Architects & BMTH - Euro Tour 2011 (a brief bus odyssey)
Initially i had intended to write a diary during my time on tour with the Architects and BMTH …this isn’t it!….as i found out pretty fast, planning anything on tour really is a tough thing to do….here is a little insight into life on tour…
The link below shows some clips from the tour featuring BMTH:
http://www.stuartbirchall.com/ViewWork.php?id=2
Architect’s tour footage will be released very soon, meanwhile here’s a little live teaser until then:
http://www.stuartbirchall.com/ViewWork.php?id=10
Journey Begins….
I have been working with the Architects for two years and we are all good friends, this was to be a new experience for me with the guys and it really could go either way , when you have 12 guys in a bus for a month!
This was my first time on tour and so it was a baptism of fire. Within the first 12 hours, the first show was almost canceled and Architects had to play without BMTH, my laptop died, i had no bunk to sleep in and i had been asked to shoot additional tour footage for Visible Noise and BMTH whilst i was away….i thought ‘here we go’..
The plan was simple, shoot as much footage as i could each day, grab interviews and backstage antics, survive the mosh pits and make it; in and out of all countries in thirty days alive and without prosecution…
So on June 9th i set of to start the tour in Brighton, Belgium, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Sweden….
The first real surprise was the bus. Architects had been told only hours before we left that the original bus had been written off in a accident. No one was sure what to expect as a replacement as we stepped out of the minibus and stood in awe of the beast before us, matte silver paintwork and blackened windows, it was like a stunt vehicle from a Mad Max movie. The rain and the sight of the tank which was to be our home for a month didn’t dampen spirits and we quickly jumped on board. The replica human brain on the dashboard and integrated and overflowing ashtray behind the steering wheel were mere ornaments once we set eyes on the integrated faux mahogany finish around the floor to ceiling mirrors in the lounge area! We knew we were home…at least for now.
The basic bus rules on tour are as follows : No Crapping, No smoking, No masturbating and sleep with your head toward the back of the bus. Simple. Once everyone had bagged a bed i measured up the lounge area as this was to be my sleeping arrangements, it was tight as I’m over 6’2, but it was warm and dry…..
Now it really only took one day to understand the politics and program for ‘life on tour’ and this can quite easily be illustrated….Play football, insult each other (mainly drum tech) take a walk to local city attraction to find Starbucks, smoke, fight, twitter and facebook on your phone, play PS3 or Xbox or both, look at girls, (get onto other bands bus and repeat all…)…patently wait for show rider and then drink most of it….play an awesome show to unknown audience…sell merch, sign merch and do press…..shower, drink more…sleep and wake up in another country….
…and i can honestly say i had some of the best times ever doing it! :)
The shows were a real mixed bag, with some countries really surprising everyone, small tight and sweaty club venues full of kids just waiting to tear the place apart, from buckets of water being thrown over crowds to cool them down to Jona playing naked or Tim Playing from the sound desk.. to huge festivals with empty halls or Oli singing whole sets from the crowd to que jumping from Fred Durst, its best to just go with the flow and enjoy it all as it comes…..
It can feel slow and tiresome and the sleeping patterns and arrangements can get to you…but i think there are few experiences in life that could compare. There is always something to laugh about and you really do come together as people, the little luxuries that we take for granted back home become something really special when your living on a bus, a shower, hotel room with fresh towels, clean socks…vegetables etc etc.
Most live productions are managed and restricted, there are safety and security checks and paperwork and disclaimers and so much that halts the flow of energy and stifles creativity. I decided i was going to let go and see what happens. Go back to the mindset i had back when i started and the gung-ho approach. Once we had the clearance forms signed it was just a case of following the energy….and there was plenty of that.
The bands are both very different in many ways and similar in as many others, their sets really do compliment each other and you can see there is real respect and friendship between everyone, from the tech’s and management through to the front men. As i knew the Architects very well and we had a mutual trust i had no problem just jumping straight in on stage and nailing the best shots and angles. I know how the band set up and move and this really helps when I’m looking for the sweet-spot for lighting. Each character has their own posture and motion. I made sure i covered as much ground on each night as possible and briefly discussed ideas with the band prior to the shows, we talked about the types of ‘moments’ i wanted to capture and this helped with the guys being aware of what i wanted to do and how.
It’s one thing throwing yourself in blindly but after some madness shooting live with my good friends ‘Your Demise’ (who have some of the wildest mosh pits I’ve been in), smashing a few cameras or lenses is not an option on tour, as i needed the kit to do my job for a month….
