By Sylvie.

Hi Everyone! Well, there is quite a lot of ground to cover since I last contributed to ye olde blogg.  Luckily Jonas is really good at taking lots of pictures of all the beautiful scenery we get to see, because I am terrible at it.  I just look at it and forget that later I’ll want to talk about it, and that photographic evidence is helpful for that. Besides, JB has a better camera! In any case, we’ve been having a great time and definitely living it up.  Here are Jonas and our incredible tour manager, Guillaume, chilling on the bus.

JB DJing for the post-show bus crowd

In this photo you can kind of see a bit what the bus is like on the inside… small but surprisingly cozy.  You can also see the wine & kronenburgs on the go, you can see that we can play tunes, and if you’re a real sleuth, you can see how late we stay up.  We keep doing it!  No matter our good intentions to get our beauty rest, we are just having too much fun.  By the way, Guillaume deserves a special mention because he is the best.  You’ve never met a man so quick with a maglite.
When we finally do tuck in, it’s even cozier.  JB posted a photo of me in my bunk and said I was playing flight control (which, by the way, if you don’t have that app you should get it).  That wasn’t accurate because what I was really doing was taking this:

Caravaggiesque!

I believe it was in Vannes where JB managed to get his hands on Gill’s harp.  He’s been eyeing it all tour, and I think he was pretty excited when she let him have a go. First she explained a bit about the workings of the harp, and how she can change the tuning of each string using the little levers along the top.  Then she played us all a few jigs.  A jig on a harp is much more elegant than a jig of any other kind I think.  What an amazing instrument!

A private recital

But JB really got his druid on when he tried his hand at a little plucking of his own:

Druid in training

Real druid

I guess we’ve were feeling quite medieval because the next day, in Angers, we got to see this suuuper cool castle!  They’ve just got it sitting there in their downtown like it ain’t no thing. Obviously everyone took a million pictures.

Capturing the castle

The place was amazing.  I mean I don’t know at what point in history they created the insane french manicured gardens within the moat and inside the castle grounds, but even those are probably older than most of the stuff I’m used to seeing.

Manicured moat

This thing is OLD.  And it’s gorgeous.  The view is incredible.  It was a beautiful sunny day and we all just traipsed around the ramparts taking photos.

There is actually a miniature forest growing inside the castle walls (which seems crazy to me because the castle itself is built up so high… anyway they manage it somehow.  This tree had a face:

(for my Dad)

And then there’s the gigantic Apocalypse Tapestry.  It’s sooo crazy.  Gill and I went through reading all of the captions.  We could barely follow any of it because we have very little biblical knowledge, but basically all sorts of crazy shit is supposed to go down when the apocalypse happens, and I do not want to be around for it.  Photos were prohibited but JB broke the rules and posted a sweet photo of the scourge of death in his recent post, if you’re interested. Then we walked around a bunch more:

JB and I take all the same photos! OH NO

Yeah we played this place. Like, uh, what!?

So obviously all sorts of stuff happens in between the sightseeing.  For example, eating.  We eat VERY well.  And also soundchecking, and other things that are much less interesting.  I’ll try to talk a little about normal daily stuff as well, but mostly the standout things so it doesn’t get boring.  Here’s one of the normal daily things… merch!  Every night somewhere in between soundcheck and showtime we find the merch table and lay out our wares.  Thanks to our manager, Christoph, it’s turned into quite the spread…. what with our cute little mailing list typewriter, and our massive silk-screened posters, it’s getting maybe a bit out of hand?

our wares

Usually pre-show we spend a bit of time in the dressing room getting ready for the show.  Apparently this is Jonas’ new routine:

JB's new moves

Well after a slew of very excellent shows, we now have a few days off in Paris.  Our friend Marine’s brother has graciously given us his apartment in Belleville.  The first day we totally slobbed it up, lying around the flat doing not a heck of a lot.  But we found a great restaurant around the corner and enjoyed people watching a bit (especially the waiters who were moving at hyper speed – slicing baguettes, racing around with plates, and only pausing to smoke half a cigarette in the doorway to the crowded patio, or devour a few bites of potato or an egg in the kitchen to refuel).  And yesterday morning I went and checked out the huge street market that was taking place on the main drag nearby.  This market ran for about 4 blocks and was loud, bustling, and really fun.  I was really wishing I actually had groceries to buy because it would have been nice to pick some things up.  They had stalls selling everything from fruit & veg, to clothing, olives, meat and fish, spices, and nailpolish.  You get yelled at by a lot of sellers trying to get your attention but I just floated through trying to be invisible.  I loooove markets.

