News, Tour Diary and More

[sean-intense]

Hi, as Nick has mentioned before he's been unable to do updates recently but that will soon be rectified. It's been a busy period and we'll be adding some photos/reviews from the recent shows with Power Quest plus our addition to the Metal Bash Festival (this Saturday 24/7/04) in Germany. Thanks to our keyboard player Ed and his laptop we'll keep you posted on the German adventure each day, we're all looking forward to the trip and it should prove to be a lot of fun. It's long overdue that we play in Germany as we've received an enormous amount of support from members of the press and industry over there ever since Dark Season days and it'll be great to treat them to the live Intense experience.
We've received a lot of reviews that need to be posted on the site also plus the news that i've mentioned before that SECOND SIGHT is now out in a digi pak format (Underground Symphony) and a jewel case format (NTS). You can order the digi direct from Z Roxx (see links on the site) or directly from us for only £12.99. We also have new T-shirts availble in L/S and S/S and they feature the Second Sight artwork along with a back print of the track listing, email me for details.
We will also be continuing our tour with more UK dates after Bloodstock, this will be announced in August. We're hoping to confirm some more European dates also.
There's also an interview with Dave to be posted on the site with Chris from the Metal Observer.

So lots and lots going on plus some new photos will be up soon too.

Thanks for all the support we've had from so many people recently... you ROCK!

 

[Raven_1]

good luck with the shows in germany look foward to seeing you guys again

 

[sean-intense]

Thanks Raven 1.

The tour diary thing didn't work as we had a pretty packed schedule. WE did however have a great time and we were taken aback by the reaction of the German fans.. .superb .. i'll make a full diary type post as soon as i've recovered

 

[Volcane]

C'mon Sean - stop loafing about and tell us all about your experiences on the continent.

I require news and information !!

 

[Symphony]

I couldn't agree more....arf arf!

 

[sean-intense]

Blimey you're so demanding

Okay here goes:
We left merry old England on the 1am Ferry from Dover on Wednesday morning and yes we got stopped at customs but curiously enough after establishing we weren't squadies and in fact a heavy metal band they just let us carry on ???
Upon nearing the bar on the ferry .. we heard the sound of Iron Maiden on the Video Jukebox and then Evanescence was played and G n R (i think) .. what a cool bar !!!
We drove on through the night with the Playstation Challenge in full swing (Special mentions to Neil, Maria and Steve for their playstation marathon).
We got to our hotel near Coesfeld, Germany around 10.30am and all went f**k at the size of it ... really cool even if we did get a little lost trying to find it. Anyway we had a few hours to kill so, showered, ate and had some German beer then got a little kip before heading to the venue. When we got to the venue the gig had already started ... we were headlining on a 7 band bill which is pretty crazy for a wednesday and even more crazy when 2nd on the bill were Seraphim from Taiwan. The promoter plied us with beer from the off and we also got a meal of noodles and some pork dish which was rather nice. Our friend Dirk surprised us and turned up having driven 85 miles and Nick's mate Jurgen also showed up. We checked some of the bands out and then things started going a bit wrong timing wise. During Seraphim's set they had technical problems and we eventually took to the stage at 2.00am, we played a 30 min set to a now small but energetic audience and had a blast, it was cool to see some of the Seraphim guys headbanging to us too... and the sing along section on War of Angels went really well, boy did those guys make some noise.. they called for an Encore and we had to oblige...
We got back to the hotel around 3.00am and they'd pulled the barrier down stopping us getting into the car park... thanks to Dave's great German language skills "Er,, alright... English" repeatedly, the receptionist gave up and raised the barrier.... when we entered reception she had security there to watch us head off to our rooms which must have been quite amusing really... 8 hot and sweaty metal heads with beers looking absolutely f**ked... Naturally we all slept rather well.... Day 2 report tomorrow ...

Set list Coesfeld:
Collision of Destinies
Skull of Sidon
Path of the Dark
Dark Season
War of Angels

Encore.. The way the rivers Flow

Thanks to Dennis for arranging the show and to Stefan for being a cool promoter.. and to Dirk for being a crazy man

 

[sean-intense]

Day 2 Thursday 22nd July The day off

Nothing on the gig front to report for today.

We had breakfast in Coesfeld and then checked out and headed off to Duisburg where we were going to be based for the next 2 days...
We didn't have a hotel pre booked so had to hunt one out and ended up booking into a Novotel in Duisburg...
We got in and had to strategically park the van as the hotel car park couldn't take a splitter bus ??? After checking into our rooms we went exploring and then back to the rooms to freshen up and shower and then we hit the town.
We ended up eating at a Greek restaurant and fortunately for us Maria (our merch person) is part Greek and ended up ordering for us so we got our food really quick... Thanks Maria...
After the meal and beers we ended up at the hotel bar for more beers which was my downfall Too much German beer for me and after some of the guys retired it was down to me, Ed, Dave and Steve to fly the flag till we got kicked out of the bar at 2.00am ...

