EUROPE TOUR

February 20th   We were all sitting together on our Virgin Atlantic flight to London, when we got word that the alcohol was free?.Let me put that so everyone can truly understand, we were unemployed together heading to London and THE ALCOHOL WAS FREE! Paul, Jason and myself coaxed the flight attended for double orders of drinks when she walked bye. She hooked us up. I think she just though we were amusing.  The rest of the crew, played video games on the planes in house system.  I think they give you free alcohol so you pass out for the flight.  We didn't.  Our 5-hour flight was just the beginning.

Logan Airport, Boston, MA

February 21 Touch down. We met BEN our tour manager/driver at the Gatwick airport.  He drove up in the van we would be using for the first 6 days of the tour.  We threw our shit in the back and headed to his flat,  BEN is great.  He has toured with everyone from Slow Gherkin to Fugazi and Pearl Jam.  Ben gave us the basics and the plan for the next couple of days.  At about 10:30am we got some food at a caf?across the street from Ben's.  The food rocked.  We decided that even though it was really about 3:00am for us we would hit the center of LONDON.  Ben didn't wanna go so we hit the train ourselves.  It was hard to figure out but we did it like champs.  The hardest part was we all have to watch out that all of us got out of the train together, because we all kept falling asleep went ever we sat down. In LONDON we met up with some of Jason's cousins and friends.  They took us everywhere, from Big Ben to the Palace where the guards were.  Then we went back to their place for some food and rest.  We all would pass out every hour or so.  It was pretty hilarious.  Now it was time to head to our first show.  The club was called the UNDER WORLD, we were the only one on the gig.  The slackers, Pilfers and Muster Plug were also on the flier for different dates that month.  The show rocked!  We had SUCH a GOOD TIME.  Everyone was KICK ASS and we meet some people from Northhampton MA, California, and people from South Carolina that have seen us before.  That was extremely crazy.  I smashed three figures to my right hand during the show on a monitor; I fine but my right hands a bit disabled.  I also collided with a kid from the crowd, his head left me a black/blue/and red mark on the side of my face.  That's ok too my jaw just makes a weird sound when I chew.  I always get SLAMED the first couple days of tour.  The crowd was real cool, and I think a bunch might hit the show on the 22 of March with CAPDOWN there.  Mission 120, Drexel, Sellouts and Mindlikewater, I've been getting your shit out here.  That night was sleep for some and drinking for others??..It had been about 60 hours before I passed out.

First show in London at the UNDER WORLD!

February 22 We woke up early and hit the road, heading to Victoria's Inn in Derby.  Derby is a smaller town, which is great.  Andy ran the PUB and he was a REAAAAAAL nice guy.   When you walk in, it looks like a nice pub where you relax with some pints,  However there's a couple doors in the back where the stage is and it's full on PUNK ROCK from there.  We played with two bands Claude Greenass and The Clones, they where real solid, the drummer for Claude Greenass was great.  We got request for 5 kids down, I'd Rather, Find Out, and Iron Maiden.  This show was DAMN fun, it was one of my top 10 favorite shows.  The crowd was so fun and honest, playing was just the best.  We hung out  for a while after the show with  people; we talked, joked, and got drunk.    With a swerve on, we packed up everything around 12:00am, then we split up. Skip, Chris, Sean, and Steve stayed with Ben somewhere George's I heard.  Jason, Paul, Dan and me went to Chas's,  the singer of Lightyear.  Light year is a group we're playing with in the 22 of March with CAPDOWN.  Chris, Paul, Dan, and I were taken to the Blue Moon, a bar/club place.  Walking there was so crazy, the shops and homes were so nice to look at.   I stickered the fuck out of the place!! The club was fun, good music, good new friends; I stickered the fuck out of that place too??e even stickered a girl (picture coming soon)  At around 3:00am we walked a dizzy line home to Chas's.  There his girl friends roomates were up.  We threw in the thundercats movie and Chas and me talked about music, till the suncame up.

February 23 Wake up to hit we're late.  Us four had to get back to the others at the Victorias Inn at 12:00, it was 12:00 when we woke. Chas his girlfriend and us made are walk over there.  For a quick breakfast Chas gave Paul and me a vitamin c chewable.  What we didn't know was it was like an alkaseltzer and fizzzzzed like crazy in our mouth.  It so funny, Paul and my mouths erupted in and orange mess.  It was then that I realized I had lost my hat.  (good blue hat-R.I.P.)  Now I sitting in the lobby of the Red Rose Theatre.  Most of the guys went to look around, I going to finish up here and Dan and I are gonna catch up.  Oh wait Dan just told me it's sound check time so scratch that.  I guess I gotta go find them.   So, hello to everyone don't worry, I think we're behaving ourselves and I l be back soon.
Take care, Dave / Europe 2001

February 23 The show at the Red Rose Theater in Rugeley was crazy. The stage was perfect and the sound was Amazing. The people who worked there were extremely nice and there were even showers. (Trust me, I need that right now) Now check this out, in one room there was the show and in the other room was a DJ playing Punk, Metal, and Yo!-Core. Everyone in the room was dancing as if the bands were really there, it was kinda weird. I saw more Slipknot shirts than I've seen Brittany Spear's face in McDonalds. When we played it was NUTS, not everyone knew us but I think they left liking us.......liking us a lot. We played our new song LAX the best we've ever played it. What kinda sucks is I've lost my voice. Well, I'm just a bit more scratchy in the vocals, nothing too bad right now, I just hope I get it back soon. After the show we had no place to stay, none at all. So we called up Chas from the band Lightyear, to see if he could help us out. We left a message with him and the next day we got a DRUNKEN message back from him saying, "Ah you fucking idiots, HA HA HA HA, you will never find a place HA HA - blah blah) It was really funny. Alex James from the band Goldfish, let us stay at his house because his parents were in Belgium. Thanks Alex and Katie. That night was fun, we crashed comfortably.

