Heavy music is taking over the fucking world and has fans everywhere. This fact is evident by the Brutal Winter Fest that just took place in Cuba. Our comrades from Denmark HEXIS made a trip to this land of sun to perform. While they were there, HEXIS complied a day-by-day tour dairy for CVLT Nation. Check out what the band has to say about their time in Cuba before and after the jump! Much respect to Brutal Winter Fest and all of the bands who performed!
13th February: This was the day I had been looking forward to for a long time; the beginning of our tour in Cuba! My bag was packed, but I kept the personal stuff to a minimum, since I wanted to leave room for as much merch as possible; 5 pairs of underpants, 5 socks and 5 t-shirts for 2 smelly weeks. I took the train to Copenhagen to do some rehearsals before going to the airport. We had our good friend Lars from the swedish band This Gift Is A Curse with us on bass, since our bass-player Søren left the band back in December. The plane departed from Copenhagen at 23:40 and arrived in Moscow 2 and a half hours later. There we waited for 8 hours before flying the long 13-hour-stretch across the Atlantic to Havana.
14th February: After almost 24 hours we finally arrived in Havana. Some people from the Cuban Rock Agency picked us up there, we got some beers and drove to the hotel to get some sleep
15th February – concert in Havana: Finally! It felt good to be in Cuba and to know that we were playing our first show tonight. We took a walk around the city, got some food and went out to the venue to do a soundcheck. The venue was extremely huge (1000 people capacity) and probably the biggest place we have played so far. We went out to get some beers – Rasmus and I got extremely drunk and I don’t really remember what happened after that.
16th February – concert in Cienfuegos: I felt like I had been run over by a bulldozer and there was mud all over my room. Don’t know what happened, but I am pretty sure that last night was wild. We took a 4 hours drive to Cienfuegos to play an outside concert. Actually all shows on this tour was outside, except for the first one. We played a good show, watched the other bands play and went back to a hotel.
17th February – concert in Santa Clara: This show was one of my favorite shows on the tour. Around 500 people at the show and everyone was totally crazy and really into it. Such a great night!
18th February – day off in Camagüey: Needless to say, this tour is very different from anything we’ve done before. In Europe we usually sleep in squats, on people’s floor or whatever we can get – and drive around in a small van. This time we are touring with 4-5 other bands + a crew; we are sleeping in hotels every night and drive around in a big bus. We also have a lot of days off, that is just spent relaxing. Of cause we’re playing shows every other night or so, but all in all, it feels a lot more like a vacation with our friends than the usual Hexis-tour. This day was just spent by the pool with some beers.
19th February – Concert in Camagüey: Another great show with lots of beers.
20th February – Day off in Camagüey: Toby received an email from the flight company. Our flight home had been cancelled – and the only alternative they could offer us was to take a flight home a day earlier than planed, which meant that we had to cancel the last show on the tour. We were all fucking pissed, but there was nothing to do about it. Shitty day!
21st February – Concert in Holguin: Best show on the tour! Smallest area, but still the biggest audience – I think around 700-800 people! Biggest crowd we ever have played for. Mindblowing!
22nd February – Drive to Matanzas: I think the drive was around 10 hours long, so most of the day was spent in a bus. When we finally arrived in Matanzas we ended up at a big disco and got totally wasted.
23rd February – Concert in Matanzas: Last show on the tour. Great show, many beers!
24th February – Flight home: We drove back to Havana. The bands we were touring with had another show in Havana on this night, but we sadly had to go home because of the stupid idiots from Aeroflot. We waited some hours at the airport and when we tried to check in, the fucking flight company wanted 100€ from each of us for bringing our instruments and light with us back home. With a heated argument, Toby was able to sort everything out with the Aeroflot supervisor in Havana, so luckily we didn’t have to pay! We took the flight to Moscow and then changed to a connecting flight onwards to Copenhagen.
25th February: Back In Denmark! This tour has been totally overwhelming, I’m tired, but happy as hell! This is definitely not the last time we’re gonna tour outside Europe!
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