Farewell Flight – TOUR TIPS (Part 1 of 2)

Alternative band, Farewell Flight, were kind enough to write a set of Tour Tips for you guys to learn from. You can check out part 1 of 2 after the break.

1. Plan for 15 minutes of extra drive time for every hour of your trip. You will definitely need it. Gas fill-ups, bathroom stops, food stops, traffic, vehicle trouble, getting pulled over, getting lost…it adds up. Also, if you have extra time, you should keep your speed limit under 65 at all times (our magic number is between 55 and 62). We have found that it improves our gas mileage as much as 50% as compared to going 75+ mph. That extra 10mph only saves you about 30 minutes on a 4 hour trip. At $4 a gallon, you can afford to leave an hour early and drive like Gram and Pap.
2. Learn the house sound engineer’s name (and bartender, too) and use it. Every time. Some sound guys can be a little jerky (mixing night after night of terrible-sounding and rude bands will do that to you). Learn their names, be polite, don’t be demanding, say “please” and “thank-you”, thank them at least once during your set, and you’ll find the night goes a lot more smoothly (plus they’ll feel better). Also, if you shout out to the bartender by name, and tell people to make sure they take care of him every time they get a beer, you might find yourselves with a free round of dranks after your show. And a new friend! Boom!
3. Books on tape/cd. Nothing makes a drive go by faster than spoken word. Plus, I’m not sure about you, but 3-8 hours of music in the van plus 4 hours of music at the venue means you might actually get a little tired of hearing music all of the time. A lot of guys will watch movies nonstop on their laptops, but those types of people are boring. If you’re not driving, read a book. You might become more interesting.
4. Speak up and communicate. It took us like, 24 national tours to realize that we were bottling up frustrations and exploding on week 3 like clockwork. A little communication goes a long way. Also, recognize that you can’t change each other, but you can change yourself. Instead of dwelling on how you wish they were, think instead about what you can do to be less annoying, less abrasive, more helpful, and try to see things from their perspective. You’ll find a lot of problems you had with each other previously will melt away. Also, fights/disagreements are unavoidable and are healthy. Think slowly, speak slower, and never, ever, ever say the phrase, “Calm down.” It has the opposite effect.
5. “I have a girlfriend/fiancee/wife at home.”This one is cheesy, and doesn’t sound as cool as the usual sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll, but realistically, a lot of guys do have a lady they leave behind on tour. Make sure you call your girl once a day, and set aside a time (like, 30 minutes), when you are only talking to her: not cradling the phone on your shoulder while loading in, not while a party is going on in the background, not at 3:30am when she’s half asleep and you’re drunk. You’ll probably feel like most days you don’t feel like talking or even have that much to talk about (“I woke up, drove my 4 hour shift, slept the rest of the drive, loaded in, crowd turnout sucked/was awesome, I played great/terribly, just got back to our friend’s ratty apartment and I’m about to sleep on the floor. Same as every other day.”) Doesn’t matter, tell her about it anyways. Repeat that dumb joke you heard, ask about her job, tell her about a dream you had, brainstorm something fun to do together when you get home. A little bit of effort can go a long way to keeping you together- she just wants to feel like she’s a part of your life.

Also, don’t cheat, dummy.

Make sure to check out Farewell Flight on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace.