Category: show

Driving through the dry plateaus of this part of Spain is pretty impressive. Vast, open land with a big sky, full of sun and blue and a whole lot of scrub brush; I can only hope Clint Eastwood shows up on the horizon and rides past and doesn’t shoot me. That doesn’t happen but we find a restaurant in the middle of nowhere and get lucky with some tortillas, patatas bravas, calamari and lots of little tapas. Not bad for a gas station but much needed because we’ve been eating a whole lot of sandwiches lately.
We head to Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque Country, for a show in a university.
We are feeling a little burned out and sometimes university shows can be a bummer. This one is great though – really nice hosts and a whole lot of people all of the sudden. It was looking a little grim because it was an early show but the people came and seemed to like it, therefore, I like it.
The show is early enough that we are taken to a great restaurant and are treated to some risotto, fish with patatas bravas and then a very elaborate chocolate concoction, plus a ton of delicious rioja. They even have escalators on the street so we don’t have to work too hard to get up the 5% incline. Heaven, thank you for allowing us to enter your pearly gates. I will remember this next time I’m bad and if I believe in you.

Related show

• Artist: Paramount Styles
• Tour: Paramount Styles September 2011 Tour
• Date: 09/28/11
• Time: 9:00pm
• Venue: Pabellón Universitario (Campus Vitoria)
• City: Vitoria-Gasteiz, Pais Vasco
• Address: Comandante Izarduy 1
• Country: Spain
• Notes: University of Vitoria

It is time to escape the hot, hot heat of Barcelona for Valencia. We’ve never been to Valencia before so we are excited to see a new city but also sad to say goodbye to Barcelona. Not enough time to eat all the tapas and drink all the sangria here. Perhaps if they could put it all in a blender and make a big catalan specialty soup (tapas de gambas, jamon iberico, sangria, puta madre, queso fresco, chocolate, etc.) and then turn it into a powder so we can just drop it into hot water at the next rest stop. Seems reasonable to me, not to mention extremely marketable.
Valencia is right on the mediterranean and we see a couple of thousand castles on the way down the coast. Where we come from only Disneyland has castles but here they are like rotting fruit on the ground, like stray cats, like so many grains of sand on a beach, like stars in the milky way. Ok, I get it. Still, they are pretty cool to see and very impressive.
Valencia has all the potential to be amazing-it’s pretty big, it’s on the mediterranean and there’s a bunch of old shit. Apparently. I didn’t really see it. All I see is the Dub Club and a cafe that sells, oddly enough, beer. Here we relax and enjoy the weather with the Betunizer guys-a band from Valencia. And tonight we play with Cigüeña (Stork), a band half from here and half from Majorca which is just god damn exotic, if you ask me. Which you didn’t, but I don’t care, I’m going to come right out and say it: exotic. Eat it, naysayers.
Rock. Sleep. Drive. check.

Related show

• Artist: Paramount Styles
• Tour: Paramount Styles September 2011 Tour
• Date: 09/27/11
• Time: 9:00pm
• Venue: Dub Club
• City: Valencia
• Address: Calle de Jesus, 91
• Country: Spain

Today we have a long drive to Barcelona-home of sun, tapas, and iberico jamón. You can say, “come on with the jamón, ramon” if you want. People in Spain will think you are really funny. I haven’t tried that yet, but I’m positive it will make people laugh. Seriously, try it. Really. But don’t do it in Barcelona because they speak Catalan here and are liable to punch you in your fat face.
The trials of life and the hardships of this tour 4 days in have become too much for some members of the tight unit known as the Paramount Styles Attack Squad. It has, therefore, become virtually impossible to wake some of them up. I’m not naming names but let’s just say it rhymes with “Fasshole.” So, after some wrangling and some twisting and some harsh dialogue, we are on the road again. Heads clearing up, eyes opening, odors emanating, we are treated to yet another day of gazing at the beautiful french countryside. Whatever-seen it, been there, done it. Next! We arrive in Barcelona perfectly on time, like the well-oiled if not slightly over-lubricated machine that we are.
Il Gruppo di La Castanya treat us like stars-we play in Heliogabal in the Gracia district of Barcelona with Lazy Juo from St. Felieu and many people come out on a monday night. Thank you! We have managed to deceive our hosts into thinking that we deserve good food, nice friends and lots of alcohol. I’m terrified of their reaction when they discover the truth. Don’t let the truth set you free, Joan and Albert!

