Unveil the Mystery (Issue no10-part1)

Hello fans! Another long, looong overdue chronicle from your low end friend here! As 2014 is approaching it's glorious end, and most of you about to eat some fresh cooked turkey, i thought the moment was kind of almost perfect to make a quick recap of this wonderful year for mystery. Of course the highlight for us has been this little tour we did in September. A proper tour, that is (wich means more than just a weekend short ''in and out'' travelling experience), playing through 4 countries in a little Mercedes van with the ''oxygen sensor'' switched on at any moment. But no major mechanical problems, thank god!

I thought it would had been nice to tell you a bit about my thoughts of that tour, through some brief notes written in the heat of the moment, unabridged texts, word for word, taken directly from my personal journal i (tried to) keep steadily and up to date as we were rolling in the ''mystery machine'' or in our hotel rooms.

Quotes starts here...

Departure from Montreal on saturday sept. 6. I am very nervous, and strangely feeling exhausted even before the plane is about to take off. Slept for about 4 hours the night before. I definitely still have trouble with airplanes.

(20 min. later)...Even more strange, i feel a lot more comfortable now that the plane had taken off...(see? it's not the tour itself, its the bloody plane travelling!)

(sept.8) Challenge for the rest of the day, fighting against sleep to adjust to time lapse. Harder in my case since i've always been a night shift kinda guy... Bilston UK: little typical old English suburb with a lot of charm. I like it...

(sept. 9) Arrived in London, a couple of weird haircuts here and there, traffic jams even worst than Montreal, no doubt, we're downtown London, for a way too much short limited time. Just saw the Ronnie Scott legendary jazz club...i mean, wow!! A few blocks away from the Borderline where we're playing: Denmark street where you can find plenty of music stores and the famous Regent sound studios. history has been made here many times in the 60's, including rolling stones early albums, Sabbath's ''paranoid'' and genesis debut album!

(sept.10) Chesterfield, England's last show (swimdon had been cancelled for logistics reasons). can't find any place for a breakfast, had to eat a chicken wrap from a random fast food place. Shortly after i have some stomach problem's. Oh well, show must go on....

(sept.11) Belgium, finally, on our way to the spirit of 66 gig in Verviers, after a very, very long drive from England. We had to take a break and stop in a small but beautiful city called ''brugges''. First tourist trap of the tour, i wasn't aware i had to avoid speaking french in that part of the country, lol!!! So we ended up for all these reasons with bad service at an overpriced restaurant.

(sept.12) Verviers, the show went well, but a hard night for Jean, he had trouble with his voice. As we say, shit happens, a bad day at the office, i mean, it's a tour, we're not use to perform so many show's in line, cold nights and hot almost summer days... nevertheless the audience had been very warm and receptive, i've also seen a signature of some friends of ours, 'hamadryad', on the walls of the stairs leading to the stage. Very nice and alive city, can't wait to return here.

(sept.13) Germany, change of scenery a little bit, 'can't understand what's written anywhere' kinda atmosphere...

''is there any wifi here''? So far it's the sentence i've heard most often on this tour. Next to the 'das rind' where we're playing, theres an abandoned site called ''the Canadian club''. So far, its the ugliest thing i've seen on this tour!

(sept.14) Aschaffenburg, we're searchin' for an hotel. First proposed is a scary truck stop. We'll find something else. Our first days off from the tour, we'll see if we can get tickets for the Spock's beard show, Jean-Sebastien and Antoine, especially, are really big fans.

Quote ends here.

Thats it for part one this week. Stay safe on the road, i hope you'll have some great time with your friends, families and relative and appreciate them as much as you can! Merry christmas, to everyone of you!

Happy progmas! -frank