Psychosis Tour´23. Los Putos Arkada in Europe
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Psychosis Tour ´23
Fulfilling our dreams
Spain, France, Switzerland and Germany. Beautiful countries with incredible
landscapes that we all wish to visit. We in “Los Putos Arkada” know this well,
since for work reasons we have traveled quite much around Europe. The bass
player is the expert in Northern Europe and Scandinavia. The singer, in Eastern
Europe and the Balcans. The guitarist and drummer, Switzerland. All about
work.
But when one has been playing for years in a band and go for gigs in all these
countries, one can’t help it. You see yourself in those stages. The crowd
dancing to your music. Dreams are for free.
This is when the “live music virus” that we all carry starts to manifest. We all in
the band have carried this virus for long. We share the same passion, the same
interests, and often fantasize about the same crazy idea: we should leave
everything behind and just show what defines us best. What we really are.
Go Fund Me could be an option.
The reason why we have decided to use GoFundme to ask for your support is to
fulfill this dream. What every musician wants, to take their music as far away as
possible. Especially to discharge it live.
This project aims to cover the cost of a tour that will go around France,
Switzerland, Germany over a month.
Several shows are already confirmed, although we are still working on closing
many more. The idea is to be as self-sufficient economically as possible.
However, this is difficult to predict in advance, and this is where the potential
money from Go Fund Me plays a role. It may for example help covering
accommodation for a couple of days if there is some time between shows. We’ll
explain this more in depth later.
Our Go Fund Me project “PSYCHOSIS TOUR´23” is aimed to start on 06.12.23 in
Vallecas (Madrid, Spain) and end 23.12.23 when we would get back home
again. In between, 17 days, 6000 km, 4 countries, and a huge load of cities.
Crossing the first border.
The start of the tour will take place in Vallekas (Madrid) on 6.12.23 and on 7.12.23 in Barcelona, but Le Crès will be the first city outside our borders.
The first show outside Spain will be the 8.12.23. In France, more specifically in
Le Crès, near Montpellier. The collective “Le KJBI” accepted our idea to
commence the Tour´23 with them.
Afterwards we’ll head towards Lyon and enter Switzerland through Geneva until
Basel, where we will also play. From here we will have a long way north through
Germany almost until the Danish border.
Is a Go Fund Me project necessary to organize this tour?
This trip will require a remarkable budget. Expenses in tolls, fuel,
accommodation, food, and the likely unexpected circumstances that always
arise in these situations, will surely require a good amount of cash.
Highways in France are all about tolls, and fuel is very expensive. Crossing all
France and Switzerland through Geneva can entail spending over 200€ in tolls.
Thus, we are trying to close as many shows as possible so that we can cover the
highest amount of expenses. We have a few confirmed, but we continue to work to
get many more. As many as possible during those 17 days.
The problem may come if there are a few days without gigs. Then, covering the
accommodation in a hostel and food for 6 can be expensive, in the range of
170€ per day. Sleeping in a van 6 people in northern Germany in December
when it’s probably below 0º does not seem a great idea.
But closing gigs this long in advance is not easy. After sending over 100 emails
to venues, pubs, collectives, etc., linked to live music, they mostly do respond
very positively, but they do not dare to book dates this early in the year. It’s too
early.
Promoters in France, Switzerland, Germany and Spain agree, underground gigs
for December are often closed from September onwards. This is, once the
season starts again. “And why not, -you reader may ask- doing it in summer?”
Well, summer is not the season for underground concerts in Europe, but rather
for festivals. After summer holidays are over, workers and students are back in
the cities, and the programs of live music venues start running again. In
addition, we are an international band. The bass player lives in Norway, the
drummer in Switzerland, and the guitar player is a professional in a Spanish
orchestra with most dates over the summer. Thus, the only time when we can
all do this is December.
We have informal confirmation and commitment from more than 10 other
venues to close shows. However, the majority of these places are collectives,
who gather periodically in order to organize the plans for the venues and make
the crucial decisions. This entails that decisions for December will be made
from August-September, and therefore we cannot announce those informal
dates.
As a result, the GoFundme project becomes vital. It can be a way to ensure that if
some of those gigs finally do not take place, at least we can cover the costs of
staying there until the next.
100% confirmed shows are Vallekas on 06.12.23, Barcelona on 07.12.23, Le Crès on 8.12.23, Basel on 9.12.23, Strasbourg on 10.12.23, München on 13.12.23, Chemnitz on 14.12.23,
Braunschweig on 15.12.23 and Elmshorn 16.12.23 (1.5 hours from Denmark).
As such, there is the possibility that some gigs get canceled, that new ones are
confirmed, and that the route needs to be modified accordingly. Our overall idea
is to have an organized route up north following a straight line. Economically
and ecologically efficient. But things may change.
Arriving in Switzerland
After France, we’ll head to Geneva in Switzerland where we will most likely also
close a show. Upon entering in Switzerland, we’ll have a first expense of
approximately 40 € to obtain the famous “Vignette”. This is a requirement that
allows the circulation in Swiss or highways for a year.
But this will be a minor expense compared to others we can expect in Switzerland, one of the most expensive countries in the world. Diesel above 2€/L, food, or
accommodation. High prices according to the very high life standard in the Alpine
country.
