KATATONIA post new European tour blog

KATATONIA check in from the road on Ultimate-guitar.com:

“March 4th, 2010, Thursday…

Woke up in Cologne, parked outside the Luxor venue. Apparently, we had played here before because the other guys recognized it already from the outside and then I saw our old stickers backstage, but couldn't fucking recall it. Not the venue, not the backstage, nothing really made my memories come alive, am I getting senile? Got the information that the gig was yet again sold out! Best news you can get to set the right vibe for the rest of the afternoon. Luckily, this venue had a shower as well, and all bands know but fans might not, how much you appreciate this when you live amongst 20 sweaty men in the same bus with dirty laundry and no showering/washing facilities. We got a nice meal at the Indian restaurant next door. Thumbs up 'cuz I love indian food! Gig went better than last night, but there are still some nerves and technical things to sort. The crowd was good though! I guess we need a couple of gigs in our backbone to fully be able to bring on the confidence. This was the last german gig until we return for the remaning five dates next month. You can tell the new guys are loving it!

March 5th, 2010, Friday…

Left germany and woke up in The Netherlands outside the Doornroosje venue in Nijmegen. A building covered with graffiti cramped between what seemed to be normal family houses!? First sight as I walk in is a “sold out” sign over our poster – wow, this night again!?! The backstage is one large spacey room to fit all three bands without stepping on each others toes and the toilets are great and there's a shower and wifi – it's these things that makes you genuinely happy and the aspects of touring bearable, because the show itself is only an hour or so out of 24 hours, and how day spend the rest?

We got served a great in-house dinner as well, more stuff to appreciate! Two more of our Laboga cabs arrived this afternoon as well so we can have a wall of stacks for the bigger venues. The show went alright, still a few tweakings to do and some problems to eliminate as we go along. The guys ended up drinking and partying till early morn! Especially the finns seem to be busy drinking non stop, how the hell do they manage!?! I'm chilling myself on the drinking habits just as the doctor ordered, but for me the nightly jägermeister shot before the stage is a tradition I can't turn down…

March 6th, 2010, Saturday…

Still in the Netherlands, this time outside the P60 venue in Amstelveen. What a nice venue! An elevator directly from the bus to the stage which looks and sounds perfect in my eyes. Perfect is also backstage providing two rooms for the first time making life's easier with the support bands in one and us and the crew in the other. Showers, fresh toilets and yes – WIFI! Doesn't take long until we get the news and I can't help smiling – our fourth show in a row and sold out tonight again! Jonas and Nille didn't show up until after 5 pm, “Drunk & Then the Hangover” could replace “Day & Then The Shade” tonight! During the soundcheck I noticed our new backdrop and sidedrops are up for the first time and dude, they look gorgeous! In-house dinner again, some kind of meat with fries, not bad! Jasper from our management and our ex-booking agent Alx (now manager for Anathema) showed up backstage too for some chit chat. Show-wise sound was great, I think we're getting gradually better and more into it now. I'd like half of the cup to be routine and the other half to be excitement. New guys gets a good welcoming as Jonas introduces them each night and lately Sodomizer is all over the stage, giving all his energy and “living the dream”!

March 7th, 2010 Sunday…

It just dawned on me that the two dutch shows we just left behind us has been the best we ever had in that country. We never really had a good turn out in the Netherlands before, but something must have picked up along the way, much to our surprise!

Had an “early” night yesterday, meaning you jump into your bunk at around 1-2 am and watch some movies on the laptop until you wake up realizing you fell asleep and the movie is over since hours… I'm trying to sleep in as long as possible because the venues don't open until generally 2 pm in the afternoons, so I prefer to walk directly in there for the combo of toilets/showers/wifi/catering rather than sit and wait around in the stinking bus!

So, we're in Belgium today and have caught on a little bit of a cold too, not something too bad, but i need to sneeze my bloody nose on stage all the time! Treating it with a Guiness right now! Oh, and again we got greeted with another “sold out” sign at the venue. I therefore urge everyone to get their tickets in advance because if this continues it's not gonna be possible getting in “on the door” at the night of the show. So I wanna send a big Thank You to everyone of you who has come out and supported us so far, this tour is for you!!!”