Kollar/Cox/Raineri/Truffaz tour day 2.
In the morning we were woken up again by drills. I went immediately to complain to the reception. This time I even knocked on the door of room 12 and told the guys that they were at the hotel and people were still asleep at 7:15am.
- "Excuse me, we'll stop," one of the workers told me
Just as I walked into the room I heard his colleague swearing through the narrow wall:
- "raggedy musicians!"
Of course they stopped drilling, but started banging with a hammer.
After breakfast Paolo and I walked over to the Little Berlin club. We loaded the car. Rick arrived and we waited for Arno. The plan was to go into town Martin after 2pm, but because of the drills I decided to leave at 10am.
Before the club we met with Otto Hejnic and his hammondist Brian Charette (NY).. He and Rick got right to talking. They found out that they had mutual acquaintances in the USA. Brian is scheduled to be in Los Angeles in January 2023. I'll be there at the end of January. The last week of January I'm going to see Pat Mastelotto in Austin. He wants to produce my next album. From there, I would fly out to see Rick. He's got a little room in his house that I can use. Maybe we could go see Thomas Newman again. Brian's good friends with Danny Carey from Tool. I mentioned to him that Adam Jones from Tool did the cover art for our Komara album. We had a great chat and of course took some pictures. Arno arrived and we went to Martin.
On the way to Martin we stopped in Čičmany. The musicians wanted to taste Bryndzové halušky and Strapačky with cabbage. Rick is a vegetarian. He talks a lot about the book Sapiens. I've started reading it. It's a summarized history of what a horrible creature homo sapiens is 🙂
We unloaded the instruments and started the soundcheck at Martin's Bar Museum club. Jano Sudzina brought Erik Truffaz and we waited for the concert to start. The Martin concert turned out much better than the Trnava concert in my opinion. We didn't have to take the instruments off the stage after the sound check. That's really a luxury.
Erik got along very well with Paolo. Everything clicked as it should. I had a good feeling. Playing this kind of music is very difficult. The songs don't have a specific key, the rhythm and the meter changes. It's really painting with music... Every musician has to be experienced and find his place in this music. It's like watching sonar in a submarine. I have to listen perfectly to what my colleagues are doing and find my place there. Sometimes my place is just silence. The song just has everything it should have even without me... I have to mention Arno again. He did a lot of work. We couldn't have done it without his experience as a sound engineer and his experience with this kind of music.
After the concert we said goodbye to Erik, who was driven to Poland by Jan Sudzina. We talked with friends for a while and went to the hotel.
Day off at Prievidza Airport
The next day we had a day off. We travelled from Martin to Bratislava, where we were to spend two nights in the Ibis hotel. It was good for Rick. I didn't realize he was 70 years old. He is very cheerful and constantly immersed in music and technology. I'm using my iphone at 30% compared to Rick. Not to mention Ableton. I use that at maybe 5% of Rick's. That's when I realize I'm actually older than Rick. I'm a little conservative and I'm happy with what I know. I remembered touring with Pat Mastelotto and our Komara project. He was just like that. He shares with everyone the apps that he's discovered and that he uses. They're very young inside. I'm very aware that if I want to move on and understand music and its expression better I have to play with better people. I have to "confront", record and communicate with them on stage.
On the way to Bratislava we stopped at the airport in Prievidza. My good friend Peter Ondruš flies a glider there. He offered us each individually a short flight. Rick was very excited. Paolo and Arno also took a ride. I was scared, but I promised Peter that I would fly with him one day.
I am attaching a link to the Prievidza Aero Club Facebook video. I shot it on my phone as a souvenir.
This day was really great. I'm glad to be able to thank Rick for his friendship and everything he has done for me so far. I've learned a lot from him. And from Paolo and Arno, of course.
Peter, thank you too!