Jimmy Bowskill Band - European Tour Blog - Jan - Mar 2010

March 1, 2010

Dan awakes first and makes breakfast while we all take turns showering. We leave for the train station with minimal bags and take the half-hour walk then equally long train ride to the airport. The bags are picked up and we begin a long check-in process that ends with a very kindly United Airlines employee giving us an amazing deal on baggage overage. We struggle through a massive security line and hear our names on the intercom amid a bunch of Dutch words.

We are really late and may not board in time. Eventually we get to the gate in the nick of time and learn that our late arrival has forced the airline to put us in “Economy Plus” seats…five more inches of leg room. What a difference!

In the air we all try to sleep until the 9 hour flight ends in Chicago. This is where we all head in separate directions. I board the first plane home to Toronto, Dan boards one shortly after me and Jim flies to Ottawa after that. I return to Toronto and get picked up by Angie at the airport. Once in the car, the inevitable statement comes out: “Take me to a Tim Horton’s drive thru”!

Jimmy Bowskill Band - European Tour Blog - Jan - Mar 2010

February 28, 2010

In the morning Dan makes us eggs and we chat. One of the other people living in the apartment decided to bring some friends over last night at 4 am and kept us all up tossing and turning to their noise. What’s more, Wishbone Ash was kind enough to give us a bottle of Red Label that said resident and guests set about drinking on us. With that in mind, we let him know how we do it in Canada when we are crossed. While he slept away in his room next to the breakfast room, Jim loaded up his Charlie Pride playlist onto his computer and hooked it up to some external speakers and we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with distorted Charlie Pride announcing our displeasure at being awoken at 4 am and losing our liquor to strangers.

I went to an internet cafe and out for one last walk in the rain in Den Haag. I start to feel somewhat sentimental and get the empty feeling I get at the end of every tour. A quote that appeared in a hotel information book in Hamburg came to mind:
“Life is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page” - Augustine

The first out-of-town gig I ever did was when I was 13 in Cambleford, Ontario. I recall being traumatized and fearful of the unknown. Now, some 27 years later, I’m in Europe having been to 11 countries and I can’t even imagine what went through that young man’s mind. As this tour draws to and end I understand the allure of travel and the road. It’s addictive. However, I have also learned my limits and 7 weeks has definitely pushed the envelope in terms of a reasonable amount of time to be out here.

When I return to the apartment, Jim and I leave for Artist On The Road, the backline company in Amsterdam, to drop off the rental van. Once there Jim settles up the balance of the cost and the hapless guy that was stuck there waiting for us takes us to the airport so we can put all of our luggage in lockup, thus allowing us to take a train into Amsterdam airport the following morning, grab our bags and leave. Once the bags are tucked away in the airport basement, we board the train for Den Haag and walk back to the apartment.

Tomorrow we will fly home and it’s an early day. The replacement bottle of Scotch our flatmate had promised us was non-existent and we were drinkless. Dan has the good sense to tell us that Canada is facing the US in the Gold Metal Olympic hockey game and that we should find a pub where it’s playing on TV - regardless of the fact that it’s 11 pm and we have to be up early to take the train to Amsterdam airport.

We arrive at an Irish pub in the market area of Den Haag at the start of the third period. An Englishman cheering for the US spots the American flag on the shoulder of Jim’s Harley Davidson jacket and presumes he has a fellow US fan, but I flash my Canadian Passport at him and he quiets down. The majority of folks in the pub were cheering Canada on. The broadcast was courtesy of BBC and the commentators amused us (“and the US team is changing on-ice personnel” rather than “a line change”). Once Canada’s victory came down, we walked back to the apartment to prepare for our two hour nap and final journey home. Real home.

Jimmy Bowskill Band - European Tour Blog - Jan - Mar 2010

February 21, 2010

I wake still reeling from my cough and congestion. We all walk to a local outdoor market in the rain to get some food for the next two days and then get back and cook. By this time it’s 5 pm and we are all tired. Jim and Dan head to local bar to unwind while I stay behind and try to feel better.

Jimmy Bowskill Band - European Tour Blog - Jan - Mar 2010

February 26, 2010

Our 4 am wake-up call is a cold slap in the face and Dan and I shower and decide who will drive the first shift. Dan offers to and I happily let him. We get Jim and say goodbye to a half-asleep Pooch, who has decided to get an 11 am wake-up call before his flight to Sweden, and hit the road. I sleep the first leg and wake as we drive aboard a ferry. I get out and head upstairs (or to the upper deck) to have breakfast, despite feeling awful. When the ferry ride ends, I climb back into the rear seat and once again stretch out to sleep.

