The Front Bottoms - Tour Diaries Sept-Oct 2013 | Page 14

Adam needed someone to keep him company.
When we got to Cologne we parked the van and got a pizza, before walking to the venue. Parking
was pretty hectic so we were a block away. Turns out the band had played this venue the year
before with The Menzingers. No one was up for a party tonight so we spent most of the time before
doors lying down and eating. Stumfol, a friend of Adam's, opened the show. He played acoustic folk
punk in the vein of Chuck Ragan, it was great. The show was well attended and people seemed to
really enjoy the set. I think the language barrier had a bit an effect on Brian's stage banter, as he was
getting very few reactions to anything he said.
We needed a place to stay. Luckily a guy approached Merch and said he could put us up but needed
to check with his wife. Fabian and Katy were the best hosts. They lived in an incredible apartment
about 20 minutes away from the venue. When we got there they had got every blanket and pillow in
the whole flat out for us and set up the latest episode of Breaking Bad for us to watch. We all had
another shower and I sat down to watch the episode. Everyone else who cared for Breaking Bad had
seen the episode in their own time, but tomorrow we were all going to watch the final episode so I
needed to catch up. They offered us whisky and rum but we declined. Amazing people.
Monday 30th September - Weisbaden, Germany (Schlachthof)
For the first time on the whole tour, I woke up with not even the hint of a hangover. We all woke up
a little late, Fabian had already left for work and Katy had to leave pretty soon. She set up the
Breaking Bad finale and left us in their house. We made some breakfast and sat and watched it. It
didn't suck. When we got to the van Mat suggested that we do a per diem. Adam said that people
could only have the money if everyone chugged a beer and I chugged two. We all got our money and
then went to sleep.
The venue looked cool as hell from the outside. Another large derelict looking building with an old
church to the right of it, everything was covered in graffiti and the venue was plastered with antifascist stickers. It backed out onto train tracks, some of which were in use, others had weeds and
grass growing about through the wood beams and around the metal tracks. Today we were staying
in the venue, which had an insanely large backstage room, two rooms in fact. One room had a dining
table and 6 bunk beds in, the other had as many couches and a beer fridge in. Despite all this I had
to admit I was feeling a little homesick and run down, but I knew tonight would probably be the last
time we could all get drunk together, at least until Vienna, if at all, so I drank a red bull, opened a
beer and powered through. Adam was today’s opener. He played 5 Leagues Apart songs and one
song by his old band The Frontline. It was nice to see him play acoustic. There were probably about
16 people at the show, but despite this I sold a fair a bit of Merch. People were singing along, it was
great. After the show we all had a shot of sambuca with coffee beans in them. It fucking sucked but I
forced it down.
The rest of the evening was spent hanging out with an American soldier who was celebrating his
birthday and two of his friends. They had travelled from Alaska to see their friend and noticed The
Front Bottoms were playing a show. He didn't look that much like a soldier. I'd always imagined
them to be Titan-esque killing machines with muscles the size of small cities and concrete fists. This
guy was about my size, very quiet and friendly. We drank until we all needed to sleep, said our
goodbyes to our new friends and turned in. The last thing I remember is Adam asking me how to
spell "paedo".