#CRUZBOYS IN THE UK
Allright bitches, we thought we´d share our first UK trip with ya guys, so I put up this blog to put our little venture to words you all could read! This is just here to let you guys have a peak at what we experienced, did & saw on our first mini-tour abroad Finland. And experience we did, I tell you guys! 4 days, 2 shows, 9 interviews and many, many beers later we got ourselves a first look to what we´re hoping to do years forward and give those numbers some zeros to the end. And we´re ready to shed blood, sweat & tears to achieve that.
So, without further due, step inside that plane, get your funny hat on & let´s get this party started!
DAY 1 (London)
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| At the airport, the anticipation ! |
Friday 5.6. Wake up at 4:45, shower, get your shit together and meet the guys at our rehearsal place Nosturi, Helsinki at 5:30, with your guitar in one hand & suitcase in the other. The participants of this to be awesome expedition are already at the rendezvous point. That includes our Band, of course + our sound engineer Mikko & our agent Jani. The gear we´re taking with are just the one´s movable by hands of six people, the guitars, the pedals, the cymbals and the snare. Jani, our agent has already booked us couple of rental badass Marshall stacks from the Britons, and the drums and bass amp will be waiting for us there also, so we´re good to go. We load it in, hop on the mini-bus & head these tired eyes to the Helsinki airport.
Once we´ve gotten through the regular formalities we head to the airport pub, oak barrel, to get some pre-flight beers & have a little anticipation-build-up chat of what´s waiting for us. What is waiting for us anyway? Well, our debut album, which we worked the whole year 2012 on, came out via Universal/Spinefarm UK on 6 of May this year. So naturally, we had to get some gigs and promotion going to get the big wheels rolling. Our label there organized us these two showcases with fellow label band VEGA in the legend--wait for it--dary Barfly, London & the grand Rock City, Nottingham.
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| Spinefarm |
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| Up in the air! #Zoolander |
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| Minutes later, owned... |
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| Another weary traveller |
After we landed on the Gatwick airport, we jumped on our ride waiting, and got our asses to Camden town, the location of the night´s venue and accommodation. When we got there, we packed all six of us in this tiny room, with probably a square meter of floor in the middle and six beds. Try holding three pedal cases, six suitcases, three guitars, drum gear + a few bags there. Not comfy but fun as hell =D
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| England, motherfucker! |
After settling in, some grub at The Blues Kitchen (rad as...), Frappucino´ing the shit out at Starbucks & checking out Camden.
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| The mandatory thing to do as soon as you get to London, obviously....get a picture with a f´n bus. |
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| Die Polizei came to say hi. |
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We´re here & ready to kick your buttocks !
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| EAT...MMM |
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Jani Wilund, our agent + an instant tour manager & merchandise sales-man. He´s not giving a fuck here =)
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| They acually got the name´s right this time! what is this?! |
After the necessary tourist-activities we pack up and it´s time to hit tonight´s venue, Barfly!
What´s coming up is a soundcheck & we meet up with our cool UK label manager Dante Bonutto & our lovely press officer Lailah! Lailah had scheduled four interviews at Barfly, three before the show & one after. Things roll like clockwork and the sun is shining. That´s the way we like it, baby. A third member of staff from our label, Andy rolls up a bit later and tells us how he loved "Shred Till You Drop!", a guitar video me & Johnny did few weeks before.
With the interviews done, it´s time to get ready for the main event, THE GIG! Tonight´s running order is a local band Curran, then us & the last is our fellow label mates Vega. As I stroll to the store through the downstairs bar which is already open, I notice that there are a lot of people already waiting for the show. People come up to shake hands, compliment our album & tell me how anticipated they are to finally see us live! As I get out to the street to get some snack from the store, I can´t help the large grin on my face. On top of that It´s sunny, 30 C° hot! (this is ENGLAND folks?! shouldn´t it be fucking raining?!)
As the first band Curran ends their set and we start setting up our gear, for our pleasant surprise the venue is full of crowd! We even spot Santa Cruz t-shirts in the crowd, bloody hell! So, with everything set, the intro starts playing and we do the regular football team-like chant we do before shows and hit that muthafuckin´ stage!
