Wyland – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the alternative indie rock band, Wyland, talk about one of their crazy moments from touring. You can check out the feature, after the break.

We certainly have a ton of wild stories from the road but I suppose one in particular that jumps out is from this past spring in 2016. We were traveling down to perform at SXSW unofficially and we had this incredible tour booked with a great band by the name of OWEL. It was an exciting time because we snuck onto a lot of their shows, routing from NJ down to Austin and we knew they were going to be really fun shows. Well, a family friend was kind enough to lend us their RV for the tour. We used it in past for tour, Bonnaroo and some other adventures but for this tour, we were most grateful to be able to use it. The owner would often joke that if it ever went up in flames to leave it behind.

Anyway, our crew and I packed up for the tour and left early in the morning. Our blood was pumping with excitement beyond words. We had our first show scheduled just outside of Washington, DC at a venue called IOTA w/ an incredible group by the name of Clones of Clones. The first three hours were beautiful. Open road out of New Jersey into Delaware and breaking off into Baltimore. We were cruising without a care in the world.

All of the sudden, the gas pedal just lets loose and I lose all control of the RV. The vehicle slows down really quickly as we were heading up hill. Trucks and cars are making a commotion behind us. I start yelling to the rest of my mates and the crew that something was happening. And then, it suddenly began to work again. A bit shaken and nervous, we agree to continue driving to at least the venue, play the show and then check the vehicle.

About ten minutes later, the gas pedal gives out again and we’re forced to swerve across the highway to the side of the road. I called the family friend for help. An extremely kind gentlemen pulls over to help us out. We’re checking the oil, the break fluid (which was leaking) and many other things. We find out the worst though. The transmission was giving out. The kind gentlemen informs us our worst fear; that we’re not going to make it to our show. He helps tow us off the highway.

What was so tough about this situation? It was a Friday night, many places were closed the following day and everything was closed on Sunday. The good samaritan offered all the help he could but most importantly, he told us not to leave the RV because we were in a very bad location sandwiched between two unpleasant rival neighborhoods. We ended up missing the Clones of Clones show and feared that we’d miss more shows too. So what did we do? We drank ourselves into the right mind frame to come up with a plan. We researched towing companies, car rentals and so on.

Saturday came and it became clear very quickly that weren’t going to make our Saturday night show at the Masquerade in Atlanta with OWEL. The moral was very low. The family friend ended up having a friend who worked at a towing company come and pick up the RV to take it home. We rented a Penske truck and crammed all of our gear and each other into it and hit the road on Saturday night. We raced from Baltimore down to Nashville to make the next show with OWEL at The End.

From there, things smoothed out. We made Nashville, rocked out with some great people and hit Austin shortly after. There, we played about 3-4 shows a day, including a personal showcase with Randy Jackson, we hung out with the best publicists in the world (Big Picture Media), we met and hung out with the wonderful and talented AURORA and her incredible band mates, went to secret Stetson parties, but most importantly, we got to spend time together at SXSW with no worries for the rest of the trip. See you in 2017 Austin.

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