February 24 PAUL'S BIRTHDAY --- PAUL'S BIRTHDAY ------PAUL'S BIRTHDAY --------------- We woke to 1/2 of Alex's house on fire, we all had to jump out windows......no no no just kidding ha ha We really just woke up and hit Alex's Pub that he works at for some breakfast. Yum Yum Eat Eat Eat, we hit the road. Next, we headed to The Foundry in Birmingham. When we got to Birmingham we scouted the area; I stickered. Once the club opened everyone got ready for sound check, while I talked to the other bands, the promoter, and the people doing sound. I also set the merch up, and listened to Capdown on the house system. These guys are great and we're playing with them on March 22 at the Under World in LONDON, with Lightyear. Workshirts are popular here, I wonder if they really like um or if it's cause they're cheap? The first two bands hit the stage, another Alex from the band Codlock allowed us to stay at his house. We went on at about 11:00. Our set was rockin'! I fell through a hole in the stage, which was pretty funny. I have to say may of the clubs are nice but these guys were really, really cool, just so polite, happy, and nice. We talked about all kinds of bands and shows. At this club, I saw the Link 80 boy's promo poster of their upcoming show. I was telling them about how the Dropkicks were giving me the in's and out's of Europe when I was in Brooklyn. They were pretty funny about that. Link 80, The Dropkicks, Catch 22, MU330, and Mustard Plug are all pretty damn popular as far as I've seen so far. Everyone should check out Capdown's, website. Like I've said, they're the really big SKA-PUNK-CORE band. After hearing them last night, I agree they do Fuckin' ROCK, so I'm pumped to see them live. I don't know they're web address, but they're on the label HOUSE HOLD NAME. After the show, we went out. I was lucky enough to have found a Metal club/bar/whatever. It was a complete time warp. Everyone was HARD CORE METAL. They weren't people who were trying to be metal because they like the revival and like the song "Enter Sandman". No, no, no, this was "Too Fast For Love" 1979 to 1983 metal. The best place ever! I saw dudes that looked exactly like Axe Rose, from the Sweet Child Of Mine video, Glen Danzig, Bret Michel, and Vince Neil. It was crazy, they played the best metal all night and every girl and guy new the lyrics. The whole time everyone was head banging, from the circle bang (see slayer) to the forward bang (see quite riot). I saw some of the BEST IRON MAIDEN tattoos of my life...actually I had never seen one until then. Then we crashed at Alex's. ----(HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL)-----

February 26 Another long drive. We woke up at our new friend Mike's house. As usual, we woke up late and were rushed. After driving for about an hour, we made it to our comfortable oasis in England...Little Chef. All of the band and BEN ate there except Dan. He couldn't handle it anymore. Too many meals at Little Chef make Stoppelman go crazy. He bravely crossed the Mass Pike-like highway to make it to Burger King. Go Dan! We made it to the show on time. We loaded in and then we had sound check. All went well. We played with a local band called Spankboy. They rocked. Heavy guitars, horns, catchy vocals and great stage presence. We're playing with these guys tomorrow night, too. After their set, we took the stage. This was one of the top 3 smallest stages we've ever been on! It was tight, but we pulled through. During the show, they had a giant screen to our left playing MTV's JACKASS. I tried not to watch, but the guys from CKY2K did grab my attention once or twice. Overall, this was a great show. We all felt good about it. After the show, we went to Matt and Simon's house. We all went right to bed because tomorrow is a big day...Stonehenge! Sean P. Rogan Dave: Same place, at Matt and Simon's I was able to shower and shave....ah luxuries. However, I decided to do me wash in the sink, cause it was a good opportunity to get some clothes clean. All went well, but it's not all dry... today, the 27th.........

February 27----------------------------STONEHENGE!!!!---------------------------- After waking up at 8:30 (ughhh.....) we proceeded to a local café. Steve wanted pizza at 9 in the morning. He was very sad when they said that the oven wasn't on. Dave also had an Italian craving, but he was satisfied with a big plate of spaghetti! Eating this early in the morning messes everything up, but it was worth it because we're going to STONEHENGE! Stonehenge was amazing! It is over 5000 years old and in pretty rough shape. We got some good pictures for the website (we'll post them when we get back). The sky was a weird shade of gray, which added to the whole experience of it. There were a lot of rituals and burials that use to take place here...unfortunately, we didn't see any of them. BEN waited in the van because he's seen it 5 times before. Needless to say, we were all quoting Spinal Tap the whole time while we were there! Bush said that he saw a Druid...I don't believe him. We're back in the van on our way to the show now. We're playing in Southampton tonight. Oh yeah, we also hit the official team store of the Swindon Football team (BEN'S favorite team). Skip is now sporting a bright red scarf with the team's colours on it. We also saw the stadium that they play in...HUGE! Anyway, we're almost at the club. We just hit some road blocks. BOLLOCKS! Sean P. Rogan

March 2nd Ok, I'm in Den Helder Holland, waking up in the club we played in last night. It's about 11:00 and Mike the huge metal head club owner just left to get us breakfest. Mike is 6 foot 1,000, he doesn't seem as though he is the owner, it actually fells likethe owner left and some big long hairs Slayer fan jumped over the bar. Right now all I can see is most of the guys sleeping on the drity club floor. Marc and I are at a table near the front of the club, we're looking extremly looking tired. He night on the club floor has left us mangy and broken. The only light is beaming throw the window which is eluminating our table so we can write.

So last night the 1st we played in Brighton, good name huh.....
We played at a club called Free Butt, good name too huh...

