Melanie Dekker - Euro Tour 2014

Beginnings - First 10 Days + Photos

Save your airmiles so that you can fly business class, it makes everything more fun! Though just because your bags are labelled as 'priority', don't expect them all to arrive! Oh, no problem, just...MY GUITAR!! The first 'lump in my throat' on tour happened when the lost-luggage attendant gasped in an unlikely dramatic and sorry way, "Oh no, that's not good!...can you please describe it?"

My Taylor guitar showed up later just before bed time. Marked with newly added stickers: 'inspected' + 'urgent'.

With help from the elephant ears entertainment family, I am in the glorious city of Dresden, Germany for my first sleep and then pick up the super cool tour van near by in Dippoldiswalde, from Autoservice Ruhsam. My first concert has me headlining solo at a sweet festival in Czech Republic, so the gear is at a minimum. (The band and the AER gear get picked up in a few days). As irony would have it, the driver / tour assistant ended up being unable to drive in either direction. So, I drove 'my bus' from Germany to to Czech and back. I crossed an abandoned border crossing and soon thereafter see an outdoor sort of shopping-mall selling pop, birdhouses, soccer t-shirts etc... and I buy a 15 euro sheep's wool-skin from a boy. I have a special feeling that this will be useful and a great tour souvenir. Check Google photos of Rotstejn, CZ and Klokoci, CZ; I was in a very special place for the festival, with endearing hosts and 2 more sleeps. This is a hikers 'n climbers 'n bike riders paradise. 

Thomas Fuchs (keyboards, Ulm DE) & David Sinclar (guitar, Vancouver CAN) & Frank Staudacher (bass, Ulm DE) are lassoed and round-up. I'm excited!

The Hard Rock Café in Munich, DE is in the middle the centre's pedestrian area, where hundreds are passing by the tourist shops and the famed Hofbrau house non-stop. Like a good tourist, I partook in some window shopping and some real shopping. I found a special chocolate store and also couldn't resist picking out a hot pink Munich t-shirt. :). There were a lot of dirndl's for sale…October fest thing. High quality buskers colourized the streets; from Austrian yoddlers on beer crates to fantastic classical trios playing pieces from a few centuries. Nice to see Bomi there (Stefan Glogger - the elephant ears master connector).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only one concert in Austria and with luck, in Weiz, Austria. A stage was designed in an outdoor passage way. A slight underestimation of the 'not so warm' weather had some guests sliding the nice white tablecloths right onto their bodies to stay warm (no need to keep a table warm!). Everyone we were introduced to was joyful and easy going. I was gifted printed out photos from last year's concert in Oblärn, AT.

How we came to this show? .. I was invited by an incredibly talented couple who are jewellers, and who one year ago collected some strands of my hair and a guitar string from both David's and my guitar and then interlaced these with stones platinum and gold to make stunning jewellery pieces and a mini guitar (size of my pinky).  Franz Rosenberger Facebook 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We delightfully toured around on our day off in style, where we experienced the Weltmaschine (the World Machine). 

Today it still felt like summer. Schnapps anyone (warning … it's hard to say no, especially with the smile that comes with the offer!) click here for THE CONCERT

Lieberbühne Robinson in Runding, DE gets awards! The most delicious vegetarian food (hot tofu chilli), most newspaper stories and advertisements, best Weizen beer according to Fuchie (aus der bürgel flasche), and its nearby in the middle of nowhere hotel - had absolutely the most comfortable bed (perhaps ever).

Days off are spent in a town that is surrounded by its original wall, whose shoerepair man is 95, whose bakery is famous in the Franken area, and 400 folks living inside the wall get free beer once a month from the brewery! They pump the beer from a long hose out of a window straight into the containers that one supplies. Sesslach. See 'second home' story from the paper, in the photos below! My new friend and photographer extraodinaire Ulli Koebe http://www.koebe.de drove from Kufstein to Sesslach to hang out! I look up to him. What a great feeling that is! He shared his views of how connections and decisions can best work amongst us humans, and his we all enjoyed his epic photos from his recent trip to Vancouver Island, BC.

