Sleepy Tom – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the dance music artist, Sleepy Tom, gives the details of one of his crazy stories from touring. You can check out the story and stream his newest single, In My Head ft. Blonde Diamond, after the break.

I was playing a Mad Decent Block Party in Ft Lauderdale in the summer of 2016. It was probably 40 degrees Celsius (plus humidity off-the-charts) and there’s me, DJing in a black tee and jeans like heat stroke is the least of my concerns. Sweating profusely, I finish my set and have the next 16 hours to hydrate and prepare for my flight to Calgary, 6am the next morning. I’m scheduled to play a festival there at 5pm the next day— PLUS this is the first time I get to meet my new girlfriend’s parents and show them how a DJ can be responsible as well as the life of the party. No problem.

While enjoying a couple refreshing cocktails, I get a text from my manager saying I can play the after party later that night for a little extra dough. He mentions I’d have a little less sleep because of aforementioned early flight. No problem! Liquid courage got me feeling invincible. So, my friend Keith (Autoerotique) and I play the after party set. There weren’t many people. We make do— and drink more.

There’s nothing much better (and more important) than eating late night food after a long day of drinking. As I’m leaving the club, I ask my Uber driver to stop somewhere, but turns out it’s really late and nothing is open. So off to bed I go on an empty stomach—it’s cool though because it’s more of a nap, as I have to wake up in 2 hours to go to the airport.

Did I wake up in time? Of course not. I wake up at 7am in a fury and race to the airport, hoping I can make it on to the next flight. But turns out, Ft Lauderdale is really far from Calgary— close to the furthest place you could think to fly within North America— and there’s no flight out until noon, making it impossible to make my set at the festival. So, I get to Calgary by 930pm, miss my chance to meet girlfriend’s parents and impress them with my sick DJ skills, and let down a bunch of fans—some who had actually made up bootleg Sleepy Tom shirts—a first for me… :’(

I think the moral is that if you’re going to drink heavily and wake up early, make sure you have late-night snacks. But in all seriousness, I was super bummed to miss that show and let down a bunch of people along the way. Now I’m extra cautious when it comes to flights and sleep. Don’t let my name fool you!

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(Photo credit: Lindsay Elliott)