Da grand SATAN

We're just 7 in the van and it has 8 seats, I seat in the front and i start to feel this luxury... We're on the way to San Diego and the others would join us there, cause some have family and relationships must as we're leaving for a 18 days tour... Thinking about it, I must confess that I really needed to leave my everyday life...

We're getting closed to the border and we're stocked in the traffic but it's better than expected and Mexican border has sort of fiesta air... There are many souvenirs sellers, and they have some unexpected stuff as big wooden turtles, or huge christian crosses and else, we just got some fresh watermelon! Then Nicolas wanna buy one of those small ridiculous acoustic guitars, i started to deal with one guy, Nicolas gave a try to the guitar but found it not good, and i had to explain that to the seller... I got nervous, haha!

Passport checking, then car scan, then everyone out of the van, stand here, don't move, dog and soldiers, there a kind of problem... this border is a problem, i did not understand everything at that time, but i guess that Isaac would have to pay some extra fees for the backline we should have declared, or something like that...

We stopped after the border to change money... that was boring!

Then we stopped in a music store... wow looks like a mecca for any musicians, but well ok it's just tons of guitars and amps and other shits, but the funny story is that one of the seller wanna buy us a LP and promise to show up tonight at the concert! Of course he did not show up!

Ok Ché Café... Should have been legendary, but i don't know i feel awkward there, i don't if it's the intellect or my eye, or maybe the fact that there is no beer or even no food, despise the big size kitchen they have there!

We played ok, Rogue state was like hell on earth that destroyed it all... I guess my eye got worse and we have to pack and say goodbies to our new mexican friends...

Then guess what we drove till a music store, actually Nick, who put the show up, works there! Cool place and Pierre is deeply looking for "his heeero ist gooone" and lamp wreeest" records, good for him he got some... I started to buy a lot of records there!

After that, guess what... we went to eat a burrito, ridiculously big, Nicolas and Romain took one with rice, beans and potatoes plus the hot salsa sauce i guess it was way too much for their stomach!

Then we got to Nick's place, nice suburbs of San Diego, nice house with a garden and tons of dvd and records... Some played video games, some were not, i chose the front porch and enjoyed my first Bud in America! That time with my swollen eyes i felt like an American!

I woke pretty early in the morning, so i took time to have a shower and my eye looks better... hours later when everyone woke up my eye was almost totally closed, we call Nick's mother, she's a nurse and she told the worst story ever... "you'd better go and see a doctor or to the hospital, that's the eye it could get infected, you could lost it, do you have headache, did you lost consciousness"! Good for me no headache and i'm awake... Nick gave me a super cream to put on my eye and we decide to check for a clinic or something in Los Angeles if it does not get better...

So back in the van again!

Julio César Chavez

Morning, shower and fat eye... A bit stressed, but it's a beautiful day and today we play in San Diego Ché Café!

I'm willing for a tea and Isaac saves me!

I go out with Romain and we're having some shot session, it's funny... But Fernando suggest i might get drained cause my eye is very big and I don't want to travel with a eye big like this now, and it's very hot today... But right now it's pancakes time, There is a Mikey pancake and a sort of Batman... But i have to go at Fernando's dad to check about my eye... There we decide to drain it so we go back to his office! We have to wait cause there are some patients, cool i can see Tijuana almost downtown, let's walk through some blocks and then go back to the office... Tijuana is a place i'd like to visit again and I'd like to get lost in this city despite its reputation... It's like walking through a fiesta, it's again question of yellow, green or pink houses and blue building, a smell of burrito at some corners and salsa mix down the streets, bug cars and klaxons song and then metal and blue bus some customised so that they don't look like city bus anymore! Suddenly you can see a big mexican flag but very big just in front of the mountains, the desertic ones... Fernando tells me that years ago someone did burn the flag as a rebellion act, no one knows who did it, and authorities were very much pissed off! That's a story i did like!

Back in the office i can still feel the heat from the street and the TV is on... Fernando told me about ghost stories that sound real, wow i get a bit creepy and i told him about my sleeping paralysis, so we come to the point that ghost stories may have something to do with this sleeping trouble but for the moment we won't go to any abandonned house!

The tv is on and there is a sort of breaking news... A cop and two pedestrians were shot down today... We talked about that yesterday night with Sergio and Allie, Tijuana is a city that has a very violent side, but this is when they hear about nothing that it's serious... Of course people killed is serious, but when it's very big the media does not report it... After that news there is some video shooting of the border and there is a lot of people today, that is not very good news!

