Strength Approach{mini Greek tour report}
Yeah, I know, almost a month passed since the Strength Approach Greek shows, and I've been god damn lazy (or maybe god damn busy...) to write down a mini report about the tour in order to share with you some awesome moments and emotions. Strength Approach is a special band for me; have in mind that I'm trying to get em down to Greece since 2003... Jackass! Anyway, here we go:Day 1, Friday 23rd January 2009:
We knew that almost all the national roads were blocked by some huge demonstrations leaded by farmers and workers in the agricultural industry... It may seems weird for people that live outside of Greece, but it's an almost usual way of demonstrating for the local farmers since ages. They stand for their own rights and they do well, even if they cause some troubles... But anyway, let's get to the point!I started the trip around 7.30 in the morning from my hometown, Volos, and drove straight to Larissa to pick up 3 malakas... Steos (the local hero, owner of True To The Game Records) and 2 fuckers that tripped from Thessaloniki to Larissa by train, xJimx (Arthouse resident, owner of xStrong Heartx Productions, ehw arrwstisei) and Nick the Man (ex-Demerit, you know the deal?).
As you can imagine all the national roads that lead to Athens were blocked, so we did a 9 hour trip to cover just 370km... We even took a boat, eat just cheese & bread in a small village by the sea, drank around 3 espressos each (except Steos) and listened to stuff varying from Avril Lavigne to Cock Sparrer...We arrived in Athens downtown at around 17.00 and met up with our other friends, that helped out in the organisation, and the Strength Approach guys, that our great friends I mentioned above, Vagios (ex- xVagiosx), xGeorgex and xLagosx had managed to pick up from the airport (thnx a lot dudes!) because it was impossible for us to be there in time...
Anyway, I guess you are getting bored so let's go to the show info...
After soundcheckin', hanging around, eating & stuff, the show started around 21.30. The first band to play was Plan-B from Athens and I must admit that they are great at what they're playing, imagine a mixture of melodic punk rock with some modern melodic hardcore parts. They seem to have a strong fanbase, as well...
After them, it was time for Fall Of Man, a well known band from the suburbs of Athens. They play melodic punk/hc in the vein of Rise Against and the likes. They just released a split CD with another cool band, Go Ask Alice, so check 'em out immediately!
Next, my favorite Greek hardcore band jumped on the stage! Censored Sound, a fucking awesome old school hardcore band from Athens... and the kids started to move. The highlight of their appearance for me was their 7 Seconds (Young Till I Die) cover. It had been a while since their last appearance, so I was very happy to host them in that show. Besides that, some of their members are friends of mine, so this band is something more than just a band for me...
It was past midnight and the time for the very first Strength Approach show in Greece was approaching... Around 150 kids (we were expecting lots of more for that kind of a gig, to be honest) were there, ready to attend the show, when Alexxx (Strength Approach's singer) grabbed the mic. For the next 45 minutes we took part in a great show and listened to all the great Strength Approach songs, especially the fresher ones, taken by their last 2 albums. Alexxx suffered from a great pain in his back and that was obvious in his face and moves, but he deserves our congratulations because he did his best and performed a great show.
The show ended, the lights were off and after packing all our stuff and equipment, we splitted into 3 teams and went straight forward to the houses that were about to host us for that night... Some kids went to xLagosx's house, some others to xGeorgex's one and xJimx, Alexxx and me walked for just a few blocks and crashed down to Andromaxi's house (Jim's sista) for a bunch of hours... The alarm clock was set to 8 o'clock in the morning, fuck...
Day 2, Saturday 24th January 2009:Against Me! (via the ringing tone) woke me up... It was just 8 o' clock in the fucking morning and I was alone in the house... Jim and Alex had left for the train station to meet the others... We had booked train tickets for Strength Approach (and cancelled the van rental, in turn) because it seemed to be the only safe way for the band to get to Larissa in time. Only me and Vagios were about to travel with my car and cope with the blocked roads and the angry farmers. Just after I woke up, Andromaxi entered the house bringing croissants, orange juices etc. Amazing! I had a fantastic breakfast and then I took my car (loaded with all the merch & equipment parts of Strength Approach) in order to meet Vagios and start the trip. We really hadn't any idea when we were about to arrive in Larissa and what problems we might face... We were lucky enough and drove only 1-2 extra hours so there was some spare time to stop and eat in a cosy tavern, in a place called Karavomilos, haha! I must admit that it wasn't the best decision to order tzatziki and some expensive fish (for Vagios the jackass) in 12 o'clock in the morning...! Not only we paid a fucking great amount of money, but we also had a near death experience, Vagios and me only know...
