Month: July 2017

Under influence of heavy intoxication, back at the wonderful Westcoast of Ireland, we made a deal with Brian. That he would have to visit us in Germany to play some concerts with us. Usually I do not trust such deals (in German we call them “Schnapsideen”). But there he was, with his beautiful bodhrán. We played two concerts in Berlin, those themselves were nice and well perceived, but the highlight was Brian himself, the one man show, entertainer and womanizer. He left a heartwarming farewell message (yes, our paths will cross again) and went back to the wild west.

And there still was one unsettled circumstance, that kept Strainful Train awake in the nights: we did not get our second gig in the cultural epicentre of Europe – France. Luckily, our friend Alex wanted to spice up a concert and movie night he was organizing with some neat folk tunes. So we threw the upright bass in our allegiant ride, burned some gasoline for 14 hours straight. Destination: Paris. A tire broke and the french motorway toll drained our budget – it was totally worth it. Alex and his friends set up a stage in a movie theater. The people were watching us like a film, seated and with snacks on their laps. On top of all that, Mathias, an ingenious drummer joined in spontaneously at the end of the gig. There was a drum kit on stage anyway, so he threw in a perfect drum solo to one of our gypsie tunes. Weird but nice, perfect for Benni, who seems to be looking for new sensations lately.

His demand was pleased even more in the following evening. Somehow we ended up on a tiny DIY festival somewhere in the undeveloped outskirt area of Paris. Much to Tims dismay, there were only Architects around. Those people are the natural nemesis of every clear minded engineer, like Tim calls himself. Nevertheless the night became unforgetable. We played in a camper, that was turned to a stage. Later that evening, a crazy inflatable installation was built up around this camper/stage and Strainful Train was superseded by Techno music. So we raved hard until dawn. Due to our brilliant powernapping-while-driving-abilities, we were back in Berlin just 24 hours later. Thanks, Alex and the leFlot homies for this great weekend!

Whats up on the agenda?
Strainful train is working on the new album. It is going to be a kaleidoscope of roots, folk and gypsie sounds. And there is a concert in the UnterRock bar in Berlin, tonight. Come around an stay tuned!

We made it across the border and came back to that place on earth, where people talk our weird language. Our liver values were bad and Bennis hair has turned a little bit greyer but we were alive and nobody has lost any limbs. A better turnout than after the Strainful Train Tour 1995 in Bosnia, were the band had to learn the hard way, how complicated it is to find a new band member who is not mentally ill but still willing to play the double bass.
Being back in Germany did not mean to leave ourselves to the social system of our homeland; there was still some productivity to bring to a result. And there were a few concerts to perform. For example in Lübeck. In the “Moment Kulturbar”, the place we chose for our first homecoming concert, we got invited by a nice elderly man to a few rounds of Kümmelschnaps, a cruel German invention, that should be banned from the shelves of every pub that cares for humanity. We still had a nice evening, fell in love with the barkeeper (I drowned in your eyes, Anusha!) and were finally able to give German moderations again. The elderly man stuck to the Kümmel until the end of the concert and took a nap on stage afterwards.
We headed even further home, to the Island Poel, where everything started a long time ago. We made ourselves comfortable in the creative hideout of the generous Ulli (and Carsten).

There we invested three full days to work on and record new masterpieces, like the ode to King Shawn and the highly sophisticated psychedelic composition called “Lucy’s Harvest”. Also, it was time to prepare the three final concerts of the tour 2017. The biggest local venues had to be booked, not for the sheer mass of fans that Strainful Train has gained during this tour, but for the many friends and family members that were around anyway and wanted to listen to the stories about whacky Irish people.
The first concert was going to take place in the Schlauch, a well-known place to get drunk in Wismar. The Schlauch is an Irish pub, where every one of us already played with former constellations back in the days. We were able to get Heiner to support us again. Thanks Heiner and thanks “Schlauch”, we had a damn good night.

The second concert took place in Gadebusch. The “KuT”, a Punk club, cultural centrum and place to burn your couches, hosted a Rockabilly-Folk-Night and Strainful Train was invited. This concert was so awesome, that some girls in the audience even tried to initiate the first mosh pit of our band history. The attempt failed, but made us proud anyway. On top of all of that, we shared the stage with the awesome rockabilly dudes, we met two months ago in Rostock and that performed the little living room concert for us. And even on the top of that, the lyrical poets of Lappalie, the band we played with at the same night in Rostock also made their way to Gadebusch. What a fateful night, were the destinies of so many outstanding people entwined again. We got pretty drunk.

For the third and last concert we mobilized all our resources we had left. The prestigious and “Lisa vom Laurin”, the place where the rich and famous people of Poel meet, opened its doors for us. I want to explain my gratitude to all the good looking and generous people that came that night. The hat we passed around was so filled, that all the doubts about the financial feasability of such a tour were forgotten.

And then there it was, the day were everything ended. The three bon vivants firmly shook each others hands and said their farewells. We had new contracts to fulfill, Tim had to attain to some shady businesses and Hendrik wanted to follow his dreams as a professional retired-people-entertainer. Confronted with so much passion for hard work, Benni shrugged and strolled away into the festival summer.

The end?
No. Somebody was coming for us. And we had some new glorious plans. Stay tuned!