House of Lords Euro Tour - by Chris McCarvill

For me, to be a member of House of Lords is a little like the “Rockstar” movie. I was a huge House of Lords fan in High School. I knew back then that I wanted to put together a high quality rock band with the big vocals, interesting arrangements and tough bass lines like House of Lords delivered. I still haven’t put together that exact project on my own, but playing in the actual band that started me down this path will work quite nicely, thank you.

I wasn’t a big concert-goer when I was younger, yet I went out of my way to see House of Lords when they played Toad’s Place in New Haven CT, near my hometown then. They killed live. I stood right in front of Chuck Wright, the bass player, with high hopes. Sometimes I’ve seen bands I like in person and they are a letdown. These guys were the opposite. Chuck was totally into it. James sang his head off. Lanny came over and stuck his guitar neck into the audience and let everybody play it. They seemed to really enjoy performing, and they had plenty of chops to back it up. I was impressed, which was a lot because then, like now, I was a total musical snob.

Fast forward to 2001 when I started working w/ Mike Vescera (singer from Obsession, Loudness, and Yngwie Malmsteen) Mike's another CT native, like James and the rest of us in HOL. Anyway, Mike was recording songs for a solo record and had a guitarist named Jimi Bell over at his house, so I came in and did bass on a bunch of songs one afternoon. Jimi was his usual excitable self and called me “Geezer Butler on steroids” which is kinda cool, cause he used to be Geezer’s guitarist. BJ Zampa was the drummer on those tracks. The record ended up being “The Altar” one of Mike Vescera’s solo releases.

Jimi, BJ and I worked with Mike several times over the years, yet we never played live together. Finally, James contacted Jimi about House of Lords. I’m not sure of the particulars, but I know Jimi and James knew each other from before HOL originally started. Jimi, James and BJ wrote and recorded “World Upside Down” with help from Jeff Kent. Jimi had called me and asked me to get involved, and I tried to keep my cool, but let him know that not only would I love to do the gig, but it would be a really big deal to me personally since I was such a fan. It turned out the bass had already been recorded when I got called, but they said they would probably need someone once the band started to tour. I said of course.

So, I began rehearsing with Jimi and BJ for the tour. I met James about 3 days before we left. James is every bit as awesome of a singer in person as he is on the recordings. It was a very cool sense of completion to be on the same side of the stage as one of my idols, blasting out some of my favorite songs ever. Just don’t tell James on me, ok?

We did 3 rehearsals as a full band (at Route 1 Guitars in Milford, CT www.route1guitars.com) and got on the plane to Spain and did the Lorca Rock Festival in front of 20,000 people. Trial by fire. It was a little mechanical, (we kinda sucked) but we got through it. I think this show really lit the fire for us. Now we knew exactly what we had to do to get things up to the proper level for a HOL show.

As the dates started rolling in for the 2.5 week euro-tour, we all started getting determined to raise the bar in a big way. The momentum reached a crescendo with me totally forgetting the last rehearsal before the tour (blond). I was 1.5 hours late. Idiot. Anyway, the band was much tighter and together than the Lorca Festival, and James was (and still is) losing a lot of weight. He is one determined dude. The tour started with the usual problems that I’m at least used to.

We flew from NYC to Heathrow with no problem, but our connecting flight to Germany was with a small airline with massive weight restrictions. I learned about this touring with Jeff Scott Soto last year. If you tour, PACK LIGHT. This means bring as little gear, clothes, or anything that you possibly can. Jimi got blasted going through the connecting flight as he had a huge road case with 2 guitars and other gear in it. This was a thorn in his side the whole tour. We left a suitcase with a bunch of stuff in Heathrow as we had to fly back in a few days. Once again James stepped up and left behind pretty much all of his clothes so we could get to Germany. Still impressed w/ JC.

One of the cool aspects of being in a band is that you get to not only see a lot of countries, cities and places, but you get to see places that aren’t part of the normal tourist route. This can be difficult if you don’t have anyone with you who can speak the native language. Between the 4 of us, we can usually get our point across though. Most people seem to speak at least a little English in Europe also. The upside is sometimes seeing the obscure and the more “real” sides of different countries, which I personally enjoy.

