Night off in Lyon France

We arrived in Lyon around  midnight after a long drive day. A little worn out we were happy to see that Alexione's place was big and we could spread out and get some space. They had a killer meal and a small party waiting for us which was so nice. I crashed at around 3am, I was tired and wanted to be alone. I watched some of Serial Mom and then had the weirdest dream- I was half man half tiger, wondering through a jungle full of my friends trying to decide who to eat! I'm awake early and i'm alone in the kitchen having coffee and smoking a French cigarette. Today I will get some gear fixed up and write a new song, probably about that dream!
Avoir
Shell

Rosenhiem Germany

We arrived in Rosenhiem Germany at around 3pm. It was a bigger city than we expected. All we knew about Rosenhiem was that Jen Shag's mom was born there. It was very pretty, and snow covered. We went to the city center and had a walk through the park and down streets with shops. Jen called her mom and her brother, and mailed postcards. We took some good pictures. It was only 1 hour more to Innsbruck, and the entire drive was through the Alps- Innsbruck is surrounded by mountains, really incredible views of snow covered mountains in all directions. The show was at PMK, a club Screaming Females played a few months ago and that the Pharmacy has played a few times. Our hosts were really sweet; got us everything we asked for, cooked us an amazing dinner and took us out for breakfast. The PMK has great sound, it was a super fun gig! Super host Beate put us up at her house, which was really grand. We had a really nice bed, showers, and she hooked Jen up with some clothes. It was killer-
Today's drive to Lyon France was the first long one of the tour; which we made longer by going  around Switzerland, which we did, to avoid paying taxes on merch. We would get them back at the other side, since we have no show there and wouldn't have had any earnings or merch sales for them to tax.
So the added time to the drive was about the same amount we would have spent doing paperwork at the swiss borders anyways. The drive was about 12 hours, but with the night off, it could have been 2 six hour drives over 2 days. Since we went all the way to Lyon France, we don't have to drive tomorrow at all!
Je suis Shellhead,
Avoir

Austria

Went for a walk in Vienna. Went to a graffiti shop, a drum shop, a shoe store, and I bought new shoes. They are warmer than my old ones. We went to the market and bought falafel and olives. We went to an art gallery and a tattoo shop. I can tell we will see these places again, we are comfortable in Vienna. We went by a museum and then we loaded up and drove to Graz. It was a clear night, a short drive, and we found parking right by the venue in Graz. The place was called HSG10, the address is Hans Sachs Gasse 10, so there you go.
There was an opening band, Gold Soundz, inspired by the Pavement record. We played in a stairwell with people spiraling up around us- we finished early and scored a hotel- watched some of Austria's "cops", same ole thing. 
Slept good, good shower. Now we are driving to Innsbruck Austria, and we are going to stop in Rosenhiem Germany where Shag's mom was born- cool.
-Shell

The Final Club in Praha is a private club. All night, even during the show, you'd have to ring the bell and someone would let you in. It's in an old building, a little bar and chill out area on the 1st floor and an old brick basement with arches and little nooks all over where we played. Brother Jay came, it was great to see him. We drank absinthe and talked all night. I didnt get to meet baby Carla though- The only drag so far. Praha was pretty crazy and surreal; They spoke less English than anywhere else so far, and only a few people seemed to know what the hell I was saying. It was so much fun! We needed a crazy night; the music was over by 1030, but we stayed and made friends til 2am. Shag was a hit with all the fellas, I made a good friend in the downstairs bartender Cevianne, she was nice and helped me chat with everyone. They use Krowns instead of Euros, so I had to bum drinks all night cause I never transfered any Euros. Our friend Rado let us have his flat for the night. Hiller cooked up the rice and veggies, slept like a rock. They snow set in on the way to Vienna the next afternoon. We drove around Praha first to get a daytime look, then about1/2 an hour into the drive it started snowing. It gradually got heavier as time went on, but we rose above, took our time, and we made it to B72 in Vienna safe and on time. I was a little whipped after focusing on driving; snow in the dark, so Riley took over and parked and drove the rest of the night, getting us to our spot to sleep. A good friend of Japanther loaned us his house; it's huge and really nice. That is where I am now. Japanther had just been here a month ago doing an 84 hour show on a round spinning stage at an art gallery here, so we made friends fast and everyone here seems like an old friend already! Our best set and our best sound so far! B72 is a cool bar with great sound. Today we drive to Graz, and the snow is done, the sun is shining, it's a beautiful morning. Euro tip of the day- You need a sticker to drive on the highway in Austria. It's like a toll, but there is no booth, or even an alert. You have to go to a gas station near the border, and buy this vignette (sticker) for 10 euro or less and put it on the windshield. Without it, could be a 500 euro ticket. Thanks Bloomie for the heads up, saved us on that one. That's all for now-
Shell