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| (C) Nick Webb Photography |
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| (c) Nick Webb Photography |
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| (c) Nick Webb Photography |
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| (c) Nick Webb Photography |
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| (c) Nick Webb Photography |
We rammed it up for 30 minutes and got the crowd really going. I spotted fellow labeller´s Jettblack´s drummer in the audience + Lailah told us that the legendary rock journalist Malcolm Dome, who btw invented the term "Thrash Metal" was there! After the show we did the last interview & while Vega played, we went to say hello to our crowd. The people couldn´t have been nicer, and we took whole lotta photos and signed whole lotta stuff =) After Vega had finished we had to unload our gear right away, since Barfly was hosting another event with indie bands later to the night. After some hassle two cabs came for us and we got our asses to the Camden hostel. And did I mention this time we had the rental Marshall stacks with us, to fit in that tiny room...thank god for a luggage room =D
Having our gear safe and our first show abroad delivered, it was naturally time to get familiar with Camden´s friday night life. Our engineer Mikko knew another Finnish engineer who worked at KoKo, a big ass nightclub & a venue. Mikko got us in past the line and we went to see what the fuck´s up!
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| Cheers, that´s what´s up |
DAY 2
Few hours of sleep, wake up feeling like crap, get your gear together and move out of the hotel before 12. Time to get movin´ towards Nottingham. Yes, Robin Hood, i know. As we´re sweating and waiting on the burning hot street (Yes, sunny and almost 30 C° again, what the fuck britain?!), the ride seems to be nowhere. After an hour wait, the van comes along finally. We load it, we lock it & jump in. The plan: 1. Starbucks 2. Nottingham =)
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| got´cha |
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| Middy & Taz sharing a tender moment...hahaha |
After a few hours drive we hit Nottingham. We unload the gear to Rock City & I do one phone interview. Then we check ourselves to the hotel. We´re staying at a Crowne Plaza, this one battle´s in a whole different league than the hostel we stayed in last night. We even got bathrooms this time, right on brothas!
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| Nottingham Rock City, radass venue! |
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| Fresh from the shower, we could see the venue from the hotel room, pow ! |
Freshen´ up, drink Tea (we are in the UK aren't we?) put on yer game face and head back to the venue for a soundcheck. That done, we got two more missions to accomplish before our gig, to get some food & do one interview. Me & Taz head out to a pub nearby to get our bellies full british style, baby!
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| Pub dining with Taz. I love me #fries. |
As we´re getting ready for the show and stroll around Rock City, we notice that people start pouring in. Not only was the London show packed, but it seems there´s a lot of rock scene going on in Nottingham as well. As tonight´s first act, Mia Klose finishes her set, we put in our gear, and get siked for the show! You know the drill, our intro "Silhouette of doom" by Ennio Morricone starts playing, we hit the stage & as the last note of the intro fades, Middy starts rocking the bass-intro to "Screaming For Adrenaline". It´s a full-on adrenaline rush for the next 45 minutes, O Yeah!
After 45 minutes of jumping around, shredding on the bar tables, headbanging & screaming, we finished the set as winners! The house was even more packed than in London, plus there seemed to be quite a hassle at the merch-stand after the playing had stopped. We went over, signed autographs & took pictures with our fans! #Rad! On the backstage walls I noticed that so many popular contemporary bands & acts are playing Rock City´s main stage regularly. It was cool to play a show in (almost) the same venue!
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| With Dave, the manager of Rock City! |
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| Aiming High --> High As Fuck! |
After the usual aftershow routines, we hung out at Rock City, which hosted a sick rave party on the main-stage upstairs! Later the friendly staff of Rock City, who were impressed by our gig, took us to a pub a few miles away from the hotel.
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| Taz insisted me to take a photo with them & this statue...this is when the shit got real! looking good boys :D |
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| a Happy man with two gig´s done & two Jack n coke´s about to be done, let´s call it a night on this one! |
DAY 3 (back to London)
After two days of traveling, doing promo & gigs, we woke up to day 3 in Nottingham. Taz went a bit over the edge last night, and had no idea of when & how he ended up at the hotel. The last thing he memorized was strolling around the town and not having a clue where he was at. But luckily he got to the hotel anyways & everything was cool in the morning. As we woke up at 12 o´clock with Taz, we were already late from the bus-call, so we just rammed our gear into the suitcases and left for the car. The whole bunch were there waiting, so we just hopped in and left for London.
