Touring Advise
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this is probably obvious, but the guy who booked ours (the 2004 tour with Recently Vacated Graves) apparently didn't think of it....be sure to get a reliable phone number for at least one person involved with each show...for example, whoever booked it, and/or the venue. this way, you can confirm that the show was correctly booked...we had one occasion where the show was never actually booked, and when we got to the venue, found out that the show couldn't even have been booked for that day anyway. then there was another one that was accidentally booked for the wrong day, so when we got there 2 days later...
Crucified
Deathgrind Maniac
figure out exactly how long you're going for, make sure you bring at least as much money as you're going to need to eat(loafs of bread are cheap and one big tub of peanut butter goes a long way). bring a sleeping bag, pillow. the phone number thing is important, if you're up for it, make a contract with a pay guarantee so you don't get fucked at your shows. figure out places to sleep in each city.
be prepared to occasionally have to sleep in the van if you don't make lodging arrangements in advance...we always either stayed at the home of someone who was at the show, or at the venue...but ended up having to sleep in the van a few times. there was the one night though (actually the night of the never-booked show i mentioned before) where someone we asked for directions ended up paying for a motel room for us 
kristallin
punk'd
Have a shower or a full-body wash whenever you can. Keep in mind that you're in close quarters with other people for a prolonged period of time, there will be some "incidents" - act like a responsible adult and conflict will be kept to a minimum.
Plan out your routes, figure out mileage between venues and estimate rough traveling times. Multiply the result by two and a half to compensate for traffic/construction/the Gods being crafty old bastards. STICK TO THIS TIMETABLE!
Other than that, as stated in the posts above, get contact phone numbers and make sleeping arrangements ahead of time. Bring your own bedding - a sleeping bag is practical and take sup little space, and a simple memory foam pillow is smaller than a regular pillow and comfy as hell.
Food: Lots of fruit! Fruit is cheap, fills you up nicely, tastes awesome and doesn't fuck up your energy like that 10-pack of Babe Ruth bars... I drink lots of green tea with honey on tour, and longer trips in general because it tastes good, and I feel it doesn't screw up my energy levels as much as soda does.
Keep quarters aside for laundry, figure out laundry stops near your venues (the venues will frequently know good places) and plan for laundry stops. You travel a lot more comfortable with clean socks and undies.
Plan out your routes, figure out mileage between venues and estimate rough traveling times. Multiply the result by two and a half to compensate for traffic/construction/the Gods being crafty old bastards. STICK TO THIS TIMETABLE!
Other than that, as stated in the posts above, get contact phone numbers and make sleeping arrangements ahead of time. Bring your own bedding - a sleeping bag is practical and take sup little space, and a simple memory foam pillow is smaller than a regular pillow and comfy as hell.
Food: Lots of fruit! Fruit is cheap, fills you up nicely, tastes awesome and doesn't fuck up your energy like that 10-pack of Babe Ruth bars... I drink lots of green tea with honey on tour, and longer trips in general because it tastes good, and I feel it doesn't screw up my energy levels as much as soda does.
Keep quarters aside for laundry, figure out laundry stops near your venues (the venues will frequently know good places) and plan for laundry stops. You travel a lot more comfortable with clean socks and undies.
Here's a question I've had for a while: How the hell do you get time off work for a tour? 
I assume you don't quit your job and find a new one after the tour. Do you all just have really cool employers?
I assume you don't quit your job and find a new one after the tour. Do you all just have really cool employers?kristallin
punk'd
Here's a question I've had for a while: How the hell do you get time off work for a tour?
Vacation time plus leave of absence. Once I quit to go on tour, but I hated that job anyway and didn't want to return to it, so the tour was a good excuse.
Thanks for the advise guys keep it coming!
I'm a sound engineer and my boss is awesome
Here's a question I've had for a while: How the hell do you get time off work for a tour?
I'm a sound engineer and my boss is awesome
i worked at a movie theater at the time, and they have a ridiculous employee turnaround...also i was a well-liked employee at the time and i made sure they knew of my plans as far in advance as possible...fortunately they were understanding enough to let me go off for 2 weeks. in fact, they even let me go away for school and come back to work without having to re-apply or anything, when i'd come home for breaks.
Edroz
new album soon!
when i was on the Gutting Europe '05 tour with Mortal Decay we had our van break down in the middle of a desert is Spain ... turns out the van our tour manager got wasn't from a reputable van rental place, but from a friend of his... long story short, we were shit out of luck in getting a replacement van in time to get to the next few shows. basically we had the option of shelling out our merch money to find another van in the middle of nowhere to hopefully make it to last string of shows to possibly recoup that money from merch sales, or just find the nearest airport and fly home... we chose the latter.
so, get all the info you can about your transportation in advance!
and, as others have said, be prepared to sleep in your van and not have a legitimate shower for days at a time.