Now this is were EVERYTHING takes a twist. The merch is set up, we're talking with the club owner and staff, we've sound checked, and the first band is about to go on when we get word. Chris Bush (SAX) is sick! Chris got really sick and had to go the hospital. We can't drive the cars here and Ben was off at a pub watching the football (soccer) game. So, Paul went with Chris i.e. a taxi, to the hospital. This was a very odd situation, and we were left confused and wooried for Chris. Big D took the stage with 6 members. It was weird but we pulled it off and the crowd was pleased. This show so far was our least attended, so that's good I guess. That nigt we stayed at Max and Buzz's. A band called PPM from Spain was there also. We had toasted and talk awhile. Around 1:30 Paul and Chris showed. Chris was ok, he's got the flu, however he doesn't look to well. That night Ben was leaving us, Dale was to take over the rest of the tour. Everything in the van had to be taken out, but the drum kit and guitar amp was going with Ben. Dale was going to bring a new set. We said our goodbyes to Ben, and huges were given all around. We got pretty close to Ben so we were all a bit bummed, at least we'll see him March 22 in London. Ben plays in a band called The Tone, which I here is amazing.

So, that night Dale our new driver was to show up.

Around 4:30am Dale parks the new van outside Buzz's. He see two boxes on the side walk. What are they you may ask? Oh, there our cds, we left them out side when taking everything out of Ben's van. Smart..... Inside, we're all asleep. I hear Dale and I get up to greet him. He tells me about the cd's and we laugh a tried insain laugh. Dale has been driving for 10 hours, and was heading back to the van to get in 3 hours of sleep before we head to Holland. Dale said he had to sleep in the van cause he hadn't put up anything to cover the back window of the van.

March 2nd (continued) Titlle for Holland: ARE THEY GOING TO EAT US OR KILL US?
So, that morning we moved into our new van. Dale's great, he looks like bullettooth from "SNATCH". Listening to the Ramones we headed to Holland. Me, Paul and Dale are in the front, the only ones awake. So first off we drove from Brighton to the coast. There we got tickets to a fairy that we'd be taking to France. The fairy, round rip was about 270 pounds. Customes on to the fairy was fine, however not for some nice looking guy in front of us. They strrrrrrrrip his car apart. But again we were fine, ha ha ha ha. Dale drove the van right up onto the fairy. Once in, we all got out and went to inspect the ship.

Marc, Paul, Jason, Steve and myself hit the top level of the ship. There you could see England getting small and smaller unitl it was gone. The ocean was a grey brown and the sky was so close in color that it was hard to differensiate the two. The ship had a million rooms, a dinning rooms, a game room, a small dinners, and a couple of pubs. Well, we were pretty much out of pounds so we all got a little grub with the little money we had.

France was on the horizon about one hour later. Now, here were it all goes to @$&*. We drove 7 hours from France to Holland. The drive was nice pretty nice, it was dark and a bit rainy. So we had a four country day, England, to France, to Belgum, to Holland. Huge windmills, were perched everywhere. The people all ride these old bikes like the one the whitch road in The Wizard Of OZ. However, when I say everyone rides these bikes, I'm seriouse. There are millions of these bikes parked everywhere.

So, around 8:00 we got to where I am now. "The Angel" owned by Hevey Metal Mike is where our first Holland show. The bar is a full on Metal bar, people are wasted and look it. We brought the equipment in and were sketched out. Mike introduced him self and gave us 10 drink tickets each. Mike is also wasted be oned belief. He takes us out side to a small retarant to eat. Out side was like a story book. The houses were small and story book like and the sound of people ringing their bike bells ecoh down the small road Mike is taking us down. We ate the food that's was given to us, similar to how it looks on animal planet when a pack of Cheetahs make a kill. We all are eating things we noramally don't, food is food here, you can't be picky, you eat when you can. I love it.

The show was crazy, it was us playing a Dutch metal bar. Chris had to sit this one out also. We played two sets, which I thought was weird. Sean's, new amp doesn't have a chanel switch input. This means no real distortion, we're going to have to pick up a distortion pedal tomarrow. Mike would randomly tell us to stop playing which would end our sets. I couldn't tell if they liked us. I guess they did, cause people bought stuff and talked and talked to us about how much they liked it. THIS WAS THE WEIRDEST SHOW WE"VE PLAYED, and we've played some weird ones. At the end of the show Mike locked the door of the bar and there was an afterhours party. For hours Mike cartered us well. I was a real funny night of wondering if the people in the bar were going to eat us or kill us. In all I think they just liked us. This was also the funniest I've ever seen us.

This brings us to right now, the morning to the "ANGEL" show in Holland. Dale just told us that the Van had been moved. We parked the van in a illegal spot so that night the cops broke into the van and moved it. I don't know how they did it but now the van won't start. Great morning huh? Well, everyones packing up the stuff and putting it in the van and Mike and Dale are trying to fix the van. Today we were going to do to Amsterdamn before our next gig at but now it doesn't look like we're going. Oh...........oh I've spoken to soon the van is STARTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are off to "Parkofftin" the club in Alkmar. When we got there we unpacked our bags and the equipment and set off to Amsertdamn. We were in Amsterdamn for about 3 hours and didn't really see anything. Got a hotdog! Back at the club we had our first real experiance of not having English be our first langauge. Club owners and fans know English well, but we have to remember not to talk a mile a minute. The first band was called De Hardheid. They were so great, the singer were so rock'en. The lyrics were in Dutch which made it so nice to listen to. Our set was fun; Chris played, but it looked tough on him. I was kinda tired for this show, just lack of good sleep I think. We stayed in an abandoned building. It was actually a squat that had been housed for a couple years now. The people living there are all artists. They have done sculptures and painted everywhere. The place looks like no other place you've seen. They've wired power through out the building however, no heat none at all. The first floor has a club on the first floor, were the nine tntents make some $$$$. They even have some kind of .com buisness, however I never asked about it. We stayed on the top floor, which resembeled the room the kid from the movie "the never ending story" read. An attic with stuff evrywhere. Oh, and if you've ever seen the movie The Lost Boys, that was the vibe of the place.