Well it's my turn I lay down again on the table! Anaesthesia, a small one and my eye is drained, very black blood!

It now looks better and we can go back the house where everyone is waiting for us... I got a ice stick on the way, reminds me the days i was a kid, it's very good! And I can put it on my eye!

I again feel very thankful towards Fernando's dad that's why I gave him a shirt, I hope one day he'll work with the shirt!

Ok we can now take the road to the border, but we must before stop at Fernando's parents', a quick stop and his mom cooked delicious burrito for us! That's very nice! 

Waving goodbyes and tour is starting now! Vrooom vrooom!

The very first show...

So we get back to maladie's room to load the van... We quickly realise it gonna be overloaded! We try a sort of tetris but we know it gonna change tomorrow!

Driving to the venue, i just don't remember, but it was night already... We got there and there already were some people, i don't know if we're late or not, it seems not. There's stairs and we have to carry all the equipment, first round! Fortunatly we're a lot!

Let's set everything and wait, have bad jokes and meet new friends! Someone makes me taste tequila with raspberry or another berry, not bad!

Maladie will play first, it's ok i just can't wait to see them "live", floor show many friends it sounds like a plan! It's kind of good one, people start to get into, some know the lyrics, but they have to stop cause of schedule time, too bad i'd like to play more songs...

Then it's national disaster, a heavy crust band from Juarez. They have long slow parts and then it's d-beat, welldone but i must confess this is not my stuff, so i get out and talk with Sosa and René...

Now we must play, I'm a bit drunk and very excited, it's the first one, and there is much pressure we need to get out... I fall on Nicolas during intro and then it's very chaotic, wow it seems it gonna be difficult, Clément has problem with his amp or his pedal, so the beginning is a bit messy... But people are embracing very much à la cool!

We're running into it and at the end of the set: bad luck... I just hit Pierre's bass so bad, I immediatly feel it's warm and see the blood coming out and spreading on the floor... It's over and my eyebrow is cut very bad... I ask people to go to the hospital or somewhre cause I truly think I need stiches, so I get my friend on panic... FInally Sergio and Allie take me to see Sergio and Fernando's dad, he 's a medic... It's almost midnight but he took me to his office, there he put some glue on my wound, we have a bit fun and take pictures, I feel better and i don't know what to do to be thankful, I feel a bit awkward suggesting to pay for it cause i knew he would not charge me for that... So nice! We go back to the house...

We spend the night to talk each other, I know I should go to sleep but...

I remember shared a lot with Sergio and Allie... They have very much in common concerning job, studies or apprenticeship and it's nice, sometime i go to see them and it seems to be a nice talk... I go upstairs and then my eye starts to get fat wow it's like if i were passing out, where's the bathroom... I need to lay down, after Pierre looked after me I chose the bed for that night, and I know it's not gonna be a good one... Oh i must mention that Satie played while i was with medic daddy, so i missed their show...

Morning, heat and dogs... I guess everyone was willing for a shower, but this was just not a good idea cause after we all went to the beach! Anyway some leftovers and then we all stuck in the van, make some photo shots, and we stop by a gas station... Ok here we are, Tijuana and sunlight, a cop with a Tommy gun, pick-ups and Mexican music... I feel very comfortable in Tijuana, it's like a mess in which everyone knows what to do, a kind of organised mess... And i just like the color of the houses and buildings, it's like partying at every corner... We're driving till the beach and landscape remind me of From Dusk Till Dawn and the final scene... 

We're told that we're going to a secret beach... We're on a cliff and we can see the non secret beach and people just parked their cars on, it looks crazy!

I noticed there is something big flying above water and then it dives, it's a pelican! This is the very first time i see a pelican, I think this is very awesome, just the right definition of awesome, but i may be the only one excited about the bird...

We have to climb down to penetrate a creek, and i'm not very good at climbing down my ankle is weak and my legs are fucked up, i reaise i'm getting old and worn, too bad...

First swim in the Pacific, it's cold but refreshing, waves are big and Nicolas is very talented at swimming in the waves, of course he is a surfer... I realise that there could be sharks and i'm afraid of that even when i swim in the mediterranean sea...

It's time to go back and the people that played football in the creek stopped the game and there is this guy fighting or dancong in the waves, I doubt he's on drugs, we would never know...

I'm better at climbing (up), and we can make joke about a gap that Nicolas decide to be the San Andreas Fracture, we jump over and call it again the Reef, for this moment this is one of the best i've ever heard, seriously! I make a comparison between Nicolas and watching The Simpsons and we're stuck in the van again...

