First shows in Berlin update 12th January 2008

Well this was ostensibly the reason we moved here, although so much has happened in the past six months that the entire rigmarole of playing a gig seems very strange and unnecessary. There's a real distance between us and the people playing to an indifferent Oxford crowd on the 1st of July 2007. At the same time, it's really exhilarating to be playing for people again. Sometimes I even catch myself enjoying the cat-and-mouse games promoters play when they're not sure if they're supposed to like your band, if your band are cool enough to play their night, whether they can be rude or whether they can stop chain-smoking and drinking Warsteiner for five minutes to actually listen to some music. Some promoters do have genuine passion for music though. Some are also dour fangirls who get moist for any bunch of xfm-grade britpop strummers.

You can't really compare playing in Berlin (or Germany as a whole as I understand from our drummer) to playing music in London. The prices on the door seem a little higher here, although bar prices are comparable. There's no real gigs during the week, and fewer good venues, so those venues are busier at the weekends. Bands get paid (we've received €200 for our first two shows) and treated with a degree of respect (admittedly this manifests itself in limitless free beer - I still have tokens for White Trash - which some bands who might not be used to ... cough ... and abuse before they play). Free food from White Trash Fast Food and a fruit platter and chocolate bar platter at the Bang Bang Club were further unexpected perks. Our music seems to have been relatively well received so far, although we all consider these two shows a warm-up for more arty bills to come later in the month.