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Das Boot 2007 - The ferry to decadence
This very cruise-report didn't turn out quite so professional as I had hoped with a weak reporter and way too much alcohol the party just took over but I will do my best to remember and recreate a little something which hopefully is worth reading.
This cruise has had its fare share of cancellations to say the least but the final line-up for the electronic part of the cruise was as follows: Menticide feat. Henrik Björkk (Henrik had to cancel his guest appearance at the last minute though), Alice in Videoland and Covenant. The Swedish "ploy band" - Tyskarna från Lund translated freely: The Germans from Lund (Lund being a city in the southern parts of Sweden) did also cancel last minute and I'm not sure why. Arriving at the terminal and without any problems I received my cabin key, food coupons and my press card. Me and a few of my friends just had to see what wild parties was going on in the VIP-lounge so we went there and there was absolutely nothing going on at all. The bands were sitting in sofas just doing nothing and some even sleeping but hey there was a coffee machine in there. After that we decided to go out to the un-VIP’s as they were more in the partying spirit so to speak.
While boarding the boat with all the artists and other press and crew I did find some new friends in the Swedish band Lillasyster (Little sister) who is a hardcore/hard rock band of some kind (not too sure about that) and of course I missed their gig but they were really nice guys indeed - didn't chat with anyone from any of the electronic bands though.
This was going to be a cruise to remember or maybe not to remember as I'm only human and the lust for party just took over only seconds after boarding the ship (Ok ok, I was doomed even before boarding). I have never been on these kinds of cruises before and to you who also missed out I can shortly describe it as a festival but on a boat. The same drunken haze over the whole boat and just young people going mental drinking there heads of. Punk rockers, hard rockers, goths, synths and just plain weirdoes partying together and the only negative energy here where the safety guards just doing their best to look scary and trying to stop people having fun - don't think they managed to do any harm though. And as on festivals the biggest party is not at the stages but everywhere else, in the lobby, cabins, stairs and bars of this ferry to decadence. One negative thing about the whole cruise was the lack of information. It's not a very big boat but it was damn hard to find where the bands played and when. There where flyers on the door to one of the gig areas saying that the next gig was at the other gig area when it in fact was right where you just had been, very confusing.
I had no photographer with me so I meant to take all the pictures myself but unfortunately I didn't manage to get any pictures of Covenant or Alice in Videoland but I did get some nice of Menticide as seen here.
The first electronic band I saw was Covenant (or maybe it was Alice in Videoland who played first not 100% sure about that) and as I have seen them on a few occasions I can't say that this was anything special and the sound wasn't that great either. After seeing their very impressive gig at Arvikafestivalen 2006 this was a little bit disappointing the whole show seemed a bit tired in some weird way. Next out was the very energetic Alice in Videoland and I must say what Covenant lacked in energy this gal with friends sure had and lots of it. It's not really my type of music but I was really digging it, great show! After that it was just Menticide left and they were going to play the next day, so from now on it was strictly back to partying - and that I did, my god I sure did. I have always been a festival loving person since my first festival many many years ago and you never get too old for that. But with all the heavy drinking this is not as easy as it used to be. Sure I can party all night long but to get up the day after and just start over again THAT is not as easy as it used to be. I Woke up in the cabin at 2.30 in the afternoon and found that the toilet seat was broken (sorry!) and realized that it's just a bit over an hour until Menticide would go on stage. It was ghastly but I managed to drag me and my friends to the buffet and that wasn't easy as by now the sea was quite rough and that did not help the hangover from hell but after eating a very small bit and pushing a few glasses of wine and beer down our throats it was time to go and see Menticide NOT featuring Henrik Björkk. After some trouble finding the right venue we arrived just minutes before they got on stage and the crowd wasn't that big or for that matter energetic but the small guy on stage sure was and it grew to be quite a nice hang over-gig indeed. Saw Eskil from Covenant digging in the crowd and the singer of Swedish hard rock band Mustasch was in the first row screaming. Had really been looking forward seeing them again after a nice gig at Arvikafestivalen this year and it was too bad that Henrik had to cancel. They finished of the show with quite a nice cover of Ministry's "Just one fix". Well after that I just kept partying and saw some more non-electronic bands and then it was finished. I wish I had been 10 years younger and that the cruise had been 2 more days. Damn I'm old.
/Johannes van der Meer
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Menticide Live
Johan van Damm from Menticide & Anna Mossfeldt
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