Germany

We ended up flying into Stuttgart, Germany and from there we were shuttled to the little town of Sebronn, for the Rock of Ages Festival. Germany knows how to live. All the doors work and fit exactly. Window latches are perfect. They take pride in the details and it shows. It’s a very engineered country. Our only complaint was the lack of air conditioning. Apparently, Germany has none as it hasn’t been hot in the summers until the last 5 years or so. Could this be global warming? No one had air conditioners in their houses or cars or anything, so it wasn’t just our hotel.

We had an evening to chill in our own rooms. I had to go scout for Wi-Fi which I found in the lobby, along with Twisted Sister’s manager, Danny, locked into his laptop. I forgot that Twisted was going to be the main act for the same night as us. I did my computer work like usual and slept until the afternoon.

Picture yourself in a 9 passenger van, the members of House of Lords with guitars pulling up to the towering black stage on the artist access road out in the middle of a huge field in Germany. We climbed the scaffolding stairs while the stagehands rushed around plugging in microphones, assembling drumsets on huge, wheeled platforms.

Everywhere were people working like frenzied ants wearing black cargo shorts, tattoos and crazy hair. Before I know it, our intro is rolling, thundering into the afternoon. There’s a few thousand people out there. Not as crazy as Lorca, but still totally cool. I feel those same old feelings coming up in me. All those stupid, unfair, teenage frustrations. This is what drives me right before I go on. I get mad as hell and unleash when the drums start. Usually this is the path I need to unlock my emotions. We crash in and I let go. That’s when things started going wrong.

Anything can and will go wrong. After blasting into the first song, the stagehands rip off my new wireless unit I just bought. Fine, maybe there’s a problem with it. They get me a new wireless, only my parachute pants are too tight to fit the transmitter in my back pocket. The high price of posing just went up...I manage to get the transmitter in one of my leg pockets, which looks silly. Who cares? As long as it’s working. Then it starts to distort. (The bass sounds like a bunch of bees). Great. This is probably due to my stupid pants, but whatever. Again, I’m unplugged mid-song while we scramble (with a language barrier remember) to get a cable long enough and working so I can continue. It happens after what seems like hours.

Ok. I can recover. I’ve had worse happen. I’m getting back into it, getting pissed off that this stuff happened on top of my usual unresolved teenage crap. I beat the hell out of my bass harder. It’s just how I play. Only this time, the strings suddenly go out of tune. ALL OF THEM. A LOT. Now what? I have to keep playing and act like nothing’s going on until I can figure out what the hell IS going on. I feel a cheesy smile forming. Of course the other guys are wondering too, and I’m sure the crowd can hear something wrong. I tune my low string by ear while I’m playing it to buy time. My strings look like they’re a foot off the neck. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the neck shifted during the flight and is somehow loose. I grab the bass and pull the neck in the opposite direction. Presto! The strings sit back down, and everything’s in tune except my low string that I just tuned. Can somebody just get me sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads??? By the time I get that in, the song’s over. Derek Smalls, ladies and gentlemen...

Now I’m trying to finish the set looking like I’m going mental, but actually playing my bass very gingerly. Of course, this is making me frustrated on top of everything else. I’m looking for things to smash. BJ is smiling away. We get through the show actually better (on the whole) than Lorca. Coming off stage, I feel the frustration disappear. I’m becoming normal Chris again. The band is improving. I go to collect my wireless when I find out that it’s been confiscated by the authorities because it was broadcasting on a German military frequency. They sent the military police to arrest me!

Note to self: Always check wireless frequency with production BEFORE the show. Just to end the story, I did not go to jail and I did get my wireless back. I kinda wonder if the German military suddenly got an earful of out-of-tune bass guitar at master control...oops.

