Plains, Trains & Automobiles
For some reason or other, Cooper tours always start at around three in the morning with an alarm clock going off. As does this one.
We have to catch a plane at Brussels Charlois Airport at around 9 AM, hence the early hour. This tours (well, tour is a big word for a three day journey) travel party is the band plus Willem and Rutger on sound and general roadieness respectively. Willem and Bertus are already at the studio for load in when I arrive. Eddy will be picked up at home and Rutger is nowhere to be found. It’s just guitars, merch and some drum parts, because we’ll be using the Pennywhores’ backline for all the gigs. Rutger overslept himself as it turns out, so we pick him up near his place. We’re on our way. We’re in Bertus’ car which is a nice Renault Espace with seperate seats, so everyone is pretty comfortable and to get in the mood we’re playing Hayseed Dixie (well, it sounds a tiny little bit like Irish music, doesn’t it?) “What’s that little light?’ asks Willem half an hour before we are about to arrive at the airport. No one knows, so he looks it up in the little Renault Espace book. The book says: “ Stop immediately!”, which is not really an option, so we take the risk of moving on and deal with it later. We arrive at the airport perfectly on time and everything runs really smooth except for Willem, who has to give his knife to the good people who are there for our savety. Good thing they intercepted that knife. Who knows what would have happened.
As soon as we land at Dublin airport I call Niall, lead singer of Niall Quinn and the Pennywhores, long time friend and promotor of the four Irish shows. We have to get to Limerick by train, but we can’t find the train station. Turns out the train station is on the other side of the city, so we have to take the bus. This is our first ‘public transport’ tour so we’re slightly confused. But the bus ride is a nice sightseeing one, so we’re fine. At the station we have to wait for another hour or so for the train to Limerick. It’s the first time Bertus has his new palmtop with him to be able to work while touring. He will definitely need it in August when we’re on tour for a month. Right now it doesn’t work.
The journey continues by train and by now we’re starting to feel a little tired, so most of us try to get some sleep.
As soon as we arrive at Limerick station it starts to rain. Welcome to sunny Limerick.
Niall picks us up in his Mini Lexus, so we get a taxi as well to get us and our stuff to Niall’s house, our home for the next three days. There we get some food and then it’s time to leave for the first show in Galway. We meet the rest of the Pennywhores; Eric on guitars, Niall on bass and Steve on drums. There’s only one highway in Ireland and we’re not on it, but the scenery is very nice and none of us has ever been to Eire before. After an hour or so we arrive at the pub we’re playing. The place is called Sally Longs and there are four bands on the bill. First on is the local promotors band, which is a three piece who remind me a little bit of Bufallo Tom, not sure why. Second is a pretty hip punkrock band with all the right looks, tattoo’s and guitars, but with a slightly misplaced bass player who’s doing the whole Clive Burton routine (he also has the appropriate hairdo). By this time we’re all pretty nackered, but all the Pennywhores turn out to be very nice and very funny people so they pull us through. The audience consists of part local youth and part Coronation Street cast. The curfew is set pretty strict so we all play thirty minute sets. Niall and his posse are on now and they sound really good. Eventhough we’re the least known band of all we play last. We’re dog tired by now, but we manage to play a rather good half hour set. Weird what adrenaline does to you. Before we head off back to Limerick we get some kebab at Abrakebabra. Yes, the Irish are very good at these kind of jokes as we will find out later.
And then, finally, we are allowed go to bed.
“I thought you were with the van?!”
When I wake up everyones out of bed already. Niall has to go to work for a while and Bertus and Eddy (who sleep somewhere else) are already back here. The rest of the day we spent in front of the TV set watching DVD’s like the Ramones documentary. It’s hilarious. I’m going to make diner tonight before we leave for Cork, so as soon as Niall’s back we’re off for groceries.They all like my Italian dinner, so that’s cool.
After supper, the other Pennywhores arrive to go to todays place, Cork. For today Eric arranged a van including a driver. Now, this driver is called Christy, he’s about forty but looks fifty (this starts to sound a little bit like a limerick) and has no teeth and while we already have trouble understanding the Irish accent, this guys mumbling is really too much. So when he starts talking to me I try to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on the right moments and hope for the best. Christy, Eric, Steve, Niallo, Bertus and Willem go with the van. Niall Rutger, Eddy and I go in the Mini Lexus. The venue in Cork is called An Cruiscin Lan. I ask what it means, no one seems to know. We arrive sooner then the van, so we get inside to check the place out. It’s really nice and reminds me of a lot of the places you play in the U.S. It’s a bar with a big stage and a proper P.A. the only thing that’s missing is the TV’s with basketball on. We also meet the local promotor aka the guy in charge of An Cruiscan Lan. “You would make history if you filled up this place tonight”, he says. Hmm...that sounds promising. But there are Cooper posters hanging everywhere in the venue next to the Flogging Molly ones. I go to the back alley to find Eric, Bertus, Niallo, Willem and Steve, but no van. “I thought you were with the van?”, I ask. “No, I thought YOU were with the van”, Eric responds. It takes us quite a while to stop laughing.
It’s only two bands on the bill tonight, so we can all relax and both have a proper soundcheck. The sound engineer does everything she can to make it happen, thumbs up for her.
