The Acacia Strain – TOUR TIPS

This new set of Tour Tips was written by Devin Shidaker of the metal band, The Acacia Strain. You can check out their tips for being on the road, after the break.

I’m sure that through all of the “Tour Tips” columns, all of the basics have been covered (like always taking a dump in the girls room before the show starts), so I’ll give some more obscure tips.

1) USE YOUR LAMINATE FOR DISCOUNTS This is one that a lot of people fail to take advantage of. A lot of bands go to malls on days off or before shows to kill time and eat. I discovered years ago that if you flash your laminate at cashiers in the food court and ask if they do mall employee discounts, you’ll almost always get ten to twenty percent off of your meal. They won’t ever ask to see your laminate, and they’ll just assume you work somewhere in the mall. This is especially helpful when you’re in a smaller band where literally every penny counts towards keeping you on the road.

2) GET OFF OF YOUR GOD DAMN PHONE AND EXPLORE Too many bands (including us) are guilty of this. You have been in the van all day and night, and when you finally get to the venue, all you want to do is sit on your phone and soak up the WiFi. This starts to become a routine, and before you know it, you’re spending the entire tour looking at your phone. Even if you’re in a city you think is “boring”, or a place you’ve been 100 times, go out and walk around. You never know what you’re going to see, and you’ll be bummed out if the rest of your friends see it while you were too busy sitting inside refreshing Instagram over and over.

3) KEEP YOUR MONEY ON YOU Bands are constantly being robbed, and too often do you hear about bands having every dollar they have made on tour stolen because it was left in the van while the show was going on. Keep your money in your bag that will stay with you AT ALL TIMES. Of course you should be stopping at the bank routinely to make deposits, but there will be periods in between bank drops where you will have way too much money to just leave sitting around. Use common sense. Criminals are getting smarter, and they know now that when they see a van and trailer, there’s a chance to steal money, computers, instruments, and all other kinds of valuable things you may have. Be smarter than the criminals.

4) STOP KISSING ASS This is something that I personally hate. There are a lot of young bands who start touring when they really aren’t ready (for various reasons), and usually these kids do not know how to act. They try to earn the respect of other bands on tour (especially the headliners) by being ass kissers non stop. I don’t care what label your band is on, who your manager is, or how old you are. People that have been doing this for a long time can see straight through the bullshit, and they know when a band is just being nice to try and move up the food chain. Instead of being fake, just work hard, show up on time, load on and off stage in a timely manner, and do that every day. Road veterans see this, and they respect it. Do this consistently and you gain their respect. Respect goes a LONG way in this world, so make sure you give it back when you receive it. The bands that make excuses and suck up are the ones that last a few years before they eventually fizzle out. Work hard and burn bright.

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