Intro:
This tour was a dream and a challenge for all of us. We have all been part of numerous music projects but this was the first time things moved so fast. The Ghost Notes aren't even 1 year old; we created this band in November 2012 (Jim Politis – Lead Guitar, Elena Malamou – Rhythm Guitar/Vocals, Nikos Vaiou – Upright Bass/Acoustic Bass), and after daily rehearsals we played our first concert as a trio at Petite Fleur in Volos, Greece. We started recording our first album, ''Jazzy-Key'', in January. Dimos Vougioukas (Accordion) joined the band in February, after a great live guest appearance in one of our concerts.
After a few more concerts in Greece and a lot of enthusiasm, we started discussing about what a great experience it would be to perform abroad. The idea came over afternoon coffee – as most excellent ideas are created in Greece! We quickly drew an itinerary, and calculated a budget – in a few days we had planned our European Tour and estimated our budget – in theory! After A LOT of calls, e-mails, calculations, and even more patience (we can write another -huge- article that analyses the planning of the tour, but here we'll focus on the music side of it and our experience of the tour), we had our merchandise ready (Our album ''Jazzy-Key'' available on CDs and USB Sticks, and The Ghost Notes' European Tour T-Shirts) and had planned our first European Tour in 3 months!
This tour was a dream and a challenge for all of us. We have all been part of numerous music projects but this was the first time things moved so fast. The Ghost Notes aren't even 1 year old; we created this band in November 2012 (Jim Politis – Lead Guitar, Elena Malamou – Rhythm Guitar/Vocals, Nikos Vaiou – Upright Bass/Acoustic Bass), and after daily rehearsals we played our first concert as a trio at Petite Fleur in Volos, Greece. We started recording our first album, ''Jazzy-Key'', in January. Dimos Vougioukas (Accordion) joined the band in February, after a great live guest appearance in one of our concerts.
After a few more concerts in Greece and a lot of enthusiasm, we started discussing about what a great experience it would be to perform abroad. The idea came over afternoon coffee – as most excellent ideas are created in Greece! We quickly drew an itinerary, and calculated a budget – in a few days we had planned our European Tour and estimated our budget – in theory! After A LOT of calls, e-mails, calculations, and even more patience (we can write another -huge- article that analyses the planning of the tour, but here we'll focus on the music side of it and our experience of the tour), we had our merchandise ready (Our album ''Jazzy-Key'' available on CDs and USB Sticks, and The Ghost Notes' European Tour T-Shirts) and had planned our first European Tour in 3 months!
Thursday 25/04 - Estoudiantina, Athens, Greece:
Estoudiantina, Athens, Greece, 25/04/13 We couldn't have organised our first European Tour without including a date in Greece. Estoudiantina is a beautiful music conservatory/theatre that offers great acoustics and an intimate atmosphere. It fits 100 people, and it was an honour for us to play in a sold-out venue full of quiet people on our first tour date. The support was incredible and we had just started our tour the best way we could! A few rehearsals and a much needed Easter break later, we would start our road trip to the rest of Europe!
Monday 06/05 – Travel Day
Packed up and ready to go: our first road trip, Volos – Igoumenitsa, was an easy start to the nearly 6000 Kms we would travel in total! ..Our stop in Karditsa to pick up Elena and pack up lots of food for the road (the joy of Greek families!) was fun!
Tuesday 07/05 – Travel Day
Igoumenitsa - Ancona, 07/05/13 After an 18-hour ferry trip from Igoumenitsa to Ancona, we travelled to beautiful Florence! Too tired to do anything, we were so excited that our tour abroad had started we didn't mind sleeping in the worst hostel we had ever been to!
Wednesday 08/05 – Day Off
Duomo, Florence, 08/05/13 Our day off in Florence was wonderful! It is a place everyone should visit at least once – full of beauty, history, and great food! The weather was warm; we visited Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, the Uffizi, and enjoyed great Italian ice-cream. We stopped by Teatro Del Sale, the theatre we would play the next day, and were amazed by it – it is definitely the most beautiful theatre we have ever played at. Francesco, the venue manager, was incredibly kind and helpful, and we felt lucky to be there. As Florence is a city to walk – driving is extremely difficult (we would very much like to forget the time our GPS lead us to the Duomo, with hundreds of people walking in any direction, trying to find a way out..) – we continued exploring the small streets and nightlife of Florence, with the help of our friend (and talented musician) Kostas Ladopoulos (of 81db). A few beers and an interesting live performance by street musicians later, we were ready to rest and dream of our first performance in Teatro Del Sale the next day!
