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Archive Sunday #50

Added 2024-05-26 16:00:10 +0000 UTC

Right after Lollapalooza we had about a week before our next run of shows that was scheduled to start back up again in Finland. We all had differing opinions on how best to spend the time in between, so we split off to do our own thing for a bit. Ethan missed the comforts of home, so he went back to recharge and spend valuable time with friends. Will took advantage of ending the run in Chicago, and took the time to visit family and friends around there and then in Northern Virginia. Andrew saw this promotion Iceland Air was doing that let you extend a layover in Reykjavic for as long as you wanted. So he had the bright idea to get a hotel room there for a few days to ease the effects of jet-lag.

Andrew soon learned what makes Iceland special is not an exciting city-life haha. He showed up to the hotel and was met with a week-long forecast of grey cloudy weather and ventured out by foot to see what the area had to offer. Turns out there wasn't much around and he spent days wandering around a mostly empty part of Reykjavic looking for something to do. I had always heard the captivating parts of Iceland were the geothermic pools and nature farther out from the airport, but Andrew didn't have the time or the budget to rent a car and check out some of the cool spots. Instead he just aimlessly walked around in the doldrums desperately waiting for something to grab his attention.

Not going to say I had the best idea, but I definitely had a better week than Andrew haha. I decided to just head to Helsinki early with my girlfriend and check out a slice of Scandinavia. We got a tiny room at a hostel in the center of town and spent the time exploring the city. We took the ferry to the island of Suomenlinna to visit the old fortress there, went to a local theme park, and got a drink at a bar at the top of the tallest building with a glass toilet overlooking the city. I remember grabbing some really tasty grilled halloumi and trying some of the local black liquorice by the historic cathedral. It was a great time and also helped me slowly adjust to the new timezone.

A few days later everyone met back up again at the hotel the Flow Festival put us up at. It was a huge change from the bare-bones hostel I was staying at a few miles away. They had a great included breakfast where Ethan ran into Aphex Twin one morning. We met back up with Luc our sound engineer and discussed the plan for the next few days. The other guys had another day or so to acclimate before the show on Friday. Then we got to the festival and checked on all the rented drums and amps we ordered. Everything looked good, and our way back to the greenroom I remember stumbling on Aphex Twin's set going on. It was surprising he was performing earlier than we were because I always just imagine that type of music happening in the early hours of the morning. But I guess our sets probably ended around the same time cause I remember heading out to our stage while it was still going on. The Flow festival was all around a great time, and I was kinda bummed we couldn't spend all weekend there. But luckily I was able to catch a bit of the Black Lips before we had to head out.

We woke up pretty early the next day to catch a flight to Oslo. When we landed we were greeted by a festival host that graciously gave us a ride to our hotel to check-in. We chatted a bit on the way, and I remember saying he loved living in Norway but wished the cost of living was lower. As we were checking-in, Luc and I could tell the effects of jet-lag were starting to hit everyone. So we elected to just chill there and maybe get a nap in for an hour or two before heading to the festival. Not sure it helped much, but we arrived at the festival a bit later to set everything up. I remember checking out the line-up and noticing there was a good mix of international artists and more local Scandinavian artists. I didn't recognize too many names that were performing the same day as us, so it was cool to be introduced to some music as we were walking around afterwards.

Norway definitely felt like one of those places where we spent more time at the airport than anywhere else. But hopefully we'll get the chance to come back and experience more of the culture there. So yeah, I think less than eight hours after we played the show we were back at the jet-way boarding our flight to Italy. From Oslo we flew first to Rome, then had another hour-long flight to Palermo in Sicily. I think that second flight was when I had one of those RyanAir moments where they suddenly decided my backpack was too big to fit onboard. I took a moment and just unzipped my bag and put on another shirt and a sweater, so it would fit in their size-guide display haha. Once we got to Sicily, we still had about an hour and a half drive to the festival.

The festival was called Ypsigrock and was on the top of this giant hill next to this 14th century fortress. I remember being amazed by the architecture even considering by the time we got there the sun had pretty much set. We played our set in the town square with the castle behind us as people were settling in for the night of music. It was a fun time but definitely enjoyed myself more once we were finished and we could relax a bit after the long day. Cigarettes After Sex played right after us as we packed up and wandered down the streets in search of some food. It didn't take us long till we found this local restaurant and grabbed some delicious pizza. By the time we were headed back to the square, Beach House had started their set. I remember just how perfectly their music fit with this ancient Italian square as we watched from the crowd. Needless to say, we were all pretty wiped at this point and we ended up at this bed and breakfast type place out in the countryside for the night. The next day we wandered down from our hill into the center of town to check it out in the daytime. It was a super cool spot, and I'm extremely grateful we had some time there to check out the sights.