Neudrossenfeld's 800 year old kultur-center concert hall set the ticket holders up on long tables, so all sat somewhat sideways to face the band. At the original contact with the venue, specs for a PA were asked about. The reply was, 'Oh, what's a PA?'. This would make most bands look elsewhere for a show, but it worked out perfectly. We borrowed a friends PA. How did this concert come about? I met a man named Heinz in Mallorca, Spain while shooting a video, and he invited me to perform in his town and then arranged it too … and so ... we made it happen! Super cool, thank you!

Unnersdorf's venue was too small to accommodate our expected ticket sales...so an 'open air' was decided. We play for about 85 people who cozied up close to each other with blankets, pizza and beer. Our stage is the back deck of Zur Linde, light up by old school patio lightbulbs. The bands view: to our left a large bunker and an overgrown fire pit (would have been nice to stoke a fire...brrr...the shorts and high-heel idea was abandoned during sound check), and a local drummer graced us enthusiastically on stage with his chops (and the smallest Cajon I've ever seen!). Thank you Frank Hauck. Of special note!  Norbert, the owner, who worked his ass off in the kitchen all night,  sang us two Delta blues style songs afterour concert was over. With a combination of pride, exhaustion and joyful exuberance, he played and sang for about 9 of us 'hanger-oners! He was a warm super highlight!

I woke up with a swollen eye. So, I got bit in the middle of the night. Not my favourite thing…shows that it's still warm enough for mosquitos…and as David Sinclair once so wonderfully put it when he got bit, "it reminds me I'm alive". :)

 

Next 10 Concerts

Jet lag is gone and the new diet has settled in (more bread, beer and coffee and less tofu, beans and fruit smoothies than back home)  

Ebersbach's OKV club offered a good stage and David Sinclair sang an extra song for our tour helper Hans. Fuchie was surrounded by girls tonight.

A hot sticky day followed. Exasperated by a 9 hour drive north in a tour bus whose air-conditioning unit called it quits. 35C in the bus...I showered at the venue in Kiel, DE, which I realize is kind of a rock star like thing to do. It was so good I began gasping and singing in the blessing of the shower's water. All three of us felt extra dizzy from the heat exhaustion for two more days.

'Blush' was recorded live at the Insound Music store in Kiel. Thank you! http://youtu.be/ZzgT1AFdx1M  David totally fell in love at first sight and feel with the guitar that he played.

Sundays are quiet in Europe, but not this particular one on September 6th. We performed at a dorffest. A German flea market! I bought a thermometer for an added gadget in the bus and as a souvenir of our previous day's swelter. We witnessed another band taking a horrifically long 1.5 hour sound check on the outdoor festival stage. Ooo...Yikes!! (Normally 15 mins is permitted at such events). Thanks so much to Renato Brosowsky and the Pries family for making the Kiel experience successful and heartfelt.

Denmark was next. In Middelfart I met an artist whose paintings I found vibrant and spectacular http://www.galleriadefoged.dk. Then near Spjald I was lead to a designer whose home designed and manufactured RAW RAGS I couldn't resist.  http://www.rawrags.dk/ In Randers we went to 'Graceland' (an Elvis everything museum : www.gracelandranders.dk) and in Sonderborg-Egernsund I had the largest ice cream I've ever been served (beyond any expectation, and therefore unable to finish). Dorthe and Sven Erik's farm house offered us a relaxed time with a musical jam, laundry facilities, a lot of laughs and a perfect setting to begin making the new video for David Sinclair's song: Gracie (now finished!) David Sinclair - Gracie: http://youtu.be/72vLF8BwGuo

On a domesticated note, I cooked for 8 people. A first for me. Every ingredient came from the garden (my favourite thing!) and Fuchie prep-cooked with spectacular potato scrubbing gloves! (See foto!)

Per Dyrholm from the Roots Zone magazine wrote his review from the Randers show here: (smile)

 

http://rootszone.dk/live-melanie-dekker-undervaerketranders/

 

 

 

We are starting to ask each other, "What day of the week is it?"

