Dylan Rockoff – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the singer-songwriter, Dylan Rockoff, talks about some of his crazy moments from touring. You can check out the feature, after the break.

So my craziest tour story involves a very cruel prank of which I was unfortunately on the receiving end. We had just played a show in Hamden, CT the night before and had to get up early to make our way to Washington DC for a gig that night. The band was separated into 2 different vehicles so our bass player, keyboard player, & tour manager were in one car and my drummer (Valentin) and I were in the other. I had done 100% of the driving to this point on the tour and I was exhausted so I decided to let Valentin take the wheel for a while I got a nap knowing we had a long drive ahead.

About 2 hours later, I’m stirred from one of the most pleasant slumbers of my life by the sound of a noticeably flustered Valentin. He isn’t the kind of person to get worked up, but I could tell he was having some type of serious disagreement with whoever was on the phone. I asked him what was going on and he told me he was on the phone with the person in charge of booking Villain & Saint (the venue) and that I should speak with them because there is a “big problem”. So I hop on the phone, confident and assured that whatever the issue is – we can work it out.

I introduce myself as Dylan Rockoff and explain that we are on our way to DC to play the venue later that night. The person on the other end of the phone goes on to explain that he regrettably and accidentally double-booked us with a popular local polka band. Seeing that we were within an hour of DC and had already made the long trek, this was extremely upsetting. I was so shocked and upset by the news that I really didn’t know what to say, so this person on the other line asked me to tell them a little bit more about my musical career and our act.

Seeing this as a challenge to position myself as a better option than a local polka band I jumped at the opportunity and began naming off every notable accomplishment that immediately came to mind. After I was done going through my entire musical life, the person on the other end didn’t seem convinced that they should allow us to play. They told me they would look into the issue and get back to me.

I hung up the phone, looked over at Valentin, and started yelling obscenities that can’t be mentioned here. We did find humor in the notion that polka might be a popular local styling in DC… I’m from Pennsylvania, I always thought it was exclusively a PA thing, but I won’t lie, a piece of me was a little excited that polka might be spreading its wild wings across the US. However, that emotion was short-lived, and I immediately called my tour manager Will to explain the situation and see what we could do about it.

After about 2 minutes of explanation, Will was stunned. He called the venue back immediately. Then called me 20 minutes later and basically told me that the show was canceled. Just as I was about to start screaming, Will breaks into the heartiest laugh I’ve ever heard.

Turns out he was behind it the whole time. He called privately and played the part of the booking agent at the venue. There was no local polka band (I’m still a little disappointed about that), no one was double booked, and we went on to play a killer show that night. Will… I still owe you back for that one – there’s a storm coming your way.

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