Related show

• Artist: Paramount Styles
• Tour: Paramount Styles September 2011 Tour
• Date: 09/26/11
• Time: 9:00pm
• Venue: Heliogàbal
• City: Barcelona
• Address: C/ Ramón y Cajal, 80, 08012 Barcelona, Spain
• Country: Spain
• Admission: 7€

Plenty of fighting and drinking at the end of last night made for a very interesting evening. I don’t what is happening that seems to be following us… maybe it’s a full moon that brings out the “I’m so drunk I want to fight somebody anybody” folks. Anyway, we awake and the chaos is behind us, thankfully. No… wait… it’s not. Our van is gone.
Yes, yawn, our van has either been towed or stolen. I prefer to think it has been towed since there are no thieves in Lorient, only people who like to fight. Oh, wait, there are thieves everywhere. So we head with our friend JB to the police station where they eye us warily as wanton criminals and, indeed, our van has been towed. Phew. That is the better of the two options. After a particularly jarring morning ride around town we retrieve the van from the impound lot. People who have been up quite late carousing don’t always make the best morning drivers but it beats walking…though I suppose walking beats death. Rochimbeau!
Paperwork behind us, we drive through some, again, beautiful countryside to get to Niort. Niort is the home of insurance agencies in France and therefore a pretty important economic engine for the country. It’s also a pretty nice little city. They have canals, castles, steep narrow little streets and cognac. Our friend Eric has arranged our show tonight outside at a little restaurant facing a canal and the castle and a bunch of french people. It’s sunny, warm and it’s a lazy sunday. I could think of worse things to do than relaxing in a little café facing a canal and an old castle in the sun. Wait, how about a delicious meal and some wine with that? Oh, how about some champagne too? When people say, “wahhhh, touring is hard…. wahhhh….” this is not the part they are talking about.

Related show

• Artist: Paramount Styles
• Tour: Paramount Styles September 2011 Tour
• Date: 09/25/11
• Time: 9:00pm
• Venue: Bar l’Eclusier
• City: Niort
• Address: 18 Rue Pierre Antoine Baugier, 79000 Niort, France
• Venue phone: +33 5 49 73 63 64
• Country: France

Our kind hosts, David and Sylvie, rescue us from the horrors of city life, transporting us way out into the country to stay in their circa 1520 farmhouse. We are treated to peace and quiet, stars, homemade jam and a whole lot of green nature stuff. It’s terrifying, frankly.
After a typical stroll through the french countryside to inspect our horses and pastures, we hit the road for Lorient. Pretty everyday stuff for us, you know? Strolling through the french countryside, eating croissants, home made jam, tilting at windmills; all pretty much a daily routine at this point. But Lorient is different! About 95% of Lorient was destroyed during the war as this was/is a pretty major port town. Last time we were here we found this massive submarine base that was heavily bombed but virtually unharmed since it was built of about 120,070,003 meters of concrete. That’s a lot. But all of that is forgotten now as we search the city and find only McDonalds, H&M, Monoprix, Converse store, Levis store, etc etc. and a massive cconcrete cathedral by Jean Baptiste Hourlier.
Being back at Le Galion is like being home again. Everyone is here and we wait outside with the stench of dead fish as they wrap up a journalist forum/interview/competition inside the venue. Then we get down to business: fighting!
It seems Paramount Styles has become the Corrosion of Conformity of lite acoustic rock. Somebody got the message we were hard and heavy, lean and mean and that we take no prisoners! I think they might want to go back and reread the fax.