We're driving back to Coco & Taffies house, there we get the shirts for the tour, "awesome"!

We decide to go at Maladie's reaharsal house, cause we need to check the equipment, there i just drink some beers and try to play basket ball but I'm not a winner, after maladie practiced we met Sergio. He's Fernando's brother and seem to be very nice, we have to move away, we'll see him at the show...

We decide to go downtown for a pizza... And it's very good, vegan pizza with a lot of vegetable, tasty and there is salsa mix... Efren and Clément start their hot salsa tour context, but Efren is just too good... Nicolas and I just keep on beers so that we decide to get some more for the show...

It's time to stop at Coco & Tafie's house, René, Fernando and Isaac live here and Efren, his girlfriend and Sosa cooked us delicious food... Ok i must confess it was hot, very hot, very spicy but still good but i just did not expect so much violence in my burrito!! Anyway it's very helpful and we have some beers to spare! It's almost midnight but I feel like talking and these people are very nice... After few drinks my body just call to crash in a bed! I climb upstairs and get one, very good, and the night is fresh enough! I remember Nicolas and Romain being afraid of sleeping upstairs cause they saw a big spider there, I tell them it's gone and that there is no risk for the night! Everyone starts to sleep in the house, and this night in Tijuana appears to be very quiet...

To the mall

We did exchange names, we already knew about their faces thanks to internet but it's good to feel it for real... But we just cannot realise what's happening right now, and we don't want to... we pack everything in the van, we take our seats and watch Gilberto getting lost in LA! Actually we did not even notice we were lost cause this is city we don't belong to, and we know nothing about, and it's only question of neonlights and stores, food and gasoline, Nicolas and I start to feel disgust for LA!

And the freeway... 8 lanes, too many cars, and we're so tired, the others fall asleep, i talk a bit with fernando and then i fall asleep too, but we're reaching San Diego and we must stop to buy sleeping bags... We stop at Wall Mart, the American dream! You can almost buy everything there... We get our sleeping bags and some drinks, and we're on the way to Tijuana... Excellent driver!

We get to the border, notice the wall of shame and have a green light but a customer ask us to stop, but it only takes few seconds and we're in Tijuana, but it's night so we'll see more of the city tomorrow

This city has no end

We got boarding pass after half an hour or maybe more... We feel late, but i'm the only one running, I just wonder about Nicolas, he may think we were denied to set a foot on American country or something... Last flight and then we're free... This one just killed me, I got so bored so that I let myself drowned in hatred or something, i don't wanna talk, i don't wanna be polite, i hadn't breathe fresh air for 12 hours now... We're landing and the only thing i can see is a monster, the city of LA, it's just huge, ridiculously huge, i can see no end to that city and i'm a bit stressed about the idea of me in that city, and it's nightshade...

We're chocked, we're free... there are doors mentionning "to the streets", no one to controll us we just can go wherever we want, we can even smoke... Bagage reclaim and we're done... Out and the air is not good at all, it smells so pollute, and it's just the smell of the cars and other trucks... We're waiting for Maladie and then Nicolas saw them!

WE CAN'T SEPARATE

It's friday, supposed to go at Nicolas, so that Clément and Pierre would take us there and then we would drive to Romain's... But there was a scooter on the way, sort of a car crash, and arrogance + stupidity express themselve down my street, emergency car and police and I'm supposed to fly tomorrow morning, this is what I call a start, but the only thing i worry about at this moment is my friend Emilie, she's on panic and there is nothing i can do...

Finally we're driving the highway, passing one or two tolls and then we hit Romain and Julie's, and there is a party there... That's ok i brought some drinks with me let's do that!

I get drunk, i got introduced to Jerome and Barbara's appartment and i like it... A small sleep and i'm backsitting in the van... Drive me to the airport, i feel akward or tired, maybe i'm still a bit drunk and my hair is dirty.

Registrations and goodbyes and we're flying to London, i've never been attracted by this city so i just don't care and i'm much more excited by the London-Vancouver flight... Crossing an ocean, sleeping and watching movies i don't find any interest in, talking shit with my best friends and most of the people did notice we're a band... The view is just splendid when we're above Canada, but this is taking too long...

We're landing, we're a bit stressed, we gonna go through the american immigration in Vancouver airport, we had the idea of going seperate ways but we're fucked up there is only one lane and two customers, but we made it and we're now waiting for our boarding cards and i really feel like an immigrate and i still do not understand why Vancouver airport is part of United States, i came to the point that this is still a consequence os expansionism, or is this abolishing the border, i cannot decide but it's ridiculous...