Touring

Don't go on tour if you expect to make money. First tours, and sometimes even 15th tours, don't generate much money. This is a labor of love, so if you don't love the idea of playing your music every night in various towns far away from home to empty rooms, don't go on tour. Book your tour four months in advance. Keep it simple and expand your markets as you figure out the whole touring process. Make sure your van and equipment are in good working order. Don't leave home thinking you'll get something fixed along the way, and don't plan on buying those extra strings or drum heads when the band starts making a little cash. You won't make any. Don't pull a trailer if you don't have to. It gobbles up gas. Don't use your A/C, it gobbles up gas too. Trust me, unless you're a trust-fund kid, you're going to need to pinch those pennies. Hit up Costco or Trader Joes before you leave town and stock up on non-parishables so that you don't have to eat out for every meal. Get ten minutes of alone time everyday so that you don't go stir crazy and kill all of your bandmates. Stay in touch with people at home. Assume that everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Insure your equipment: it's cheaper than you think and you'll sleep easier at night. Get Triple A. Carry snow chains and jumper cables. And most importantly: be cool to everyone. Great bands with shitty attitudes don't get nearly as far as shitty bands with great attitudes. Ultimately, you are going to be relying on the hospitality and good will of others out there, so don't blow it by being ungrateful or snotty.
-Brian Cook (These Arms Are Snakes)

1. Rent audio books from the library for long van rides.

2. Buy a book cataloguing great restaurants in the areas you're traveling to.

3. Resolve all intra-band conflicts immediately, if possible.

4. Get those converter things that turn car lighters into electrical outlets for recharging phones and computers.

5. Get renter's insurance -- most plans cover musical equipment.

6. Keep a cooler in the van with snacky stuff (re-freeze the blue frozen thing every night wherever you're staying)

7. Have a policy that lets people quit driving the second they feel sleepy -- even if they've only been behind the wheel for five minutes -- no questions asked.

8. Treat the people you stay with to breakfast or give them a shirt or CD to thank them.

9. Keep your gear organized and compact at the club/space.

10. At shows, check in with your band members from time to time to make sure everyone is okay (i.e. person doing merch doesn't have to go to the bathroom, everyone knows how soon until you play, everyone knows how long until load out and what the process will be).

-Joel Roston (Big Bear)

Bring ear plugs and sunglasses so you can have some privacy in your van. You can wear them all the time and pretend you cant hear or see people when they talk to you. Bring at least 3 books that require descending levels of concentration. As the tour goes on you will not be mentally able to read Gunter Grass but you will be able to read Jim Thompson.

-Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu)

It takes about four days to get in the swing of things, especially for a long tour. I used to get really bummed on tour for the first couple days, just wishing I was at home, wanting my own bed, etc. But then something clicks in and it's great. Unless the van blows up, then it sucks again.

-Chris Martin (Kinski)

1. Stick to clear liquors.

2. If you ever find yourself in Middle America and the club owner says "Deal? There is no deal. Your deal is to get up there and do your job"...and then offers you some of the leftover spaghetti which is "upstairs", don't except it.

3. Sharing drums on a bill is a good idea to move things along if you've got too many bands booked for an evening. Sharing drums is not a good idea if you are the touring band and they are your drums...drum heads are expensive and multiply 3 bands a night times 150 days....Mucho dollars spent on drum heads.

4. If you ever find yourself in our nation's capitol and a young lady in a summer dress slurs to you that she "just got back from fighting my country in Iraq"...run away. Quickly.

5. Heading back across to the East from Seattle may require you to make some long hauls in between dates in Montana and Wyoming. If you go camping in the middle of this vast, beautiful wilderness don't put your tuna can back in the same bag as the toboggan you'll be wearing that evening in grizzly country.

6. Number Two rule: Pack water in your vehicle. In most cases you will be in the vehicle for at least 75% of your tour, so that's the best place to hydrate. And you can mix it with Bourbon if you choose not to follow the Number One rule: Stick to clear liquors.

7. Make sure you know what your deal is with the club before you roll up. Our experience has been that if there is a problem with set time/order/payment, etc., it helps to have all the info on an email before you arrive. It sounds simple, but when you first start out it's hard enough to get from one city to the next and details can fall through the cracks. Keep everything in order so that when things go sour (and something will go sour) the band has all their ducks in a row.

-Chris Rowell (Warm In the Wake)

Tour takes a major toll on your body and overall health. You don't sleep comfortably ,nor enough, drink too much, and eat bad food. Sleep as much as you can and when you can, bring a warm sleeping bag. Make sure to designate a driver for the night if everyone is drinking and don't overdo the partying because it will catch up to you. Try to buy cheap non-perishable food like cans of beans, ramen noodles and fruit cups. Don't forget the can opener!

-Jose DeLara (Protokoll)

The ability to thrash oneself's insides via questionable fast food is exercised by every touring band at some point. And though it may not be convenient, going that extra 20 city blocks and paying that extra $5 per head can patch up some unsightly holes in your sea worthy vessel. I've seen a week of decent dinning cure fatigue, clear up skin, boast morale and actually improve actual playing (grilled salmon cutlets = face-melting guitar solo from your lead guitarist).

-Busdriver

5 Essential Items to Bring On Tour

Here's a list of essential items I would suggest you bring with you on your musical sojourn.

1. A Case of Odwalla Bars (or the like) - Whole Foods, Costco, CVS, just about all these joints offer the double barreled action of nutrition and sustenance that is an Odwalla Bar. If you are a veggie thug and an all-around picky eater like myself, it can be very difficult on the road to find anything similar to what you are accustomed to eating a home. Surprisingly, the 7-11 in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho does not offer veggie jerky.

2.) A Nalgene or Sigg Water Bottle - It will be so much cheaper and healthier for you in the long run, if at every pit stop, you fill up your bottle with tap water. The temptation will be mighty to cop a soda, energy beverage, or a Slurpee, but theys fool's gold, son!

3.) Large bottle of One-a-Day multi-vitamins - Keep them in the car, or van, close by at all times. Not the quintessential finger food, but if the bottle rests in the center console of your vehicle, you won't forget your One-a-Days.

4. A Camera - Document what you won't remember.

5. LOTS OF MERCH -- Money can be tough to come by on the road. Despite your best intentions, people just might not want to buy your stuff. But hawk it as best you can. And items of varying degrees of worth are essential - selling one or two-dollar pins or stickers adds up. Everything helps! Cash = gas and gas gets you to the next gig and your next potential fan base.

-MC Mac Swell (Big Digits)