Vini, vidi, vinci. We drank the wine, watched some videos and though about Leonardo da. The stage was set, a grey Monday evening, sleepy eyes and a few (quite a few) friends. The mighty frog machine was greased (thanks to the Eisbein) and ready to rock. Or roll. Even pop a little.
After once again breaking our backs carrying too many amps and drums we arrived at the Magnet and did one of the loudest soundchecks I've ever heard (and I've been at a few ones, believe me). The sound tech made sure no one had any hearing left afterwards... So we had to talk to each other for a while while reading the lips. Fine thing. Especially if you're eating. Or drinking. Or drunk :o)
The Magnet club was quite packed even before the first band started shortly after 8 pm. Loud drones made sure everyone was also deaf before we went onstage, so no one could notice the wrong notes we played anyway. Grounded first and Zone of Equality later turned up to eleven and then Poolstar prepared the crowd for a good night of frog'n roll. By the way, thanks again to all of them for sharing this night with us. You rocked guys!
Unusually nervous this time around (at least I was), we hit the stage and gave a pretty punky rendition of "Throwing Up The Breakfast" to start. I think it was Cecil B. DeMille who once said that a good movie should start with an earthquake and then just go on upwards. That's what we went for on Monday. And we got it.
Launching into "Lately" and "Blue Ice" only proved too well that our 4th frog Jorge did a very nice job re-learning the songs. Our second guitar player for special occasions such as this packed out his Les Paul and lent me a hand terrorizing your poor ears :o)
But the, well, how could I say this... the funniest part in the gig was playing our Britney cover "Toxic", where some, er... female attendants decided it was time to throw lingerie onstage. String tangas and bras flying through the air was a view we will not forget so easily (hey, did I already tell you how we loved it?). :o) Diana, Patricia, Ainhoa, Claudia and the rest: you rocked!
The gig was a really cool chance to meet a lot of new froggy people who had already bought the CD but never seen us live before. And to deafen them, of course. We lost our hearing somewhere between "Million Miles" and "Titanium", but that didn't stop us from breaking the sound barrier with "While You Can" and then finishing the encore with a froggy rendition of the Foo Fighters' "All My Life". That was fun, man, I can tell you.
Then the real party started in the VIP zone. Depravation, girls, booze and food, what more can we ask for? Oh, yeah, a pair of new ears if possible.
28 April 2005
22 April 2005
Aufsturz
Simply fucking fun, man... A little gig turned out to be incredibly cool. We had our friend Jorge come over from Gran Canaria to play a few gigs with us, and we weren't disappointed: he did a dammed good job and we had a lot of fun & games... Some very loyal fans from here and there turned out to be VERY loud and ready to rock, so we gave'em what they wanted and premiered a few brand new songs for the next album (Follow You Around, Into The Sea, 1976). Afterwards it was too late to even think about having another beer... but somehow we managed. No comment on that :o)
Love,
Der Stonerl
PS: Oh, and by the way, we found our brains swimming in peaches...
Love,
Der Stonerl
PS: Oh, and by the way, we found our brains swimming in peaches...
11 April 2005
"A Million Miles From Home" video shoot
It all started early. Way too early, really! 7 a.m. was the call. After having played the night before at the Kurt Cobain Tribute, the first thing I noticed was how sore my neck was from the savage headbanging delivered onstage... but no time to moan, a full day's ahead!
After meeting at Maxim's office and sipping to a fast coffee we drove to a town (?) one-hour drive north of Berlin where the filming should take place. The location was a huge piece of land with several bunkers from World War II where the goose-step-loving Nazis used to store bombs and other fine goodies. It was later used by the invading Red Army to keep other fine goodies too. And even later, the East German Army used it to store... eh, store... well, whatever they stored there, ok? (Who gives a shit anyway, it simply looked cool!).
Already there were the crew and real heroes of the day: Sebastian Pennek (director), Martin Roth (camera), Carlos (light), Harpo (2nd camera), and of course, Maxim, the one in charge for everything else, the guy who had the idea for this whole thing, who has spent countless sleepless nights trying to figure out how to get all the people together and getting their asses on motion. And last but not least, also responsible for the most important stuff at these things: FOOD AND BOOZE!!
