I want to go on the road.

Bob Grado · Post by **Bob Grado** » 12 Jul 2013 2:51 am

Just once!
Just once before I get too old to pull this thing out of the case I'd like to know what it's like to finish a gig and jump on the bus.
That experience is number one on my bucket list and I really don't care if the reality is by no means as cool as the fantasy I've envisioned. I just want to try it Once!

Just sayin'

David Nugent · Post by **David Nugent** » 12 Jul 2013 4:45 am

If you are contemplating the tour bus route, a lot may depend on your present age and your overall tolerance for being in close proximity to five or six other individuals for extended periods of time (two factors that may prove to be closely related, toured with a Bluegrass band in my thirties, would not even consider it now that I am older!).

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 12 Jul 2013 6:22 am

If you like ,low pay, greasy fast food, diesel and some shifting noise noise trying to sleep and a phantom Farter then you will just love the road. Oh there are a lot of bad things too.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 12 Jul 2013 6:44 am

In my experience touring with a band that has a budget for a bus is pretty sweet. You can cook whatever you want and sleeping is easy in the compartments. Hang up front if you are feeling social. Anybody complaining about a bus tour needs to get back in that 15 seater van with a trailer for a couple days !

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 12 Jul 2013 6:50 am

Joe Casey wrote:If you like ,low pay, greasy fast food, diesel and some shifting noise noise trying to sleep and a phantom Farter then you will just love the road. Oh there are a lot of bad things too.

Joe, I have had the opposite experience with bus tours. Great pay, good food, a fair amount of personal space and I have made some of my best friends ever out there.
What tour were you on where things were that bad ?

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 12 Jul 2013 7:02 am

Good question, in honesty I have only been a guest on major Artist busses and usually when I worked the same venue. I didn't tour much because I was making too much money working 7 niters.

Cal Sharp · Post by **Cal Sharp** » 12 Jul 2013 7:43 am

I was a little more particular about my seating companion.

Bob Hickish · Post by **Bob Hickish** » 12 Jul 2013 9:30 am

I really like your yellow ball cap Cal

Sorry Cal ! i couldn’t resist -- back to my room now

Bud Angelotti · Post by **Bud Angelotti** » 12 Jul 2013 10:52 am

Once, long ago, when we where kids, we had a rock band.
We went on the road for a week-end, two nights,two gigs in two days, piled the stuff in dad's old station wagon and hit the road. We actually had 2 hotel rooms and as we were rock stars, we put the TV set thru the hotel window. No, we didn't smash anything, we just put the TV thru the window and had the other guys grab it from the other side on the balcony. Just had to know what it's like to send a TV out a hotel window. I had my chance, so I took it!

Jerry Van Hoose · Post by **Jerry Van Hoose** » 12 Jul 2013 11:43 am

...guess it's ok to mention this...it was fun, enjoyed it for the most part. It was in the early-mid 70's, I was barely out of my teens, played steel for Crystal Gayle, mostly state fairs and local festivals. We didn't have a bus, however, we did travel in a nice motorhome, Winnebago if I remember correctly. We would stop at motels to freshen up, sometimes spend the night. We had an old cigar box in the front of the motorhome for fines. If you cursed or farted, it would cost the perpetrator $1 per each offense. That cigar box was usually full by the time we returned home

.

Mike Archer · Post by **Mike Archer** » 12 Jul 2013 1:33 pm

well if you are a single guy and have no holds on you it might be great yeah go ahead
I did road work many years as a married man it is very hard on your family
would I do it again NO its not worth it
I was good at my job but its not all glamor and
high life like you would think
yeah it was fun but it can get boring being on that bus for 2 days straight night and day
you will hear many say they love it and thats true
depends on you personaly
good luck bro either way

watch out for pitfalls you know what they are!!

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 12 Jul 2013 6:08 pm

Hey Cal same Bus, I also did some shows with Penny.

Cal Sharp · Post by **Cal Sharp** » 12 Jul 2013 10:41 pm

Yeah, Joe, Penny was fun to work with. She went on a few trips with us.

