Asleep – TOUR TIPS

This new set of Tour Tips comes from Asleep. The tips are very well-thought out and you definitely need to check them out after the break.

1. Pick up a copy of “Tour: Smart”, by Martin Atkins.
Martin is a music business veteran turned educator and label owner.  He has seen it all touring the nation as a drummer with several bands, most notably Ministry, Public Image Limited, Pigface, and Nine Inch Nails.  He has written a book that breaks down a career’s worth of “do’s” and “don’ts” regarding touring so that we as artists don’t have to learn the hard way, though as he often points out and as anyone who has ever learned in this fashion will attest to, is sometimes the only way to learn!

2. Chef Boyardee is in fact, a chef.
Though we all want to experience the different cultures and often fund-dwindling culinary hot spots that different areas of this melting pot of a nation of ours can offer, take a step back and realize that Chef Boyardee has provided us with satisfactory daily serving nutritional values of our carbs (pasta shells), dairy (the delectable congealed cheeses within), protein (mmm, mini meatballs w/ rib meat), and vegetables (tomato sauce).

3. Staying up late and drinking is a job?
Sure is, though it doesn’t really pay that well.   Tell your girlfriend (or boyfriend) you love her (or him), put down your phone, and go have a few craft beers and network!  Meet people!

4. Before you leave, punch yourself between the legs.
Feel that?  That is what touring is going to feel like sometimes also.  You don’t like it?  Stay home!

5. Be respectful and on time!
Treat people as you want to be treated is what I always say, including band mates.  Don’t be rude.  Play your heart out no matter what is going down behind the scenes.  Have patience!  We’re all in this together.  Oh, and don’t tell Canada you are crossing the border to record and leave the show dates up on your social networking site!  Unless of course you don’t plan on going back there for a bit.