On Foreign Soil: The Ruby Suns
Author: Gareth Shute
February 28: Headlining in Newcastle
We arrived to find that we had been booked with a odd German band called Moog Riots and a Woman of No Significance - a very popular local band who were playing their last show. The result was that all their fans turned out to watch an emotional last performance from the band. This was a mixed blessing, since it meant the venue was packed, though a fair few people left before we played. Nonetheless, we met one guy who had bought our album over the Internet before it had even been released on Memphis Industries.
March 3-10: Support Slots with the Holloways in England and Wales.
From the moment we arrived in Hull for our first show with The Holloways, we could see that we were entering the real world of UK rock music. Their bus was parked alongside the venue and it was hard to work out who was in the band at first since they had an entourage of helpers and friends along for the ride. It also turned out that I wasn't actually meant to be using the bass player's amp, but fortunately one of the other support acts, Loose Caboose, were a great bunch and helped us out by letting use their stuff for a number of the shows.
In the dressing room before we played one of the local chaps running the show came in to see if we wanted him to pick us up any cocaine. We laughed and told him we'd pass. The show in Hull was in front of a drunken bunch of students who had no real interest in us and afterward we found that our hotel was miles out of town and the main motorway that led there was closed! A late night was followed by an early morning, as we crossed back down half the country to play in Reading. Fortunately that show was far more enjoyable and also in front of a sold-out crowd of around 350 (as many of The Holloways shows would be). The rest of The Holloways tour was quite wearying, but we covered a number of large cities (Sheffield, Portsmouth, Preston, and Lancaster) and even played a show in Wales (Wrexham). The Holloways themselves were a friendly bunch and we came to enjoy hanging out with them, despite our band being of quite a different ilk.
March 14-19: Headlining shows in Europe.
A good day off in Copenhagen was followed by a show at a nice venue, Loppen, run by a collective in the bohemian part of town. The underground have been a bit under threat here recently and there were riots when a hive of local arts and music, the Ungdomshuset, was torn down a week before. Nonetheless, we had a nice crowd and found our music was on the local alternative chart here, as was the latest tune by our support band, A Choir of Young Believers.
Oslo was more of a wild outpost, though we were made to feel at home by support group the Southern Alps, who were led by an New Zealander and sounded like The Muttonbirds - their last track was a Bats' cover.
Our biggest show in Europe was in Stockholm - a stronghold for indie pop. Hampus from V2 picked us up at the airport and took us to the label's offices for a radio interview. We were also gifted a great range of new Swedish music! The gig that night had been written about in the local free metro newspapers and this resulted in a large crowd of 200. There were even autograph hunters waiting when we arrived for soundcheck. Local band Days were well-matched to us and provided a nice grounding to a very well-received show.
Next was Paris, where we had a similarly large crowd - one guy had driven 300 miles just to see us! Holy Hail, the other band, were a cool electro-clash outfit from New York. Ironically, the best venue we played on the tour was at our smallest show - at Botanique in Brussels on a Monday night. The venue was a very tall, circular room and outside was a garden with a hedge-maze.
March 21: Headlining show with Lawrence Arabia at The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch, London
The last show of the tour was a loud, drunken event in a crammed but cosy bar. It was great to see Lawrence playing with an amazing line-up which included Rodney Fisher (Goodshirt/Breaks Co-Op) and Chris Garland (Betchadupa). I wouldn't be surprised if they were the next local outfit to gain some attention over here, since they'd played another packed show two weeks earlier with Connan and the Moccasins, who are also on their way up here. We played a raucous show to a very supportive crowd and ended the tour on a real high. It was amazing to think that we'd managed to cover such a great distance in just a single month!
