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Since the government of Russia is waging a full-scale war against Ukraine – something that we along with most of the civilized world are shocked by, find totally unacceptable, unjustifiable and altogether impossible to comprehend – we are having issues with travelling to the UK (along with many other problems – but we won’t mention those since its nothing compared to what our brothers and sisters in Ukraine are going through).
However, we were not born yesterday, we are well adapted to living in an environment where nothing works, and we know what to do. We also have great support from our fans.
The question is not IF the shows will happen, but WHEN.
THE SITUATION
Visas
We applied for visas on 26th Jan 2022. The standard waiting time is 15 working days. All visa decisions have been made on Monday, 21 February of which we have a letter from UKVI. At the same time, the waiting time has been increased to 6 weeks. However, so far only Paul has received his passport back (on Wednesday 23 Feb). The visa was successfully issued – from 26 Feb to 26 March 2022.
This means that Anna, Max and Belf do not have passports, while Aor and Jane have passports but do not have UK visas in them yet (they opted for the “Keep your passport” option when applying in order to be able to travel while the UK visas are being considered).
So when the passports come back, we need an additional day for the visa to be glued into Aor and Jane‘s passports – after which we can fly.
Flights
We bought KLM Moscow – Amsterdam – London tickets on 10 Feb 2022. The departure date was today. However, on 26 Feb KLM cancelled our tickets. We applied for a refund.
The only possible direct flight destinations out of Russia at the moment are: Armenia, Turkey, Dubai, Egypt and Serbia. And then from those locations, we can fly on anywhere.
The only problem is that ticket prices have shot through the roof and the price of flying the band via eg Dubai to London is ridiculously high and increases by the day. We simply do not have this cash (the crowdfunding money has already been spent on the album and videos which are in the pipeline).
However, our UK promoter has said that he is determined to make this happen and is ready to lend us the additional money.
THE SOLUTIONS
So, what options do we have? There are at least 4 possibilities, depending on when we get our passports back:
a) If we get them tomorrow
– The tour goes ahead as planned.
b) If we get them on Wednesday or Thursday
– We play what shows we have left, and play the others next week. (for eg this week we play only Birmingham and Glasgow, and then play London and Manchester next week whenever there is a possible date at any possible venue).
c) If we don‘t get them this week
– The tour gets postponed by 1-2 weeks depending on the venues availability. (Our visas are valid until 26th March.)
d) If something else happens and it gets totally fucked
– The tour gets postponed to September (and merged with our EU tour).
Over these surreal 5 days of horror we have been pondering on whether it is morally correct for us to play these shows at this time. However this tour has been planned since 2019, we have obligations to our fans who have been holding onto their tickets for 2.5 years… and last but not least – we really want to come.
In dark times people need light, in negative times – positivity.
In times of separation – unity.
That’s how we are trying to make the world a better place.
Let’s hope this madness ends soon.
-Aor, Jane
P.S. At the moment we are implementing emergency measures to ensure that we are not cut-off from our fans worldwide and that we retain the ability to tour anywhere. We will keep you updated.
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