Kairos Band

Thursday – 23/10/08

So…this was to be my first trip out with the Kairos boys… “What was it going to be like?” I pondered as I drove up to Norwich. Rolled up to meet the band for the last rehearsal before tomorrow night’s gig only to find that the hall was already booked!

Tim, Jon and Jonatas went off home to get an early night whilst Mark H, Mark G, Aaron and I sat down for a chat about our trip and some plans for the future. Little did we know what the coming few hours have in store…

Friday – 24/10/08

After I’d spent a fitful few hours on an airbed in Mark’s guest room, my brain working overtime about the impending trip the alarm finally went off at 3.30am. After another ten minutes of constant blaring I decided it was best to go and wake our soporific guitarist up so he could switch off his alarm!

We made it to the church at just before the appointed time of 4.30 and found Tim already there. A minute or so after that Mark arrived and we waited for Aaron and the van. And waited. And waited. And waited. It was close on 4.50 and still no sign. No replies to our texts and no answers to our calls to his mobile. Oh dear. Jon and Jonatas were stood shivering near a petrol station near the A47 whilst Tim, our very own ‘Captain Slow’ (TM ‘Top Gear’) a.k.a. ‘Father’, was dispatched to find out where young Mr Pimlott was. They returned at 5.20, Aaron informing us that his phone had accidentally been put on silent so he hadn’t heard the alarm. Knowing how tight time was I started to wonder how fine we were going to cut checking in at the airport but, having picked up J and J we were finally on our way!

Okay…so…we were running almost an hour later than planned and then…there was a diversion on the A11 out of Norwich! We navigated that and then sailed on our way again…until we got to Thetford…and the van died! So, the journey had started at 5.20 and finished at 5.50. Oh dear. We pushed the car onto the hard shoulder, phoned the recovery people and discussed what to do whilst we waited for them to turn up. Obviously we were going to miss our flight but what to do now? Well…we laughed! The concern about missing the check-in had evaporated so it was time to just get things sorted. Unfortunately we couldn’t get hold of anyone at the airline until they switched their phones on at 8.00am…five minutes after our flight had left the ground. Neither could be access the internet to change the flights that way as we were out of range of any sort of signal. A couple of phone calls were made to Ireland and I tried to reassure Ross and Sarah (the organisers) that we WOULD be there!

After almost three hours the rescue company turned up to tow us back to Norwich and I’d managed to arrange that a new flight was booked. Due to the stupid system put in place by the airline meaning that we couldn’t just do a straight transfer, we had to pay for these new tickets and my credit card took, shall we say, quite a hammering. Still, we were determined to get there and were all relieved when we knew we’d got seven of the last eight available seats on the flight. It’s a real credit to the guys that everyone was in such good spirits as we waited in the van.

Anyway, to cut a very long story short, we eventually got going (deciding to use cars rather than the minibus) and headed off down the A11. Some great consternation was caused when Mark G called to say that the car that he and Tim were travelling in had broken down…this went on for a few minutes until he couldn’t keep up the pretence anymore! Bless him! After all else that had happened we were willing to believe almost anything! Upon reaching Stansted we trawled around all the car parks to find one that wasn’t going to cost as much as the flights for an overnight stay! A quick(ish) hop on the bus and we were FINALLY at the terminal!

After a little bit of negotiation with the check-in desk we managed to get everything through and headed off to the Departure Lounge. Mark H got stopped by Security (a nice change for me not to be the one hauled aside!) but Mark G almost got arrested for taking a pic of the incident! Tim almost made us late for boarding the plane due to looking at some bling for his new Gangsta image but we finally dragged him away and onto the plane.

We were met by a very relieved Ross and his brother Gavin and the baggage came through quickly and off we went to Ballymena and the venue. I have to say at this point that I LOVE being in Ireland. I’ve been over numerous times and it always feels like coming home. Despite all the hassle earlier I felt totally relaxed as Gavin drove Tim and I through the countryside and into the town.

