There must be a rock star checklist

[Wayniac]

I'll be out for 3-4 weeks in June or August - had to pass on quite a few tours this year.
Could have had about 30 weeks booked. Bx3, and a couple of tours that after US/Canada, would have hit Japan, Aussie, and New Zealand (Slayer, or Cindy Lauper)
Having a regular day gig has its drawbacks at times.

[atomic charvel guy]

You left out make crew score power enriched herbal tea so you're feeling "good" when it's time to play, actually, the people who came backstage would just hand it right over to you, i never toured though on a bus in my life, i don't think i'd make it, I can't be in a car for more than an hour, then again it's a bus and it would be filled with box and and a huge buzz. Tell some more stuff about it, it is good reading for me.

[Bengal]

Atomic,
What do you want to know? It's not as cool as you might think. Crew guys work their asses off. But I was lucky and toured with some cool guys. But I've seen every instance of what was written above at least 1 or 2 times...

About the "tea". Local crew guys are the best for that. Usually find good stuff from them...

Touring on a bus sucks. It sucks more when there are 15 people on that bus. That gets old real quick. The bus was fun right after the gig with tons of chicks hanging around but other than that, it can be a pretty depressing place. But I bet a VW Van would be worse...

[Wayniac]

The "tea" is what the "Tea M" (tour manager) and club guys are for.. I don't get or hold that s**t for bands, cause I can't afford to have anything like that on my record. It's clean and I wanna keep it that way...
Yep - what Bengal said - cool right after the gig, but crew is usually busy loading... band hangs/parties for a bit.. then we chill if the next gig isn't too far.. some may hit a local bar or 2, but DO NOT miss the hard call for bus departure or you are walking or hitching to the next gig. And may get docked or canned. BUT - if you are one of the name guys in the band, feel free to f**k us all over and make us wait! lol
If there is a "dead" bunk instead of 14 or 15 guys that helps a bit. makes room, less bodies in the area
No shitting on the bus... so occasional scheduled bathroom stops, and showering at truck stops gets old if you are playing smaller venues. Bigger venues (BB Kings, HoB, etc) have shower facilities so that is always cool. Only a quick one after load out, and usually the band has had a chick in there, or people have pissed in it - so always wear your shower shoes !! But you can always get by on baby wipes, body powder, and deoderant. No shitting allowed on the bus...
Funny now too - most of the gigs I have had do not allow chicks to leave on the bus with us.. too many hassles or potential hassles. Though, I have to say the van tour I did, we picked up a girl in I think it was Ithaca or Cortland, and she stayed with us for about 4 days - Rochester, Syracuse.. lol
But the perks - shooting the shit with bands while having a beer or 2, your own TV/DVD in your bunk, and the lounge areas are cool. Busboard jams with people you grew up listening to are cool. Seeing a free show every night, getting a front view (and closeup) of the girls flashing the band are good! Seeing various cities, having a day off are cool but can be expensive ! lol

Mini van or passenger van tours suck ass, especially if you are taking turns being one of the drivers and you need to cover 800-1000 miles before the next club. After being up all day, not showering, and working yoru ass off til 2-3 am... Red Bull is a wonderful thing

[Wayniac]

More drawbacks - bus bunks... claustrophobic even if you do not have claustrophobia. And forget about sharing with a friendly lady.. no friggin room! Hit the lounge ! Finding one to sleep in - lower ones are easy to get into but you hear road noise. And you have peoples feet going by your head at all hours.
Middle bunks are pretty good - easy in & out. But you have peoples asses going by at head level
Top bunks - away from road noise, peoples feet & asses.. but you have to be an acrobat to get in, a better acrobat to get out quietly (especially if you are one of the crew who needs to be up early), and EVERY bump on the road gets magnified and you get tossed around like a love doll in a locker room! lol

[Bengal]

Wayniac,
When I toured Europe, I slept in the bottom bunk under the sound guy. The sound guy was 350 pounds. I didn't get much sleep. I kept wondering how long that plywood could hold up...

One great piece of advice I got on the first tour. Always sleep with your feet toward the front of the bus. Better to break your ankles than your neck...

European buses are cool. Dubble Deckers. Easier to get away from all of it on those. US buses are much harder. Only place to get away is your bunk, and who the hell wants to hang out in a coffin???

[Bengal]

Touring Europe is a much different deal. Hardly no showers at the shows. We did all the big festivals last year. Every country has their take on the port-o-john. The Italian one was the best. No seat. Just a ledge on the back wall to rest on. Basically swatting and going through a hole in the floor. They seem to think it's more healthy that way...

No one in Europe has ever seen a shower curtain that works, I'm convinced. The best one was a glass door that only covered half the shower. What's the point in that? I can see why all the bathrooms had floor drains. Plus they give you 2 towels. One for yourself, one for the floor...

Don't get me started on the ice thing. Can't get ice to save your life. Must have forgot how to make it...

What I miss is Double Chocolate Magnum Bars...

I loved Europe. It's interesting for an Iowa boy like myself to see how it's done in places that have been around for much, much longer than where I'm from. I like the pace. Not so frantic. They know how to make coffee. Also the best bread I've ever had in my life. Steak? Well, not so much...

