Steve Ignorant » The Last Supper

Book talk in Dublin on Thursday 25th

Steve — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 00:24:08 +0000

Tomorrow I'll be interviewed by Irish journalist Michael McCaughan at Tower in Dublin. We'll be talking about my book, The Rest Is Propaganda, and anything else that Michael wants to ask. Also there will be a Q&A after so please come along and ask me anything you like. I'll be around afterwards for a chat and to sign books if anyone wants one!

Hope to see you there.

Oh yeah - and in case you didn't know, we're playing the Button Factory in Dublin on Friday night (26th) and Belfast Empire on Saturday night (27th). We're really looking forward to it.

Cheers

Steve

Groningen 24 October 2010

Steve — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:33:34 +0000

We couldn't have chosen a better venue for the last gig of our set of European dates. One of the few gigs Crass did outside the UK was at the Vera in 1980, and Petr who runs the venue was there! The Vera is really special - they treat you like royalty. We had a lovely meal of Dutch Chinese food (I know I go on about food a lot, but on tour, it's something you really look forward to - a nice hot meal really makes the day). They have a lovely "band hotel" upstairs which is just gorgeous, and they served us a huge breakfast at 7am the next morning before we set off.

Now we just have to hope a few people turn up to the gig....

Bob is amused by the "ex-Crass plays Crass" banner at the Vera.

Allison tried to figure out how to get into the venue.

It's a very important part of the tour manager's job, that is.

Check out the hand-screened posters that Vera made for our gig. Not many venues bother with that sort of stuff anymore, it's lovely to see.

Gizz can play guitar and sing at the same time!

Very skilled that boy.

Me getting shouty.

Bob at work, with Beki looking over his shoulder.

One Allison took from the lighting desk during "Big Man"

We didn't need to worry - look at all the great people who turned up!

The crowd at the Vera were just as lovely as the staff.

Bob, Beki & Gizz during the encore - Shaved Women.

Thanks again to everyone at Vera for looking after us, and everyone who came out to make the last night special. We were really tired, but as soon as we hit the stage, you woke us up! We couldn't have asked for a better way to finish off the European leg of The Last Supper.

Cheers

Steve

Copenhagen 23 October

Steve — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:23:27 +0000

Loading in using the gear lift at Loppen. Adam the sound guy is at the top helping us. He did a fantastic job for us - thanks Adam.

Spike had a special drum head made for his kit for The Last Supper

More Copenhagen pictures - see full post.

After soundcheck I was off to do a talk and book signing at the central library in Copenhagen. David Thomas from Pere Ubu was there last week. Don't tell him but I pulled more people than he did.

It was really nice to be able to chat to people and sign books after the talk. There were people there from all over - Russia, Iceland, England, Sweden, Greenland and the USA as well as Denmark.

Me and Thomas who interviewed me for the talk, sitting on the talk show sofa.

Thomas did a great job, especially considering he had to talk to me in English which isn't his first language. I don't like talking on my own so I really appreciate the effort that Thomas and Daniel, the organiser, made to make the talk fun for me and the audience.

Gizz' gear

After the signing it was straight back to Loppen for the gig. This is a shot Jona took of Gizz' big boots and all the gizmos on his pedal board. He spends ages perfecting his sound and maintaining and cleaning all the gear. I think he does an amazing job getting a really full sound and bringing all the Crass songs to life.

Spike, Gizz, Bob, Beki and me on stage at Loppen.Spike in action

Spike in action.

A nice shot of Spike and also the visuals that Allison did - she used two projectors at Loppen and it worked great. She's already talking about ideas for our final show in London next year. We're going to do some really special things for that.

The crowd at Loppen was absolutely amazing.

I think you can tell from these photos how enthusiastic they were. Thanks to everyone for coming down and making it such a success. The band and me really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks again to Anderz the promoter for bringing us over, and for Adam and Raymond at the venue for looking after us with great sound and great food.

These people made the gig special for us.

Thanks to everyone for coming out.

Cheers

Steve.

Hamburg 22 October 2010

Steve — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 13:09:59 +0000

We didn't do such a good job of getting these posted while we were on tour, but here they are now.

