Photo: Me and Luke with Will and Brenden of the Wrist + Pistols at the Doune Castle outside of Dundee, Scotland on our way to Glasgow.
We arrived in Glasgow safely after a short sleepy flight from France. The three of us felt very, very tired and very much discombobulated. We stumbled through the airport, traded our Euros and hidden dollars for UK Pounds and found the train to Dundee. Dude, the US dollar isn't worth very much right now. Thanks George Bush? It's awful.. the Euro is roughly one and a half times stronger than the dollar and the Pound is close to twice as strong. If you live in Europe you should come to America! Your money is worth so much more!
I checked my bank account and there was only $65 in it. This means that I am currently without the means of flying home. I'm planning on using AIrHitch to get home, but that's around $300 each way. Hopefully I can make some money selling CDs and playing these shows, but I'm not sure if it will be enough. Steve, dude, I might be knocking on your door for another loan. I'm going to try real hard to keep my costs way down.. one meal a day and everything. Don't get me wrong, I'm having an amazing time; it's so beautiful here, it's just a little stressful having to worry about money all of the time. It makes you realize how cheap it is to live in Oregon. Also, I can't find Top Ramen here!
Back to the journal-y feeling.. We were met by two very nice girls at the train station in Dundee. Krissy is from Hamilton, Ontario and she's staying with the nice boy whom set up our shows in Scotland. His name is Alex and he is a band called Thee Moths. He has a sweet voice and he sings soft songs. I really liked hanging out with Alex and staying in his flat. It reminded me of the Alex of Clockwork Orange's parent's house... sort of three levels with staircases in hallways.. hard to explain. Anyway, Alex and all of Alex's friends are so nice. Generally speaking, everyone in Scotland seems to be very nice. People on the street, on the trains and in shops would ask us where we're from and suggest places to see. This wasn't even tourist-y places at all.. Dundee is about the size of Portland and has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe. Crazy. Before I knew this I was totally freaked out by the sheer magnitude of seemingly 11-14 year-old girls in crazy Beyoncé outfits walking around the street..
Our show at the Beat Bar was nice. We rolled in and found the Wrist + Pistols boys waiting for us. They rented a car in London and drove 10 hours up to Dundee. Now we're all rolling very much packed in this awesome Fiat wagon-thing. Oh! Oh! I haven't mentioned how cars are so much better here.. it's true! They're all smaller and more efficient. This Diesel dude made it from London to Dundee on one tank! What is the deal with American cars? SUVs? What the EFF are you people thinking? No one rolls in the mountains and through streams like the commercials suggest and sell. Portland? Dude, it's pavement! Anyway.. that's a whole entry. Yeah, I remember this scene in Japan as well... just amazingly cute and efficient cars.
The show was small and nice. Luke and I played real hard-vibe dance sets. Rob did a good bit about making awkward silence and having set up a heckler.. it was good. After the show we got vegetable curry and other junk from the Chinese place right by Alex's place. It was good, but made me sick the next day. Well.. maybe that's a little unfair.. the road we took to Glasgow was full of curves and two lanes total. We saw some very pretty countryside and an animal I'd never seen before.. some sort of wooly cattle with crazy-big horns. We stopped at a little castle as well.. check out the picture above.
Hey, I am so glad you had a great time dude!
Hope your touring/roaring goes well.