On our way back to Germany we spotted and filmed a star-like quality double-humpback camel. (As you may have witnessed in the music video linked above)

At the Kulturdiele in Hemmoor, we met a couple of cool guys who have been performing 'the Denmark song' with their band, so we gratefully jam it out together after the concert with them. The following day we are lead to a Chilean creator of handmade shanty http://shantydolls.com/de.html, and her brother treats us to a professional outdoor massage like no other. I noticed that visiting strangers turns them into friends very quite quickly. Loved it!

Onward...We left the little village of Frelsdorf with fantastic food in our bellies, a mini palm sized tambourine and a few new songs added to the repertoire. Turns out that a concert at 5pm on a Sunday can work!

My 4th visit to Skt Peter Ording was no less special than the first. We are led to the special stage at Cafe Instinct by the best fresh air imaginable. All good. Only this time, I forgot my freshly washed in the sink underwear drying on the lamps in the hotel room.

The jazz club in Hamburg-Bergadorf was a late and special add on to the tour. http://leserreporter.bergedorfer-zeitung.de/bergedorf/kultur/melanie-dekker-im-jazz-club-bergedorf-16092014-d3819.html It turned out to be a lucky stop. Our tour bus left us sidelined on the way there (suddenly unable to steer), and an abschleppwagen got it to a shop and got us to an Avis. Both seemed as unusually and serendipitously located as the previous day's run in with the camel. The Hamburg location was lucky because the mechanic needed two days for the repair and coincidentally we had the next day off. We have an enthusiastic visit with our friend Dr. Sancho Panzer, get invited to a fun night at the Reeperbahn festival by our promoter and friendly psychologist Ludger, and I finally find wax strips to 'rip' the little hairs from my legs! So smooth now. And so is the tour, despite hiccups... we are working well together with a motto rolling around in my head, "nobody panic". Don't even panic when your selected soundman requires hearing aids to hear you, and he apologizes for forgetting them at home!

Rants and Raves

The best sound techs get the sound check done within 20 minutes, in a relaxed fashion, without high screeching feedbacks. They smile and they are not sweaty.  They make a few micro adjustments during the first few songs, and bob thier head like they dig the music. They move away from the board for most of the night, and perhaps only occasionally come back to it,  to turn off the reverb for when I talk to the audience between songs. We pray that they do NOT have a fidgeting problem or try new things mid song. We cringe for days when our dynamics are robbed from us by a sound tech who rides the faders and adds compression as we MAKE MUSIC.

Most sound tech and stage experiences have been great. Not having your own sound tech on tour adds some wonderful surprises, but also some wonder-why-we're-being- tortured experiences.

Playing on a stage in the lobby of a 4 star spa hotel, is when you feel like the 80's t-shirt that reads: LIFE IS GOOD, or LIFE's A BEACH, ...or best yet..."LIFE'S A SPA!" Thank you Seehotel in Neurrupin, DE. 

Pushing your own tour bus down the streets of Neu-Ulm, DE while wearing a florescent orange safety vest, sends a lot of blood through your heart. Kind of like a stab wound, I imagine. The key won't turn the starter motor. Parking positions become an essential and collective decision. In Plauen, DE we design our own sign for the windshield: (something like) auto kaputt, sorry we are parked here. I really like the cave-like cellar concerts a lot! So, the concert was cool.

Gifts from fans can be awkward, but every time they are sweet and dearly treasured (mostly), and remembered.  This week, I got a knit soccer scarf with my name and Canadian flags on it from a fan, and we have displayed it every night since. The new roll up banner makes it look like one more person is sitting in the crowd and how cool is that !? and the red wine, dark chocolate, cards and bundles of flowers give the tour bus a feminine and fairy tale like luxurious vibe. 

