The duo of Travis Stewart and Praveen Sharma have been mighty busy, prepping their live shows and traveling all around the world in preparation for their self-titled debut LP release on Hotflush. While the dudes have been busy wowing crowds and carefully crafting all the elements together for their live A/V show, they’ve also been going on mini-adventures, checking out what’s around them with open minds (and stomachs). URB asked Sepalcure to give us an exclusive tour diary of their latest European tour, as well as their live A/V debut in Mexico City. Praveen kindly obliged, and down below, he gives URB the skinny on all things crazy, cool and vivid. Check out the diary, the photos and the exclusive behind-the-scenes video after the jump.
October 13th
Leaving for Krakow for Unsound Festival. Kinda special for us since we’ve played each NYC edition of Unsound, the first before we were even signed to Hotflush. It’ll be the first time Travis and I have seen each other in a few weeks. Excited we’ll also be playing with our homeboy Jacques Greene!
October 14th
I arrive in the early afternoon after my red-eye flight and head to the hotel. After a long flight like that, the only way I can function is with a shower and, if appropriately-timed, a beer. To me this is a blessing; getting to play shows, meet people into the music etc. It’s not work. Instead of sleeping I check out a bit of Krakow and head to The Caretaker, Morton Subotnik, Kode 9 show. No one I know is around yet so I’m pretty glad I’m being led around by someone from Unsound.
The show’s good. Not great, but good. The visuals for Subotnick and Kode9 are pretty impressive. Afterwards, while leaving for the night party to see homeboy Space Dimension Controller and the legendary Model 500, I run into a bunch of my Leisure System friends from Berlin. I already know the nights going to be a blast when I see those guys. Get to chat a bit with Andy Stott who’s playing with us the next day. Always dope meeting other musicians whose music you really respect.
The show is great. Love the raw venue, Space Dimension slowly eases the pace up for the dance floor. Pleasant surprise of the night is Ital down in the basement. I’ve slept on his stuff until now. Model 500 plays the first record I ever bought, still one of my top 10 tracks of all time, “Starlight”. Perfect ending to a great night.
October 15th
Travis arrives and we hang a bit until he collapses from exhaustion in his hotel room. Homeboy has been touring nonstop since Room(s), in my opinion album of the year, came out. I hang a bit with Jacques Greene and the infamous Joe Shabadu, trading some crazy show stories until Travis wakes up. We decide on rehearsing quickly in my hotel room since we haven’t run through the set for a month or so. I’m already a bit nervous about the show. I’m always a bit nervous until I walk on stage. The exact opposite usually happens once I’m out there though. Travis doesn’t help the situation when he tells me about a crazy dream he had while he was napping. He’s dreamt that he walked on stage for a big festival gig and all of his controllers were wiped clean – no mapped controls. I try to shrug it off and we run through the set flawlessly. Excited for tonight.
We get to the venue – its sort of like a music reunion. Lots of friendly faces I haven’t seen for a while and even more I’m excited to meet. We finally get on stage after Untold’s new Dreadnought project finishes and quickly setup. Mid-way through our first song Travis looks at me and I know something is seriously wrong. His nightmare has come true. All of his controllers are wiped clean and he needs to remap the controls on the fly. We’ve got a pretty intricate setup so that’s no small task. I try to hold the set together while he remaps but the first few songs are obviously rough. Finally, he looks up with a grin and I know he’s locked it down. Somehow we pull through with hardly anyone noticing. Harrowing, but strangely rewarding after the set is over. The visuals behind us are great but I can’t help wishing Sougwen was here with us.
We sign our first autographs ever. One on some paper, two on some hands. The kids are young. Big difference from US shows – the youth can actually go to these events and bring their unique sense of energy to them.
October 16th
Travis and I scheduled for some closing party solo sets tonight (as Braile & Machinedrum). We spend most of the evening kicking it with Jacques and Joe nursing ourselves back to normalcy with a dangerously liberal dose of polish beer. Great dinner with new and old friends – always one of my favorite parts of touring. Jacques Greene and I decide last second to do a back to back Serato set since the closing party is more a party vibe than the other festival events. It’s a blast. Travis plays one of the most hype sets I’ve seen him throw down since Horst Flush and Jacques and I play a set that ranks up there with some of the most fun sets I’ve ever played. The party itself has one of those vibes where no one wants the festival to end. Definitely a sign of a job well done by Unsound.
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