La Armada – TOUR TIPS

Here is a brand new set of Tour Tips from the Chicago hardcore band, La Armada. You can check out their well thought out tips after the break.

1 – Cook your own goddamn food
You wont play many shows on an empty stomach, so lets face it, eating is THE most important thing you do everyday. Fast food will make you sick, fat and sluggish, unless you have some sort of backing ($$) you know theres gonna be no food at the venue, and you can’t afford to feed the band at decent restaurants everyday so what do you do? LEARN TO COOK. we cook everyday at least twice a day, for a 5 piece band this saves us on average $60 dollars a day and not to mention your eating a home cooked meal! So offer a nice cooked meal to whoever is nice enough to let you crash on their floor. no excuses!
2 – Save your Contacts appropriately
If you got half a brain your talking and meeting bands and promoters on the road, people that can make your next show in their town better, so in 5 months when your booking your next tour, instead of scratching your head wondering what that guys name was that said he would book your show with awesome local support you can look at your phone and easily find it. Here’s a good example:
– Band Bruce Dickinson Iron maiden UK  < a quick seach for “Band” on your phone will lead you to that guy who said he’d play your next show in so and so town
– Promoter Jane Doe amarillo texas < self explanatory
– Venue Madison Square Garden NYC < if only…
So, a quick search for band, promoter or venue will get you that contact you so desperately are trying to remember.
3 –  Sleep on the best surface you can
If your touring DIY your gonna sleep on floors, shitty smelly houses and all kinds of disgusting places, so first of all get a sleeping bag and if you wanna get more creative buy an inflatable mattress and enjoy. This might not mean that much when your 20, but after 25 and hundreds of floors your body will start asking WTF???
4 – Have a reliable vehicle
In the off chance one day you actually make money on tour one day it would blow to have to spend it all fixing radiators, alternators, fuel pumps, water pumps etc etc etc. in the likely chance you lose money on tour your gonna hate yourself even more for having to go to the ATM and withdrawing your rent money to fix everything listed above. Dont drive 30 hours to the west coast on a prayer that the 1996 dodge ram you have will make it there and back without a hiccup, trust me it aint pretty when it breaks down, its even better to rent a reliable van than to go through all that BS.
5 – Make your band sound good
Before you go out on tour, make sure you spend time fine tuning your bands sound, learning your gear and making your band sound how you want it to sound, this is gonna make you stand out. promoters, sound guys, venues and booking agents like people that know what the hell their doing and what they want their band to sound like. dont skimp on gear cuz it’ll come back to haunt you.
6- BE NICE
Added this extra one because it seems to slip peoples mind. Nobody like an asshole and people aren’t gonna want you back if you act that way. common courtesy goes a long long way and people remember “that awesome band who was sooooo nice”

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