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Over the last few months, we’ve taken a pretty in depth look at my time out on tour with my band, In The Presence Of Wolves. Though I’m far from a seasoned veteran of the road, I learned a tremendous amount while we were touring. So I figured, what better way to end my brief Newsletter Column takeover than to assemble what I’ve learned into an easy to understand guide? If you ever find yourself in the position to go on tour (or maybe know someone who is about to), this should help make your experience a success! So I present to you: Chris’s Tour Tips!! And just to make it even easier, I’ve compiled the tips into one simple acronym, G.U.I.T.A.R.I.S.T!!
G) Gyms are a great place to take showers when you don’t have a place to stay.
Hygiene is critical on tour. One of the toughest aspects of touring when in a smaller “indie” band is figuring out when your next shower will be. We’d toured a few times before this and sometimes would go 3 or 4 days without a shower. Typically, we’d depend on people putting us up for the night when we couldn’t afford a hotel room and sometimes we could shower, sometimes we couldn’t. This time, however, we had a plan. Gyms! Many local gyms offer an inexpensive day pass where you can get in a workout (which is also welcome on tour when your diet may not be at its best, though more on that later) and, most importantly, you can take a shower! Buy some body wash, a cheap pair of flip flops at a dollar store, bring a towel (extra points for an inexpensive one you can throw away if it gets too nasty), and you’re set! My band took the extra step and two members enrolled in Planet Fitness and got their “Black Card.” There are Planet Fitnesses all over the country and the Black Card allowed them to utilize any of them AND bring a guest. Since there are only 4 of us, it was a perfect system. Additionally, their showers range from decently private to extremely private so you’re less likely to run into the folks who are a bit too comfortable in their own skin…
U) Understand the cities you’re touring.
It’s important to have some idea of what the cities you’re playing in are like. What’s the climate like? What are some other notable nearby towns where you can find a cheaper hotel room? What tourist destinations are there? What breweries are there? What ice cream and cookie shops are there? Okay, maybe that last one is just for me but having a game plan of what to do in each city before you get there can help you make the most of your time in each location! We found that there wasn’t nearly enough time to do everything we wanted to, but formulating a plan can help you maximize your time and now we have more incentive to get back to some of our new favorite cities.
I) If it’s important, bring it inside.
Keeping your gear and personal items safe is critical while you’re on tour. Even if you do everything right to discourage thieves, if they want to break in and steal your stuff, they will. We learned this first hand on a previous tour and had 5 guitars stolen, among some other smaller pieces of gear. So it’s always a better idea to bring anything important inside with you at hotels, people’s homes, and even venues. Theft of this kind is a sad reality on tour, so it’s best to do what you can to combat it. On a similar note, insure your gear. It’s not nearly as expensive as one might think, especially in relation to how much you may have spent on it!
T) Take advantage of simple comforts whenever you can.
Life on the road is very atypical so it’s wise to take advantage of “normalcy” whenever it’s an option! That can mean taking a shower even if you aren’t stinky yet or doing laundry even when most of your clothes are still clean. If you can sleep in a bed instead of the van, SLEEP IN THE BED!! You’ll have plenty of opportunities to live the rigors of the road and you’ll wish that you took those moments of comfort along the way. At the very least, I’ve learned that a sleeping bag makes life much better, especially in the cooler months where you may be stuck sleeping in a cold van. Each of us in ITPOW has our own lovingly-nicknamed sleeping bag that has become our best friend on tour. Mine has been lovingly dubbed the Hot Tamale because of its resemblance to the cinnamon candy.
A) Always have a backup.
This goes for every musician, from the hobbyist to the pros. If you’re performing live, you must have backups, preferably ones that are easily accessible at a moment’s notice. I’ve had strings break, pickup switches break, cables die, pedals give out, amps stop amplifying, tubes blow, picks fly, and just about anything else happen while playing. For this tour, I brought along two guitars, my Line 6 Helix (which is also a backup to an amp), a Tech 21 FlyRig in case the Helix went down, and my Vox AC30. The AC30 was malfunctioning from night 2 so it stayed in the van and I borrowed an amp from our tour buddies, The Reign of Kindo. One night, I blew the fuse in that amp ON THE FIRST SONG. But since the sound guy was getting a direct signal from my Helix, I was the only one who noticed. After the song was over, I had him crank the guitar signal in my monitor and we were off like nothing had happened. These circumstances happen all the time and I believe the truest test of a musician is how quickly they can recover from any of them.
R) Rent a van if you can afford it.