Opening acts otherwise known as support acts are like the little appetizer you didn't order at a restaurant that are presented compliments of the chef. Sometimes you get a delicious 'n mysterious like nothing-you've-ever-had before 'bite'. Other times you get something that was boring and just made you restless because it delayed 'your' order, and other times you get something too experimental and almost appetite destroying. Recording artist
David Blair was our surprise opener in Tailfingen, DE. He was a delight, not to mention he has two piece 'it's business time' pajamas...which I have blackmailing photos of now :).

Which way is up? It gets harder to keep it together.

I lost my light blue skinny jeans (size 28) somewhere between Fulda and Dexheim! REWARD, if found (thank you!). I will tighten my belt tighter for the next pair :) We also said good-bye to Thomas Fuchs (on keys) for now. His 'holidays' are over. We keep on truckin'...

In Fulda, DE we had a full band rehearsal. It was a thrill to have my favourite guys on stage together! Stefan Rapp on bass (formerly played guitar with me 100's of times!), Sven Rowoldt on keys (he's not just a computer wizard, he's a keyboard genious) and Frank Hauck http://frank-hauck.de on percussion (who got inspired to play the drums when he was 5 years old when he discovered the sound he could make by hitting 2 balloons with chop sticks). It's fun to rehearse on stage with no one in the hall. Then in Nuernberg, DE, recording artist, American Robbin Thompson http://robbinthompson.com, graced us with his passion his power. The double concert theme seems fun for everyone. Spontaneously and without rehearsal Robbin Thompson answered my call when he came up to the stage to join me on the DENMARK song we wrote together, "Until the wind stops blowing". Schwandorf was a 'hot' and 'steamy'; the cellar was sold-out days before and we were fired up. Velburg-Oberweiling, DE was packed tight too. I saw a red fox on my run that morning, and it made me feel extra wild & fit. REVIEW: http://www.kneipenbuehne.de/en270/kritiken/2014/053.html.

Sankt Barbara in Zwickau, DE http://www.liederbuch-zwickau.de, is a gorgeous white church, that seats 200. And it was as magical  performance as the first time. What I like most about returning to a venue is that the familiar faces start to feel like friends. And Celle, DE is no stranger. Either Axel's wife fits me in one of her dresses…'same procedure as every year', and Axel shares fantastic videos of the bands that played there recently.  It turns out that parking and loading equipment in front of a venue in an obvious tour bus, is a ticketable offence :(. Nothing like turning around ones mood, than taking a journey to a weingut! And Weingut Weyell is simply top notch and on this evening they were serving up a lot of refreshing Federweisser! CHECK IT OUT:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federweisser. 

 
I am getting more confident with my German. So after jogging along the wide and powerful Rheine River, I thought that I had proudly ordered two (well-deserved) scoops of ice-cream. What I got (and had apparently ordered) was 2 separate ice-cream cones. More practice...

Charged up, active and close to family!

3 great discoveries in the past few days:

1.)The König-Otto Tropfsteinhöhle in Velburg, DE http://www.tropfsteinhoehle-velburg.de offered a moment to do something other than drive, eat, make music, sleep. Hans, Sven, David and I put on head-saving helmets and entered the limestone caves. Cool, by temperature and description. Discovered by a man's dog who went into a fox hole that lead to this under-world of ...pillars, stalagmites and stalactites. (Growing only 1 mm per year!)

2.) The German snowball! I discovered this while in line at a giant truckstop - tankstelle.  Crispy light pastry twisted round like a cat-toy or ball of yarn and covered in a lot of powdered (icing) sugar. Best enjoyed outdoors! (Where the wind can carry the snow powder).

3.) I love Hagelslag (dark chocolate sandwich sprinkles served on soft bread with butter) as much today as I used to when I was a child.

Now in The Netherlands: Playing a concert in a tiny chapel (without a PA) brings to the front the feelings I get when I am sharing something special for the first time. Inspiring, revealing and wonderfully un-enhanced. The show in Nijmegen, NL was precious, and so was checking out the super underground heated bicycle garage afterwards! 

We picked up my joyful Mama in Deventer, NL where she was visiting my dutch relatives (Bergman / Sweitser) and now was going to hitthe road with us!