With BMTH i had to get to know the guys before i could ‘take liberties’ on stage or get in anyone’s face with the camera, so i watched and studied how they moved and after the first show i could see who and at what point i could nail the shots i wanted. The band are all very quiet off stage and so there was initially just a few words before we got to know each other a little better. Once we had shot our first show, we all bonded much quicker. These kinds of relationships can only really happen this way on tour, i work with a great many bands, and i consider them all friends but there something about touring that was very different, takes the guard down i guess. It really gives a better insight and level of trust between people all facing the same pressures.
As the tour progressed, we found that cancellations and our days off were actually falling together and this allowed us to spend some time hanging out without time pressures, playing football, eating out at restaurants and enjoyed the local beers, but at the same time these moments allowed us to talk about the filming process. I developed ideas with BMTH for the video Alligator Blood, in a more relaxed and create environment. However…I now had to write up a full treatment whilst i was on the bus, without a laptop for a video i had to shoot when i got home…
Kylie Griffiths (stylist on Architects/YD/BMTH videos) agreed to bring out the laptop for me and meet me on tour, so i was back on track. I think i drafted the treatment almost overnight and got the tour manger Ben to mail it for me, the response was pretty quick and me and Oli were sat chatting about the ideas the next day before the show. I also got a chance to work with Tom Sykes as we helped each other out filming the shows, its rewarding because you get to meet a lot of really good people on tour, techs and tour managers to other bands and label people, its an extended family it seems and everyone is welcomed in.
The tour rolled on with some really great weather, the heat was pretty amazing and we spent important time sunbathing and trying to stay cool on the now insanely hot bus! The heat to be honest you get used to…but after a night parked in a very depressing ‘no-mans land truck stop’ ..we suddenly felt a new presence on the bus with us….Apparently the lorry next to us had been transporting frozen meat and the trailer had been left empty to air alongside ours….its payload of flies had found their way into our bus and they preceded to multiply in near biblical numbers!
The real hunter instinct came over some of the band and for three days the genocide continued as fresh wave after wave of insects seemed in unending supply, all night long you would hear the killing…..i would wake up feeling as if i was laying on the plains of Africa as the flies buzzed around my mouth and nose…we all suffered on those three dark days…
After that dark chapter we finally found ourselves at some major festivals, Sonisphere in three countries and Hellfest in quick succession, buffet food and communal showers at some, and hot food and clean cubicles at others a real mixture of organisation and utter chaos….. It was during the festivals that we were hanging with some of the bigger bands. One night we drank till the morning with Mastodon as we listened to an album exclusive and on another we were last out the bar drinking with the label crowd and Meshuggah. At the next festival we chilled with cold beers in the sun watching Iron Maiden load this really was quite a spectacle to behold, truckload after truckload of back line , pyrotechnics and fiberglass aliens?!
The bands i enjoyed, the ones who really left an impression for me were ‘Mastodon’, ‘Meshuggah’ and ‘The Melvins’, and of course ‘Slipknot’, really inspiring performances and special times for me, moments you just could get anywhere but on tour i expect.
I’ll fast forward a little here, to the last two shows, we said our farewells to BMTH as they went off to tour other parts of Europe. We went to Norway and its customary to go out on a boat ride across the coast, it was pretty heavy weather and no one was going out, non the less we were looking forward to it for a while. We signed a rather ominous piece of paper waving our rights to sue in case of injury….and we climbed on board…Now I’ve had my fair share of experience with extreme sports but i really wasn’t expecting much from this….well, after we had maneuvered out onto an open stretch the driver opened up and the boat literally flew, we bounced and glided around for a while and it was all fun as we were flung around like rag dolls, having to stop a few times due to sore backsides. I think maybe it was Dan who whispered to the driver to go as fast as you can and …so , well he did, we bounced around a bit before we hit the double wake of the boat as we came around….we flew, maybe 4 or 5 feet in the air, before we crashed down, everyone hit the deck but we had no time before we hit the second wake and this time we really flew, we seemed to hang in the air for a while…before we suddenly crashed down hard…like hitting a brick wall as i felt a crack in my spine all the way up to my neck! The pain was about the most painful thing i have experienced and still…5 months later i have not recovered! I spent the night and the next day on my back in the coach in agony, and i missed the show! Thankfully i was able to get up and enjoy the final show in Sweden and hang out with the band on the last night, we all got drunk together and had a pretty amazing night to finish the tour together, a group of people sharing a life experience i wouldn’t trade for anything….
….I could write a lot more about this experience as i have really only skimmed the surface. I expect i will note it all one day for my own journals, Just writing about these days brings back the feeling of value and comradeship that ill take away for ever, i hope this gives you a brief insight into life on tour….watch this space for special releases from Architects and BMTH for further footage from this years tours….
peace x
(Sam+Max aka Ladchat) No sleep/No food/No football/No beer…Loads of Rain
