FATES WARNING Bassist JOEY VERA Issues European Tour Recap

Bassist Joey Vera (ARMORED SAINT, FATES WARNING) has issued the following update:

"Home now from the [FATES WARNING European] tour. I'm reminded how much I miss playing live, Man, I love it. I truly had a great time. We (the FATES guys) all get along so well. We had tons of laughs and I mean at times there were tears. But now I'm home and I have potty mouth. Oh well, the residual effects of hangin out with the boys.

"All the shows were great and many thanks to all who showed up. I can't fairly single out any cities as all were killer but man, I love Athens! OK, OK, Frankfurt, Koln and Barcelona! No, really, every place was great and the crowds, all amazing. thank you!

"What a great time playing with Bobby Jarzombek on drums. Many people said it was the best lineup for FATES ever and I'd have to agree. I hope we do more shows with this line up. Bobby and I really locked up on the grooves, even in 7/8, Bobby rules.

"I watched Michael Moore's 'Sicko' on the flight over there and was truly disgusted with the US by the time the movie was over. Don't get me wrong, I'm aware that Mr. Moore has an agenda too. But even if he sheds light on only half of the truth, I'm still partially disappointed with the US policies on several levels. You should see it if you haven't.

"No real crazy tour stories to share (in public that is). The trip to London was about the only 'war story' worthy escapade. We arrived late in the raining afternoon the night before we were to play. The airlines lost the merch bag. Not a good start. We took cabs from the airport armed with our luggage and guitars (we were using rental gear for this one show). The hotel desk promptly informs us that our reservations had been cancelled ('what, at the hotel?'). England was playing a footbal match the next night and all hotels were booked up. So, there we were on a dark and wet street in London with no where to go. A couple of us began hoofing around the area in search of any place with a dry room to house eight grumpy men. After an hour we found what might be considered to be a step above a hostel, a few blocks away. In we go. No more rain? No more complaints. In fact, they had a mock Bar on the bottom floor. Even better.

"So, when in London, eat Indian food. And that's what we did. And lots of it, washed down with pints of Taj Mahal. Feeling better now. After dinner some of us hit another Pub for a few more pints and later we found ourselves at our cozy hostel 'mock' bar sipping overpriced glasses of Scotch. What the hell, it keeps you warm.

"The show the next day at the Underworld went great. Crowd was really loud and pissed off. (As it was as the last time I was in London during the World Cup, England's football team lost a really important game this night. Do we see a pattern here with my presence in London?). My bass amp blew up right before we were to hit the stage. Luckily, another rental quickly showed up for the set. But England's team was not so lucky and after the show my Brit (former) friends dubbed me 'the fucka!' and consequently banned me personally from ever playing in London again. They don't really mean it. They're just mad 'cause their team can't handle any pressure.

"After the show, only time for a wiping of the sweat and change of clothes. With a hot falafel wrap in hand, it's back into a cab to head off to Gatwick Airport. The cabbie decides to take the satellite supported route with his trusty GPS rig complete with a female British announcer. She sounded quite hot actually, 'in 25 meters, turn left.' Oh, how I love dirty directions.

"Mind you, the satellite won't tell you how to get there in the quickest manner, but it thinks it's doing you a favor by showing you that in its opinion, this it the shortest way to get there. So, after an hour and a half of driving (without traffic) we finallly end up at the airport hotel just in time for 2 hours of sleep before we have to check in. Great. The only fun along the way to the hotel was when our driver was overcome with road rage (on the wrong side of the road I might add) with a poor sod on a scooter. This guy was just sitting in the middle of the road and would not let us pass around him, and when we would, he'd catch up and get in front of us again. The driver then proceeded to attempt to run him off the road nearly swiping his scoot several times. Finally the driver pulls up next to him, rolls down his window and proclaims 'you are goat shit!' I guess it worked cause the poor sod pulled away and went home.

"All in a day's work.

"Thanks again to all who came to the shows, I hope to see you again soon. And yes, even London."

Watch fan-filmed video footage of FATES WARNING's November 23, 2007 concert in Barcelona, Spain:

Watch fan-filmed video footage of FATES WARNING's November 14, 2007 concert in Ludwigsburg, Germany: