Austin Basham – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the indie folk artist, Austin Basham, talk about some of their crazy moments from touring. You can check out the feature, after the break.

#1

The morning of our flight from Denver to Chicago we had a 7am flight, meaning we were up by 4:30am and calling an Uber by 5am. For whatever reason, Uber prices to the airport were surging, so despite Hollow Coves and I having a van load of gear, we decided to roll the dice and get a standard Uber rather than the XL. Anxiously standing in the cold with four guitars, pedalboards, a keyboard, two overpacked suitcases of merch, and several backpacks, our fears quickly became reality as a Ford Fusion Hybrid rolled up. This car is basically on the same playing field as a Mini Cooper. At this point we were crunched for time and had to make it work…so with the help of the uber driver somehow, unbeknownst to us, we were able to cram everything into the cabin of this miniscule sedan. There were a couple pockets of air to breath, but other than that every single cubic inch of the vehicle was filled. Luckily it was only a 30-minute drive (felt more like 300). Still can’t quite understand how it was all able to fit.

#2

On our way down from Seattle to San Francisco, we stopped off in a little town south of Trinidad called Arcata. We met up with a musician friend of Hollow Coves who was living there studying Environmental Science. It had been a long day of driving and we were fading a bit, but this guy’s energy and enthusiasm was so contagious that we were quickly refueled. He brought out the dude in all of us. He knew everything about the Redwoods and the scientific terminology of every plant that we came across. As he was giving us a very informative tour of Arcata, he would grab what looked like a weed and say “oh this is a South African thistle. Try it! Tastes like a sour patch” or “Here’s a wild sweet green onion. Taste it!” and every time it was delicious…from here on out I want to bring him along on every tour so I can try all the natural delicacies hidden to the uninformed eye.

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(Photo credit: Shervin Lainez)