Theatres des Vampires started the European tour on April 13th, in Slovenia. After Maribor, they played in Zagreb (Croatia), Ankara and Istanbul (Turkey), and they entered Romania on April 19th. Along came two other Italian bands, JTR Sickert and Lunocode.
Many think that the artist’s life is a perpetual joy - the musicians come, sing, have fun, then they go towards the next destination. But this is only the nice part of it: two journalists from adevarul.ro felt themselves how it is like to be in a tour. After two days, out of the 18 days of their European tour, they knew how tiresome it is.
No matter how comfortable and solid a tour bus may be - be it 20 meters long and 4 meters high, plus a trailer for the instruments -, for those who are not used to sleep in the car it is really difficult. „After a while you get used to it, you feel like a child in a cradle”, a member of the „vampires’ caravan” said, trying to see the funny part of it.
But it’s not quite so, if you travel along the narrow curves of the road along Prahova Valley when you’re trying to sleep. The artists admitted that their biorhythm is affected. Some can’t rest as they should, and this isn’t their only problem. A stop at the gas station is useful for the driver who has to drive for up to 11 hours, but also for the musicians, who take advantage of this break and go to brush their teeth and to wash their faces. And the slightest unpredicted delay can upset the entire schedule.
A frugal breakfast at the tables inside the tour bus is less than sufficient in order to insure them the much needed calories for the day ahead. “The local promoters can offer us just a meal a day in the club, and, while time is so short, sometimes we are forced to choose between a dinner and a shower, while we can’t skip the sound check”, Sonya Scarlet told us. Moreover, the interviews for the media and other activities must also be included in their schedule.
On the way to Bucharest, an unpredicted stop - a routine check of the Bulgarian police - consumed two hours of their precious time, so the schedule in Wings Club had to be retimed. But, as the Bulgarian band Eufobia - previously announced for this tour - didn’t join the line-up, there weren’t essential changes in the schedule.
At 7.30pm local time, the first Italian band started the concert: Lunocode, founded in 2004 by the brothers Perseo (drums) and Paride Mazzoni (guitar), Giordano Boncompagni (guitar) and Francesco Rossi (bass). In the beginning, they played under the name Anima, but they changed their name into Lunocode in 2010, after they got signed by Spider Rock Promotion. The latter name is a wordplay between Lunokhod (a Russian word meaning „moonwalker”) and the English word „code”.
In the same year, they changed the singer: Daphne Romano became their new vocalist. In Bucharest, the redheaded girl warmed up the atmosphere, and the fans gathered in front of the stage. The musicians were a pleasant surprise for the Romanian audience. They played songs from “Celestial Harmonies”, an album released this year. But Daphne gave us good news: “We’re currently working on a new album, we already completed some songs”, she revealed.
For technical reasons, Tiarra (Romania) played earlier than expected: while the next two bands were using similar sound settings, a change in the schedule was necessary. The Romanian band also played for about an hour, their show being a delight for their local fans and a pleasant surprise for the Italian “guests”.
A more than pleasant appearance was the next band, JTR Sickert. The band from Modena, founded in 2005, evolved very fast, gaining success with their industrial/gothic metal sound. After they played at Viadana, in a concert where Dark Tranquillity, but also Theatres des Vampires also played, Sonya Scarlet was more than happy to include JTR Sickert in their European tour. Among the two Italian bands is a close friendship, as it was easy for us to notice during the two days we spent in the caravan.
A delicate female singer - Emy Zona - and a tireless male singer - Tiziano Panini, alias Billy T Cooper - made a perfect duo on stage. While her soft voice sang the slower parts, he made a dynamic show, dancing from the first to the last song. He didn’t stop for a second, and sometimes he was waving the LED-covered stand of his microphone above the heads of the front rows of the audience.
While in other bands the female singer is the one who changes her clothes during the show, for JTR Sickert the things were completely different: over his fishnet shirt, he put on several black jackets. He was also wearing a black top hat over his long hair, reminding of Slash. With a makeup resembling Lord Vampyr’s and full of attitude like Valor Kand, the Italian vocal still is an original artist, being a remarkable appearance.
But the long awaited band was, of course, the headliners, with Sonya Scarlet full of verve. Only a few knew that she wasn’t feeling very well when the tour bus was parked in front of the club, several hours earlier. But the short time she had was enough for her to regain her strength, so she could offer the best of her show. Being on stage made her to be completely herself: she seemed to draw her energy from the enthusiasm of the audience, like a real vampire.
In Bucharest, but also in Cluj, Theatres des Vampires used the same set list: „Keeper of Secrets", „Lilith Mater Inferorum", „Bring Me Back", „Angel of Lust", „Blood Addiction", „Le Grand Guignol", „Unspoken Words", „Moonlight Waltz", „Apart", „Anno Dracula", „Medousa", „Rain", „Wherever You Are", „Sangue", „La Danse Macabre du Vampire", while „Carmilla" and „Blut Divine" were played as the encore.
The lady-vampire showed her sharp fangs and she drank “blood” during the song “Sangue”. Many regretted that she didn’t include the moment when the flames sprung from the Necronomicon she opens. But from the songs that the audience vainly requested, the band could create another 17-songs-long set list for a show as exciting as the one they offered.
They included a new song though: “Apart”, one of the songs they composed for the soundtrack of “The Cult of Lamia”. In the movie, which will be released soon, Sonya Scarlet received a part. On this occasion, she co-operates again with the director David Bracci and the actor Abraam Fontana, after the video of the song “Carmilla”.
