« Blog Once shit gets rolling, Popronde Nijmegen 2012

Yeah everyone in the van, come on, come on we gotta goweeeee. The mad road and crowd are waiting for us! We are on our way to Nijmegen, finally, for our first show since june 22^nd and the first Popronde gig.

Sal Paradise behind the wheel looking sharp and ready for his first job as the tour manger of APRIL. Next to Sal was Julia with her redhead fury. Left of me, next to the window, was Edwin with a bright smile on his face and lots of sharp remarks in his pocket, always ready to fire at will and excited for the little trip we were about to start. In the middle of the backseat was Sander, a well mannered highly intelligent cat from Utrecht. The three of us have been good friends for years now, brothers in arms so to say.
After a stop at a some fastfood resaurant, we drove along the highway towards Arnhem to pick up Tarek 'De Sultan' Zarroug and his sixties drumkit. When we arrived at his house on the hill he was already carrying his gear out of his gritty apartment that's located above a Spar supermarket. Relaxed as always he approached us with a smile and generosity. We carried the drums into the back of the van, blew on a trumpet we brought and off downhill towards Nijmegen all laughing around. To stand up straight in a van that drives 100 Km/hr is a weird experience.
We arrived at Café De Plak around eight. WOLVON and companions already sat at the terrace and laughed at us because of our ridiculously big van: a seven seat with 7m2 of space for just one amp, a drumkit and some guitars. But to hell with that, it's the cheapest around.
Soon after our arrival Nouveau Vélo joined the gang of bearded/fashionable/hipster combination of musicians that took seat on a long table full of beer glasses and a coke. The owner of the café told us we could pick anything we wanted from the menu, which was a nice surprise since we were starving.
First band of the night was WOLVON andn they started LOUD with their punky noise songs. Slowly the venue filled itself with loads of people wondering what the strange bearded and longhaired hipsters were doing. They seemed to like it and so did we, especially their new single 'Unicorny' was a great success!
Before the show I got shit nervous because we had to play all those new songs. When we started to play even my knees were shaking! But once we shook off all our fears, all went well and we even got some people swaying their hips and looking kinda amazed every now and then, think that's positive! After the show we got quite some good compliments and smiling faces!
Last but not least was Nouveau Vélo. They played a sharp set with their well thought out sound on guitar and vocals. I really enjoy watching and listening to them. Luckily they played the song Marvin Gaye, It's their best song, it's brilliant!

We loaded up the van and took off back to Utrecht, when after five minutes we were forced to stop by the Customs. A 'stop and follow' sign led us to the side of the road. This is where trouble started. Sal got out of the van and asked what the problem was. Our headlights seemed to be broken... What car rental service lends a broken car anyway?! Bastards! We got clear without a ticket. But that fun was over soon enough 'cause 50 km later we found out the pigs gave us a ticket for wrong parking! Lame.
Anyway, we decided to drive until we would find a gasstation, which meant driving all the way to Arnhem on pitch black provincial roads with cars driving towards us that could only see us last minute. We were all shit scared and focussed on the road to support Sal with driving. It took us two hours to find a gasstation that was open at this time of the night. We found out it had nothing to do with the lights itself, cause when we replaced them they still wouldn't work. (The car had no spare lamps! Djeeez). We hesitated and called the road services for advice. They told us they could come but we had to pay a shit load of money... That was no option, so we decided to drive to Utrecht.
You would think they had streetlights all the way, but this is nowhere land in some way. Lots of km without any lights. We had to switch on the flashing warning lights to see a bit of the road every half a second, while upcoming traffic signed us with the big lights that blinded us. WE KNOW! Luckily Julia always brings 'krentenbollen' in case of these kind of emergencies. When we arrived in Utrecht it was around five o'clock and longing for our beds and to get out of this fucking van. Sal's first day almost couldn't be worse, but we are proud of him ;)
All well in the end. Brought the car back and fell asleep thinking about out first and great Popronde experience!
We thank everyone who was around to check us out, hopefully you loved it and we will see you during future shows!
Next up: Popronde Amsterdam, SPRMRKT Rozengracht 191. We present the collaboration between APRIL and the two talented fashion designers Menno Voortman and A.M. Westen. They made clothing for us to wear on stage and beautiful handmade merchandise for you to wear! We start 21.00 uur sharp, love to see you there!

Lot's of love,Jorn APRIL