[Wayniac]

Yep - feet forward was the first thing I was told as well ! Plus, the TV screens were at that end of the bunk, so you sort of HAD to lay down facing forward anyway.
My Euro tour was an 11 passenger van, with 7 of us (5 band, the driver, and me as sole tech) plus gear. Farthest drive was from Gothenberg Sweden to Haugesund Norway, then back to Stockholm (Arlanda international). On the way out, we got to see awesome snow/mountains, and Longfossen (I think it means long falls in Norwegian?!?) BEAUTIFUL!
Beautiful countries, nice scenery, cool people, bveautiful women, great beers coffee and foods. Think I went 36 or 40 hrs w/out a shower at one point.. not a happy camper. Washed up in the restrooms at Arlanda.
Craziest place we stayed in the states was like Texas Chainsaw massacre - called Band and Breakfast ! Cool owner though...

[Fragle]

Touring Europe is a much different deal. Hardly no showers at the shows. We did all the big festivals last year. Every country has their take on the port-o-john. The Italian one was the best. No seat. Just a ledge on the back wall to rest on. Basically swatting and going through a hole in the floor. They seem to think it's more healthy that way...

No one in Europe has ever seen a shower curtain that works, I'm convinced. The best one was a glass door that only covered half the shower. What's the point in that? I can see why all the bathrooms had floor drains. Plus they give you 2 towels. One for yourself, one for the floor...

Don't get me started on the ice thing. Can't get ice to save your life. Must have forgot how to make it...

What I miss is Double Chocolate Magnum Bars...

I loved Europe. It's interesting for an Iowa boy like myself to see how it's done in places that have been around for much, much longer than where I'm from. I like the pace. Not so frantic. They know how to make coffee. Also the best bread I've ever had in my life. Steak? Well, not so much...

that's EXACTLY how it is. the best thing that can happen to you is a break at a gas station - at least in germany, austria, or switzerland. those are usually very clean and well equipped, with decent showers and whatnot. france and italy are hard, though....not even decent bathrooms (like you mentioned in your post), no showers, nothing. seriously, when it comes to sanitary facilities for truck drivers etc. germany is absolutely top notch.

as far as the longest time without a shower thing is concerned....that was quite fun. we hit our bus on thursday morning (note: last shower), travelled to england (no shower on the way), played brighton (no shower), played nottingham (no shower), played london...yes, finally a shower. that's sunday evening for you

thank god we did a nightliner tour and nothing of that van stuff...the bus was really cool, despite of the fact that we were like 18 people on the bus, plus driver. the upper floor was all beds (coffins would be more appropiate), 2 rows though. the lower floor had 4 groups of 4 seats with a table, dvd, vhs, 2 tv screens, small kitchen (microwave, fridge, coffee maker, that's it).....but then again, you better have at least SOME comfort on the bus, after all that's where you're spending most of the time when you're on tour...

[AlexL]

Don't get me started on the ice thing. Can't get ice to save your life. Must have forgot how to make it...

Ha! Ain't that the truth. I travel to England frequently for work (I am actually in the Continental lounge at Gatwick waiting to fly home right now), and it is harder than hell to get ice with a drink. I ordered a gin and tonic at a restaurant here once, and asked for ice in it. It came to me with one ice cube the size of a dime in it.

I have offered to sell several people in the UK the recipe for ice. No takers yet.


- E.

[shobet]

Ha! Ain't that the truth. I travel to England frequently for work (I am actually in the Continental lounge at Gatwick waiting to fly home right now), and it is harder than hell to get ice with a drink. I ordered a gin and tonic at a restaurant here once, and asked for ice in it. It came to me with one ice cube the size of a dime in it.

I have offered to sell several people in the UK the recipe for ice. No takers yet.


- E.

It's normally cold enough here not to need ice

[Bengal]

It's normally cold enough here not to need ice

Come on now, drinks need ice. I did get use to drinking pop warm over there...

I was at Burger King in Germany and asked for extra ice in my pop. The lady said OK and when I got my pop I opened it up and sure enough. 2 dime sized cubes...

Maybe they have an "ice tax" over there...

[shobet]

Come on now, drinks need ice. I did get use to drinking pop warm over there...

I was at Burger King in Germany and asked for extra ice in my pop. The lady said OK and when I got my pop I opened it up and sure enough. 2 dime sized cubes...

Maybe they have an "ice tax" over there...

If we ever meet I'll buy you a drink and I'll make sure they dish out 3 ice cubes for you!

I always ask for no ice when I go to those places, I get a bigger sugar hit that way *twitch*

[Bengal]

Shobet,
Deal! I'm not quite sure they have 3 cubes in one place at any given time but who knows?

One thing that I liked about Europe is that they let you smoke just about anywhere. Quite different from the path we are taking in the US. They have not gotten uptight about it like we have. So that was cool. That thought may change once I quit the habit but for now, it's all good...

[shobet]

Shobet,
Deal! I'm not quite sure they have 3 cubes in one place at any given time but who knows?

One thing that I liked about Europe is that they let you smoke just about anywhere. Quite different from the path we are taking in the US. They have not gotten uptight about it like we have. So that was cool. That thought may change once I quit the habit but for now, it's all good...

In the UK we're going down the US path with smoking in public places, it's already in force in some parts of the country. I don't know what the rest of Europe is doing, but I doubt they will be far behind.

I'll put the ice cudes in the trays now, it was 3 wasn't it?