Transcription
So, originally when I was planning on doing this video, I was going to think of some way to make it like clickbait, like title it like "I'm done with the US" or something like that. But like, let's be honest here, there's no clickbait necessary for this one. And if you would have told me 5 years ago when I started YouTube I'd ever be making a video like this, I would have thought it was crazy.
But I'm super happy to announce for anybody that cares that myself, my wife, and my daughter are officially moving to Germany. In fact, we actually already have a place in Germany that we started paying rent on yesterday, which means that until we sell this house that I'm in right now in the Nashville area, we're basically paying rent on two places, which, let's be fair, kind of sucks. But I cannot tell you how excited we are for this move and to possibly document some of it. Like I don't think we're going to document us like, you know, cleaning out stuff from our house and packing up stuff and stuff like that. But it will be an interesting experience having been born and raised in the US to move to another country, especially like with our four-year-old daughter who's going to be learning a new schooling system and a new language. And each of us are okay in German right now as it is. And I know a lot of Germans out there speak English, but still, we're going to have to learn a lot more than we already know now. And it's definitely going to be a challenge. I would be lying to you if I didn't say I was a bit nervous and a bit anxious for this move, but this is something we really wanted to do for a long time.
I know there's some people out there that think this is like some political thing because of what's going on in the US. And I'll be 100% honest, there's like a little bit of that like that made me think about this, but to be fair, my wife and I have been thinking about moving to Europe for like years now. It just circumstances and everything in our life have allowed us to make this move now and we're very excited about it. And I know there's a lot of people that watch this channel that know that I work for Electric Callboy, you know, German band. And I will say, and I'll kind of give this like a word of warning for anybody out there that ever works in the music industry, like don't uproot your life for a band that you're working for. That's not what we're doing. Don't get me wrong, it will be easier being there and working for them so I can be with my family more. But this is more just for us, for a new experience, a different culture, a new way of life and stuff like that.
But let's be honest here. Electric Callboy is a huge part of this story. I mean, 5 years ago, I on this channel, I went from this, "If I'm getting trolled right now, I'm going to be very upset," to then tour managing their first big US tour to now tour managing them full-time, which is crazy. And they have been a a big part of this process as well. Like, I kind of want to tell the story about how fast this all came together because it's actually kind of crazy and they are involved in it. My wife and I did not plan this move like this fast. We didn't think this was going to happen until next year, uh, was probably the goal to sell the house and move and stuff like that. But while I was in Europe this summer for the festival touring season, uh, my wife got uh Immoscout, which is for anybody that doesn't know, that's like the Zillow in Germany. It's an app where you can look at apartments and houses and stuff like that. And we spent so much time when I was off the road just looking at places on Immoscout. And we found some places that we liked. And one day, it was actually the day before we went to the AMA festival in Italy, I was sitting in my little tiny apartment in Castrop-Rauxel. And Claire, my wife, for anybody that doesn't know, had sent me this place in a city that I was like, "Wow, this is really cool."
And originally, uh, the band guys said that they would go look at apartments with me. Because it's a lot different in Germany, uh, than it is in the US. For example, it's very common for Germans to move out their entire kitchen when they move. And I'm not just talking appliances. I'm talking gutting like the actual cabinets and everything out of it. And this place that we were looking at had, you know, a kitchen in it and stuff like that. So the guys were like, "Oh yeah, definitely go take a look at this place." But they had something to do last minute and nobody was available to go with me and none of the crew was available to go with me. So, me just being adventurous, uh, used German public transportation, which I will say as an American is awesome. I know there's a lot of Germans out there that talk mad about Deutsche Bahn and your public transport, but for an American where we're not used to this kind of stuff, I thought it was awesome. I got on the bus from the bus stop by my apartment, took it down to the uh, Castrop-Rauxel Hauptbahnhof and uh, took a train, you know, and just went on an adventure. Showed up in a town I had never been to, walked to an apartment to meet a real estate agent that I had never met before. And uh, I will say it was funny because she told me she doesn't speak English that well, and she would try, but she did. All of you Germans do. You say you don't speak English well, but you're all very, very good at it.
