Grizfolk – TOUR TIPS

In this Tour Tips segment, the alternative rock band, Grizfolk, shares their advice for being on the road. You can check out the feature and their newest single, “Shaky in the Knees”, after the break.

1. Never leave kombucha in a hot van- One day, somewhere out there on the road, we stopped to get gas. We’d just had a very healthy meal at Whole Foods. It was hot, like possibly Arizona in the summer hot, but maybe Texas or Florida who knows. We all stepped out to urinate and when we returned to the van we found an slimy substance that seemed to appear of alien origin splattered all over the van and everything inside it. We searched the van rigorously for any sign of alien life, only to find a shattered bottle of chia seed kombucha in the way back. Lucky for us no one was injured by flying chia or glass or aliens.

2. Roll your clothes instead of folding them- Space inside of a touring suitcase is precious, and you will need as much of it as you can possibly get. You will also need to fit in as many pairs of socks and underwear as possible.

3. Sharpies always seem to disappear on tour- So, if you are a band that sells/signs merch, pack a lot of them. How many sharpies, you ask? Think of the absolute highest number of sharpies you think you may need to get through a tour. And then double that number.

4. Yelp and Hotwire are the two apps we use the most- We’ve found a number of our favorite restaurants and coffee shops across the country using Yelp, and Hotwire has saved us on more than a few instances with last-minute hotel deals.

5. Always bring a towel- I have Douglas Adams to thank for this important piece of advice from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which applies directly to touring as well. I couldn’t explain it any better than the guide, which reads:

“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.”

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