Now that Cowgirl and You Should Get To Know Us have successfully travelled from Hungary to Poland, the bands face their toughest test yet - a very important rock show in Krakow. Keep reading to see whether the Desert Mine signings can succeed and take their careers to the next level.
27 July - Krakow Scena Supernova
Tour report - Cowgirl (Sam)
Slept in late feeling a little funky. A bloody Mary and some pickled herring later, back in the game. All having a nice time having a drink in a beer garden when we realised the parking ticket had expired. Tom and Victor popped back to put some more money in the machine.
Carried on our business when we received a distressed call from Tom. DISASTER! 'The van has gone!' What the fuck 'Yeah it's not there' We all rushed over. And yes. It was gone. Some kind people helped us call the police and the parking guys to figure out whether we had been towed or whether it had been...stolen.
Tom spoke to somebody from the parking department who confirmed they did not have our van and that they don't tow. Uh oh... Ran over to the cafe opposite to ask if they had seen anything and a nice guy informed us that he had seen it getting towed 20 minutes ago. I've never been so happy to find out a vehicle has been towed!
Thus begins a day of relentless ball breaking. Danny, Roy and Victor tried to get a taxi to the outskirts of Krakow to pick the van up and pay the fee. It appears that taxi drivers in Krakow don't actually want to be taxi drivers and nobody would take them. Roy started to ask passers by if they would take them and temptingly fanned money as cars drove past. Eventually a 'legend' taxi driver stopped to pick them up.
When they arrived at their destination they were informed that the van was at the complete opposite side of Krakow and they had to pay the fine and show the vehicles documents before they were allowed to go pick it up. Unfortunately for our heroes, the documents required were in the van itself, locked up, at the other side of Krakow. They sweet talked the taxi driver into ferrying them around and waiting for them as they continued in their quest. Four hours and four taxi rides later and $250 lighter, our baby was back where she belonged.
Our crusaders returned and we loaded up our shit, ready to grab Krakow by the balls and blow the roof off this mother fucker. Dropped the gear off at the venue. Got some food at a restaurant around the corner and Merlijn ordered the same meal twice in a row. Respect.
Got back to the venue to set up and soundcheck. It was an interesting place. Kind of a community space complete with theatre seating. Pretty makeshift affair. Some interesting power issues, everyone kept getting electric shocks from the microphones and crazy rumbling feedback would intermittently interrupt songs. Played our set and people seemed to dig it. Kept thinking we were all going to get electrocuted any minute.
YSGTKU played a blinder and returned for an encore as a Polish super fan proceeded to lose his mind over the heavy duty rock and roll he was gleefully ingesting. We got paid 20 zloty and after deductions for beers we'd bought we came out with a cool profit of 5 zloty (1 British pound). Thank you Krakow you redeemed yourself.
Tour report - You Should Get To Know Us (Ralf)
Our day started lovely, we were sat in a beautiful beer garden. All was quiet and peaceful, there was a nice breeze and Sam was drinking his regular Bloody Mary at 10 o clock in the morning. All of a sudden some disturbing news came to light. Thom found out our van was gone!
The boys of YSGTKU and Cowgirl entered a confusing twilight zone: was the van stolen or towed away? All of the boys? No, Merlijn just chose the right moment to go solo and went to the contemporary art museum. The confusion ended when a police car stopped and a police woman told us the inconvenient truth about our van. It was towed away because we were parked at a disabled spot. We were demanded to pay 500 slotti cash directly to the police woman. Of course, after the massive turn up at their last gigs, giving the boys a big pay out, the money was rolling right in. Not a problem at all.
Danny, Roy and Victor left the group to go by taxi to the police station at the border of the city. When we got there, we were told to go and get the car papers. However the papers were in the van, which was parked by the police in a lot at the other side of the city. We called a cab, but none were available. We tried pulling over one, but no cab driver was in the mood to pick us up. We talked to people on the streets, but no one could help us. In the meantime Merlijn was witnessing an almost equally disturbing scene in the museum at the exhibition about ecological apocalypse.
Back to the crime scene. Just when all hope was gone. Roy in a last attempt, was about to play his last card. In this case, the card was money. More particular: Roy was waving around a 100 slotti note in the air. Super effective! As sent by god, the legendary cab driver of Krakau appeared. He took the boys to a shady parking lot at a grimy shithole. Victor got the car papers, in the meantime, Roy was persuading the legendary cab driver to stick around and team up with this group of disabled parking rock stars. He agreed and brought us back to the station, after filling in some forms, we were asked to pay 490 slotti to the police. Since we only had notes for 500 slotti, we were willing to tip 10 slotti, the regular 2 %, in order to thank the police for parking our car. The police refused our tip. Then, the legendary cab driver once again saved the day by breaking down a 100 slotti note. Letting us pay the precise 490!
We went back to the parking lot again. After a guy was inspecting Victor's passport for too long, we were allowed to take the van. We were free men again, survivors of a dirty war. In the meantime, Merlijn was having still having a blast at the art museum and the surrounding hipster neighbourhood. After all the day ended well. As they say, the show must go on. And that is exactly what our boys did. They treated the Szena Supernova to some liedjes. Popping out those slacker songs like nothing happened... true heroes. The end.
Audience attendance: 13
 |
| You Should Get To Know Us making friends in Poland |
 |
| No expense spared in promoting the Cowgirl & YSGTKU summer tour |
 |
| Danny from Cowgirl wows the Krakow audience with his musical talent |
 |
| Sam from Cowgirl plays sweet licks on his axe in Poland |
 |
| You Should Get To Know us play a blinder in Krakow |