After reaching that useless sounding age of 27, I kept on waking up every morning and thinking “Oh My God, I am still 27!”. I needed to move. As if going away was going to make me feel like being 27 wasn’t that bad after all anymore. Certainly not, but at least my focus would have been concentrated on something else than just thinking that I was now 27 and that it sounded ugly! I needed to get back to work. Tour. Rush. Change my spirit a little bit. I had spent a beautiful time in Montreal, almost a month without traveling, which felt really good and relax, and even though I didn’t feel like being on planes again (especially not for the tour that was coming up as it was going to be hardcore!) I kinda needed to leave, go, and just do it. I needed to get back into the hardcore mode of touring. Even though I find it really hard, it is somehow addictive.. And even though I may complain at times because I find it impossible and because it makes life very unstable, I miss it when I don’t do it for a while. So… December 5th, time to get back to Europe. The flight was fun because I flew back to London with Clare and that was cool. It is so nice to travel with friends. I wish I could just do that all the time. Travel and play with good friends. But unfortunately it’s not always like that. Oh well…
Land in London on the morning of the 6th. On that same night I had to be in San Sebastian, in Spain. I had just 2 hours of sleep in my flat and then got back to the airport to leave for the weekend. On that weekend I didn’t travel with Brian, but with Ian, my agent, The Man Behind The Game. The first gig in San Sebastian wasn’t that great. There were people, it was all good, but the DJ set up was kinda wrong and the sound was horrible. The needles were skipping so much that I’ve had so many off beats! My set must have sounded like if a bunch of horses were running by, but then maybe not because that is ONLY IF anyone could have even hear that in there. It’s sad but, hey, it’s the truth. Tony Palmer usually is top behind nights, and I am not surprised that this happened because he doesn’t live in San Sebastian and he probably hired other people to set the whole club up and the job hasn’t been done properly. But it’s ok, as the highlight of that night was another one anyway, so everything was fine in the end and that set I played was just a nice warm up for the following nights to come. The nice thing on that night was to be able to hang out again with Carl and his fiancée Christie, see Gaetano again and play with him, meet Mark Broom and actually been able to speak with him some more – very cool guy! – and have great food and great laughs. Carl was only playing the next day, but he was there and hang out all night with us at the party. It was nice, considering he was sick like a dog and should have just stayed in bed! But he wanted to be there and support, which was really cool.
After the gig, typical… No more than 2-3 hours of sleep ad then up to get to airport and travel for hours and hours. It took all day to get to Holland because we had to fly via Paris so that was kinda long. Everywhere we were going there were no people! Ian and I were wondering where the people were. The San Sebastian airport was empty. The Charles De Gaulles airport was empty. The Amsterdam airport was empty. We were really wondering where everyone was!! Especially at that time of the year, Christmas was coming up and there must have been more people than that traveling.. We arrived in Holland quite late, I was exhausted as since my arrival from Canada I had slept a total of 4 hours, so I needed to go to bed. But I was hungry, and of course restaurants were closed so I had to eat a cheeseburger. I had already had a few ham and cheese bocadillos on that day, so I wasn’t very happy of that food on that night. But hey.. life on tour..! So I went to sleep for 3 hours, before my set at Impulz, and that sleep was very needed and felt really nice. Impulz was fantastic! I played a very nice set, hard and tight and I was very happy. It is so nice to see how the Dutch crowd seem to appreciate my sets every time I go back, considering there are so many other techno DJ’s and considering I am not even local, but I get a lot of respect there and it is really a nice feeling. I look forward to play for the Dancevalley people (same people behind Impulz) and I think the next time will be at the Dancevalley itself, in August. It should be lots of fun and I look forward to it!
Finally the next day Ian and I got to see that there were people in this world. It’s like everyone decided to travel on that day! It was horrible in the airport in Amsterdam, there were too many people and the delays of flights were affecting many people…….. like us. That STUPID STUPID STUPID KLM flight of ours had been delayed of more than one hour, which brought us to Barcelona too late to take our connection to Valencia. So we had to wait 5 hours in the BCN airport, until the next flight to Valencia! Yes, 5 hours! I went to the lounge and slept for about 3 hours, and that was in between 2-3 ham and cheese bocadillos. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that in Amsterdam on that morning I had another ham and cheese baguette. I was about to become one myself! YUCK.
