Munster: Yeah, um, sorry about that

So, after the London gig / rehearsal thing I was thinking things had changed a bit. Alex's addition has added some new competence in the bass department and, at times, we actually didn't suck complete balls. 

Anyway, you'll be pleased to know that last night was back to business as usual: I knew there was a reason I picked that name for the blog. 

Any chance of "muddling through" went out the window in the second song when things unravelled quite badly. And it got worse from there. In fact, it got a lot worse and was one of the worst gigs I can remember us playing. And I can remember some bad ones. 

The crowd, bless them, were very kind, if slightly bemused. We had one of those nights where the monitors were weird and each of us could only hear our own instruments, which means you end up playing in some kind of isolation; this is fine if you're the note perfect kind of musician, but for us less so. My sphincter was constricted so tightly it could have choked an electron. I know that's an image you want to share in... 

Anyway, that kind of kicked us in the arse. We know we can suck, but a lot of the time that's just part of how we are. This was different. This called for action - and action we took, goddamit. So, on the way to Halle today we actually listened to the records again and discussed the different sections of certain songs. This is tantamount to a rehearsal. The hour we spent listening to things was very informative and I now have no doubt that tonight's gig will be no less than merely partly rubbish. 

Phew. Glad we got that sorted out. 

Lunch: brockwurst and chips stood by the side of the motorway whilst a man in a German army uniform stood by, menacingly. I say menacingly but I think he was about 14. Still, uniforms make me edgy - last time we were here a woman soldier had her rifle pointed at me and really meant it. Thing is, I found that slightly erotic and the true seriousness of the situation escaped me until later, when I'd stopped being a "man" and thought "she was going to shoot me." This was because, having been accused of smuggling contraband by the Swiss border authorities (contraband = a box of Dakota Suite CDs when you travel out of the EU, and despie insisting that they had no actual value, they weren't chuffed), we were ordered to turn round. In doing so, we re-entered Germany and, had I not caught sight of the soldier's gun in my wing mirror we might have had our tires shot out. When I sauntered out of the van and back towards her I saw sweat drip down her brow as she aimed at my chest. "Cool, that's quite sexy" I thought. Idiot. This is what comes of spending a week in a van with only other men for company...

Which brings me back to Halle and the soundcheck I'm about to finish. Just a last moment to send more apologies to Munster. We remembered being there about 5 years ago at Gleiss 22 and it's  a really cool place. Our piss-poorness did rather lessen the pleasant nostalgia element in the end....