The venue itself was great (although a bit of a nightmare sound-wise for Mark G) and the people there couldn’t have been more helpful and friendly. With a split set needed a lot of scribbling and juggling with the song list was needed over a bowl of soup and the band then got stuck into the soundcheck. Due to us arriving seven hours later than planned it was all a bit of a rush but the guys and especially Mr G coped admirably. There was just time for a quick sandwich or two and Aaron to do his hair (this took about half an hour) before the doors were opened and the audience came in. We relaxed in the dressing room at the rear of the stage (c/w security and a gofer no less) whilst the terrific Laura Rose opened the show with her lovely voice and great songs. It was then time for the guys to hit the stage…

Despite a few technical problems and the set being changed around at the last minute the first half seemed to go down really well. You can see the photos from the gig on the site. Much discussion ensued in the dressing room as to how things went and the guys couldn’t wait to get back on for the second half.

Following a moving performance of the ‘Lifehouse – Everything’ skit (check it out on You-Tube) it was again time for Kairos to rock Ballymena! The second set was much more punchy and faster paced and went down a storm…all in the hall sporting big smiles all the way through. It was all over too soon but the guys went out immediately to meet friends old and new (and family) and spent the next hour or so signing CDs and posters and having their photos taken. Mark G was taking a well-earned rest in the dressing room but we dragged him out too to have some pics taken and for us all to write on a huge poster near the door. In the set Aaron had told of our trials and tribulations in getting there and had referred to re-christening the van ‘Stupid Bus’…this was mentioned several times by other people on the poster!

After a lovely curry and the naughty delights of Honeycomb Vanilla Ice-Cream, a chat and relax with the good folks of Living Rivers it was time to go to our accommodation. Ross came over to me a little worried…the cottage we were meant to be staying in only had six beds…so I thought it would be best for the guys to sleep in comfort there whilst I slept on a sofa somewhere. Fortunately Ross had a spare room at his house and I spent an hour or two there chatting to Gavin whilst we waited for his return. Another problem…the heating didn’t work in the cottage! The guys spent most the night freezing!

Saturday – 25/10/08

As we had a few hours to kill until our flight home in the evening Ross and Gavin kindly offered to take us up to see the Giant’s Causeway (somewhere I’d always wanted to go). We drove several miles to where the guys had stayed in the remote (and I mean remote!) cottage. It was beautiful there and very cold but the guys seemed in good spirits (maybe it was the thought of a warm car interior!).

Tim and I again travelled with Gavin who gave us a running commentary as he was driving and the amazing scenery and coast seemed even more special. We kept saying “wow!” and “amazing!” and even enthused Gavin even more…really, I wish everyone could have seen what we did. The waves were literally awesome and we finally got to Giants Causeway (after stopping for sights and pictures) and joined the rest of the guys as we made our way down to the rocks. Words cannot fully describe it…we were all blown away (almost literally!) and Jon and Jonatas got soaked by some huge waves crashing into the Causeway…I won’t mention Aaron’s spectacular slip down a slope after posing for some pics but…

We thought we’d seen it all but then the brothers took us to a little harbour nearby and the waves were even bigger! We stopped and had some food in “possibly the finest little café in Northern Ireland” and climbed over the rocks there, following Gavin and hoping that we wouldn’t get swept away. Seeing these two places you’re so aware of the beauty and power of God’s creation. A HUGE “thank you” to Ross and Gavin for taking us there.

We made it back to the airport in plenty of time and sat, chatted about the visit, watched some football on the tv, had a burger and a coffee and then rushed to the departure lounge. I was the last one to get there as I was trying to make sure everyone got in okay…only to be told by Aaron that the gate had been closed! Fortunately he didn’t manage to keep up the pretence and another big credit card bill was averted!
Despite being delayed by a half hour, the flight went smoothly (none of the turbulence we suffered going over) and we touched down back safely. A wait for the instruments to come out and it was off to the car park again and away home. It had been a LONG trip but thank goodness the clocks went back so we all had extra time to recover in the morning. I said my goodbyes to the guys and made my weary way home…tired but smiling at such a great time and wonderful people.

