Daniella Mason – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the alternative artist, Daniella Mason, gives the details of one of her crazy stories from touring. You can check out the story and stream her newest single, “Public Places”, after the break.

One time I was making my way to SXSW and I got a cool opportunity for a stop off in Dallas to play a stripped-down, well-attended show. It seemed like a great option and I thought it would be easy enough. I was very wrong.

The first hitch was that it turned out my band was unable to join me in Dallas and they would be meeting me in Austin… meaning I had to do this one alone. At the time, I felt like my songs didn’t translate in a stripped down setting unless I had an electronic element, so I took it upon myself to learn an entirely new solo-setup. I YouTube-taught myself this beatpad, figured out all of my sounds, loaded them in, and practiced for days. I was HIGHLY stressed about it. It turned out that this would be JUST the beginning of my stress.

The night before I was to leave for Dallas, I realize a bunch of my buttons are not working and I can’t find a store that carries the ONE beat pad I’ve learned. So, I bury the stress and figure out how to load the most important things into the few buttons that work and go with it… Not ideal, but enough to sing over. THEN, the next day, my flight gets delayed… And delayed… And delayed! I start REALLY stressing. The idea of sound checking the new setup (that I have never done before) is getting more and more unlikely. I just sit in the terminal with my headphones on, practicing the set over and over like a crazy person, trying to get through and not succumb to the stress I feel. I finally get on the plane after hours of waiting and I’m set to arrive literally AT my set-time. I text my manager and get her assurance that I could be moved to a later slot if need be. I breathe a sigh of relief… only to look in my purse and realize that the memory card with ALL of my sounds (the one that took me days to organize) IS MISSING. I frantically look everywhere to no avail. That was the final straw for me. Every buried anxiety comes bubbling to the surface and I break down into uncontrollable tears on the plane. Luckily, I’m wearing a big hat and I pull it down and cry hysterically into it. (This is where the line: “I cried into my hat” comes from in my song, “Public Places”) I have NO idea what I’m going to do. I’m going over plan B, C, and D, and nothing seems feasible, so I just sit on my flight with dread. I get to the venue as soon the show starts, and take my stuff to the green room, still having no idea what I’m going to do. Then, I look into my bag to see the memory card just sitting there right on top. SITTING RIGHT ON TOP. Divine or not, that saved me and my set went off without a hitch. With the day I had had, I was seriously waiting for something to catch on fire. Nothing did.

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(Photo credit: Bree Marie Fish)