Outasight – TOUR TIPS

In this Tour Tips segment, the singer-songwriter, Outasight, gives you his tips for being on tour. You can check out the feature, after the break.

1. Have fun, in moderation.
Touring can be fun. There’s nothing exactly like hanging with a bunch of homies seeing new places and acting as if every night was a massive rager. Most of the times, it’s not even about the party. You get off stage, your adrenaline is flowing, the vibes are high, and people are hanging. I get it. But find a way to limit the booze consumption (if you drink, if not- more power to you). Take off days as off days. Know your limits. Have a seltzer water and go to bed once in a while. Seriously, your body, mind, and spirit will thank you in the long run.

2. Food – Pick your spots
Between the drinking and the food I find myself falling way out of fighting shape by the end of tour. There’s little tricks that can go a long way if you enjoy eating deep fried fatty food and the city’s best restaurants like myself. Avoid the chips at rest stops. Beef jerky is a road stop gem. French fries with every meal – not necessary. Most importantly for me, on off days or mornings where you have time, get your ass to a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s and get some snacks for the van or bus. Everybody wants to be Bourdain or Bronson visiting all the deep cut spots, which is fine, just balance those days with healthy ones as well.

3. Alone, Together
If you’re anything like me, you like having some coffee in the morning, alone, maybe while browsing Reddit or acting busy replying to emails. The key word here is alone. There’s not a ton of alone time on tour. Find yours. It’s easy to feel as if you’re always supposed to be hanging, but it’s totally chill to go into your bunk once in a while and relax or find a coffee spot in the morning without letting everybody else know. It’s actually pretty beneficial in the long run for everybody, not just yourself. Find some quiet time, some “you” time even.

4. Don’t Complain
34 people showed up in Des Moines? Too bad. It snowed 15 inches in Grand Rapids? Sucks. It’s an 18-hour drive across Texas in a van with 6 sweaty people? Boo hoo. There’s no hot water at the Holiday Inn in Las Cruces? I’m sorry. Look, our friends think we have the coolest lives ever and maybe, just maybe we do. But, things do not always go right and things aren’t always fun. But you know what’s really not fun? A complainer. There’s one every tour and it really sucks the energy out of the room. You are on the road doing what you at least say you love to do. You don’t always have to be happy, but complaining never accomplishes anything.
So don’t be that guy (or girl).

5. The Most Important Rule
The show and the fans are the most important part of the tour. Not the partying, or the traveling, or the crude jokes and laughs. It’s the show. It’s about putting in the work. Leave it all on the stage. Some bands are too big to go meet everybody. I get it. If you are one of those bands, congrats, why the hell are you reading this, you should be swimming in your gold plated pool. For the rest of us, get out there and say thank you. People spent money to come see you. More importantly, people SPENT TIME to come see you. So figure it out. If something is getting in the way of you going all in, change it. The show and the fans are the reason you are doing this, so make it count, for them.

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