SOUL STRIP DIARY

After our concert history during the past 9 years, the first weekend of March 2007 brought something really special to us. We got the chance to play two support shows with the amazing band Stone Sour.

After having a boring start of the day at work, I left at noon to head towards our rehearsal room.

Goran, Damian and myself stuffed the equipment into our rental bus and started the engine to ride to the first venue, the Kofmehl in Solothurn.

We arrived there on time and got in contact with the local crew straight away. We got a sightseeing through the club and spent the time waiting for action.

Patrick and Michael and our crew with Yves (sound), Melanie (fotos) and Sascha (backliner) arrived after a while as well.

After Stone Sour had a very loud sound check (107dB), we got set up on stage as well for our sound check.

Actually, the stage was very small, since the drum riser of Roy Mayorga was huge. But we found a way to handle that and even dealed with just one (!!!) monitor line for the whole band.

After a delicious meal we went upstaurs to our backstage area to get dressed for the stage. When we looked outised the window, the amount of people outside was unbelievable.

We entered the stage at 9.30pm with “Smashing Ride” and the crowd was with us during our whole 30 minutes set.

We had a lot of fun on stage and a very good sound as well……and we played a hell of a show for the sold out show of 900 people.

After a very quick changeover, Stone Sour entered the stage with a blast. The just kicked ass for 80 minutes, incredible how much energie this band has.

We found a spot to watch the show and went outside during the encores to spread our postcards to our new fans.

We got drunk and gave our cards and stickers to almost everyone. Sadly, we didn’t saw Stone Sour backstage at all, since the backstage areas where splitted from the beginning.

At around 2am, we finally decided to get our equipment into the bus again, even the rain hasn’t stopped.

We went to our hotel in Solothurn for a very confortable night…..and this was just the beginning…….

The next day, we had to leave the hotel at noon. The band looked really fresh, except Michael, who looked like he slept under a truck. Since every single one of us where very hungry, we headed for the golden arch, which was pretty close to the hotel.

After the usual crappy burgers, the journey to Fribourg begun. Our get in was 6pm, but we just wanted to go there as quick as possible and see what we can do there.

We arrived at the venue at around 2pm and where very surprised about the size. The Fri-Son is huge and fits around 1400 people.

We got a very warm welcome by Mario, the booker of the Fri-Son, who showed us around. The Stone Sour crew was already working since hours. The day before, we got an invitation to visit the H.R. Giger museum in Gruyere together with Stone Sour, which we couldn’t reject at all.

Andrea and Christoph of the Musikvertrieb organised a bus for this incredible journey.

In the end, the group was Melanie, Damian, Andrea, Christoph, Josh of Stone Sour and myself. After a very special ride to Gruyere, we arrived there save.

Gruyere is very tiny town on the hills. It looks like in a book and in the middle….the museum.

We entered Mr Gigers world of insanity to watch his illusions and visions of the future and his Alien and Species models.

Josh had to be back at 5.45pm for his soundcheck, so we went for a drink after the museum and back to the venue.

Today, we shared the backstage area with Stone Sour, so it was very easy for us to chat with the guys.

The whole band and crew was very nice to us and it made everything easier for us as well. Damian even got the chance to sit on Roys huge drum set.

After our soundcheck (this time, we all had our own monitor line) we where very hungry. The dinner we got was amazing. Thank you very much to the kitchen crew, delicious.

The doors opened at 9pm so there was plenty of time to relax and chat with Stone Sour.

At 9.45pm was our time to rock. We played the same set as the day before and as tight as well. Actually, every single one of us did something wrong, but the crowd didn’t realised that. Since my bro Sascha wasn’t able to help us out as a backliner, our friend Rejhan jumped into the slot and was a huge help as well.

I got rid of almost all my guitar picks, since the first row (mostly cute girls) where anxious to get them.

After another quick changeover we stuffed the bus with our stuff to enjoy Stone Sour on stage again and get ready for an amazing after show parts.

Stone Sour kicked ass again as usual with an incredible performance. The last three songs, Patrick, myself and Damian watched the show from the monitor desk, which was very amusing as well.

After both bands did their jobs, the fun started. Melanie was so nice and offered to drive back to the hotel, so Damian and myself had the chance to get wasted.

What happened afterwards couldn’t be described in words, it was just incredible and funny as hell.

Corey, Roy and Jim where all in a very good mood and we couldn’t stop laughing.

The only people who weren’t able to laugh where the two groupie girls…I guess, they just didn’t understood the jokes, so they left…sorry girls, but it was our night….

