Nathan Ball – TOUR TIPS

In this Tour Tips segment, the alternative artist, Nathan Ball, gives you his tips for being on tour. You can check out the feature, after the break.

1. Make sure you’re not the only one insured: Sadly being the owner of the van means I am chauffeur 100% of the time. This means turning down the beers, propping some matches in your eyelids to keep them open, and driving with the windows down at 3am in mid-winter, while the other 2 crack into road beers and then nestle into a deep sleep until they’re delivered to their final destination. On the way back from a France tour last year, having put in a 5-hour shift I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, so Max stepped up to the wheel. After 20 minutes he pulled over again with eyelids about a millimeter open. We spent the rest of the 12-hour journey back swapping every 20 minutes.

2. Road Snacks: We learned the hard way… when traveling to Holland always pick up enough snacks to get you through England, the ferry journey and through France and Belgium… The double meal deal from Saino’s usually does the job. Unless you’re into sangers with the most sugary bread in the world, or cold frankfurter hot dogs with the doughiest bread of all time, breeze through France and Belgium and into the safe snacking land of Holland… the croquets here are a must and will power you through the last part of the journey. This brings me onto my next point:

3. Keep it fruity: Pizza and chips are the food of kings when you’re 8 years old, but when you’re mid-twenties and it’s the kid’s combo for the 5th night running, there comes a time when you crave the healthy stuff, no matter how good the dough is. There always seems to be fruit in the dressing rooms, so try and cram in a couple of your ‘5 a tour’ there. Drinking beer is heavily encouraged on tour and is consumed on a ridiculous scale. But the beer is cold, the beer is free and we’re on tour, so sure I’ll have another one.

4. So solid crew: I’m very lucky I get to travel with best mates. There is a ridiculous amount of waiting around on tour and you spend 24/7 with each other, so if it’s with people you look forward to spending time with it’s a win-win. If the atmosphere is good on a tour and you’re having fun, that comes across on stage. If you’re having fun, the crowd has fun, we all have fun.

5. It’s nice to be nice: Always be nice to the sound man, despite them hating you from the off, they control how you sound out front to the crowd and can make or break a gig for you. Always be nice to the other bands on the bill too, there are a lot of prima donnas out there and they’re never fun to be around. It’s nice to be nice!

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