China, Algeria, USA, UK, Israel, El Dorado!

This year simply flies by! We start work on a new album, so we tour a little less ... meaning we ‘only’ whizz though 10 countries.

Big on our agenda was our joint venture with BOOM PAM, the great band from Tel Aviv. We put on a joint show - playing six songs together - and go on a small tour, in and around Berlin. Of course we plan to return the visit! Our visit to Algeria turnes out to be one of our all time highlights. Invited by the Centre Culturel Français and the Goethe Institute we spend an amazing week playing, travelling and meeting people ... what a country, what a discovery! Concerts are packed with youngsters, with an incredible passion for life. Civil war and terror have almost forced this country to its knees, yet the people are warm, open ... and curious! We return home speechless.

Then in November we visit China for the first time. Well to be honest, we visit GuangZhou (ex Canton). Given the size of China, this of course can hardly stand for the rest of the place. And that is what this visit is about to: we have no clue. China is HUGE! What we can say is, that what we see we like; we are surprised by the fantastic response of the audiences, surprised by the feel of the place, surprised by the look of the place ... we love it, and it's all about the future. We spend a wonderful week with great crowds (in every aspect of the word - these guys are party people!) We would love to come back.

Playing with a percussionist is always special for us, but teaming up with Dhoal drummer Johnny Kalsi is a dream come true. We invite him to play with us on the WDR (German national radio) "Radio Night" in Dortmund. “17 Hippies & the Beat” will go down in history as "one of those nights".

We use our touring breaks to record. Well we do sit back and relax too ... anyway, our ideas slowly boil to 12 songs. These we rehearse, and record. “El Dorado” the title, develops as we start to think about what it is like to go out into the world, and find yourself "at home"!