Read previous parts of the diary here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
I thought I would start off by introducing myself for those who doesn't already know who I am.
My name is Per "Sodomizer" Eriksson and I'm the session guitar player for Katatonia on this tour. Some of you might know me from Bloodbath or from earlier Katatonia shows, as I have been working with the band for over 6 years as their Guitar and back-line tech. So enough with that and let's get on with the tour diary...
Luxembourg 15/3
Woke up in the bus with all my clothes on, like almost every day on this tour.
Although the UK had been a lot better than I would have expected, It felt nice to be back on the mainland. I immediately went for the showers, which turned out to be one of the coldest showers I'd ever taken. Felt like someone was trying to give me a lobotomy while I was washing my hair but a shower is always a shower and you really have to seize the moment when you get it. Because of some Russian visa problems, our guitar tech, Soldier, had to stay in the UK to pick up his passport and we were lucky to have Dave from Long Distance Calling filling in and taking care of our guitar changes. We chilled out with some beers in the backstage between sound check and the show. This was the first time the band has ever played in Luxembourg so no one really knew what to expect but it turned out to be great. Good sound, great light and most important; awesome crowd!
We drake a few beers and hung out with the Swallow the sun guys before going to the bus. I ended up watching Seinfeld in my bed and fell asleep…. again with my all clothes on...
Paris 16/3
The bus stopped outside the venue on a one way street with parked cars on both sides of the road so the load-in was extremely stressful. But we have a very professional crew and they did an amazing job getting it all sorted. We hooked up with Céline, a professional light tech who had contacted us and wanted to do a "try out" for future tours. And finally our beloved guitar tech returned from the UK. Although Dave did a great job last night it felt really safe to have him back. The show has been sold out for a while and that´s a good feeling. It always makes everyone a bit more excited to play and the result of it showed; an awesome show once more...
After the show we all went to an absinthe and got shitfaced. Don't really remember much of it to be honest. We ended up in a big dark garage for some reason, and Anders and I (both being big fans of horror video games) discussed the possibility of being attacked by flesh eating zombies and felt like we needed to get our hands on a bunch of shotguns to get out alive. Thankfully no zombies showed up though and we made it out alive (being a little disappointed) and found our bus. Some of the guys kept on drinking in the bus, I crashed in to bed.
Niort 17/3
I woke up and was a bit surprised that I didn't have a hangover from last night. I usually get really bad hangovers and can sometimes be out for days. The bus was parked about a 5 min walk from the venue, but our tour manager had been up early and put up gaffa taped arrows from the bus to the venue. The weather was amazing, 22c, sunshine, like a Swedish hot summer day. The venue looked really nice but the PA system didn't really hold up. Anders had told me that this probably would be the least crowded show on the tour, and he was right. But the people who showed up where really supportive and the show turned out to be pretty good.
No one, except for the Finish guys, felt like drinking anything besides water and the rest of us just went straight to bed and watched movies.
Barcelona 18/3
Woke up and went up to the driver to have a smoke and watched while he did some class A reversing on the really small streets in Barcelona. When we finally got to the venue our bus parking has been taken by some f--ks that didn't care about the fence they had put up to reserve the space. All of a sudden a police man showed up, apparently we had scratched a car a little while trying to find the venue. When they had sorted out all the insurance papers we told him about the parking. He made a call and a lot of police and a bunch of tow trucks turned up and removed all the cars so we could finally park the bus. Impressive work to say the least. The venue was pretty nice but we had a bit of a cockroach problem in the backstage. When it was time for the show Anders guitar sounded really strange (we figured out after the show that it probably was interference with his wireless as the guards had radios that could have been on the same frequency), so we got on stage a bit late. But the crowd in Spain is unbelievable and we had a blast! We had a few beers backstage before hitting the bus. I feel a bit weird at this point, feels like a cold is coming over me…
Madrid 19/3
Oh yeah. Woke up, feeling like a bag of crap. Sore throat, nose running like there was no tomorrow and my body feels completely worn out. The venue turns out to be really nice, BUT the PA system is not at all made for rock shows. I feel too bad to care and decide to take a nap on the floor instead. Soldier got a really good photo of me looking like a bum on the floor. He´s a mean old man.
After sound check, me Daniel, Anders and Ronnie our TM got a bit lost while looking for McDonalds but found our way back in time for the show. I felt like shit but I did the best I could to put up a good show. I had to blow my nose in a towel like every other song or so but the audience really helped as they were ever crazier than last night. Got to love Spain! I went to bed straight after the show to get some quality sleep.
Bordeaux 20/3
We had very low expectations about this venue and this show in general so we were happily surprised when we walked in to this amazing venue. The promoter and the local crew were very nice and extremely helpful. We pretty much did the same thing as we always do; had a few beers, surfing the Internet and so on. I was still feeling pretty bad and tried to drink and smoke as little as humanly possible. The show was pretty good and a lot more people than what we expected showed up to support us. After the show we all took it pretty easy, a few of the other guys had caught my cold as well by now and where feeling a bit low. So we headed for the bus to the safety of our beds.
Lyon 21/3 - Day off
As soon as I woke up I took my bag and walked across the street and checked in to a hotel. I needed to get some peace of mind and get out of the bus for a while. Soldier did the same thing. I just crashed in to the bed and stayed there all day smoking cigarettes, surfing the net and falling in and out of sleep. The other guys stayed in the bus and did… well... nothing much I guess.
This tour has been awesome so far, and I really hope that it will stay that way.
We are not even halfway through the tour, and it starting to feel like I haven't been home for like a year. But I couldn't be happier. Thanx to all of you that have showed up and supported us so far!
- Sodo, Katatonia, 2010
