Avalon Landing – TOUR TIPS

This new set of Tour Tips was written by guitarist, Clayton Cobb, of the pop-rock band, Avalon Landing. You can check out his tips for being on tour, after the break.

1. Frequent the local businesses: It’s easy to see your favorite chain restaurant/coffee shop, and to gravitate right to it knowing exactly the experience you’ll have. There is wisdom in doing so under the right circumstances, but taking a chance on a local business usually holds greater rewards. Many times you have a once in a lifetime experience. People that run and work at small businesses take pride in what they do, and they usually offer a unique take on the town or city that you are visiting. You’re in a small independent band, and they run a small independent business; right away you have common ground to make a connection in a new place.

2. Take an Electric kettle: There are lots of helpful tools to take on the road, but one of the most valuable money savers is the electric kettle. With one of these bad boys and a couple minutes of electricity you can boil water, which comes in handy for a number of reasons. First and foremost, this thing can help you save a ton of money on food, and still gives you an option to have a hot meal. If you’re pinching pennies, you can bring instant soups and noodles. You may not want to eat them for every meal, but holding yourself over once a day with a cheap noodle dish can add up over the whole tour. You can also save a lot of money on coffee and tea beverages that you may otherwise have purchased for two or three dollars at a coffee house.

3. Stay Awake While Driving: As a group we’ve developed a system to make sure that driving is as safe as possible. There is no reason not to take care of each other, and that includes being smart about how you get from gig to gig. No one wants to risk life and limb just to get to the venue 20 minutes earlier. We always drive in teams with a driver and a navigator. Both people are asked to stay awake, and if anyone is having trouble staying alert during the drive, we switch out. We generally have a healthy stock of energy drinks in the van, and we make sure that the driver gets to choose the music to help them stay stimulated during their shift. I especially enjoy listening to records that I know all the words to.

4. Don’t expect things to go perfectly: This is more of a life rule than a tour rule, but it bears repeating either way. The road is going to throw challenges your way. You are going to spend more money than you expect. You are going to have shows cancelled, and the van is almost certainly going to need some sort of repair along the way; unless the thing is brand spankin’ new. These things will test your patience and endurance. Take them head on with positivity, and find solutions quickly. Expensive problems particularly suck, but by getting through them together the band builds character and perseverance becomes a way of life.

5. Don’t Profile People: Never assume that you know what kind of music a person likes by the way they dress or how old they appear. It’s very easy to generalize the demographic that you think you should be reaching, and in some cases knowing your target audience will be helpful. Here’s the thing though: people have constantly surprised us with there willingness to give us a chance. We’ve gained sixty-year old fans, we’ve approached kids with ETID and A Day to Remember shirts on with our piano pop rock and they’ve totally been into it. There is never any hard and fast rule for what people will like. If you pass on talking with someone because of your expectations, you are passing on an opportunity to meet someone that will truly support what you do.

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