Stand Up, Fight Back (Euro tour with xTrue Naturex): Rimini, IT / Trento, IT / Milano, IT / Biel, CH

"Before every inch of forest is covered with concrete, extreme measures must be taken so let's fuck up their machines" -Antischism

Played at a youth center in Rimini, IT, and ate some delicious mashed potatoes and gluten free cupcakes. again, the food on this tour has been so awesome! I had to cut one of my songs short that night because a dog started humping a mans leg RIGHT in front of me... I tried to keep my composure, but after the third time he came back for the leg, and after another man tried to subdue him to get him to stop, I lost it and had to call it quits. That image of the man holding "Pluto" down with both hands, and Pluto thrashing to get free with his mouth hanging open will forever be burned into my mind. hahaha. We also went to the coast to check out the Mediterranean, but there wasn't much to see. a couple of boats, flat water, and tourist changing rooms, shops and rides all closed down for the winter. It was actually kind of gross because it was at a spot where one of the canals empties into the sea, but hey.. it was worth seeing.

The next night was a show in a beautiful house in the middle of a breathtaking valley in Trento, IT. We played in one of the downstairs rooms (which looked more like an art gallery), after playing a Dutch documentary (overdubbed in Italian) about the effectiveness of certain tactics in the struggle for earth and animal liberation. A lot of nice conversations were shared, more food was had, and that night I slept on what looked like a hospital gurney on the third floor. Ran some errands in the morning, took a couple photos of the mountains, waited for our laundry to dry and then headed out.

Played at a squat called "Villa Vegan" in Milano, IT. Apparently they've held it for the past 11 years, and they have an amazing bike workshop and a huge park as a frontyard. When we first arrived they all looked at the Deceptacon (which is a military jeep), and ran for the backdoor. We were confused because we were all waving at them, but when we went inside and talked to them they told us the military does drop by there occasionally to harass them. So, we had to put a sign in Italian on our car that said "calm down, we're just the band", haha. It made for some interesting conversation later as you can imagine. Had a massive family style dinner with everyone in the house, played the show, and slept up in the attic. Though that night, tragedy struck...

I woke up several times in the night hallucinating, and feeling incredibly hot and feverish. At one point one of the many cats from the house was sleeping on me and I scared him/her when I got up to get another blanket. I didn't even know they were there, just saw a shadow dart off of me. The whole morning I was feeling feverish, dizzy and nearly unable to walk. I tried to just push through it, but during the bumpy ride in the Deceptacon it continually got worse and worse. MDG had to let me out a couple times to throw up at a rest stop, and regardless of what position I laid or slept in nothing would relieve the incessant throbbing in my head. it was excruciating, I've rarely had migraines that bad before. I slept through, and hardly remember, going over the border, but apparently they waved us straight through. and once we got to the show (even though it was in an awesome skatepark) I still could not bring myself to stand. After laying in the car for I don't know how long, MDG and our host had to drive me to the flat we were staying at that night, stopping once to throw up outside a gas station, and dragged myself up the 5 floors of stairs to the apartment. I woke up at 1130 that night when everyone was coming back, and even though I slept the whole night I still feel totally fucked. We're not at a very high altitude, so my original thought of it just being altitude sickness seems unreasonable, but still I don't know what's up.

Hoping to be in better shape for our show tonight, if I'm able to play it at all I'm not sure.

for love and liberation,
mike xvx

p.s. I've uploaded the photos from this trip so far to my myspace. Feel free to give it a look!