The people of the squat wanted to hand out, I don't know their names but, I know Rick the leader, two gutter punk mo-hawk chicks, a regular gutter punk girl and acouple du du dudes. My breath was as thick as it could be when I layed my head down fully dressed, jacket and all. That morning we had some breakfest Rick had brought up. The bankquet was cheese bread, orange juice, and some spreads.

March 3rd Sitting in the van we waited for Sean and Steve to come back from music store with the NEW DISTORTION PEDAL. With Sean's sound back we headed to Germany. Another squat day. This time in Wermelskirchen at the Ajz Bahndamn. This squat was a lifeline. We had a buck house, showers (which were needed bad), and the best food ever. We were not on last, which is the best but we were 4th of 5. The first group was a German hip-hop band. We all loved them; there is something about the language of German that's great for hip-hop. The next two bands were rock bands and the last was a Reggae band. There were a lot of kids and they totally dug us, I learned that Greenday, NOFX, Millencolin, and Propaghandi also played here, h and The Gorilla Biscuits. They have all the promo posters pasted on the wall of the bunkhouse and eating area. I found ours right by the door near NOFX. Everything was great about this so, Germany so far ROCKS. The people and the club are perfect; it's just so comfortable here. However, even though I had a bed some of us stayed up hanging with the locals till 4 or 5. We talked about everything from music to the corrupt election this year.

schirchenpool, schirchenbunk

Oh I forgot to mention Jason cymbals got stolen and the show tomorrow was cancelled. So now we are going to spend the night here again, cause it's so comfortable and we have to track down the man who decided Jason's cymbals were free game. So that's all for now, wish us luck...we nead it. Dave

March 5th There is no reason my life should have allowed me to see the BELIN wall or STONEHENGE for that matter. This morning, I couldn't get over the fact that in hours I was to see the Wall that separated EAST and WEST Berlin. This wall separated families and friends from each other for years. Now check it out , after WWII the United States and Russia took control of Germany and separated it. We took West Germany and Russia took the East. Yes, as basic as it sounds we built a wall around West Berlinn. To see it from a birds eye view is just crazy. A wall was really built around and entire city. To me, that seems like something that would be happening in the days of Kings and caseles. We kept West Germany free, however many of the people of West Germany liked the old way of life of East Germany, so m\we had to force them to say in the West with the wall to help them "understand" that West Germany was a better way of life.

So, this morning we woke up and got breakfast. At a nice pastery shop down the street I guest on the taset of a cresont looking thing. It was real good. It seemed like today was Torest 2001. We had to figure out how to get to the wall by train with out knowing any German. It's tough, but guessing is fun. There is only a certain section of the wall still up. It's not really something anyone is proud of. Now there is only a couple of blocks of the wall up. Artists have painted great pieces all over the sections of the wall. I like to think that a structer that separated families and brought a lot of saddness is now a huge canvass for artists to speak. I/We loved it. The wall was an amazing experience. I never thought I would be able to see is, never ever - ever. We hung around the wall for some time looking at the art and talking. Later, we went to the center of Berlin and found the Berlinn tower. At the top we could see the city for miles and miles.

Slam...........we noticed the time and had to jet back to the club for sound check. At the club the band set up, I stickers out side and. I then set the merch up and we sound checked. It was a Monday night so we didn't know how well the show would go.

Around BLAH BLAH BLAH we hit the stage, realy it must have been around 11:30. The show was great, we got our first drunk heckler. He was dumb and sad to say....................he was wearing a BOSTON SLAP SHOT shirt. I started to call him dad cause he was pretty old, and then he shut up.

After the show the first band and his friend wanted to take us to the "DISCO-TECH". We thought that would be funny so Sean, Jason, Paul and me hit it. What was so funny is one of the dudes from the other band got them to play "SHE WONT'T EVER FIGURE IT OUT". It played at about 1,000 db in a German distco-tech. SOOOOooooooOOOOoooooo funny, so funny.

March 7th We woke up and drove here to Gottingen. It's near the center of Germany. Now we are at a Squat called Juzi. They made us Pizza and I'm sitting in the back room with a couple of us and the other band. Paul and Jason are having a weird conversation with the other band. The other band in saying how they wouldn't want to be on tour for as long as we are, and Paul is saying back, "Ahhhhhh yaaaaa ok". Skip passed out, so did Dale. The room is one of the most comfortable rooms we've seen. Dan just skipped a bottle cap into the house net on the wall. Cheers are being screamed all over. Sean and Chris are playing Foosball will some locals and they are also sceaming.

These Squats are so crazy, I think the building used to be a school or something. Anyway, I'm off.
Take Care, Dave

March 8 Ok ok ok, Erfurt Germany is the best place in Germany yet. We had been driving for a while when we saw Erfurt over the horizon of huge green hills. When we drove into the middle of the town the people looked at us like we were Aliens. Dale went to find a phone to call the promoter while the rest of us stretched our legs and stared at the city. Erfurt architecture is so old. The churches and shops were all something you thought were no longer around. The streets are stone and windy; narrow alleys between buildings were lit like an old Sherlock Holmes movie. I absolutely loved this place. Each structure looks as if a lot of time and effort was put into it. Statues lined almost every roof top and the gold on them shined in the sun. I often see old buildings and statues that have been worn away from time, but here the colors were all still brilliant.

The whole band was wowed as we looked at castle walls winding around far off hills. The wall had crows nests every couple of yards, probably for defense. Everyone's got a great air about them today. Chris is well again and things are just damn good. What's also the best part of Erfurt is that as we walked we noticed tons and tons of modern stores and shops. Along with all the old history this wealthy town had more clothes shops and modern merchandise than I've seen thus far. It seems like the perfect place. They have every thing we have it seems, but things look better. There's such a CARE in the air, a peaceful feeling. Before I get too weird I'll just say it reminds me of when captin Kirk and the rest of the Star Trek crew land on a perfect planet and don't wanna leave.

