Otherkin – TOUR TIPS

In this Tour Tips segment, the grunge pop band, Otherkin, give you their tips for being on tour. You can check out the feature, after the break.

1. Bring a Pillow
This seems like a pretty stupid one but honestly, pillows are like currency on tour. Every single tour will have at least a few very long drives that are going to fucking suck and you will fall asleep at some point. Unless you want to have a terrible sleep and awaken to a pretty sore neck, a pillow is key. Plus, if you stay in some pretty low budget accommodation then having an actual good pillow with you is essential. Home comforts keep you sane, amirite?

2. Eat somewhat healthy
This is a rule that I break a lot myself. When you’re driving down the motorway at 2am, the sad fact is that most service stations are only going to have a McDonalds open. And I fucking HATE McDonald’s. But you gotta eat on tour, so you gotta dance with the devil sometimes. But when you can, eat healthily. Your body will thank you. Tours are tough on your body and eating healthy makes everything a little bit easier. Pick up an apple next time your in a shop, not a bag of Doritos you animal.

3. Bring powerbank for your phone
I only started doing this on our last tour, but it’s a game changer. The amount of times my phone has died on a long journey leaving me a very bored drummer is insane. If you have a powerbank, this is a problem that doesn’t exist anymore. Everyone needs time to themselves in the van to listen to music or text their loved ones and having a dead phone sucks.

4. Pick your sleeping partner wisely
This is a really important one. A lot of the time on tour, I’ll either be sharing a room or even a double bed with one of the other guys in the van. And let me tell you, there’s a whole lot of personalities when it comes to sleeping. A few of the guys are not morning people and can be the biggest pricks before 12am, others like to stay up late partying and worst of all, some are pretty bad snorers. If you’re like me and usually head to bed at a reasonable hour and wake up early, you gotta pick your sleeping buddy carefully. I have a bit of an alliance with the singer of our band as he’s got a pretty similar vibe to me. The other guys also sleep with people that suit them best too and it makes for a more happy experience for everyone.

5. Have a list of rules and a piggybank
This one’s just for fun, but make a list of things that people do that overall make tour a worse experience. Stuff like people being late for checkout of a hotel and making everyone wait or spilling a beer in the van. We even have one about people vomiting, but that’s just for shits and giggles. Every time somebody does something on the list, they pay a fine (a euro or the equivalent) so that by the end of tour, you have a piggybank of money. There’ll be a lot more than you think in that fund cause people constantly break the rules. And then at the end of the tour, you go to the shadiest casino you can find and bet it all on black. And maybe you’ll win loads of cash and spend it on sex, drugs and rock n roll. Or you’ll just lose it all. Either way, it’ll improve your tour experience cause people will stop doing all the stupid stuff once they gotta pay for it.

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