Jonah Kagen – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the singer-songwriter, Jonah Kagen, shares one of his stories from being on the road. You can check out the story, after the break.

STORY 1: NIGHT ONE NIGHTMARE
Before we played our first show in Minneapolis, everyone (including Maisie’s crew) met up in Chicago. We only had a few hours to get to know each other before we took off for our first overnight on the bus.

At this point, I barely even have a grip on everyone’s names outside of the guys in my band (Mike and Dylan), but we’re all getting along great. After a bit of time hanging out on the bus as it rolled toward our first show, it was time for bed. I picked a bunk toward the front of the bus while Mike and Dylan found spots closer to the back. So basically, I’m sleeping in a tiny bus bunk that’s built like a coffin next to a bunch of people I just met. This was not my smartest move.

My whole life, I’ve been a bit of an eccentric sleeper – especially when I’m stressed. Basically, I wound up having a pretty intense nightmare where I thought for sure that I was trapped under the bus and nobody knew it. Apparently, I started furiously banging on the ceiling of the bunk (which was inches away from my face) and screaming relentlessly for help. I screamed and smashed my fists into the ceiling and sidewalls of the bunk until several people from Maisie’s crew (who, again, I JUST MET) had to shake me awake to assure me that I was, in fact, on the right side of the bus’ undercarriage.

This easily ranks in the Top 5 Most Embarrassing moments in my life, but honestly, everyone was really lovely about it and by the time morning came along, we were all good. I did get a demerit for waking everyone up and made quite the first impression.

STORY 2: TEAM BONDING
This one’s kinda sweet. After we finished up our second show, we finally had a chance to all go out together in Chicago. This was the first time we had the opportunity to go out together outside of the bus. It was a Wednesday night, so we wound up in this tiny dive bar with absolutely no one in it, which was perfect. It was so empty that the guy behind the bar let us take over the aux, so we were just playing our own music and having a good time.

At one point, the drummer for Maisie’s band (Jack) noticed that there was a drum kit kind of scattered around the room as decoration. So basically he went around and gathered up all the pieces and put together the entire kit, then started to play the drums over top of every song we played over the aux in the bar.

It sounds really simple, but this little addition was just so great. We all started singing and dancing to the now entirely upgraded music, and it was just incredibly fun, sweet, and wholesome. It’s such a positive memory for me – and I think that’s really when we all got close. Everyone’s been so tight-knit since then. It was a great memory.

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