So Much Light – TOUR TIPS

In this Tour Tips segment, the pop artist, So Much Light, gives you his tips for being on tour. You can check out the feature, after the break.

How to fuel your body so that it doesn’t die on tour
By So Much Light

Touring is hard work. Long drives, late nights and unpredictability all impact an artist’s ability to stay sane and healthy on the road. Personally, I get most irritable when my food or sleep are f’ed with, so here are a couple tricks I’ve learned to keep my body happy and fed while on tour.

Avoid Gas Station Cuisine
If at all possible, avoid gas station food. I know that shiny hot dog underneath the heat lamp looks good, but I promise you it isn’t worth it. I learned second hand how much damage this stuff can do when a friend in a tour package I was a part of surrendered to a slice of gas station pizza in the middle of a long haul from SLC to Seattle. Food poisoning is gnarly at home, just imagine how bad it is on a 13-hour drive in a hot van. Just say no.

Gas Station Staples
Oftentimes, the only edible food between two cities will be at gas stations (I’m talking to you, Texas). If this is the case, there are some staples I’ve come to rely on.
-Belvita Breakfast Biscuits can be good if you’re worried about getting enough fiber
-Clif Bars are an obvious staple that are decently nutritious
-Trail mix can be found at just about every gas station you’ll come across
-Coconut water is the SHIT. This stuff tastes better than Gatorade and will keep you hydrated on long summer drives.

Grocery Stores are your friends
Grocery stores are always a solid pick for a lunch stop on the road. Bulk bin aisles are the best friends of broke musicians. Your ancestors subsisted on scavenging berry bushes and eating nuts one by one all day in the hot sun. Lucky for you, you can fill a 2 lb. bag up with walnuts for 5 bucks and have a healthy snack that will last you for days.

Grocery stores are also a good compromise for the band member who refuses to eat anything that doesn’t leave the napkin transparent. Most grocery stores have a heat-lamp-garbage-food-section, so Lenny can go eat diseased chow mein until he drops while you feast on the bounty of the earth. Everybody wins!

Soylent, the food of the future
I feel pretty lame giving out free advertising, but Soylent is a pretty cool product. The idea is that each bottle contains 25% of your daily value for every nutrient. So you could actually live forever drinking nothing but Soylent. These things were originally designed so programmers could sit at the computer all day without having to worry about getting a healthy meal in. They’re the perfect tour meal replacement: Fast, convenient and healthy. If you buy a box of them they come out to around $3 a piece. Just make sure you bring a cooler.

That’s it! Good luck out there! Say no to garbage food.

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