After setting up all the stuff we started with the first takes where Timo and My Lowness are basically running through the forest trying to find Tobi. And running through the forest again. And getting out of breath! We basically spent the first half of the day with that, finding cool locations and nice-looking trees (great!... does the irony come out fine on print?). At midday we were just bloody hungry and wishing for a nice comfy bed or a warm car to rest for a while (remember we had slept about 4 hours the night before, beer not included!).
After a fantastic and mayonnaise-loaded lunch from chef Max it was time for Tobi to start shooting, now inside of the bunker. A lot of burning lights (literally!) and nice smells gave the perfect touch to the scenes, really. I felt like one of the guys at the beginning of E.T. when they keep searching for the alien spaceship with their maglites in the middle of the mist, you'll see why when the video's finished... way cool.
After shoting a little bit it was time to get the scenes with Ralph Kretschmar, who plays a part as a... ah, come on, I won't tell, otherwise the surprise will be fucked up! But it looked very cool up there on a hill with a nice blue sky behind... :o) I'm looking forward to see this finished scene, as it may be a very surprising one, trust me. Still, I prefered to get back into the car and have a short snooze...
And then, after some more inside shooting, was time for the grand finale. The scene where the frogs are cooked and smoked and burned and then laid on the plate... Without telling much of the story, I can say that this will definitely look VERY cool when ready. We're a true smokin' band, man. The "hottest" thing around town...
Later, at somewhere between 11 and 12 in the evening, chef-in-charge Sebastian decided that he had all he needed in the can, so we packed up our things and began the long way home to a warm shower and a nice and comfy bed to sleep long long long...
A funny experience shooting I must confess. I couldn't act to save my life (no one of us can, really), but it was certainly fun to watch and be a part of, especially with very cool people managing it all. I'm fucking thrilled to see it all finished, and you should too!
Peace, love and smoked frogs,
El Niño Stone
After meeting at Maxim's office and sipping to a fast coffee we drove to a town (?) one-hour drive north of Berlin where the filming should take place. The location was a huge piece of land with several bunkers from World War II where the goose-step-loving Nazis used to store bombs and other fine goodies. It was later used by the invading Red Army to keep other fine goodies too. And even later, the East German Army used it to store... eh, store... well, whatever they stored there, ok? (Who gives a shit anyway, it simply looked cool!).
Already there were the crew and real heroes of the day: Sebastian Pennek (director), Martin Roth (camera), Carlos (light), Harpo (2nd camera), and of course, Maxim, the one in charge for everything else, the guy who had the idea for this whole thing, who has spent countless sleepless nights trying to figure out how to get all the people together and getting their asses on motion. And last but not least, also responsible for the most important stuff at these things: FOOD AND BOOZE!!
After setting up all the stuff we started with the first takes where Timo and My Lowness are basically running through the forest trying to find Tobi. And running through the forest again. And getting out of breath! We basically spent the first half of the day with that, finding cool locations and nice-looking trees (great!... does the irony come out fine on print?). At midday we were just bloody hungry and wishing for a nice comfy bed or a warm car to rest for a while (remember we had slept about 4 hours the night before, beer not included!).
After a fantastic and mayonnaise-loaded lunch from chef Max it was time for Tobi to start shooting, now inside of the bunker. A lot of burning lights (literally!) and nice smells gave the perfect touch to the scenes, really. I felt like one of the guys at the beginning of E.T. when they keep searching for the alien spaceship with their maglites in the middle of the mist, you'll see why when the video's finished... way cool.
After shoting a little bit it was time to get the scenes with Ralph Kretschmar, who plays a part as a... ah, come on, I won't tell, otherwise the surprise will be fucked up! But it looked very cool up there on a hill with a nice blue sky behind... :o) I'm looking forward to see this finished scene, as it may be a very surprising one, trust me. Still, I prefered to get back into the car and have a short snooze...
And then, after some more inside shooting, was time for the grand finale. The scene where the frogs are cooked and smoked and burned and then laid on the plate... Without telling much of the story, I can say that this will definitely look VERY cool when ready. We're a true smokin' band, man. The "hottest" thing around town...
Later, at somewhere between 11 and 12 in the evening, chef-in-charge Sebastian decided that he had all he needed in the can, so we packed up our things and began the long way home to a warm shower and a nice and comfy bed to sleep long long long...
A funny experience shooting I must confess. I couldn't act to save my life (no one of us can, really), but it was certainly fun to watch and be a part of, especially with very cool people managing it all. I'm fucking thrilled to see it all finished, and you should too!
Peace, love and smoked frogs,
El Niño Stone
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