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Tungsol | facebook | bandcamp |
I’m Sean. I usually sing for Helioscope. However, this summer I’m filling in as a “tour-dad/mum” for my friends in God Mother and Tungsol during their European tour, as well as acting live bassist for the latter. Here are a few words about our ongoing tour.
21.06 – Day One
We took off early in the morning. After an hour which started with unloading everything from God Mother’s rehearsal space, followed by the traditional first game of “pack-the-tour-van-Tetris” we were not only good to go, but surprised about how easy it had been fitting everything in. Despite having a bigger drum kit (last year we had to put the floor tom inside the kick drum) and three heads plus cabs (one being Daniel’s new Mesa 2×15 bass monster) instead of the smaller combos last time around, we had space left. I guess having toured before, now knowing how not to overpack gets its positives. Since we had a free seat up for grabs we decided to give our friend Paulina a ride to Gothenburg. Her plan was to suprise her best friend, who plays in Jönköping-based feminist punk band Cervix, whom we were to share the stage with later that night.
Besides a quick stop for checking tire pressure and having our first of many burgers-for-breakfast to come, the 6 hour-ish drive mostly consisted of me and Sebastian (vocals, God Mother) discussing what character race, traits, alignments and weaponry each and everyone of us would be/carry in the alternate parallell world to the journey/quest were about to embark on. Apparently we’ve got a lizardman, a changeling, a half man/half ogre (obviously being the blast god Papa Death himself aka Michael Dahlström) and a druid stuck in bear form, to name a few.
Arriving in Gothenburg we were greeted and welcomed by the ever so lovely Feedback Booking crew. After setting everything up, saying hello to Cervix (Paulinas surprise plan worked out perfectly, they were super happy to see her!) and getting our energy boosted by a lovely vegan pasta dish (thanks Elina!) it was time to RAWK!
We opened with Tungsol and although we felt a bit rusty ourselves (it being the first gig of the tour and only our second as a three-piece) we recieved a fair share of high fives, hugs and compliments afterwards. Cervix were up next. They struggled with a guitar who apparently wasn’t in the mood that night, but their vocals harmonies and cocky feminist lyrics impressed us. God Mother then took to the stage and absolutely destroyed. Having toured with them twice in the past I’ve seen them quite a few times and the show in Gothenburg was definitely in my top 3, their cover of local-ish cvlt band LOK really getting the small crowd going.
22.05 – Day Two
After completing the initial quest of delivering high elf priestess Paulina to her preferred destination we now had a full on travel day ahead of us. We waved goodbye to the Gothenburg and the Feedback crew at 9am. One of them told us we’d meet again later during the tour, but not where or when… Besides a quick pit stop for our second burger-for-breakfast of the tour (half of us already getting fed up with fried/fast food) and buying replacements for things we’d forgot to bring (Charlie’s sleeping bag, a backup power cable for Max’s guitar head etc) we drove straight to the ferry in Rödby in Denmark which would take us over to Germany. Activities in the van consisted of catching up on sleep (personally I’m always too excited and too much of a control freak to be able to sleep much at the beginning of tours) and listening to Black Sabbath.
Sadly today was one of the days we had not managed to fill with a gig. However, thanks to the super nice promotor for Hamburg-based Loss Of Breath-fest (which we’ll play on the second to last day of tour), we’d managed to get in contact with a house project close to the St Pauli area where we could spend the night. After unloading all the equipment and our personal stuff (horror stories of bands waking up to having lost all their instruments and belongings overnight means you never leave things unguarded for long), we whipped up a nice meal with lots of veggies and had a few drinks. Sebastian then opted for some lone time while the rest of us went for an hours stroll around the city before going to bed.
23.06 Day Three
Waking up and getting ready the morning after we were a bit concerned about our van, which we had suspected had been leaking oil the day before. We (Michael) did an oil check. Although it seemed fine it’s something we’ll have to keep an eye on going forward.
Our first gig outside Sweden for the tour was set for Arnhem, Holland. This is the city where last year’s tour with God Mother and Helioscope started off. That time we played with local act Of Stone and Fire and the boys were kind enough to help set up a new gig for us this tour. Before getting to the venue we felt we weren’t really satisfied with our four hour drive, so we decided to spend some quality time in rush hour traffic “cruising” (which here means: move five metres, wait five minutes, repeat) on Arnhem’s ridiculous system of roads. At this point everyone’s blood sugar was getting really low. Thankfully our host/promotor for the evening had a meal prepared when we arrived, one we all devoured at light speed, Homer Simpson-style.
Just like at Fängelset, the venue we played in Gothenburg, Tungsol opened the night. This time there was no rustiness to be found. It felt great to really kick off the tour on international soil and we were very pleased afterwards. Of Stone and Fire were up next and it was cool to see them again and how they (along with their collection of gear!) had developed in the past year. God Mother delivered as usual. Initially the crowd felt a bit stiff but eventually got going, much thanks to Sebastian’s energetic stage presence. In the end they clapped the band into playing one extra song, before they were allowed to leave the stage. Speaking of Sebastian, I’m not sure “stage presence” would really be the correct expression as he’s hardly ever on stage. Instead he spends most of the set everywhere else. The Arnhem gig featured him visiting the smoking room mid-verse of ‘Meaning’ causing a cigarette or two to be swallowed in shock. The sight of him screaming along with the band from a separate side of the glass walls was hilarious and generated a fair share of smiles. The energy built on from there and the last few songs even had a small mosh pit going. A nice finish to the tour’s first international night.
