Grave Maker Tour Blog

5 Ausies, 4 Kiwis, 3 Canucks, 2 Czechs and 1 Ass-Hole Yank, cruising
through Europe in 2 Sprinter vans, yours truly being the Ass-Hole
Yank. We are currently two weeks into our three-week European tour
with 50 Lions from Australia and Antagonist A.D. from New Zealand.
When Grave Maker goes on tour you can set your watch to the fact that
something if not everything will go to hell, break down, get lost or
fall apart. For some reason, this tour has yet to decline. It is
actually one of the best, most fun tours we’ve ever done as a band.
Everyone on the tour clicked right off the bat and the shows have all
been a blast. We’ve been jumping off bridges, swimming through canals,
seeing plenty of sights, eating Nutella by the spoonful, drinking
triple and quadruple espressos three at a time and generally raging as
hard as we can. Our good friend Tomas from Damage Done Records is
driving us, and getting to hang with him has been one of the best
parts of this tour. He is a Legend!

One of the highlights from the tour so far has been the All Saints
cathedral in the Czech Republic. It’s a cathedral decorated with the
bones and skulls from victims of the black plague. You walk in and are
greeted by tiny little gift counter and even littler old Czech woman
who points you toward a staircase lined with skulls, fibulas and
tibias that ushers you downward, past the several mountains of skulls
to the alter and grand chandelier composed of human skulls fastened
together with several dozen jawbones. This place is pretty god damn
metal. Considering the ancient bones are older than sin and from
people killed by a plague, the place didn’t smell at all. I
anticipated an intoxicating, overwhelming stench of death and decay,
but it was more like Island Mist popery.

Some of the Drives have been lengthy, but a steady diet of coffee,
candy and a play list that not even my sister would be brave enough to
commit to print has kept these longer rides bearable. I’ve also taken
the time in the van to finish Season 6 of Nip/Tuck and catch up on
season three of True Blood, and I even read a book this tour. Which
doesn’t sound like much to some of you, but I’m not really the kind of
guy you’d call a “Reader”.

As far as the shows go, Prague, Vienna, Ieper Fest and Leuwarden stand
out as my favorite shows of tour. As far as coffee goes, Italy takes
the cake. For food, Belgium holds it down with a little spread the
invented called Speculoos. Id try and describe it to you, but all you
need to know is it’s worth a trip to Belgium just to get a taste of
this stuff.

So far this tour has been absolutely amazing. Looking back on the
beginging, these first two weeks have flown by, and that’s a sure fire
sign that things are going well. I’m hopeful the later part continues
to be as fun and entertaining as the first half.

-Wayne Kong