July 23rd ...
I haven't got too much to say about the first part of the day apart from the fact that i skipped breakfast and slept till about 3 or 4 i think whilst the rest of the guys explored... i eventually appeared in the afternoon and went and got some fries with Maria as that's all i could stomach, we then stocked up on snacks...
Neil expertly guided us to the venue which was about 30 mins from the hotel. An old windmill, the venue was really cool. We'd heard earlier that Seraphim had pulled the gig due to logistical problems but the promoter had got another band in.. We were going to be the middle band due to an early start in the morning... Dirk turned up again with his good lady Lola and another good friend of mine who was waiting for his first Intense experience, Amir showed up to take photos for us. I was still feeling pretty rough and feared for our live show but the gods of metal took over and i was renewed with energy.
We even got applauded for our soundcheck which was really funny .
A small venue but it was packed and had a great atmosphere.. we had guys down the front banging from the first song (as well as the soundcheck) and we played an hour set .... a very cool show and the crowd were great and an encore was demanded so we gave them Collision again... which went down really well... the promoter was also very cool .. gave us many beers and invited us back too which was great..... Nick and I then proceeded to do an interview with Dirk for his radio show and exhausted we jumped in the bus to get back to the hotel with a 5.00am meet up in the lobby, to make our way to the Metal Bash!!

The last day ... will be posted soon....

Die Muhle Set

Premonition
One Twenty
Collision of Destinies
Skull of Sidon
The way the Rivers Flow
The Winged
Path of the Dark
Inside Torment
Seeds of Betrayal
Dark Season
War of Angels

Encore Collision of Destinies

Thanks go to the guys for not ribbing me too much about my excesses for Dirk for supporting us again and for the interview. Also to Amir for taking some very cool photos that we'll be using on the site... Thanks again to Dennis for sorting out the gig and the promoter Levent for digging the band, looking after us and inviting us back .. you Rock !

 

[Volcane]

Cool stuff Sean.

It's funny that over there gigs go on until the small hours, yet over here everything's usually done and dusted by 10 ~10:30. Bah!

Glad you had a good time chaps

 

[Maria-Merch_girl!]

Heya Sean, I'm guessing you know who this is Ha ha nice to see you are thanking me for my Greek skills and our playstation marathon on the bus! I'm just curious as to what you will report for the last day Hope you had a nice time during your return visit to Germany and a great birthday! Also a little note that I will be bringing a small gang of INTENSE fans to the Stripes Bar gig!

 

[sean-intense]

Hi Maria, i bet your are curious about the last day's report ... i won't stray from the details don't worry ... I will be making the final report at the weekend ....

 

[sean-intense]

At last Day 3 of the German tour ...

Okay got up very early and met in the lobby of the Novotel at 5.00am ..
We headed out onto the A1 (Germany's main road) and as per warnings from the previous night, the road was stuffed. Apparently this was the first day of the German's holiday and loads of 'em head north on the A1 .. brilliant We had to be there for 10.15 and thought 5 hours... no problem... we got there at around 12 with much panicing .. when we eventually got there everyone was really cool and not worried at all, just gave us our passes and we went and prepared ourselves for the show. We were told that the show was running behind schedule so we'd have to cut a song... which was Skull... meaning that we had a 23 min set but hey at least we were there on a really hot day. The stage was cool and so were the techs at the Metal Bash, they were really helpful and cool guys, we got on really quick as a Tama double bass kit and guitar and bass stacks were supplied, the only bitch of it for me was no radio mic... but hey.. i got on with it...
Although their was a few people milling around .there weren't too many down the front although a few people sat around and we actually got more than the first band heh heh.. which was pleasing as we only got added to the bill 2 weeks before. We played a very fast and true Intense set and we even did the sing along bit for War of Angels which had people singing along, even the guys round the periphary of the site... and then it was over.. .we were really pleased by the applause danke you guys .. then we got off stage as quick as we'd got on...

We had to hang around as there was beer to be drunk and festival food to be eaten and we wanted to check out some of the other bands too... we also had a signing session to attend too, which turned out better than we anticipated (we'll have photos up of that soon) .. most entertaining part of the afternoon was Maria's effort to get one of our laminates... Ed agreed to let her have his but there was a condition .... backstage there was a paddling pool and Maria had to jump in it and submerge herself to get his pass... give the girl her due... she did it and was totally drenched as she went under when she dived in fully clothed ... Ed gave up his pass and we have photos of this too but unfortunately missed it on video I think Ed felt a little guilty but Maria was well pleased with her pass ...( you crazy woman) and we all signed it for her too....
After a few beers and me getting melted by the sun (thanks to Nick for the sun block and Neil for his hat) we headed to our hotel which turned out to be most excellent .. we needed to get a few hours kip before heading home and left the hotel at 12am to head back to Calais....

In all an excellent trip, looking back we could have probably done with more time in between shows but hey it's rock n roll..

Thanks to Paul for handling much of the driving and Maria for handling the merch and entertainment .. also all at Remedy Records for putting on the Metal Bash and having us on.

Metal Bash set:
Collision
Path of the Dark
Dark Season
War of Angels

See ya next year Germany

A review of the Die Muhle show is here http://www.heavy-metal.de/?id=3340

 

[Maria-Merch_girl!]

Ha ha I knew you wouldn't stray from my little laminate wanting er what's the word? Task maybe? Ha ha well the way you described it got a lot of laughs from my end! It would be cool to see the pictures too actually since Neil and Edd got quite a lot of me. I'll have to chase them up at Stripes Bar for them!

 

[sean-intense]

I'm pretty sure we'll be posting the pictures on the site Maria,,

 

[Ayeka]

Yes, I think that's a must

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