Thursday 09/05 – Teatro Del Sale, Florence
Teatro Del Sale, Florence, 09/05/13 What hapens in Teatro Del Sale is truly remarkable. The theatre transforms into a restaurant in the daytime, offering high quality food, and runs as a theatre at nighttime. The owners, Maria Cassi and Fabio Picchi, are masters in what they do – the theatre has character and is definitely a place to return to! The venue was full; the crowd was waiting outside the theatre for the doors to open – we couldn't believe they were waiting to see us perform! While we waited backstage, the crowd silently entered the theatre. Lights out, Francesco and Vieri (Sound engineer and a very good guitar player!) introduce The Ghost Notes to the crowd (Jim is nervous!), they walk out, and we walk onstage to the sound of applause coming from a full theatre – incredible feeling (we are all nervous)! It was a concert we will never forget. After our performance we were greeted by the crowd, signed a few autographs (!), sold a record-number of CDs, and spent a great night with the staff at Teatro Del Sale, talking about music, jamming with Kostas and Vieri, and enjoying dinner!
Friday 10/05 – Travel Day
Bologna, 10/05/13 We said goodbye to Francesco and everyone at Teatro Del Sale and travelled to Bologna! We stayed at a very nice hostel outside the centre of Bologna, and enjoyed the countryside, pizza with nutella, and the facilities of the hostel (basketball anyone?). We went for a walk in the centre of Bologna and realised there was a Lamborghini exhibition. Hundreds of all sorts of Lamborghini models were on display! ..We had time to check out the Jazz Club we would play the next day, Take Five, a perfect Jazz Club with a Brazilian twist! Finding out remarkable musicians have appeared at Take Five, including Pat Metheny, members of Buena Vista Social Club, Ron Carter, and Cristian McBride, made us feel honoured and excited to get onstage the next day!
Saturday 11/05- Take Five, Bologna, Italy
Take Five, Bologna, 11/05/13 Time to rest (and play basketball in the daytime!). The Soundcheck was quickly done in the evening at Take Five (we loved the acoustics in this venue!), and -again- we were surprised by the attendance. Take Five was full (it was the first time people could not get in the venue to see us perform because it was full!), and we couldn't wait to start playing! We were very happy to see friends from Rome come to see us perform, and we could not believe the positive feedback we got from the crowd when we played live! We played for 2 hours, and a bit more after people insisted. For a few members of The Ghost Notes this was our best performance of the tour!
Sunday 12/05 – Travel Day
Our longest road trip day had arrived – a 10 hour drive from Bologna to Prague! We saw amazing landscapes on the way, beautiful green scenary and snowed mountains. No need to write we fell asleep as soon as we arrived at our hostel, in Prague, at 23:00.
Monday 13/05 - Blues Sklep, Prague, Czech Republic
Prague, 13/05/13 We were in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and had the whole day to walk on its dark medieval streets and bridges! We walked on Charles Bridge, had coffee at the Astronomical Clock, visited The Torture Museum, and found a lot of street musicians in the corners of the Old Town. Blues Sklep is an interesting cave/bar near Charles Bridge with a Christmas Tree permenently on display, and a great jamming atmosphere! An old friend and great violinist, Pavel Cingl, joined us onstage for a few tunes. At the end of the concert two talented local guitarists (Martin and Pietr) jammed with us, making this a long and special
night for us. Looking forward to meeting them again soon!
night for us. Looking forward to meeting them again soon!
Tuesday 14/05 – Blues Sklep, Prague, Czech Republic
Blues Sklep, Prague, 14/05/13 After another walk around the centre of Prague we went back to Blues Sklep for our second concert (we were very happy we were offered a second date). More people came to see us perform live on the 14th of May – one of them was a very talented violinist, Martyn Manouche Paysan, of the band Futur Swing. We had another good performance and a great jam session with Martyn! We hope to play with Futur Swing band in the near future. Our night came to end after enjoying Czech beers!