With no gig´s left to be played anymore, the plan in London was to get rid of the on-loan Marshall´s, do one interview with Powerplay magazine & meet up with our UK label-manager Dante and our press-officer Lailah. After the few-hour drive we returned the amplifiers, checked in to our last hotel just beside Finsbury Park. Running a bit late already, we freshened up like a bunch of pro´s & jumped in to the tube. Of course, we hit the wrong station at first and struggled finding the right place, but eventually we got there. Lailah was waiting us with the reporter & we all hit the pub nearby to get on with the interview. Since Wimbledon was on that weekend, the place was so packed with british tennis-maniacs that we had to get out on the street to do it!
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| Interview to be printed in Powerplay magazine: http://powerplaymagazine.co.uk |
After a while Dante came in and kindly supplied us with a few Corona´s! Those of you who don´t know Dante, he used to be a editor in chief for Kerrang! magazine in the 80´s and was one of the founders of RAW magazine in ´88. Nowadays he´s become an A&R legend and is Spinefarm UK´s label manager. Spinefarm UK is the british home for such greats as Alice Cooper, Five Finger Death Punch, Rammstein, Rob Zombie, Korn & Stone Temple Pilots. They also have few finnish bands & artists in their roster such as us, Reckless Love, Von Hertzen Brothers, Ensiferum & Michael Monroe.
We had a good discussion with Dante, concerning our future & next move in Great-Britain. Can´t tell you guys any details, but the plan is to return UK very, very soon! We also got our song "Nothing Compares To You" in Loaded magazine´s this month´s free CD, so we´re gonna be releasing it as a single along with a video in the end of this month!
However, after our long chat Dante said us goodbyes, and it was time to go spend our free night in London. We we´re planning on shooting some photographs ( (c) Jani Wilund ) and the sun was still up so that´s what we did. Here´s what we came up with, enjoy ;) :
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| Carnaby street with Jimi & Mick. |
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| #CARNABY |
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| Piccadilly Circus baby |
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| Welcome to Babylon |
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| The roadrunner pose! (if you know, you know) |
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| OK, let´s hit the pub. |
After some random photoshooting, it was time to make the most of our last night in England. The plan was to hit the Crowbar, London´s nr. 1 rock ´n´roll hideout. We had to walk all the way to SoHo to see it was closed...So we just got in to the next pub and cheered to our lil´ expedition :) After a while we decided to go to Camden for our last night & that´s we´re we pretty much stayed.
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| Rob Halford, aye |
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| The blues bar, Camden. Hipster Middy. |
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So...where´s the cash?
In Camden we went to these blues jams, in a place called, yes, the blues bar! After a while though it became clear that these were no jams. A band after another walked in to perform rehearsed tunes. Nevertheless, never heard so many young dudes ram up such rootsy & fat blues solos with so much credibility before =)
From there on we just pretty much strolled through the bars & made the most of it, cheers!
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DAY 4
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| Tube tiredness #wastedparis |
Next morning we had to wake up early since we had one more interview scheduled for this trip. I was sharing the room with Taz again. All grumpy we had high-speed breakfast & hit the tube as soon as everyone came down. At this point we were sure we´re witnessing some sort of miracle. It was our 4th day in the UK, and the weather was clear, somewhere around 30°C degrees, AGAIN!? Needless to say, we were sweating our faces and asses off...
By the time we hit Classic Rock´s press office, which also hosts Metal Hammer and many more, we were told that the interview we were supposed to be doing now was the one we did on friday. We wondered why there was two Classic Rock interviews in the schedule :D Well, good thing none of us would have wanted to sleep longer...NOT! Well we just had a laugh about it and Geoff Barton, the chief editor told us he´s sorry for the confusion!
Now there was nothing left to do & few spare hours to spend, so we said goodbye to Lailah and headed out to find cool things to shop before our departure. I found really rad stuff for me and my girl
Pinja. Few hours later it was time to head out to Gatwick airport & fly back to Finland.
In the plane me & Johnny got a bit bored so we decided to enjoy a few well-deserved beverages to make the time run a bit more smoothly =)
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| Wilund doesn´t approve, haha! |
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| Middy is minding his own beer. |
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| err |
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| ERR |
So, anyway, that´s about it for our first UK mini tour! We had absolute blast and hope everyone who came to our show´s had too! Currently we´re touring Finland and setting up more dates in the UK & rest of Europe. Hope to see ya guys then! Meanwhile, you can purchase our radass debut album "Screaming For Adrenaline" from the following link:
We´d also like to thank Music Finland (http://musicfinland.com/en/), and our babes who remain patient with us. Remember to check our tour-dates, news, etc. from:
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Stay vulgar, Archie & the cruz boys
