One year after the release of their excellent debut LP Greek crust hardcore punks PROCRASTINATE headed on a tour to Serbia, Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria. Today, we’re looking back at the very details of their DIY adventure that unfolds stories about places discovered, people met, and experience gained in the process. Check out the ful tour report, along with a special video below, but first see the details of their upcoming Greek tour with Argentinian band RUINAS, presented by Nothing To Harvest Records.
The band will be back soon with a new powerful split with Swedish epic crust hardore punks MYTERI on Alerta Antifascista Records, Phobia Records, Halvfabrikat Records & Nothing to Harvest Records. Stay tuned for more details on that.
22/11 – Thessaloniki @ Biologica Squat with TBA
23/11 – Ioannina @ Antiviosi Squat by Studio from the down with Pariah & Skürnaa
24/11 – Athens @ Ypoga K94 with Έσχατη Ποινή
25/11 – Karditsa @ Autodiachirizomeno Steki by Kompsognathos DIY Shows with ΜΟΡΜΩ
PROCRASTINATE – Summer Tour recap, August 2018
Everything started around February of 2018 when we got an invite to perform at “Kill The Plastic Smile” Festival in Oldenburg, Germany. At first we thought that it would be too much for us to do a second tour in less than a year, but eventually tour-frenzy took over and we decided to do it. It took some long drives because of the tight schedule we had to keep, but what the hell? Is there anything better than combining a European trip with your friends and playing music that you love at the same time?
After many complications with the van we had booked, we managed to find a solution just the day before we set off and booked a different one while being really close to cancel the whole thing.
Monday, August 20th of 2018: Belgrade, Serbia
On Monday we woke up really early and went to pick-up our very good friend and driver Yiannis (owner of We Don’t Fight It Records, go check it out) from Larissa which is really close to our hometown, Karditsa. We picked something to eat and embarked on our long drive towards Belgrade. We arrived at the Macedonian borders pretty quick and didn’t meet any problems there, cruised through Macedonia and off to Serbia where we also passed the borders without any problems. A little advice I can offer to touring bands is to have a paper called ATA Carnet with you when crossing non-EU countries. It declares that your equipment is not for sale and will make you pass without problems, but it can get you delayed if the customs are slow. It goes without saying that you should also have your passport and don’t rely on your country’s ID. The time difference of Greece with Serbia worked in our favor since they are one hour behind and that helped us be there on time. The place we played was located in a very unique industrial area, under a bridge with a factory across the street. It was recently opened and it is called AKAB Okretnica, a place not only for DIY shows, but that also hosts political gatherings and is used by nice people with open minds to socialize and get organized. We had a nice bowl of hot chilly stew and some beers before started setting up for the show. Prakopa, local d-beat/blackened crust maniacs, played first and surely got us on edge to give our best for a great tour opener. It was a great night. We met lots of nice people, met in person friends that we know digitally, had the pleasure of having some Greek friends show up on their way to Berlin, had many beers and eventually got a nice rest.
Tuesday, August the 21st of 2018: Brno, Czech Republic
We woke up on time and got ready quickly to get on the super market and get all necessary things for our second day on the road. Belgrade sure looks very beautiful under sunlight and will definitely need to go back again for a closer look. The drive was shorter this time, but we were in the unlucky position to meet maybe the hugest border traffic we’ve ever meet, in the Serbian-Hungarian borders, accompanied with the slowest custom service we’ve ever experienced, on the Hungarian side. As a result, we were really close on missing our gig since everything in Czech Republic tends to happen earlier than almost every other country. We got in VEGALITÉ two hours late, a beautiful vegan pub that hosts most of DIY shows in town. We immediately set up the backline and Bricanyl Turbuhaler from Brno were on stage for a fast, high-voltage hardcore punk set. Unfortunately, everything was happening so quickly, we were just realizing that we were not driving anymore and didn’t pay the appropriate attention to them. They sounded loud and tight though and that was a very nice boost for us along with the nice Czech beers they lovely people from the pub got us. We were on stage right after and the people there seemed to enjoy our set very much even though we made them wait so much. We also managed to spot some friendly faces on the crowd from our show in Prague from last year. Too bad we didn’t get the chance to say hi. The show ended early, for us at least (haha) and we got a nice chance to hang out at Samuel’s place for some beers and food: chilly stew or the ultimate tour meal. The hospitality was amazing, we can’t thank you enough.
