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Endless Swarm on Tour
Tourreportage, Schweiz/Italien
On my way to south Italy, I had the chance to join Endless Swarm on their tour for 3 days.
3 days full of fast and angry music. This music is often called Power Violence. Basically it’s punk. Hardcore Punk. Just faster and much more chaotic. When you attend such live shows you realize where the word power comes from: The songs are like short and powerful outbursts that many may describe as inhuman. Nonetheless it’s made by musicians that (most often) know how to play their instruments.
Sweat, heat and noise await you at such loud and hectic concerts. People go mad in moshpits and often there’s no gap between bands and the crowd.
This music is not meant for giant stages. The closer, the better.
It’s not made for shows that last for hours. Short and packed with energy they must be.
It’s no sound that one would call soft or peaceful. However it’s mainly made by the friendliest people you can imagine.
It’s not pop music. People from all around the world listen to it, though.
DIY it’s called – Do It Yourself.
There’s no tourbus, there’s no guarantee for a shower and there’s no time for your daily demand of sleep.
You drive from venue to venue where a buffet, mostly pasta, a few unknown faces and sometimes some well-known faces await you. You play your show in front of a bunch of people, you watch the shows of the other bands, sell your merchandise and hope that you can somehow cover the expenses of the tour. A lot of alcohol is flowing and joints are passed around – unless you’re straight-edge.
At the end of the gig, often in the middle of the night, you go to your sleeping place. That might be some sofas in the venue, a nearby squat or even the flat of some local fan.
I personally learned, that it’s possible for 12 people to sleep in a three room apartment in Zurich. Somehow.
Well what should I say about those four lads? I was their guest for a few days only. Hardly enough to really learn who they are. Nevertheless I felt absolutely comfortable in their company. I learned some words in Scottish, which by now I completely forgot. Sadly.
But who am I to write about going on tour? I’m only a temporary onlooker.
These are the guys that take on the burden of touring-life.
What is your comfort zone?
Most people would argue that it’s certainly not to spend a horrendous amount of time in a small car together with three other fellows.
That leaving your daily routine, your family and of course your own bed at home for a certain time is no part of it.
The only thing you take on tour with you are your instruments and your bandmates who are hopefully your friends.
Within a small timeframe you build up your parallel daily routine that in the best case becomes a temporary comfort zone.
A zone that bonds you together.
Not many people can say that they traveled through half of Europe within two weeks.
The schedule often doesn‘t include any time for longer stops so you learn to enjoy the world out of a car window.
Highway rest areas become your partners and after a while you get used to the fact that you‘re finally driving on the correct side of the street (Scotts at least 😉 )
But of course, if you’re lucky you might even find time for some sightseeing in between.
I, for one, learned what it means to visit Rome and its famous places in only three hours.
