Patrick Seacor – aka (Paddy Boom Boom) – original Scissor Sisters’ drummer and currently singer/songwriter for “Manitou” his new project featuring an all-star line-up with members of Bowie, Byrne and Brand New Heavies.

Sex, hashish, rock & roll, sunrises—Scissor Sisters in Barcelona, Espana 6.12.03

At the hotel, we were just a block from The Apollo club where we were scheduled to play which was super convenient. The people were super friendly and extremely professional during sound check which is always nice. Being treated with respect and as a professional feels wonderful and ultimately satisfying after the years of work I have put into this. The soundman for the club is also the soundman for Buena Vista Social Club which is respectable as well. We are told that Sonic Youth had just played here the week before which makes me think we are in a genuinely top rated club with a good system. I am more and more satisfied with this situation as the days pass. I did my best version of “when the levee breaks” during the drum sound check which is always a good time.

The other band A.R.E. Weapons is busy outside with spray paint and balsa wood and seriously involved with making some fake instruments. They are “used” during their performance I found out later. We have 7 hours to kill before our scheduled 4 am performance so we eat and go back to the hotel for a wee bit of shut eye.

The Nitsa Club starts to fill up nicely while we hang out backstage and soak up the plentiful free drinks. One thing that is a blessing (and a curse for me) is that these clubs provide a bottomless supply of drinks for the artists. Several bottles of vodka and a bunch of beers and mixers are on hand for all interested in catching a buzz. The other band is busy getting dudded out in these crazy ass get ups; sickly black eye make up and hideous Euro-80’s style ripped clothes.

I go out to the balcony and watch the opening band perform their set. A.R.E. Weapons does a pretty hack industrial Techno thing with a heavy lean on 80’s style crap sounds. The drummer uses an old Simmons electronic drum kit and lays down a rough foundation for the band to “play” over. They do a lot more fake playing than actually performing their music as the show builds momentum. They climax their robotic – like antics with a smashing of their fake guitars (the ones they were making during sound check) and by blowing up several down feather pillows with explosives. There were fans onstage (the electrical kind) that proceeded to blow the feathers all over the place and make a complete mess. I dug their ambitious approach to showmanship for sure but they kinda messed up the joint for us and the clean up delayed the show a bit,

When we finally hit the stage I was feeling pretty loose but ready to hit the stage. The crowd seemed to dig us pretty good despite the fact that I don’t think most of the people had any idea what we were saying. The highlight of the show was during Comfortably Numb when some 60 year old lady jumped up and started dancing like sex starved maniac with Jason. I remember laughing as she was really seemingly turned on and humping Jason’s leg as if she really wanted him, funny indeed.

By the time we finished it was about 5am or so and we still had to unwind and have a few drinks after the show. I came backstage and Jason was making out with this guy in the dark corner of the stairwell, I realized I am gonna have to get used to this kind of thing quickly. It’s no big deal but like anything else foreign, takes a bit of getting used to. I am expanding my boundaries you could say. When all the gear was packed up and we were back to the Hotel it was about 7am or so and the sky was starting to change into shades of blue. We were all pretty burnt and tired but with a 9:30am flight just a few hours away there would be no sleeping for the group til we got on the plane. Just outside our hotel a group of transvestite party people were still hanging out in the outdoor café next door. I like the relaxed feel in Barcelona even in the wee hours, people carrying on laughing as if time was no issue at all. Still drunk with a case of the munchies, I looked desperately for food other than bread and hard sausage which seemed to be the most common “fast food” around these parts. No luck. I had what was probably my 4^th bread and sausage sandwich in as many days.

Soon after, the car service rolled up, the gear was loaded and we made our way to Barcelona International airport. We were cutting it close with the time and the band became bunch of unhappy campers as the morning airport shuffle dragged on. We had a minor meltdown with an airport official who had us waiting in the wrong line for half an hour causing us to nearly miss the plane. Once onboard, I immediately passed out until we had to change planes in Madrid just an hour after take off from Barcelona. There was a comfortable exhaustion taking over my entire body en-route to NYC. I think I slept for like 14 hours that night.