Related show

• Artist: Paramount Styles
• Tour: Paramount Styles September 2011 Tour
• Date: 09/24/11
• Time: 9:00pm
• Venue: Le Galion
• City: Lorient , FR
• Address: 2 Rue Florian Laporte 56100 Lorient
• Venue phone: 02 97 37 41 23
• Country: France

Our stay in Le Havre was successful in that we did not get sucked into a fight with the angry bald guy from the night before. Treated to cocktails chez JP and some conversation about stuff and stuff and some angry stares from our hotel patron because of our rather late arrival, the hotel exacts their revenge by commencing a full on barrage of sawing, hammering and smashing the room next to us at 9 am. The experience of awaking to the sounds of screaming saws cutting through steel and sledge hammers on concrete is alarming, to say the least. I could imagine the same feeling if I put my head in a metal cylinder and rolled down a mountain of stacked, rusting shopping carts. Actually, it was quite funny, especially in retrospect. We calmed our nerves with the hospitality of Manu at his little house up in the hill. Hey, not a bad ending! Bread, coffee and sunshine. Did I mention it was really sunny and beautiful? A nice change from the constant rain of the entire year.
Then, after a grueling, hard fought day of driving through the french countryside – forced to look at the sea, cows, a bunch of trees and a whole lot of green stuff, we claw our way into the civilized and, yes, again, beautiful city of Nantes. We pass Mont St. Michel, which, if you’ve never been there, is one amazing sight. We see it, both 20 km away, and in the Mont St. Michel Rest Stop/Gas Station. That’s as close as we’ll get. Oh and Happy 1100th birthday, Normandy! What do you get for your 1100th birthday? I have no idea-don’t you have everything already?
One of the great, fantastic things about being an unknown band is that you get to play in small venues that can’t accommodate big bands and crowds and so on. Often, you play way outside of the city and everything is very “professional” and impersonal. Le Violon Dingue is in a tiny little street in Nantes in the center and was an old theatre during the war. Very cool, very well laid out and staffed by very kind, generous, gracious and, well, nice, people. And we have a french feast! Whole chickens, tons of vegetables and bread and wine. I’m not even sure I can figure out a way to be unhealthy… oh, wait, I know. Beer. So here we are, in a very cool bar, meeting very cool people and getting to actually experience the city. I like it! and I like the band we are playing with: DAN!
update: no fights tonight.

Related show

• Artist: Paramount Styles
• Tour: Paramount Styles September 2011 Tour
• Date: 09/23/11
• Time: 9:00pm
• Venue: Le Violon Dingue
• City: Nantes , FR
• Address: 1 Rue Lebrun 44000 Nantes, France
• Venue phone: 02 40 74 09 29
• Country: France

