We awoke to a great spread of eggs, tofu, fruit, oatmeal, crackers, jam, fruit and coffee that Clara and Tijana had prepared. Robert got his Soppo, a local Odwalla-like fruit drink that is rare elsewhere in Europe, and I got my caffeine. All was right with the world at that point, and it was about to get more right.
We had decided to go swimming on Monday, so we packed our trunks and walked across town to the beach.
After a few dives off the breakwall, we settled into the grass at the dog beach with Clara and Doris, Clara’s cocker spaniel.
We did push-ups, got sunburned, and found out that tops are optional on the beaches of Scandinavia. This has both good and bad points; you can use your imagination to figure out what we mean. Several hours, layers of skin and dives later, we grabbed the bus back to the practice spot and reloaded the van for the trip to the venue.
We loaded into the venue, a sick downstairs by a parking garage that comfortably fit 50 (it fit 100tonight though) and then headed around the block to Clara’s where we ate another amazing meal full of vegan crepes, strawberries and vegan crème. Too full to play, we went back to the venue and set-up merch just in time to catch Self Abuse’s first show. Self-Abuse is a band comprised of Alex (Clara’s boyfriend) and Kalle (Balance) and two guys from a Swedish band on Feral Ward. Since my Swedish is terrible, I can’t remember their names, but they left a lasting impression on me as a band. They were totally tight, discordant punk rock in the vein of 1982. I think they pull some pages from Dead Stop’s playbook, and their hometown crowd was certainly pulling for them.
Self Abuse was a tough act to follow, but we did our best to end the night playing our fastest and hitting our hardest to match Self Abuse and please the totally rad crowd. We had some technical difficulties including a bass drum spike breaking, so people took turns sitting in front of the bass drum. Andy, Robert Refuse, Andreas from San Diego (USA!), Patricia (Beyond Pink/retired ballerina/push-up champion), and a guy who sent five text messages during one song all kept the kick in place tonight. We ended with an encore of Our World, and I proceeded to load the van in my underwear since we’d soaked through our clothes and all of mine were back at Clara’s place. The locals were both surprised and delighted by this turn of events, and in the end, we have some pictures fit for the cover of our next record.
We grabbed another cheap and delicious falafel and parted ways with Gzeg guarding the van and the rest of us sleeping at Clara and Tijana’s spots. Thanks for the great show, great company on the stage and great hospitality Molmo! The scene here is great so be sure to stop by if you’re ever in this region of the world. And like I said, check out Beyond Pink, Self Abuse and Balance.
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