Later that night, Twisted Sister took the stage and strangled it as hard as they could and the crowd went nuts. Those guys rock. You may have seen elsewhere on my site that I play bass for Eddie Ojeda. Eddie looked great up there. He’s lost a bunch of weight, he’s been working out, he looks younger every time I see him. It’s weird. A bunch of us met up in the hotel bar afterwards with some fans from the show. Mark Mendoza, Twisted’s bass player, and I had a little conversation about bass and life. I have to say that the Twisted guys that I know are all very loyal, dedicated and intense people. Much more high functioning than you’d ever think. Mark plays bass so hard that he’s knocked headstocks clean off his basses. Of course, he stays in tune. Bastard.

Eddie and I hung out most of the evening w/ BJ from HOL. BJ’s great because he says exactly what’s on his mind. More on that later... Good Times. It’s really cool to hang out with friends halfway around the world from home singing ACDC until the sun comes up though.

Before we leave Germany, I had one other really killer experience. This was seeing one of my favorite bands from when I was very young, Saga. They were the headliners on the 2nd night of the festival. I had never seen them before and only knew bits and pieces of information about them growing up. Seeing them live was really interesting, as I’m always curious to see how bands translate what they do to a stage. Saga’s music is complicated and restrained at the same time. They have a new drummer, who’s a ball of energy. The singer, I found out, is from Germany. That would be why they’re so huge here. I thought it was the detailed mechanics of the music. It’s probably both. I don’t know. I do know that during a big song, the promoters started lighting fireworks off. I was on an artist platform, overlooking the crowd and the stage, watching one of my favorite bands, and watching these crazy Germans run up and light off these massive fireworks with lighters. These were full scale fireworks that were exploding very close to the stage and the crowd. Saga was even watching this while they played. Hysterical. Probably pretty close to heaven for me.

We had 2 more days off in Sebronn. Twisted left for NYC early in the morning. By the time we all got up and moving it was afternoon. The hotel owner told us that across town, all the local hotels were cooking in tents for a small annual festival for the locals. We invited ourselves and we got rides from the Hotel staff. I managed to get a ride in a convertible VW bug. What better way to travel in Germany? We all ate incredible salads under the tents and went exploring down the riverwalk into the next little town over which was all cobblestones, castles, fountains, little shops and windowboxes overflowing with flowers. I remember thinking back stuck in my desk in high school that I would tour and see the world in a rock band and not be stuck in the same 5 mile box for the rest of my life. Eating green apple ice cream walking along medieval Germanic sidestreets with House of Lords made that high school kid smile.

We went back to the festival to check out day 2's acts. For the record, Sweet, Uriah Heep and Glenn Hughes kicked my ass. It’s inspiring to see how hard these guys rock. If you ever have the chance, go see any of these bands. You won’t be let down.

England anyone?

BJ was really excited about coming to England. So many of our influences come from this place. The majority of the music we like comes from this diverse culture. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Yes, The Who, JRR Tolkien, Harry Potter, etc...I tried to hold my tongue. We were greeted at Heathrow by a couple of Guns n’ Roses rejects. It’s late at night, and these guys are in full leather and spikes. They are from the opening band of this leg of the tour called Jack Viper (more on them coming, don’t worry). We load everything into their tiny little van and blast down the highway towards Camden Town, London with our suitcases and guitars on top of us. We arrive at the Hotel after what feels like 4 hours in a centrifuge. Of course, no air conditioning. Of course, no Wi-Fi in the hotel. The beds feel like they’re filled with concrete. The hotel restaurant is closed, the town is closed, it’s raining and it’s night. Welcome to England! BJ starts snapping.

We find a Tesco (supermarket) and stock up on water and essentials. We’re all pretty much out of money by this point. The exchange rate from dollars to pounds is plain horrible, and getting worse daily. We dry off from the rain, eat and crash. BJ already hates England. The next morning was our first adventure on the Lords & Ladies leg of the tour which features Jack Viper-a self proclaimed sleaze rock band in the vein of GnR/Motorhead, Us, and those 80's fem-rockers, Vixen. We had 2 vehicles. A 17 passenger van and an equipment van driven by the Jack Viper guys, along with Vixen’s fearless, superhuman tech, Ed. Just for the record, cause I know you’re all thinking it, no one screwed anyone in Vixen. There. Vixen proved to be nothing but totally professional and really a lot of fun to hang out with. Even Kat, the drummer.