Jeff Metz Jr. · Post by **Jeff Metz Jr.** » 12 Jul 2013 11:18 pm

Heck Im in my mid twenties and I can defenitly attest to the down sides of the road. I was on the road for months at a time in a Cramped Little mini van haha and I think the worst part is dealing with 4 other band members that whole time. But heck, at least I was playing out back then. If anyone is interested we were called The Tamboureens. Kinda a 60's british invasion type band. Throwback.

Tiny Olson · Post by **Tiny Olson** » 16 Jul 2013 5:43 am

BGrado:
I think it's a cool wish for your bucket list being you've not done it before. I spent several million miles on tour buses in the 70s & 80s and although it did get old at times, I'd never trade that part of my life for anything. We'd often be out on a road trip for 6+ weeks in those days. Home for 4 days then back out. Spent much of that time driving those buses as well and got paid extra for it too. It did suck though when the AC broke down.

The band members, star etc. on the bus were like family and you'd go to battle ( for real sometimes ) for each other. It doesn't take too long before you have some GREAT stories to tell from the road. Cal knows what I'm talking about.

I love this country and there's no better way to see it than from the tour bus. At least it was that way 30 & 40 yrs. ago. Played in all 50 states and 16 foreign countries but the Continental USA is the greatest.

Growing up in a military family we lived in 9 different states by the time I was 10 yrs. old. I guess the tour bus just felt normal.

If you can get on the bus, go for it !!!

Sincerely,
Chris "Tiny" Olson

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 16 Jul 2013 6:14 am

Great post Tiny,Nothing like the true voice of experience.I'm told by others it was no fun either when the heater didn't work.

May I assume you fished in some great spots in those travels also? Please don't take all the lakers My son and I will be close your way in late August to drown some live bait.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 16 Jul 2013 6:18 am

In less than a week you'll want to kill one or more of your fellow musicians for some inane reason like they put ketchup on their eggs.

Ben Lawson · Post by **Ben Lawson** » 16 Jul 2013 7:14 am

There is a song that was attributed to Dolly Parton that had some great lines about a musicians life. I can't be sure she wrote it but I was told she did.
"no amount of money could take from me the memories I have of back then, but no amount of money could make me go back and do it over again".
The words may not be all correct but the idea is the same.

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 16 Jul 2013 8:35 am

Tour buse life is over-rated, here's how it's REALLY done...

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 16 Jul 2013 8:42 am

i've done many, many miles in motorhomes, vans and cars but never a real bus. there is something romantic about the big bus treatment that we all wish we had, if we missed it.
at the same time, we played alongside the big acts on the same big stage and sounded pretty darn good. better than some of the bus bands.

Emmett Roch · Post by **Emmett Roch** » 16 Jul 2013 10:26 am

I can echo what Chris and Ben said.

I went on very few real bus rides, but TONS of miles in every other form of conveyance. There were some days when we were on planes, trains, cabs and busses all in the same day....come to think of it, when I was a kid I used to carry my red Alamo electric guitar under one arm when I'd ride my bicycle to practice sessions...

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 16 Jul 2013 1:58 pm

ha...and i've tied a d10 and pakaseat on the backseat of my goldwing on several studio (and other) gigs.

Jeff Garden · Post by **Jeff Garden** » 16 Jul 2013 3:09 pm

Must have got some weird aerodynamics off that, Chris. My luck I'd lose the bike, the steel, and selected body parts all at the same time. You need a T-shirt that says on the back "If You Can Read This, The Steel Fell Off"

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 16 Jul 2013 3:23 pm

it was less 'sloshy' than a big fat chick!

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 16 Jul 2013 3:45 pm

Having the great fortune to meet and hang out with Herb Remington at the Norwalk PSGA show a bunch of years ago, he told me a cool story of riding on the tour bus.

He said they were driving somewhere during the winter and the bus had no heat, so they started a small fire in the back of the bus to keep warm and it got a bit out of hand with smoke coming out the back forced them out of the bus.

Can't remember the final outcome but I can picture it happening in the mid to late forties on a bus or even last year in New Jersey after Storm Sandy walloped us.

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I want to go on the road.

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