Previously 'Vanslag, the gorgeous Borger, NL venue and cultuurpodium was formerly a rural village church.  David witnessed the bells being rung manually, with power and precision! Photos and review from the show by Klaas Guchelaar:

 http://www.kjguch.com/2014/10/05/melanie-dekker-and-david-sinclair-in-vanslag/#more-10043 A fabulous sound tech,Ramon Boerman, made a great Live recording from the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-DE8Ud8NOc

 

Thorn, NL is a town painted in white! We had a fun show and stayed at a designer's bed and bötram (sandwich). I went for a run to Belgium. Pretty fun to experience a run across the street without stopping, that lands you in a different country. Also, very touching to read the little World War II memorial next to a tiny creek and bridge that once separated these countries.

The two days off offered moments alongside the curious black and white dairy cows, dog walking, and laundry. From one day to the next the corn fields went from hairy to bald. From our little farm house in Olst, NL we were kept awake for hours on a stormy night as a distressed cow cried and hollowed by our window. It hurt to hear it..with no known or available remedy :(. We also made a 3 hour trip along dykes, 'n fields 'n a raging thunder storm to get to radio Enkhuisien, NL for a live, repeated and syndicated radio show. It coordinated with a warm, spontaneous, with visit with my Aunt, Mary Dekker, whom I haven't seen for 10 years! She made the sun come out the second she arrived! 

Playing alongside the Maas river http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meuse_(river) and a collective of convent's botanical gardens at Jochumhof in Steyl, NL was a super success. Even the staff were taking photos of how crammed full it was. 

What is a Canadian restaurant?! One with a moose's head above a fireplace, Tim Hortens' coffee and cups, a totem pole, native first nation's carvings, pancakes, salmon and buffalo on the menu, Clamato juice...and a Canadian band performing of course! At Mondani in Lochem, NL some DEKKER's surprised me (a few of my Dad's Dad's siblings and a 2nd cousin)! They brought a family tree drawing with them for us to follow along the path of genes!

The fat little black pig

In Nieuwendijk, NL, we met Specky (translation: little bacon) the fat little black pig. He ran towards us like an eager puppy as we rolled up to the Kasteelhoetel. I pet him. He like it. 

Tonight: David Sinclair rocked the guitar (his hand still healing from an insect bite that made the right side of his left hand hard, swollen and painful for days!)  Frank Hauck joyfully pounded on percussion, and roadies Irene & Hans were eager to please.

Our backroom was interesting. See photos. The show not so much...the bridge into town was closed and our fans shut out :(. I cured my disappointment by buying shoes (black suede boots for stage - light weight and sexy!!). The new shoes did not help however when the tour bus' headlights suddenly went out while driving back in from our show to Specky and the Kasteelhoetel (beside the castle, not in it-. Not a fuse and not the alternater...we simply need to drive in daylight until Monday comes along. (Aaaah!)

Radio Deventer, NL presented me with a gorgeous lattee. We played live and interviewed in a warm, spontaneous and upbeat fashion. At the Burgerweeshuis concert the crowd got loud and louder...so we enjoyed the first half much more. It was so full that the stairs were used as a place to stand. I was in love with the sound tech Martijn (who looked 16 from a distance), he handled the change of atmosphere and still kept our sound slick and concert-like. The police didn't like that I drove with the only lights available...the high-beams. And so, we abandoned the tour bus and piled everything and everyone into a taxi. Good thing it was time to switch to planes and trains. Just have to get to Aachen, DE and Dusseldorf Airport. Please make the fog go away.

PS/ I loved the moments of playing hacky sack with my cousins, nieces and nephews, and making our very own Pippi Stocking style hair do!

Crossed Many Bridges

We had help getting to Sweden. Swedish airlines! Our tour bus was left at a garage and my future drummer (smile) BJ stored our gear in his studio in Aachen, DE and drove us in style to theDusseldorf, DE airport. It was nice to be down to just a backpack and a guitar. I realized that I had never toured like this. So this week started like an paddington adventure. We were in search of honey too. Sweet and smooth situations. 6 shows in a row and my Dutch cousin in tow, that was sweet. The Swedish train and transport system that was super smooth. The postal system though was too hard to swallow. Part of the fun of playing new territories is the opportunity to paint the town with posters, however my posters and postcards didn't make it to most of the bookers (I pouted with disappointment and stomped my feet and then shook it off with music…).