Anyway, eventually we arrived in Larissa's center at 4 o'clock, met with Strength Approach and the others, went to eat again, had a coffee, did some jackass tourist stuff and went straight to the club for the usual unpacking and soundcheck.
The show started early, around 8 o'clock, because there was a trance party afterwards!
Streetwise, a local band, played first and they impressed me a lot. Great 90s new school hardcore, fueled with metal parts, but nothing to do with the current shitty metalcore trend. Go on dudes!Faithreat were next, featuring 2 Disharmonic members (my ex-band) and some other punks/metalheads from Volos city. We immediately started trashing the place up... Covers by Sick Of It All and Sacred Reigh were really appreciated, while the whole show was especially dedicated to my good friend/brother Leonidas that had his birthday the next day.
Then, Censored Sound played one cool set once more. It was their first time in Larissa and they seemed to really enjoy the show. They drove back to Athens just after the show, respect...
Die Without from Volos city were next. Brutal hardcore at its best, for fans of First Blood, Born From Pain and NYHC. They covered Agnostic Front's "For My Family" and did a hell yeah great show.
Strength Approach appearance was amazing. I mean, dude, I enjoyed so much their set not only musically, but because of the ultra positive vibes they delivered to us. Endless stagedivings, high fives, positive moshpit and energy!!! Fucking amazing. Not more than 80 people (half of them from Volos city) attended this show, but it was absolutely one of the shows of the year. Word.
Right after the show, we packed all our stuff, went to Ntolas' house, left all the baggages and equipment (because Strength Approach guys were about to crash at his house for a couple of hours; their train departed at 7.30 in the morning...) and went to Stones bar where Stratos VJ / Como Esta Loco was selecting cool punk rock / hardcore / metalcore videos for us. We had great fun, dancing and drinking (some of us beers, some others kiwi with sprite, haha!) till early in the morning!Then Vagios, Kwnstantinos, Leonidas and me started our trip to Volos, where we arrived at 6 o'clock in the morning, left Vagios at his home (he was about to leave for Italy the next day...) and crashed in Kwnstantinos foititander placee (we didn't want to go to our houses...!), after eating crespes(!) and drinking chocolate milk!
That's all I guess! Got bored? Fuck off!!!
Thnx to all the kids that helped out in this tour.
"We can do anything together, all of us our bonded forever"
Hugs,
Apostolisxxx - World's Appreciated Kitsch Records
P.S. no.1: Thnx to Foteini for the corrections!
P.S. no.2: Pass, flyer & poster designed by Mitsos - Ultra Grim Designs.
P.S. no.3: Photos taken by Ryme 63 / State Of Mind arts collective
P.S. no.4: Respect to xGeorgex for the sightseeing in Acropolis and the black coffee he had at Starbucks, instead of his sweety frappuccino or whatever. Hahaha!
P.S. no.5: Respect sta koritsia, in general!
http://www.myspace.com/strengthapproach
http://www.myspace.com/censoredsound
http://www.myspace.com/faithreat
http://www.myspace.com/planbgr
http://www.myspace.com/fallofman
http://www.myspace.com/diewithout
http://www.myspace.com/aristeos
http://www.myspace.com/xjimvx
http://www.myspace.com/ryme63
http://www.myspace.com/censoredsound
http://www.myspace.com/faithreat
http://www.myspace.com/planbgr
http://www.myspace.com/fallofman
http://www.myspace.com/diewithout
http://www.myspace.com/aristeos
http://www.myspace.com/xjimvx
http://www.myspace.com/ryme63
