Busy at the airport
Foto: Getty Images, Dan Kitwood. All rights reserved.
The noise rock band Trigger Cut from Stuttgart had to cancel their UK tour. The band were not allowed to cross the border into the UK “for strange reasons”, one said The band’s Facebook post. The border control required a certain certificate. But “no one, not even the venues, the organizers, or the German customs authorities” knew about it. “Brexit bureaucracy??? A post-Brexit nightmare,” the three noise rockers continue.
Months of planning in vain
The tour for the new album “Soot” was originally planned from April 7th to 14th. According to the Stuttgarters themselves, they took on a considerable amount of planning: “We thought our preparations for every detail of the tour were extremely good.” The band had arranged everything with customs in advance and had the invitation discs, according to the Facebook post, already in hand. After all, the procedure at the border was humiliating and sad. Brexit has finally destroyed the “cultural interaction between all of us”.
Trigger Cut guitarist Ralph Schaarschmidt wrote in one separate Facebook post: “We were handed over to the French border police like criminals and had to leave Calais.” He also regretted “months of planning, 1750 kilometers drive to Calais and back to Stuttgart, costs for a hired van, expensive customs declarations and ferry ticket – all for nothing. “
The tour marks Trigger Cut’s second failed attempt to tour the UK. The first attempt was foiled by Covid, Schaarschmidt revealed in his post. The band will not make a third attempt.
Difficult entry for artists
according to the Guidelines for entering the UK Artists who want to work temporarily – i.e. musicians who want to go on tour in Great Britain – are obliged to apply for a so-called “certificate of sponsorship”. According to the guidelines, you get this from the respective establishments where you perform. You then have to present a reference number at the border.
