TOUR BLOG – WINTER 2007

Au Revoir Simone — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:27:25 -0000

Day 1 – London, England

We’ve been to London so often in the past year that Moshi Moshi headquarters is beginning to feel like a home away from home. We played two shows that night, one was a party for Lula magazine and another was at the Fly. The Lula party was more fancy than we’re used to, the fashionable girls from the magazine dressed us up in Kenzo dresses that probably cost more than our keyboards, so things were a bit tense backstage as we struggled to balance oily hummus on pita triangles above our laps, and drink red wine without dribbling all over. We were happy to return the dresses at the end of the night in a perfect condition. After changing into our own clothes we made a mad dash to the fly and arrived just in time for our show. It was our first night working with our new sound engineer, Caroline, so we were a bit nervous because our soft voices and keyboard-overload usually means shrieking feedback hell for a new sound person, but Caroline took control of the situation from the get-go and put our minds all at ease. She’s the best! We love Caroline! And she even lets us call her “Caroliiiiiina” with an affected posh Italian accent. But alas, we would not see her again until Stockholm as the next two days were for promo.

Day 2 - Brussels, Belgium -
Each of us were woken up by the sweet of sweets, Michael Moshi, with a perfect cup of tea at 3:30am because we had to get to the airport, and this left us in as good of a mood as one can be after 2 1/2 hours of rest. We sleepwalked into the plane and arrived in Brussels around 7am, where Pieter from the V2 offices met us. We spent the day doing interviews in a sleep-deprived haze. Hopefully we made at least some sense, or perhaps the language barrier will cover up any exhausted gibberish. After the interviews, we shuffled back onto a plane and were in Milan for dinnertime. We had a fiasco at the airport involving tears and much pleading to unsympathetic security guards when the airline staff wouldn't allow us to take our million-ton American-to-European power converter that suspiciously resembles a bomb on the plane as our carry-on. The emotional drama exhausted us, and when we arrived in Milan, and were taken to dinner by the V2 people we were afraid that there was going to be another Tokyo situation (see gothamist) but we managed to make it all the way to dessert before passing out.

Day 3 - Milan, Italy
The last thing that we remember before passing out the previous night before is Marco from V2 telling us that in Italy no one is mad enough to wake up at dawn to do anything, so we slept blissfully late. As we ate our lovely breakfast, which included the best coffee ever, various journalists came to meet us as well as a bunch of people from Hot Magazine for a photo shoot. Playing dress-up in Italy has to be the most fun because they just know how to do it right there. Heather enjoyed traipsing around the hotel lobby in a floor length bedazzled gown while reciting scenes from Dynasty and Annie enjoyed jumping wildly up and down on the bed in heels and a bouncy frock. Erika looked like something out of Gigi, composed and elegant, and practiced her Italian. Then we went to Mtv for a quick interview, then to the most massive lunch we’ve ever had on tour, and then back to the V2 offices for more interviews. We were heartbroken to leave Italy in the evening; in fact, the only thing that made it better was that we were returning to our beloved Sweden!

Day 4 - Stockholm, Sweden
Oh Sweden…why are you so beautiful? Why are your citizens all so cute and nice? Our Swedish excursion started out on a high point when our new tour manager, Michal, from the Czech driving company Fluffwheels, met us at the airport. He’s a dream, with a dark absurd sense of humour and an accent that makes him sound like a prepubescent vampire. (see cartoon character photo) And we all really appreciate that he puts up neatly written signs telling us what to do and where we should be all over the van. We were also reunited with our love, Caroliiiiiiina, who greeted us with one of her gorgeous bright smiles. The two of them combined form the most powerful and fantastic touring duo ever! We feel so lucky!! And the van, which is to become our home for the next few weeks, is enormous, with a giant loft bed big enough to fit all three of us side by side for maximum sleep comfort, and powerful heat, thank god, ‘cause Sweden is cold.
We spent our first day in Sweden in Stockholm…we woke up early and were taken to Mtv where we were interviewed on a show called ‘better than muesli.’ Then we went to the V2 offices where we had naps and collected various Peter, Bjorn and John merch like notepads and t-shirts. At the venue, we were informed that some of the members of PB and J might be at our show, which had us all beside ourselves with anticipation. Had they seen the video we made for them on youtube?! (see link) did they think we were insane for mentioning them in every interview since December?! (see link) would they be able to somehow sense that Heather had been listening to Writer’s Block on repeat for the past month and find it creepy?! The acute pain of fanaticism had grown unbearable! And Peter did come! And it turned out that he was a normal guy! Yes, a normal guy that breathes air like the rest of us, and drinks wine and wears striped cardigans. But we’re still convinced that somewhere in Sweden, Bjorn and John are actively avoiding kryptonite and/or charging up their batmobiles in between sessions.

