l-r: Alison Cotton, Mark Nicholas, Matt Ashton, Mike Smoughton
We were all really excited about playing and spending time in Hamburg and we certainly weren't disappointed.
We had a day off here, so we had booked ourselves into an upmarket hostel (so my brother informs me, he's almost a connoisseur of such things) for two nights. St Pauli is an area crammed full of cool bars, cafes, and vintage clothes shops. Matt had disappeared off to explore the wonders of these streets before we had even checked in.
Mr. Matt Aston - outside of the hostel, shopping
Hailing down a taxi to take us to the venue proved a difficult task but we arrived at the venue and I immediately had such a good feeling about the place. Everywhere we had played so far on the tour were places that I would be a regular at if I lived in the city in which they were located. This one, well, I'd be sat at the bar, or rather, reclining in one of the antique armchairs in the back room every night if I lived in Hamburg!
Two very cool guys named Tanju and Julian welcomed us to Hasenschaukel and I was just in awe looking around at a place that had obviously been designed with such individuality and such personal touches. Full of baroque furniture but with quirky details such as dolls hanging above chandeliers and wallpaper in the toilets as if from taken from illustrations in a children's book.
When we arrived, this was written on the blackboard in the venue. They must have seen us two Camberwellians coming
And then there was the music. As we set up to soundcheck I recalled how often I'd been deafened by soundmen inflicting their bad taste in music upon me, blasting awful heavy metal from the speakers. It hardly puts me in the mood to play a good gig. Here, Tanju played 'Scott' by Scott Walker (I'll never forget tuning up my viola, staring out onto the streets of Hamburg, looking at Mark and my friends and hearing 'Montague Terrace in Blue') and then, after soundcheck, Bevis Frond started playing on the stereo! So, at this point we were completely sure that this was a perfect place for us and we were playing at a venue most certainly run by like-minded people.
The stage - photo (like most you see on this blog) is taken by Matt Ashton
After a delicious meal that the lovely Anja from the venue had made us, we took to the stage. The stage was situated by the window of the venue so anyone walking by could look in and see us play. But we had a wonderful crowd and we met some truly lovely fans in Hamburg that once we started playing I didn't notice the passers-by at all. Again, we played a long set, a couple of encores, and I dedicated 'Ring Out the Bells' to Chris as it was his last day with us.
It was a Friday night, and after the show we were certainly in the party mood. This mood was driven even more by the music that the djs this night began to play. We all sang along to Martha & the Muffins, Duran Duran, Steely Dan, Human League and Squeeze. One of the djs came over for a chat and we were highly amused that he thought Mike resembled a young Michael Caine.
The night was still young (well, for Hamburg anyway) and Mark had just received a text message. It was from our good friends Dead Meadow who had been playing just round the corner in a club on the infamous Reeperbahn. They had invited us to join them for a beer so Mark and I braved the scary crowds of 'stag do's' and euro-drunks who all seemed to congregate on the pavement, hanging out, drinking and we walked briskly to Molotov, the club where they had just played. Jason from the band met us at the door and we went backstage with them. It was great to see them and we watched videos of a gig they'd played the previous week - in a castle in Italy - it looked amazing! So, after a few beers and a good chat we said our goodbyes and made our way back to Hasenshaukel.
Mark and I try to fathom out a route to Molotov avoiding The Reeperbahn. Good wine it was too.....
We asked Tanju when we arrived back what time Hasenshaukel closed. He told us that it stayed open all night. I'm not sure what time it was by now. I had a few fascinating conversations with people who were so passionate about music I could have talked so much longer - with Julian from the venue about Syd Barrett and with a guy named Norbert who ran another venue in Hamburg about the early recordings of Townes Van Zandt that he owns that were recorded at his venue. I could have talked for hours, but it was time to go.
We were asked to sign a guest book at Hasenshauckel. Art work by Matt Ashton.
So, one of the best nights of the tour and I hope to return to Hamburg very soon.
The next morning I had a slightly bad head but I couldn't let this get in the way of a day off in Hamburg.
Stay tuned for our tales of Leipzig very, very soon.
Alison
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