High Hopes – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the pop punk band, High Hopes, shares one of their stories from being on the road. You can check out the story, after the break.

One of our longest runs as a DIY band was a few years back with our friends in a local hardcore act, “Baltic to Boardwalk.” The plan was to take the East Coast by storm and play a lot of states that High Hopes had not yet visited before. We had mostly toured the Midwest and therefore we were very excited to explore this new part of the United States.

The shows were excellent and making new friends and connections along the way were something we cherish very much; the tour was going great! However, between each city we played the distance from city to city was somewhat lengthy and therefore we were introduced to a new game that bands can take along for themselves if they are reading this story. It was called King of The Road.

As we are sure many DIY bands know that bands who tour together become like your family away from home. Families however are not immune to being messed with or poking fun at or let’s just say being challenged to a game that tests the capabilities of one’s pride and physical limits as a touring musician.

The game is simple, ahead of the tour, a list is created that generates points for challenges performed from departure and return of said tour. Challenges that range from things like wearing sunglasses for a day, even in sleep, or seeing if five McDonalds McChicken’s (for those who aren’t vegetarian or vegan) is a possible amount to eat within an hour; to allowing a member of the group you are opposed to, to allow them to tattoo a 2” x 2” item of their choosing on your body. As long as they are the ones who pays, and you get to decide where the tattoo goes.

Our drummer at the time tested the limits on the McDoubles, he got down all five, then all five came back up. There was a night where one member had to load in everything by themselves, I am fairly sure, and unfortunately, that fell onto our bassist that night, sorry man. One aspect of KOTR was to apply for a job while on tour and get hired for it. If a band is daring enough, they could execute the week in the same clothes challenge. That one isn’t for the faint of heart… For the real diehards getting into a fight and losing was worth several points as well.

There were so much more and unfortunately, we lost the game by a long shot. We had a blast, however, and that East Coast run is still a favorite as it brought new experiences and areas that we may have never gotten the chance to visit if it wasn’t for being in a band.

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