Engelen in Stockholm, SE is a famed music venue, and it's situated on a corner facing a bridge from Gamla Stan (the old town). Epic location! Our fabulously located 'hotel' above the bar had been neglected though, so in one moment you feel like a star, and the next you feel like you're being punished for something you didn't do. Turned out it wasn't so private either, as David walked into the washroom in the morning to find a lady doing laundry there. I woke up to the words, "Oh, who are you?". LOL. It was nice to stay within 2km of everything we had to do and wanted to do. Stockholm is clean, stylish and energetic. And yes, as many say…'always' cold and expensive. You can feel the royal presence, cross many bridges, and find dozens of coffee shops and record stores. Every area is like it's own island; surrounded by the ocean and rivers. My favourite 48 hours included: An 11km run with my cousin Martijn, who has a competitive nature and kicked my ass, the 2nd show at Club Stampen because our show just had that 'thing' that night, and the Tiramisu at an italian restaurant.

Six arms and three legs

In the middle of a guitar riff my ring finger on my left hand got a sudden cramp. The cramp and the tendons turned that finger into sponge cake, and made playing chords as simple as a D chord shoot a nerve like pain to my wrist for the next 2 shows in Sweden. My instinct tells me it's temporary...God, I hope so. Hijazz in Uppsala, SE is a good looking venue,  however our hotel rooms were designed like an air tight submarine. I opened the door to the hallway while sleeping as claustrophobia was encroaching.

At the show a man danced in front of David for most of the night; yes to the ballads too. Which brings an interesting recipe to our stage energy. Mix strange with enthusiastic, add a little unusual with almost funny, and add a splash of wonder and abandonment and you get a good time. Uppsala, SE has a Peace award for being war free for 200 years. We stepped into a Catholic church where a young choir was rehearsing. I was carried away like an angel with the sounds of children next to a massive organ (a person really needs six arms and three legs to play it!)  

Have you ever sat down on a brass park bench and then realized with joy that it's heated!? (See photo.)  Back on train gang... it is almost zero degrees. Brrr.

 

Josef's House of Blues in Eskilstuna, SE attracted a lot of groping customers and fans. I could have used elbow pads. Thanks for the interview (see article photo).

The shortest route isn't the fastest route

Our GPS has a few options, and accidentally choosing shortest route (not the fastest route) was on the bottom of a good decisions list. They could label that option as: 'Crawl speed with unsuspected ferries route'. I guess most people have a relationship with thier personified GPS. Trusting and blind-love like, until she or he lets you down when you're at a dead end road and your taunted with the words, "you have arrived at your destination."

Venues can be like that too... a dead end road, where you trust them to lift you and your music higher, looser and sweeter. Trusting and blind-love like, we hope that the venue fits and that it is packed. But of course, there are hiccups, bumps in the road, or 'interesting' experiences you hope not to repeat. When leaving Sweden to get back to Germany,  we heard about imminent airline strikes and a definite train strike, putting a halt to most peoples' travelling plans. Our plane was an exception and we caught one of the only trains possible to back to Aachen, DE (David shook his head, looked at me with an ounce of disbelief and said, "you live a charmed existence.") Our repaired tour bus was waiting. Not so fast. She wouldn't turn over... like she had rolled over and played dead. Jumper cables to the rescue and a chess game with the fuses, and then we began the last leg. Now it was time for human errors and lessons we hoped to have learned a while back. David got off the bus for a snack, I picked up earrings I forgot in the hotel, and then spent 2.5 hours trying to find him again. Distressed, lost and now late for a radio interview in Hagen, DE, I had to work very hard to stay calm. Stress stayed in my heart and the corners of my eyes for hours. The interview was cool though. So, that was our two days 'off'.