Sunday – 26/10/08

An extra hour in bed and time to reflect. What had I learnt…well…our hosts were amazing and generous and I hope we get to go over there a lot more and do some more work with them. I also learnt that some airlines are better than others regarding customer service. I also learnt something about each of the guys I went with…
Aaron showed his spiritual maturity and determination.
Tim showed how utterly thoughtful of others he is.
Jon showed boundless enthusiasm and optimism.
Mark H showed his resilience and good humour.
Jonatas showed his quiet commitment and peace.
Mark G showed his humour and adaptability.
A great bunch of guys and no better people to be working with (or stuck in a broken down van with!). Ballymean…we’ll be back!

Today started at 5.30am for me and was tough getting up as the night before wasn’t an early night. We were taken to the airport and driven at 100mph all the way, the Portuguese drive crazy, my kind of people. Upon arrival at the airport, we got all our flight cases from the van that had been following us the whole weekend, and got ourselves checked in. We were cutting it late, so we said our goodbyes to our amazing and generous hosts.

When we fly, we are limited to what we can take, so all we can take is 4 guitars 2 pedal boards and our in ear radio rack, all in their own flight cases checked into the hull of the plane. That leaves 5 of us to carry 10 bags as carry on baggage, our own personal luggage and several merch bags which is a huge pain cos of the 100ml rule. So everything that is in our personal luggage that is over 100ml had to put inside pedal boards, guitar cases that was checked in.

Mark, our amazing sound engineer, ended up taking my personal baggage through security as I ended up carrying 2 of the merch bags. As he was going through security he got stopped and taken aside and my bag was about to get inspected. I was a little bit concerned to what the security guy would say when he saw the hair dryer and hair straighteners as Mark doesn’t really have much hair on his head!

We finally got through to the gate just as it was closing, a few minutes later and we would have missed the flight. When sitting on the plane I had a chance to reflect back on some of the highlights over the past 4 days, it was an amazing tour. We were hosted and looked after so well, totally exceeded our expectations. This has definably been the best few gigs so far since starting the band; we even did our first encore as the crowd wanted more!

A massive thank you goes out to our hosts for flying us out there and looking after us like rock stars. It was a great encouragement and gave us a bit of a boost that we might just be able to make this dream a reality.

Until next time, keep the dream alive.

Aaron

It’s Sunday in sunny Portugal, probably went to bed 2.00AM and had to be up for 8.30AM, we can’t really catch up with the Portuguese go to bed late thing…We started off breakfast with our host Sweety-pie and our translator Carla, the locals stare at us with the visiting the zoo look, we probably look strange and a bit out of place.

Sweety-pie drives like a demon, and we’re soon at the stage doing a sound check and then back to the green room. The hospitality is really second to none, these folk really know how to do a show, I’m so impressed by the Portuguese…we’ve been treated like royalty.

We met another local pastor who was going to speak later on, and I was impressed by how cutting-edge he was in his way of seeing church. There was a little bit of a late start, due to a few technical hitches and the sound man got a little bit excited when they tried to hurry him, he didn’t mince his words!

Well, the meeting kicked off with the local church band rocking it out, we could sing along to one of the Hillsong worship songs they did, it was pumping – loved it. We went up and did 4 songs, with lots of strobes, fog and Gallant pushing the PA louder than loud, the Portuguese didn’t even flinch!

There was a great message on limitations and how they are the starting point of our journey and not the end, and how God’s greatness comes at our weakness in limitations. Our final song was Miracle, and so ended our final song in Portugal, we really didn’t want to go home yet, and we hope to come back someday soon. Portugal, you are top-notch!

