Murder FM – TOUR TIPS

This new set of Tour Tips was written by the rock band, Murder FM. You can check out their tips for being on the road, after the break.

1.) DON’T FORGET YOUR BAND: Seems obvious enough, but never brought up. Is it possible to forget you band? Really? MORE THAN YOU KNOW! How many times has drummer boy pissed you off because he SWEARS and he was on time and it was all the other band members who were all off together haha! At the gas station, the easiest solution was to leave your boy (or girl) behind. Even more common, “oil spotting”. this is a phenomenon that occurs when Johnny Dreamboat wants to stay behind to hook up with a chick or drink at the bar with “his new best friends in so and so band”, only to miss bus call (or van call for the true warrior out there) and all that’s left for him when he is ready is a spot of oil where the tour vehicle used to be….hope your new best friends or lady will drive you to the next tour stop. Both are morale killers and begins to crack the bond in a band. Don’t get left behind, pay attention and treat your band members number one and don’t leave behind your boy (or girl) no matter how annoying, because you may have to go back and get them or pay for them to fly in anyway, so keep the peace, shove ’em in a road case and get the hell on the road!

2.) FEBREEZE, BABY POWDER and BABY WIPES, the aroma of champions: This combination is a MUST have. Better and more powerful than any bath and body works combo. Many tour bus routed tours do not have the luxury of staying in a hotel room, and you usually have a day room or shower at the venue IF you are lucky. Sometimes rolling in a van, you are luckier because you can maneuver in a city, take up less space, save money on daily costs toward hotels and drive faster at night. A Tour bus is regulated and the driver is union, so he has to sleep and drive at certain (betcha didn’t know that!). Throw some baby powder on before and rub it on your stage gear, looks killer, smells great. Febreze it afterward (in case you don’t get a day off wash day), this also doubles air fresher in the bus, van and hotel room. Baby Wipes, keeps your tits,pits and naughty bits free of smelling ripe, JUST in case that ever important thing called a shower, which you once took for granted and now is now like gold is not available.

3.) IF IT SOUNDS LIKE A BAD IDEA….IT IS: Many times on tour, you feel carefree or responsibility, filled with stars in your eyes and reckless abandon. I started touring at age 17, one thing I learned, QUICKLY, if it sounds like a bad idea..IT IS! Stick the business at hand and remember why you are there in the first place. Spend your off days educating yourself on your business, rest and relax, skip the party and catch up with loved ones at home to keep yourself centered. Your entire band will be a better band, your crew will love you, your fans will thank you for being on point every night, your career will soar (and your body will thank you and work MUCH longer hahaha!)

4.) WATER: This shit is like having a Willy Wonka golden ticket on tour. Water comes in WAY handier than you think. Brush your teeth at 6am when you wake up in the lot of the venue, use it to wash yourself in said parking lot (shower in a bottle), stage refreshment, cool stage move spitting it out, can use it to cool down your boiling radiator in a pinch and most importantly, staying hydrated. I cannot stress enough how important it is to stay healthy on tour. It’s so hard to eat well at 2am after a show, at truck stops, etc. I’m not saying being one of those annoying “I’m only on this kind of diet” fools, just stay hydrated, eat the best you can, rest and relax when you can and ALWAYS stay positive. Nothing and I mean NOTHING is worse than a whiner on the road (quickest way to get yourself kicked out of the band….)

5.) SPACE and TIME: Always, always, ALWAYS, know where you are going, even if you have a tour manager. Not knowing where you or where you are going and constantly asking “what’s the venue, where are tonight”, grinds more gears than peter griffin can count. It also says you are doing a terrible job promoting your bands tour dates on your social media and might as well say “hey, i don’t give a f#@k about taking our careers to that next level and building our audience”, because not know your tour itinerary is a cardinal sin to a band grinding it out on the road, at least to me it is. Knowing where you are brings some focus to the task at hand, makes you feel comfortable and even at home for a moment because you can find a way to feel centered with the city you are in and take moment to yourself to really connect with it. SPACE, give your band members PLENTY of it. You are already driving in a crowded, van, bus, Griswold family truckster, tooooo much together can and will be a bad thing, so take a break now and again and if your boy wants to run to see a movie by himself on an off day, let em!you will extend the life of your band by treating one another with respect and trying to supply the creature comforts of being at home, on the road \m/\m/

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