Ahoy,
I'm trying to arrange a tour in Germany for spring time. I have two questions that someone that uses this forum may have answers to. 10,000 thanks.


1. I've heard that for an American band to tour in Great Britain, you need work permits and what not. Is Germany the same way?

2. Does anyone have any suggestions on venues or people to contact in Germany to assist in booking some shows?

hey there, I know of a couple of clubs in Germany that you should get in touch with. One of my favourites is the "Schwimmbad Club" (legendary!) in Heidelberg (60 miles south of Frankfurt); another one is the "Batschkapp" in Frankfurt (fairly large venue), Cafe Central (small indie kinda place) in Weinheim between Heidelberg and Frankfurt; Hamburg: Docks (fairly large place); I would not be surprised if all these places had websites where you can find some booking information. Good luck.

just to let you know if you want to tour great britain you definitely don't need a work permit (i live here & have booked several US bands). well no one asks for one anyhows. you might get a coupla questions at the airport on why you are bringing your instruments over - just say you are recording at such and such studio.

i haven't booked any american bands in germany yet but as far as i know you may end up paying some sort of tax as a foreign band. you may want to check on that (and chances of avoiding it) first.
apart from that there are some pretty good clubs here in cologne. gebäude 9 is one of the larger ones (but definetely the best). check: http://www.gebaeude9.de for infos.
if you need smaller venues there are some, email me if you need more information.

salkin red wrote:i haven't booked any american bands in germany yet but as far as i know you may end up paying some sort of tax as a foreign band. you may want to check on that (and chances of avoiding it) first.
apart from that there are some pretty good clubs here in cologne. gebäude 9 is one of the larger ones (but definetely the best). check: http://www.gebaeude9.de for infos.
if you need smaller venues there are some, email me if you need more information.

Yeah, I've been talking with some folks who've gone over and tend to steer clear of Germany because they say it's difficult to work there. Now, I have a real hard time believing that the german government would give a shit about a tiny little rock band playing in a few clubs over there.

But thanks for the info and i very well just might contact you.