Continued below…
Wednesday, August the 22nd of 2018: Leipzig, Germany
We spent the morning walking through the city streets of beautiful Brno, visited the farmers market for some fruit shopping, got something to eat and we were once more on the road. The good thing was that we had entered EU territory and didn’t have to do border crossing again. It was pure road time now. We entered Germany easily and before getting in Leipzig we managed to get ourselves the green “umweltzone” sticker. We got fined last year for 100€ because we didn’t know anything about it in Augsburg, Germany. We won’t make the same mistake again and you shouldn’t either. It only costs 7 € and you can get it at any car repair shop. Once more, we were in favorite Leipzig and the unique Stö area with lots of DIY venues, punks, nice parks and house projects. If there’s a place I’ve seen that looks a lot like the Greek punk scene that’s the one. After the amazing time we had a year back in Nico’s (check her band Social Enemies) birthday, we contacted her again and she booked an amazing show for us again. We’re forever in her debt. The vegan pizza was the tops! We met again with our good friends Willy, Julia, Petros and Vally there among others, so it was an extra special night. Zrada from Kharkiv, Ukraine were playing first. We’ve heard a lot about their energetic live sets and everything was true. This band tours constantly playing relentless hardcore punk and they definitely have their way on stage, making everyone dance. We followed with a surprise set containing some new material that’s going to be released in our next release. In an almost packed venue the vibe was incredible. After the show some of us went to a local punk bar with Petros (definitely check his dark wave band Era of Fear) and some of us had to find and arrange some stuff with the sleeping place. Aftermath: Leipzig always delivers.
Thursday, August the 23rd: Hamburg, Germany
We woke up early in sunny Leipzig and went into an adventure of finding some famous vegan burgers, but I don’t remember the place’s name unfortunately. We filled our batteries and went on our way to Hamburg. After a smooth drive we entered the city and we were stunned. The moment you enter you see those huge buildings, the canals, the big churches and you get instantly an amazing feeling for this city. A little later, we were in the Sternschanze area and right outside Rote Flora. We always wanted to visit the historic squat, so that night was very special for us. It was huge, hosted many events and had a very vibrant skatepark right outside. It was also pretty strange because we would play alone in that show since no band was available because of the summer. The people from Night Owl Nights got us a little stressed because they told us that usually shows with no local band are not successful, but reality turned out way different. We had an amazing long show since we were the only band performing and many people showed up from all those different countries, Brazil, Australia, Holland, you name it. We will forever remember the banner “QUEER FLORA” of which we played under. Janne who booked our show took really good care of us, made a very nice soup and cut a really juicy watermelon which was the best treat. After the show we went out for beers in the Sank Pauli area and visited the Jolly Roger bar, famous for serving Sankt Pauli FC fans from all around the world where we met some people from the Buenos Aires fan club. We returned home with the first metro early in the morning. What a day!
Friday, August the 24th: Oldenburg, Germany (Kill The Plastic Smile Festival)
On Friday morning, we did the tourist thing in Hamburg since we had a lot of free time with Oldenburg being only an hour away or so. We grabbed some coffee and walked through the center, took some pictures, went on the Sankt Pauli FC store and visited a famous punk record store whose name I can’t recall. After a short drive, we were right outside the venue of Alhambra in Oldenburg. There we met Leo and Tammo from Fat Hoschi Events who explained everything we needed to know about the festival and our stay. We went to set up our merch, met some of the bands, had a few beers and sat back to enjoy the amazing atmosphere and relax a bit from all the walking and driving. We love to be around merch tables, distros and zines, so we had the absolute pleasure to look through every DIY “candy” around. My favorite thing was all those stickers I got from Let’s Keep Hardcore Positive. If we love something more than playing music, is listening to music and all bands were crushing that night. For me, No Sun Rises from Münster stand out with their black metal/crust hybrid and of course Henry Fonda, Berlin political powerviolence, who I always wanted to see live. Too bad for me that I don’t speak German and couldn’t understand their speeches between songs. We went to play at around 12pm, second to last, and we immediately felt that people there wanted to see us. They gathered in front of the stage and reminded us again why we do this thing. It was definitely worth the trouble of getting there from Greece. On top of everything, the food after the show was amazing. We went out and got some vegan doner (or gyros) made from seitan from the festival’s stand and some crispy fries. It was so fulfilling seeing all those young people making such great things happen in their hometown, the DIY way, while creating a space where everyone feels included. Thank you for having us join this experience.