In Bucharest, the Italian singer changed three costumes, right on stage, behind an improvised curtain. What she couldn’t do a year ago, she did now: she could offer her exquisite dresses, which she decomposed, step by step, until an extremely sexy costume.
She also used head accessories, one of them in the style of the legendary “Medousa”, for the song titled such. If the first costume was mostly red, the second one was completely black, while in the end she showed a white dress. The fans didn’t leave the club until each of them received his share of signed posters, or photos with the artists, and the musicians remained in Wings Club long after midnight.
At about 3am, the caravan moved on towards Transylvania, with two extra passengers on board. While the Bulgarian band Eufobia withdrew from the tour, leaving several seats unoccupied, and the journalists from adevarul.ro used two of these seats. The artists spent a little while at the tables in the bus before they went in their „bedroom” upstairs.
So we could note some of their thoughts, shortly after the show. They were impressed again how enthusiasts they Romanian fans are. There was also a thing they regretted: „We really wished to visit Bran Castle, while it is known as Dracula Castle”, the drummer Gabriel Valerio told us. But the time was too short and no extra stop could be included in the schedule, so the castle had to wait for another trip to Romania.
If you can imagine a more difficult job than to tend a horde of rabbits, then you must think how it is like to coordinate a group of 19 persons. Each of them had their own needs, from ordering a vegetarian meal to creating the best schedule for the showers. Not to mention tasks like negotiating with the local promoters and solving virtually all the unpredicted problems that may appear. Francesco Grieco, the tour manager, did all this, and more: he replaced the driver during the last hour of the way.
So he was in charge of the long vehicle along the streets of Cluj, and he also had to coordinate the fast downloading of the trailer, full of instruments, in the shortest time possible. So he deserved a good share of the success of both shows, in Wings Club (organised by Stay Metal Forever) and in Irish&Music Pub (organised by Welcome2Cluj).
After they carried the large bags along the labyrinth inside the club, some of the artists went to the showers, others gathered for the dinner, while others went to do the sound check. In charge of the merchandise stand was Katia „Diktator”, so the fans could meet in person the one who created many of Sonya’s exquisite costumes. We could say that the group is like a really family, and some of them are a family indeed: Katia is married to the sound engineer Christian Ice, who took care of the settings for the entire tour.
The merchandise included a large range: the most expensive was the DVD „Moonlight Waltz Tour 2011” (80 lei, almost 20 euro), which was scheduled for release at the end of April, while the cheapest ones were the badges (4 lei, almost 1 euro). In between, there were T-shirts, posters, pendants, CDs and many more.
The concert started with a local band: for The Hourglass (Cluj) it was the first important concert under this name. Alma Vomastek and her colleagues prepared the audience for the feast to follow.
While the set lists were similar like those in Bucharest, most of the artists chose other costumes than in Bucharest. In Wings Club, the guys from Lunocode had to play in their „working costumes”, because of the tight schedule, as one of the band members revealed. Daphne charmed the audience in Cluj too, with her seductive eyes - the effect was enhanced by the dark makeup around her eyes -, not to mention her musical skills. In front of the stage there gathered several fans who occupied the strategic places, and they didn’t move from there until the end of the show.
The vocal from JTR Sickert was also well received by the spectators, and some of them already knew the songs from the Internet. „I’m for the first time in Romania, but I will certainly return in your country”, Tiziano told us after the show.
As expected, the headliners were in their best form, with Fabian Varesi on keyboards, Stephan Benfante on guitar, Zimon Lijoi on bass and Gabriel Valerio on drums. „We came home, in Transylvania”, Sonya Scarlet told when she came on stage. Maybe such a statement made the fans from Cluj to cheer louder than the Bucharest metalheads. The Italian countess showed three more costumes, two black ones and a white one, and of course a different, but nonetheless spectacular makeup.
For the local artists, such a show couldn’t be missed; among them was Andy Ghost (Altar), who took advantage of his day off in his band schedule to see the concerts. And at the end he didn’t miss the chance to have some pictures with the Italian musicians.
After the signing session, the vampires haunted through Cluj at night, but not in search of their next victim: they went to the hotel where they had a last shower before leaving for Budapest, their next destination. On the way, they admired the Transylvanian architecture and had a picture in Unirii Square, with St. Michael Church on the background.
While for the journalists this interesting, but tiresome experience ended, Theatres des Vampires continued their tour - they completed just half of it so far. After Bucharest and Cluj, they were scheduled to play in Budapest (Hungary), Bratislava (Slovakia), Czestochowa, Warsaw and Poznan (Poland), Torgau (Germany) and Prague (Czech Republic).
Sonya Scarlet revealed us how can she resist to such a difficult style of life: “I have a healthy life, I practice sports, and I don’t drink alcohol. I open a beer mostly because others do that too, but I almost never drink it to the bottom. I practiced ballet, and three times a week I go to swim. I have this style of life since I was five”. A similar life, and also from an early age, was chosen by Tiziano from JTR Sickert, as she also revealed. Too bad there aren’t more metalheads who buy tickets for their shows in order to reward all the artists’ efforts. And we can see such a sad situation at most of the metal concerts in Romania, for the last several years.
Many things were still left to be told, but, as another international rock star told us on other occasion, “what happens in the tour stays in the tour”.
The Romanian version, with more pictures, here.
Pictures from their concert in Bucharest, here.
Pictures from their concert in Cluj-Napoca, here.