... turns out the van our tour manager got wasn't from a reputable van rental place, but from a friend of his... long story short, we were shit out of luck in getting a replacement van in time to get to the next few shows. basically we had the option of shelling out our merch money to find another van in the middle of nowhere to hopefully make it to last string of shows to possibly recoup that money from merch sales, or just find the nearest airport and fly home... we chose the latter. so, get all the info you can about your transportation in advance!
and, as others have said, be prepared to sleep in your van and not have a legitimate shower for days at a time
.kristallin
punk'd
Probably most important of all: MAKE SURE YOUR GEAR IS IN TIP-TOP SHAPE! Save some money on the side and plan of having to replace each piece of your rig. If you can, carry a spare for everything. Plan for the worst case scenario, and you should be fine.
Alien DNA
Fedex must die!!!!!
This is some brilliant advice guys... keep it coming! The next 6 months i forsee my band hitting the road. 
Im a dad of 2 awesome kids and i know i will miss them terribly, any advice on this apart from the 10 phone calls a day i'll be doing to them?
Im a dad of 2 awesome kids and i know i will miss them terribly, any advice on this apart from the 10 phone calls a day i'll be doing to them?
F1Filter
Contributor
kristallin
punk'd
This is some brilliant advice guys... keep it coming! The next 6 months i forsee my band hitting the road.
Im a dad of 2 awesome kids and i know i will miss them terribly, any advice on this apart from the 10 phone calls a day i'll be doing to them?
Bring your cellphone charger
Alien DNA
Fedex must die!!!!!
7 Dying Trees
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Advice?
1- Try not to overdrink/overdrug whatever else as it wears you down
2- Go on stage clean, it helps, trust me.
3- Try to eat healthily, not always possible, but if you don't you'll feel it
4- be prepared to deal with injuries and illness and be able to play through them if possible, just to finish the tour
5- You're in an enclosed space, this means:
-> You WILL end up hating even the people you like at times
-> People will end up hating you
-> You will suddenly discover you get annoyed by other people very quickly
6- When above happens, try not to fight, insult, or go ballistic
7- Tips on getting some space:
-> Unless you have to be at the venue, try and see some of the surrounding area, have a walk, speak to people
-> Find food, toiletries, anything you're running low on
-> Go find a personal space, go read, masturbate, listen to music, whatever, just somewhere where you know you're away from other people's prying eyes
8- get a shower whenever you can
9- Learn to take dumps when you can, and in sometimes surroundings you'd rather not. Once the bus/van starts movingh there'll be NILL chance
10- Take care of your instruments, get hard cases, make sure everything is packed away before you start partying
11- Have minimum 2 instruments per tuning, preferably 3 if you are doing a 1h+ set. Reckon on one change per 30-45 mins
12- make sure guitars are acclimatised on stage for a while before you tune them
13- Set up quickly, break down quickly. be a pro, not a dipshit
14- Take plenty of stuff to alleviate boredom. Bring a playstation or a gaming console, reading, plenty of stuff to listen to, movies to watch, basically, stop yourself being totally bored.
I'll probably think of more...
1- Try not to overdrink/overdrug whatever else as it wears you down
2- Go on stage clean, it helps, trust me.
3- Try to eat healthily, not always possible, but if you don't you'll feel it
4- be prepared to deal with injuries and illness and be able to play through them if possible, just to finish the tour
5- You're in an enclosed space, this means:
-> You WILL end up hating even the people you like at times
-> People will end up hating you
-> You will suddenly discover you get annoyed by other people very quickly
6- When above happens, try not to fight, insult, or go ballistic
7- Tips on getting some space:
-> Unless you have to be at the venue, try and see some of the surrounding area, have a walk, speak to people
-> Find food, toiletries, anything you're running low on
-> Go find a personal space, go read, masturbate, listen to music, whatever, just somewhere where you know you're away from other people's prying eyes
8- get a shower whenever you can
9- Learn to take dumps when you can, and in sometimes surroundings you'd rather not. Once the bus/van starts movingh there'll be NILL chance
10- Take care of your instruments, get hard cases, make sure everything is packed away before you start partying
11- Have minimum 2 instruments per tuning, preferably 3 if you are doing a 1h+ set. Reckon on one change per 30-45 mins
12- make sure guitars are acclimatised on stage for a while before you tune them
13- Set up quickly, break down quickly. be a pro, not a dipshit
14- Take plenty of stuff to alleviate boredom. Bring a playstation or a gaming console, reading, plenty of stuff to listen to, movies to watch, basically, stop yourself being totally bored.
I'll probably think of more...
7 Dying Trees
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Oh, more:
- If you're going to a different country, buy a pay as you go / top up cellphone. It'll be cheaper than using your own, and you won't pay roaming,. Budget an amount to put on it every week.
- Have someone who is contactable, and has a reliable cellphone
- Take a list of usefull numbers, for when the cellphone battery dies and you need to ring someone (or cellphone gets stolen)
- If you're going to a different country, buy a pay as you go / top up cellphone. It'll be cheaper than using your own, and you won't pay roaming,. Budget an amount to put on it every week.
- Have someone who is contactable, and has a reliable cellphone
- Take a list of usefull numbers, for when the cellphone battery dies and you need to ring someone (or cellphone gets stolen)
msherman
Banned
Never tour with a Reggae Band....they smoke pot 24-7
T_money419
Badass mofo
make sure if you get drinks from the place ur playing that it's free. I've never been on tour, but I have seen The Blues Brothers.