Wednesday 15/05 – Vogelchen, Berlin, Germany
Berlin, 15/05/13 A 4-hour drive led us to Berlin! We didn't have time to see much, and rushed to the venue for soundcheck. The weather was unbelieavable – summer had arrived in Berlin! Fortunately for us, family and friends came to see a quiet and intimate concert (thank you Nausikaa!), and a few people who listened to our music from outside walked inside to see us! We enjoyed playing live at Vogelchen, but we have to give Berlin another go, at a more appropriate venue!
Thursday 16/05 – Travel Day
Another long drive from Berlin to Brussels awaited us.. An 8-hour drive can change a lot: we left summer behind and found winter ahead! On the other hand, rainy Brussels gave us a great excuse to stay inside the warm apartment and enjoy a long sleep!
Friday 17/05- Day Off
Brussels, 17/05/13 A much needed day off in Brussels arrived, as we would have 4 concerts in a row starting the next day! Even though it still rained, we walked to Grand Place and enjoyed the siteseeing, and chocolate shops. We met our friends from Rome again and walked into a famous 3-store Beer Bar, Delirium, where trays were glued on the roof, and the music was old fashioned rock n' roll! We found all sorts of (weird) beers over there, including Peach beer, Cherry beer, and Chocolate beer! Very interesting but..can we have a Palm please? Dimos had arranged a concert with many talented musicians at a great theatre and of course the rest of us went to see the concert. We were very happy to meet Tcha Limberger, an amazing violinist/guitarist, and wonderful person! Off to sleep, looking forward to our concert in Maastricht the next day!
Saturday 18/05 – Cafe Forum, Maastricht, Netherlands
Cafe Forum, maastricht, 18/05/13 Cafe Forum is a known Jazz Cafe in Maastricht, that welcomes a lot of Gypsy Jazz concerts. Our soundcheck was at 19:00, and it was a 1 ½-hour drive from Brussels. Jim was sitting in the front passenger's seat and midway through our journey he noticed extremely hot brown liquid dripping on the floor. After a few seconds of panic, we stopped by a car parking area! The antifreeze liquid in the engine was completely gone although we had filled it up the previous day.. While figuring out what our best option would be (in order to not miss our concert in Maastricht), we saw a Car Service Truck appear out of nowhere at the car parking area! The driver had stopped for a rest, and of course we dragged him to check our car! ..In half an hour he had fixed everything and didn't even want to charge us! We could not believe our luck, and of course we rewarded him and also gave him The Ghost Notes CD and T-Shirt as an extra thank-you present! We arrived at Cafe Forum ready for the soundcheck! A few people already bought t-shirts and CDs before our concert had begun, having just listened to the soundcheck. The Cafe is situtated in a beautiful area – we wish we had more time to walk around. It was full of people, and our concert started with great expectations! We were surrounded by groups of people who truly enjoyed it, and the stuff were very kind to us! Great to see friends again in the crowd.
Sunday 19/05 – Art-Base, Brussels, Belgium
Art - Base, Brussels, 19/05/13 We had heard many compliments about Art-Base and Frans, the owner of this art centre, and we were very excited to perform there! Soundcheck was done, and a lot of people come to see us perform – it's such a great feeling we will never get used to. We had a great concert and the people were so quiet it felt like we were playing in an empty room – only after the tunes were over was when we heard applause! We felt incredibly lucky to play there and to have met Frans, who is one of the best and most organised promoters we have ever met, and a great person! We were happy we met a great Gypsy Jazz Guitar luthier, and that our friend and talented gypsy jazz guitarist Benjamin came and jammed with Jim after our concert! ..Off to sleep as a very long day would be ahead..
Monday 20/05 – Mythopolis, London, UK
Mythopolis, London, 20/05/13 This was probably the most tiring day of our tour. The previous night we said goodbye to Dimos for the rest of the tour (two concerts left), we had to wake up at 06:00 am in order to get the ferry from Calais to Dover and travel all the way to London. We arrived at 14:00 and only had a few hours to see London. We saw Westminster, Big Ben, walked in Oxford Circus, and managed to pass by Picadilly Circus – we have to return to see more of London! We went to Mythopolis, soundchecked, and started our concert at 21:00 in front of familiar faces – a great feeling. A few tunes into the concert and a group of people entered Mythopolis. We couldn't see them, but we greeted them and carried on playing. When we finished our tune, a voice from the crowd said ''Elena play your classic finger style technique!'' ..It was a wonderful surprise by our friends Manos and Stamos, members of one of the best groups from Greece, Skull and Dawn! We carried on playing our concert, jammed in the end, and had one of the best nights, talking with friends. We stayed awake 23 hours before finally going to sleep!
