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Friday, August 23, 2019

GROWING UP GREEN! Wake up Wake up! Poland is Europe’s Texas for Metal!!

Back in the dark days of the Revolution and Lech Walesa, I was prying my way into the badlands of Poland. It was a different time in the ‘80’s. Tight borders, police with machine guns, and white nunchucks, very little food and all grey buildings. War torn. Poor. But Poland was on the edge, with the door to the modern world opening slowly. Today it is a modern, beautiful country, ripe with tourist trade and a choice of historic cities to vacation in. In25 years I saw the county explode into the scene like a ripe volcano! On the last tour, one of the festivals fell out and I was left with 4 days off in a row. What did I do? I decided to take the Metal to Poland!!.


I hit up our agent in London and asked him to please get the open dates filled with Polish dates. He was skeptical but I knew it would rock hard! I messaged Ania Janiak to find a club in Plock and I would make one of the dates a show for her and her city. Yes, I made a show for Ania Janiak... for her dedicated, loyal friendship and her hours of support to all Cavalera acts. She works tirelessly, for the love of Metal.


Ania found a club that was available and also interested, so I sent the info to our agent. He landed 3 other gigs, Warsaw, Poznan and Wroclaw. The dates were filled! By the time they were announced, we had 2 weeks to sell tickets! Plock sold out in 20 minutes, and the others took only a couple days. It was revolutionary to sell tickets so quickly, in the heat of the summer, with no advance notice! Our Tribe stayed true.


When we got to Plock, our Arena bus parking happened to be near Ania’s family’s apartment, so Max, Jadore and I went there for lunch with Ania and her parents. We had a fun time and ate delicious food! For her parents’ privacy, I won’t share any personal photos.




The venue was intimate!! Our sound maestro had to sit outside the venue to run sound, because the venue was so crammed with fans!



The shows were rowdy! The Tribe was hungry and they ravaged their fill till the next visit! Thanks to all the many cities that rock with Metal fans!!! Poland has the fervor and gnashing of the crowds in Texas!! Never underestimate Metal fans!! And thank you Ania, for always believing!

Class dismissed...