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Sep 10, 2009 Web Exclusive By Dungen Photography by Dungen

The Swedish psych-rock band Dungen just finished touring the US of A. Earlier in their tour we posted the first part of band's tour blog, written and photographed by Dungen exclusively for Under the Radar. Dungen started their tour playing with Fleet Foxes and Woods opened for them. Check out our review of their Philadelphia show. Here's part 2 of Dungen's tour blog:

BLOG NUMBER 2:

Halftime!

In Joshua Tree, National Park.

My stomach gets pains more easily now since more destructive lifestyle on earlier tours, so that has been the case since Asheville, NC. Got better after Chris giving me the knowledge of Kamboocha. Chinese green tea, cultured for 30 days, tastes like apple cider vineger, and of course available with ten different options of flavor, I had ginger and natural, it helped so I got three more and brought in the van. Though it's ironicly gone worse today, at one of the world's most amazing places, Keys Wiew, Joshua Tree!

Traveling like this for me, together with four friends, is a sociopsychologic experiment. I spend too much time by myself when I'm home. I miss my turntables. Scratch.

But though everything is forgotten as soon as we are standing on a stage playing music in front of people which is so far really fun. Tiaz, Johan and Reine is my favorite band and the way they change and find variations of the improvised parts and make it sound fresh every night is amazing. I mostly just play tambourine and listen, dance and whatever.

Fleet Foxes are really the sweetest guys, such a treat to do shows with them, we got along very well off stage as well. We're going to hook up with Robin in Big Sur. Thinking about doing "The Protector" with him in our set, beautiful song.

Must buy a record bag soon. Bring it on the plane as handluggage. Our vinyls weighs a ton! Have found good stuff. Newcleus, Audio Two- top billi'n (!) UTFO (mixmaster ice), Invisble skratch piklz vs klaz uv death etc etc...

Woods are a fourpiece. Jeremy writes pretty songs. And Lucas from Gunanos, Brooklyn on the wheels of plastic, he uses two tapedecks and a mixer and a bag of casettes with recorded sounds which he cuts with the fader, transformscratch kind of. Kevin (aka Dave) and Jarvis are also the sweetest, I never remember who of them that isn´t driving their van, crazy long distances.

Highway Wolf is the shit, big up Chris!!

/Gustav Ejstes

Joshua Tree

08/25/09

 

Dear readers,

I am sorry we haven't done our job properly. This is but the third post in one month for this tour diary. What can I say? We have been busy touring, and right now we're on our way from Vancouver to Seattle to do our very last show of the tour, the 25th in 31 days and 10 000 miles later. We have swum in both the Atlantic and the Pacific as well as cold desert springs, macheted our way through the corn fields of Iowa, meandered around in the neon lights of random cities, late night heavy jams in Asbury Park, NJ, got a flat tire in Nowhere, LA, for ever driven across the endless plains of the south always aiming towards that blue ridge on the horizon, we've passed through summer thunder storms, watched the sunrise over Phoenix, AZ, and in the evening watched it set again in Joshua Tree, made wishes under the shooting stars of Big Sur, CA, I even got to wine and dine while the world was on fire as if just to point out the absurdity of what we're up to. And of course we met thousands and thousands of people all over the land. It's all been so much fun and exhausting and magical and frustrating and painful and beautiful, and I would do it all over again right now if I had the chance. So long!

(From California to the New York island, from the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters... *humming along with the sunset*)

/Mattias Gustavsson

...on the road...

09/03/09

 

POSTSCRIPTUM:

Just wanted to add that the last show at Neumo's in Seattle was really fun. All high spirits, laughter and glee! On the last song all of Woods and all the Fleet Foxes were up on stage. A rapturous full circle of joy.

A huge thank you to all of you who came to our shows. You were the best always.

/DUNGEN

Stockholm

09/05/09

www.dungen-music.com