Our good pals 31 Knots recently returned from a massive tour which took them to all ends of the globe. Singer/guitarist Joe Haege was kind enough to detail the thing to us in a letter. Check it out:

"This past September and October we were on tour more than we had ever been. We had also been around the blue ball in a smaller amount of time than we had ever been. The whole thing started off in Japan and ended in Dresden, Germany. Fun? Yes. Tiring? Yes. Exciting? Yes? Tedious? At times, yes.

The biggest highlights were all of us getting along the entire time (seriously, I can't remember even a tiff, which is a feat for any band), going to Poland for the first time and seeing old friends.

Japan is, in and of itself, comparable to nothing. This was our 3rd time over there and I simply don't tire of it. Well, except the pachinko parlors. I don't even go inside. They just drain your soul walking by. But, my god, the food...the food is so good. And our label / booking boss, Takuya, is one of the most humble and down to earth guys. Oh, and he got Melt Bannana to play with us. That was great. In fact, the weirdest part was that they opened for us! Come to find out that they are not incredibly popular in japan. It's so funny because its the same syndrome we have here. I guess you can't be a prophet in your own land. At least that's a convenient saying. All of the shows in Japan were pretty great, but, of course, Tokyo took the prize, especially because we have some really good friends there and we were able to play with them and visit and drink an ungodly amount of soju.

Europe started off with a certain mailaise, for me at least, that took a day or 2 to shake. Soon, though, it was feeling very nice to walk the streets of France and Belgium again. Jesus, Brussells and Paris were seriously off the charts. If I had to pick a personal favorite I woudl definitely say Brussells. Aside from being one of my favorite cities, we had the honor of playing the Botanique, which is a beautiful botancial garden that has a green house rotunda building at one end of the garde. Truly beautiful. Packed rooms and multiple encores...rock and roll wet dreams. It's a great experience and it is nice to feel like so much work was not in vain.

Then there were all the new countries we saw: Italy (or at least more of it), Poland, Slovenia, Denmark. All of these places were great unto themselves, but they were made amazing by the hospitality and generosity of our hosts any given place. I must say that Poland made the biggest impression on me. All of the cities were great (we stayed in the west), but Krakow was about as magical feeling and looking as I can imagine an american romanticizing Europe...which I've tried to quit doing.

As a band, we don't know what we are doing now. A long break is in order. What else is in order a gigantic thank you to all of our friends and new friends that were so friendly and great to hang out with.

Now I shut up.

jh"