… a blog post from Chairman’s Corner.

Hey hey hey everybody. Just got back from hitting the road to play some shows (this time on the East Coast!) with my band Nasalrod (pictured above at our show in NYC last Friday at The Brooklyn Monarch), so I figured I’d talk a bit more about being on tour this week.

As mentioned in my last blog post about being on the road, there’s not necessarily any right or wrong way to go about it – but there are certainly tons of logistics to think about before getting out there. During our last run of shows out of town, we were able to drive from our hometown of Portland, OR to California and other parts of the West Coast. This time, our travel plans were quite tricky to pull off (as we flew out to the East Coast, rented a vehicle, and then borrowed gear from my brother and all of his friends in NYC). Upon our arrival to the East Coast, our plane was scheduled to land at 4pm. However, the van rental place was scheduled to close at 5pm! Talk about cutting it close. Luckily, our plane arrived 20 minutes early, and our bassist Mandy quickly jumped in a cab to go get the vehicle. Even with the plane arriving early, she still arrived at Bandago Van Rental just in the nick of time (at 4:40)! Phew. We had a lot of our own gear, tons of merch, and many heavy suitcases with us – so it would have been rather difficult to wait until the next morning to secure the van.

Because we’re always looking for ways to save money on the road, we opted to mostly crash at the houses and apartments of friends, fans, acquaintances, and some of the other bands that we played with. While we were able to get a few folks to agree to host us in advance, we had no game plan for accommodations in most of the cities that we played in. Because most folks aren’t equipped to host four additional people for an overnight stay (especially on a dime!), we had to be prepared. Luckily, a couple of our friends in NYC were able to let us borrow air mattresses (one very large one and one smaller one), which helped tremendously. With the air mattresses, we were all able to sleep comfortably most nights, even in places that were lacking in terms of proper sleeping accommodations (which was the case with the majority of the spots that we stayed at on this trip). Of course these mattresses were also acquired at the last possible minute – and we were extremely lucky to get them. As we all know, getting good sleep on the road is not always easy, and ANYTHING to help out with getting more rest is most definitely a great idea.

While we had a booking agent work on our recent West Coast run, I took it upon myself to book everything this time on the East Coast. We ended up playing at various types of venues – from larger, established spots equipped with seasoned sound techs (such as the aforementioned Brooklyn Monarch in NYC & The Ottobar in Baltimore) to some smaller, all ages DIY spots (such as Amy’s Place in Buffalo NY & the Galactic Panther Gallery in Alexandria VA) where we ran our own sound. We were surrounded by some mind blowing artwork while playing at the Galactic Panther (pictured below), which is always a plus! The challenge of winning over a crowd in various types of environments is most definitely one of the most exciting things about being on the road.

As I also mentioned in my last blog post about being on the road, any band that can split up various responsibilities will always have a huge advantage! It’s obviously way too overwhelming to take on everything yourself. Our drummer (Spit) is a pro driver who was able to take the wheel while we were traveling through the complete CHAOS that is also known as New York City traffic. Our guitarist (Mustin) is a master at arranging gear so that it’ll all fit in a vehicle. Mandy (our aforementioned bassist) is truly the only one who can be trusted with the money! Finally, I keep up with social media updates and typically arrange the places for us to crash. Because hauling gear and personal items around from city to city is totally exhausting (not to mention performing high energy rock music for folks every night), it’s always great to be around bandmates who are all pulling their weight.

Occasionally, an unexpected opportunity just might pop up. Last Friday in Brooklyn, a DJ from WFMU (an award winning station with many listeners in the New York metropolitan area) just happened to be at our show – and he saw us perform for the first time. He enjoyed our set, and picked up an album from us. Last Monday (just a few days ago), he played one of our tracks during his prime-time evening show. He never would have heard of us if we hadn’t hit the road to his neck of the woods. This type of promotional occurrence is just one of the many advantages of touring and getting yourself out there!

At the end of the day, our trip was a success. We had a blast – but it took a lot of strategic planning, hard work, and some really good luck! Playing for the younger crowds at our all ages shows was definitely a highlight, and we encouraged them to start their own bands. After all, creative communities are everything.

Cheers,

Jeffrey “Chairman” Couch

Music lover, creator & collector

chairman@spinneymedia.com

Chairman currently enjoys freaking out & creating panic with his spastic rock band Nasalrod, which is based in Portland, Oregon. He created this blog to share his serious love of music, the arts, and physical media.