Twisted Robot

Killer! The Berlin show was killer! Paul at Twisted Robot puts on a great gig, it was sold out; people had to be turned away. Pablo was there DJing, it was so good to see him and here the awesome sides he was spinning. He played Amy Jahn, which reminds me, 50 million bass player Bloomie came to the show! He trained up from Lipzeig and we were hangin together all through the night til this morning. He came and crashed with us st the 36 rooms hostel, my first hostel experience. It was a big room with bunk beds, like we were in the army- we had to put all the linens on ourselves and return them in the morning- towels were an extra 2 euros- it was different, fun. We just had breakfast and I had French toast- it was good. I guess all the traditional German dishes are in the south, and Berlin doesn't really have anything specific they are known for. Nope, not even the Berliner, which isn't called the Berliner in Berlin- go figure. We are off to Prague, 
Shell

Berliner

The show was packed in Lisbon! The most fierce show so far- lots of energy! We had a great time in Portugal, and now it's back to Berlin. We play at a place called West Germany that is an old doctors office. We played there a few years ago, it will be fun to be back with new songs. I've got a bunch of pictures, but I can't load them with just the phone, so when I get to a computer I will get some up. It's great being here with Japanther, they are a great band, great guys- They had a really good performance last night. The crowd was so into it! The last time we played Berlin we were with ZZZ- I wish we had been able to do a show with them again this time- Im hoping to see Pablo from SF tonight in Berlin- maybe a few other friends. Berlin is a bit like a Brooklyn show, or it was last time. Tomorrow in Prague I will see my brother Jay. He is stationed nearby in Germany, he is a helicopter pilot in the Army.
I've been getting pretty good sleep, and the eating has been good- but Im not getting enough time or I'm not doing a good job of making time to try killer items. A lot of wierd sandwiches, bread and cheese, salads. It seems it's always snacking and not pigging out- the latter is the american way I'm used to- I had pork cutlets in Porto and Sea Bass in Lisbon and those were killer!! Our home cooked meals have been awesome too, guess I just wanna get down on a few more traditional dishes if I can.
Looking to have some Brautwurst for breakfast! Gettin down German style tonight, it's our last Germany show of the trip!!
Chow-
Shell

ZDB

I am back at the beautiful ZDB after a killer trip north to Porto. We took a great train ride to get there and back. We got to see the countryside and the ocean, it was beautiful. Our Porto host and promoter was waiting for us at the station and we piled into this tiny van like car with no windows and drove to the venue. It was hilarious to see Shag, Ian, Matt and Alex in the back of this thing, I rode up front. We went straight to sound checking, and then we checked into some great hotel rooms right next door. They took us to dinner which was delicious- they take care of everything for us here. The show was incredible! A band called Throes opened, and they were really good- We had a really fun set that Ian was a dancing banner for, holding the shellshag banner and dancing for the entire set. I was inspired to also be a dancing banner when the Japanther banner went done early in the set. The people were great and we had so much fun afterwards, talking and making friends. We trained back to Lisbon, and now back at the ZDB, I realize I actually may have understated how great it is. It is a villa, an entire little village we are inside of, with our own little mansion for hanging out, several floors of art and artists, a music room; it's all in the same big building with patios and galleries. It's pretty impressive. The organization running things here has been active for several years and they are very professional. We are being treated so well, and included in something much greater than rock music. We have always seen ourselves as more of an istallation piece of art than a band, and here it seems they do too. Soon we will be installed for viewing, it's so exciting-
Shell