I’ve been moving into a bigger place and doing some recordings. I hope to be back to work, writing up some post for you by next week.
My deepest apologies.
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5 tips for saving money while on the road…
The title says it all:
5. Share a van/trailer/gear — If you decide to go on the road with another band, consider sharing. If you feel comfortable sharing these things, you can split the cost between the two bands instead of just yours. Sharing gear is easy… Drummers bring their own sets, guitarist/bassist bring their guitars. Use the best of everyone’s amps and cabinets. This will also save time with load-in/load-out and set changes.
4. Refill water bottles — Monday, I suggested only drinking water. Bonus to that: Water bottles are easily refillable. I suggest that if you’re at a stop and the water taste good, you fill every bottle you’ve got.
3. Buy groceries — One loaf of bread, some mustard, cheese and lunch meat go a long way. Cup-o-noodles are also cheap and easy. cold hot dogs, fruit, dry cereal. the options are limited only to your imagination. You shouldn’t expect to eat from a restaurant everyday, and if you don’t have a guaranteed pull, don’t expect the venue to feed you either.
2. Stay with friends and/or family — Plan your stops in cities which your friends and family live in or near. Staying in a motel gets expensive and no one wants to sleep in the van. Also, your friends and family can feed you and may be willing to through some extra cash your way to help out.
1. Keep the drives short — If you play a string of shows that are close, you’ll spend less in travel time and gas. Yet another reason to keep the drives less than 4-6 hours.
Again. There are so many tricks and tips for keeping your cost low. Feel free to post yours down below.
5 tips for when your band hits the road..
Thursday’s post was about deciding whether or not your band should get on the road. Today I will post some tips that will help make your experience on the road a little better:
1. Make sure your vehicle is well maintained — Before you leave town, make sure that your vehicle is ready to make the trek. Scheduled maintenance and a fresh oil change are a must. I know too many bands that have been stranded with no money for days because this wasn’t a priority.
2. Drive no more than 4 hours a day — Driving is a mentally demanding task. If you don’t keep your drive time down, you will be exhausted by the time you take the stage.
3. Don’t trust Google maps (or any other online maps company for that matter) on drive time — The best way to ensure that you leave yourself plenty of time is to use this simple equation: for every three hours drive time according to Google maps, add 30 minutes. i.e. 3 hours = 3.5 hours actual, 6 hours = 7 hours actual
4. Drink only water — Keeping hydrated is incredibly important. All those sugary/energy drinks won’t do it. Plus its cheaper, and you can always refill the empty bottles.
5. Do not finance a tour on a credit card — You will regret it. The road typically cost more than expected and whoever was dumb enough to use their credit card will be the one paying it off. Save your credit (and friendships) and save up before going out.
I know there’s many more tips out there, and I would love for you to leave yours in the comment box below.
Deciding if hitting the road is right for your band…
It seems like many of the bands I know from the DFW area are looking to hit the road this summer, as is my own. The thing is that I think many bands don’t put much time or effort into figuring out if its a good move or not.
Keep these things in mind when thinking about hitting the road:
-Will I be able to save up enough before heading out? Many bands don’t start making money on the road until after they’ve been at it for quite some time, So, you need to make sure that you can save up enough to cover your expenses for the time you are out of town and unable to earn a paycheck.
-Is the band ready to perform that much? If you don’t play on a fairly regular basis, think about how tired you are the day after a performance. Every day you have to load-in, play, load-out and drive to the next show. It can be mentally and physically draining.
-Is the band ready to put itself out there? At home, you almost always have some kind of support system to encourage you and help you press on. When you leave town, you probably won’t have the same level of support that you had to ensure you that you did a good job. Prepare for criticism. Even good bands get dumped on.
The life of a local musician…
If you haven’t already made it to the point where you are regularly gigging, allow me to give you some insight on what to expect:
First: Expect to practice two to three times a week. Right now my band practices three times a week. If you’ve made it to the point of playing that regularly, you want to always be on top of your game.
Next: You’ll work a crappy job, probably in the food-service industry. These jobs are flexible and allow for fairly easy shift switching so you can get off work for shows. Prepare to work nights and weekends.
Then: Day of show. You’ll probably work the morning/early afternoon that day. Leave for your jam-space to pick up your gear. Drive to the venue. Load-in.. wait two hours. Then you’ll set up, play and tear down. Load-out… wait two hours.. show ends, you leave. Drop off your equipment and go home. Shower, go to bed and sleep for 4 hours, then go to work the next day. If you work mostly nights, you’ll sleep longer, but not much.
Its one of those things where you need to ask yourself if this is something you really want to commit to… If it is, it’ll be the time of your life. If it isn’t, you’ll just be tired all the time.