Live photos of Embers/Neon Piss by Jan Zeleny
Venue photos via Embers
Embers is currently in Berlin. We just finished our set at the Kopi, Summon the Crows have just taken the stage. Below are relevant tour diary entries from the Lesser of Two tour in 1999 regarding shows in Prague and Leipzig which Kelly discussed in the band interview/discussion.
Oct. 13, 1999
I slept in the kitchen and was awakened by people making coffee. I got the transformer, but didn’t have time for a cup of coffee.
We were awed by Zoro squat in Leipzig. It was a huge multi-level complex with adjcent buildings. There was a big kitchen, dining facilities, practice studios, an office, storage space, a bar/show space, and living quarters.
When we arrived they had prepared for us a large meal with homemade sauerkraut, some kind of potato dumpling, and so on.
12 Alluidos played some chaotic noisey hardcore with a lot of energy. They were very good. We found out later that they are touring by using the Euro-Rail. It seems like a very inexpensive and eco-freindly way to tour Europe. The only downside is that they had to borrow almost all their equipment except for guitars and cymbols which they could take with them on the train.
This type of tour would be difficult for us but I highly recomend it to other bands who want to tour Europe.
We played and everything sounded good since the squat had some nice cabinets for us to use and a good drumset. Unfortunately I fell off the stage leaving my ass sore for a couple days. Another thing I noticed was how the Germans seem to smoke a lot and smoke everywhere. The venue was dense with smoke making it difficult to sing because of the caustic vapors. I usually am not one to obsess over second-hand smoke, but the smoke was so thick that it was distinctly oppressive.
We met up with Lenin formerly of the band Los Crudos. We stayed up late with him and the guys from 12 Alluidos. We decided to leave that night so that we would have a good margin of driving time to Wroclaw (pronounced: Vrotswov). Unfortunately we forgot one of our power transformers and had to turn back around only to find that the squat had been abandoned and the door to the show space locked
Nov 4-5, 1999
The next day we played. There were some Americans at the show as well as some Australians. The Americans at the show had been in Prague for quite some time and had found work teaching English.”
We went a day early to our show in Prague which in Czech is called Praha. Ladronka squat was a historical building on the outskirts of town. It is so well known of a building that it is drawn on the maps of Prague. Some of us went into the city soon after arriving at the squat. We rode on the tram and when we tried to pay for tickets the driver told us to go away so we decided not to pay.
Prague is a beautiful city which is unfortunately scarred with the mark of tourism. About 20,000 Americans live in Prague drawn partially by it’s beauty and partially by the inexpensive cost of living. As we entered the central square the first person we asked for directions was American and so we easily communicated and got to our destination which was an internet cafe.
Usually I avoid such places, but because we booked almost our entire tour via e-mail it was necessary. Luckily since we were in Czech the cost of this convenience and luxury was little in terms of American dollars.
When we got back we realized that Kobayashi wasn’t playing and we were to be the only band. Also we realized that Martin hadn’t booked the show and thus didn’t know who did. It was a big complex mystery which we couldn’t solve. Martin didn’t know who actually set up the show and neither did any of us.
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