Le Havre was a formerly quaint little port town until an event some have called “a bad time” occurred in the early 1940s, transforming the town into a smoldering wreck. It was rebuilt in the 1950s with a consistent modern/linear/square style by a team of architects including Raymond Audigier (thankfully not Christian Audigier). This gives it a clean but somehow slightly cold neorealist utopian style. What the hell am I talking about? You got me.
We arrive at McDaid’s, an irish pub in the middle of town. That’s right, an irish pub in France. Why not? I saw one in Moscow, too. They are everywhere. I guess some people just like the comfort of home.
Tonight we played with We from Le Havre and Ultra Panda from Paris/Lyon/Tours. Bands these days, what can we do? We play on the internet since rent’s too damn high. Both bands prove their mettle and we get our act together and improve on our inconsistent modern/linear/square style to make it more people friendly.
There is some sort of hazing university ritual going on today where hundreds of students dress in tyvek/painters suits and pelt each other with paint and eggs all the while singing songs and drinking, of course, champagne. I’m pleased to announce that the U.S. does not have a corner on the market of really annoying drunk college students. Celebrate! Nor do we have the corner on drunken idiots smashing bottles and getting in fights. Tonight, for example, one clean shaven headed individual approached me and said something like, “byrlrkrrk bleeehhhhh frrrgrgggg wjssnnttttt….” which I took to mean “hey, I would like to engage you in some pointless banter and then get pissed off about something pointless and then commence fighting with you. A’right?” I carefully declined his offer but a larger more able bodied individual took him up on the challenge and the chaos ensued. After smashing some bottles and glasses, getting into some chokeholds and tossing each other around, including a quick detour inside our van, they took the action around the corner. Bottles breaking, words exchanged, shirts ripped off, adrenaline and fluids adequately swapped, the fighting eventually ended. The “no no, he’s not a stupid skinhead” guy returned, unbloodied but slightly chastened announced he had beaten “the english guy.” Then he turned to the crowd and said, “are you english?” Everyone was quick to admit that, sadly, no, they were not english. Maybe next time. See? There are idiots everywhere-we are one-remember that the next time you point your fingers and denounce u.s.!

Related show

• Artist: Paramount Styles
• Tour: Paramount Styles September 2011 Tour
• Date: 09/22/11
• Time: 9:00pm
• Venue: McDaids
• City: Le Havre
• Address: 97 Rue Paul Doumer 76600 Le Havre
• Country: France

Well, today is the first day of this short little september Paramount Styles jaunt. Everyone is arriving from all over the world at the very last minute. This keeps things interesting and hopefully not extremely unprofessional. Paris may not be the best place to start this tour and work out the kinks, but hey, it’s not a major city or anything. And it’s Paris-the city of lights and men in blue and white striped shirts who ride bicycles while carrying baguettes. It’s a fantastic city to start in because it constantly defies boredom or ordinariness-it never ceases to amaze, this city.
Sadly, Simon is unable to join us on this tour because blah blah dragons plague smallpox economic crisis of the miserchordia. He will be sorely missed because a. he’s awesome and b. he’s quite fashionable and dapper. We will joined by the lovely and talented Katka from Brno, Czech. Watch out, the power is swinging wildly from Belgium pride to Czech Certitude. Wars have been waged over less.
We are playing in a new venue in a boat on the Seine called Le Petit Bain with 2 groups: Nickel Pressing and Cvantez. It should be fun and this boat is full of very nice people, exceptional design and no damn decibel police. My god, they are everywhere with their little meters saying “You’re too damn loud!” Is this a Quiet Riot video or something? We will persevere, especially since, for now, you can make noise on a boat with no neighbors to complain. I’m sure they will emerge soon enough.
And luckily, the boat is tucked away enough for most people to miss our, well, misses. There are some clams in this performance. We are making clam chowder!

Related show

• Artist: Paramount Styles
• Tour: Paramount Styles September 2011 Tour
• Date: 09/21/11
• Time: 9:00pm
• Venue: Le Petit Bain
• City: Paris
• Address: 7, Port de la Gare 75013
• Country: France
• Admission: 16€ sur place / 13€ en prév
• Notes: (à côté de la piscine Joséphine Baker / au pied de la BnF).

Well, so here it is…the middle of August. We have been working diligently on a European Tour for September and now probably November. Everything is looking pretty good – we’ll be hitting France, Spain and England for the September section and some other countries in November. That is, assuming that the world still exists by then. In America, the stock market has lost about 45 Bazillion Dollars or whatever it is that the financial gurus push around on paper, the UK is suffering from major rioting, the EU is looking a bit shaky with Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and Italy all having financial problems. The credit demons are hungrily eyeing France now. La vie en rouge, I think.
So, what can we do to take your mind off this calamity? Sing some songs about beautiful New York and beautiful Prague? Why not. They are still beautiful after all. I still love italian food and we still have our health…