Josh turned into our hero, when he came in a told us, they could stay additional 30 minutes. Meanwhile, Jim was doing a lot of jokes on an Austrian girl with huge…..no, really…..huge tits.

At 3.30pm, Stone Sour had to leave to Stuttgart, so this was a very quick end of an amazing weekend for us.

After another confortable sleep in a hotel in Fribourg, we decided to have a very nice fondue, since Fribourg has very delicious cheese. This was one of our best decisions ever and a very nice end of our mini tour with Stone Sour.

I would like to send out a huge thank you to Corey, Roy, Jim, Josh and Shawn of Stone Sour for two incredible nights, Gazza for making it real, the whole Stone Sour crew, Andrea and Christoph from Musikvertrieb for a very nice trip to Gruyere, Melanie, Sascha, Yves, Rejhan, Fabian for the huge support on and off stage. Pascal and the whole Kofmehl crew, Mario and the whole Fri-Son crew and of course my brothers in rock, my band mates Damian, Patrick, Goran and Michael…..let this be the beginning and not an end.

- Pat

After having rocked the Rock Fabrik in Ludwigsburg in December 2006 our local buddies "Stereo Pilot" invited us again as opening act for their CD Release Party. (thanks again guys!!)

Since I still haven't ordered that tour bus on ebay yet the band got there individually. The real rock stars in our band decided to spend the night in a nice luxury hotel right next to the "Seeschloss Monrepos" (I think that's where Ludwig 69 held his harem..other sources say the dude was gay..whatever). A very nice place!!

After check-in we cruised to the "Waldhaus"..some rather fucked up but very rock n' roll building in the woods. Stereo Pilot was soon doing their sound check..man, that place was shaking..respect to the soundguy! Right before the club opened we were also done..the best stage sound I've ever had!

The club was nicely crowded by the time we hit the stage shortly after 9 p.m. I thought the band was sounding really good and according to the reaction of the crowd we must have The people were extremely supportive and that felt good! We really enjoyed that performance a lot. Pitty we didn't have time to play our new cock n' roll tune "Clouded Pillow"..next time

After a short brake the guys of "Stereo Pilot" were on. Man, they rocked the house massively..and like if there was no tomorrow!! Awesome show and certainly a very successful release party!

By the time they were finishing their set we were hanging out in the lounge and restaurant area eatin' pizza and startin' to get drunk. Latest by that time we had realized that the club was FULL of nice girls!!! Not really our age but who the hell cares right!? But by the time we were nicely filled up with Cuba Libres they were all gone..that sucked a bit..but we had our fun in the end - danced, drank and partied until dawn. Ah actually some of us preferred to go back to the hotel much earlier..wussies, you know who you are!

Back in the hotel Goran started to demolish the hotel room..I was busy sniffing lines in the bathroom with two super models..finch was running around nacked in the lobby..yeah right..we were alone, having a beer and Goran was singing a lullaby

Next day: quite nice breakfast at the hotel..the eggs were horrible though. Before we left we checked out the castle and its property..a very nice place I have to admit!

That was it guys..a very cool experience again!! Thanks again to all the people who made this happen, you guys rule!

Cya
Patrick Shagwell

The excitement was huge to return to one of our favorite places to rock in Zurich, the Kulturmarkt.

This time we had the chance to create the whole program for the night, so we invited redcharly >from Zurich and Nina, the lead singer of 69 Chambers as supporting acts.

Since the Abart had the fantastic idea to organzie a rock show with local bands as well, we were kinda scared, if there would be a crowd at our show.

At 8.15pm Nina entered the stage to perform an acoustic set on her own. It was the first time she performed that way, so she was a bit worried. She played an incredible show though, the songs, her voice, the whole atmosphere were just beautiful. Sadly, she had to leave right after her appearance cuz she had another show to play at the Abart with her band.

At 9pm redcharly started their show with a blast. Their songs are awesome, realy catchy and brilliant songs with an incredible voice on top.

I was very happy at that stage to see, how all the acts matched perfectly together.

Since redcharly's guitarist Stefan fucked up his amplifier before the show by mistake, he asked to use mine. No one even recognized that he didn’t used his own equipment.

At 10pm the crowed stood still and excited after they heard Ennio Morricone out of the speakers.

After that we kicked into the show with “April Won”.

We were all in a very good mood and everybody was able to see that.