mega market

Later JB and I wandered around.  A LOT.  We sort of had it in mind to go shopping, and had an exceedingly vague description of a neighbourhood to try which Agnes recommended.  We headed in that general direction but of course didn’t find the shops we were looking for.  Luckily walking around anywhere in Paris is basically a treat, so we just let our noses guide us and ambled aimlessly.  We found all kinds of lovely pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods.  Eventually I was exhausted and we had to stop for a coffee.  Oh! Wait, sir, I forgot to ask for it with milk.  Damn.  Can’t get used to the way they serve the coffee here (tiny and black) but I’ll learn.  The thing we really need to learn is how on earth to properly leave a restaurant.  Every time we eat or drink somewhere (in France) we struggle with trying to get out of the damn place.  Just let us pay!  They don’t bring the bill unless you ask, and for the longest time we didn’t know the word for “bill” – we now know its “addition.”  But first, in order to ask for said bill, you have to get the waiter’s attention, and damned if we can successfully flag ‘em down…

bonjour monsieur

And then we did find a really awesome vintage store in which I was completely overwhelmed by the massive selection, the heat, and the techno, but JB managed to find some warm leather gloves. A little murderer-esque perhaps but heck.

JB trying on coats. this one too big but would have been perfect!

I was the mule.

Shortly after that photo I was informed that you aren’t supposed to take photos inside the store… whoops!  Heheh too late.  So we just kept walking.  Eventually we stumbled upon this beaut:

ooooh, aaahhhh

And relaxed for a moment in the sun, watching two little boys kick a red ball back and forth across the square.  Life rules.

And now I must rush off because JB is about to DJ Pitchfork fest!  This is going to be so much fun because I’m excited for all of the bands and because I don’t know what Jonas will toss off his iPod and I’m curious to see how it goes over with the French.  Not to mention we get to see Franc from Magicrpm once again.  And as if today wasn’t enough, tomorrow we get to take the train to Amsterdam to be reunited with our good pals Timber Timbre.  Yay! So exciting!  I promise to report back soon.
Xo, S.

Slackin’….

Well I have a lot of work to do. I should really try and blog each day as to not fall so far behind. I really thought that the bus would’ve made for an easier blog life but instead what happens is we finish each show, take what’s left of our rider (beer/wine) and stay up on the bus till 4am shooting the breeze and talking about life. Each night we become better friends and the conversations become even better and so now it’s a must that each night we stay up late. Sorry folks. It’s just how it is…. Then we hit our bunks and when we wake up we’re in a town with the sea or a castle or something totally great to go visit and we do. Then it’s lunch/dinner/soundcheck/performance/wine/beer/bus/chat/etc. So I’ll recap our last few days and then Sylvie will tell her version, from the Lady’s Angle.

So we were last in Brest with you, on the sea, at a Moroccan restaurant if I remember correctly… The next morning we woke to torrential rains. We were picked up from our cute little hotel and driven to the venue by Yannick, a dear gent, who told us that it’s almost always sunny in Brest and that they have a saying that “it only rains on assholes in Brest”. Thanks Yannick!

This night was amazing. They had over 1000 tickets sold before the day of the show! That was the biggest crowd I think Evening Hymns has ever played to indoors. Pretty awesome feeling. Here’s a shot of the crowd:

freaky deaky!

Sylvie in her bunk at night playing Flight Control probably.

Not to sound too redundant but man are we ever lucky to be on this tour. Playing to these huge silent audiences in these perfect rooms with professional sound crews and amazing catering and each night sharing this experience with our new friends Agnes and her crew. It’s a really special feeling. Fall asleep in Brest. Wake up in Vannes.

When we finally lift our heads off the pillow and look outside we’re in Vannes. An amazingly beautiful little city. Just over 50000 people here. Very boutique-y feel to it. Tucked in by the sea. Nice shops. Beautiful people. We walked around for an hour before we had to soundcheck. Our engineer that night, Arnaud, was amazing. Such a talented and gentle person to have behind the board for our set. It’s an interesting setup because Agnes Obel have their own sound guy, Andy, from Scotland, who is quickly becoming a good friend of Hymns. They set up and check for a couple hours and then we use the house technician for our set. Each night we have a different sound guy and it’s cool to see how they approach mixing our set each night. They are all so keen to make it great on their end. Such a nice feeling. I’ve spoke in the past blogs about the level of quality you get over here in techs. It’s totally amazing! Anyways, Arnaud was no exception. A top class engineer! Extra credit to him for helping me translate the dinner menu!  Here’s the venue from the nosebleeds:

Here are some photos from the town:

I didn’t take many photos in Vannes. Not sure why. It was so pretty! One thing that really stood out for me though is when we left the venue to go for dinner before the show we drove in a couple cars to get to the restaurant and it was raining pretty hard, and let up just before we got to our destination. We all walked as a big group to the restaurant, over the cobblestone streets and the rain was running in  little streams everywhere and the smell of woodsmoke hung in the air and it cleared my head and made me feel so nostalgic. A cool evening, after the rain had stopped and the world felt crisp and clear. And that smoke…. It was a very happy moment for me. And then I had an awesome pasta dinner with NO MEAT, CHEESE, or FISH!!!! WIN!

Another cool thing about Euro shows is the sound and light techs, and people from the venue all eat together with the band. And with our bus driver Klaus too! FAMILY!

Stayed up late. Got up late in….. ANGERS!

Again, another beauty town. Very picturesque. We went as  team to explore the castle, which is gigantic, beautiful and also houses the Apocalypse Tapestry which is the largest tapestry in the world. http://sourcebook.fsc.edu/history/apocalypse.html

the girls skip down the street to the castle.

we follow…

chateau D’angers

family

manicured grounds

tourists.

apocalypse that way… sure why not…?

cool!!!

noted, supposedly, for it’s asymmetrical gable…

Afterwards Sylvie and I wandered to the old cathedral and happened upon this spectacular pulpit… one of the most impressive ones I’ve seen on my travels.

incredible!

A few more shots of the town:

the oldest house in Angers, Maison D’Adam.

A nice full day walking around and a great night in the theatre. I really enjoyed Angers. Hope to get back there. Here’s a picture of the inside of the theatre:

The Phantom of the Opera

People lined up to get in…

photo credit: Anne

Well that’s it for now folks. We slept. We awoke (in Paris) and now Sylvie and I are taking a lazy day off. Met up with our dear friend Marine, who had her cellphone stolen this morning so we couldn’t reach her and we were late but so was she because she lost her phone and all this complicating business, blah, blah. Sucks. But at least we’re back on track now and just going to relax for a couple days. Do some sightseeing. Sylvie wants to shop. Rest, rest, rest!

Thanks for reading. Chat soon!

xo jb

By Sylvie.

Hi Everyone!  You missed me, didn’t you…?  Well never fear, here I am again to regale you with adventure tales.  Jonas did a pretty good job of bringing you up to date.  In Poitiers we walked around and got our fill of lovely French architecture and super old churches (we will always seek out the oldest stuff we can find.  Canada is a real baby compared to old mother Europa, and we are truly in awe when presented with centuries-old architecture).

Jonas "in awe"

The next place was La Roche sur Yon, where I attempted some shoe shopping.  The town was mostly deserted, but apparently everyone was in the shoe store, which was packed, so I decided to pass on browsing for fancy footwear.  The post office there is absolutely gorgeous, and other things of note include:  little skateboarder boys, and roving packs of young motorbikers, who are possibly enemies, as perhaps evidenced by the laughter of the skater boys when one of the motorbikers bailed in the park.

The show that night was lovely!  I mostly stared up into the smoky lights above me, so it probably looked like I was singing to one special person in the balcony.

From the wings: Jonas rocking Mountain Song!

After the show me and JB ran out to get some dinner before the audience let out.  He managed to negotiate some kind of salad & fries combo (narrowly avoiding a reenactment of the pile of unseasoned steamed veggies he’d been given for lunch).  I, however, got down to a massive hunk of charred and bleeding steak, preceded by an elaborate caesar salad with chicken, whole anchovies, and huge shards of shaved parmesan.  It was beginning to look dire when we realized we had to leave the restaurant within ten minutes in order to be back at the venue in time and our entrees had yet to arrive.  Thankfully I had the presence of mind to request our desserts to go, and we bolted our meals and ran back just in time to hawk our wares to the masses.

The following day (yesterday) was a day off in Brest – a port town on the North West coast of France.

Overlooking the sea

Appropriately, JB and I spent the day eating and napping, alternating these with bouts of watching French TV and sending emails.  We were awfully tired (and, if we’re totally honest, a bit hungover… check out JB’s hilarious one-sock look!)

He could only find one sock this morning! What a scrub...

At lunch, I tried to order a green salad but I mixed up my translation and ended up with the following:

HUGE slabs of liver paté! THE WORST.