After those impossible 5 hours of wait we finally got on the flight and got to Valencia. I was playing in Club Barraca for their 37th anniversary, so the night was very busy. Unfortunately my set was supposed to be from 9 till 11 pm, as it was a Sunday night and people would leave earlier, but since we arrived too late I ended up playing from 11:30pm till 1:30am and it wasn’t the same. It was still really good, but could have been better if I would have played my initial time slot. I hated to have to play in running shoes, I didn’t feel very comfortable… I think I have shoe issues.. As I have decisions issues, too, and security issues, and commitment issues, and sand issues.. Which one is the strongest I don’t know, but definitely my shoes issues are part of my every day life! Even though I travel in running shoes, because I travel hell of a lot and it is definitely the most comfortable way to travel, I do not usually wear running shoes in my every day life, and especially not to play in clubs! But I couldn’t help it on that night, because as soon as we arrived in Valencia we’ve been picked up and we had to get to the club straight away!
After the set, it was nice to think we had at least 7-8 hours of sleep waiting for us, because it was an early night after all and our flight back to London was not that early.
The way back to the hotel was of the funniest! While we were driving with the promoter I noticed on the dash that the fuel meter was low.. So I asked him if he was sure we’d get to the hotel alright, and he was super positive about it. Not even 3 minutes later, the car stops, and we got stuck in the middle of a field, middle of nowhere in Spain, in the dark, without fuel. I was laughing and laughing! In a normal situation I would have been very upset, but I was done with my weekend and I had 7 hours of sleep in front of me; a party to go to with Christian on the next night (Prime Distribution Christmas party in London), and I was with Ian so no reason to be anxious! So I was laughing.. And I was so looking forward to write my TRUTH post about it!
I am not sure if the promoter understood that my laugh was not meant to be mean whatsoever but that I just thought it was funny.. He was such a nice guy so I hope he didn’t feel embarrassed that much. It didn’t take very long and a taxi picked us up to get us back to the hotel, so everything was fine in the end.
The next day, at the airport, I had paella! No ham and cheese bocadillo fortunately, otherwise I would have got sick for sure..
After a few days in London, not very restful for the body and the mind as I put myself in all kind of stressful situations, I had to leave for Russia on the Wednesday morning, the 11th. That trip was going to be long and hard, but certainly intense and fun! This one was going to be Brian and I (The Smiley & The Cool as he calls ourselves), and it was gonna be so nice to have a proper hard work + catch up time together. When we arrived there, we got picked up by the nicest guy! Sergey. He took care of us so well in the two days we were going to be there, he was the man! He brought me a rose to the airport, for a belated happy birthday present, and on that night it was his birthday, too. I was happy to meet another fellow Sagittarius. I am very patriotic when it comes to signs… 🙂
Not much time for anything on that night, than just do dinner and get to the club. It was already late when we arrived and I had to play on that same night. Unfortunately I experienced another horrible sound set up. One monitor was broken, one table was unusable so I was stuck on two only, and the whole sound wasn’t clear and punchy. On top of that, the club was not very busy. So my set has been a mixture of deep techno and tech-house, with bits of harder techno but not too fast. The people who were there enjoyed it a lot, so that was fun, but I wish I would have played for a bigger crowd and on a better sound system.
After the set, I completely killed Brian at pool! So next time he will know better… It’s not very smart to suppose someone could beat me at pull so easily. Hehehe..
I am not the best pool player, of course, but I have my years of experience! When I was in college I was playing every day at lunch time, with my father and my brother, and I became quite good. I even have my own pool stick, which I am very proud of! 🙂
The next day, and that was a premiere, we had one day off! It was better that way, so we got to visit Moscow and we got to fly to Birmingham instead of having to take a train from London. We did so much on that day! We had such a blast Brian and Sergey and I! So many laughs! How cool that was! We went to the Museum to see a Salvador Dali exposition. We went ice skating outdoors and I had the chance to meet BAMBI (Brian on his skates). We walked in the freezing cold weather (but nothing worse than Montreal anyway), under beautiful flakes of snow, in the red square, around the Kremlin. We shopped for gifts and bought those wood dolls (Matrioska) to each member of our families. I got my father a rabbit typical Russian military hat. And, of course, I bought so much caviar and vodka for myself to bring back to London and Montreal. I love caviar so much that on that night, at dinner, that’s all we ate: caviar + champagne + oysters (24 of them!) + caviar + caviar + caviar + more oysters and more champagne.
Oh yeah, and some vodka, too. Some.. yeah.. right!!
One very, very funny thing of that whole time in Moscow was this mystery guy called Vladimir! Since our arrival on the night before Sergey was speaking about Vladimir who, apparently, was the guy behind the booking, so we were supposed to meet him at some point. He was supposed to be at the club. But wasn’t there. Then the next day we were supposed to be meeting him and hang out with him, but he didn’t show up. And so this guy was becoming pure mystery. Then we kind of saw him quickly at the ice skating place, but he disappeared right away. And so finally when we were at dinner, Sergey said that Vladimir was finally going to come and join us, but Brian and I started laughing and said “Yeah right, Vladimir??!! Vladimir is Vladi not here! Vladimir is Vladi non existing!” And we were so laughing! But Vladimir ended up Vladi showing up, though only for 3 minutes. He sat down at the table, said hello, talked for a bit and then said “Sorry I have to go” and he Vladi disappeared again! So that Vladimir was a Vladi illusion! And that was so Vladi funny!!
