20th November 2025
If you are a child of the seventies or entered this earthly existence a decade later you may remember the sad music at the end of classic American television series, such as Six Million Dollar Man, The Littlest Hobo, The Hulk or even the sad musical bits in popular programmes such as The A Team or the amazing Starsky & Hutch…I did love their red and white car. The emotive music would set the scene, for instance, as The Hulk (David Banner) walked off in to the distance, so very lonely and the music would put a lump in your throat whilst framing the saddest of scenes….then you would realised it was Sunday, you had school tomorrow and you hadn’t done your homework!
We are at the end scene. Very much mixed emotions today. I am really ready for home, I think we all are. Touring is brutal and we have an element of ease with our tour bus. For men of our age though it is tough. Long days, long journeys, broken sleep remembering we have to be focused on our show every day and sometimes on this tour we have been doing four and five shows in a row. Having said that, this tour has been nothing short of amazing. The turn out every night has been superb, either sold out or close to sold out, the fan reactions have been joyous. I am not sure we could have asked for more. A lot of people have said the band have been the best they have ever seen!
Our days have run smoothly. Vicky Olsen, our tour manager, did an amazing job with all aspects of our day from get in to get out. We are on stage exactly to the second and she fought our corner all the way. She has now moved on to tour manage Katatonia. They are lucky to have such an experienced TM in their team.
Our supports have been really easy to tour with, but we are an easy band to tour with. Messa have supported us on the whole journey. Really talented band, a little bit different and Sara is a great singer. We loved having our friends High Parasite with us for the UK and Lacrimas Profundere have opened up the European leg with high energy and good reactions. Thanks to all three bands.
Our crew, as already mentioned, have been at the top of their game. Thanks to Gabe (Gabester) on front of house. You made us sound great every night. Gavin (Gavster) on monitors who took care of us and brought us confidence at each show. Danny (Nathaniel) our bass and guitar tech has brought professionalism and perfection every night which we just come to expect now. Will has had my drums tuned and ready every night. He has a lot to do with set-up and pack down and he has it nailed. He has also taken care of the Perspex screen which is an important part of our live sound set up now. Roni (Ronster) has been so good for us with lighting and has really understood our songs, our set and the necessary hit points. Kinnat has worked so hard on our merch sales. She has a really long day but always has a smile for us and puts up with our English weirdness. Lastly Bobby (Bobster) our bus driver who takes us from show to show safely. Thank you to you all . You are appreciated and of course we couldn’t do this without you.
The mad thing with this last week is how warm it is through Europe. I have been in shorts and sandals all week, apart from in Geneva which was really wet when we got there.
After Zagreb we headed to Vienna where I received a delivery from my drum skin company Remo. They really bent over backwards to get stuff to me. I am extremely lucky to be endorsed. I believe in all of the companies I endorse and I try to give exposure to the excellent products I use on social media. So thanks to Yamaha Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Remo Drum Heads, Vic Firth, Porter & Davies, Drum Workshop pedals, Hardcase cases and Roland Electronics. You are all amazing and I feel honoured to represent you.
As I said earlier, every show has been packed. The only negative for me was the 18 hour journey from Budapest to Geneva. It was really tough and boring. Geneva was wet and I was stuck on the bus, so after a very expensive McDonalds (Which I am not a fan of) it was early to bed. I just wanted to get to the show day! I hammered series 4 of Breaking Bad to get me through the night.
It felt great to be heading north as we travelled and woke up in Nuremberg. I had spent a week there in 2023 and 2024 at trade shows for Beer Piper so I am familiar with this historic and famous city. Notably our former producer Rhys Fulber came to the show. I hadn’t seen Rhys for a long time so I enjoyed our catch up.
I have a special shout out at this point to my good friend and excellent drummer Ben Relton who stepped up to fill in for New Model Army on my recommendation for some shows stating this week. He also filled in for me at a Kill II This show in the UK at the weekend. A killer player for a killer gig.
Yesterday saw us wake up in the basement of our show in Utrecht which for us was sold out and was one of seven shows in the venue. The place was run like a machine. Catering was packed as they were dealing with seven bands and crew. It was a great show. I think we could have sold double the tickets but apparently the venue had no availability.
Today we complete the Ascension Tour (Part One) at Trix In Antwerp Belgium. We head tonight to the ferry and hope to be at our rehearsal room tomorrow afternoon. I can’t wait to see everyone at home (especially Jax of course – who keeps looking for me apparently) and then on Monday I will be back at my desk in the office thinking what the hell just happened!
I thank you all for reading my nonsense. My toolbox has still been in jeopardy every night as you will see and keep your eyes out for a little tour diary related competition coming your way.
Cue the sad music…