F.Y.I, I hate liver.

BUT we did manage to get out and see some of the sights.  95% of Brest was destroyed in the 2nd world war by the allies (Germany was squatting in the harbour with its U-boats).  However, there remains a gorgeous old castle (some of the walls are Roman-built, from the 5th century!) and a very pretty and fairy-tale-esque tower:

look at these cute little flowers! they grow in cracks and crevices and look like tiny sea daises.

what is wrong with this picture? aww you're so cute, little french sign. thanks for looking out for my safety on the insanely blustery cliff's edge. i know what you meant.

And in a park on this same blustery cliff’s edge, overlooking the port, I climbed into a tree and had a real zen moment all to myself.  It was so very peaceful up in my strange semi-pine, semi-bansai looking tree (shaped like a deciduous but with giant pine cones and dark green needles.. so weird but I liked them a lot).

The view from my Tree.

Then JB came and coaxed me down (something about falling out and smashing my head) and we were on our merry way.  We had earlier spied a little Moroccan joint boasting on its menu a vegetarian tagine, so we headed there for dinner.  The owner ushered us in with a handshake and within moments we were enjoying piping hot veg tagine (stew) and couscous, along with a tasty vin rouge de Maroc.  This food was so perfect for a cold, windy night.  Not to mention it provided a welcome respite from what generally passes for “vegetarian” here in France.  A huge steaming bowl of delicious hearty veggies… no mountains of cheese (in fact no dairy at all), no secret hidden meat, no bread.  Phew!

Tagine! YUM!

My delicious dessert: Vanilla ice cream, chantilly cream, toasted almonds, honey, and dates. MMmmm JB was so jealous!

Hello, Mr. Camel...

Today it rained and rained so we’ve been mostly bumming around indoors.  The venue is great, we’ve got laundry on the go (thank goodness as I was about to run out of clean undies!).  Sound check begins shortly and we’re looking forward to playing.  Thanks for hanging in there, dearest blog readers!  More babbling from the J-meister and myself to follow (when next we get some chill time and some wifi).
xo
SS.

And so I left you in Poitiers. Sylvie and I went for a wander to see some sights around town. Found this beautiful river:

While we were standing on this bridge to take the photo an old car drove by and backfired about 10 ft. away from us and scared the shit out of us. I thought I was being shot at…

We also found these:

It wasn’t open but we took a picture infront of the 2nd oldest church in France.

And happened upon this place too:

An artisan umbrella maker!!!! Cool shop. Wish we had the money to buy one. They were beauty.

Okay enough tourist shots… We are at work over here I swear. The venue, as seen in the last blog post, was spectacular. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to play in the big room as no amplifiers are allowed! They are so strict about it. The room is perfectly tuned for acoustic instruments and they take that very serious. They have multiple spaces within this incredible Poitiers complex and they set us up in the restaurant upstairs. Certainly not as exciting as playing in the big theatre but fun nonetheless…. Still got to play to a really big audience and also to try out a new song for the first time. Post show drinks in the cafeteria and then off to the bus to sleep.

When we woke up we were in La Roche Sur Yon. An even smaller town then Poitiers. We ate some snacks and then went for a quick camera jaunt around town:

As the photos show it was a beautiful day for wandering around. Nice, quaint little place…

Had one of those weird food moments where we get free lunch and dinner at the same restaurant, provided by the booker, but they had no vegetarian options on the menu, except for a plate of tomatoes with some lettuce. Hahaha… oh France. Anyways, that’s what I had but convinced them to add fries to the dinner portion. Lucky me!  Sylvie had some fancy foods. Salmon and steak. Lets just see if she blogs about it. Saw this cute shop beside the restaurant and liked the way the sign looked:

We’ve been graced with really nice, big dressing rooms on this run that normally provide us a shower, washroom, etc. Nice to have that quiet space before the show to get cleaned up and collect the thoughts. Had a pre-show shower and it was great. Played this beautiful, huge concert hall. Great lighting and sound. Spoiled, like every night. I think this show was sold out too. It’s a treat to walk out on stage each night with these massive crowds that are so attentive and welcoming. It really helps to calm the nerves and this tour has been less stressful than most because of it. Here are a couple of the staff cleaning up after the show:

Just a cavernous room. Steep seats and a big balcony. Beautiful room. We played a good set I think and then stayed up too late with the Obel Team sipping jaspers and shooting the breeze.