My band owns a van that we love dearly. His name is Ron. But we knew from the get go that Ron was ill suited for this tour. In hindsight, we doubt that Ron would have survived a week. The most common problem that we see bands deal with on tour is their van breaking down. So we decided to try something new this time: we rented one. It took awhile to find a company that would let us drive it for a month with a quick trip to Canada but the cost was absolutely worth it. We didn’t have to worry about the van breaking down and if anything did happen, we could take it to the nearest Budget van rental facility and have the issues sorted out. With all the things that can go wrong on tour, not having to worry about your van is an absolute blessing. The tour headliners, Thank You Scientist, dealt with issues with their RV, the Flying Dutchman, throughout the entire tour. Every day off was spent with the Dutchman in the shop having some repair done and I could see how it affected their morale. That doesn’t even include how rapidly the cost of repairs added up. Additionally, our van rental had two bench seats so that two of us could sleep relatively comfortably in the van at any point, which was still less than ideal but leaps better than sleeping in Ron’s four bucket seats. We even had more space for our gear! Renting a van was the best investment we’ve ever made for the band and fortunately we made enough money to cover that expense.
I) If you don’t need it, don’t bring it.
Packing light on tour is generally the way to go, for both gear and personal items. Space in the van is a premium and it fills up quickly from trash, souvenirs, and general laziness. Limiting what you bring means there’s less to keep track of and less to have to bring inside with you (see previous “Tip I”). Try to avoid bringing anything with you that holds extra sentimental value as touring can be tough on your belongings as well as your body! I never bring my favorite guitar on the road (one that you’ll see when I eventually get to be the guest of My Favorite Things instead of the host) as it holds a significant amount of value to me on a personal level and is likely the second most expensive thing I own, next to my car. I’d much rather bring my $400 PRS, which works as a perfect workhorse for the road since I never fret (no pun intended) if it gets an extra ding or scratch. Also, you don’t need to bring a crazy amount of clothes on tour. What I generally opt to do is bring a bunch of old shirts with holes in them as well as old or cheap socks and underwear. I’ll select one shirt to wear on stage every night and then throw it out when it gets gross. I’ll bring two pairs of jeans and make sure that they match as many of the shirts as possible. As such, I’ll usually wear my tight black jeans that fit the bill for the “rock star” look and I’ll let them air out inside-out overnight, occasionally spraying them with some Febreeze fabric spray when they haven’t made it into the washing machine in a while. I also bring my tablet as it enables me to read novels and comics as well as download TV shows and movies. It works as an all in one source of entertainment, saving plenty of room compared to bringing individual books and things. Our rental van also had an Aux cord port so we were able to play music from our phones instead of bringing along an extensive CD collection. Life on tour is nothing like normal life so I view it as a good time to live simply.
S) Stick to your diet because you will eventually be unable to.
Like hygiene, keeping up with a healthy diet is tough to do on tour. So I highly recommend doing it as much as you can, especially early on when you have access to some options. Eventually, you’ll hit a point where you’re hungry and the only options are McDonald’s or the gas station convenience store so maintaining a good diet early can help get you through those rough patches. I had one day on tour where I had to eat McDonald’s for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. Eating like that has a definite effect on worsening your mood and energy but sometimes you simply don’t have any other options. And that doesn’t even factor in the cost of eating every day. On the modest income we had on tour, we couldn’t afford to eat at some of the healthier options but eating a salad instead of a 24th burger can definitely help!
T) Take time to appreciate the little things.
This probably goes without saying but going on tour is the kind of opportunity that may only come once in a lifetime. It’s important to take the time to take it all in! There are so many sights to see that it’s easy to get overwhelmed and ignore the simple things. As someone who’s mostly been stuck on the East Coast, I was stunned by some of the views in San Francisco and the mountains in Utah. I even found a way to appreciate being out in the desert… at least for a little bit until it became overwhelmingly boring. The U.S. is truly a beautiful country that’s worth exploring, and touring is as good an excuse as any to get out and experience it! We made so many friends and memories along the way that it made all the struggles worth it. Whether its meeting a dude dressed as Thor in Michigan on my way to get an ice cream sandwich, trying Beaver Nuggets at Bucc-Ees around 2 am, seeing Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads” ES-335 at the Hollywood Guitar Center, finding Prince’s golden star outside Fifth Avenue, or just spending time with my best friends playing music to enthusiastic crowds, this tour provided me with loads of moments that I’ll cherish forever. And I sincerely hope that one day you get to experience that, too!
Thank you for reading my column over the last four months. I hope that you learned something or were at least semi-entertained! Next month, this column will go back to normal but, who knows, maybe I’ll be back here writing a column again someday. Until then, cheers!
-Chris
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