Hayden’s Blog

NY>London>Istanbul>Glasgow>Paris>Amsterdam>Berlin

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It’s been so long since I’ve written that I feel an apology is needed. It’s been a combination of busyness and laziness I guess. Since my last post I’ve spent some more time in New York, and travelled to London, Istanbul in Turkey, Aberdeen and Glasgow in Scotland, Paris in France, and Utrecht and Amsterdam in The Netherlands. So, sorry!

It feels really strange being on tour again now after spending so long in New York just seeing the sights. We stayed there for two weeks in total. Harlan (the guy I stayed with) and his girlfriend made me a cake for my 21st birthday. They’re some of the nicest people I’ve met on tour. My birthday itself was nice and quiet (at my request). We let a firework off from the top of his roof, which has a pretty amazing view of Manhattan, had a couple of drinks, and went to bed nice and early.

All of our remaining New York shows went really well. We had nice full audiences and played really well. We spent a few days shooting a music video for the next single off the album, Small Town Crew. Quite a fun and strange experience. You have to pretend you’re playing an instrument, so instead of focussing on what you’re playing or how it sounds you’re just thinking about how it looks. We also had to do a bit of bluescreen work, cause in the video Heather picks the band up and puts us in her hands. Really fun having to act to an empty room.

We were there for so long compared to everywhere else we’ve been that it began to feel like I was flatting in New York. I became familiar with the streets and my subway stop, could find my way without looking up google maps, and the novelty of the big city wore off. I could definitely live in New York. It’s so busy and cramped, but everything moves to a rhythm and seems to compliment each other. Central Park is this surreal slice of tranquillity in the middle of chaos. I spent a few hours walking the paths and lying on the grass. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and saw some amazing ancient and modern art. We caught a train up the Bronx Zoo too, but it wasn’t worth going in for the couple hours left of daylight, so we just bought some animal masks and walked around the local neighbourhood. It was almost sad to say goodbye to the city I’d grown so familiar with.

We got done for excess baggage on the way to London. They were going to charge us for 5 extra pieces at US$220 per piece, but we managed to talk them down to 2. Got pretty drunk on the flight over to London, which made going through immigration a pretty strange experience.

London’s weather was a total shock to the system coming from the tail end of summer in the states. The first night I spent shivering. Some of us stayed at The Sneaks’ flat. Was really good to see some faces from home and to see how they’re getting on in the big smoke. Jetlag meant I didn’t get to sleep till 4am.

After a couple shows in London (I’m not going to mention shows from now on unless they were actually interesting) we flew to Istanbul in Turkey to play a festival gig. It was such an amazing change from touring in America and our few days in London. I guess it might be because Turkey straddles the two continents, but Istanbul had this incredible mix of a really European city and culture, and a crazy Asian busyness. The fact that I didn’t know what to expect made it all the more interesting. We got picked up from the airport by our 2 guides and a driver who looked after us for the whole weekend. The festival put us up in a 4 star hotel right in the centre of the city. Our driver took us through these crazy thin streets that seemed more like alleyways, weaving up and down the hills around Taksim Square, where were staying.

Our first night we played a show supporting Devendra Banhart, in front of a big crowd in a really great venue called Garajistanbul. Our guides took us out to dinner at a traditional Turkish restaurant. We ate some amazing food, and were entertained by a couple of guys playing traditional Turkish music. The atmosphere lifted as soon as they started played, and suddenly we were in the middle of a party, with all the Turks in the room (including out guides) singing along and dancing on chairs. It was a surreal experience, being so jetlagged from both the New York to London and London to Turkey flights. We played a great show after such an excellent time at the restaurant and got an amazing response from the crowd. Devendra Banhart played a really long set that I wasn’t so into, but the crowd seemed to really like them.

We had one and a half days off after the show to take in the sights. We were taken to the Ayasofya and the Blue Mosque, which were both really old and really awesome to see. We went to the grand bazaar, a huge indoor market with heaps of different colours and smells. People selling spices, scarves, pots, lamps, pipes. To tell the truth though, nothing really seemed worth buying. The bazaar is a big tourist attraction, so everything had big tourist prices. I walked away with a couple of things for presents, but far less than I expected.

On our last night in the city one of the festival organisers invited us to a party being held just down the road from our hotel. The DJ was playing some really great music, but I wasn’t in the mood for it, so I went back to the hotel early and spend heaps of money on a phone card that lasted 5 minutes.

Leaving Istanbul was sad, knowing that the rest of the tour would probably be a lot less exciting. We flew back to London and crashed at The Sneaks’ place again and had a day off.

Up through the UK after that. A show in Manchester, supported by a feminist punk band and a drum-machine punk band. Both horribly bad bands, but terribly nice people. Seems to always be the way. N.G.S.B (Nice Guy, Shit Band). Way up to Aberdeen after that. The drive from England into Scotland was quite therapeutic. Felt like going home again. The Scottish countryside is so beautiful and similar to central Otago. Snowed a bit on the drive, then again after the gig. Had a bit of a run around in the snowflakes. Haven’t seen snow in ages.

Glasgow the day after, snow on the ground as we got a bit higher up on the drive. The show we were playing was straight after 3 big gigs happening that night from the Shins, Okkervil River and the Foo Fighters. The venue had advertised it as the Shins afterparty, which proved a good move because the place packed out. Lots of people singing along, which is always satisfying. My iPod got stolen.

Back to shitty old London the next day for another day off and yet another night at the Sneaks mansion. James had a phone interview with bFM while I was there, so I said a quick hello too.

Took the boat across the Channel a day later and drove to Paris, where we had the whole day to explore. Instantly felt better being away from London. Paris was an amazing city to walk around even though it was really cold. Great old buildings, and everyone speaks French! Had a bit of spiritual time out at Notre Dame, and climbed the bell tour to look at the stunning view of Paris and get close up to the gargoyles. Joined mass inside and was tempted to take communion just so I could say I had. Had a ridiculously pricey 4 euro coffee so I could get online in a café.

The gig went ok. The next day we had some time to explore the city a bit more before leaving for Holland. Walked (because the train drivers were on strike) to the Pompidou centre of modern art and had a wee look around. Bought some ridiculously cheap wine on the way back. Hard to find a bottle for over 5 euros. Got some baguettes and cheese too.

Drove for 6 hours to stay the night in Utrecht, Holland, where we were supposed to play a show, but it got cancelled. We still got our accommodation (plush 5 star place) and fee though, so it worked out as a nice day off. Woke and drove 40 mins to Amsterdam. Had a wee look around before soundcheck. Stumbled across lots of ‘coffeeshops’ and magic mushroom stores. Found some grow-your-own cannabis kits for 3 euros. Really pretty canals and heaps of bikes. I wish I lived in a city where biking around was easy and a jazz cigarette was legal.

Played a gig that felt like a school assembly in a big hall that was lit way too much. Went out and looked around the crazy red light district for a bit before having a few beers in a busy pub. Didn’t even get high!

Across the border to Hamburg the following day. Played a really great gig in a small underground (literally) club. The guys putting the show on were amazingly friendly. Cooked us a really nice dinner and made sure we had what we needed. It feels like the further away we get from London the better the tour gets.

Woke early the next day and drove to Berlin, which is where I am writing this from. It’s really really cold here. I don’t know how people survive here in the winter, it’d get so depressing. We’re just about to soundcheck now, so I better go. But there you are. I’ve finally filled you in on my last few weeks. The end of tour is drawing so close now that I’ve started to enjoy myself a bit more. Only 22 days to go! I can’t wait. From here we’re on to Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium and France again, so until next time, auf wiedersehen!