When Joe woke me up he said "hey we're going to the Berlin Wall wanna go?" and seeing as I'm in Berlin, I say "Yes" so we walked there, I didn't say much because of how tired I was. We got there, it was a wall, we stayed for a minute then left. Its an important piece of history and all, but what's left is just the remains of a wall, it wasn't as exciting as we'd anticipated. It always seems like things are more exciting until you do them, or see them. Nothing really "wows" me anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be taken back by a historical landmark, and maybe it will happen sometime soon, but in this particular case, it didn't get me too excited. We went to a grocery store where I discovered "Alpro Chocolate Pudding" I was very excited, I had to ask someone who spoke very broken English to read me the ingredients and they said "are you asking if this is vegan" I said yes, they said yes. I always assume no one will know what "Vegan" means. Joe and Dan said that some punkers almost mugged them, but they got out of it somehow, I didn't catch the whole story. I got to use an internet cafe and call home. We went to a vegan restaurant (the first and only of the tour) and I got a tofu burger with a large fry, 2 shakes, and a chocolate muffin. It was awesome.
I was very excited to play this place because it is where Slapshot recorded their only live album "Live at the SO36" and I actually got to play with them there. Choke even announced the song "Firewalker" the same way he did on the live cd. It made my night. I had also known that Henry Rollins had played there with Black Flag as it was mentioned in "Get in the Van". I then found out that the new Misfits, Bad Religion, Lars Frederiksen And The Bastards, NOFX, and a LOT more had played that stage before us. When that happens I always feel like I have something to live up to, so I keep that in mind while playing. I thought we played good. I don't think Joe felt the same way. Apparently there were some kids mocking us, in I guess what you could call the "front" seeing as it was no different than any other show on this tour in the sense that the crowd was standing very far from the stage. There were like 450 people at this show. We sold 2 records. I don't think we sold anything else.
After we played Dan kind of said something to me about not talking well in between songs, which I know I'm not good at, but I feel like my intensity and emotion while playing the actual music should more than compensate for that. It bummed me right the fuck out. Him and Joe insisted they weren't trying to "call me out" but it sure felt that way. I told them they have mics and could easily talk to the crowd themselves if it's that much of a problem. What bummed me out was the fact that a lot of people come to ME and says that the thing that's "wrong" with our live show is that Dan, Joe and Conor don't move around at all, or have good stage presence. And that I do fine. They never tell me that my lack of talking in between songs is an issue. It just really bummed me out, and that's the last thing I needed, to somehow get even more depressed. What I do or don't have to say in between songs shouldn't matter, it should be about how we present the music. I have no problem with them not physically throwing themselves into it the way I try to, that's their thing. I encourage them to, but I understand that when the time comes (if it does) then it will happen, and that nothing can be forced. They did however say that to me, that if the time comes when I can talk well between songs then that's that, but until then you can't force it. So at least were on the same page as far as that goes, but again, it just bummed me out.
I was very excited to play this place because it is where Slapshot recorded their only live album "Live at the SO36" and I actually got to play with them there. Choke even announced the song "Firewalker" the same way he did on the live cd. It made my night. I had also known that Henry Rollins had played there with Black Flag as it was mentioned in "Get in the Van". I then found out that the new Misfits, Bad Religion, Lars Frederiksen And The Bastards, NOFX, and a LOT more had played that stage before us. When that happens I always feel like I have something to live up to, so I keep that in mind while playing. I thought we played good. I don't think Joe felt the same way. Apparently there were some kids mocking us, in I guess what you could call the "front" seeing as it was no different than any other show on this tour in the sense that the crowd was standing very far from the stage. There were like 450 people at this show. We sold 2 records. I don't think we sold anything else.
After we played Dan kind of said something to me about not talking well in between songs, which I know I'm not good at, but I feel like my intensity and emotion while playing the actual music should more than compensate for that. It bummed me right the fuck out. Him and Joe insisted they weren't trying to "call me out" but it sure felt that way. I told them they have mics and could easily talk to the crowd themselves if it's that much of a problem. What bummed me out was the fact that a lot of people come to ME and says that the thing that's "wrong" with our live show is that Dan, Joe and Conor don't move around at all, or have good stage presence. And that I do fine. They never tell me that my lack of talking in between songs is an issue. It just really bummed me out, and that's the last thing I needed, to somehow get even more depressed. What I do or don't have to say in between songs shouldn't matter, it should be about how we present the music. I have no problem with them not physically throwing themselves into it the way I try to, that's their thing. I encourage them to, but I understand that when the time comes (if it does) then it will happen, and that nothing can be forced. They did however say that to me, that if the time comes when I can talk well between songs then that's that, but until then you can't force it. So at least were on the same page as far as that goes, but again, it just bummed me out.
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