[kj] Nice Streets Below: How We Wait in Europe

Karen Weil karen.weil at sddt.com
Mon Oct 27 14:51:50 EDT 2008


Hi, Change:

Appreciate your thoughts on Belgium; it's a fine place. Germany also offers
so much, and has a very strong avant-guarde scene.
However, I have to take issue with your comments about the Dutch and
Europe. If anything, the Dutch have a totally different attitude when it
comes to languages; that's why so many of them speak three or four of them.
Whatever differences they may have with their European neighbors; I really
don't think the English issue plays a great role.
And while Paris is outrageously expensive (I was there in May; and believe
me, it was no fun coming from a country where the currency is in the
toilet!), I really can't agree with your observations about the French,
either. (Although I will concur about their love of Wire!)
But at any rate, enjoy travelling -- veel plezier, as the Dutch say!

Groetjes,

k.w.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Change" <crackedmachine at yahoo.co.uk>
To: "A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)"
<gathering at misera.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 5:53 AM
Subject: [kj] Nice Streets Below: How We Wait in Europe



> How nice it was to escape this ever more petty joke of a nation, occupied

> as it has been by the USA since WW2. If you want to get away from this

> rotten island then a great place to go is Belgium. Its not too far by

> coach through the tunnel. Brussels is beautiful. The streets smell of

> coffee and chocolate, the people are jolly and kind and there is great art

> everywhere. No wonder Colin and Malka made it their home. There are also

> lots of Belgians with little noses straight out of a Tintin book. The food

> and beer are amazing. I thought Brussels was wonderful but then I made it

> to Ghent and was pretty damn glad the trams had been aborted by a flower

> festival because I walked along the canal to get back to the station and

> realised that this is architecturally the most beautiful city I have seen.

> I haven't made it to Prague yet though! Antwerp looks like a low rent

> Barcelona copy, in the same way Manchester tries to be European but always

> ends up looking like

> a post-industrial dump. Tilberg is very boxy but the people were partying

> hard and late and the Dutch all seem to think the rest of Europe is crap

> just because they don't all speak perfect English! "Those crazy Dutch!"

> said Lewis but I can't remember why. Maybe it was something to do with the

> hotel WIRE rejected in Tilburg. Margaret the guitarist said it was so

> grotty she didn't even want to put her bag down in it let alone sleep in

> it!

>

> Berlin is a great place to explore, full of impressive sites and large

> enough to spend years there I'd warrant. Tiergarten is the largest and

> most lovely park I've ever strolled through. German venues also make a

> mockery of British ones in terms of the sound.

>

> Strasbourg has a fine market where I found a sabre for a mere twenty

> euros, a light sabre for two euros and a tiny plastic Obelix for twenty

> cents. Lewis loves the trams, but the modern art gallery, watched over by

> one of Lovecraft's Forgotten Ones, is even better. I spent too long there

> so got to Paris 23 minutes too late. My Cologne friend Dirk from the

> Gathering reckons Strasbourg is cool because of the huge German influence.

> Cancel your order, crossing the border, changing the menu!

>

> The Eyefull tower is good for a stroll but Paris is full of too many slow

> people and the prices are obscene. Jus d'orange? Mai non je pense que je

> WAIT until ich gehe zu Belqigue! Paris hotels are the worst. Unlike

> Germany and Belgium, the beer is worse than Britain. French computer

> keyboards were designed by a retard and the showers go some way to

> explaining why the English have often mocked the French for being

> hygenically challenged. The redeeming feature of the French is that many

> of them seem to really love WIRE and gave the most enthusiastic response

> of any crowds on this tour.

>

> Anyway this was the route of my rail and road trip:

>

> I arrived in beautiful Brussels in the middle of some kind of medieval

> WARDANCE pageant. I had time to visit the city's most mainstream record

> store just opposite Ancienne Belquique which Killing Joke would conquer by

> and by. I was rewarded by finding a copy of one of the few PJ HARVEY

> singles I didn't yet possess, 'A PLACE CALLED HOME.'

>

> After a couple of hours I caught the train to gorgeous Ghent for the WIRE

> gig at Democrazy.

>

> Next day I took trains via Antwerp and a bus NORTH OF THE BORDER to

> Tilburg just in time to catch the seismic riffin' PELICAN and Dutch

> hardcore heroes SEEIN' RED before WIRE blasted off at around 7pm. Later I

> was also entertained by the double breasted PRE and a Satanic black metal

> band who gave the crowd the finger for watching them, all of which was

> unexpected.

