Like all good things...

Well the tour has come to an end, and now the long haul begins!

Thanks to everyone involved with making this a great success, and a great time!

A special thanks to Toma for making sure we got everywhere and making sure all the shows went well!

Jan for stepping up and making sure BC was looked after and constantly partying!

All our hosts, Micha, Freddy, Laurant, Robert, Ingo, Tony Slug, TJ Tilburg, Eugene, and Michelle... everyone who came to the shows and partied with us, all of the venues, and of course all our families and friends without whom none of this would have been possible!

See ya back in the Swamp sometime around 2pm on Monday!

Till next time, heres a final pic from the last flight of the tour from Auckland back to Palmy... after all the sunny goodness of Europe, good to see NZ was in fine form!

Graeme, Jimmy, Matt and Ben.

what what what...

Well had a well hurried start to the morning with the alarm not going off and us missing our train to London... got the next one and made it here eventually!

Caught the metro to Camden where Eugene from Flesh D-vice meet us to take us back to his place where we were staying. Got settled in, had some food and decided what we should do tonight.... we know...

AGNOSTIC FRONT!!!

Yup, AF were playing down the road so we jumped on the bus and went and saw a great sold out show.

Next day we went into the centre and went to the British Museum and went record shopping in Soho.

Today I think the plan is to go to Trafalger Square and then tonight go and watch The Suicide File who are playing down the road...

Sorry for the lack of photos, this PC doesn't have photoshop on it so I can't resize... oh well!

See ya all again soon!

BC

P.S Here are a couple of photo galleries from some of the shows that people have put up online.

St. Pauli

Tilburg

Tilburg2

WOW!!!

Alright, well heres a recap of the previous week...

GERMANY

First stop, Köln (Cologne).

First noticable difference to Black Chrome between Germany and France... cheaper booze!

Yep, we rolled into Köln and found our way to the venue the 'Sonic Ballroom' and waited for the owners to turn up and let us in, in the meantime a nearby dairy was found to be selling bottles of Jägermeister for NZ$16! The owners turned up and let us in and we set up and sound checked in front of possibly the coolest stage backdrop ever!



We then got shown upstairs to where we would be staying and what a surprise! More than enough bunks for everyone, a great party lounge, and this...



Plus we had an additional bar tab, and they cooked everyone up a great hot meal!

The gig itself was pretty lowkey turnout wise due to a few things, but we still had a good show and it gave us the chance to play with 'Bolle and the very good looking boys' who were playing their first show at the Sonic Ballroom.

Also this night as well as Bolle and the very good looking boys we ended up partying till the next day with the mighty Björn from Turbojugend Köln.



Ben, Björn, Bolle, and Snuff

The next day we only had a short drive ahead of us so we missioned into the centre of Köln and took in some of the sights including the magnificent Cologne Cathedral whose building began in 1248 and took nearly 600 years to complete!







We then made the short drive to our next stop, Düsseldorf.

After getting into town we had a wander and got some supplies for the night ahead and saw some very cool things...





Then we drove to the venue which was an underground punk bar in an industrial area of Düsseldorf. The turnout was pretty good and we played well and got a really great response!

After a goods night sleep we packed up and headed to Hamburg via Münster to pick up our good friend Jan...

First stop in Hamburg was for a pint at 'Fred's Schlemmer-Eck', home of TJ St. Pauli, the worlds first chapter of the Turbojugend.



After loading in at the venue 'King Calaveras' we had a look around the surrounding streets... i.e the legendary 'Reeperbahn' red light district!







St. Pauli went off! The Turbojugend turned up on masse and even some old friends of BC's turned up from Berlin bearing gifts. After a few hours sleep we began the arduous drive the next day to Amsterdam.

HOLLAND

Well Amsterdam is everything it's cracked up to be... just with more bikes! We played a great show to a packed audience at a great little blues club called 'Meloe Melo'. Post show we headed to our host for the evenings house, Tony Slug from the band 'The Nitwitz'. The night was spent partying and trading rock n roll stories til the early hours. We got up and took in some of the sights, then headed to Tilburg.





It was only a short drive to Tilberg, but due to there being a giant fair on in the middle of the city right where our internet directions told us to go it took a bit longer than expected to get there!

But when we did, what a welcome! The Jugend was out in force, with people traveling from chapters in Holland, Germany, Belgium, and of course Aotearoa!



We played a really good set to an energized audience full house, Jan even managed to get an inpromptu BC choir going! We got showered with gifts including shirts, badges, and just after we finished playing some kick arse patches from Bartman from the band Peter Pan Speedrock.





After loading out we said goodbye to everyone including Jan who had been with us since Münster, and drove through the night back to Paris where we are now.

Tomorrow... we head to London!

xxx

BC

Storming the Bastille...

Well today we got up and had a sweet French breakfast and then caught the train into the centre of Paris, and then the metro (underground) to Bastille.



Toma then took us to 'Born Bad' Records where we found possibly the most dangerous place in Paris...



Everyone quickly realised that all our money could easily be spent here so we left with this small bounty...



We then got out of the sun and took refuge at a cool metal bar where Wolfgang displayed his recently gained expertise at ordering beer in French...



After this we hoped back on the metro and went to another bar where the bass player from Tomas band 'The Lipstick Vibrators' was having the launch of his gig poster exhibition. Once again beer and pastis (a French liquor) were on the menu along with a huge spread.



And then we hoped on the train and missioned back to base to have a record party with all our new purchases, tomorrow we head to Germany where we play 5 shows in a row... stay tuned!

xxx

BC

Well what a fun few days!

We have just returned to Paris after being out on the road to Rennes and Rouen. Rennes was cool we partied with some guys from a local horror/psychobilly band called Banane Metalik who had just returned from playing in Hollywood. Went to this crazy surreal street that looked like it was built by MC Escher! Meet heaps of cool people and drunk until the next morning when we left to Rouen...

The ride took ages because of everyone returning from their holidays and big jams from the toll stations, we finally got to Rouen and the venue was this closet sized punk rock bar called Le Prado one block from the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen, after finding out the PA speakers were busted and sourcing out alternatives we rocked out about 15 songs in what must have been 40° heat!!!

Afterwards we went to the house of the owner of the venue and we had this fantastic home cooked french meal, by this stage everyone was pretty shattered so we went to the flat of the punk rock barman from Le Prado and after some brief entertainment by a bat trapped inside the house we crashed...

Got up this morning and drove back to Paris where we well spend the next few days chilling and sightseeing before heading to Germany!

Love to all!

Wolfgang, Jimmy, Matt, and Ben.



Black Chrome lurking in alleys is a worldwide trend...



Aïna and Karine at the entry to 'Liquid Alley' were we hung out and drunk and watched some cops cuff some street thieves who we'd been watching rip people off all afternoon!



Our host Laurent in Renne.



Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen



One of the greatest bars in the world!



Figured we might play some songs since we were here...





New friends.

Well the flights are over...

Sweet well we made it!

30 something hours from PN to Paris... Turns out the show tonight isnt happening now which means we can catch up on some sleep, and the duty free liquor/smokes!

Heading into Paris tonight to party which should be a ball, and heres some pics so far!!





G and Matt in Bangkok



Thats actually Warsaw down there would you believe!



And finally the view from our crib in Paris... quaint eh!

We are off to party in Rennes tomorrow, so who knows what will happen!

Last night in the swamp...

Well we just finished up our final practice, the rains coming down... Palmy really turned it on tonight!

Fly out of PN around 8am tomorrow and then onto Paris.

STAY TUNED!!!

Check 1...2...

Aight well we are about 3 weeks away from heading off so it's time to see if this interweb milarky is gonna work!