Day 5 - Gothenburg, Sweden
The last time that we were in Gothenburg we had the most extraordinary soup we had ever had, and vowed to return come hell or high water (Au Revoir Simone is serious about soup). Since we didn't ride in the van because we were taping a television interview that we had to do on a train ride, we arrived in Gothenburg very early, before the venue was open. We wandered the streets for hours in search of soup like nomads carrying several instruments. But then we found our precious soup spot, aptly named ‘suppa’ (soup!) and dined like queens while being interviewed for Swedish public radio P3. Erika was devastated for not having taken a picture of the glorious soup, so that it may only live on in our memories and bellies, and somewhere in the slurping heard in that radio interview.
The show was great; everyone cheered really loudly for “Stay Golden”…we had no idea that song was so popular! We stayed at the venue that evening in a classy apartment reserved for bands. Somewhere around 4am we were all rudely woken up by the deafening shrieking of a fire alarm…in a panic we threw on our clothes and grabbed our most valuable belongings—Heather and Erika grabbed their purses, and Annie grabbed her knitting. Poor Michal didn't even have time to grab his pants. Then we had to wait for a long time until the firemen told us that there was, in fact, no fire. At first they wouldn't let us back into the apartment because they didn’t believe that we were staying there. We can only suppose this precaution was due to the fact that naughty American girls before us had made a habit of hanging around venues at 4 am in their pajamas, often accompanied by half-naked Czech guys.

Day 6 - Oslo, Norway
Sweden was a hard act to follow, but Norway didn't disappoint. We had time before our sound check to roam around a street market, eating freshly made waffles and poking around at all the pretty knit goods. Norwegian women look like goddesses, and the men are pretty good-looking too. And charming. And they make excellent audience members! Stephen Moshi obviously felt the same because he flew all the way from London just to make our show. We had the best Indian food for dinner that any of us had ever had, which is saying a lot considering that Annie has actually eaten Indian food in India*, and also was quite shocking for Heather who was traumatized so severely by her encounter with German Indian food that she was afraid to trust any European Indian food every again. We had to leave Norway quickly before becoming overly enchanted…
*Editor’s note: Annie actually found her meal barely palatable and greatly prefers Indian food from India.

Day 7 – Copenhagen, Denmark
We took a ferry from Norway to Denmark and took lots of pictures of the beautiful water and buildings along the sea. Once in Denmark, we drove through a hippy community on our way to the venue, witnessing a trashcan bonfire, freely roaming unusual breeds of dogs, and gruff locals. We thought that we were lost only to find that we were, in fact, in front of the venue. We climbed a tall and precarious looking set of metal stairs to get inside the space, which seemed almost like a tree house because of its low wooden rafters, knotty round tables, and hobbit-style doorways and windows.
We were happy to be reunited with one of our favourite Danish bands, The Elephants, who we played with in NYC at the Mercury Lounge back in the fall. When you’re on the road so much its really nice to play with people who you’ve met before because it makes you feel like you’re at home again. With their expert Theremin playing, sweet vocal harmonies, and pop-tastic synchronized guitar ensemble they were, indeed, a hard act to follow.
We also ran into one of our favourite (and youngest) fans, Alexander Hanke, who we met on our last tour. In October, he had written us the most lovely letter asking us to please put him on the guest list because he was broke and a big fan, and we agreed, but then Heather forgot which city he needed to be added to, so we added him to every list. So every night we wondered if some guy named Alexander would come and introduce himself, but it wasn’t until Lund that we found our dear fan, and realized that he needed to be put on the guest list not only because he was broke, but also because he was too young to get into the show! So what could we do but get the child drunk and keep him up dancing all night? Which is why he probably came back to our Copenhagen show, we were happy to add him to our list. We love Alexander!
All in all, it was a good day, but the best thing was that we found out that we’re touring with Peter, Bjorn, and John in the U.S in May! Which means that we no longer have to request to hear “young folks” from every DJ because we’re going to get quite a big fix, really soon.

Day 8-Hamburg, Germany
We weren’t in Hamburg for very long, but long enough for Annie to manage to find a junk store and attempt to purchase three garbage cans, one suitcase, and a teapot before realizing the error of her ways. She eventually settled on antibacterial eye drops-a wise choice.
During the show, Erika had to run off stage to get a cough drop, and Heather and Annie were obliged to entertain a large audience of Germans until she returned. They decided to try to tell jokes, which is a rather difficult thing when dealing with a language barrier. Needless to say, their stand up act failed after Annie told her famous ‘home-schooling’ story. The room was deathly silent save for the raucous ‘hee-haw’ issuing from the back of the room, where Caroline nervously waited for Erika’s return. Luckily for everyone involved, Erika appeared just as Heather suggested that she and Annie ‘jam’ on stage for amusement.

