14
Bido Lito! February 2015
TWO STEPPE ROCK
Broken Men and
Natalie McCool
tour diary
Photography: GLORYBOX / glory-box.com
Following a chance encounter with
Rolling Stone Russia that led to an
interview and a late-night, pissed-up
jaunt to The Mayflower, BROKEN MEN were offered the kind of chance
that doesn’t come around often: a tour of Russia, playing several dates
in the underground rock clubs of Moscow and St Petersburg. So, with
their passports in hand and a burning desire to go and play to some
new and wholly unknown crowds, Broken Men joined forces with
NATALIE MCCOOL and set off to tour the land responsible for slamming
Pussy Riot in jail and bringing TaTu to Eurovision.
While they were away, Natalie and Broken Men’s drummer/vocalist,
Henry Pulp, kept a tour diary. They’ve combined some of their memories
with photos from the tour, to shed some light on what it’s like touring
a rock’n’roll show in Putin’s backyard.
“We were signing autographs and getting pictures with people, so it
was a million miles away from what we’re used to. They made us feel
like royalty.” – Henry Pulp
“They are so into their live music and it was a pleasure to play in front
of such engaged audiences. One girl in Moscow who saw us by chance
said she searched all day the next day to find out who we all were,
and then when she finally got the info she came to the gig the next
night. It was amazing! Another girl said I made her cry – in a good way!”
– Natalie McCool
Natalie
McCool: Russia
is huge but we only saw a tiny portion of it: St Petersburg is
more European, Moscow was amazing but very imposing. All the
buildings are huge and it just goes on and on. There is much less
music over there – compared