Well, last weekend that time of year had come round again, and it was time for me and Hollowbelly to head off to Europe to meet up with our good friends over in Germany for the 3rd edition of the Van Thom Weekender. We were sad to hear that Paul Smith wouldn't be making it due to chronic back problems, hope you can make it another time buddy.  It's a weekend of music, fun and friendship hosted by our good friend and handmade music fan Tourette Van Thom, who, together with his wife Danni graciously hosted us for the weekend and organised the whole shebang.It's a while since I've posted on here...mainly because I've been so busy over the summer making guitars, running workshops and trading and performing at festivals here in the UK (last UK festival I did, The Monkees were top of the bill!!), so thought I'd do a quick post before we head back over to the continent (again) next weekend. Huge thanks to Leadfoot who kindly organised our ferry crossings, which helps enormously in making these trips to Europe logistically and economically viable.  So a mere 3 hour drive from the West Midlands to The Hollowhaus on Wednesday night, then off at 5.30am for the 12.00 noon Ferry from Dover. This was the first overseas outing for my new vehicle, a box-stock Mercedes Benz Vito, and it never missed a beat. Plenty of room for gear, comfortable, quiet, easy to drive and not too bad on fuel..all in all, just the ticket....

Waiting to board the Ferry at Dover Thursday lunchtime.

It was a long, long drag across France, Belgium , Holland and Germany...the ferry was 1/2 hour late setting off, there were roadworks and an accident on the Belgian motorway after two articulated trucks had collided, blocked both lanes, and all the traffic had to sneak by on the hard shoulder with 2 wheels on the grass verge, then the notorious Antwerp ringroad added to the delay. With nothing to loose, we went off piste and hacked our way around the stationary traffic, crossed the river using a tunnel smaller  than the main Kennedy Tunnel that the ringroad takes, but ended up in a Godawful gridlock that was a match that anything central Cairo can come up with (there were no camels or ox-carts, but the traffic WAS worse than when I was in Egypt)...anyway, we slowly managed to ease our way out of town, darting between cyclists and trams as well as other motorised rushhour trafic via a colourful street that was lined with kebab shops and Chinese massage parlours (with the odd sex shop and a Christian mission thrown in for good measure)...yes, it truly was  the home of "the kebab with a happy ending". As the light faded we found ourselves on the Dutch/German border, with the prospect of 4 hours drive ahead to our destination. We stopped for coffee, messaged our host to double check his address and pressed on. At times we were driving along steadily at 130kph in the dark and then suddenly the van would be rocked violently as a big Merc saloon or Porsche wooshed by at well over 200kph. We arrived at nearly midnight, in a tidy, quiet little hamlet outside Bremen which was to be our base for the  weekend. We were greeted by Andy (aka Tourette van Thom), glugged a quick beer and off to bed.

Friday saw us with the only free time that we would have over the weekend. I drove us into town so TvT could check how ticket sales had been going at his outlets. We dropped in at Mike Scott's place where several of the musicians were staying, smet up with our old friend Dylan Walshe from Ireland, and met a new buddy, Jason Thompson from USA.

Jamming with Mike Scott at his apartment...a welcoming crash pad for visiting musos.

Doing the tourist thing..admiring the porcelain glockenspiel in the city centre..a masterpiece of 1930's expressionist / gemuetlichkeit architecture, with Hollowbelly and Jason Thompson...hillbilly's got culture too y'all...

After a pleasant stroll around the city centre, taking in the medieval main square with its cathedral and town hall, the banks of the river Weser (yes, that one in the "Pied Piper" fairy tale),  and the ancient "Schnorr" quarter with it's maze of tiny alleys and quaint shops, it was off to the venue for to load-in and soundcheck for that night's performance.

Me and HB knew the venue from previous visits, so we were soon set up and ready to go...but my word, was it hot and humid! Mike and his band kicked off, then it was my turn...

Hot and sweaty in the Roemer. Dylan Walshe up next...then...

Hollowbelly headlining Friday night....and he got a great reception too!

The music finished at the civilised hour of midnight, so it was break down all the gear, pack it into the van and drive about 1/2 hour out to the sticks..no after gig party for us, straight to bed with the prospect of a long hard day ahead.

Saturday and we were back in town at around 10.30am in the "Viertel", the cosy bohemian quarter where the club is located, and with the help of the people who had booked in for the workshop we got all the gear inside and set up, ready to roll at around 11.30am.

Tools all neatly laid out and ready to go....

A quick demonstration before making some sawdust.

We took a break, dining at an excellent local vegetarian restaurant, back to the Roemer to get the guitars decorated, wired up, strung and tuned..and we were ready to do the final part of learning to play. This is where I handed over to Hollowbelly, as by this stage I'm pretty much wrung out.