Dale came back and got the directions to the club. We hit the van and started down the streets. When we reached a castle with huge doors we stopped. Yup, the club was called The Dungen because we're playing in the dungon of a Castle. The other doors were small, 5 feet or so. There were crazy corridors and secret rooms.

We set our stuff up and sat a bit, to talk. We were taken down the road by the promoter to eat. We noticed so many people were carrying guitars, cellos, violins and flutes. And as we walked, in different windows above us people were playing and practicing. THIS PLACE IS SO CRAZY!!! I feel like I AM IN SOME OLD MOVIE. We were told that there is a music school here and music was prominent in the town's culture. Free food ­ YAH YAH! We ate it ­ it rocked!

Sound check was cool, you can only imagine the natural reverb of the stone walls of the Castle. The horns went off to some room to play and they echoed through the halls. It was great to listen to while Dale, the promoter, Jason and me talked. The show was cool. A decent turn out, but!!!!!!!!! The stage was split in two cause there was a stone piller set in the middle. It was like Big D team A and B. Also, they used this fog machine like it was going out of style. I mean I felt like I was singing in the swamps of a Monty Python flick.

After the show we hit a Hostel, where we had two rooms of 6 beds. Ahhhhhh luxuries. Tonight we just hung out with each other. It was so fun, just us being dumb. We played a game we like a lot called 3, ask me and I'll tell you what it is. (no it's not a drinking game).

March 9 We got to this show late. We were pumped that a couple bands were playing with us. A lot of the time it's been just us. The band I liked a lot was Shemale Trouble. They were cool people, check them out. We got great food here and there was a dog that was a blast to play with. The dog LOVED Steve and their game was Throw The Beer Cap. Now this dog would not catch plastic coke caps or metal sparking water caps, only beer caps. And the dog could catch it no matter how hard Steve threw it. Sean and me feel asleep with a grin in the back room, the room was warm a comforable.

The show was good, real fun. There were a lot of Gutter Punks and Drunk Punks. I got my first 3/4th full beer thrown at me. And yes it hit me right between the eyes. I stopped 51 Gardner to congratulate the man and ask if he'd like to go for two. However, no one spoke up. Later the masked man came up to Marc, I guess he loved us and bought a cd. They throw beer here, it's happened a ouple of times. I LOVE IT!

That night we sayed in a church bunk house with She-Male Trouble. We hung out til late and then crashed in our beds. Beds and showers again, things are good.

March 10 That morning was the best morning. Breakfast was on the table, we ate with She-male Trouble like we were at camp. I made some eggs and had some bread and cheese. Paul and I did the dishes for everyone, I kinda like it, twisted as it sounds, it reminds me of home. It's warm here, like spring. The sun is out and the Van ride should be good. We leave for a club called Caveaed in the town Mainz.

Weird showŠŠready. The place we played was ok, not many people--maybe 50, but hey, all liked it. Some friends from the Vermalshirchine show showed up, so that rocked. Now how is this for Michael Jackson--I got my own hotel room. WOOOOWWW huh. So did a couple other of us. The venue we played turned into a club after, played stuff like the Violent Femmes and The Refused. That was fun, we hung, drank, and made friends. Quick note, don't try and find the hotel you're staying at in Germany at night when you're not 100% sure where it is. Yup, I went full force around 2:00am into the heart of being LOST! The only hope I had was I grabbed a flier from the show we played so I was able to be pointed in the direction from where I started. Because I didn't know the name of the hotel without the fliers I would have been #$?&ed. On my way back to the club I found the others and we went together. I added this to show how smart I was. Good place to sleep, the cold nights might be behind us.

March 11 GOOD BYE GERMANY! We are now heading to The Czech Republic. Drive drive drive drive drive drive. Late late late late at night. Lost lost lost lost in the Czech Republic. Find find find a hotel. Dale and Dan are looking at a map, while Steve's reading his EUROPE Under 60 Dollars book. Steve was giving us helpful little facts about the Czech Republic. Then he made a joke about how we should stay in this old prison that was changed into a hotel. The place was owned by the sceret police, and the current president of the Czeck Republic was put in there a number of times.

Turn turn turn turn around. Wrong wrong wrong way. What what what are we doing. Oops oops oops we found the hotel Steve had mentioned accidentally and YES we stayed there. It was so crazy, cause when Steve told us about it we had no idea we'd be there an hour later. Now this place was a REAL prison. The doors were all cell doors with locks and holes for food passing. But they were beds and that Rocks! Now Now Now Now. Sleep Sleep Sleep.

March 12th Ok ok ok I know I said that Erfurt Germany is the best place ever, but from ring side Prague in the Czech - Republic took that title and took it hard. To any of you romantics out there,if you want to take your certain someone somewhere take ém to Prague. The exchange rate here is ridiculous. The dollar is worth so much. For example a coke is about 25 cents and a good meal is about 4 bucks. We went on bridges, towers, and walk ways. Everyone here was so pumped. This place is how you would picture a secret paradise city. We met the Devil here too, which was interesting. Dale told us he was always found at the end of this bridge, so we headed there. Sure enough, sitting on the ground with a small mirror and paints, the Devil sat there making self portraits of him self that he sold. Did he have horns? Yes, big red ones. The devilšs hair was knotted, he only had a couple of teeth, and his tongue was slurping around most of the time. If you tried to take his picture, he would cover him self or point the mirror at you. We moved on to a torture museum. (weird huh) Anyway, the show was cool. There where a bunch of Americans there. (oh I forgot there are tons of Americans in Prague, studying or living) The kids were cool, and the show was cool. We had to hit the road to drive allllll night to Slovenia.

