16/06 After this stint across the ocean, we return to Barcelona, buy a van, get some gear and start a European tour at Belgrade. A fateful European Tour. Sabela is assaulted at the bus station and I have no money to pay for the hotel room. Nevertheless, 462 people come to the Nightfall and see a pretty good show (or Mediocre, as the papers would put it).
18/06 From Belgrade we travel to another new city, Tallinn. Up to then, we had always travelled by plane. Now we have a battered van where we can transport our new equipment, but we had not taken road routes into account when we planned the tour. A novice error. So we would arrive in Tallinn just a few hours before the concert. And a second error piles on: our old van breaks down on the road, delaying the journey. We arrive at the LpB Club too late and the concert fails. The strain was too much for poor Sabela, who ends up in hospital due to a nervous breakdown. Not a great tour.
20/06 I have to go on by myself to cover our compromises. I play alone at the Neverland in Amsterdam; I do my best, but Sabela’s absence leaves the 620 attendants unhappy and they consider the show Dreadful. Besides, an angry fan attacks me outside the club and leaves me quite badly hurt.
22/06 We really need things to get better. Fortunately, Sabela recovers and meets me in Helsinki, where we have a show at the Neverland. Yes, we play for the competition. And pretty well too: 1085 people see a just Below Average show; not bad, given the circumstances.
23/06 Before the Helsinki gig we had been hearing some recordings sent by a Dutch guitarist called Bertha Beentjes. The time to incorporate more people into the band had arrived. We like her style, call her and agree to get her in. We would meet in Ankara, but in the meantime we have to rush to London to play another concert at the Bouleau’s Metal in front of 985 people. We make an official announcement that Bertha is in the band, which happens to be another misstep; people think that Bertha would be on stage with us and are quite disappointed when she is not, so the critics consider our show Terrible. Would our bad luck ever end?
26/06 We arrive at Ankara and meet Bertha. After our experience at London, we clearly need to have Bertha on stage, so we rush a rehearsal and tread the Under Heavy Metal stage in front of 329 people. Our new trio still needs more practice, so we just manage a Poor show.
28/06 A new show at the Metalia in Madrid. I have some new ideas for the show, including a little onstage sex number between Bertha and myself. People like it, but Sabela does not. Not at all. She gets really upset and leaves the stage in the middle of the show. In front of a record audience of 1304 people. Another disaster and another Dreadful show. My mistake, we should have discussed that number with her beforehand.
30/06 We manage to clarify things after the show, but the sex number is dropped. We try to concentrate on music for our show at the Moshpit Metal in Dubrovnik. But we just manage another Poor concert in front of 548 people.
01/07 We had sent some songs Sabela and I had recorded during our last stay in Barcelona to be released as a new single in Christmas. Get It Out b/w Valhalla Ride sells really great during the holiday season.
03/07 748 people see us play at the Seventh Son in Bucharest. Things are going much better now; high record sales boost our morale, Bertha is getting the knack of the songs and the overall show is more polished. In spite of covers getting old, we recover our old Below Average standards.
05/07 The European Tour ends at my Helsinki club, the Sonorama Metal. Although we had played there recently, 818 people turn up and see our standard Below Average show. Quite happy after rounding the rough edges, our trio returns to Barcelona for some rest and rehearsal before the second leg of our European Tour.