Hollowbelly leading the group on the learn to play section.

As usual, he does an excellent job of rounding off the day, pushing my products like a good 'un... we have a dozen happy new converts and I shift a fair bit of merch. too...all in all a good day's work. That's that worst of it over for us...all we need to do is clear the stage for the 5.00pm sound check and get all the tools, workbenches etc out and packed into the van. Phew...we've earned ourselves a beer or two...non alcoholic Becks Blue for me, as I'm driving..it goes with the territory and I'm used to it, it's no pain, and after all, you wouldn'y expect to be allowed to sit a your desk or whatever at work and crack open  a cold one just because you felt like a beer...yes that's rock 'n' roll..but at the same time it's also serious work.

Taking a well earned break with Rainer, boss at the Roemer before the Saturday evening gig.

So, apart from selling some merchandising and getting us back home at the end of the evening, that's our job pretty much finished for the day, so we can enjoy the music, and talk to friends old and new for the rest of the night. Another great lineup, with the hugely upbeat and happy sound of the Stringtone Slingers opening with a great authentic rockabilly set, the amazingly youthful Danish duo Long Line Down, authentic electric Hill Country from Jason Thompson, rounded off by UK's Rattleshack rocking hillbilly combo. I must admit I had to keep going outside to take the air, as it was so hot in the club, and we'd been in there working all day already..but that was an entertainment in itself. Customers from the Heartbreak Hotel next door brought out some chairs and had an impromptu birthday party on the pavement...

Outside the Roemer Saturday night..as you can see, no bright lights or shiny signs..Bremen's Viertel is pretty rootsy...

Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and Spice Girls "Wannabe" sung to CBG accompaniment...outside the Roemer, on guitars made earlier that day.

The evening ended pretty well, with another good turnout, and I sold a 4 string guitar...although the load-out was a pretty grim affair, as the rain started to bucket down around 11.30pm. I stood under the tailgate of the Merc. under the watchful eyes of the local "street vendors" sheltering from the downpour in a nearby doorway while Hollowbelly shuttled out the remaining boxes of merch ( good job we'd loaded up all the workshop gear  earlier in the evening). It was a pretty dreadful drive back out of town due to the weather, but I took it steady and we were back safe and sound before too long. 

Another early start on Sunday morning, and after a hearty breakfast and fond farewells we were on our way. This time we had decent weather and light traffic, so with one stop in the Netherlands to get a bite to eat and fill up with diesel, we were at Dismaland France (the Calais ferry terminal) in time for the 4.00pm ferry. We had the minor problem of being booked on the following day's crossing, but because my youngest daughter had arrived back from 14 months in Japan the day after I left, and was going  away to Sheffield university on Tuesday, and also that my dad is very ill, I wanted to get home so I could see her  and make a visit to my parents in Yorkshire...hence the urgency of getting back earlier than planned. On arrival at the terminal, we were sent to to DFDS office to negotiate an earlier crossing, although we did take a pretty weird route round the docks via the HGV passport check and holding yard, we  ended up on the apron in front of the ferry ..with all the other cars neatly lined up behind us.  We sprinted over to the office, to hear a very harsh and abrupt sounding French ferry ticket seller barking out "Next crossing is 6 o'clock, 120 Euros!!" at someone who'd turned up on spec to get a crossing...and our hearts sank. As it happened, HB explained our predicament, we were told to come back in 35 minutes time to see if he could fit us on the 4 o'clock. When we returned, there was a ruck of people round the counter all trying to either get an earlier crossing or buy tickets...with the minutes sliding away, our turn came and the chap remembered us, then went off to see what could be done. After ages he came back, asked for our passports, and we knew we'd cracked it..another brief wait, he came back, printed our vehicle pass, many thanks and handshakes all round and we were away. Another sprint across the tarmac to show our pass to the guy in charge of the queue our pass and he just gestured and shouted at us to "Allez allez!"...so we ran to the van and off we jolly well allez-ed.  We'd done it, no long wait, no extra charges...straight onto the ferry, so we dashed up the stairs, grabbed some comfy seats, had a bit of scran and shortly we were away back to Blighty. We'd arranged for Hollowbelly to be picked up by his wife at Bristol Gordano services, as it was a convenient midway spot for both of us, so it was a pretty decent drive over there, and we were met around 9.00pm by his wife Maggie and both his daughters. We had a cup of coffee, then  offloaded his gear into the BellyBus, and we went our separate ways, home by not much after 11.00pm for all of us.

So there you go...that's how you do a weekender gig in Europe...1500miles of driving and 34 hours total travel time out and back. We're doing it all again weekend after next...seriously...Belgium on Saturday then back on Sunday for a beer festival gig in East Sussex!