HELSTAR TOUR ENTRY #3

HELSTAR TOUR ENTRY #3

Ah, the joys of touring... So, just when we thought everything was running rather smoothly, we woke up Tuesday morning in Hamburg to learn that our support band, Loch Vostok, had broken down in Sweden and would not be able to make the tour with us!!!! In a single phone call, all of our plans were up-ended and we spent the entire day scrambling to find a way to continue this tour! You might wonder why this was such a huge deal to us; well, we were going to use that band's backline for the remainder of the tour, plus we were sharing the bus with them as a way to help both bands out financially. Without them or their bus, we were stuck in Hamburg! I suppose the upside to this was the fact that at least were in Hamburg, where our flights back home originate, so if we had to change our flights, we could have rather easily...

However, this was not our intention; we've waited a long time to tour this CD and we weren't about to give up without a fight! So, let's see, we had to find a band for the gig that evening at Markthalle and then find a large enough sprinter to carry our luggage, gear, and merch - not an easy task if you know how much crap we have with us! Anyway, the promoter found us an appropriate support band and the show went on! We owe a huge THANK YOU to the band 'Gods of Hate' so please check them out here: http://www.godsofhate.de/

Next, we found a large enough Mercedes Sprinter to carry us around in, so the tour marches on my friends! Anyway, back to Hamburg, once all of the headaches had begun to reside, we had a great time at the gig! We met some old and again, new, friends. The crowd, though small, was VERY INTENSE and loud. It was a hot, sweaty, night of metal and all had a great time.

So, yesterday found us driving for 9 freaking hours as we got turned around on our way to Pratteln... We made the mistake of choosing to stay in Freiburg, which is some 60Km's from Pratteln, which would have been okay had we mapped it out! We had directions to the etap hotel in Pratteln, but decided it would be best to stay in Freiburg for the way out to the next show in Slovenia, but we made this decision in the van on the way... We had no internet access or directions, so well, you can imagine how that went! Anyway, we managed to get here around 11:30 at night, just in time for a quick bite to eat, and a couple of whisky colas...

Okay, so today we leave for Pratteln and the Z7 and then on to Kranj... We'll update again in a day or two!

Cheers!

Rob

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HELSTAR TOUR ENTRY #3

Οι χαρές της περιοδείας…εκεί που νομίζαμε ότι όλα πήγαιναν καλά, ξυπνήσαμε την Τρίτη στο Αμβούργο όπου διαπιστώσαμε ότι η μπάντα άνοιγε τις συναυλίες μας (Loch Vostok) διαλύθηκαν την προηγούμενη μέρα στη Σουηδία και έτσι θα έπρεπε να κάνουμε κάτι πολύ γρήγορα αφού για τις επόμενες συναυλίες είχαμε κανονίσει να παίζουμε με τον δικό τους εξοπλισμό. Έπρεπε να βρούμε ένα support group, εξοπλισμό, tour bus και τη δύναμη να συνεχίσουμε. Δεν θα τα παρατούσαμε με τίποτα…είχαμε περάσει άλλωστε πολλά για να πραγματοποιήσουμε αυτή τν Ευρωπαϊκή περιοδεία. Ευτυχώς για εμάς, βρέθηκαν οι Gods of Hate (τσεκάρετε τους στο www.godsofhate.de) και με τη βοήθεια τους συνεχίζουμε την περιοδεία.

Η συναυλία στο Αμβούργο ήταν πολύ έντονη, αν και δεν μαζεύτηκε τελικά πολύς κόσμος.
Η επόμενη στάση ήταν το Pratteln, όπου χρειάστηκαν 9 ώρες οδήγησης για να φτάσουμε εκεί (μιας και είχαμε αποφασίσει να μένουμε στο Freiburg για να είμαστε πιο κοντά στη Σλοβενία…ο επόμενος σταθμός μας)….

Rob (μετάφραση Σάκης Νίκας)

Entry #2

HELSTAR TOUR DIARY – Entry #2

Hey, I finally have some time to sit and type out an update since Saturday...It is currently 9:00 pm and we've landed back in Hamburg after the run down to Essen and Eindhoven. Both shows were KILLER!!! We understand with the economy these days, it's hard on everyone to dish out the cash for metal shows, especially for a band at our level, however, we still managed to have really decent turnouts for the first two shows! Regardless of how many people came, the enthusiasm was off the hook and it has been a great start to our run!

