Hello Kindred Spritis of the world,

This is our first blog. Ever. And we decided to go ahead and pick an already existing piece of writing. For all of you that missed our little introduction – here you go! We are Nina and Laura from the band ATKD, All The Kings Daughters.

A little background information

Last year we went on a tour through the south of Italy (our first tour abroad!) and did 14 shows in 16 days. Oh yes… you read correctly. 14 shows in 16 days. And it was not the luxury kind of tour either. Lots of free time, big touring cars and luxurious hotels? No. We did the hardcore one. Driving ourselves to the different cities, doing the gig, sleeping, driving to the next city and so on and so forth.

Ok.
We must be honest.

Hardcore is probably not the exact right word for it. Let’s call it…… softcore. I mean, we were basically on the road with our mum (tour manager or as we later called her: Motherger) and our best friend (Roadie) who did all the driving and most of the organizing and running around. And we had a great time and lots of laughs. And as we’re being honest, cries too. I mean, come on, what do you expect? We were 4 women in a minivan for 2 weeks. WE HAD OUR PERIODS IN TURN WITH SOME OVERLAPPING DAYS! Can you believe it? Which meant that at least one of us was sad/manic/grumpy/craving chocolate/just in a plain fowl mood/or all of the above the entire time..

Anyway. On the way we kept a little travel diary.

This is one of our tour life stories

THE ITALY TOUR 25th January 2016 Day 0, Bari
Added note: The following events were documented whilst not in the best of moods: tired and hungry, so bare with us. It’s definitely not the kind of sparkling spirit we planned to be in when setting foot on sweet smelling Italian ground, but there you go.

Arrive at Bari airport a little before 8 pm. Had to rent a car. Car rental service crap and dodgy. Probably mafia running it behind scene. Nice. Finally sort out car but can’t get it started. Something to do with non-existent hand break. Damn thing hidden so well took 30 min to find. Set off to B&B at last. Find the right street but.. allas, NO B&B. Just big abandoned buildings with knocked out window pains. A liiiittle bit pissed off we call the contact person. Lovely sounding probably elderly or middle-aged lady on other end explains the way. Very helpful! Found B&B. La Casa Particular!

Owner not elderly or middle-aged (or even female) but a very happy, energetic, short Italian with a well proportioned feminine side (if you know what I mean) named Jenny. Or Gennie. Perhaps short for Gennilios or Gulio or Giovani. Who knows.. Anyway, ‘t was a warm welcome.

“MadamEH! You… (points finger) RelaxEH! GivEH me the kayEH (key), I doEH the carEH” – Spoken with Italian accent, obviously… After a late, no, make that midnight, dinner (the tastiest pizza I have ever eaten: batter fried zucchini and eggplant. Size: hula-hoop) and a quick shower, it’s off to bed. Which, for your information, turn out to be the most comfortable and cute wooden bunk beds ever. After a rough and grumpy start it’s actually turned out to be a fine first night in Bella Italia!

Stay tuned for more…