After that lovely day and dinner we were kind of exhausted and we headed back to the hotel as the next days were going to be hard, plus my important gig at Code in Birmingham. With all the sleep I’ve managed to have in those few days I ended up waking up much before the time I was supposed to, and I couldn’t sleep anymore as I was hungry and I was bored. I wanted to call Brian in his room to ask him to come to breakfast with me but I thought that would have been a selfish thing to do, to wake him up like that. So I didn’t, I got dressed and went downstairs to have breakfast on my own. When I sat down to eat, I was totally in my head, thinking about a bunch of things, looking around me and watching people and analyzing them (my fav thing to do) and then I see this guy wandering around the food, with his baseball cap and his plate full of food… I was so laughing and I said “Well well, good morning Brian!”. That was just as funny as someone sneaking in the kitchen in the middle of the night, with lights closed, and then the other person arriving not long after to do the same, leaving the lights closed, and then both bump into each other in the darkness of the kitchen! … “Euh… hello!” (blushing).
That was really funny. It is so nice to have moments like these on tour. Because they are so simple and natural but they are so real, and that is life.
The next day, back to work! We had a long day of travel to Birmingham, via Copenhagen, with the typical stress of not making the connection and not getting the bags due to a slight delay.. But all was fine. We got to Birmingham on time, with bags. In my opinion, that night has been my best night at Code since the first time I have played there. That makes me look forward to play there again, in March! After the set it has been pretty hardcore, we only had 3 hours to sleep and then had to get up to get back to the airport, to go to Santiago, via Madrid. So it was another full day of travel, very tiring! I felt like a zombie. Fortunately we have had the chance to get a bit of sleep before the gig, which was a very late one: from 5 to 8am. What has happened there due to the oil tank was really sad. For the next 20 years all the fish and seafood businesses will be out of business, and that’s on top of the sadness to see the beaches all destroyed, full of petrol, with so many dead fishes and dirty birds around. That night wasn’t too busy due to that. All the local people were waking up early in the morning to go to the beach and help cleaning, or some were going directly right after the club night. I felt like it was a Misstress Barbara VS The Oil Tank night. But I am glad to have played well for the people who were there and who wanted to enjoy themselves, despite the sadness of the situation with which they shall live for the next years to come.
The funniest thing on that night, because we were so confused due to the disorder of our sleep, was that when we checked in the hotel at around 6pm, there was that woman at front desk whom we saw again the next morning when we got back to the hotel after my set (at around 9am). And so when I saw her I said “Oh poor you! Don’t you ever sleep?”, but she looked at me like if I was the weirdest thing she’d ever seen, and replied “Euh.. yes. I have slept my night and got back to work at 8am?!” And so I looked at Brian, and laughed, and realized that it was us who hadn’t slept yet! How confusing that was.. I needed to go to bed then!
That trip has been something. In 10 days I have been to Spain 3 different times, to England 4 different times, to Holland and to Russia. Before leaving I thought that if after this trip I was going to get sick, it wouldn’t have been very surprising! But I haven’t. Fortunately, I’ve been ok. The one who got sick was Brian, poor Brian. I am not sure how, as we ate the same oysters and caviar, but maybe he caught a bad oyster. Who knows. I’ve been all good, and got home pretty tired but very happy to finally get home for the holidays, and for lots and lots of rest! To finish that tour even better, I had my fav crew on the Air Canada flight back to Montreal. I knew them all and they all knew me, and I have had the best service! I have been spoiled like a child! And I loved it.
Next time I will be in Europe will be March. Until then I have new year’s eve, then Australia for a month and then a few gigs in America of which two weekends on a Misstress Barbara and Amber tour… Ha ha. That one is going to be something real cool and I can’t wait!
Before ending, I would like to announce the new label name which will replace Relentless: ITURNEM.
Go and read the CONCEPT page on the site soon, as I will be explaining why I have changed name and why I have chosen that name, etc.
This name will be effective partly as of Relentless # 11 (Danilo Vigorito – out in February 2003) and fully as of Iturnem # 12, which would be Relentless # 12 (Misstress Barbara VS Barbara Brown VOL. 2). Everything will stay the same from the design and the logo to the concept, so hopefully people won’t get confused.
So with all this I wish you all a very happy new year, full of health, happiness, joy, success and long long long nights full of music!
A big THANK YOU to all of you who have supported me through this year and the ones before, and I look forward to more great times thanks to you all.
And a big kiss.
Barbara. x