Loading in at Hafenklang

Getting into Hamburg was quite a surprise for a few of us who have been there before but not for years. Allison didn't recognise the whole area down by the docks where Hafenklang is located. It's all been developed - a bit like Canary Wharf or something - lots of expensive flats, shops and offices. In the middle of it Hafenklang still stands though - bloody amazing they managed to keep the venue on the same site despite everything. I think they basically just built a whole new building around it.

And away we go

The stage at Hafenklang is only a few inches above the rest of the venue and I reckon you might call it "intimate".

Spike working hard

The crowd in Hamburg were one of the wildest on the tour.

This is why we did the tour. Those beautiful faces at the end of the night.

More smiling faces.

Pardon my finger there in the photo.

Thanks to everyone who rammed into the Hafenklang that night to have The Last Supper with us. Also thanks to Daniel and everyone at the venue for treating us so well. They served us an excellent home-cooked meal which is always appreciated by the band and crew.

Poland

Steve — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 00:53:49 +0000

Back again with some news from the European tour. We've been having a real laugh. The Last Supper band are great and I couldn't have done this without Gizz, Spike, Bob, Beki, Jona & Allison and Spot. Despite the fact we are working on an average of 4 hours sleep a night, we still manage to get to the venues on time and have a giggle along the way. Every night has been really different and it's been great to take the Crass songs to places where Crass never managed to go.

Lodz 21st October

I've always loved Poland because you're guaranteed a good night out. Crass never made it here but I've been over with other bands. This lot certainly showed us a proper good time.

Ta-da!

Spike our drummer took this one from behind his kit at the end of the show.

After the show I like to work out in my personal gym.

(Okay, not really - this exercise bike was in the bathroom of our hotel!)

Bob

Bob looks all pensive in this shot taken by Allison as we arrived in Lodz.

Thanks also due to Krzy who promoted the show and really looked after us.

Cheers.

Steve

Berlin

Steve — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 17:42:47 +0000

Berlin was a top night. The venue was a beautiful old music hall type place, and the promoter Franco really looked after us. We had an amazing sound guy called George who was an old Crass fan and he did a fantastic job making us sound good. Thanks also to Christian who did the lights and helped Allison make the visuals really special. But most of all, thanks to the amazing crowd who came down to celebrate with us. THANK YOU, BERLIN!

The crazy crowd in Berlin. They seemed to be able to sing all these songs without our help.

Me just about to kick off.

Gizz giving the guitar a bit of welly during Systematic Death.

Beki getting ready before the show. What the shirt says is true.

Allison snapped me writing the set list and caught herself in the mirror as well.

Goodnight, Munich

Allison — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:03:14 +0000

The lovely folks who came to see us in Munich at Feierwerk

We can't complain, you know. The folks at Feierwerk in Munich really looked after us. Such a lovely venue. We had a great night and we thank Christian and Tom and all the crew for helping us out. Thanks especially to all the folks in this picture who turned up to help us celebrate.

Cheers

Steve

Thank you Frankfurt

Steve — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 23:33:34 +0000

The lovely crowd at the Exzess in Frankfurt on Sunday 17th October

Look at all the smiling faces. This is the really amazing crowd who came out to see us in Frankfurt on Sunday. Thanks to each and every one of you for coming out on a Sunday night and making it so special. We'd also like to thank Verena and and everyone else at Excess for their kindness. They cooked us a really lovely meal of veggie burritos and salads and did everything they could to make us comfortable and happy. Also thanks to Bad Influence for supporting us.

Next stop: Berlin!

Cheers. Steve.

The Last Supper crew – Edinburgh

Steve — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 12:05:59 +0000

Gizz, me, Jona, Allison, Spike, Bob, Beki, Nathan and Helga

The Last Supper in Europe, part 2

Steve — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 19:27:32 +0000

Calais

Me and Spot having breakfast on the road in Calais. Spot (aka Steve Pottinger) helped me write my book "The Rest Is Propaganda", and he joined us as our driver and merch person in Europe. It is really great to work with him again. Over the last two years we've had many a meal together.

Belgium? Maybe.

Technology in the van. Allison working as usual, and Beki always texting home to her family.