That night Steve and I kept Dale company in the front. Awhile back, I hooked up Sean's BOOM BOX so we could listen to our disks in the van. We rocked: Herb Albert, Lawrence Welk, and the new Dropkick Murphyšs (which rocks). This drive can only be described as insanity. We were so tired but kept awake for Dale. Now, we had to pass all these custom stations that were very serious. Going from the Czech - Republic to Slovenia isn't as easy as it sounds, especially when you look like a bunch of freaks. At each check point you have to pass two spots, one for each country. At about one million in the morning we got to the second check point into Slovania. We gave the serious man in charge (which looked like a 6 foot squirrel) our pass ports. Suddenly we notice he's having a problem with one of our pass ports. He starts pulling it apart, separating the cover in two. Who's passport was it YUP MINE! "Mr. Mcquwane, which of you is Mr. Mcquwane David" "That's me sir" (I was loving it, bring it on Mr. Squirrel) "Your passport is not right, explain" pause pause pause "It`'s legitimate", I said. stare stare stare, he walked away. A few minutes later he returned. "Ok, David you may pass this once, but not again. If you would like to pass again you must talk to your ambassador." I said, "...........OK......" And we moved on. Man, I havenšt had that much fun since Six Flags.

March 13th We got to the squat in Slovania around, 2:00 in the afternoon; we drove 12 hours. GOOD JOB DALE. When we got there we all fell asleep in weird places around the cool cool squat. It was raining hard and we were DONE. The next 4 hours were going to be hard. (I forgot to mention two things so lets go back in a dream like reflection. About two shows back Dan's trumpet broke and he had to sit out a show. The morning after the show we had to find a music store for him to BUY a new one. DID DAN HAVE ENOUGH MONEY, WHERE WE EVEN GOING TO FIND A MUSIC SHOP!!!!! Well, we did find a music store, where we all got in trouble touching to much stuff. Dan didn't have to buy a new trumpet, the guy at the store took some pieces off a new trumpet and fixed Dan's. Nice nice guy...huh? And it only cost 25 dollars. Steve also bought a FUZZ box for his bass......ha ha ha ha ha Draw The Line will have some changes. Now the other important thing I forgot to mention was that in the Czech republic we all had to go to the pharmacy cause we all have a BAD BAD cough. they bring us to cough up some yellow happy stuff. Now Paul is the worst out of the bunch, he coughs and coughs. We all bought weird medicine to help and I think it might)

**********ok out of dream sequence***************************************

So when we awoke in Slovenia, Paul said to us he had to go to the hospital. Tina the promoter took him, while we all sound checked. Now Paul found out he had bronchitis, which I had before we left. He stayed at Tina's the rest of the night. And to let you know a head of time he woke up the next day with no voice, but feeling GREAT. The show that night in Slovenia was $?&%'en great. There were a lot of people and about 10 German Carpenters that travel around looking for things to build for people. They dressed like THE THREE AMIGOS, and drank like them too. The carpenters were about our age and they loooovved us. Looking into the crowd all I say where PUNKs, SKA-PUNKS, AND GUN FIGHTING CARPENTERS. This was one of my top 3 shows on tour. We played for like an hour and 20 minutes. Afterwards, we toasted with our new amigos and had a BLAST.

MARCH 14th We hung out in Slovenia, got food - walked around - got Ice cream - walked around. After a bit, we went back to the squatto to meet Paul. This day was so warm, we all laid on the roof of the squat and talked, listening to music with the new BOOOOOM BOX. We also cleaned the stinkin VAN. The big question is, "who's socks are these". Then I wrote some tour up dates while listening to German rap, in a HIP-Hop promoters office. We hit the road that night on our way to Austria.

March 15 Now we are in Austria at CYRILL'S. He is the best. His house is WARM, he made us a huge vegan lunch, and let us watch the 5th element at night. Oh yeah, Showers and Showers and oh.... showers. Now, we're leaving, actually Dale just said it. We're off to find the merchandise sent to us and get to a computer to put this up. So with a full belly and smelling nice I'm off Take Care ­ Dave

March 16 Ugghhhhh....Today we woke up at 5 in the morning! It sucked. Before our drive to Switzerland from Austria, we had to swing by Vienna to pick up a package of merchandise. Unfortunately, it was quite difficult. Shawn Florez is a God-send! He sent us the package and after much heartache and many extra miles, we got it. As for the showŠour set time was 11pm, we made it to the club at 11:15! Our driver, Dale drove 17 hours straight! Hešs crazy. He conquered the Alps and the border patrol on 3 hours sleep! The show rocked, the kids rocked and dinner was the best. Time for bed now, wešre all very tired from the longest day of tour so far. Tomorrow we celebrate St. Patrickšs Day. Good night, Sean P. Rogan

March 17 Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! We are at the coolest place in the world! Basel, Switzerland is an amazing place. The club we played and slept at last night is called the Sommer casino and the people here are so very, very kind. They just fed us and now they are letting us use their computers and phones. It's very refreshing after yesterday. Wešre going to go see the town now and drive to the next city. Apparently Basel is known for it's graffiti, wešll see. That's all for now. Rock on. Sean PATRICK Rogan