Of course it was a multi-hour drive to the first gig, which was JB’s in Dudley. We were all scrambling for power converters, adaptors, and other miscellaneous stage apparatus before this show. We had help running around to hardware stores in the form of Gary, who drove, answered questions, moved gear, and put up with all of us the whole time, which I’m sure couldn’t have been that much fun. Jack Viper was (and is) a hardcore bunch of guys. These guys slept in the van with the gear, they unloaded, set up, turned out killer performances, videotaped us, broke the gear down, loaded up, drank everything in sight, and stole all the ladies in a 10 mile radius every single night. Plus they never were out of stage clothes. Guys, you’ve won all of us over. I can’t thank you all enough for the help, the mayhem and if I were a record company, I’d sign you just on principal. You’re the real deal.

The England gigs were unusual because people were really listening while we were playing. It was like, quiet. When we finished they’d go nuts, so we knew it wasn’t totally sucking, but it was kinda unnerving if you’re not used to it. Then, near the last song of the first UK show, our keyboard tracks went down. A lot of the HOL sound is keys, so BJ was stuck on stage trying to sort out a fried poweramp. Time for me to sit down and start talking to people.

I asked if anyone played bass. A few people came up, so I handed them my bass and let them play while BJ snapped and fizzled behind the drums. Finally I was out of jokes and everyone asked me to do a bass solo. Then Jimi took over and did a guitar solo. That’s how we ended the set. Weird. James told me I should fit a solo into the set every night. He’s actually a bass player, so that’s pretty cool. I just always remember BJ telling me the story of Metal Church’s bass player, who’s awesome, getting into a bass solo and someone hurling a full pitcher of beer at him and connecting. Don’t worry kids, I’ll keep it short...

Vixen took the stage and they rocked it. It’s funny how the personalities emerge on stage. Jan (guitar) is a total pro. She knows what she’s doing. Plays great, sings great, knows what to wear, knows what her audience wants. Delivers every night, and is serene off stage. If she has any kind of negative streak, I know I never saw it. Kat (drums) is a little like BJ. She’s fierce, but nice, and speaks her mind. She’s a killer drummer as well. Jenna, the singer, I called a dormant volcano and everybody laughed, but she agreed. I got the distinct vibe right away that she is not to be crossed. Then comes Lynn, the bass player. Lynn and I are both airheads. She’s totally self-absorbed just like me, and has mastered every stage move you can imagine complete with names. She’s a complete professional on the bass and is a total sweetheart. Vixen also has a keyboardist/2nd guitarist named Chris. He’s a total Californian. They write good songs, play really well and rock out. I know I learned more than one thing from them.

We played a killer show in the Underworld in Camden Town, London. “We” meaning all three bands. At least that’s the impression I got from being on stage. The response was hugely enthusiastic. While we were doing the meet and greet after our set, I heard several times that this was one of the best shows in this genre in a long time. A few people even recognized me from playing here last year with Jeff Scott Soto. We signed a zillion autographs and sold a bunch of T-shirts. After a local spiritual healer took us to a proper Chinese restaurant, BJ started to warm up to England a little.

The Rio in Bradford was next up. This was one of our more together gigs as a band. I’d been forcing Jack Viper to videotape our show so we could check out our progress, and this one has some good performances on it. Unfortunately for me, the bass sound I love means new strings all the time. It’s so damn expensive. Vixen took the stage and BJ and I went up and headbanged in front of Lynn like a couple of morons while Jack Viper plucked all the ladies from the room.

Off to the hotel to hang out and we were all STARVING. We ordered Indian food and it got there really late and was really terrible. I drank a beer I was so hungry. I hate beer. I hate it even more now. Of course the beer came from Jack Viper’s huge trash bag full of Red Stripe. That’s just the way those guys are...

