THE GURU GURU released their new album Pointing Fingers last month and now the time has arrived for the Belgian quintet to bring their chaotic songs to UK stages, touring alongside Poly-Math. We caught up with the band ahead of the dates to hear their top tips and stories from the road.
Favourite thing about touring:
Our favourite thing must be (except the fact that we’re all together playing awesome venues) Tom’s fun facts about every city or place we visit. He always has something to tell about every city we go to. About the cathedral, about the housebuilding style, etc. In a way, he is our tour guide with all this knowledge!
Least favourite thing about touring:
I think the least favourite part of touring is sitting in our van with eight people, all farting every minute. Siemon (drummer) is at the steering wheel and has control over the windows of the van but won’t open them because he thinks it’s funny. Everyone else is dying because of the mixture of eight different farts.
Five essentials for the road:
– Enough clean clothes
– Deck of cards
– BEERS and BOOZE
– Food
– Good music
Your favourite way to pass the time:
Joking with each other. Making fun of each other. Drink beer. We all like to be silly and do stupid stuff. The good thing is we can all laugh about it so it’s a lot of fun to just annoy each other and pass some time.
“The Most”
Memorable moment:
It must be arriving at Réunion Island (an island close to Madagascar) and being overwhelmed by the awesome nature of the place, it’s just amazing! We had to play three shows there and we also recorded our video for Mache there.
Hilarious moment:
There are a lot of hilarious moments. But for me there was one moment in Spain when we started driving from Sevilla (SP) to Douai (FR) (28 hours drive straight!) with a mobile home. We were all very drunk drinking a lot of tequila in Sevilla (except for our driver and singer). It was 2am and we came across a McDonalds. When we came closer we saw the terrace, it was packed with litter. Hamburgers, fries everywhere on the ground. Drinks all over. No people anymore. Our drummer became drunken angry (it’s very funny because he looks like a papa bear) and started smashing hamburgers and yelling “what the hell is wrong with people! There’s the trash can!” The sight was so hilarious we all had a laugh for like fifteen minutes before we could eat our own hamburgers.
Embarrassing moment:
Cancelling two tours due to circumstances. Emiel broke his left wrist because he tried to skateboard. This was after the first show on tour. We had to cancel the tour and also another tour we were going to have a few weeks later. This was very embarrassing. We are very sorry!
Outrageous moment:
Driving about 28 hours straight from Sevilla (SP) to Douai (FR) to play a show and going back down again for another. This was crazy. The first person drove 12 hours straight, went to sleep and someone else took over for the next 8 hours. Went to sleep and someone else took over. Until we were in Douai (FR). Arriving there we had to build the stage and start the soundcheck. We were totally wrecked.
Drunken moment:
Drinking tequila ‘til five in the morning and searching for crickets in the city, by snapping your fingers and trying to jump and get your two feet clapping like your hands, then falling on the street, getting up and saying nothing happened with a bleeding arm.
Rewarding moment:
All the beautiful faces of the people we play for, it’s what keeps us going. Every chat after the show. That’s what makes us strong.
THE GURU GURU‘s latest album Pointing Fingers is out now via Luik Records/Grabuge Records.
See the band live on tour with Poly-Math at one of the following dates:
February
Sat 22nd – PLYMOUTH – Junction
Sun 23rd – BRISTOL – The Exchange
Mon 24th – GLASGOW – Broadcast
Wed 26th – OXFORD – The Wheatsheaf
Thu 27th – LONDON – The Victoria
Fri 28th – BRIGHTON – The Pipeline
