News and Diary Update - 11th June 2012
So, having completed the UK tour in fine style (see below for the UK diary update) I headed home for a few days R&R. It seemed like I just had enough time to walk the dogs - I now have three - do my laundry, and kiss the missus - before I was back on a plane again heading for Hannover. The journey was pretty uneventful, the usual four-hour layover at Frankfurt Airport prompting bemused stares from passing travellers as I read my latest copy of Guns & Ammo magazine to pass the time. I arrived at our home-from-home hotel in Hannover around 4pm, only to discover that it was fully booked, and that I would have to check out of my room by 5.30pm. This is not the most welcome news when you have been travelling for the best part of twenty hours, plus I found out that my usual room was already occupied and they'd put me in the annex. Six flights up, no elevator, and the world's heaviest bag... man, I thought I was going to bust a gusset! In hindsight I probably should have seen it as an omen, but I took a quick shower, set my alarm and lay down for a nap.
After what seemed like a few minutes I was woken from a deep sleep by the sound of the maid out in the hallway. 6pm, shit! I had slept right through my alarm - another portent of the future, as that was to happen at least four more times during the tour. In a daze I dressed, packed and dragged my bag back down the stairs, stumbling out into the street like a zombie. Fortunately our manager Peter had the foresight to send our tourbus to the hotel, so I climbed aboard, found my bunk, stowed my gear and grabbed a cold beer from the fridge. Things were looking up.
Our first show was in Prague, and I had chosen to ride in the bus rather than fly. I was soon joined by Rob, Kate, Eric, Hille (drum'n'keys tech) and Mark (FOH). After an excellent meal with more beer at our favourite restaurant, Salentino, we set off for an overnight drive to the Czech Republic. The first gig went very well, a great crowd and a few familiar faces. Rodruigo (Chico) our Brazilian promoter made a surprise appearance, along with Lea (a facebook friend of Vinnie's) and her brother, both of whom live in Prague. With the sun shining and full of the joys of spring, we left the next morning, heading back to Germany for our second show. This too went without a hitch and everything seemed to be going just fine... until we got to Malchin...
The venue was a Biker Festival, and we were scheduled to play at 11.45 pm, after the fireworks. As we had another overnighter to Warsaw after the show, the bus dropped the bandmembers at the hotel so we could catch up on some sleep, and the crew headed for the gig. When we arrived at the festival site during the evening our tour bus was nowhere to be seen. Tonio explained why. It seems that the so called 'stage manager' at Malchin had directed our driver to the backstage area via a field. Unfortunately it had been raining earlier, and as nobody bothered to check the condition of the ground, the bus sunk up to its axles in the mud. The situation was so bad that at one point it looked as if the bus might tip right over, so the East German Fire Service ordered everyone out, and cordoned off the area.
Long story short, try as they might, they couldn't free the bus from the mud so we ended up waiting until 5am for a replacement to arrive from Hannover. By this time the bus had sunk even deeper into the mud, about half as much again as in the above photo. With the area out-of-bounds for safety reasons, we were forbidden from collecting our belongings. But... We are the boys, we've got nothing to lose. Well, we had a lot to lose actually - essentials such as passports, suitcases, computers etc. So a volunteer amongst us climbed in under cover of darkness and searched through every bunk to rescue all our stuff. This un-named hero (thanks Rob!) managed to open one of the doors and pass everything out to the crew, who formed a human chain to deliver it all - even our dirty laundry and the Haribo mix - safely to our new bus.
Luckily we had a day off before the next show in Warsaw, so the delay didn't affect us too badly. The Warsaw show went well, along with the added fun of Eric's birthday and things seemed to be back on track. Because the next show in Metzingen was more than 1200 kilometres away we broke the journey in Erfurt. While checking into the hotel we ran into Michael Voss and his band Mad Max who were playing there that evening - what are the chances of that! We had just enough time to exchange a couple of Pete Way stories before they headed off to their show. Priceless!
The next few days went without incident, although the long overnight drives were beginning to take their toll. The longest single drive of the tour was fast approaching, a 1050 kilometre overnight trek from Detmold in Germany to Mantova in Italy, where we were supporting Judas Priest. Because our stage time in Italy was to be quite early, it was *very* important that we made a prompt departure after the Detmold show. A huge thunderstorm kicked in, with thunder on top of lightning on top of more thunder. We waited and waited and waited until we were way past our departure time. It turned out that the automatic gates at the venue had stopped working and the bus was stuck in the parking lot. We were trapped! Unbelievable - you couldn't make this stuff up.
A locksmith eventually showed up and sprung the bus, but it was touch and go as to whether we would reach the Priest show in time to play. Fortunately, luck was on our side for once and we made the gig by the skin of our teeth. Bravo to Ilja, the replacement bus-driver who'd joined us at Hannover (Ilja, you were magnificent from start to finish!) for getting us there safely, and to our hardworking crew for putting the gear up in record time. It was great to see the guys from Priest again - we go way back as you know, and I probably haven't seen them in thirty years or more, Scary!
I think it's time for me to wrap this up so I will finish by giving a mention to our friend and colleague Martin Leissner who we saw in Pratteln along with his wife Melanie, and to Greg T. Walker who was at the Paris show (another blast from the past). Also to Tom "what's he building in there?" Waits and Withnail, who seemed to invade our every waking moment on the bus, (thanks Phil!) and of course as always my fellow band members - Phil, Paul, Vinnie and Rob - and our fabulous crew, Tonio, Eric, Hille, Mark and last but by no means least, Kate. You really are the best. A big thanks to all of you who came out to the shows and dug deep in your pockets to make the whole thing happen. Take care and I will see you all again very soon. Cheers!
Andy Parker
Diary Update - 8th June 2012
Once again I must begin with an apology. It's been almost five months since my last update and I'm very sorry for the delay. It seems like there is never enough time to fit in all the things that need to be done, but on the plus side my bathroom re-model project is coming along very nicely!
Anyway here I am finally, to bring you up to speed on all things UFO. So much has happened during the last two tours, but I will do my best to recall some of the highlights (no, not the ones in Paul's hair).
First off I want to thank all of our UK fans for making the last run such a success. You guys never cease to amaze. The whole tour was pretty much sold out and the reception better than ever. I was particularly pleased at your reaction to the new songs from Seven Deadly. It can sometimes be difficult introducing new material, but not so this time. We added Fight Night, Wonderland, Mojo Town and Burn Your House Down to the set list, and not only did they receive a warm welcome but a great many of you seemed to already know the words. I will avoid the temptation of adding "better than Phil" to that last statement as I'm sure you'll all agree that the man did one hell of a job once again, as did Paul, Vinnie and Rob. You can probably tell by my face onstage that it is a pure pleasure to play with these guys, and in my opinion the band is sounding better than ever.
The tour kicked off at The Junction in Cambridge, which being close to my old stomping ground had more than its fair share of friends and family. Good to see both of my brothers and their wives, my good friends Colin and Val Poppleton, plus a couple of my buddies from 'Jack of Herts' and my old pal Mike Lodge (bass player in Aurora Borealis) who I hadn't seen in at least ten years. It was an excellent show, especially for a first night and we were in great spirits as we headed north to the wilds of Edinburgh. Saint Paddy's day was spent in Newcastle, I swear I have never seen so many drunk girls in short skirts in my life! On to Leeds (good to see Nom and Liz again), Dublin and then Belfast, where yours truly spent his birthday at the Spring & Airbrake. I'm not saying which birthday it was but it was a biggie, complete with birthday cake on stage and a decorated lounge on the tour bus. As I mentioned before, all the shows were really well attended, including Phil's adopted home town of Brighton where he was treated to some monkey-related antics during Wonderland. Strangely, no footage of this has surfaced yet, so if any of you have pics of me in the monkey mask or better still Eric (our guitar tech) in the gorilla suit, please let me know.
The next morning started just like any other as we headed for London and our last UK show at The Forum. Unfortunately our German bus driver decided to ignore the large sign saying LONDON ROAD, and trust his dodgy satnav instead. The result of this gross error of judgment was a sixty foot bus and trailer stuck up a narrow one way street in 'The Lanes' in Brighton - a mainly pedestrianised walkway, lined with bistro tables and chairs. The next fifty minutes were acutely embarassing... Luckily the others were all asleep and spared the fiasco, as Tonio worked valiantly to extricate us from our predicament. Judging by the amount of curtains moving, windows opening, people pointing and laughing and scratching their heads, the locals enjoyed the show. Anyway, we finally made it out and back to the highway, and with Phil taking over for the satnav we not only took the correct road to London but made it across the city in record time. Our London hotel (hostel?) left a lot to be desired. The wall in my room looked like it had witnessed a Mafia-style execution, but we were only there for one night and I was going home the next day, YEA!! Needless to say, the Forum show was a blast, with all the usual suspects in attendance. Nice to see Dave Ling and Neil Jeffries, also the infamous Denny Godber, Leon Lawson and a host of others including Tristan Greatrex who works so diligently and tirelessly on the UFO artwork etc. Thanks to all of you, and of course our wonderful crew, Tonio, Eric, Danny, Jerry, and the lovely Kate, for making it such a success, and I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.
Andy.
p.s. A round-up of highlights from our European tour will follow soon, including news of the deep impression we made in East Germany, and how we nearly didn't reach Italy in time to play the Judas Priest gig.
Diary Update - 24th January 2012
Ok, I know that it has been eons since I last penned an update and those of you who read them probably thought that I had fallen off the planet or something similar, but not so. The truth is that Andy has been seriously involved in the ongoing renovation of the money sponge which is 'Casa Parker'. Latest project on the never-ending list is bathroom #2, and as nothing I do with this house is ever easy, it has had me totally occupied since mid October when we finished the last U.S. tour.
Now I'm sure that some of you D.I.Y. types are saying "fix up a bathroom, big deal" and normally I would agree with you, but when it involves removing the entire floor and digging out crumbling water pipes and root infested sewer lines buried a foot below the ground, it gets a little more complicated. Add, just for good measure, the impending arrival of Christmas guests, and the fact that ol' Andy does all the work himself, you start to understand why I have been silent for so long. Fact is that three days before my daughter and her husband were due to arrive for the holidays, entering that room would have resulted in a three foot fall onto dirt. Fortunately I managed to get the floor put back and the toilet and bathtub installed, albeit temporarily, before they showed up, so a good time was had by all.
I trust that everyone had a most enjoyable holiday season and that the new year is proving to be all you had hoped for. I would like to thank each of you for your support on the last tour and say how much I enjoyed seeing you all. I was going to give my usual run down of the shows, but having read Paul's excellent account of the last run on his website it seems a bit redundant. So I will finish up by saying that the new album, Seven Deadly will be released very soon. It's getting some great reviews so give it a listen. I look forward to seeing you all in the very near future, until then, stay safe and 'Keep on Rocking'. All the best.
Andy