Order of Ennead checks in from Europe

Floridian extreme metallers ORDER OF ENNEAD have just finished making their way across Europe on the Icons Of Evil European tour with VITAL REMAINS, SLUDGE and TRIBULATION.

ORDER OF ENNEAD frontman KEVIN QUIRION shares his experiences of life on the road with the second part of his tour diary:

"Day 11 Madrid, Spain @ Ritmos & Compas. We had to walk over 100 yards to load in the gear today. Awesome. Did I mention it was up a small hill also? I got to shave today so that was something. Found a great guitar shop right down the street from the venue that everyone loved. It had everything you could imagine. Some were trying the Laboga heads that Hate Eternal raves about. The show was KILLER. Great response. When we started playing The Culling a slight cheer erupted. It was great, especially after the crowd in Durango was so cold.

"Day 12 Murcia, Spain @ Nave8. A bunch of people are hungover today. What a shock! As soon as we stopped at the venue I went walking. Not much to see since the venue is in an industrial area. I did find a Burger King and the almight Mountain Dew today and I even took a nice shower. Man you appreciate some strange things on the road. Updating a tour blog for instance. John and I played a game of foozeball with the Swedes. I would recommend not doing that. We got slaughtered. Oh well, soccer isn't our sport in the US anyway. Later that night we played the again when they were drunk and that didn't go well either. They were high and might until the Swiss came into the picture. Patrick and Makro from Sludge destroyed the Swedes and won the coveted world cup.

"Day 13 Barcelona, Spain @ Mephisto. Got to the city early and Marko from Sludge/Samael was going to show us around. We started with 19 of us going into the city. Markro did the whole tour guide thing, it was really nice of him. He's originally from Spain and now lives in Switzerland. Barcelona is a great city and I want to go back for sure. Saw the Columbus monument and were all of the shops are located. John Li, myself and Sergie from Sludge went to Segrada Familia after the others wanted to go back to the bus. Well this was worth the entire day. Its a church they've been building for over a hundred years and they aren't even close yet to being finished. Its grand and totally over the top. After that we had McDonalds. I know, but sometimes you want something your familiar with so screw off. Oh yeah, the crowd was very weak and barely responded. Just like the Durango crowd. So every other show in Spain is good.

"Day 14 Marseille, France @ Le Local 013. At first we couldn't find the club. There is no sign on the building and its an industrial park. Its one of these venues you pull up to and say "What the hell is this place?" Then later you play the show and its killer. Walked around a bit and not a thing to see here. We are miles away from the city. Great show though and all were drunk and taking pictures with all of the beautiful French ladies.

"Day 15 Milan, Italy @ Musicdrome. This place use to be called Transylvania Live and I heard about it the last tour. Scott, our bass player lived around here years ago also. Not much to do in this section of town and its raining. Posters advertise Cradle Of Filth playing the next night and this show was originally suppose to be in Turin so we aren't sure how the turnout will be. There weren't many people at the show, but the ones who were there were really into it so that helps get us pumped up. After load out, which was in the rain, a soccer game busts out in the venue with a half empty water bottle. Soon after they ask us to leave, ironic?

"Day 16 Prattlern, Switzerland Z7. This venue is killer. Multiple showers, bathrooms with toilet paper, great food and enough for everyone, great sound on stage and we get to play the show with the mighty Sameal. We did two weeks with them this past January and they are a great live band and we really get along with these guys very well. Its also Sludges last day on the tour who we've really had a great time getting to know. We met up with some friends who take us into Basel, the city about 15 minutes away and check it out. I didn't expect much, but at Vorph from Samael told me it was one of his favorite Swiss cities, I got interested. It didn't disappoint. It was very interesting. Later the show went fantastic and then most of the bands watched Samael. Some had never seen them and Scott and myself have been talking them up all tour. They were awesome as usual and it was really nice to see them again. It was just a great day all together and I forgot to mention this place has a washer and dryer. That should say it all. End of the night we say our goodbyes to Sludge and take a huge tour photo on the stage. We'll be in touch with these guys for sure.

"Day 17 Bologna, Italy @ Sottotetto. Another of those industrial park venues that we aren't sure how the turnout will be. Really in the middle of nowhere. I take out my guitar early and work on some arrangement for future albums. When we start playing there is no one around and then all of a sudden about 100 people are around. After the first couple of songs I ask where the hell they all came from. It ended up being a really good show and they have a hot shower for afterwards. That always makes the experience better. Owner of the club liked us a lot and all things were great in the world.

"Day 18 Day Off in Hauzenberg, Germany @ Burger Park for the Walpurgus Metalfest. The only band that is playing the fest is Vital Remains. Tribulation and OOE got added to the tour late and therefore didn't get on the bill. Well this sucks since there are about 2000 people at the fest. Really irritating and the line-up for the first day of the fest wasn't very interesting. Second day had Vader, Sinister and Enthroned which would have been fine, but we were there the first day only. Vader did show up early though and we got to hang out with them. We me them this past January and they are great guys. I asked Peter about the new album and their deal with Nuclear Blast. They should get a good push from their new label. The day ended up being rather sucky, but at least we got free food and admission to the fest.

"Day 19 Vienna, Austria @ Escape Metalcorner. When we first headed to Vienna I was excited because its a great city with plenty of history to it, especially with classical music. Well the part of town the club is in was far from that I was really disappointed. Its were the brothels and graffiti litter the buildings. Great. I decide to take a nap and Kaish and Eric from Vital Remains tell me how they walked twenty minutes in the other direction and saw some awesome sites. So John Li and myself get to it. Its John's 20th birthday today also. We start walking and about 20 minutes later its what I though Vienna would be. Great museums and buildings everywhere. We walked for about 2 hours and took pics of everything. Along with Barcelona this is the best city to walk around so far. I bought John McDonalds for his birthday and when we get back to the venue we go on just over an hour later. Glad we headed back when we did or we would have missed the show. Very small stage today, but the people are into it. The stage was so small I kept hitting my guitar head on something and knocking it out of tune and Scott had a PA amp right by his head. John almost knocked me in the head a couple of times too with his guitar. Another hot shower makes this day rule.

"Day 20 Nova Gorica, Slovenia @ Mostovna. Walked around the city with Jacob from Tribulation and John today. Got some Italian ice cream. Venue is right acroos the street from the old iron curtain. Nice view of the mountains. Venue outside. Show went well, but I wasn't into much tonight. Monotony of the road setting in, but everyone liked the show. Did an interview afterwards with someone I did one for on-line months ago. Some women hanging around backstage. What does that mean?"

Check out the rest of the tour diary, including photos and videos, at the band's official MySpace blog.

Watch video footage of ORDER OF ENNEAD performing on the tour

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Tags:  Order of Ennead, Earache Records, Icons of Evil  

jason    May 15, 2009