People's Love

After a few dozen round-abouts and U-turns we finally made it to our show in Copenhagen, Denmark! We weren't in Denmark for that long but I did get a strange crash course in a kind of subculture there as our show took place in a factory lot that was filled with graffiti smattered warehouses that the government actually hands over to people for use. The factories surrounding Mayhem, the venue we played in, included artist studios, a Thai kick boxing gym and even an outreach center specifically for Arab youth, all spaces given to organizations by the city to create something positive in a place slightly on the decline. Our show was part of a small fest called the 4Hour Festival that included sets by a ton of local Danish electronic musical artists including the amazing Under the Sherry Moon featuring a (really weird) synchronized giant puppet dance of aging punk figures, a (really, really great) guitarist and a (seriously bad ass) woman on a mini guitar & keyboards who sang so passionately and with such unexpected beauty over the electronic booming that I was transfixed even without understanding the language!

The space was endlessly interesting too...graffiti was on everything, these crazy blow up chairs made from industrial plastic (and made into furniture with a shop vac!) provided seating for the show, a grill (that I saw someone fix by using the discarded metal from a medical arm brace found in the trash!) provided sausages (with traditional Danish remoulade!) and the general feel of the run down area trying to make something wonderful was hopeful in this dystopian industrial landscape hidden behind quaint rows of houses and bicycles (so many bicycles Denmark!). We seemed to have technical difficulty after technical difficulty so the show was a bit strange as microphones sputtered, guitar strings snapped and the projection seeped off of the screen but, that didn't stop the audience from applauding mid-film after a pretty intense rendition of the flood scene (with even me testing the percussion waters!). If anything this was a strange, sprawling show that I don't think we could ever repeat in the same way. As we drove away from our last Scandinavian performance the car was packed with all of our gear and a few huge industrial lights picked up in the back alleys of the abandoned factory space. We waved goodbye to Denmark and to this back alley place that we probably will never see (let alone be able to find) again! Goodbye kind Denmark!