So, here is a recap of how it all went down: We drive into Eindhoven to meet with our great friends Ramon and Kirsten at their place! We arrived just in time; the grill was lit, the beer was cold (and plentiful), and the meat was ready! Within an hour we were feasting and enjoying good times with ours hosts as well as other friends of our who stopped by to party. Needless to say, we drank too much, ate too much, and definitely stayed up too late! Haha! Anyway, I figure we were all down by 4:00 or so in the morning... We awoke to learn that James was VERY sick and could not hold anything down... Too much alcohol??? Hmmm, well, I know James and I saw how much he drank and he's definitely thrown down much harder without getting sick, so who knows, could have been anything, but the dude was ILL! So, we finally got him some sleep and then left for Essen; the promoter and staff were very cool and treated us to a great Indian dinner - uh, all of us minus James! Well, making a long story short, James went back to the bus to sleep a bit, some chick was trying to give him homeopathic healing or something... Nothing worked - he was puking right up to showtime. So, yeah, you have to believe we were all concerned about this show and whether he could make it. The dude had NOTHING in his stomach and was dehydrated. Making things worse was the fact that the stage was HOT... Anyway, we proceeded to roll the intro and...........

HE FUCKING KICKED ASS!!! What can I say? Somehow, adrenaline took over and he sang the entire 1 1/2 hour set! Amazing....

Uh, so after that we partied with some old and new friends for a bit, drank again too much, minus Mr. Rivera, and then left back to Eindhoven.

When we returned to Ramon and Kirsten's place, James immediately went to bed - any of you who know James knows he hates to miss a good party! But, he did what he had to do and went straight to bed... I followed shortly thereafter, but fucking Russ and Larry had to eat, so here is Ramon busting out some more leftover meat from the day before, slapped it on an electric grill indoors and proceeded to fix them up with some bad ass chicken and pork... So, let's see, I was trying to sleep and these guys coming busting into the room upstairs and woke me up... No one freaking told me that daylight comes so damned early this time of year!!! It was 4:30 or something and it was light outside. The drunken assholes passed right the fuck out and I spent the next hour trying to get back to sleep...

So, we all wake up at 1:00pm or something and started to get going, showered, etc. Ramon made us fantastic bacon and eggs Dutch style!!! Hel yeah, that was the shit there!!! And, lo and behold, Mr. Rivera was bright-eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go! So, we made it up to the Dynamo about 4:00 and went about the business of soundcheck, dinner, etc... Doors opened about 7:00 and we were on at 9:00 or so... We had a blast; getting into a rhythm after all the travel to get her, etc. The crowd was fantastic and LOUD! Again, the promoter Roman and the entire staff at the Dynamo were so cool and very hospitable! Cheers to those guys!

Afterward, there was an after party at the Rambler where the owner proceeded to make us drink all kinds of alcoholic concoctions, beers, whisky, you name it. To top it off, we ended up in taxis back to Ramon's where he then busted out the bitter balls and frikadels... and dude, don't ask me what is in them... I don't really wanna know. Though, they were quite delectable! Monday morning (uh, afternoon) came much too soon and next thing you know, we were on our way back to Hamburg... After settling in and grabbing some awesome Gyro plates, we are back at the hotel and trying to get some rest for tomorrow's gig at Markthalle... Well, that is all for now; check back soon!

Cheers!

Rob

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HELSTAR TOUR DIARY – Entry #2

Επιτέλους, βρήκα μία ευκαιρία να κάτσω να γράψω όλα αυτά που συνέβησαν μετά το Essen και το Eindhoven. Και τα δύο live ήταν φανταστικά, αφού μαζεύτηκε αρκετός κόσμος (παρά τα γνωστά οικονομικά προβλήματα και την κρίση που υπάρχει σε όλο τον κόσμο). Ήταν η ιδανική αρχή για το ξεκίνημα της περιοδείας. Αφού φτάσαμε στο Eindhoven, πήγαμε στο σπίτι των καλών φίλων (οι οποίοι είναι και promoters), Ramon και Kirsten…Φτάσαμε στην ώρα μας, αφού η φωτιά ήταν αναμμένη, οι μπύρες παγωμένες και τα φαγητά έτοιμα για να ψηθούν. Εννοείται ότι φάγαμε και ήπιαμε πολύ αλλά μόλις ξυπνήσαμε διαπιστώσαμε ότι ο James ήταν πολύ άρρωστος…πολύ αλκοόλ…; Ποιος ξέρει; Ένα θα σου πω: Έχω δει τον James να πίνει πολύ περισσότερο και να μην έχει κανένα απολύτως πρόβλημα!

