The Order of Elijah – TOUR TIPS

In this Tour Tips segment, the metal band, The Order of Elijah, give you their tips for being on tour. You can check out the feature, after the break.

Tour Tip #1: Pre-Game. Before you venture off down the road from city to city to perform your music live. You need to make sure that you are extremely prepared for your trip. I highly recommend writing out a list of things to do before the trip, as well as a list of things to bring. Pack light, but pack effectively. Everything you’d want to take is pretty standard. But definitely, bring as much “tour food” as you can to reduce costs on the road.

Tour Tip #2: We Need Power! In our modern world, we all need access to a lot of power while on the road. You’ll be fighting with your band members over power sources. You need to make sure that the vehicle you are in is upgraded to have multiple USB ports. This can be done with modern attachments for your vehicle’s lighter, all the way up to running power from your battery. GPS is one of your biggest tools, all band members need to have power to their devices in case there are service outages with certain carriers. Often times someone using GPS for routing can lose service but a different band member has a different carrier and can take over navigation. I pack external batteries with me with as many mAh as possible.

Tour Tip #3: Prepare for Slumber. Depending on your band’s status or cash flow, you may be sleeping in the tour van for several nights. Plan this out and figure out how you can get the best sleep possible for your situation. We have had times where a band member chose to sleep on top of the van or the trailer. I usually bring a 1-man tent with me and a military sleeping matt. I don’t use it often, but sometimes it has come in handy. Rest stops are a great place to stop for sleep. They are darker and quieter than truck stops are. Bring ways to blind out the vehicle so that the sun doesn’t wake you up before you want to be awake.

Tour Tip #4: Dude, I’m Starving. Eating on the road can be very expensive. We have found that bringing a lot of food with us can help out a lot with reducing expenses. You just have to think of things that you like to eat that don’t require refrigeration. Some of our favorite things to bring are tuna salad, extra crackers, a jar of Goober, and loafs of bread. Bring things that you can microwave at gas stations like soups or ramen noodles. Bring napkins and plasticware.

Tour Tip #5: Take a Chill Pill. Touring can be stressful. Touring is even stressful before you leave town. You are scrambling around trying to make sure you have everything you need to be lined up and your affairs in order for when you leave town. Tensions can be high on the road. Try to take it easy and reflect on what you are all doing. Have fun on the road. Try and find activities that the band can do together during the day before shows. We like to go shopping or go to the zoo. We once hiked 7 miles up a mountain in Colorado while on tour. We tend to tour around winter times as well, and the last couple winters we went to go see the new Star Wars movies together. I’m currently trying to get the boys pumped for “Homecoming”, the new Spider-Man movie. It comes out during our first tour of the summer, it will be a cool thing for us to do together one day before a show. I highly suggest that you find things to do to break up the monotony of the road.

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