But I saw this apartment and immediately fell in love. And it had everything we wanted and a lot of space and again, a lot of things that most German apartments don't have: a full kitchen in there, a lot of closet space, and we're in an area where we actually really don't need to buy a car if we don't want to. We can just walk everywhere and uh take the bus or the train or whatever. And I know there's going to be a lot of people asking where we're moving. I don't feel comfortable saying that yet, but I will say we are in the Ruhr area of Germany, Western Germany. We're very close to Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Essen, all that stuff. So, it's very cool. But anyways, fell in love with this place. Told the real estate agent we wanted it. And I was like, "I know you are showing this to other people 'cause this is a crazy find for Germany." And she was very nice. And she was like, "Yeah, but I I really go off gut feelings and I don't have a great gut feeling about a lot of people I've showed it to, but I have a good gut feeling about you guys 'cause you you're saying you're a family that wants to be here long term and become citizens. So, I'll give you a shot. We can do this." And uh, "I would feel more comfortable with a German person co-signing on this," which I totally understood. And to the testament of the members of Electric Callboy, multiple members of them said that they would do that. And uh, Pascal did end up doing that, which is wild to me. And I felt guilty at first because I was like, "Hey, man. Uh, this is just kind of weird. Like, we're not like family. We're we're friends. We work together." And he's like, "I mean, we pay you. I know how much you make, so I'm not worried about you missing rent payments."
But uh, yeah, he ended up co-signing. And again, as a reminder, this was the day before we left for Italy for a a festival. And when I told her we wanted the place, it was like 9:00 at night and she was texting me and was like, "Can you come back and sign the contract on this place tomorrow?" And unfortunately, I couldn't. So, I was like, "We have bus call. We have to get on the bus and go." And she goes, "Well, maybe tomorrow sometime I can come to you in Castrop-Rauxel and then at a later date I can meet up with Pascal." And I was like, "Wait a second. We're going to be together tomorrow at bus call." And she's like, "Oh, perfect." So, this real estate agent drove to Castrop-Rauxel and met with both of us so that we could sign this rental agreement. Like, this all happened within like a 14-hour time frame. It was absolutely crazy. And it was such a weird feeling having that contract in my hands and showing the guys 'cause I'm like, "It was real then. It's like, dude, we're moving to Germany. Like, I can't believe this."
So, now that I'm back to the States, it's kind of crazy around here. Like, you can't see it because I've got the camera pointed this way, but my office is destroyed. Our whole house has stuff everywhere because we are cleaning up stuff and getting rid of stuff. I have a dumpster coming tomorrow to just get rid of things that nobody wants. I've already given some of my old basses to like our neighborhood kids that are learning how to play bass. We are planning on moving to Germany with nothing but some sentimental stuff, our clothes, and whatever our daughter wants 'cause we're not going to ask our four-year-old daughter to part with her stuffed animals and her toys and stuff that she's really grown attached to. But we are essentially starting a new life in Germany. So, uh, the next couple weeks are going to be wild. I I don't know how much content there's going to be because we're going to be so busy with stuff around here. Um, it's actually kind of funny. If there's anybody watching this that's in the Nashville area or around Tennessee and wants anything, I mean, we're selling or giving away a lot of stuff. I'm talking like old gear that I've had. Uh, this chair, funny enough, I know there's a lot of people that probably want this chair because you can't get it shipped to the US. Um, but like my wife's artwork, too. A lot of you guys know that my wife has spent time doing a lot of uh fiber arts and stuff. Like that's stuff that we can't bring. So, if anybody wants anything, I mean, feel free to reach out and we'll figure something out.
And I'm not asking you guys for anything. Don't like we're Listen, living in the States is very expensive. We're not exceeding luxury by any means, but we are very well off compared to a lot of other people in different situations. So, we don't need money. I don't want to do donations. I don't want to do stuff like that. The only thing I would ask is that you just watch some videos because that brings in ad revenue for the channel and stuff like that because we hope to have this house on the market in the next week and when we sell it, we move to Germany no matter how long that takes. I mean, there is a very good chance that by the time Electric Callboy's next tour starts in November, we will be living in Germany full-time. And that is still wild to think about and say out loud. But I just wanted to give you guys a little life update because this is wild to me. And I know for some of you that have been following the channel for a while, you probably, you know, know the story arc of just starting this during the pandemic and then discovering random bands on YouTube and now working for one of those bands and now moving to that country. Like it is it is a wild story, man. And the more I've traveled and the more I've lived life, I realize it's just life is crazy. The universe is crazy. Things work out and things are wild. And I can't wait to see what happens in the future.
So, to everybody out there that's watching this, seriously, from the bottom of my heart, from my wife and my daughter, thank you guys for the constant support, constant support. I can't even talk right now. I'm so like wild about this. I don't know what's going to go on with content for the next few weeks or until we move. But, uh, you know, in the long term, I don't plan on stopping or anything like that. Once we get to Germany and I get reset up with like new computer and stuff like that, we'll we'll get back going again. But, crazy times ahead. So, uh, thank you to everybody for watching and wherever you are in the world, be safe, be kind to each other. I love you all and I will see you very soon.