March 18 Today was probably the most eventful day of tour so far! We left Monthey around noon to drive over the Swiss Alps. So, we're driving and driving all day until we couldn't drive anymore. Why couldn't we drive anymore you ask?...AVALANCHE!!! The road we needed was closed because it was engulfed in a blanket of snow. The only way we had to get around it was pretty cool though. We doubled-back about 10 minutes and had to drive our van onto a train! The train took us right through the middle of the Alps. So far we've been on planes, trains, vans and boats this tour! After we got off of the train we had to drive down a huge mountain to get to the town. This road was very narrow, very steep and very scary. I'm glad I'm writing this because we almost drove off the edge! This isn't just a tour joke, we seriously almost died! We would have plummeted a billion feet to our deaths! Dale slammed on the brakes and they didn't work until the VERY LAST SECOND. The trip took a few hours longer than we had expected, but we made it to the club around 8, our set time was 10...no problem, right? We tried calling to say we would be late but none of the phone numbers worked. AS we arrived at the Safari Beat Club in Chur, Switzerland, we were told that we were too late and we couldn't play! They gave up our hotel reservations and said we weren't allowed to play because we didn't call. It wasn't our fault...there was an AVALANCHE!!! Dan managed to get us on the show anyway and we played for a packed house! Go Dan! After finding our own hotel, we went to bed. Everything always works out and we still haven't missed a show yet! -----sean-----

March 19 Tonight's show was cancelled. I guess that's a good thing, though. It would have been a 15 hour drive and we wouldn't have made it. We were going to spend the night in Paris but unfortunately our van broke down. WE waited at a reststop for a few hours and finally got towed back to a garage. The first tow-truck wasn't tough enough for our van, so they sent back up. WE all huddled into the backseat of a bigger tow-truck and made our way to the hotel. That's about it for today. Oh yeah, the highlights were when Bush and Jason each won stuffed animals from those claw vending machines. I had a mouse in my grip, but the claw dropped it right before the end. And of course, Dave built a fire while we were waiting for the tow-truck...pyro. -----sean----

March 20 I have no idea what day it is...the beginning of the week I think. We're all in the lobby of the hotel waiting for a taxi to take us into town to find food and wait for our new and improved van. There's a cat in the lobby...we're all very amused by it. Well, the taxi should be here in a minute, gotta go. sean

Because our lab top has broken the rest of the Erope up dates will be put together. FRANCE: well we were LATE (how bout that) for our first gig. SO, we had to move like the THUNDER CATS up on stage. The show was good, but (MAN) things are just breaking now. Steve's basses are just falling apart. His straps are ripped and his rig make a weird ***ZZAHAHAZZHA*** sound. After the gig, we hung out and mage are way to the next show. We were trucking along like a late COKE truck, cause we wanted to be able to see Paris. I mean come on I shouldn't even be in France (opportunity I mean), so now that the mistake was made I gotta see as much as I can before some one relizes we're here. The next show had about ONE BAZILLION people there. It was great, we were all pumped and a bit nervas. Me, I was a lot nervas. I don't knoe what happened but I felt like I was gonna puke before we played. I hate witing to play , I just like do'en it. So we talk a lot of cool kids after we played and after the show. They were cool and WASTED. I got picture I'll post of'em and we'll see if they l;ook as wasted as they sounded.

The next day was allllll about FRANCE. We were in a little town, where everyone was walking about with loafs of bread. Some people were just walking with, some were walking and eating it, and one was walking and eating her bread as she went into a shop to get more bread. YES YES it was FRANCE. If you've ever heard that the french don't like it when you go there and can't speak the language. You know, like expecting them to speak English. Well, it's true and I commend them for it. It's a good slap in the face for us. But no no no, everyone was REAL nice.

OFF to the Eiffel Tower. I love it, it's big, it stronge, IT'S THE EIFFEL TOWER. We all went up and gazzzzzed at the view. We got picture to be seen soon. I have always pictured the area where the tower stood and when I got there I felt so lucky **THANKS MIKE PARK**. I recomend going, but don't stay in the places around there, you won't feel like your in France. It will just be tourist and city stress. You must go out a bit to the towns, there you'll see people speaking up high out of bay windows and ofcoures BREAD BREAD BREAD. *************AND DAVE'S TOUR LESSON IS NOW OVER*************

Hit the Van, put it on a boat and send out ass's back to England. We where lucky to be playing with the band LIGHT YEAR again. NOW I BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN'T GET NICER THEN THE BAND LIGHT YEAR. FIRST GRADE CRUSH IS IN MY BOOK AS THE NICEST BAND EVER AND NOW LIGHT YEAR IS TOO.

When we played our last show with LIGHTYEAR, they came on stage halfway during Find Out to play along. Oh ya, they came on NAKED!!!!!!! Then as the set went on more and more of'em came on. Basically we had about 10 naked dudes on stage with us for the hole set. They were on stage, in the crowd, and yes stage diving. I just LAUGHED and LAUGHED. Never had I've seen us all laugh so hard on stage, shit even Jay was cracking up. I was a first for us............wow remembering now is funny. After we hung out and said our sad good byes. I had to say bye to SIMON, friend of LIGHTYEAR. We were close cause we both love IRON MAIDEN and would talk and talk about it. He even came on stage and sang it with me that night. THANKS SIMON YOUR THE BEST MAN, I'LL MISS YA!

Now it was off to LONDON to play with CAPDOWN. Man this show was NUTS. Right when we got there, there were about 23 BAZILLION PUNKS ready. We were third of 4, the first band was the English band named 5 knuckle shuffel. ( I LOVE THEM - CHECK IT OUT )

When we hit the stage it was a riot. The hole show - the hole time was one big RIOT. I LOVED IT. I don't think a mic stand stood for more the a second at a time. I was slammed into the crowd lost the mic - lost my shoe, found my shoe, through it to Skip, Skip caught it (good catch Skip, made my was to the stage just enough to grab a horn mic to use before i was torn away again. We had to play on stair banners and on the P.A. to survive. It was great..........best show of tour. After we hung out with everyone and said our good byes to others. Ben our tour mannager from before came and we hung out with him and Dale. Two of the best guys togther, what elts do ya need. Capdown was also amazing, their singer is BADASS he plays sax and sings.

