Never get off the van: Wormrot check-in from UK tour with Evisorax

Singapore grind trio Wormrot’s sophomore UK tour Evisorax was the sort of faceripper that had the usual confederacy of punk and metal extremists out in force, complete with dogs on strings, and the usual anarcho-patched collective. The Deciblog could only witness first-hand the fireworks-indoors intensity of tour finale in London, but enlisted band manager Azean Rot, aka Yan, to keep scores, update the diary, take photos, chronicle this shit and make sure that Arif, Rasyid and Fit didn’t wander off too far.


31 Aug 2011 (London)
We reached London Heathrow Airport at 5.05am. Waiting for our tour manager, Heath Derrig, we had our first stick of cigarette after a fucking 12-hour, sweaty, uncomfortable, dusty flight. It’s heaven on Earth! Rasyid saw a big ass white mini bus and thought that that might be our van. But then again, Rasyid said he might be wrong ‘cos the van is too white, too clean and too big for a band like us. When we went into the van, we were shocked to see a small table, nine seats and a bed where two people can sleep. I really can’t believe my eyes, guys! It’s like touring in a 5-star van. Well, for us at least. Heath drove us to South Wales where Evisorax guitarist Daniel’s mum, Terry, booked three rooms for us to stay in New Inn Hotel, about 10 minutes’ drive from her house. We were supposed to sleepover at her house but there were nine of us. Such a lovely lady and a cool mum too! We had good old English breakfast and got some sleep.


01 Sep 11 (The Undertone, Cardiff)

Finally, the first day of tour! It’s a 30 minute drive from the hotel to the show so after we checked out from the hotel at 11am, we drove to Terry’s house to have breakfast. Terry cooked bacon, sausages and toast for us. A good breakfast leads to a happy stomach, which means a good start of the day. We chilled at Terry’s house for a while ‘cos it’s too early to be at the venue. While we were chilling, the hotel called Terry up to charge her for taking some stuff from the hotel. Well, it’s actually us, we stole some pillows and towels for the tour. Ha ha… Guilty as hell. Of course we had to return the stuff or Terry will be charged . The hotel was really upset ‘cos we smoked inside the toilet in the room and they can’t rent out the room to other guests ‘cos it reeked of smoke. They let it go and treat it as a misunderstanding due to the fact we are not British. Sorry for the trouble we caused you, Terry!

The show was at a basement bar, The Undertone. The space was small and dark but it was packed. It’s a great show though the boys felt that their set was kind of sloppy due to the fact that it’s been a long time since they jammed. We slept at Heath’s house and head to Nottingham the next day.

02 Sep 2011 (The Old Angel, Nottingham)
Heath brought us to a nice place, Tracy’s Cafe, where he usually had his breakfast. We had the typical English breakfast but Daniel, Rasyid and Arif had mega jumbo breakfast, four sausages, bacon, three eggs, three hashbrowns, toast, fried bread, tomatoes, mushrooms and baked beans. American sized breakfast in the UK!
After breakfast we went to Earache headquarters to meet up with Digby [Pearson] and Dan [Tobin] for a short meeting, which of course led to Digby treating Heath, Wormrot and Evisorax for a nice lunch buffet. Thanks for the hearty lunch, Dig!

We got to the venue early. The boys had to meet up with Jordan Dubash to record their music video for one of the songs, “Breed to Breed”, from Noise EP. The guitar head fused during Evisorax set so they cut their set short coz they didn’t want to take up our time… really thoughtful of them. Even though their set was short but it was with impact like a punch in your ass! Wormrot set was killer;this time in Nottingham, people were moshing and jumping off the stage for rolling fucking good time! Mind fucking blowing!

After the show, Heath had to drive us straight to the terminal to catch the ferry to Belfast. Our ferry leaves at noon next day but we wanna beat the traffic and drive overnight. Heath drove eight hours from Nottingham to Cairnryan and that was without any traffic; if we were to leave in the morning from Nottingham, we would have missed the ferry. Massive kudos to Heath, driving and not getting sleep at all! We really appreciate what he’s been doing. Managing the tour and driving at the same time is really hard work. Daniel helped out with the tour managing as well. In fact, it was because of him as well, that we had gotten quite a number of shows in the UK. Thanks a million, Longman! That’s my nickname for him he’s 6ft 7.

03 Sep 2011 (Aunt Annie’s, Belfast)
We managed to change our departure at an earlier time as we had reached the ferry port early. When we got to Belfast, we had to get the guitar head fixed before heading over to the Linen House Hostel that the promoter had booked for us. The hostel was really clean and cheap. After some rest, we head over to the venue for load in and dinner. We were quite surprised at the turnouts in Belfast; it’s our first time for both Wormrot and Evisorax. The sound was incredibly massive and all three bands really played their hearts out. It really was an amazing night. The crowd didn’t move around much but they were listening and that’s good enough for us. At least they come to support the bands. That truly means a lot to us.

We got back to the hostel; ,e, Fit and Arif went to bed early. The rest went for some drinks at the basement of the hostel and didn’t sleep ’til 5am.

04 Sep 2011 (The Pint, Dublin)
It’s a smooth drive on a Sunday morning from Belfast to Dublin. We reached the venue early so we went to walk around the city while Heath waited at the venue. We went to take a group photo with the statue of Phil Lynott, had a quick snack from McDonald’s and bought some Irish souvenirs.

Load-in was quick but a bitch as usual ‘cos venues are usually on the second floor or the basement. Either way, we had to climb up or down the stairs. Yeah, I know, we are unhealthy fuckers! The show started at around eight. The promoter cooked vegan food for us but it wasn’t enough ‘cos there were 9 mouths to feed and, honestly, it’s not that we are against vegan food but it really doesn’t fill us up. We were still starving no matter how much we ate. In other words, we still need our daily Vitamin M—meat

Show went well. There weren’t a lot of people but the crowd was still supportive. There were eight bands in total that night; killer night, good people, great sound and awesome show overall.

