Anthrax in Russia

I received all sorts of information about the Russian border and what to expect and what to bring and what NOT to bring and what color my shoes need to be and shit like that. We can't bring our bus across the border so it has to drop us off in a 20KM 'Closed zone' that the people meeting us could not enter and our bus could only go that far. So at the border we declared all our belongings and cash. We where only going to be in ...Russia for a few days then we where flying to Sofia (Bulgaria).
The border was actually pretty easy and we where into the closed area in about 30 min (last time I crossed the Canadian Border 3 hours) the border guards where excited to see an American Heavy Metal band and to try to speak English. Everybody there looked like they were about 16 years old with heavy artillery. Once we got into the closed zone there was a gate about every ¼ mile that we had to stop at and show our vehicle pass. Finally we met our peoples in the parking lot of a gas station. Inside the gas station they had every current Hollywood blockbuster boot leg movie on DVD for about .35 cents a piece…

St. Petersburg, (Previously Leningrad, Previously St. Petersburg) was celebrating its Independence and the 300 anniversary of the city. So what seemed to be ALL of the Military was in town walking down the middle of the streets drunk as hell, singing (what I thought was patriotic songs but could have been a Russian version of Hank Jr. 'Family Tradition'. It felt like being around something like 10,000 drunken Skinheads/Cowboys/High school AAA Wrestlers, with an unlimited supply of booze and guns. Just keep your head low and try not to 'start a fight' with any of these dudes…Stink eye.
The next day we did our show and it was like doing a show anywhere the Catering was a little bit worse and so was the gear…it was about 600 people at a what I think was a gymnasium and the rental gear they supplied was not so good I was very glad to have the show over with. After the show we took a midnight train over night to Moscow. The same night that the Celebration was getting over with, so when we got to the train station there where a million even drunker skinheads/Cowboys/AAA High School Wrestlers going back to their submarines, Siberia or something…I don't I have ever gotten the stink eye by so many Mother fuckers ever (not even wearing my 'I hate white people shirt' at a Hank III show in Dallas).
The Train was painted Deep (Commie) Red and we had first class cabins that where small but comfortable two people per cabin plus we had to shove all of the band equipment into them, even stripped down Anthrax's got a lot of shit, but eventually we fit it and us in.
We all had dinner in the dining car that had on the menu: Vow of Silence (Cows Tongue) among other exotic dishes. And lots of Vodka, and ever since the old days every time I get drunk on Vodka all I can say (yell) is "DA…WODKA…MAKES ME STRUUNNG…STRUUNG LIKE RUUSSIAN BULL…DA!"
Being the fuck up that I am I was last one to bed after drinking the better part of a bottle of vodka with our Russian translator Smirnoff or Stoli (or something like that). At one point several soldiers (on duty) came into the car with weapons and starting asking people for their credentials, I kind of panic because I had left everything in my cabin. Smirnoff told me not to worry "You do not look Chesnian" Sure as shit they walked right past us. I might as well have been eating a Hot Dog with a cowboy hat on.
We got into Moscow at 7:55 AM and got picked up and taken to a hotel, then off to the venue, some huge old arena that looked and sounded kind'a like a spaceship and was right next to Gorky Park. Again the show was kind of like doing a show anywhere and nothing really sticks out about the show or the audience except for military security. When the band arrived at the venue the backstage guard would not let them backstage because they where not wearing their laminates even though everybody else was wearing a laminate with a picture of the band on them, the guard was not having it, he had his orders "EVERYBODY HAS TO HAVE ONE OF THESE" a lot of yelling both in English and in Russian finally the promoter came up with a few all access sticky passes and the guard let them get on stage.
I had come down with some fucking disease from (I think) drinking the freaking water in the St. Petersburg hotel…Hotel Moscow…A place where you just had to ask the concierge for company and they brought you 5 woman to pick from (Not me somebody else) and all the rooms smelled like they had been under water recently…But even though I had the plague, I got to do a little sight seeing I saw Red Square, Gorky Park and some crazy statue that the Russians made for the USA as (kind of) a peace offering during the Cold War of Columbus discovering America, the U.S. had not accepted it, so the Russians had replaced the head of Columbus with the head of Lenin and stuck it up in the middle of Moscow…National pride will make you do crazy things.
I wish I would have a lot more time in Moscow, it looked like an amazing city we had kind of an in and out experience, we where only there for about a day and a half. Our promoter said he did shows in Siberia all the time and they where great because the people don't get out that much and we should come back over and play their sometime, I would love to see something like that…