Tuesday 21/05 – Captain Morgan's, Llantrisant, Wales
We said goodbye to London and travelled to Llantrisant, Wales, for our last (private) concert! The road to Llantrisant was relaxing – we counted cows, sheep, and horses, in fields of green! Mike Morgan is an extremely talented person – he can make absolutely anything. You name it – Violins, Guitars, Upright Basses, boats.. he does leather carving, he is a great sound engineer and an amazing musician (Bass player, guitarist, singer)! ..It's probably easier to write what he doesn't do! Our concert started at 20:00 and although it was probably the most demanding concert as we played in front of a crowd full of musicians and people who love Gypsy Jazz, we felt the most comfortable – it was definitely the result of nearly everyday performances combined with the warm atmosphere we felt at Captain Morgan's. The concert finished and ahead of us were many many hours of jamming! We met great people and great musicians – our last European Tour concert was amazing! Mike and June are wonderful people and we cannot wait to see them again in the near future! ..Time to sleep and take the road back home tomorrow..
Wednesday 22/05 – Travel Day
A long travel day from Llantrisant to Brussels – we arrived in Brussels late and we SLEPT!
Thursday 23/05 – Travel Day
Thomann, Treppendorf, 23/05/13 Another long day of travelling..from Brussels to Nuremberg. We had an interesting idea: to stop by Thomann Music Store (situated in a small village called Treppendorf, only about 45 Kms away from Nuremberg). The weather was awful – rainy and cold for the whole journey. We arrived at Thomann having a good 3 hours to explore the super huge store! ..It is a music playground, the joy of all musicians!! Anything a musician might want is there, and it's ready for everyone to try!! ..A private room full of microphones all next to each other for anyone to have a go, a whole stage set up to try lights and mixing consoles, the best amps, all the music effects pedals we can imagine, walls filled with guitars! Completely AMAZING! We wish we had the whole day to explore the store! We left extremely happy, arrived very tired at the hotel and.. we went straight to SLEEP!
Friday 24/05 – Travel Day
Nuremberg to Trieste – here we go! Suddenly 670 Kms do not seem like a lot! We passed by beautiful Austria and saw snowed mountains again! We arrived to Trieste at 22:00 and had a lot of time ahead; the ferry to Igoumenitsa would leave at 05:30 on the 25th of May. We walked around Trieste, a city whose nightlife is very similar to the Greek one – people were still out! We enjoyed interesting pizzas (chicken with peas on a pizza anyone?) and Proseco, and walked around the centre of Trieste until it was time to drive to the port.
Saturday 25/05 – Travel Day
We left from Trieste at 05:30 and would arrive to Greece the next morning. We could not wait to return back and sleep in our beds! Time on the ferry passed by quickly.
Sunday 26/05 – Travel Day
It still seems unbelievable but..we arrived back home!! Finally time to rest!
Outro
We hope you enjoyed reading our diary.. For us, touring is about following your dream as a musician; performing and having your music listened to in any corner of the world, meeting musicians that share the same passion, exploring new places, finding even more inspiration to carry on, learning from mistakes and keep dreaming.. We will keep reading this article back after a long time, reminding ourselves of the wonderful time we had on our first European Tour! We would like to thank EVERYONE that helped us achieve this dream and supported us, and most of all everyone that came to see us perform!! We hope you enjoyed it! We are looking forward to the next adventures..!
The Ghost Notes
Jim Politis, Elena Malamou, Dimos Vougioukas, Nikos Vaiou
Outro
We hope you enjoyed reading our diary.. For us, touring is about following your dream as a musician; performing and having your music listened to in any corner of the world, meeting musicians that share the same passion, exploring new places, finding even more inspiration to carry on, learning from mistakes and keep dreaming.. We will keep reading this article back after a long time, reminding ourselves of the wonderful time we had on our first European Tour! We would like to thank EVERYONE that helped us achieve this dream and supported us, and most of all everyone that came to see us perform!! We hope you enjoyed it! We are looking forward to the next adventures..!
The Ghost Notes
Jim Politis, Elena Malamou, Dimos Vougioukas, Nikos Vaiou