Altered Sky – TOUR TIPS

This new set of Tour Tips was written by the rock band, Altered Sky. You can check out their tips for being on the road, after the break.

1) Don’t be late. Ever. Seriously don’t be, for anything. You should always be able to get to the venue a couple of hours earlier than the load in time. We tend to use this time once we’re in town to see the sights and explore. Every town has something interesting to see and do: even if it’s just watching drunk people fighting in the park. (We’re from Glasgow, this happens a lot)

2) Stay healthy. This one is more of an aspiration for us, rather than something we already do properly. We’re really guilty for visiting the takeaway at 2am or the 24 hour fast food place after a gig. Most venues have a microwave backstage, or at least a kettle – get creative! (pot noodles are NOT creative). If you eat well and get proper sleep every night, you’ll feel better, play better and have a much happier time than if you’re feeling fat and hungover every day.

3) Make a tour diary. Even if it’s just full of in-jokes and weird stuff that no-one outside the band will understand, do it anyway and put it online! It’s great to have a memento of the places you’ve played! You’ll find your own nonsense to talk about, but if you need inspiration, ours are mostly of Ana and Amy pretending to be owls.

4) Put on a show! This starts long before you get in the van – have your set practiced and polished in rehearsal so you hit the ground running from the opening night. A great first show where you all play confidently will set you up for the rest of your tour. Once out on the road, yes you’re playing the same songs every night for weeks at a time, but for the fans that come to see you, this might be the best night of their life. Even if you’re tired and you just want your own bed again, you need to still give 100% every night for everyone in the room. That guy at the back of the room with his arms folded might be someone’s dad, he just might also be the label rep you’ve been hoping to impress for months.

5) Bring spares of EVERYTHING. Guitars, mics, amps, sticks, drum skins: all the big stuff hopefully should be automatic, but when you step out of the tour van into a puddle on the first day of tour, you’ll thank the touring gods that you brought a spare pair of shoes. Also make sure you do the “idiot check” at the end of the night for anything you might have forgotten to pack. You don’t want to be 200 miles down the road before you realise that your backdrop is still hanging up in the venue!

6) Be excellent to everyone. Your bandmates are your best friends in the world. If you’ve made it far enough to be on tour, hopefully you’ve learned how not to piss eachother off. You meet a LOT of people on the road: promoters, agents, soundguys, crew, bar staff, other bands and of course, your fans. There is NO EXCUSE for being a dick to any of these people. Your future career in music depends on your reputation and the friends you make, don’t hide in the dressing room all night: make a point of chatting to anyone involved with putting on the show and make as much time for fans as possible. We’ve started doing Meet, Eat & Greet sessions with fans – we get to chat with them, they get to take photos with us, and we all eat a mountain of pizza!

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Did you find these tips useful? Let us know in the comments below!