[	Tags	|	16volt, chemlab, front line assemby tour jason bazinet, paiste, smp, tama	]
[	Current Location	|	United States, Washington, Mountlake Terrace	]
[	Current Mood	|	sore	]
[	Current Music	|	MC Ren - Mayday on the Front Line | Powered by Last.fm	]

7/31/2010 – Calgary, Canada.

            This leg of the FLA tour is now over. I am sitting in the airport in Calgary waiting on a flight to Vancouver. I had a little trouble getting through customs because they wanted proof that I was not playing any shows in Vancouver. It is difficult to prove a negative. I sent them to frontlineassembly.com which was blocked to them, pollstar.com which they couldn’t get to either and finally smphq.com where I had the FLA dates posted. Still somewhat unsatisfied they finally let me through.

            The show in St. Petersburg was awesome. The club, the crowd and the promoters were all great. We had an extra day in Russia so I walked around a bit looking for gifts and such. It’s the most foreign place I’ve ever been.

            I’m sure there’s more I can say but I’m tired right now. Thanks for reading this blog and maybe I’ll keep it up in the future. Check me out on face book or smphq.com

Peace!

Jason

[	Tags	|	front line assemby tour jason bazinet ta, paiste, pearl demon, smp	]
[	Current Location	|	Russian Federation, Санкт-Петербург	]
[	Current Mood	|	full	]
[	Current Music	|	Stiff Valentine	]

7/27/2010 – Berlin, Germany.

            We are sitting at the airport waiting to board our flight to Russia.  Two days ago we rocked out at the Amphi festival which was the biggest show I’ve ever played. There were probably three to five thousand people or more watching the show. We ran out of time so we didn’t get to play ‘Mindphaser’ unfortunately. Henrik came out and filmed and interviewed us for his DVD project. Nice guy. I even participated in the hour long autograph signing with the band, which was a little strange for me since I’m not on any of the records.

            Not much else to say, except I’m excited to go to Russia.

7/28/2010 – Moscow, Russian Federation.

            I am now in Russia. We flew in yesterday, went straight to the club to unload and have some dinner, and then we checked into our hotel. The hotel is called Aquamarine and is really nice. While we were congregating in the hotel bar we ran into some Americans who are in Russia shooting 3D movie for Fox/Searchlight. Turns out they were FLA fans too! It’s a small world I guess. Anyhow, a bunch of them are coming to the show tonight. This show is going to be crazy as there are like 250 or more presales and the place is pretty small. I only hope the air conditioning works in the club because Moscow is experiencing a heat wave right now.

            Last night some of the band and crew walked to Red Square to soak in some culture. I snapped a few pics. The downside of Moscow is the air smells like a California wildfire. I can’t get the smell out of my nose.

7/29/2010 – St. Petersburg, Russia.

            I am in a hotel in St. Petersburg just waiting around to go to the venue. Last night was pretty brutal. The club was packed with lots of great fans but the temperature was sweltering. The club had no air conditioning to speak of and we were dying up on stage and even back stage. There was no escape from the heat. Still, the crowd was great and they got two encores.

            Immediately after the gig, we had to tear down and drive to the train station to grab a train to St. Petersburg. We arrived at the station with all our gear and realized that it was quite a walk to our train car. We got some porters to help us and after they loaded up their carts they demanded 300 Euros from us! We told them ‘fuck no’ and ended up hauling the bags ourselves. I think they saw we were a western band and thought we were either stupid or rich.

            Anyhow, we finally get to the train and the bunk/cars and about as small as linen closets. Worse, the heat was unbearable. Also, there was no trash can to be found, even in the car’s bathroom.

            Once the train got going things improved as the air conditioning finally came on and we were able to grab some sleep. We were woken up to a horrible meal though. I did not even attempt one bite of it and it stunk our room up badly.

[	Tags	|	front line assemby tour jason bazinet	]
[	Current Location	|	Germany, Berlin	]
[	Current Mood	|	drunk	]
[	Current Music	|	Esham	]

7/23/2010 – Slovakia

            Last night was an amazing show. The crowd was bar none the best of the tour so far. We did two encores then Jared, Jeremy, and I hit the town and saw some sights of Prague. We got caught in a storm and got soaked to the bone on the way back to hotel.

            Right now we have arrived in Slovakia and we are waiting around to sound-check.

