SKAMP Didžiojoje Britanijoje (II)

9pm 6th of July: we just left our homebase here and headed up to Holyhead to catch the 2am ferry. Loaded all the instruments in, got a bottle of wine and some beers and off we went! By the time we got there everyone was dying to catch 3 hrs sleep on the ferry. Soon as we got on we raced up to get some good sofas to sleep on. Met some Polish fellas on the way and definitely saw a few Lithuanians too. Then went to sleep. We got to Dublin port about 5:30am and drove straight through the city to go to Limerick where we were playing that day. Dublin looks beautiful at dawn. The sun was just coming up and the sky had a dusty glow over the river Liffey. By the time we got to Limerick it was raining and about 10:30am. Because it was so early we couldn’t check in to our hotels yet so we went for an early breakfast instead.

After ordering some hearty Irish breakfasts we sat down to eat. The radio was on overhead and suddenly we picked up that they were talking about some British bombings. A little confused because we only heard bits of it and were exhausted from travelling we tried to hear more. Soon the whole pub was listening. Then the television went on. Then we knew what had happened. That very morning the bombs had gone off. We watched as more information came through. The areas that had been hit were areas we had spent alot of time around. I remember after the whole Iraq invasion, thinking not if England was going to be attacked but when. Over the last 2 years when we were travelling back and forth to London and going every day on the tube I remember often saying to Vee I was nervous that we’d be caught in an attack. The tube was such an easy target. Thank God we weren’t meant to be there that day.

Eventually we got our hotel rooms and after watching the developments on TV we all got some much needed rest. That evening we played at Dolan’s Warehouse to a modest but very enthusiastic crowd. It was a great concert and we even got some new American and Irish fans out of it. That night we stayed on in Dolans to party and ended up at an after-hours jam session there with some wonderful Irish musicians and friends, one being a very talented Paddy Casey. We met him through a club promoter about a year ago in Dublin and just hit it off. Ever since then he’s been very supportive of us. Anyways he played some lovely tunes, we played a few and some other guys from a traditional Irish music (trad) band played boran and guitar. One guy sang a great song about Freedom.

The next day (July 8th) we left for bubblin Dublin. For some of the guys it was their first Dublin experience. So we drove straight to the centre and had a few hours to wander around Temple Bar, Dame Street, Georges Street and all the usual haunts :) We had a few pints and tapas in The Globe on Georges Street, a bar we used to hang out in alot when we stayed in Dublin and saw my sisters who were both in town at the time. That night we hit the town, planning to go to the well-known and very expensive club “Spirit”. We had special invitations and everything because friends of ours were djing that night in the hip-hop floor downstairs. However there was a rock-star in the body of a security man who said that although I looked great and could go in, Vilius and some of the others looked like they were going to the gym. Meaning they looked “too hip-hop” for his taste. They let our bassist Domas in, our tour roadie Omenas and Vee too but the others were deemed under-dressed. Funnily enough they were letting in other people with exactly the same type of clothing. I have to admit I got a little annoyed with him. Ok, very annoyed. I mean we had free entrance tickets!

I don’t like when people talk bad about my friends and I’m a hot-headed Irish girl so I told him he should stop acting like a rock-star when he was just a bouncer. Of course he got really mad and that was that. But I couldn’t help it. Let me state, for the record, that I have the upmost respect for bouncers and security men in all Dublin clubs and pubs and throughout the world. I really do think they’re great and they put up with alot of nasty drunk and violent people. But sometimes they can be really big-headed and obnoxious. We ended up at a great live venue in temple bar known as The Mezz where we met up with Algis G. and Rimas Sapauskas who were also in town to perform their Radioshow programme. It was a great night!! :)

July 9th we had our Dublin gig in “Eamonn Dorans”. It went down really well and we even did some busking in the temple bar square and got a big crowd. It was so hot inside the venue though everyone was sweating buckets. The audience was 70% Lithuanian and the rest was made up of Irish and other nationalities. But everyone had a lot of fun, throwin’ shapes on the dancefloor and havin a laugh. Afterwards we met lots of old friends from Dublin and my cousins Liz and Thomas came along too. They’ve listened to our music for years but it was the first time they’d seen us live. That night we partied for a good few hours after that and then it was off to catch the ferry at 5am because we had another concert the next day in Leamington, England. We were awake but our bodies were sleeping by the time we got to our homebase.

But we got about 4 hours sleep before the Leamington concert. There were some other acts performing but in general it wasn’t the best turn-out ever. However 2 of our fans from Lithuania showed up as they’re living in Birmingham for the summer. It was lovely to see them and have a chat. Sadly they missed their 10pm train back to Birmingham (which is an hour from Leamington) and we were faced with a dilemma of what to do with 2 young ladies. Although they insisted they’d be fine waiting on their own at the train station for 5 hours, we knew it wasn’t the best idea. So we went around all the hotels in Leamington, every single one. They were all fully booked. We tried B&B’s and asked the hotels if they could just rest there in the lobby for a few hours but it was against the rules of the hotels. In the end we thought to hire a taxi for them to send them back to Birmingham in. It would have cost 40 pounds, less then a hotel room but the girls insisted that they would wait for their train. Since they are both 20 years old and have lived in england before I couldn’t argue much longer with them. So we let them wait at the all-night chipper in the centre of town where at least they’d be safer than in the train station. The next day they msg’d that they were alright so it all turned out ok.

Tuesday July 12th – we went to Wembley to see Snoop Dogg! One of my all-time favourite rappers I’ve loved this guy since I was 12 and his first album came out. We all had a mad time grooving to the new and old classic hits. He played them all and to his credit he had a full band, a dj, back-up rappers and dancers! Thank God! Because whatever you say I think hiphop is best when it’s live with all that rather then just the rapper and a dj. I mean I can listen to the CDs at home if I want. So it was a wicked concert, he rocked the house :)

Yesterday we had a last-minute concert in a club called “Silx” in Leamington. It was a small venue with no ventilation whatsoever and the sweat was pouring off us. But the people that were there had a great time, they really liked us. Actually, we’ve gotten nothing but good feedback from our audiences and some of them would be really hard to impress. In that sense, it’s been a very sucessful tour where we’ve definitely gained some new fans and have broken some new ground both in England and Ireland.

Today (July 15th) we have a meeting with our management to tie up all the details of the tour etc. and then we’re having a big Mexican dinner. Our good friend and clothing designer Cactus who’s from L.A. and has created 3 successful clothing labels there as well as dressing the likes of Mariah Carey and Gwen Stefani is going to be cooking his mean Mexican food for us :)

I can also reveal here, it’s an exclusive!, that we will definitely be releasing a clothing line next year. Summer 2006 will be the first collection and it’s going to be hot!! It’s gonna be an L.A. UK. LT label that’s going to blow up!!! :))

Tomorrow (July 16th) is our final concert…. :(…. It’s an important gig at “The Borderline” near Tottenham Court Rd in London centre. We need lots of support so spread the word! Bring your friends! :) although we’re ready to go back to LT, we have a lot of concert lined up there, we’ve gotten into the rhythm of touring and I’m sure it’ll take us a few days to adjust to being off the road. For all the lack of sleep, hard work, joy and pain we wouldn’t trade it for the world. We had a brilliant tour. I hope, if you saw us along the way, that you had a great time too. And thanks to everyone who came along and supported us. Much love!! *peace*