JWD, Spandau, 12.Dec.08:
- Another end-of-the-year traditional gig at one of our favourite clubs (and still the tidiest one!). Tina & the sound guy (sorry, always forget his name) are friendly and nice to us as usual.
- First time Jorge plays the JWD and is amazed, he loves it, especially the hairdryer.
- I bring down my brand-new, just-received Gibson ES-335 (Juana), and it sounds fan-fucking-tastic into the Peavey Classic 50! The overall sound onstage is unbeatable as usual, and there's no need for me to use earplugs, it's not too loud and I can hear my voice perfectly over the monitors. The Sound Guy Without Name clearly knows the place like the palm of his hand.
- There is a... girl?... "dancing" (rather stumbling) almost naked all the time on high-heeled white leather boots. Sounds coo, but it is definitely not. Worth a sight. Rumour goes that there is still a little blood left in her alcohol...
- Timo breaks his bass strap at the beginning of the second set, therefore Tobi, Jorge and I must start improvising on A and G (boring!), and it sounds surprinsingly well. He takes ages to change into a new strap and then his wireless sounds fucked up. Same procedure as every year, really. At the end of the gig we add that priceless piece of memorabilia to the outstanding collection hanging backstage, where a signed Frogcircus snare head is already proudly shown (ehem).
- Tobi feels the urgent need to play with a towel on his head for the second part of the gig, and looks a bit like a mixture of Matt Sorum and a Hindu guru with a ciggie in his mouth. A shocking view, for goodnes' sake!
- Jorge is totally ashamed of Timo and myself for using our beer tickets to have coffee. But of course, he was still sleeping at the time when we both had to wake up this morning...
- The JWD still announces us with an old website address, frogcircus.net, which has not been in use since... 5 years now? It's like a running joke, at least they don't use old band photos with our ex-drummer looking silly on it, which is a step forward.
- The gig itself is very cool, we're having tons of fun onstage and still we sound surprinsingly tight. I guess the good sound has a lot to do with it, it's much easier than when you have to make your way through a long setlist fighting with bad monitors, electrocuting mics, terrible guitar sound and overall unprofessionality. That's why it's always great to come back here, really. Everything runs smoothly. If all the clubs were like this one...
Titty Twister, Berlin, 13.Dec.08:
- A gig that came in at the very last moment. Tobi has already another gig booked somewhere else, but he moves his life a little bit here and there and he is there for the show. He arrives, plays and leaves. What a pro, the guy.
- The whole thing is the premiere party of a new film by our good friend and graphic guru Maxim Matthew, Urban Scumbags Vs Countryside Zombies, where Yours Truly has done a little bit of music for. Yes, the title says it all, another romantic comedy with Meg Ryan and Billy Cristal. Maxim himself is running around like a zombie trying to get everything in order, which is not easy, as no one really knows who's responsible for what. I know I'm responsible for going up onstage and scream my balls off, the rest is a mystery.
- Following a new tradition lately, I break a string on my acoustic Gibson. Fuckfuckfuck! So much for the unbreakable Elixir strings. This time the A-string, which leaves me literally like if I had my dick hanging out in a shopwindow during the Xmas shopping. I'm completely lost without that bloody string, but I try to make the best out of it by the fine arts of Machshau. Later, I think no one even noticed. Good dog.
- After we're done playing (and Tobi is off to do another gig) we take a stroll through the wonderful Christmas maket at the Kulturbrauerei and enjoy some food and drinks with our frogette girls, who show us that a real girl can have more grilled steaks than any of us. Never mess with a hungry woman, dude.