Had too many beers and stayed up too late. When the bus stopped this morning we were in Brest, with a day off. Sylvie and I were dropped at our hotel and set out to wander the city. Our daily findings:

The Australian swimmer, Thorpedo.

The Sea

Thought this would like a classic iPhone photo and alas…

So the Germans had a U-boat base in harbour here which was eventually recaptured and the French dug up these ol’ subs and put them back in service for themselves. They kept 4 of them and used them for years. And if I remember the plaque correctly they were sent on over 500 missions… Supposedly these were pretty sweet subs. Hard to believe two troops would be in those things for 7-8 days. Crazy!

Pont de Recouvrance

The coolest thing about this bridge was the ambient sound coming off of it. The wind was blowing so hard that it created this beautiful hum from some part of the bridge. It was amazing! I tried to record it but it didn’t capture the sound as I wanted.

Sylvie defying gravity in a tree. I warned her that if she wasn’t careful she’d fall out and risk serious injury. An injury such as this one, that this poor bird succumbed to:

Anyways… that’s about it for our day off. We ate at a great Moroccan restaurant right near the sea. It was delicious. So nice to have couscous and tagine and all those vegetables. We needed that. Okay. This entry took me 1.5 hours to put together. It’s a time consuming process uploading the photos and sorting out things. Hope you enjoyed. We have all day in Brest again tomorrow and then a show tomorrow night. Can’t wait to play. It’s another gorgeous venue!!! Woohoo! zzzzzzz

Be well…jb

So Sylvie touched upon a bit more of Berlin so I’ll stay out of that. We didn’t do much really. I drank Bonanza coffee (my favorite) and ate haloumi (a fried cheese that’s delicious) and we kind of just did familiar things which was really comforting. Some nice meals, some wandering, some friends…. very nice…Saw this too:

I’ve heard of some place imitating Peterborough’s Night Kitchen in Berlin. Figured this was it… Ridiculous!

…some rehearsing and then a cab to the bus which is going to be our home for the next couple months, off and on, as we tour with Agnes Obel. It’s been a weird thrill to ride on the bus. Never though that little ol’ Evening Hymns would be touring with a full on bus but alas…. Instead of speculating on how it’s going to be rad I think I’ll let our blogging over the next week tell that tale. I can say one thing to it though which is that we travel during the night when we are asleep and arrive in the cities early in the morning giving us lots of time to see the sights. Reminds me of riding in my dad’s old transport truck back in the day. We’d get up early to be in Montreal by 11am, leaving before the sun comes up, and I’d climb back in the bunk and sleep while dad drove. Actually the bunk has the same colour of interior as his old Peterbilt 379. Here’s a photo of the bunk, which sometimes feels like we’re sleeping in a casket. Nice thought eh?

I’ve been battling my jetlag pretty bad… but it’s nice to always have my bedroom a hundred feet from the venue. It’s a strange life. I think I’ll get used to it. We’ll shoot some more photos from the bus at some point. Oh like this:

Okay, to the music now… We got to play Limoges for the first date of tour. A lot of nervous excitement between Sylvie and I. Playing to the biggest crowds we’ve ever played to and also the first show infront of our new friends and tourmates, Agnes Obel (Agnes, Anna, Gillian and Andy). It went really well. The techs, as always, were top notch. Felt really comfortable up there and people seemed really enthusiastic about the set. Such an amazing start to the tour… A lot of clapping and smiles. Here’s the crowd, shot from the side of the room, so to the right, out of the frame are a couple hundred more people! (scary! awesome!):

Agnes Obel and her most noble team put on an amazing show. The sound, performance, songs, etc. are top-notch. Such a peaceful thing to do, sitting in the audience, relaxing and listening to her songs, fully realized with piano, harp and cello. Not to mention they are so nice. I am already sad we’re going to be parting at some point… I’ll try not and think about it. Many more shows to go with them…

We had a pretty mellow night after. Most of us are adjusting to jetlag, buslag, lifelag, etc. Er, not lifelag I suppose…

Feeling lucky, like usual, to be out here doing this… After Limoges comes Poitiers, another French city. The venue we’re in is amazing. The bus drove us here before I even awoke so I awoke in my bunk and looked out my window into the loading bay at the venue. Amazing people, food, etc. Our dressing room is bigger than our apartment in Toronto. Ha… Here’s the stage from backstage perspective just before Agnes soundchecked this afternoon:

Okay, I’ll post some more later. I have to go watch some of their set in this beautiful concert hall. Sylvie and I did some wandering today and I took some photos so I’ll post those later.

Xo

jb