Part Six: Austria, Holland & Spain

Monday, March 3
Reigen Live Hadikgasse, Vienna, Austria

I got up and walked around the beautiful city of Vienna in the morning. I'm struck with the majesty of the architecture and how the city has retained a feel that comes from an earlier time -– I would love to spend a few days here exploring.

The venue is an older "basement" club that we have played before. As we took the stage, we were welcomed warmly by the Austrian audience, this helped us play our two sets with high energy and creativity. We pack up the gear and retain our personal equipment from the rented gear we have used for the past week. We have to get up early and fly the next morning and we'll all have "equipment du jour" in Holland.

After packing I hung out with a few fans and found out that some people had come all the way from Germany to hear us play, this was also the case in Zurich, Switzerland. Vital Information has some very dedicated fans and some have traveled long distances to the concerts. I heard stories from people who came from Milan, Italy and flew all the way to London to hear us a Ronnie Scott's or people who drove for six hours to hear us in Rome.

We all greatly appreciate these fans who travel long distances to hear us play. I relate to that as I used to make similar trips to see some of my favorite players when I was a teenager or in my early 20s. I traveled long distances at times to see Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Dizzy Gillespie, Tony Williams and Herbie Hancock.

Tuesday, March 4
Boerderij Amerikaweg,  Zoetermeer, Holland

We leave the hotel early and Marcello drops us off at the local airport. We bid Marcello farewell and he drives back to Rome, which will take him almost two days. Once again at the airport I have to pay over $500 in overweight charges.

Overweight is a major problem for bands touring in Europe, we'll try to do even more of the tour in the van on the next trip. The club, Boerderij, is a big, open, "rock" venue. There is a large stage and a huge sound system. I set up a beautiful new set of Sonor Designer drums with a 22" bass drum. I usually use a 20" drum, but the only Sonor kit available in Holland had a 22" so that will have to do. It gives the kit more of a rock sound and feel, but with the club, it works OK. When we played the people stand up, as there are no seats. I personally don't think this is the best way to enjoy a concert, but the audience is pushed up against the front of the stage, watching every move we make, and they "go crazy" for the band.

We play another strong concert and head back to the hotel to get some rest before another early morning flight the next day.

Wednesday, March 5
Sala Luz de Gas C,  Barcelona, Spain

As we checked our bags onto Transavia Airlines the pretty young woman working behind the counter informed us we were 90 kilos overweight and it would be 7 Euros a kilo, 7 x 90 = 630 Euros!! At this point the Euro and the US dollar is about 1 to 1! We all appealed to her to knock off a few hundred Euros, that we're jazz musicians trying to make a living and the overweight charges are making it difficult to make any money on this tour. This usually works somewhat and they'll bring the price down a little.

She went to talk to her boss and a miracle occurred -- she didn't charge us any overweight at all!!! We were all in shock for a few minutes and when we recovered we thanked her and took her picture so we could remember this kind lady that really "made our day."

Arriving at the Barcelona airport we're met by Paco, who will be our road manger/driver for the next five days. Paco works for Manolo Serra who is the sub-agent/promoter for all of the Spanish dates. Barcelona is an exciting and beautiful city and it feels great to be here, the city has an ambiance.

Everything runs late in Spain, the load-in is at 7 pm with sound-check at 9 pm and the gig starts at 11:30 pm. Even the restaurants don't open until 9 pm! "Call and Play" is the name of the company that is providing the rental gear. They will accompany us on the Spain tour, helping us setup each night and they break down and drive the gear to the next gig – a very nice arrangement.

Roberto is a main tech and he did a wonderful job learning our setup very quickly. I have a new Sonor Delite kit that comes with Remo White Ambassador heads. I carry a set of Clear Ambassador heads with me in my cymbal case and I put them on all of the toms. For the snare drum, I use a Fyberskin Diplomat. I have the same head that I've been using for the last two weeks and it still sounds great. The drums tune up easily and sound excellent.

Tom and I are always at the gig before Frank and Baron because it takes us longer to setup. We have a hard time trying to figure out how we're going to setup on the very small stage in today's club. We finally setup in a kind of circle as the stage is almost in the middle of the room. We can hear each other without monitors, which is nice, and it helps us play better. Once again there are no seats for the audience and they stand all around us, very close, as the club is quite small. It's Baron's birthday and partway through the set I tell the audience and they sing "Happy Birthday" to Baron. For the past four years we have been touring on Baron's birthday, it has become a tradition!

For the gigs in Spain we play only one long set, on all of the other dates we've played two sets. I "call" the tunes as we play instead of making a set list and it feels spontaneous and the people give us lots of energy and enjoy the concert. The club owner, Ana, enjoyed the band so much she said that next year she wants us back for a week long engagement -– sounds good to me!

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