Well stars and bars Ol’ Bowms, where ya been?! Dang, small internet blog following, that’s a mighty fine question…. when we last left our author/hero he was sick seeking sympathy in Sweden, using bad alliteration, and making poetic references to Blade II. What type of rock ‘n’ roll hijinks will that saucy little rascal get into next?! Read on, dear friends, read on!
It is going to be difficult at this point to highlight certain gigs without making it seem like they are somehow superior to others, because really and truly, the reception we have had so far in Europe has been unreal. We left Sweden in quite high spirits; the crowds, while incredibly polite and reserved, were large and enthusiastic. In turn, the set lists had been a little heavier on the “songwriter” material; ballads such as “Desire”, “Midnight”, and “The Arrow” taking the place of more high energy tunes. As such, we were a little take aback at our first post Sweden gig, a one off in Germany.
The crowd, packed like sardines into a video recording studio type space, were truly rabid. Many had traveled as much as five hundred kilometers to make the gig, requested songs, and sang along. By the end of the set, we were all refreshingly whupped, after being pressed into two separate encores by the maniacal music lovers.
The next one off in the Netherlands was similarly special; and it began to dawn on me that through the miracles of “the interweb”, some Europeans have actually been familiar with our songs for some time. That these little ditties that a couple of goobers worked up in an old basement in downtown Knoxville, TN had been heard and appreciated thousands of miles from their place of creation is pretty mind blowing.
England has been equally rad… though the killer heavy beers and fish n chips are threatening to exchange the pounds I pay for them for pounds on my body. In Sheffield, we hooked up with formidable local band “Fargo Railroad Co.”, who with their trucker hats, beards, and knowledge/appreciation of Southeastern US music/history, could easily pass for a fellow East TN band. Speaking of, Newcastle, with the lovely Tyne River flowing through its center, reminded me the most of our hometown, with a rowdy, dancing crowd to match. In London, I got to hang out with my friend and fellow USA drummer Gabe, of the The Turnpike Troubadours, eating Indian food and drinking his beloved Guinness, as well as the lovely England via Paris via Australia band Bella Roscoe.
Anywho, van call looms and the ol Ipad battery is drained, so that’s it for now.
Your friend,
Uncle Longhair
London (the poem)
Fish for the chipper, the vinegar winter
Clouds catching planes flying low
Foreign gum flapper, like cold biscuit batter
Called coffee “Americano”
Mushy peas, Mashy mind, banger Baker Street Time
Paying pounds just to put them back on
The “right” side is wrong, mind the gap, we belong
In a submarine dream cross the pond.
A poem by Bowman Townsend