Skipping Stones Records

Our first pre-Popfest meet-up occurred on Wednesday, October 4th at the Skipping Stones Records HQ. We had invited the band Locas in Love from Köln, Germany to come over for dinner and to practice. After we invited them to play at the Popfest (and they accepted!), they decided to mix their record over here, too. They stayed at the hospitable abode of Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT, a mere 40 minutes from our house.

We invited some friends over, but only Aileen and her boyfriend Ryan could make it (it being a school night and all). Aileen plays keyboards in our band Singing Bridges (with William on drums, me on bass). Aileen came over at about 6:30pm and we proceeded to drink all of the red wine. I was a little stressed because I had ambitious plans to make homemade pesto from the basil that was in my garden. I rocked the Cuisinart, boiled Barilla Farfalle and whipped up dinner rather quickly.

We invited them to come over at 7:00pm.

We waited.

Drank some more wine.

And waited.

And waited.

They finally arrived at about 7:45pm. I guess they had gotten a little lost.

It was a little awkward when they came in! How do you greet people that you’ve only spoken to on the phone once and have had some emails back and forth? We met Björn (guitar / vocals), Stefanie (bass / vocals), Niklas (guitar / vocals) and Maurizio (drums and some vocals). Benny was also along as their tour manager. Everyone dug in to the giant bowl of pasta. Unfortunately I did not take a picture because I didn’t want be obnoxious and I was self-conscious. Stefanie took some photos of us at the dinner table, so hopefully we will see them!

They had promised to bring cheap wine and beer, but unfortunately this is Connecticut, a truly Puritan state, and of course they never found a place on the way. Luckily I had bought another bottle of red, so we proceeded to drink that. I gave Niklas, Benny and Maurizio our favorite cheap beer, Pabst. Then of course they requested coffee and we had dessert! We had classic American fare: Aileen brought chocolate chip cookies from Stop & Shop and I bought an apple pie. Everyone had pie and Stefanie made the best face when she tasted it (even though it was store-bought!). “Hmmm! I like pie!” She said in her German accent.

The basement practice went okay. Björn played my guitar, but here goes another “unfortunately” in my story. Someone else had been using it for several months and apparently the strings were completely rusted out. Björn couldn’t even tune it. I felt completely awful and embarrassed. But he made do. I couldn’t believe that I was finally hearing their songs live for the first time. The band was really tight and you could tell that they really enjoy playing together. The songs are dynamic, with highs and lows, quiet parts and loud parts. I don’t mind at all that I cannot understand what they are singing! I did email Björn at one point and he said something about bad people, but more on that later for their final show at the Cake Shop on Monday!

They finished their set and we went back upstairs for more cheap beer. Alas, the red wine was gone. We had the privilege of hearing some of the first mixes from their upcoming album. It sounded great. Niklas talked a lot about the studio and technical stuff. They were glad to hear it on a stereo, even though we were not in the same room.

We exchanged presents, too! Björn gave us a Locas in Love bag with Stephanie’s artwork screenprinted on it – a polar bear. We received tons of great stuff, like some Locas in Love records:





Björn also gave us some CDs from his label, WUWTON. He doesn’t release stuff anymore, he said it took too much of his time – we understand this! We especially liked his release by the band Sternbuschweg.

We gave the band Popfest shirts from our very first festival and our releases by The Charade, The Besties, Dyrdin and The Year Zero!

What else did we talk about? Big things, America, record labels, music and music and music. It gently started to rain outside and it was finally late enough to end our conversations and the flickering candlelight. Awkwardness turned into hugs and we said goodbye until the Locas show at the Saturday night Popfest.