Death Metal Always Takes a Backseat to the Quiet Storm...

Awoke in a sweat, lying on a mattress on the red carpeted floor of Balazs Pandi's bedroom, surrounded by vintage Pharaoh Sanders vinyl and posters documenting every anti-musical event to have lurched through Budapest in the last decade. Spring has definitely arrived in Hungary, and I went to sleep dressed for a blizzard. (Balazs lives with his family in a near-palatial three-story spread on a suburban side street that could easily be mistaken for Anytown, USA. His dad's pitbull was a stunner.) Our set for the previous evening's Mediawave Festival was, from our perspective, the least satisfying of the tour. We couldn't hear anything from the stage, and as a result our performance resembled an ancient rite of flailing asymmetry. Of course, the Győr audience, which sat cowering behind a phalanx of beer-strewn tables, loved it. We were bummed on the drive to the capital, at least until Dennis put Kanye's Graduation in the CD player. Tensions quickly eased...

Pics are current through April 19. More processing to follow.

Love,

Tom