Modern Inventors – TOUR TIPS

In this Tour Tips segment, the indie rock duo, Modern Inventors, give you their tips for being on tour. You can check out the feature, after the break.

1. Run the numbers – Touring is a delicate balance of income and expenditures. Whether it’s extra lighting, crew, and transportation, or maybe you just didn’t think that far in advance…it’s always important to do a cost/benefit analysis of what your projected revenue is going to be for each tour, BEFORE you sign on to it. One time in my old band blew through our entire hospitality budget for a 5-week tour in 2 weeks. Granted we were 20 years old, and our drummer was the de-facto tour accountant…but we ended up having to spend our last $800 on sleeping bags and tents. It didn’t hurt that it was summer, and we were touring through the pacific northwest, which is one of the most majestic places on the planet…but I can’t imagine what it would have been like if we were on tour in January and that happened. If you’re a sideman, this scenario looks a little different, but it still makes sense to run the numbers.

2. Rent a Wifi hotspot – with all of that downtime, you can seriously eat through wireless data on your phones/tablets. It makes sense to rent a Wifi hotspot for the van so everyone can use their devices and not have to worry about going over on data. This is especially crucial for people who love streaming movies and shows. If you’re in a bus, or a Sprinter with Wifi in it already, then this isn’t an issue, but for the rest of us…save your data!

3. Spend time in sound check refining your show and experimenting – sound check is often an underutilized time of day. After hours on the road, it’s hard to jump up on stage and direct your focus towards making your show better…but this is really important. Your set is a living, breathing thing, and as your tour progresses, it can evolve and change for better or worse. I think it’s crucial to check in and learn lessons from the previous nights. It’s about experimentation and testing. I’m always curious, why did this song work and not this song? If everyone is committed to making the show as enjoyable as possible for the fans, sound check is a great time to refine your show.

4. Give each other space – this is super important for the health of your band. Sartre once said, “hell is other people” and I think I now know what he meant. You don’t have to go do everything together as a band, so if someone wants to split off from the group for their day off, let them. Everyone is different and has their own threshold of how much they can take of other people. On top of that, not everyone is aware enough to know when they’ve reached their limit and sometimes they need their band mates to step in and translate for them. This isn’t an invitation to ghost on people – show up when you’re supposed to prepared to do your job. Group texts, when used tastefully, can be a great way of checking in. Also dropping pins and sharing locations can work if you’re not too precious about the secrecy of your whereabouts.

5. Eat Healthy Food – People say ‘you are what you eat’ and I never really understood what that meant until I was on tour. If you eat unhealthy, processed food, you WILL feel like crap, and get sick. Getting sick on tour is the worst, It sucks. You can, however, avoid this, by eating healthy. When you’re touring, you’re exposed to all different types of germs, some of which your body hasn’t encountered before, and you want to make sure that you’ve given your immune system the proper ammunition to defend itself. Obviously, everyone is different, and some people’s bodies run optimally on China Buffet, but for the rest of us, steer clear of greasy, processed foods. Oh and get some sleep, and call your mom.

Keep up with the duo on Facebook and Twitter!