Right now I’m on the Rotting Christ/Melechesh tour as a guitar tech and stage manager. I already wrote an article about touring that you guys seemed to like, and I don’t want to repeat myself, but here are a few supplemental insights.
1) Bring more socks than you need. I didn’t heed my own advice and after 3 days of tromping around in the rain I have to spray my feet down with Lotrimin.
2) Winter weather bums are much scarier than warm weather bums. It’s, “Pahdon me, ya’ll gotta quatah?” versus, “Gimmie a cigarette, muthafuckah!”. The worst part is that everyone in cold climates are layer dressed, so you often won’t spot the bum in question until he’s within mugging distance.
3) Coffee shops are your friend, especially ones near colleges. They have comfortable seating, free wifi, warm beverages, and friendly eye candy at the register.
4) Local bands are part of the problem. There was a time when local underground acts would one day become the heroes of tomorrow. That’s not true anymore. All they do is bore the shit out of the fans who bothered to show up at doors, and they often make the headliners late because they’re completely unprofessional with set times.
5) Touring is really a romantic idea to women. It’s not just a groupie thing. I feel like I get more adulation as a roadie than I have when I was regularly touring. How does that work?
There’s more, but I’ll save it. I’ll write a proper rant shortly. Touring is disruptive!
Tags: Averse Sefira, Birth A.D., Birth AD, black metal, celebrity blogs, crossover, Jeff Tandy, Parasites Die, Stillbirth of a Nation, thrash, touring, Wrath