Saturday, August the 25th”: Berlin, Germany
After a nice sleep we woke up to an amazing vegan breakfast-buffet where we ate A LOT and most importantly spent the morning with very nice people. We loaded all the gear and merch back in the van and we went to live our myth in Berlin. One of the things I don’t like in touring (I swear they are only a few) is that you can’t fully experience the place you’re visiting. You hear all those things about Berlin, but unfortunately we didn’t have the time to see any of it. We arrived at the Drugstore (a youth social center) in Schöneberg where we had to wait about an hour because the people that met us didn’t bring the keys with them. To be honest I took it as a sign of things going south and I was right. We got to know that this place worked with some kind of volunteer schedule and that the person that booked us was not even there, leaving people uninterested in us to go through with the show. There was not even a proper poster for it and the local band was booked at the last minute. On top of it everything was moving really late, leaving us hanging out at the venue for hours for no reason with the show starting 2 hours later than planned. Things got even weirder when a canceled show at a bar near the social center had 3 bands coming at the volunteers asking them to join the show. One was doing pop-punk cover songs of German folk songs, one was a weird Finnish pop-punk band with glitters, hats and furs and there was also a Brazilian thrash metal duo (they were kind of good). They said yes and we were 5 bands with a show starting at 11pm. The 2 bands played first and decided to leave right after playing and left us, Grott (their death-crust was amazing and they were very nice people) and the Brazilian guys for last. The turnout wasn’t great, but there was people that showed up for us and we had them waiting so much time unfortunately, but it wasn’t our choice. Thanks to Lohm and the Cologne friends that stayed through the whole thing. The good thing was that we had a very nice sound and the people from the social center were very friendly and aspiring, but come on people. That’s not a way to run a show.
Sunday, August the 26th: Vienna, Austria
We woke up early and got a visit from my cousin, he’s half-German and lives in Berlin, who took us on a fast starter-pack sightseeing trip in the center. Thankfully we stopped before at a Greek coffee shop and got the coffee we missed all those days. We also came across an animal liberation demonstration with many people before taking our tourist photos and getting in the van for a long drive to Vienna. I was in Vienna for the 3rd time, my second with Procrastinate and it still remains the city I’ve visited most and again didn’t get to see another thing than Venster 99 , a place run by great people that hosts the city’s best DIY concerts. Of course I was happy to be there again and meet all the lovely people behind the bar, Miso and Gabor who got us in Sunday’s show which was organized by a hardcore punk collective from Luxemburg called Missing Agenda. We opened the show to a small crowd, but enjoyed it very much and so did they, as it seemed. Then followed Dregs from Vienna with their super energetic political hardcore punk in the vein of Torso and the show ended with Blanket Hill from Luxemburg with their more beatdown/metallic hardcore approach. It was definitely a heavy night. After the show, we sat at the bar with our friends from the venue, had some beers, a nice chat and then we returned to Gabor’s place to rest. Thanks for everything people!
Monday, August the 27th: Kragujevac, Serbia
We woke up really early on the 27th because the drive to Serbia was unbelievably long and also contained border crossing. We didn’t have time to do much, so we just got something to eat and some coffee and we were already on the road. We arrived just in time for the sound-check where the local heroes Dishumanity greeted us. The pleasure was beyond words to share the stage with them. After the tasty and huge pizza we ate and the local rakija they offered us, we set up everything and we were ready for the show. They started first with their d-beat raid and turned the place upside down. What a night opener! We were right after and immediately felt that we were welcome and all the people were ready to have a good time. It was definitely one of the best shows of the tour with constant dancing and moshing. After the show everyone went to hang out at the local square where we had beers and chatted as a huge group of friends. The party continued at Vuk’s place with more beer under the raging Greek and South American raw punk tunes of the sound-system (the only good system). Definitely the perfect way to end the tour!
The day of the return was also a tough one which besides the long drive and much border-crossing time had us trying to make peace with the feelings of returning to real life. We were of course a little relieved to be able to relax a little and see our loved ones, but touring life is the greatest. If you’ve done this you definitely know it. If you haven’t you should definitely do it. We don’t plan on staying still, so see you somewhere in the future. Thank you everyone who made it all possible.
Keep your ears open for our new split LP release with Myteri, out on Alerta Antifascista Records, Phobia Records, Halvfabrikat Records & Nothing to Harvest Records.
Words by Thanos
