmed some of the show. Crowd were great again.After i sat in a dark room and thought too much. Decompressing after shows is really hard sometimes you are moving from a higher state of euphoria or intensity to reality in one sharp move. I can understand how musicians turn to drugs and alcohol as a transition. Me i sit in a dark room with juice and think too much.

Hard to Breathe…

FEB 15 2007 Woke up and we headed to the Prado museum where I checked about five things I wanted to see before i died off my list. Growing up the first painting that i was ever obsessed about was by Hieronymus Bosch’s “the garden of earthly delights”. i looked at that painting over and over and it had a big effect on my life and my outlook and way of seeing. So there is tood in front of it barely able to breathe, and then it got worse…Bruegel, Elgreco, Velasquez. I was near to having a fucking heart attack. Scribbling in my notebook furiously…make better music…reach higher…higher.
Then of course I did the stupid thing of going to the Sofia museum and seeing the head fuck that is Picasso’s El Guernica. I left in a weird state of wanting to scream and wanting never to speak again just work.

Madrid and the case of the missing PA…

FEB 14 2007 – I’m the only stupid fucker with a licence so I’m doing all the driving. although i’m sure that Tully and sergio are lying. sergio has brought a GPS which normally i would have laughed at, but after the first 2 minutes in the chaos that is peak hour Madrid i am in love with my new saviour, Martha the voice in spanish that tells me where to go. amazing how fast you figure out what left and right is as five lanes of trafic are trying to remove you from the face of the earth.Got to the venue and it was a classic case fo a lying sonofabitch venue owner saying he had what we asked for. It was hilarious, a shitty dj table with the 2 channel mixing desk behind us and no leads to connect anything. It worked in our favour as me and tully moved the entire crowd down a side part fo the room set up some lights and did the whole show totally acoustic. It was really fucking cool and i felt great. You connect totally with everyone there as there is one less link of bullshit between you and the person listening. Fell into bed at ungodly hour.

Declan realises he owes Henry rollins.

FEB 14 2007 – Sitting in a square in the sun after 3320 cortados, writing, I am struck by the realisation of how lucky i am to travel the world to different cities and play to new people. That makes me realise that I probably owe a thank you letter to Henry Rollins as his “on the road” books and attitude in particular kept me from ever giving up on music despite all the hardship and banging my head against walls trying to do something original instead of following whatever trend was in that month. His book “see a grown man cry” probably saved me from ending up in jail any number of times for violent assault. So thanks for that Hank. I’ll buy you a spirulina smoothie someday.

Catalan destruction

FEB 13 2007
Woke up at 5 and met Turlough at the airport. Next thing i know i’m driving in barcelona, still asleep and driving down tiny lanes on the wrong side of the road i was mighty pleased i killed only 2 police men, maimed a small child, de-limbed two dogs and set an ice cream van on fire. Went and ate some Catalan food with Sergio the promoter and Nuria. I have burned the location in my soul so i can come back to it. The show was at Sala Side car. It was a good start to the tour and i was delighted to walk out and play to a healthy crowd. Well done Sergio…posters were everywhere. My shruti box has started to fall apart and my guitar was acting up from a Ryanair bashing. this was the first show me and tully had done in a year. Surprisingly we didn’t fuck it up. My Spanish is terrible and my Catalan non existent but at least i am providing amusement for others by trying. Hung out afterwords and the people were really cool. the photos is Nuria, Sergio and Zoolander.