The Lords & Ladies tour did 4 gigs together and by the last one, ottingham Rock City, it was starting to feel like the end of the movie Grease, where you know the characters are all going to split apart but you don’t want them to. By the end of Vixen’s set, all of us in House of Lords jumped up on stage with them and sang “Edge of a broken Heart”. Much posing ensued. There are photos of this somewhere, I’m sure. I saw Chris from Vixen videotaping, so I’ll try to get a hold of that cause I’m sure there’s some compelling, informative content on there...

And that was the end of that leg of the tour. It was now just us and Jack Viper going on to Crewe, to play a place called the Limelight on a Monday night. Well, it didn’t suck as bad as you’d think. Attendance was good, the backstage food was delivered while we were out getting McDonald’s cause we were so famished. Eddie Shredder (Jack Viper’s guitarist) showed he’s not just a regular guitar punk during soundcheck. He busted out “Take Five” and other Jazz standards that no Motorhead wannabe has any business knowing. Perhaps there’s something more to the Viper beneath the sleazy surface...of course, that didn’t stop them or BJ and I from sharing a bottle of Jack Daniel’s before the show. I seem to really unleash if I have a little of the demon alcohol before I go on. I don’t want it to become a crutch, but there is a pretty noticeable difference to me. After thrashing around like an idiot for an hour, we were finished. The hotel owner let us hang out in the closed Hotel bar after the show. We gave our heartfelt thanks to the Viper guys and called it a night. Blumpkin anyone?

Switzerland.

We had one show left to do for this whole tour. This was because 2 shows were cancelled in Germany while we were out. You may think that travelling in Europe isn’t really a big deal when you see that from England to Zurich is only about a 2 hour flight, maybe less. It’s just that you have to check out of the hotel, get to the airport, check in, go through security several times, then wait 3 or 4 hours before getting on the plane. The actual flight is usually the quick part. We were met be Hagar, who was not only the promoter, but the club owner and our host for the 3 days we would be in the country (as Jimi said loudly as we got off the plane) “where they yodel.”

James’ Ovation acoustic guitar also vanished during the flight. Bad for the airlines...that thing was expensive! Hagar’s town has approx. 17 people living in it. It’s totally beautiful, sweeping mountains, bike trails, sheep, farmers milking cows, even a 20' x 20' pile of bullshit. (See photo). Thank God he had a wireless internet router, but of course, my notebook’s display started freaking out and eventually stopped working. I’ve been using Skype to call everybody since Howie Simon told me about it last year in Brazil w/ Jeff Scott Soto, but this made it basically impossible to do anything.

The show was actually very good. Some people drove all the way from Italy to see House of Lords. We sold the last of our merch, signed a lot of autographs, and by the time we got back to Hagar’s, English authorities had arrested 21 terrorists for attempting to blow up American Airlines planes going to NYC from Heathrow - which was exactly where we were going. James got on the horn and worked it out so we could fly directly to JFK from Zurich. Thanks boss. Of course, James was now minus one guitar and minus one suitcase.

We had a day or two off in Switzerland where we didn’t do a lot. Hagar and his wife cooked us a fondue, then took us to a killer place called AlpenRock. Imagine a cavernous room filled with old mining shacks, gear and rocks jutting out of the floor and walls. The ceiling is black with fiber optic stars. There’s red material stretched randomly on the walls, there’s a full fireplace, killer light show and hundreds of Swiss people headbanging instead of dancing. Some locals said that Swiss people are kind of reserved, so they don’t just go out and dance. It was very weird, but I loved the architecture and design. Hagar and his wife were incredibly gracious to us the whole time. We appreciate it!

Flying from Zurich to JFK basically sucked. I can’t complain because if we went through Heathrow like we were supposed to, we’d probably still be there. The tour ended as they usually do, in an airport. James had to get a connecting flight to Florida, which of course meant that his luggage was the LAST off the carriage. He sped off and Jimi and BJ and I wandered out into the afternoon sunlight of good old ethnically diverse Gotham.