7/24/2010 – The road to Germany.

            Last night was definitely the hottest show. I felt pretty drained by the time we hit the stage. I had monitor problems and was hearing all kinds of weird stuff during the set. As a result, I had to adjust my mix like four times. This might have been my sloppiest show. I think the language barrier between us and some of the staff contributed. Great people though. The crowd was hyped.

            After the gig, we had to pack up and start the long drive to Germany.

7/25/2010 – Wurzberger, Germany

            Yesterday was a driving day. We left Slovakia right after the gig and hit the road. I grabbed a quick shower at the venue which always helps for a long drive. We stopped in a town called Wurzberger, hung out for a bit, and after that, we hit the town.  The band and our TM, Joe, went to a steak house and everyone got steaks except for me. I got a portabella mushroom burger that was pretty good.

            After that we hit the town square where party of some sort was going on. There were people on roller blades everywhere and a radio station was blasting pop music through the streets.

7/19/2010 – Scotland

            No time to write. We rocked The Corporation in Sheffield. The opener was pretty good, Novius UK, Staff were wonderful, and the toilets were medieval!

7/20/2010 – London, United Kingdom

            We played the Classic in Glasgow, Scotland last night. It was pretty cool indeed. The staff was great as this place has 46 steps to get to the stage and they did the lion’s share of getting our gear up and down those stairs.

            Occasionally it was a tad difficult to understand some folks here. I sometimes had to ask folks to repeat themselves. They have a thing about crushing three words into one or something.

            Today we are playing London and I’m looking forward to seeing my mates from Chemlab, Jared and Plastic.

7/21/2010 – United Kingdom

            The show at the O2 Academy was a lot of fun. We shot some video for a promo video that I’m excited to see. The opening bands, Concrete Lung & Je$us Loves Amerika were both good. JLA even played a cover of NWA’s ‘F*** Tha Police’ which was super cool. I plan to keep in touch with these folks for sure.

            The crowd was great tonight. They really got into it. We literally played over the curfew time because there was no way we weren’t going to go back on stage and do one last tune, ‘Bio-Mechanic.’ The energy was just too high in the place.

            After the show I got to hang out with my pals Jared Louche and Marc Plastic from Chemlab. Jared, Marc, Jeremy and I all toured together about two months ago so it was nice to see them again.

            After that we had to hop on the bus and get rolling as we have a long driving day tomorrow on our way to Prague.

            Shout out to the Mindphaser.com crew!

7/22/2010 – Prague, Czech Republic

            I have finally arrived at one place that I’ve been before. I was in Prague sight-seeing about 12 years ago. It was a long drive and it was made longer as the air conditioning on the bus broke and we had to stop to have it fixed. We also got a new driver as Mario’s shift at the wheel had ended. Everyone liked him so much that it was mentioned that he might be requested by FLA in the future. Hopefully the new driver will be just as good.

            Off to do some internet-ing.

[	Tags	|	front line assemby tour jason bazinet	]
[	Current Location	|	United Kingdom, Liverpool	]
[	Current Mood	|	mellow	]

7/14/2010 – Canadian Airspace.

            Well, practices are over and we’ve left for Europe. We’re on an Air Canada Boeing 767 and it is a pretty nice plane. It looks very new. We have a layover in Montreal and I’ll probably do some drinking on the next flight as I believe the alcohol is complimentary.

            I’m watching Clash of the Titans on the plane to pass the time. See you soon!

7/16/2010 – Frankfurt, Germany.

            We arrived at the airport yesterday and picked up our luggage. Luckily all of our gear arrived without a hitch. Mario, our bus driver, swung by and scooped us up and then we headed for the hotel. We chilled out and caught a few winks before meeting the rest of the crew in the evening. The crew thus far is Joe the tour manager, Mario the driver, Rico the lighting director, Glen the sound person and the band of course, which is Bill, Jared, Jeremy and I. We’ll be meeting the last member of the group, a merchandise person, today.

            We walked around Frankfurt a bit and settled into an Italian restaurant for some food and beer. Our first show is today and the bus call is in just a few hours.

7/17/2010 – Utrecht, Netherlands.

