David Ryan Harris – TOUR TIPS

In this Tour Tips segment, the soul/rock artist, David Ryan Harris, gives you some tips for surviving on the road. You can check out the feature, after the break.

#1 Take It. You Paid For It.
The hotel toiletries – take them. Take them every night. All the time. You never know when you’re going to need them. Don’t worry about the fact that there’s going to be a bunch of different brands. Just pour them into a single travel container, that way you don’t have to buy this stuff on the road.

#2 Tool. (But not the band.)
Get some tools, man. Screwdrivers, an extra string winder, and scissors in case I need to stab someone. You should probably learn a little about your truss rod if you’re a guitar player, or midi stuff if you’re a keyboard player. Just get a rudimentary sense of how to repair minor things and adjust things on the road, because it’s difficult and expensive to find repair people when you’re gone.

#3 Extra Hand.
This is a new one for me. I now have a backpack. It has cables, a guitar stand, and all of the stuff that I need to take into a show every night. You may say to yourself, what’s the big deal with that? I used to carry all of my stuff in a sort of briefcase thing. But now with a backpack, I’ve got an extra hand, and it all goes on my back. I mean my hand doesn’t go on my back; the stuff goes on my back.

#4 Don’t Be A Dick.
This is probably the most important of all. Don’t be late to soundcheck, and don’t be a dick to the sound people. They get there before you do most of the time, and they’ll be there long after you leave. They’re responsible for how you sound. There’s nothing worse than making an enemy of the monitor guy.

#5 Towel Quality = Room Quality
This isn’t so much of a tip as it is an observation. Perhaps you could use it to your advantage somewhere on the road. I have found that the quality of a hotel’s towels is directly proportionate to the quality of the hotel. So I guess if you showed up at a place, and you didn’t know what the rooms were like, you could say, “I would love to check in, but can I see your towels?” If they feel like sandpaper, it’s probably disgusting.

Hopefully, these tips will be useful to you in your travels! Above all, be safe on the road, and remember to try to press the flesh with your fans, as they say, because they’re really what it’s all about. Peace. See you somewhere down the crazy river.

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