TURISAS: Why We Can't Play Your City/Country

Finnish warlords TURISAS have issued the following update:

"Okay, so there isn't a day someone asks us why we are not playing their city, country etc. on our upcoming tour(s). There are many reasons, but the first thing to point out here is that we as the band are not booking our shows, or arranging our tours. The chain is somewhat complex, but to simplify things here's how it goes:

"Band -> Management -> Booking Agency -> National Promoter -> Local Promoter -> Venue

"We love to tour and would happily play anywhere on the planet, but there's a number of things that:

1) The main requirement for a show is that there needs to be an interest in the band. The venue or the local promoter arranging shows at the venue needs to believe that enough people will turn up to see the band. If you want to see a band in your town, country etc. the most helpful thing to do is to contact the people arranging shows would they not be certain that there's enough demand for the band. Unfortunately asking the band to play city/country xxx doesn't really help no matter how many people do it.

2) Setting up a tour is not as easy as one might thing. It's a huge logistical puzzle and there are many things that need to be considered. The routing needs to make sense, as every kilometer, ferry, and day without a show on the road costs a lot of money. The drivers regulations in the EU are STRICT and even a tourbus has its limits on how far it can make it per day, still in time for setting up everything for the show on the night. Sometimes it's impossible to find a date for a show - even if there is interest — because the venue schedule needs to match with a sensible routing on the tour.

"So, as much as we'd loved to see Spain, Belgium, Italy, France etc. part of the upcoming tour, it just didn't work out this time for some of the reasons given above or a combination of both them.

"What comes to the UK leg of the tour and not playing Manchester, Nottingham etc. is only because this tour is sort of an add-on patch to the tour we did in September. We're playing cities we missed out on that one."

TURISAS European tour dates:

Mar. 01 - Northampton, UK @ Soundhouse
Mar. 02 - Sheffield, UK @ Corporation
Mar. 03 - Aberdeen, UK @ Moshulu
Mar. 04 - Edinburgh, UK @ Studio 24
Mar. 05 - Liverpool, UK @ Academy 2
Mar. 06 - Norwich, UK @ Waterfront
Mar. 07 - Peterborough, UK @ Park
Mar. 08 - Leeds, UK @ Cockpit
Mar. 10 - Exeter, UK @ Cavern
Mar. 11 - Cardiff Clwb, UK @ Ifor Bach
Mar. 12 - Southampton, UK @ The Brook
Mar. 13 - London, UK @ Electric Ballroom
Mar. 14 - Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2
Mar. 15 - Haarlem, Netherlands @ Patronaat
Mar. 16 - Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Doornroosje
Mar. 18 - Hamburg, Germany @ Marx
Mar. 19 - Karlsruhe, Germany @ Substage
Mar. 20 - Munich, Germany @ Metropolis
Mar. 21 - Winterthur, Switzerland @ Salzhaus
Mar. 22 - Bochum, Germany @ Matrix
Mar. 23 - Berlin, Germany @ Kato
Mar. 25 - Vienna, Austria @ Planet Music
Mar. 26 - Bratislava, Slovakia @ Randal
Mar. 27 - Prague, Czech Republic @ Rock Café
Mar. 28 - Lichtenfels, Germany @ Ragnarök Festival
Mar. 29 - Osnabrueck, Germany @ Tomahawk Festival
Mar. 31 - Malmö, Sweden @ KB
Apr. 01 - Gothenburg, Germany @ Musikens Hus
Apr. 02 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ The Rock
Apr. 03 - Oslo, Norway @ John Dee
Apr. 04 - Stockholm, Sweden @ Klubben

TURISAS is set to invade North American shores this upcoming spring as part of Paganfest 2008, which also features their fellow countrymen ENSIFERUM, TYR and ELUVEITIE. This Metal Maniacs-sponsored trek, which kicks off on April 25, is in support of the group’s critically acclaimed new album, "The Varangian Way".