CVLT Nation Exclusive
Embers
European Tour Diary
Day One

CVLT Nation is transmitting directly from European soil this month via the Embers…they will be sending us an exclusive look at their European tour, starting today with Day One! Stay tuned for more, and start your journey below…

Today Embers flies to Italy to begin our European tour. We are currently in the last throes of packing and re-packing as well as preparing for any problems with flight security and customs. These days you are only allowed to bring one checked bag without paying an extra fee. These baggage fees are a hidden cost that help the airlines to keep their ticket prices seeming competitive.

I remember my first European tour with Lesser of Two in 1999. Back then a flight to Europe was a luxurious event. We had enough checked baggage to bring my guitar amp, guitar, and a decent amount of merchandise. On the flight we were given all the drinks we wanted and movies.

This time I am packing light. I put all my personal things that the TSA will allow on the flight on my carry on and I am checking my guitar. My guitar case is stuffed with pedals, cables, and other personal items the TSA may not let on the flight. I have to leave my amp behind unfortunately, and we will be playing on amplifiers different from what we are accustomed to.

Read full diary after the jump…

At the moment there is a weird calm. So often before a tour we are packing and organizing right up the last minute throwing the last few items we forgot wherever we can. Then after we get in the van or the plane we realize, “Oh Shit! I forgot the …” I hope that doesn’t happen this time.

Embers’ new album Shadows will be available May 25 at our first show in Bologna. I am really excited to be working with Iconoclast. I feel that Embers has a lot of affinity with them. We are all into metal, but have strong roots in the punk, radical, and DIY scenes. Iconoclast is a sub-label of Agipunk whose founder, Mila, booked shows in Italy for Lesser of Two back in 1999. It will be good to see him again. He is providing us with back-line (amps, cabinets, and drums).

Claudio and Davide have been our contact for Iconoclast. Claudio booked the tour and Davide drives the tour van that Iconoclast is providing. In the past Embers has always booked our own tours. It’s both a relief and stressful to have someone else doing the booking. On the one hand having someone else book for you means that they can speak independently on behalf of your band. A sad but true reality is that promoters are more likely to take a band seriously if someone else is booking their shows.

On the other hand it is a little stressful relinquishing control and putting your faith in another person. In Embers as well as other projects I’ve been involved in there have been experiences when someone has said they would book a tour or put out an album only to realize after it was to late that the person wasn’t reliable causing us to scramble to put something together because we had already committed ourselves.

For those of you reading this in Europe we look forward to seeing you. Check out our tour dates at: http://www.iconoclastrecords.org/?page_id=24

I am glad to have Iconoclast and Agipunk booking the tour because these are people who have been doing this for over a decade and have a good reputation, and have been communicating with us throughout the process. Maybe they know how anxious a DIY band can get when someone else is doing the booking.

Now I need to get back to my preparations. I just washed my jacket and pants which I usually don’t do very often. We don’t want to seem too crusty as we go through customs. We’ve never had a problem entering Europe, but you never know.

Stay tuned for more…