We’re back from Turkey were we had the time of our lives! It was an experience that we’ll never forget and we hope to do it again sometime in the future. We decided to post a “tour diary” with the highlights from each show so people that know nothing about the Turkish punk scene can get an idea, here we go….
7/3, Day 1: We left Athens heading to Thessaloniki for the first show of the tour, the show had a good, friendly atmopsphere even though few people seemed to enjoy it. Thankfully we managed to have a great time afterwards drinking and chatting with people we haven’t seen for a while, big fuckin’ thanks to Maou, Mitsos, Lazaros, Andeas, Danai and the rest of the Biologica collective, hope to see you again soon!
8/3, Day 2: This was a day off and we spent 9 hours in the van heading to Istanbul, upon our arrival we met with Denizscan in Taksim square (one of the guys from the Wargasm Collective that was setting the up the show) and headed to a friends’ place to crash, meet some fellow punks and drink.
9/3, Day 3: We had some time until the show so we decided to check some tourist sites…being so naive that we could find our way that easy in a city of 14 million people we got lost on our way to Agia Sofia and the Blue Mosque and ended up 30 km off! We decided to just go back at Taksim square where the central market and most pubs are and walk around till the show starts. The venue where the show took place is Factory Bar, a small bar that can hold about 150 people and is located very close to Taksim but hidden in a graphic alley. There we met Ali Can and the rest of the crew along with the band that played with us, Standback (great hc in the vein of Sick Of It All). The shows in Turkey start early, around 19:00 and end at about 22:00, something we’re unfamiliar with since the shows in Greece start at 22:30 or later! Anyway, not more than 50 people attented the show but it was more than enough because from the first struck of a chord everyone was going nuts, jumping around and stagediving as if there was no tomorrow! That put a big smile on our faces and made us not thing twice if it was a good idea to tour Turkey in the first place, every single person that attented the show was a genuine hardcore/punk fan! After the show we headed with our new friends to various bars around the area until the late hours.
10/3, Day 4: After saying goodbye to Sara, Denizscan and the almighty Choco/Banana dude, we had a second try to find Agia Sofia and the Blue Mosque before heading to Ankara, thankfully we made it this time! What we didn’t know though was another thing that Istanbul is famous for….traffic! We spent 2 hours in the van stuck in the largest traffic ever witnessed…and keep in mind that we’re from Athens! Ankara is located 450 km south of Istanbul and the highway goes through some high mountains that, of course, are covered in snow during this time of year, a beautiful site to see but cold as fuck! Semih from Sakatat and the Atom Kule crew were kind enough to wait for us in the middle of the night and greeted us with beers, delicious vegan food and an overall friendly atmosphere, we couldn’t ask for more!
11/3, Day 5: The show took place in Yolcu Bar, a typical metal bar with the capacity to hold 200 people and with a good sound system. This time the attentance was around 40 people but again enthusiastic & hungry for crust/hardcore, stagedives, circle pits and craziness made us deliver our best show so far! After the show we stayed in the bar and drank what little turkish liras we hade left and talking with the punks until the bar owner kicked us out ’cause it was closing time and they already had a warning from the cops! We headed back to Semih’s place and drank some more until we passed out.
12/3, Day 6: We had breakfast, too much coffee to keep us awake for the trip back home ,exchanged goodbyes and depression took over….thank you Semih, Otkun, Ilci, Orkun and everyone else that we forgot (also sorry for the spelling the names wrong!) we wait for you in Athens, you’re welcomed anytime! Last but not least, we stopped in Aleksandroupoli on our way to Athens to meet with some friends, drink the last beers and talk about this awesome experience, thanks should also go to Vangelis, Vassiliki and Maria for hosting us.
13/3, Day 7: Boring trip back home….
We’re very sorry if we forgot anyone!
You can check some photos and a video from Conspiracy Of Denial here (this is from Ankara only) http://atomkule.blogspot.com/2012/03/11-mart-ankara-fotograf-ve-goruntuler.html
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