In January 2003 I didn’t know any German and if I were told that I would be in Rothenburg in August, playing in front of 25,000 people I wouldn’t have believed it. But it happened and I’m so very glad it did. We entered Emergenza 2003 as a sure way of getting a gig or two to warm up our new drummer Adam, for the hectic diary of gigs we had planned. His first gig with us as a full time member was our first Emergenza heat, way back in January. FIRST ROUND. We got through in second place with 68 votes from the audience. During this round we made friends with local bands like Lo*Chine and Without Reason, both of whom we have gone on to gig with and, more importantly, we have become good friends. SECOND ROUND - NEXUS - SOUTHAMPTON. We had played in Southampton on the two nights before this round and we knew that our fans would spread themselves out over the three nights to come to the show that suits them best. We played with the fantastic Lounge Act and Spyder Baby and I’ve never known the place to be so full of support for local music of every genre. We got through on highest scoring runners up spot. Things were getting crazy now; we had to start taking this seriously… THIRD ROUND - SOUTH COAST REGIONAL FINAL - WEDGEWOOD ROOMS - PORTSMOUTH. We were voted top of all the acts that night. The judges took the top five voted bands and chose who they wanted to go to the UK final. They chose us! They also thought we deserved best bass player and best drummer along the way. So it was off to the Mean Fiddler (LA2) in London for the UK final. UK FINAL - LA2 – LONDON. The LA2 is a great venue, I’ve seen most of my favorite bands here and it was a thrill to get up on that stage in front of the capacity crowd. Winning was the furthest thing from our minds when we played. Toupé love big stages and enthusiastic new crowds. The excitement was incredible. When it was announced that we were chosen by the judges to go to Germany I was speechless. It was a combination of sheer delight and terror. We were chosen with top London band, Jove, who really put in a good show for their home crowd. All the way back to Southampton we couldn’t believe it. Germany…”But I don’t know any German!” I said. We had two weeks to get ready for the final event. I dug out some old books and tried my best to learn German in this time. I failed miserably. INTERNATIONAL FINAL 2003 – ROTHENBURG – GERMANY. Long before the music had started I was euphoric about just being in Germany with all the friendly people, locals and the other bands we had met. Backstage of the Emergenza stage the beer was free and quite irresistible. We were not playing until Saturday so I took the opportunity to relax and enjoy myself. I have never had so much fun in my life. In the audience we met Spanish people, French people, Swedish people and not too mention a whole host of lovely Germans. I learnt a few phrases from all of their languages and we partied hard deep into the night. I went to sleep knowing how rewarding this experience had been already, and we hadn’t even played yet… Saturday was a rush to get things organized. We were playing at 5:45 but we wanted to get down and see some of the other Emergenza bands. We had our basses set up in the Ernie Ball Music Man bus - you really feel like a rock star when you do that! We came up with the set list just before we walked out. It was great to see so many faces from the other bands in the audience when we started into the first song. Now was the time to test the language barrier problem. In a break in the first song I just sang “Deutschland!” and the crowd went crazy! When the song finished I looked up again and the audience had doubled! Exciting is not the word for that feeling. The response from everybody was so warm and friendly. The soundman said some nice things about us and the other bands were just as keen as us to support each other. It didn’t feel like a competition at all. Sunday in the afte