The Front Bottoms - Tour Diaries Sept-Oct 2013 | Page 11

Thursday 26th September - Kingston (Mckluskies)
We woke up at a reasonable time, went for a Wetherspoons breakfast and then left Southampton.
The journey to Kingston was easy.
We did the standard load in, set up, soundcheck, merch deal that we'd done so many times before
and then Adam and I tried to find something to eat. Kingston is the only place in the world where
you can buy shoes after 7pm but not Subway. So we walked, eventually found a Sainsbury’s and
bought an egg sandwich.
The show was fun. Someone bought me a shot because they thought I looked lonely, then my friend
James turned up and we got drunk together. It was nice to catch up. We made fun of the fact
everyone under the age of 20 appears to have heads that are too big for their bodies.
After the show we stayed with James. We had a strict van call of 7am to get to our first European
show in Paris. I’d never been to Paris so I was pretty excited.
Friday 27th September - Paris, France (L'International)
Now the adventure really begins…
I managed to wake up just in time for a shower, thank Christ; I smelled like a dead person. In all
honesty I probably wasn't that far from death. Adam drove to the Channel Tunnel, got out of the
van, slept on the pavement, got back in the van, slept on during the tunnel and then drove non-stop
to the venue in Paris.
When we arrived at the venue Adam told us to wait in the van so he could find out where to load in
etc. He was gone for a while and when he returned he was in hysterics. "Tonight is going to be
hilarious", he said. I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not. The venue had a low noise curfew
so the drums had to be shielded with a sheet of Perspex and the sound man was genuinely
concerned that the fridge (our 8x10 bass cab) would damage the venue’s walls. Strange.
We ate some Asian food, rice with fried veg and sauce, and had a few beers. Soon after food our
friends in Elway and the illustrious Dave March of Dave March Audio fame turned up to hang out
with us. They had a d