Just a final tour post, albeit rather late and definitely overlong and rambling. Its been a strange tour, the trials and tribulations played out rather publicly on social media, but as the tour progressed, the sense that one worn out chapter was closing and a new exciting chapter was opening was palable. There is always a defining moment on any tour and for me it was during Railroad Steel in Malmo, but, more of that later. If you look at the HMS and various members thereof tour dates, youll notice that many of them end up with Malmo as the last date. This is not by accident. There will always be places or circumstances that bring out the best in any band. For HMS, its Malmo time and again. As Warner has already said, our regular hotel there - The Radisson Blu - just take such good care of us. We have a circle of friends in Malmo who help out with everything from laundry to being tourist guides for the best restaurants. This time around, there were so many of us that we pretty much took over our favourite restaurant - Bullen - for the evening. The food is fantastic, the company superb and we find out that Runka when translated into Swedish, means a term for male masturbation, always educational the Swedes. Why does that matter you may ask? Well, the HMS website and biography both open with the line, Runka, Runka, Runka, three chords and a cloud of dust. You may well now have an image in your mind, which is not the one we intended to portray. But, Runkering aside there is always the shows, the reason we all do this shit and put up with everything we put up with in the process. Welcome to Malmos legendary Dr Rock, a promoter who wears his heart on his sleeve. Luckily, Rock thinks that Homemade Sin are the best rock n roll band in the world, so, were off to a good start. He doesnt just say so, he puts his money where his mouth is and will actually travel around Europe to see the band in action. When you have people like him beating the drum for your band, you know that whatever happens, he will have put his heart and soul into getting as many people as he can to see your band. Thats a big deal in this age of indifference. The venue - Sankt Gertrud - is literally across the road from the hotel which makes it perfect for load in and load out. The audience contains the Malmo faithful, a large contingency of the Copenhagen faithful, promoters from other Malmo venues, promoters from other Swedish cities and promoters from Denmark. In short, we are amongst friends and lots of them. People seem to sense that this will be a special show, we even have a couple of rather worse for wear and sunburnt Brits, wandering around telling all and sundry how great Malmo is. Then, if that wasnt enough, our new bass player - Micke Nilsson - comes from Malmo. At the show, he has three generations of family present. On hearing this and realising how nervous he is, someone who shall remain nameless, decides to change the backdrop, so, instead of reading Dan Baird & Homemade Sin, it reads Micke Nilsson & Homemade Sin and boy, did he deserve it. I have been listening to Railroad Steel now for twenty five plus years, but, in Malmo, I heard a whole new bass line underpinning the song. After the initial - thats not right - I realised that not only is it right, but it actually improved the song. The future is very bright and as Rock proclaimed, the whole of Malmo is very proud of Micke and so are HMS. The rest of the show was a textbook example of just how good HMS can be. For me, the Circus Life material grows in stature night after night. Whilst other bands have the difficult second album, HMS simply put their heads down and went up a gear from the debut and that debut was pretty damned good too. Next up for HMS are four shows in the US, then some more Scandinavian shows and back through Europe, ending up with two nights in London to round off the year. The band should be frightening by the time they get to London. There are still tickets left, but not many. PS, dont forget The The Bluefields are coming. Joe Blanton is one of the unsung heroes of Circus Life and a hell of a singer too. Brad Pemberton is one of the few drummers who can stand a favourable comparison to Mauro Magellan. The tour starts in Glasgow on the 18th July and finishes in ...... Malmo. See you there.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 20:53:54 +0000
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