Όταν φτάσαμε στο Essen και πλησίαζε η ώρα για να ξεκινήσει η συναυλία ανησυχούσαμε για τον James, αφού ήταν τελείως αφυδατωμένος, χλωμός και δεν μπορούσε καν να σηκωθεί από το κρεβάτι. Μόλις βάλαμε την εισαγωγή και έκλεισαν τα φώτα, έγινε το απίστευτο! Ο James ανέβηκε στη σκηνή και ήταν απλά εντυπωσιακός! He Fuckin’ Kicked Ass!

Μετά το show, ήπιαμε μερικές μπύρες και ο James επέστρεψε στο κρεβάτι του για να ανακτήσει δυνάμεις…βέβαια, του την έσπασε που δεν μπορούσε να είναι στο party μαζί μας! Την επόμενη μέρα φεύγαμε για το Eindhoven και χρειαζόμασταν όλοι ύπνο…κλασικά, λοιπόν, ο Larry και ο Russell φρόντισαν να μεθύσουν και να μην αφήσουν κανένα να κοιμηθεί! Ευτυχώς, το επόμενο πρωινό ο κ. Rivera ήταν ξανά σε φόρμα και ορεξάτος. Η εμφάνιση στο Dynamo ήταν καταπληκτική και ο κόσμος δεν σταμάτησε να φωνάζει! Θα τα πούμε ξανά στην επόμενη καταχώρηση…

Rob (μετάφραση: Σάκης Νίκας)

HELSTAR EUROPEAN TOUR DIARY – Entry #1

Helstar is embarking on their first European Tour in many years and we asked the band if they would be interested in writing their won tour diary for us! The guys were more than happy to do so and what we have here is Helstar’s Tour Diary in the words of the band’s guitarist Rob Trevino. Shortly, there will also be available exclusive videos from the “Hell Over Europe” tour…only on RockpagesTV!

HELSTAR EUROPEAN TOUR DIARY – Entry #1

Let's see, where to start? We've had a couple of very cool days... We arrived in Hamburg on Wednesday and proceeded to sleep... Well, at least for 4 or 5 hours and then we headed out for a night out on the town. Drinking at various bars, we managed to find our way to the 'Night Life' Heavy Metal bar and threw down some brews with the local and visiting metalheads... Larry had a strange experience with some French dude... Uh, probably better left unsaid, but... Let's just say everything was cool until the dude licked his ear! haha! Larry's like, "Dude, it's time to go." So, yesterday we left Hamburg and the ear licking incident for Eindhoven... We partied at our good friends Ramon and Kirsten's house... BBQ and brews, uh and later the scotch... Oooh, today is a bit slow getting everyone going... About to leave for Essen to play at Turock tonight... Dynamo tomorrow, we'll update probably by Monday... Cheers!

Rob Trevino

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Με την ευκαιρία της πρώτης Ευρωπαϊκής περιοδείας των Helstar, ζητήσαμε από τη μπάντα να μας γράφει ανά τακτά χρονικά διαστήματα ώστε να έχουμε μία άμεση επαφή και αντίληψη για το τι συμβαίνει εκεί. Ο κιθαρίστας, Rob Trevino, θα μας στέλνει τα κείμενα του ενώ προσεχώς θα υπάρχουν και αποκλειστικά videaκια για το Rockpages TV.

HELSTAR EUROPEAN TOUR DIARY – Entry #1

Από πού να ξεκινήσουμε…; Είχαμε δύο πολύ καλές μέρες…Φτάσαμε στο Αμβούργο την Τετάρτη (20/5) και πήγαμε κατευθείαν για ύπνο. Μετά από 4-5 ώρες, βγήκαμε έξω για μία βόλτα στην πόλη…ήπιαμε μερικές μπύρες στο Heavy Metal Bar όπου και συναντήσαμε μερικούς φίλους metalheads. O Larry είχε μία παράξενη εμπειρία με έναν περίεργο Γάλλο τύπο…όλα φαίνονταν κανονικά μέχρι που ο τύπος έγλειψε το αυτί του Larry (γέλια)! Ο Larry σηκώθηκε να φύγει και μετά από λίγες ώρες είχαμε αφήσει πίσω μας το Αμβούργο και το περίεργο αυτό περιστατικό για να πάμε στο Eindhoven. Πήγαμε στο σπίτι δύο καλών μας φίλων για barbeque και σήμερα πρέπει να φύγουμε για το Essen και να παίξουμε στο Turock…αύριο θα είμαστε στο Dynamo. Για αυτά θα μιλήσουμε στην επόμενη καταχώρηση…

Rob Trevino (μετάφραση: Σάκης Νίκας)