Paradise Lost's Greg Mackintosh: Epic Kings & Idols Tour Diary No. 2

I'll start this with a great day off in Portland, Oregon. Our guitar tech Milly and I went for a long walk in search of some Otter wax (to wax my jacket with), which I found out is made and distributed in Portland.

Usually expeditions like this end up in not finding anything other than yourself being in the wrong part of town, but this was the opposite. We ended up in a fantastic bohemian area with great food and bars, and it had the streets closed off for a big art market, which was really interesting. There was a stall that made cool belts out of old bike tires, another that had 3D puzzles made out of tree trunks, etc.

We ended up in a nice bar with a micro brewery attached with good food and lots of different beer to try. After many ales and having found my wax, we went back to the bus very content... We have a few gigs under our belt now, so I will recall things that stand out.

In LA, I had a particularly good day. Not least because our very kind press lady, Nikki, brought two cases of beer, which saved me foraging. Tour bus is starting to smell pretty bad by now too with lots of stage clothes hanging up, drying out. It's like a mixture of vegetable soup and used cat litter — delicious.

The next day in Phoenix was a bad day. Two songs into the set, our singer’s throat closed up and he had to halt the show. We had to pull out of Houston too whilst he went for steroid injections and got medication for some viral thing.

Into Lawrence, Kansas, and we are back on track, spreading the gloom.

A couple of days later, we are in Chicago. There is a severe lack of anything near the venue, so starvation and begging for beer from the Katatonia boys is the order of the day. At this point, I also realize that I only brought three t-shirts with me on the tour and am in desperate need of more.

After talking to my mate Scoot, who plays bass in Vallenfyre with me, I realize that his mate Karl who sings in Alehammer (and used to sing in Impulse Manslaughter) lives not too far from the venue. Karl kindly agrees to furnish me with three crust shirts, and I meet up with him and his girlfriend Anna after the show for a couple of beers. This turns into a lot of beers and some whisky. A great time was had, and I pay for it the next day.

Pittsburgh last night, and this was the first show of the tour where I really felt that the majority of the crowd really didn't get us. This put me in a bit of a crabby mood, and I ended up going to bed immediately after coming off stage.

After a very broken night’s sleep because of Canadian border control, we end up in Toronto. I had a walk down the street with Adrian, our drummer, and we found a nice little cafe with good coffee.

Things are looking up.

We go on stage in a couple of hours here in Toronto so I'll leave it there and pick it up in a few days.

• Cheers!
• Greg