In Your Memory – TOUR TIPS

In this Tour Tips segment, the rock band, In Your Memory, give you their tips for being on tour. You can check out the feature, after the break.

1) Personal Health and Hygiene – When you’re on tour, health is of the utmost importance to make sure you’re performing at your best every night! Things such as mental health and physical health can make or break a gig for ya. I recommend showering whenever you get a chance, cause who knows when there’s going to be another one (baby powder and wipes help.) When you’re finished with that shower, remember not to leave that towel out, otherwise, when you get back after the gig, you’re looking forward to the new 4D smellivision, escape of the moldy towel. Keep your van clean as possible, and most of all, wash your hands. Think of it this way; If you go into a restroom at a gas station (male or female) and you choose to use the stall, fine and dandy! You take a whiz, then you flush (cause you’re a decent person). BUT! Then you decide to not wash your hands; 20 dudes used that stall before you, you essentially just touched 20 dicks, gross. Then you decide to buy a sandwich and STILL didn’t wash your hands; now you’re just eating a dick sandwich, super gross. Moral of the story is wash your hands ya nasty.

2) Maintaining/ bringing gear – Gigs suck when your gear sucks, so does the never-ending, “can I borrow your throne” question. It’s really important to make sure you make a checklist and bring all of your important gear, along with a spare in case you “accidentally” destroy your guitar on stage. Also, maintaining your gear has many different values, but most of us can’t afford a tech. A simple purchase of a repair book and a few tools will make you a valuable commodity on the crew, so sit down and learn! Personally, I check my intonation before I play to make sure it didn’t get too out of whack and I always wipe my guitar down after shows to clean off all the sweat. With that being said, make sure you have road cases, cause your gear will get destroyed and that shit costs money!

3) LOADING IN – When you arrive at the venue, the first thing that should happen is the tour manager should find out where to load in. Once they’ve found out, grab the entire band, including the singer who is pretending to be on an official phone call, load in and gets the gear in promptly. Make sure you secure that prime merch spot and that your singer hasn’t run into the bathroom to hide from loading in. Once everything has been loaded in and your drummer get’s his kit ready, make sure you connect with the venue staff, the sound person, and the promoter. Start the night off with good vibes by having a good attitude and working with the staff to get the show started! Don’t let spoiled milk from the van ruin your attitude and diffuse to everyone around you.

4) Food and eating – This is a really complex battle, but us touring musicians gotta face it! To eat cheap and unhealthy or to spend a lot of money for a sad salad. So before you go and pick up that next cheeseburger, think about how heart disease kills more people in the United States than any other disease. Or maybe think about how you looked in that last promo pic with your cute belly poking out. No matter what way you think about it, we need to stay healthy (refer to 1). Any bands best bet is to go to Walmart and pick up some bananas, a bag of apples, carrots or anything else that you can buy and spare yourself that next gas station bag of chips.

5) Driving – Driving is a shared duty amongst the entire band and crew and there are a few ways to make it work best for you. Make sure you insist that you drive in the morning, that way when that late night drive comes, you can push it on somebody else. If you just don’t feel like driving, make sure to subtly get your copilots opinion and act like you’re nodding off; People will get scared and send you to the back, no one wants to die. Also, make sure as soon as you’re done with your set that you down the jack and cokes and pretend you’re really lit, no one will try asking you to drive. Now, in the rare case, someone doesn’t have a license, just have them be permanent co-pilot; they provide all the snacks and hotel reviews.

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Mon Nov 13 – Charlotte @ Neighborhood Theater
Tues Nov 14 – Richmond @ Canal Club
Wed Nov 15 – Baltimore @ Ottobar
Thurs Nov 16 – Philly @ Voltage Lounge
Fri Nov 17 – NYC @ Bowery Electric
Sat Nov 18 – Rochester @ Funk n’ Waffles
Sun Nov 19 – Cleveland @ Beachland Ballroom