Currently, I’m on tour with the Rempis Percussion Quartet, supporting the release of our new cd “The Disappointment of Parsley” on the Polish label Not Two. After a few days off in Serbia, hanging out with Frank Rosaly, and going to see our friends Loose Assembly play at the Ring Ring Festival in Belgrade, we took the train north to Budapest, and met up with Tim Daisy and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten. Those of you who have followed the band for awhile will probably ask where Anton Hatwich is. Although we’ve had a great run with Anton, and I think this new record is the best document of the group yet, it seemed to me that it was time to change the group’s sound a bit. After five years working as a free-improvising unit, there were sonic territories that seemed to be recurring more often than I’d like, preventing us from reaching new areas to explore. So I made the decision a few months back that it would be best to try a lineup change for the group to see if that might help knock things around a bit. Not an easy one, as Anton is a great musician, and a good friend, but in the long run I think it will help the group continue to grow.
In his place, I asked Ingebrigt to join the band. Having worked with him in a number of different contexts, especially during his two-year tenure as a Chicago resident, I think his ability to navigate the broad range of reference points that we cover will be an asset to the band. And so far so good…..although there’s always an adjustment period, the first three gigs have felt more “open” than some of the ones the band has done over the last year. The issue of getting into and out of “time” in a logical way seems to have been addressed by simply not locking into it with the entire group, allowing different members to push and pull against the dominant rhythmic feel as they wish. Looking forward to the next several concerts as we try to work on these ideas further.
And about the gigs…..we’ve had a great start, playing first in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, about an hour south of Budapest.
Szekesfehervar
Although the town itself is small and somewhat quiet, the audience at Petofi Mozi is unbelievably enthusiastic, having driven in from all over Hungary for the concert. Before we even started playing, we’d sold 30 cd’s!!!! Many thanks to Levente Dudas, who started his N.O.E.W.A. series back in October 2008. He’s quickly made this a special place to visit on tour, and has hosted 12 fantastic concerts, including performances by The Thing, The Sclippenbach Trio, Veryan Weston/Trevor Watts duo, and much more. We’ll also be returning to Szekesfehervar in September with The Vandermark Five.
With two days free after our Friday night concert, we killed time by heading into Budapest to check out some of the tourist attractions, including the Budapest castle, and the Szechenyi Baths, a huge outdoor public bathing complex with thermal baths, saunas, steam rooms, pools, etc. etc. I wish Chicago had one of these……We also were invited to Levente’s home on Sunday for a fantastic traditional meal of noodles and beef paprikash, along with some Hungarian wines.
Levente and family
On Monday morning, we headed west to Vienna, meeting Heinz Henning, who organized our concert at the Martischloessel, a traditional social club and beer hall.
inside the Martinschloessel
Heinz’s enthusiasm for the music is uncontrollable. So much so that he’d almost completely lost his voice after spending the previous three days hosting the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet. Although he has no background in presenting concerts, his passion compelled him to invite some musicians to do concerts last year (including friends like Jeb Bishop, Jason Stein, Ken Vandermark, and Mike Pride) and he’s trying to build that up even further into a yearly season of 10-12 concerts.
Frank and Heinz talk music
Several friends also showed up for the concert, including Hans Falb from the Nickelsdorf Festival, and Walter and Andrea – two extremely nice folks who have come to almost every concert I’ve ever played in Austria, even though they live in the far western end of the country. I think I first met them at the Music Unlimited Festival in Wels in 2000, and have run into them again in Wels, Vienna, Salzburg, Ulrichsberg, and Graz in the years since. Thanks for your support and friendship Walter and Andrea!!
Andrea, Dave, and Walter
Of course we stayed too late at the venue, leaving around 3:30 am, which made the 7 am start to our travel day a bit rough. Thankfully, we slept on the train, waking up in the early afternoon in Ljubljana. Ljubljana is also home to many good friends. The first full-on tour I did in Europe was in 2000, when the Vandermark Five played the Druga Godba festival in Ljubljana, organized by Bogdan Benigar. Bogdan was also the one who invited us this time, on his series at the Cankarjev Dom, the main cultural center in the city. Some time to relax in the afternoon and a great meal at one of the oldest restaurants in the city made it easy to play that night. While the crowd was nowhere near the soldout show we played here in February with The Vandermark Five and Atomic, it was a really warm reception nonetheless.
Currently, we’re in the middle of a 14-hour train ride north to Poland, where we first head to Krakow to meet Marek Winiarski from Not Two, the record label that put out the new cd. Thankfully we don’t play tonight, but can just relax and sleep late tomorrow before the unofficial record release concert at Alchemia. From there it’s on to Poznan, and then three days at the Moers Festival in Germany, where it seems like we’ll be meeting up with a number of friends, including Colin Stetson, Tomas Fujiwara, Jasper Stadhouders, and many more.