Other places we expect to visit in Switzerland are Berna, Basel, Lucerna and
Zürich. All fantastic cities surrounded by jaw-dropping scenery. We have
already gained good experience in Switzerland, since last year we played an
incredible gig in Basel.
This took place in Hirscheneck, a collective that includes a restaurant and live music venue, and which for many years has acted as a gathering point for many other social collectives. An institution in Switzerland for social movements but also for art displays, live music and other cultural expressions. Fantastic venue and fantastic people.
However this year, our gig in Basel will take place in Off Bar, another well-known venue for underground music. It is likely that on our way back to Spain, we will perform
again in Basel, possibly in a different club also renowned among rock, punk and
metal enthusiasts.
Willkommen / Welcome
From Switzerland, we’ll move into Germany, where we have high interest in
performing since there is an important scene in the type of music we play
(Punk, Hardcore, Thrash, Metal).
Two shows have already been confirmed in Germany, both of them in the north: in Braunschweig (Café Bar Spunk) and in Elmshorn (Saal Apollo). In Germany there is a wide underground scene in rock punk and metal music, and we expect to close several gigs on our way between Switzerland and the two already confirmed. Many venues and collectives have already been contacted, obtaining very positive responses and a clear willingness to collaborate, however a final confirmation from many venues will
still have to wait for a couple of months.
We also intend to play at Flensburg, just on the Danish border. Here is based
Kamikaze-radio, a friend radio station that periodically plays us in their
reproduction lists. If this cannot be arranged, we would return towards Spain
through Bremen, Frankfurt and Freiburg.
Luckily, Germany’s highways are free of tolls, but fuel is expensive if compared to prices in Spain, and we will travel a lot of km in this country. From Freiburg, we would again cross Switzerland and France, entering Spain through the Basque Country and spending from 18 to 20 of December there playing some shows.
Overall, this is our GoFundMe - PSYCHOSIS TOUR´23. An adventure in
which we have embarked and which we really wish to realize. Maybe this is
more possible with your help.
LOS PUTOS ARKADA.
Los Putos Arkada was founded in 2006 by three young dudes highly
influenced by the Basque Punk Rock from the 80s and 90s known as “Rock
Radical Vasco”. Over time, the band changed member several times, but kept
the underground essence of the origins, although accelerated and incorporating
aspects from d-beat, UK82 HC-punk and Thrash.
Last December’22, we already undertook a similar adventure to the one we are
planning now. We planned ourselves a small tour that took us all the way to
Switzerland, performing an incredible gig in Hirscheneck, Basel. At that time, we
were just three: Jose A., guitar player and singer; Kike, bass player and lead
singer; and Sanchez, drummer.
Only three in a three-seats van that we owned.
Planning for three is relatively easy. Sleeping can sometimes be done in the
van. Food can be also be carried in the van so we can eat anywhere and
cheap. This was a way to try and save money in accommodation and food.
However, although we got some money from the shows to cover part of the
costs, it wasn’t enough, and we had to add some money. You know, travelling
in Europe in December 2022 was extremely expensive!
Since then, the band has become much stronger and serious, and the team has
grown. Now we have two more members: Sergio, singer and original member of
the band; and Pablo, professional sound engineer who knows us, the band and
its sound, like the palm of his hand. Both are crucial for us.
However, having 2 more members makes the planning of a European tour much
more difficult. For example, the three-seat van is no longer useful, and we’ll have
to rent another one for 6. This is because we will also travel with a sixth person
that will take care of the merchandising and media. We calculate that renting a
van for 17 days, assuming an extra cost of 0.15 € + VAT per km over the first 200
km, will cost approximately 1600 €. Only the rent.
This is where the GoFundMe platform comes in place. It may allow, of course with
your support and collaboration, that we can tour around, display our art and
make people under the stage happy!
How will we spend your money?
Every euro and cent you contribute with, will be used for the expenses
generated during the tour. Here is a list of what we think these expenses will be:
Vehicle rental. We estimate that only this will account for 50% of total
expenses
Fuel. This will account for approx. 20% of expenses
Highway tolls and vignettes. The drummer has huge experience in travelling
from Spain to Switzerland. His estimations say that these costs between La
Junquera (ES) to Geneva (Ch) will be approximately 250 €, a 3.58% of the total
costs.
Accommodation. This is a huge expense. Assuming 13 nights (Approx.) and 170€ per
night, accounts for 77% of the budget.
Food. This is a more difficult cost to estimate. We have assumed approximately
750 €, a 11% of the total budget.
Unexpected circumstances. Car breakdowns, changes in route, extra fuel or
tolls. We have estimated also 750€
Yeah. Exact. The total budget is much greater than the value of our project.
You should know that at the concerts we will recover a little money from the door deal and some organizers offer food and accommodation. This allows us to pay for part of the tour.
Extra info
We are an old-school band that has been playing for more than 15 years, and
thus the social media management is not our best skill. But anyhow, we try hard
to keep updated primarily in Instagram, as well as Facebook, Youtube, etc.
Below you can find links to our social media to know more about us and listen to
our music. If you want to contact us, please do so through email, website or
instagram. Cheers!!
Organizer
Manuel Sanchez
Organizer
Montilla