Whiskey Daredevils Tour Diary — Day 8: Winterthur

The Whiskey Daredevils just returned from a road trip in Europe. Frontman Greg Miller fills us in on what happened.

We wake up with plenty of time to kill before the short drive to Winterthur. We split up in the brilliant noon sunshine on the cobblestone streets of the old city. The town is even prettier today than in the cloudy murk of yesterday afternoon. Leo is especially hungover, and I leave him unattended at a small unfashionable coffee shop. The main street has become a farmer’s market where a packed crowd of all ages jostles for position to get the vendor’s attention. An amazing cheese cart fills a wide area with an earthy funky smell that spins me around like a hound on a scent. I consider buying a little bit of everything, but the communication gap will be very tricky. These old ladies running the cart don’t fuck around. Time is money, and the last thing they want to deal with is some jackass that can’t follow the system. I leave without any cheese, tail firmly between legs.

I take a quick walk down the street and grab a sausage from the Swiss version of Bob Hite from Canned Heat. At every outdoor café, women in their 50s are knocking back cold ones taking a break from their shopping. Wouldn’t American grocery stores be more fun if you could have a chilly micro brew every few aisles? I ignore the call of the cafes and walk into the cathedral located at the most prominent position in town. Built by the Sun King, I am knocked out by the clean white lines and lavish gold interior. There is also a monster pipe organ that I would love to hear “Green Onions” played on. This Swiss lifestyle is A-OK.

When I return to the van, I learn Christoph has sent Leo out for a beer to help bring his hangover under control. “I told him in Germany this is what we always do to make a hangover go away.” he says laughing. When I ask if he is worried Leo will get sick, he says, “Oh yes! I hope so! That would be PERFECT.” Certainly, this will propel the day in an interesting direction. Leo eventually returns to the van looking even worse than when he first left. He crawls onto the bench seat and falls into a deep sleep almost immediately while I look out the window wondering when I can sleep like that.

We head to Gaswerk, the club where we are scheduled to play first on some four band psychobilly festival. It’s a fairly large hall, so it’s a real drag to be first. We are usually head and shoulders better than most bands we play with here. The fear is we will play to nobody, and then have to watch a bunch of shitty psychobilly bands play zombie, monster, and vampire songs. I mean, I write plenty of stupid songs, but not that stupid. I find a song about Gary Kane blowing off Little Steven much more interesting than “Night of the Vampires”. But that’s just me… I appreciate the finer things in life.

The bill is actually more varied than the poster seems to convey. Brigitte Handley and the Shadows is an all girl band from Australia. They are very friendly, and their drummer “Ned” hangs out with us for a while. She is a woman of some Pacific Rim nation descent (I didn’t ask), and really throws you for a curve with her Australian accent. Think if Lucy Liu said, “Good day Mate! Crikey!” She’s studying Aboriginal genetics/medical history, AND plays drums in a pretty cool band. What a great combination! Also hanging out is Mars Attacks!, a Swiss/Austrian band playing straight up retro rockabilly. Their bass player is super friendly, and has the best retro thrift store clothes ever. In fact, he has already made two outfit changes before soundcheck, so I can’t wait to see what he wears on stage. By his request, I have posed for pictures with him at each outfit change including the one Christoph calls “Mr. Leisure”. It’s an amazing tan jumpsuit with high waisted belt line accented by blue and tan rope shoes. I think Jack Lalaine would have worn this very outfit in an early 1960s TV appearance.

“Frenzy” is the headliner, and are vets of the late 80s psychobilly movement. I don’t really know too much about them, but I think I have a couple songs of theirs on a compilation disc. They are traveling with (I guess) their European tour manager, “Lonesome”. Lonesome is a very tall German that is chain-smoking cigars with his promo company logo on the cigar band. He is very happy to be hanging out with the band, and you can tell he adores these guys. In fact, he has adopted some sort of faux English accent to help fold himself further into the clique. Steve, Frenzy’s bass player and de facto leader, is a very loquacious talker and dominates conversation. He tends to throw a little attention to Lonesome every few minutes, and Lonesome really eats it up. You can tell Lonesome loves being the “all access guy with laminate”, and is very attentive serving the needs of the band. Hell, how can I get Christoph to check if I need a beer every 15 minutes or so? Why isn’t Christoph telling me the food is ready? If I could get used to that cigar smoke, I’d try to get that Lonesome guy in the van.

This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2009.