Rachel Brown – TOUR TIPS

This new set of Tour Tips was written by folk singer-songwriter, Rachel Brown. You can check out her tips for being on the road, after the break.

1) Invest in noise-cancellation headphones. It always makes me cringe on airplanes when I see people blowing out their ear drums by listening to their ear buds on max volume to compensate for the noise. Splurge a bit on a good pair of noise-cancelling earphones and you’ll save your ears, hear all the bass lines you’ve been missing and even block out any unwanted noise like snoring bandmates.

2) Eat well! It can be easy to make all your meals out of junk food, but resist the temptation. Get your hands on a fresh vegetable every once in awhile! Touring is grueling, and your body will thank you. If you’re a vegetarian and stuck in nowheresville, Denny’s has an organic veggie burger that will be your saving grace from town to town.

3) On the rare chance you have downtime, try and get a feel for the place you’re staying. When I’m not in a rush, I look up vegan and vegetarian restaurants, or unique shops and used bookstores. Drive-in movies are also another fun thing to do if you get to town a day early or have the night off. Traveling from city to city can feel like one big blur, it’s nice to get a feel for local flavor even if it’s as ridiculous as visiting a prairie dog park (been there, done that).

4) Get a Square! Square is a little device you plug into the input jack of your iPhone, iPad or Android that allows you to accept credit and debit cards. Great for selling merch. You can get one for free at squareup.com

5) Be early. Drastically overestimate how long it’s going to take you to get from point A to point B. And the longer the distance, the more extra time you should factor in. Especially when you’re with a band. Band members are notorious for needing to use the bathroom and eat at all different times. If you’re in charge, you’re probably going to have to act as mother hen.

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