The crowd was incredible (we had about the same amount of people like the Abart at the same time). They screamed, jumped, danced…..after about an hour including two encores (“The Morning Song”, “Clouded Pillow”), the show was over and for us, it was a huge success to see how many people just came to see us play and how much merchandise we sold (I've never seen so many Soul Strip t-shirts in the front row). A rock show couldn't be better!

I packed my stuff and headed towards our rehearsal room to bring back my equipment. With “Rebel Meets Rebel” on the speakers and a smile in the face I was almost there, when I saw a huge police control right before Opfikon/Glattbrugg.

I started to drive slowly without having a bad conscience, when the police officer showed me to stop and park the car on the side.

And there the nightmare started:

After giving them my driver's licence and the car papers, they asked to shut off the engine and get out of the car. I had to do an alcohol test and they pointed with a flash light into my eyes. The first thing they asked was “have you consumed any drugs tonight, we think you did cuz your eyes don't react like they should”.

WHAT ????? I had 2 beers and just a good time playing an awesome rock show…….drugs ? No officer, I don’t do drugs, never ever.

“Would you please come with me, we have to get some blood and piss from you”

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG HERE ? AM I HAVING A BAD DREAM ?

They took blood, they got their piss and they asked me silly questions for about an hour and told me, that everything I say, they can use against me and that I could call a lawyer if I want.

I just wanted to go home and sleep…….the last thing they explained me was “we will now keep your driver's licence until your innocence is proven, do you understand that ?”. Yes sir, I do, but can you explain me now, how I get all my equipment to the rehearsal room and how do I get home?

“That’s not our problem, we will park the car over there and you can get the keys back tomorrow or tonight, if someone picks you up”.

Good luck, I reached my dad and he and my bro picked me up and brought the car and my equipment back home.

So here I am now, without a permission to drive a car until they think I am innocent……fuck it.

Anyway, to remind myself back to an awesome show, I would like to say thanx to Marc Glatz and the whole Kulturmarkt team, redcharly and Nina Treml for an unforgettable night, Melanie for being an angel again and managing merchandise and pictures at the same time and finally all our fans and friends, who shared a wonderfull concert, you guys rock

- Pat

2pm swiss time. It’s freezing outside, but the sun is shining very bright when we arrive at the Z7 in Pratteln. It doesn’t look like the year will be over soon with a headbanging festival called “End Of Dayz”. We have the honour to open the three days as one of the most un-evil metal bands of the festival.

4.30pm, we set up the awesome stage in the tent. Finally, they started to heat it up, since it was very cold when we arrived. The first fans arrive and wave to us on stage while we still finish ursoundcheck.

5pm, stage time. E don’t know what to expect but we where there to rock as hell for the crowd. Some of them leave our show to go to the main stage but mostly everyone else remain there to listen what we have to say (or sing).

30 minutes later, we finished our show very happy to have still a lot of people in front of the stage. We chilled a little bit in the backstage area, before we went to the signing session of ours.

It was amazing how many people we had in front of us and we almost didn’t had enough time to sign 4 cards and a jeans jacket within our 15 minutes... After that, we went back to the backstage area to chill and eat something and walk around to meet all the nice people we know there.

It was very cool for us to be part of the End Of Dayz 2006 and we hope it wasn’t the last time we play there.
A big thanx to Dane for booking us, Andrea P. for the funny signing session, Yves for the sound and the whole Z7 crew for a very cool evening.

- Pat

Could it be anything better for a musician then doing a show on his own birthday ? I don't think so.
This happened on my 29th birthday this year. Actually, it was supposed to be a party for two other girls, but since I was the only one who celebrated his birthday on this particular saturday, it was was more than special to me.
When we arrived at the club, we already scared the owner to death while installing all our equipment. He welcomed us with a"the important thing here is always to be quite".....Bollocks, we are a god damn rockband, what do you think ?
After having some free drinks and a lovely pizza, the club was quite nicely croweded and it was time for us to enter the tiny stage.
Something happened >from the first minute on, there was a kind of magic on stage and in the eyes of the people.
It was such an awesome moment to be on stage with the boys. Everything was perfect and fitted together.
The setlist was perfectly put together, it was just great to be there and celebrate my birthday, while playing with Soul Strip.
The aftershow was funny as well. More free drinks, singalongs to classic rock songs and seeing the people from work getting drunk as hell (I will not name anyone of you, you know who you are, hehe).
A big thank you to my bros in the band and everyone, who was there to celebrate my 29th birthday.....looking forware for my big 30 next year.

- Pat