>

> On returning to Brussels I witnessed a lovely WIRE gig at La Botanique, a

> venue which could verily call itself NICE STREETS ABOVE if it so desired.

> I struck up conversation with a charming photographer and graphic designer

> called Violette who sent me eight great photos of WIRE from the gig.

>

> After the gig I had to START TO MOVE pretty sharp and jumped on the night

> train where I was entertained by conversation with a former theatre

> director who had just aborted a trip to Turkey. He recommended a trip to

> Tiergarten which proved very good advice. My first police encounter was

> with two cops on the Ostbahnhof platform who took a rather long time

> checking to find out if Interpol have a warrant out on me for listening to

> music in my living room. Berlin is also very cool and well worth a visit

> in its own right, but smells worse than Brussels.

>

> The first night was free before the arrival of KILLING JOKE so I checked

> out the SO36 venue where they and WIRE played, which was immortalised in a

> song on the first KILLING JOKE album. The sound was excellent as are all

> other German venues I've ever been to. The soundman played KILLING JOKE

> before the headline act, a comedy punk trio who weren't very funny but

> probably liked DEVO. We talked after the gig and I run into him again at

> the KILLING JOKE gigs.

>

> After the amazing KILLING JOKE regeneration in Berlin, with Big Paul's

> drum kit illuminated and smoking ritualistically, I planned to head to

> Paris to see them there. The train times were TOO LATE so at the last

> minute I rerouted to Strasbourg for more WIRE and this proved a wise

> choice as the COMET hit very late and I caught the whole set in front of a

> very young and enthusiastic crowd at a festival that went on until 6am.

> Next day my second run in with cops was with two French transport police

> who ask me to wrap up my sword so that it couldn't be seen before I caught

> the train.

>

> Paris next for more WIRE, on a first class train where I started downing

> some of the left over Heineken from last night's rider and upset a French

> idiot who had a tantrum because I couldn't stop belching even when she

> kicked my chair. She complained to the guard and he clearly thought it was

> a bit silly having to ask me not to belch when I couldn't help it. In the

> end she started complaining I was playing the BUTTHOLE SURFERS too loud on

> my headphones and he came back, again embarrassed, to ask me to turn it

> down. Then she had a stroke of genius and moved to another seat. Perhaps

> its a good job the sword was wrapped!

> If you ever feel like going to Paris my advice is don't bother. Go in a

> cafe that advertises coffee for a Euro and they greasy waiters will

> chearge you five.

>

> It was nice to speed back to Belgium and Brussels which was already

> seeming like a second home. I found many cool CDs in the shops, including

> quite appropriately COMMERCIAL SUICIDE. Being there for three days I had

> plenty of time to explore and each day surpassed the previous one. I met

> so many great people in Belgium I felt like moving there!

>

> My favourite songs to listen to on a speeding train were

> KILLING JOKE - Pssyche

> WIRE - Drill (DJ Fuckoff Version)

> oh dear the moderate Craig won't like that will he?

> KILLING JOKE - Timewave

> PJ HARVEY - Taut

> EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN - Haus Der Lauge

> BAND OF SUSANS - Guitar Trio

> KILLING JOKE - Empire Song

> WIRE - Germ Ship

> WIRE - Spent

> BUTTHOLE SURFERS - Who was in my room last night?

>

> Back home after another awesome double dose of the mighty JOKE I had a day

> of rest and didn't even have time enough to notice what a terminal dump

> Manchester is because the MELVINS wheeled in to rock the town and give me

> a chance to catch up with lots of old friends. That is the great thing

> about Manchester, lots of good gigs.

>

> Next day I was off again to London for the KILLING JOKE homecoming and as

> chaotic synchronicity would have it, THALIA ZEDEK and her band began their

> tour the very next day. She's a brilliant intense songwriter. Check her

> out while you still can...

>

> www.myspace.com/thaliazedek

>

> Her tour ends on October 23 at La Botanique in Brussels!

>

> I went to all the THALIA ZEDEK BAND gigs in England and after the best one

> at Hull Adelphi I had to zoom down to Cheam in Surrey for my younger

> sister's wedding. The lavish reception was held on a Territorial Army base

> but my uncles and I resisted the temptation to hijack a tank. One thing I

> gave her was a copy of 'UH HUH HER' by PJ HARVEY as "The Desperate Kingdom

> of Love" couldn't really be a better song to wish for a long loving

> marriage, at the end of this burning world.

>

> Then I went home to transcribe interesting interviews with MAGAZINE and

> WIRE, blow up some more stereo speakers, and wait for civilization to fall

> in its grave.

>

> ACCELERATE

> ACCELERATE

>

>

>

>

>

>

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