Niall rented the place for tonight (which makes him the local promotor), so Niall, Eddy and I take turns in guarding the door and collect the money.
The venue isn’t exactly packed, but the atmosphere is really nice and both bands play a really good show. Eddy picked up the Irish habit of drinking Guinness all the time. So I see him taking bites during the set, haha.
On our way to Limerick we get some well needed chips and hamburgers at a place called (grab your tummy, everybody) McDonnels.
“You will all go to hell, seriously.”
Today is easy. Well, easy. We have two shows, but they’re both in Limerick. The first one is an all ages show at three in the afternoon with, surprisingly, Born From Pain. Not only are they Dutch like us, they are also very hardcore, unlike us. Maybe both bands being from the same country is more then enough to match. Today’s second show is at Riddlers.
Today is also the day Nialls mom will make us a traditional Irish stew. I’m looking forward to that more then anything.
But first we get to see a bit of Limerick. It’s a very nice town. Nice and easy. I buy myself a new Iron Maiden shirt and my wife a South Park shirt. It’s one of those little shops where they make transfer shirts on demand and while you wait. Only this girl is so slow that we have to come back later to pick the shirts up (and even then she’s pissed off; “You’re early.....”) While we were walking the street in Limerick we bumped into these religious people. They used paintings to explain to young people what and what not to do. If this was The Netherlands they would be laughed at and made fun of. Not in Ireland, though. Here young kids listen to them and really pay attention to what they say. And what do they say? “If you have fun, you’ll go to hell.” And there wasn’t the slightest trace of irony. I thought it was scary, but that was probably culture shock.
When we arrive at the all ages show, Born From Pain already bailed. Inside we find the sadest case of a rockshow ever. A band playing the worst version of a Therapy? song I ever heard with two guys in Cradle Of Filth shirts at a table as audience. I carefully ask Niall how bad it would be if we didn’t play. “No problem at all, my friend. That gives us more time for my mom’s stew.” That’s all I needed to know. But, just for the record, this is the only show Cooper ever canceled for this reason (lack of audience and general bad vibe, not the stew).
The stew is delicious and Nialls parents are lovely, lovely people.
The show at Riddlers is with a nice punk rock three piece called Funbobby. The place is filled up very nicely and the Pennywhores show is received really, really well. This makes me worry a little about our own show. Again, we’re the least known band and we close the night.
But as soon as we hit the stage the place explodes! The people love it and we play our best gig. There are two guys with no shirts on having a ball and I also see the girl from the skate store jumping up and down. Niall is standing in front of me with the biggest grin on his face I ever saw. He is evidently relieved everything turned out so well with this little Irish tour. He is the one who made it all happen, mind you.
At one point in the show Eddy starts a Limerick. Amazingly, from the top of his head. I couldn’t hear it then, but later on Eddy told me it went like this: “There once was a punkband called Cooper, which drummer’s name sure wasn’t Rupert. And I’ll say this for me, but the rest will agree. Playing in Ireland is super!” A loud cheer emerges and now everyone is jumping up and down. It’s one big party.
One of the things I love about Ireland is the fact that you can’t smoke in pubs. I just quit a few weeks ago and this helps me a lot. Besides that, it’s so nice to be able to breath during a show in a pub. I’d say: Let’s do this everywhere!
After the show the people leave pretty soon and we decide to go for fish and chips down the street. Now this is something different. There are three rows of drunk Irish people standing in front of the counter, yelling, screaming for whatever they want. I’m not as drunk as these people, so I am bemused and squeeze myself in there to get my own fish and chips. We all think it’s a really funny sight, except for Rutger,he is about to kill someone. We all decide to walk to Nialls place and maybe get a taxi van on our way there. We cross the street and Niall, Bertus and Eddy see a taxi van, but it’s already taken. Niall asks the driver if he cold maybe come back for us after he dropped the people off. Before the guy can answer he sees Eddy, who has no clue whatsoever is going on, open the back door and put his bass guitar in the van. The cabdriver goes mental and Bertus has to keep Eddy away from the scene while Niall apologizes to the cab driver. No way he’s going to come back for us now. But it’s just a ten minute walk, so it’s no problem. There’s a party going on at Eoin and Kirsty’s place, where Eddy and Bertus sleep. So we keep on drinking. After a while Willem and Rutger want to leave, so Niall walks them to his place promising me he’ll be back to pick me up. He doesn’t. So, Eric and his lovely girlfriend make sure I get there in one piece. Turns out Niall fell asleep and didn’t hear his phone. Neither did he hear me ringing the door, so Willem had to get out of bed to open up for me.
We’ll be back
We have to catch a plane, so after breakfast Niall takes Willem and Rutger to the train station. They go to Dublin by train, because there’s not enough room in Nialls Mini Lexus. They both volunteered, true heroes as they are, to go by train. We can take it a little easier, but we too have to leave. At the airport we say goodbye to Niall. There’s no way we can thank him enough for everything he did. He only asks us to promise him we’ll be back in return. We gladly make the promise. We will come back to Ireland.
When we get to the car we suddenly remember the strange little light. Let’s hope it isn’t there anymore. It isn’t. We’re save.