Brain Capers

Last show was in Zurich , really good, fantastic crowd.  Friday we were in Barcelona for Primavera festival. Lou played with Sebadoh, J played drums with MV & EE. Both sets were cool. MV & EE had two drummers, Dead '68, yeah. Here's some pics, Lou in Seb mode and J with MV & EE drummer. Tonight Dino at Privavera!Murph goes punk jazz in Zurich with tooth brushes.

Houston Rocks

Played Geneva last night. Good show but the PA was a bit underpowered. Here's a couple of pics and something a bit different.

Whoo! Party!

King of the Road

No show yesterday so here's some random pics.

The King

Mr. Murph himself.

J in Minehead, UK (ATP)

Taking Tiger Mountain

Played Vienna tonight, great show. The venue was  Arena, a pretty cool place. They have a couple of indoor stages and an outdoor stage which is pretty awesome. The place has a punk vibe and I saw stickers from several NYC bands that I know.

Dino played Almost Ready,which they haven't done in a while. Gargoyle as usual was amazing, my favorite song. Used an Allen and Heath digital console for the first time, sounded good.

Geneva is next, a 14 hour drive. I've never been there. Hope I get to see the lake.

Your Pale Blue Eyes

Dino in  Prague, a great show. Their first time in the Czech Republic. Gargoyle was awesome. The encores were amazing, feedback freakout.  Adam, one of the promoters took us to a beautiful hilltop church and park, thanks Adam, a nice treat. All together, a great day.

Here's J in Lindz, Austria. A good show but hard to top Prague. Cool venue, kind of  a self contained compound a la Black Oak Arkansas ! Stay high brothers and sisters.

Section 43

 Played Munich two days ago. A lovely venue, inside a park. The picture below was taken about two hundred feet from where we played. Sometimes you get lucky! The show was great, a very enthusiastic crowd. Awesome Color was also on the bill and it was good seeing them again. Only problem in Munich was the db limit, 102. That's pretty low for a Dinosaur show and it means the mix ain't as loud as it really should be.

 

Mattias (Tech expert) and Rob (TM) guiding the bus back so we can attach out trailer. These guys are great and lots of fun to work with. Really helps when the crew meshes.

Damn The Torpedos!

Welcome to any Dinosaur Jr fans who have made it here via the bands website. I'm the Dino sound engineer and hopefully I'll have some fun pics and words for you guys from out here on the road. 

We're touring Europe, been out almost two weeks. It's great, shows in Ireland, UK and now Germany. The European crowds are cool and really love the band. We are playing in some excellent venues which makes my life much easier. The band is in top form.

 The crew is terrific; Rob is TM, Mattias is guitar tech and Brian is our spiritual advisor. We've got a great routine going now and shows are running smoothly. Back to you soon.

Planet Rock

Dinosaur in Koln, Germany, soundcheck. Cool show and venue. Murph found the hotel, sweet!

Played last night in a venue near Stuttgart, very nice. Pics later, gotta load in.

Looking For the Perfect Beat

Dino Jr tour manager, Rob, in search of the lost chord. He had it Fed Exed the next day. Played in Koln yesterday, great show, the band sounded great as did the room and PA. In Hamburg today, looks like it will also be a good show. We are leaving trail of bread crumbs across Europe so we can find our way home.

Low

A rock club in Koln Germany. Cool Place. Dinosaur is playing tonight at Live Music Hall, also really great.  Not enough time, Germany good place.

Tommy Can You Hear Me?

Loading in at ATP in Minehead, the rock festival at a Butlins Holiday Camp. Sounds silly and it kinda is but also a lot of fun. Dinosaur played tonight and will again tomorrow. Some good bands here, Broken Social Scene, Animal Collective. 

Played at Koko last night in London. Great show. Koko is a really good venue. The place was packed and the kids loved it. Finally got our bus back. 

Goin' Down

Did two Dinosaur Jr shows in Ireland, Dublin and Belfast. The Dublin show was really great, excellent PA and the room was nicely tuned. Belfast, same PA but the room was bare, hard walls. The difference in sound was huge. Belfast was a tough mix. The crowds for both were fantastic.

We left Belfast for London Tuesday night. The bus broke down 100 miles from London, brake disc broke. We ended up taking a car service to London. Nice to be able to do things like that.

Gig at Coco in London tomorrow and two shows at ATP over the weekend. Should be fun.

Help I'm a Rock

Still on vacation in Dublin. This is the Temple Bar area, a neighborhood of bars, boutiques and other such fun stuff. When I lived here it was pretty much abandoned. The whole thing is kinda like Soho in New York but not yet as ritzy. It's sorta suffering from the same disease as NYC's Lower East Side/East Village. Artists are priced out and the booze merchants take over. 

The Dinosaur Jr gang gets in tomorrow so it's work time. There's a show on Monday in Dublin and Tuesday in Belfast. 

I like Ireland, maybe I'll move back here. 

Hall of Mirrors

I arrived in Dublin today, Dinosaur Jr tour starts Sunday. I lived in Dublin in the '7o's and haven't been back since. It was a lovely time of my life and I've been greatly anticipating a return. It looks pretty much the same at a glance but upon closer inspection, it's a different place. Lots more stores now, luckily there are a ton of record shops here. The usual results of globalization are evident, people wear the same clothes as New York, London and every other place I've been in the last year. Lot's of lattes available. I truly miss the individuality one used to see in Europe.

The picture is Trinity College Dublin, the hall where concerts used to be held. I helped out with the shows and I guess that was my first rock gig. I mostly remember  smoking hash with the bands, different days.

War Across the USA

I just got back from a premiere showing of Sex: The Revolution. It's a 4 part series that will air in May on VH1 and Sundance Channel. It's good, you should watch it, especially if you weren't around for it. I was, sorta. Sex, Free Love and all that. My family moved to Ireland in 1970. This was a country with more government control over sex than even the USA. Still, you could have sex in Ireland. It was easiest if you could meet a European or American tourist as they likely were on the pill. All contraceptives were illegal in Ireland then. I returned to  the US in 1974 and  hippie free love had spread into the general population. To my eye, it wasn't such a pretty sight. Lots of "Looking For Love in all the Wrong Places" and "Looking For Mr. Goodbar. A bit tawdry really.

If you are interested in any of this read Legs McNeils book "The Other Hollywood". It's an excellent oral history of the porn business from the late '60's on. Legs is also in Sex: The Revolution and was a panelist at the screening. He's still a punk.

I  met the Hart Perry, producer/director or Sex, who also  filmed Hendrix at Woodstock. He did the nude and mud scenes as well. The best parts of the movie really.

No Pussyfooting

Josh from The Secret Machines. Just finished a short tour with TSM. They are a cool band, jammin'  psychedelic rock and truly lovely pop songs. This is a great band to do sound for. I also tour managed which was a bit more demanding than I thought it would be, even with the band doing many  things for themselves. Great guys to work for and they are truly a band. They like hanging out with each other just dig everything involved in making music for a living.