Days...

Okay, we haven't had too much time to be updating blog entries, apologies everyone. Nijmegen was totally awesome. If you're ever in then area, stop by the Onderboek and hang out with my dude Jurven and my girl Abril and some other cool folks. They made excellent lentils for us and put us up in their awesome squat. Holland is a beautiful country.

More later, suckers.

Day 3 - Hamburg

We awoke in Berlin for a third or maybe fourth time; it was beginning to be hard to tell. After a quick Brotchen run, we went to see the Wall which is a mere three blocks from Robert's store. The wall seems pretty emasculated in 2011. It's hard to put oneself in that point in history and feel what Germans felt back then. Then we walked around for a bit, marveling at all the dogs running around off-leash; very cool. Black Kites rode the S-Bahn into Alexanderplatz and walked around a bit. I believe a picture of Tom holding Karl Marx's hand was taken. It's posted above. Anyway, after all this touristy schnick-schnack we jumped in the van and hit the autobahn which was choked with traffic. The German countryside looks like Ohio/Indiana and Vermont/New Hampshire blended together. The best of what America has to offer!

Eventually we rolled into Hamburg and up to the squat we performed in; Rote Flora. Now I've played some punk-ass muddafuckin' places in my days, but never as punk as this. I think I took a picture or two, I'll show y'all later. You can google that if you want, it's crazy. It's also funny that it's in the middle of a neighborhood that's experienced extreme gentrification, so you have all these swank cafes surrounding a massive, crumbling, graffiti-covered, punk squat.

We played with American friends 1994 and Algernon Cadwallader which was neat. The show was fun and I think we felt pretty darn good about the performance. Then we slept in a beautiful apartment in the red-light district.

Nijmegen today; it'll be Operation Market Garden all over again.

Day 2

We overslept by quite a lot. It rained heavily in Berlin today and, while it's a welcome change from 107 degree days, I do prefer a little sunshine. Today was all business; we picked up our backline, our van, and played our first show of tour.

1. Our van is a late model Mercedes Sprinter. Robert apologized for it being "kind of crappy". I'm all like, "motherfucker please! Have you seen the shit I usually tour in?" It has power windows!

2. Our backline is pretty siqq.

3. 80 people came to our show and we got paid hundreds of euros. People apologized to us for it being poorly attended... European DIY is truly a different world.

Even though I was playing a show in a foreign country, many people I knew showed up. Matt from Swallowed Up rolled in with a small crew that included our friend Mascha from Bochum. I ran into this dude Ralph who I met in about 2004. The world is a truly small place. It's strange that seeing people that you know from elsewhere can cause such excitement and wonder. Tomorrow we actually leave Berlin and start a run of 20 shows all over Europe. I can't wait.

Day 1

We met at JFK airport in the afternoon and prepared ourselves for the coming journey. Jeff said something exceedingly funny in line for the security checkpoint which I have now forgotten. Tom paid about 8 million dollars for a first class seat while Jeff and I had to suffer in the back of the plane. We did not sleep. We ate the most pathetic excuse for a "strictly vegetarian" meal that I've ever tasted. So it goes.

Then we finally got to Berlin where Robert met us in his Lamborghini. We had trouble fitting all of our bags inside, but we finally managed and Robert took us to HCHQ in Berlin, Bis Aufs Messer. There I sampled the new Black Kites//Convulsions split LP and it looks and sounds fantastisch!I was happy to hold it in my hands. We also met and hung with The Ghost Limbs. They seem like a fine group of people.

Lessons learned so far; my German is worse than it was last time I was here. Vegan Pizza in Berlin, don't do it. Things start in earnest tomorrow when we pick up unser Touringmaschine.

Enjoy the picture of our, "very casual hang." as Colman would say.

XXX
JAY

Thanks, New Jersey

Album art and interviews

Well first things first, here's the cover of our upcoming split LP with Convulsions. I, for one, am very into how it came out. All congratulations are due to Harry from Convulsions for that.

In addition, Black Kites has conducted a few interviews with people all over the world. We're happy that people are interested in things that we might have to say. You can check them out at the following places:

Philadelphia

Czech Republic

Russia (click the hyperlink that says Black Kites June 2011)

Summer Plans

Greetings friend,

Well things around the Black Kites farm have been fairly active; after a slow winter, we've reengaged ourselves by recording a new record, playing some great shows in and around the tristate, and honing our skills for the big BK Euro Adventure 2011.

Speaking of that new record, here's the low-down. We are releasing a split LP with Rhode Island's prodigious sons Convulsions. I have heard their material for this split and it is some of the most inventive and bizarre hardcore I've heard in a long time. Comparisons are almost always a waste of time, but Botch, Neurosis, and Converge all come to mind when listening. Our side of the split is my favorite material of ours to date and you may sample two of those songs at our bandcamp, HERE.

Before we head to Europe for our three weeks with Robert and Ghostlimb, you may see us play a fantastic all-day show in Asbury Park; yes it's true, it's RTF Fest again and this one's even bigger and wilder. The lineup speaks for itself, I think:



See you on the road friends,
Jay