Tim

Technically, the day starts at 12am right? So may as well start there! Our gig from Friday night finished around 12:30 am! After signing CD’s and posters and clearing down our gear, we set off home. After getting back at around 3am, we stayed up till 4:30am having some good old manly chats about… manly stuff I guess!

Around 11:30am we decided to get up and get out and enjoy some good Portuguese sun by the pool. This was interesting as Harvey is able to sit still for about 3 seconds! This was a great way to start the day. Someone got a little sunburnt on his legs…..which we enjoyed laughing at for the rest of the tour! Lol.

In the afternoon we set off to set up for the evening gig. This was in a hired out cinema. Great first impressions. The team were brilliant and treated us like royalty. The gear was top notch too. Gallant had some fun with the digital desk and had the building shaking within no time! A great vibe all round. Set up went without a hitch as did the gig. The crowd really got into it which is always great. I didn’t see to much of that though as the smoke machine was on pretty much all the time and it was a little thick to say the least! We loved it though. All in all a quality night.

Another great day in the land of the port and cheese!…. Thanks for having us.

Matt Buck

Woke up about 9am to beautiful sunshine at our Portuguese villa. Breakfast ready for us on the table, was absolutely perfect! After feeding time we were laying out in the sun for a bit when our non English speaking chef/hostess came out and asked if we were ‘angry!?’ Very confused we did our best to reply that weren’t angry but extremely happy! It then clicked when she led us through to the dining room again that she meant hungry! And so proceeded the jokes throughout the weekend telling her all the time that we very ‘angry!!’ Harvey our guitarist was the ‘angriest’ I’d ever seen him!! By the time we had lunch we’d already eaten twice, slowly I was falling in love with the Portuguese culture….

We were playing at Figueira da Foz which was about 2 hours drive away on the Portuguese coast, by the time we left our translator Carla was with us which made life a lot easier! Thanks Carla you were a huge help! We passed the time by listening to tunes/playing cards, got so bored we decided to re-write the rules of blackjack to play up to 51 instead of 21! Was going well until Aaron needed a calculator to add his cards up! Spent an hour on the beach trying to fry our bodies, before heading to tonight’s venue.

We weren’t really sure what to expect and were hoping the rider we gave would of been followed closely, and it was! Great stage/sound/lighting rig and a really helpful crew who spoke some english!! Was an outdoor gig which is always my preference for doing sound as there are no acoustic issues and I have more chance of reaching the whole City with my sound levels! We took some time setting up and making sure the guys in-ear monitors were setup how they like it. Now my favourite part of setup…the soundcheck! Nice loud system, plenty of bottom end and clarity! Thank you very much.

We went to our hosts apartment and managed to have a shower, eat some food and relax before the gig, we were the headline act so weren’t on till about 11-11.30ish, my kinda culture! Watched the end of the Croatia v Turkey game which I was very happy about as I had missed most of the games while we were away!

And onto the gig! We turn up to the beautiful setting for the concert of palm trees, harbour with sailing boats and a warm sea breeze, we were living the dream! A good crowd as well! From the moment the guys kicked into the first song the crowd were going crazy! Ooooh we love the Portuguese! I’ve sound engineered these guys for a long time and I can honestly say that this is the best and tightest they have sounded to date! The new songs went down fantastically which was good, they are a bit edgier and rockier than the older stuff and the crowd loved them. The more mellow tunes were received really well too with ‘Little Song’ providing a nice break from the in your face rock style and the anthemic ‘Solution’ must’ve made the hair on the back of peoples neck stand up! Finishing with the title track from the new EP, ‘Piercing the Darkness’ I think this could be a classic track! Thank you Figueira da Foz you were amazing.

Got to bed at 4.30am for some much needed rest before another day in the life of a rock band!

Special thanks from me to the sound crews at all the gigs, they were amazing people.

Gallant – (man who moves faders to create loud noise)