Day 9-Amsterdam, Netherlands (pic of Amsterdam-all that Erika saw of Amsterdam was this photo)
Amsterdam! By the morning, Erika was so ill that she had to spend the day in bed, leaving Heather and Annie to spend the day in search of hash chocolates.* Finding none, they settled instead on strawberry lipgloss and ponytail holders-a wise choice, especially considering the early wake-up call the next morning.
Despite their sober state, Heather and Annie also managed an A.R.S. first when they interrupted an important filmed interview with a three-minute giggle fest, the kind where your eyes are closed and your mouth is open but no sound is coming out. Heather was so nervous afterwards that she force-fed herself grapes until a stomach ache came on. You’ll have to see the interview to know what made us laugh so hard.
That evening, The Decemberists (a band we really like!) were playing on the main stage, so we got to crash their sound check. When they were finished, Collin and Christopher came down to our dressing room and said hello! They had actually said they like our music and wanted to say hi, which we found amazing. Or maybe they just said that. We’ll never know. Either way it was very nice.
*Editor’s note: In no way does Au Revoir Simone condone drug use, however, we strongly advocate partaking in local cultural practices as a means of expanding our worldview and understanding of, and tolerance for, other people and cultures, even if they are simply rowdy teen-aged German boys on holiday looking for cheap sex and hallucinogens.

Day 10-Brussels, Belgium (pic of annie with big fish)
When we got home (ie. the hotel) after the show in Amsterdam, Annie and Heather went to their hotel room (poor Erika was being quarantined in her own room) and upon opening the door they were assaulted with the most foul stench of rotten eggs they had ever encountered. Annie started to dry-heave while Heather unpacked her delicates and put them in the sink to wash. Annie discovered large, damp portions of the carpet were the source of the evil stench and began to reconsider their accommodations. She complained to the concierge and procured two new single rooms. However, to Annie’s great confusion, * Heather opted to keep the room for unknown mysterious reasons. But she had made a terrible mistake, for in the morning she was covered in gigantic mosquito bites, one of which was on her eyelid causing it to swell and droop, both obscuring her vision and rendering all human contact scheduled for the next day unfeasible. Michal said it best when he said that now Heather did truly look like a “vitch,” since she probably would require an eye-patch for the rest of tour.
When we got to Brussels, a doctor came and visited Heather and Erika at the hotel. Turns out, Heather would be fine, but Erika needed an arsenal of drugs to cure her. She stayed in bed, while Heather (donning a giant pair of sunglasses) and Annie went in search of frites and beer. Finding none, they settled on fresh waffles from a little orange-and-brown van parked on the side of the road. The waffles were so phenomenally delicious that whistles from creepy Belgian construction guys were made barely audible over Annie’s enraptured “mmmmm’s” and “oooooooaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh’s.”
Before entering the venue, we prepared our van to be broken into. Rumour has it (especially around Brooklyn) that it is the great Belgian custom for all travelling bands to be robbed blind while they sleep, and though we usually try to participate in local cultural activities, we opted out of this one, taking our various laptops and digital cameras with us (Forgive us, Brussels). We played that evening in the most exotic venue we’ve ever played in, the Rotunda at the Botanic Gardens. There was a Koi pond and palm trees and everything. To top it off, the show ended up being one of the greatest shows that we’ve ever played. We were asked to come back and do another encore, after we’d already done our encore! Belgians are some of the best fans that we’ve ever had; they danced during the fast songs, swayed during the slow ones, and cheered like winners. We were simply blown away by them.
In the morning when we went to the van we found that it had indeed been broken into. They smashed Michal’s window, resulting in a 170 Euro bill. But it was a small price to pay for such a great show. We’re sure Michal agrees.
*Editor’s note: and disgust

Day 11-Brussels to Paris (pic of the converter)
Highlight of the day: We drove back to the Brussels airport and got our American-to-European power converter from the Lost and Found! Score!

Day 12-Paris

MISUNDERSTANDINGS IN THE VAN
Since the title of our album came about by a misunderstanding owing to our various hearing impairments (Rod: Why are you laughing so hard, are you guys high? Erika: Yeah, we’re high on music! Heather: What? Bird of music? Annie and Erika: The bird of music! All: We have to call our album that!) we decided to include other miscommunications that occur during our long drives in the van.

Annie: I have to throw away my apple core, does anyone have a bag? Erika: Here’s a bag, Annie. Annie: Excellent…apple core depository! Heather: What? Albacore depository? Where? (We’re in a Nordic town so this seems possible) Erika: Yes, Heather, an albacore depository, the people here get together and have a giant community fish ball at the end of the year. Heather: That's disgusting! They all eat from a giant fish ball? Do they use spoons?! (Heather hates spoons.) Erika: No, they have a fancy party – a fish ball!