            Yesterday was my first gig with Front Line Assembly and I had such a fabulous time. We arrived at the venue, Tivoli, at around twelve which was good because we had a lot of stuff to set up and get familiar with. The drum kit was a rental so I had a lot of work to do, setting the whole thing up and tuning all the heads. The kit is a nice Tama Starclassic and all the heads I requested were on them. Remo Powerstroke for the Toms & snare (a coated Powerstroke) and an Evans Sound Control head for the kick drum. As I was setting up and tuning up I really missed having my man Galen around. Galen is the drummer for Left Spine Down that was on the Midi Ghetto Tour with 16Volt and Chemlab and we were basically each others’ drum techs on the tour.

            Everything about the rental kit was pretty top notch and there were some items included that I didn’t expect to receive. A remote cable hi-hat, an x-hat clamp, and a snare drum were all provided and I brought all those things with me so I guess at least I have back-ups in case they are needed. Also, I wasn’t expecting to get the Powerstroke heads I requested so that was cool too. The only thing that was a little off was the kick drum. I couldn’t get it to sound as phat as my kick drum at home or the drum I practiced on either. I think the problem is the front head which is a dry coated head. The heads I like for kick drum fronts have some soft jelly-like dampeners inside them.

            After the sound check, Jeremy, Jared, Glen and I walked around Utrecht and checked out the town. Pretty cool stuff. Everyone rides bikes, old people, young people, people with kids, etc. We even checked out a coffee shop so I saw what that was like. Super cool.

            The show came off pretty well for me. We did two encores so we played a lot of stuff and I only made one slight structural error. The extra tom I got didn’t receive much play as I didn’t have it during practice.

            Anyhow, lots of stuff went on but I’m tired of writing right now. It was my first show with FLA and I had such a great time before, during, and after the show.

7/18/2010 – United Kingdom

            Last night was phenomenal. We played a shorter set, because that was the time we were allotted but we rocked it well. We played in Belgium at the Gothic Festival. This was the largest crowd I’ve ever played in front of so I was pretty stoked. Skinny Puppy played right after us and they put on a great show.

            I also ran into Jan from Diskonnekted and that was cool. I rapped on a song on his record ‘Old School Policies’ on a track called Anger. All of our contact was done over the internet so it was cool getting to meet him in the flesh.

            Drum-wise I would have liked to spend a little more time with the kit before the show, but it was impossible. We pretty much loaded in, set up, and then played after a quick line check. I needed to adjust my kick drum beaters, and I wanted to give all the drums a once-over tuning wise. Plus my hat, snare, and seat height probably could have been adjusted. Something seems about a half of an inch off or something, making cross-sticking a little tougher. During the show, my 12” tom stand was falling over because the whole riser on was on shaking and frankly, I didn’t position the stand properly. So I ran out and fixed it right before we played Resist. I need Galen!

            More later, going back to bed.

[	Tags	|	front line assemby tour jason bazinet	]
[	Current Location	|	Canada, Vancouver	]
[	Current Mood	|	indifferent	]
[	Current Music	|	Bile	]

7/10/2010 – Vancouver, BC, Canada.

            Well, there is not really much to say at this point. The set is solid and we are just tightening it up further.

            I’m anxious to get out there and start playing shows.

            I’ve just been trying to chill and keep myself entertained in Vancouver until we fly out. I learned how to Skype. I hung out with Craig and LC from Stiff Valentine one night, and LC and I went and saw Predators yesterday which was pretty cool. Saw Kaine from LSD last night and Jeremy and I helped him kill off a small bottle of Jack. Oh, LC and I wrote a little song together the other night, or at least started one up. It has a punk rock vibe and is chock full of samples from Eddie and the Cruisers II. We crack ourselves up.

[	Tags	|	front line assemby tour jason bazinet	]
[	Current Location	|	Canada, Vancouver	]
[	Current Mood	|	mellow	]

7/6/2010 – Vancouver, BC, Canada.

            I’m waiting around for practice so I’ll take a little time to blog. Tried to go see a movie today but my GPS system couldn’t seem to find the theatre. I must have written the address down wrong, so I went shopping instead. I went to the dollar store and bought some postcards, some beans, some peanuts (that tasted horrible and went straight into the garbage can), a roll of duct tape, a small power-strip, and a set of Alan wrenches. I love the dollar store. Then I went over to Future Town (or something) and bought a headset with a mic in it for Skype-ing. I’ve never done that before so I hope it works out and I didn’t just blow $30.