At 10 am, Dan begins to feel like he’s nodding off and asks me to take over. As he collapses in the back seat, I take the wheel. Jim drifts in and out, all the while attempting to keep me alert. I feel quite good all things considered and get us to Marburg by 2:30. After dropping off 600 pounds of gear, we go to a pharmacy to get Dan some ointment for what appears to be an eye infection then get back on the road. I again take the wheel and Dan crashes in the back. We have decided to go the distance today and drive all the way to Den Haag, Holland rather than staying in Marburg. This will be a long day but it will be nice to get all the driving behind us.

And then there were three….we drive from Copenhagen, Denmark to
Marburg, Germany then finally to Den Haag, Holland - all in one day - 10 hours.
This is a pee break somewhere in Germany

I drive through two traffic jams and we stop at 7 pm to eat. By this time I am starting to feel the effects of being behind the wheel for 9 hours and Dan takes the wheel. I try to sleep but can’t and sit and watch Germany and most of Holland pass through the windows.

We arrive in Den Haag at 11 pm and unload all the remaining gear to haul upstairs. It’s been a long day and we need to rest. We have a few drinks and talk before retiring.

Jimmy Bowskill Band - European Tour Blog - Jan - Mar 2010

February 25, 2010

Dan took the wheel and started the long drive to Denmark to play at Amager Bio in Copenhagen. While we were excited to be going to Copenhagen, it was a bitter-sweet feeling. Although it was a big club and it was, after all, Copenhagen, we also had some sad issues to deal with. This would be the last date of the entire tour. Jim and Dan had decided to surprise their girlfriends back home and not tell them they were coming home early and lying to them was making them feel terrible.

What’s more, we had to have our Marshall amps returned to a company in Marburg, Germany the next afternoon and it was an 8 hour drive to do it. We would, at best, be able to sleep for 2 hours and then get in the van and start driving. So much for seeing Copenhagen.

When we got into Demark, we struggled to figure out how to pump fuel into the van as all the gas stations were automated - your money was inserted into a machine prior to pumping something that took us pulling into three gas stations to figure out.

Once well into Denmark, we started driving over a massive bridge that seemed to go on forever and featured winds so bad that Dan, who had decided to drive, turned completely white with fear trying to handle the van. Then, once on the other side of the bridge and stopped at a toll booth, the sound of a sudden loud ‘pop’ and ‘hiss’ puzzled us until we realized that the driver’s front tire had just blown. The thought occurred to us that had it blown one minute earlier while we travelled on the foggy, icy, windy, 100-meter-high bridge, we’d all be dead. The relief was audible.

Dan gently guided us to the shoulder and we unloaded every piece of gear from the van to get at the spare tire and jack, but soon discovered that the wheel wrench was AWOL. Dan and Pooch walked to a nearby cafe to seek help while JIm and I continued searching for the wrench. I found it under the emergency brake lever and set about replacing the tire in the rain while our gear got soaked. Soon we were loaded up and back on the road to Copenhagen. What a way to end or tour.

Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Demark

The venue was massive and well appointed. A drastic change from the previous night. I must admit that I was sad that it was ending but relieved in another way. I was still coughing after three weeks and the thought of being home soothed me. The other guys were in the same boat. It was a truly bitter-sweet realization that it was drawing to a close. Pooch booked a flight to leave for Stockholm the next morning so we’d be leaving him as well. Andy Powell, knowing we were leaving the tour, asked us to enjoy a drink with them after the show. It was sad to say goodbye to them as well, having done two tours in one year with both they and their crew. However, first we all had a show to do.

Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Demark

We suffered through a laboured sound check and headed for the dressing room. There would be no time for either band to eat (we were given a buy-out - provided cash to eat with) so we hit the stage starving. The audience was sparse and subdued but we dug in knowing this was the last show. The playing was great from all of us and I felt good when we came off stage. When Ash took the stage, Dan and I left to find pizza for us eat. We arrived with the food just as Ash finished their set and we ate pizza at the merch table while signing CDs for the good people of Demark. Both Muddy and Bob from Ash looked longingly at our pizza, having not eaten themselves, so we gave them each a slice to eat while they signed merch as well.

Selling merch and eating pizza, Amager Bio in Copenhagen, Demark

Backstage, Amager Bio in Copenhagen, Demark

With the gear all packed and drinks poured, we all converged in the dressing room to say our good-byes and celebrate the great tour. We all gathered on stage, both bands and members of the crew, and posed for a final photo before hugging Ash’s crew and band members. The first tour established us as fellow musicians and acquaintances, but this tour established us all as friends and we were truly sad to say goodbye, as were they.

We headed back to our incredibly overly-ornate hotel and went to bed to sleep for two hours.

After the final gig of the tour, we all gathered on the stage for a
Jimmy Bowskill/Wishbone Ash Team photo, Amager Bio in Copenhagen, Demark