3/20: Barrow

The promoters from Newcastle saw us off in the morning after giving us a jump. Our battery had gone dead because we left the DVD player running in the van. Did I mention our van had hardwood floors and a DVD player?



Me and Luke looking dapper.



We drove about 2 hours to Barrow. It was a bit off the beaten path and nondescript but fun nonetheless. We had a nice dinner at the venue, one big happy family.



The show was fun, hanging out at the venue after the show was even more fun. Arm wrestling abound.



My friend Jake came to the show. I told him to pose under this painting like he had painted it and was very proud of it. I think he pulled it off well.



That's me, The Great White Hope. The woman in the picture bugged us for a free t-shirt for about 15 minutes, then got angry when we didn't have her size. Yeesh.



This picture sums up Barrow pretty well.

3/19: Edinburgh/Newcastle

We stayed at Gavin's flat and went exploring in the morning. Turns out, we were about 10 minutes away from Edinburgh Castle! A real live castle!



We couldn't figure out why they had made a monument dedicated to a dog, but we took pictures anyway. James, Tom, Scott, Lee.



"I CLAIM THIS DOG IN THE NAME OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!"



Close up of Edinburgh Castle.



Lee, Tom and Rob with more animal-themed monuments.





Edinburgh was gorgeous.



We found a pub that had steak, mash potatoes and veggies for £4.99! Ate like kings, we did.



The drive to Newcastle was about 3 hours and was one of the longest of the UK tour. Can you believe that?! This is Pulled Apart By Horses soundchecking at the venue in Newcastle.



The opening band was Castrovalva, just drums and bass. Kind of Lightning Bolty, in a good way.



Living the good life in Newcastle.




The big fire extinguisher brand over here is Chubb. This is Chubb Foam.





Pulled Apart by Horses on stage.



New friends in Newcastle. We felt obliged to drink Newcastle Brown Ale, seeing as how we were in Newcastle.



After-show dance party.

All in all, Newcastle was a great time. We stayed in a flat above the venue where the promoters lived. Great!

3/18: London/Leeds/Glasgow

In the cab the next morning. We were all hurting. We were to take a bus up to Leeds to meet Pulled Apart By Horses, the band we'd be touring the UK with.





London is lovely at 6 AM.



Way too much luggage for 4 weak dudes to be carrying.



Jeff loves his Fish & Chips flavored crisps (potato chips)!





Cool stuff seen from the bus to Leeds. We met up with the band and our tour manager, Gavin and headed off to Glasgow, Scotland for the first show of tour.



We stopped at a rest stop and they had Costa Coffee! Ya never believe it!



Some nice looking buildings in Glasgow. We were only in the town for a brief while before going to the venue so I didn't get any nice pictures of Glasgow. Whoops!



Jeff is THRILLED to start tour!



Scott is THRILLED to have some authentic Scottish water!



As per usual, the venue was down a series of steep stairways.



The venue fed us awesome vegan food! That's Emily (Rob's girlfriend), Tom, Rob and James from Pulled Apart by Horses.



Scott and Gavin (tour manager) enjoy enormous vegan calzones.



That's our van. I don't think we named it but it was a good van anyway.



If you look closely, you'll see that we were riding in a MERCEDES BENZ! Nothing but the best...

The show was fun but very poorly attended. Nowhere to go but up, right? We played then headed to Edinburgh to stay at Gavin's flat.

3/16-3/17: Charlotte/London

We were up at 4 AM and at the airport by 4:15 for security check in. Our new flights and itineraries were printed on this huge dot-matrix printout that Luke is trying to deciper.



We met these girls while checking in. They saw all our equipment and thought we were a famous band. They wanted autographs. Really.



Finally through security in Charlotte. Scott (drummer), Luke (guitar player) and Jeff (bass player).





Waiting for our flight, trying to catch up on sleep.



Some 28 hours after leaving Athens, we finally get to London! We meet up with Dawnie who booked our UK tour and she takes us out to a bar in Angel called Monkey Pup to celebrate our arrival and St. Patrick's Day.



That's Dawnie. She's sweet.







Good times at the Monkey Pup!



That's the landlord at Monkey Pup. He was awesome.



Making friends!





Down at the tube station at midnight (get it?).



Trouble-makers on the bus back to Dawnie's, all very tired and very excited to have actually made it to the UK.