            Here’s a question I got from a guy named Eric on Mindphaser.com:

I'm wondering how a drummer can play FLA stuff live. The beats are always extremely layered, shopped, processed. Do you simplify everything? Play only what is playable? Do you trigger loops with pads?

            Basically yes, FLA drums are very much layered and multi-rhythmic. You have programming and loops going on as well as lots of percussive noises and synths all over the songs. What I try to do is find the main drum groove and go with that. It’s usually a snare on the ‘2’s and ‘4’s with a heavy kick on the ‘1’. Usually the other kicks synch up with the bass line or the guitar riff. That just rock ‘n roll 101. I try to play everything I hear on the record without stomping on anything that is delicate. There are obviously some things that cannot physically be played, such as a tom part that requires two hands and a hi-hat part that requires two hands that are played simultaneously. You would need two drummers to do that, or one four-armed drummer, so what you do is you have to leave certain things to the sequencer to handle. In electronic-based bands the drummer generally receives a click-track so he can cue the other members of the band to impending electronics. I hope that answers your question.

[	Tags	|	front line assemby tour jason bazinet	]
[	Current Location	|	Canada, Vancouver	]
[	Current Mood	|	calm	]
[	Current Music	|	La Coka Nostra	]

7/3/2010 – Vancouver, BC, Canada.

            We just got done with practice. After blasting through the set a few times a lot of it is starting to click. Now as I was saying before, the set has already transmuted. With a band like FLA you’ve got a lot of material to choose from. You’ve got the hits, the favorites, and the new stuff. To further complicate matters you’ve got different mixes of songs. The question becomes do you do the album version; remix version, or 12” version, etc. So we are working on these things.

7/4/2010 – Vancouver, BC, Canada.

            Being American on the 4^th of July in Canada is a lonely experience. I didn’t get to see even one thing explode! Also, did you know there are roadblocks in Vancouver? They set them up on the weekends looking for drunk drivers. Us Americans like our drunk driving I guess, since we in Washington State only have roadblocks on New Year’s Eve.

            Anyhow practice is going well, I think that FLA will be super-tight by the time we debut this version of the live act in the Netherlands. I’ve never had so much time to get ready for a tour before. I guess that’s the bonus of having the majority of the band lives in the same city.

            Here’s some drum stuff.  We are renting drums in Europe but I’m bringing my cymbals, snare drum, kick drum pedals, and hydraulic hi-hat stand with me.  The snare is a 14”/6” Tama Starclassic, the kick drum pedals are Pearl Demon Eliminators, the hydraulic hi-hat is a DW that is kind of falling apart, and the cymbals I’m bringing are as follows:

Zildjian Avedis Master Sound 14” hi-hat.
Zildjian ZBT 14” hi-hat
Paiste PST5 14” thin crash.
Paiste PST5 16” thin crash.
Paiste PST5 18” thin crash.
Sabian B8 20” Ride.
Wuhan 16” China.
Paiste Alpha 18” Rock China.

            This is a collection of cheap to mid-range cymbals pretty much.  With cymbals sometimes you get what you pay for but sometimes you can get some great sounds out of cheaper stuff. It all depends on your style and what type of music you are doing. I find with industrial music splashier cymbals with less decay fit the bombastic and staccato style of most acts. For example the Wuhan China is a cheap-ass cymbal I bought off of Mike Ditmore (Kill Switch… Klick) and it is going to get a lot more play than the Paiste Alpha China which is a cymbal that costs like five times the Wuhan.

The only thing I’m really missing is a nice crash/ride. Of course there’s not much need for it with a band like FLA. With 16volt and Chemlab a crash/ride is pretty mandatory.

Ok, on to practice.

[	Tags	|	front line assemby tour jason bazinet ta	]
[	Current Location	|	Canada, Vancouver	]
[	Current Mood	|	tired	]
[	Current Music	|	Immortal Technique	]

7/3/2010 – Vancouver, BC, Canada.

            I’m up way to late right now so I’m just going to write a bit and then hit the hay.  Practices have been going well. As with any touring act that starts practicing, the first thing you have to address is the set list. You usually go into practices with a wish list of songs and an order you want to play them. By the time the first day is done many things will have changed. Songs will be dropped, songs will be added, and the order will change as well. In this, FLA practice was no different.

            I’ll write more on this subject tomorrow, however, I will not be revealing any song titles so you’ll just need to show up to find out what is ultimately played.