After the show, John, a friend of the promoter, led us to his house where we will be spending the night. We were so hungry that we asked John to stop by at Papa John’s Pizza. John offered to buy for us while his housemate brought us to their house. John and his housemate had set up some mattresses for us. It was really nice of them. A simple gesture goes a long way.

05 Sep 2011 (The Borough, Sunderland)
We left at 8am to catch the ferry in Belfast, which leaves at noon back to Cairnryan. The venue was freaking tiny. On a rainy Monday night, you would not expect a lot of people coming down for a show. There were so many people that it was hard to play in a tiny space when some people were moshing in your face and at the same time kept jumping on Rasyid’s pedals causing the boys to play “Manipulation” three times. Rasyid’s guitar string snapped and Daniel had lend his guitar to Rasyid. Everyone seems to enjoy it very much so it’s a great night.

After the show, Rasyid, Fit and Chris went to play some Xbox before bed. Daniel, Seamus, Arif and myself went to get a few drinks while Arif drew on the toilet door for the bar owner, Grant. After that we went to vandalize the male toilet door with all the Singlish bad words that we can think off… We didn’t sleep until 4am.


06 Sep 2011 (The 13th Note, Glasgow)

It was raining in Glasgow [it always rains in Glasgow― JH] when we arrived at the 13th Note. We played the same venue as last year. We didn’t really finish it so again we were starving.
The show was just like last year. The crowd was fucking supportive of every bands playing that night. The sound was so full of impact. Every band was on full-throttle that night. I feel like I was being punched in my face when each band started playing. After the show, Heath drove us to Seamus’ house in Manchester. It was a three hour drive but we would rather drive from Manchester to Liverpool than drive from Glasgow to Liverpool for the next show. At least all of us could have plenty of rest. We were starving by the time we got to Seamus’s house. Arif’s so hungry he hallucinated that he’s eating chicken cooked in coconut milk and birds-eye chilli with rice before sleeping.

07 Sep 2011 (The Masque, Liverpool)
Sal from Whiplash Promotions told Daniel that she had prepared food enough for 70 people. She wanted us to arrive at the venue at 3.30pm instead of 5pm. When we arrived there, there was a massive spread of sandwiches, a plate of vegetables to dip into humous, cakes, beef stew and potatoes. Sal is the best!
After gobbling down the food, the boys went for their soundcheck. The sound was really incredible. When you stand in front of the stage while they were doing sound check, you can just feel your heart thumps against your chest violently. Yeah… It’s that good.

On the same night, Cannabis Corpse and SSS are playing in Manchester. In Liverpool, around 90 people turn up. That’s good enough on a rainy weekday. The show went really well. All the bands were tight. Daniel’s wireless pack failed during their set and he had to use Rasyid’s guitar. The boys worked really well together helping each other out. During Wormrot’s set, the crowd went ballistic and crazy. There was moshing and some even tried to stagedive even thought there’s not many people to catch them. Oh… For the love of grind! We went back to Sal’s house after the show. Sleep was beautiful.

08 Sep 2011 (The Old Bell, Derby)
The weather in Derby was nice. Not to hot and not to cold. We had ice creamsbefore load in and soundcheck. Again, the sound was incredible, but nothing compared to the Masque. Digby turned up for the show. Me and Arif had a brief meeting with him while Fit took care of the merch. The people that came down for the show really enjoyed themselves. Hell, even Digby enjoyed himself headbanging. All in all, it was one hell of a night―good sound, great crowd and good food! We went back to Heath’s after the show.

09 Sep 2011 (The Green Tavern, Bath)
We had breakfast at Tracy’s Café again before heading to Bath. It was quite a drive.We also had to pick up our merch to top up before our European tour as shipping fees are costly. The show went well apart from few of our friends could not get into the venue as they were too drunk; The security called the police as they were making a hell lot of noise about able to go in. The people were supportive and some people who were trying to mosh had fallen down, as the floor was wet with beer and water. It was a sloppy mosh but still funny and entertaining to watch.

After the show, Paul (Promoter) arranged for us to sleep at a hostel last minute. Initially he had arranged that Wormrot will sleep at his house and Evisorax will sleep at his friend’s house but we didn’t want to split up as that means Heath will have to pick us up from different place in the morning. Evisorax boys also had wait till 3am for his friend to finish work. They thought that we would party after the show. Honestly, we don’t party at all. We’d rather sleep or play some PS3 or XBOX. Call us geeks and boring people but that’s just who we are. We prefer our peace and quiet time after the shows for a good rest as we spend most of the time in van. Take note, we still have another month tour in Europe so it’s very important that all of us especially Heath, get plenty of sleep. When you tour, you have to be on the ball and be very discipline.

10 Sep 2011 (The Grosvenor, London)
Today is the last day with Evisorax. Arif guested vocals for one of Evisorax songs and Chris and Daniel guest vocal for two Wormrot songs. The show went really well with almost everyone moshing, doing a mini circle pit, pushing each other and even dancing! They really wanted to fucking wreck the whole building. It was so massive till the knocked on the monitors causing 1 of the monitors to fall on Rasyid’s foot. All in all, it was a great closing for the UK tour with the boys playing “the Final Insult” and doing an encore.

The journey with Evisorax had ended. It had been a great pleasure working and touring with them. They fucking ripped & giving their 200 per cent showmanship and dedication every single performance. No bullshit, just fucking go, straight up grind with a touch of groove! Not only that, they are such great people; we really appreciate their help and friendship. It was an emotional night for all of us. Sad to be parting with good friends that have been on the road with for many days.