Mike Aiken – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

The country/americana artist, Mike Aiken, has some crazy stories from touring to share with you. You can check out all of the details of his story, after the break.

“These are the days that keep you going when you don’t have time for sound checks, or the bus is broken down on the side of the road, or customs is giving you a hard time or the airline hands you a broken guitar.

Being asked to write a piece about my life on the road has really served as a catalyst to review a large part of who I am. Who am I? I’m a travelin’ bone, an Indie musician who lives on a sailboat and spends most of his time traveling to perform and performing to travel. My style is considered to be Americana, Country, Roots.

I travel large blacktop highways to play places like Chicago and New York City and I bump along small dusty red clay roads to play places like Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia. I sailed 2000 miles in a 35-foot sailboat to play in Horta, Azores. I have played more shows than I can remember and traveled thousands of miles (land and sea) to play them. And I’ve loved it all, some days more than others, of course. But thinking back, that’s who I am.

Let me share with you a couple of my favorite tales from my ‘road log’. When touring by boat I carry on board 4 guitars, a mandolin. My wife and I sailed to Europe after a year in the Canadian Maritimes. We spent roughly two years living and playing in Spain and Portugal when we decided to sail back to the Caribbean and check out the music scene there. We were anchored in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria waiting for the right weather to begin an ocean passage when an American musician, Bob (later to become Hurricane Bob), rowed up in his dinghy. He noticed I was playing guitar and said he was a keyboard player. After talking for a while we discovered we had the same destination, English Harbour, Antigua, a mere 2800 miles west. We agreed that since we had similar sized boats and should arrive around the same time that we would play together when we arrived. Twenty-four days later, after rolling down the tradewinds, spending Christmas and New Year’s at sea we anchored safely near each other in English Harbour. On my first day ashore in Antigua I walked past an open air bar with a nice stage that looked like a great venue. I walked in and off-handedly asked the guy sweeping up if they ever booked music. It turned out he was the owner and did indeed need music for that weekend. I told him how I just sailed in along with my keyboard player, went over the style of music and was promptly booked. (Isn’t it always this easy?!) The gig turned into more and more and pretty soon we were booked for the winter.

You have to understand how it works from a boat. First you anchor as close as you can to the gig, remember you don’t have a car. Then you transfer all of your instruments and equipment from your boat into your dinghy (your little boat that takes you to shore).  Next you climb in around all your stuff, start the outboard and putt-putt as close as you can to the event. We could usually accomplish this in two trips. All the electronics and very good guitars in a rubber boat in saltwater. Too cool!! This is when you hope for a smooth ride with little wind and minimal spray. At the end of the night you reverse the whole process. Originally I’m from the Buffalo, NY area where winter loadouts tend to be –10 degrees with lots of wind, snow and ice into a freezing cold bus. Not in Antigua! There I was in the tropics at the end of a show with all my stuff in a rubber dinghy headed back to my floating home under the Caribbean moon. Aahhh.

A couple of years later I had the same experience with a slight change in latitude. I was based out of  Penobscot Bay, Maine playing the northeast. My road again involved an assortment of boats, dinghies, ferries, vans and planes. I had a live promo date on WERU radio, Blue Hill, ME. To get there involved loading into the dinghy, transferring to a van, waiting for the island car ferry to the mainland so I could then drive to the radio station. The following weekend I had a concert booked on the island of Islesboro. Once again we loaded into our rubber dinghy but this day it rained so hard we had to bail out 6 inches of water! And then it was so foggy we had to take bearings on the shore to find our way! But what a show and what an appreciative audience! The return trip at the end of the night was gorgeous with clear skies, harbor seals and bright moon over the Camden Hills. I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything.

These stories still stand out after many more years touring. It’s all part of this thing called being ‘on the road.’ For some it’s a necessary evil and has to be done to promote and make a living. For others, myself included, it’s a chosen lifestyle that I wouldn’t change for a minute.

All the experiences you have and all the people you meet along the way add to the sum total of who you are. It is from this that you pull your songs. It’s where you go when you put pen to paper and fingers to strings to write those tunes. For me ‘the road’ is a big part of being a musician and I hope to see you out there.” -Mike Aiken

Keep up with Mike Aiken on Facebook and Twitter! Also, make sure you watch the video for his “Summertime Song” here.

What was your favorite part of this story? Let us know in the comments below!