The next day we went to Dale's house to crash. There we watched the movie BAD TASTE. RENT IT - HA HA HA HA. Dale had all thses old IRON MAIDEN singles, so I looked and looked through'em. Marc was also pumped cause down the street was a record shop where he found all thses 2 tone single he's always wanted. Man he was like a little Skip in a candy shop. Some of us did our wash which, WAS SO BAD. I MEAN BAD!!!!!!

We went to our last show of this 2001 BIG D AND THE KIDS TABLE Europe tour. After we unloaded, Dale asked if we wante to hit the STAR WARS museum. It had all the origanal stuff, like Bo Bo Fet's and everyone elts's real costums. I mean they had everything..... Every model used in the films where there. We where there mouths open for about 3 hours. Crazy huh............All the real stuff..WOW..WOW..WOW!

Back at the show I was setting up the merch, feeling a bit sad to leave. However, that sadness tuned into discuse when I saw the carrot Skip had been given to him back in Austria. Did I tell you about this...I forget. Back in Austria, Skip was sitting on a curb when he saw acouple of nun lugging some stuff. He helped them and later on came back and gave him a carrot. hey though he was homeless, HA HA HA. Well, Skip ate hafe the carrot and we have been putting ti out for sale every night. Three day of getting it, it turned black. But, that didn't stop one bloake and Niel form LIGHTYEAR takeing bits from it. It's grosser then you think.......

The show went it was sad though......I mean pretty damn sad. We didn't miss one show on this tour, we were late a lot but made each show. We were all tired but didn't want to let the tour go. The club truned into a Heavey Metal club after. SO WE STUCK AROUND. We drank and listened to all the best Glam and Metal. Oh yes we DANCED. This was the only place I've been where it was cool to play air guitar, even the girls thought it was cool. It was there that I saw her.......in the middle of the dance floor alone she stood sing along to the IRON MAIDEN song I had requested. She new every word and....all the changes. Never have I seen such a thing, I was at ahhh. It was an old song too. AhhhhhhhhHHHHHhhhhhh hum hum..... We talked, I met her EMO boy friend (WHO DIDN'T DESERVE SUCH AN IRON MAIDEN ROCKING GIRL AS SHE WAS - kidding kidding)

So, now we were off to LONDON again, just to hang out with BEN and Dale one last time. We all met at a pub outside Ben's house. We cheered and laughed all night. I have to say again, two of the best guys to be with. We could have been anywhere and I would have been pumped. Then we went back to Ben's and crashed............The tour was over and we were heading home.

BANDS TO CHECK OUT: LIGHTYEAR, CAPDOWN, 5 KNUCKLE SHUFFLE,

Note: I find it very important for all of us in the States to try and go to the UK and Europe. Try and do it when your young somehow, not when your retired. You want the knowledge while your young. So many things that I thought about other counrties and about the U.S. are changed. Because, it is not as easy for us to jump over to other counties like it is in Europe, we are left not having half the culture as they do. I trully knew only from books, movies, and the discovory/history channel about some countries. The people of the U.S. do believe that here is the place to live. We probable got it from being told that many people came HERE for opportunity. That was a long time ago. I believe you should all try and decide for yourself if the U.S. is right for you. Don't be told where you'll be happy, discover where you are most happy. When you leave the U.S. for a long time you can look at it from a different perspective and see things you didn't know where there. Or see things you knew where there but didn't know that you can live your life without them. Just go some how and you'll know what I mean. I had some of the best times of my life, saw some of the most amazing things in my life, and met some of the best people in my life. And all in places I never though I'd go in my hole life. So don't take about how cool it would be if we went to other planets, until you've disscovered this one. Be crazy, daring and smart and you'll get more out of your 80 years.. - Dave

Thanks everyone we had a great time......... Thanks for everything Ben and Dale.......... Big D and the Kids Table

_______________________________________________________

1/12/01 Well it's true, pretty much everyone in Big D was fired from their jobs for this Europen tour. I was fired, Sean was demoted, Steve and Marc were "asked to resign", and I believe Chris, and Dan are juuust waiting. Paul and Jason had to drop out of school. (don't try that at home) I'm going to see "SAVE THE LAST DANCE" 10 times. We all have to pay our future rents before we leave for tour, so we'll be hitting Europe with about -$100 each. So, to everyone in Europe, places to crash and table scraps are welcome. Tim and Fattytones, it's gonna be cool to finally meet you. They're the first people in England to contact us. We are going to do a month tour with MU330 after Europe, but BOSTON please don't worry we booked a "Bill's" show on this tour. We also booked a show for the weekend before Europe, but the place just cancelled our show for some other show. We were royally SCREWED. So, now we're trying to put something elts together, but it's late in the booking club game. Well, thats it for now. Take Care, Dave Come to the Middle East January 21st (this coming sunday) to see Big D play with the $ellout$ and Cooter. This is going to be an amazing show. It is 18+ and doors are at 9 pm, SO...Gert off your lazy arse and get down to the Middle East. If you don't make it to the show or are not old enough to attend, then stay tuned for one more all ages Boston show before we leave for Europe.Thankyouverymuch, Steve

12.14.00 What's up everyone? Right now Big D is trying to work (crappy day jobs) a lot to save up money for our European tour. I think we're all going to go broke and lose our apartments, but hey what the hell. To everyone over there who is helping us THANK YOU. We are really excited to get over there and start some trouble. Right now we're writing new material and have about three or four new songs completed. The reaction to Iron Maiden live has been so funny; I'm glad everyone digs it as much as we do. Anyway that's all for now......... Dave

Everyone go to Too Hep Records Website and vote for Big D for the Metalliska tour. We definitely want to go and with your participation we might be able to!!!!! -
Steve

read: Summer 2001 news

read: Oh Yeah! tour 2001 updates

read: Europe Tour 2001 updates

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