It’s been a little while since my last update, I really have no reason aside from shear laziness. After a long stretch of touring when I am home for more than a week I seem to go through my own personal detox and slowly shift from my routine of going to bed at 2am and waking up at 9am to going to bed at 7am and waking up at 3pm. It’s actually quite relaxing. My day tends to be spent primarily productive with label work, but my nights seem to consist of Seasons of TV on DVD/iTunes. In the last week I have gone through 3 seasons of Weeds and 2 seasons of Dexter. I love my Detox Program. I highly recommend it to everyone.
I leave for tour on January 20th, this time with the singer/songwriter Joshua Radin. The tour lasts for 7 long weeks, but I am honestly excited to be a part of it. I’ll be vending for every artist on the tour, which seems to be a trend of mine lately. It has pros and cons to being the only vendor. On the upside, I don’t have to fight for prime real-estate with another vendor and can take up more space, but on the downside, I have nobody to hangout with or ask to watch my product if I need to do a pull or run to the bathroom or grab a soda.
Ups and Downs, that’s the general theme of the entire touring community and nobody outside of it wants to believe that it’s true. We get to have the times of our lives on the road traveling from coast to coast and country to country. Its a once in a lifetime opportunity and we shouldn’t take it for granted. Touring personnel also sacrifice so much more than sometimes we even want to admit though. From safety, to family, to friendships, to leading a healthy love life - we tend to live our lives as a constant highlights reel.
Safety
Our well-being and safety are constantly in the hands of another human being. Everyone has been on a road trip where someone hits the brakes rather roughly and you get scared and look out the window abruptly and in a hurry to make sure you are okay. Now imagine a car cutting of a few ton bus and slamming on their brakes and three in the morning... When you wake up to that feeling in a pitch black bunk and have no window to see if you’re safe, its scarier than hell.
On the last Brian Wilson tour I did in November I was standing towards the aft of the front lounge, computer and beverage in hand and as I was reaching for another our Keyboard Tech told me finish up the one in my hand, but the minute I put the bottle to my lips our driver slammed on the brakes and Brian and Myself literally flew 10 feet across the front lounge onto the floor within half a second. Luckily Tweaky caught my computer since he was already sitting down.
We’ve also heard the tragic story of Beatz from Bayside passing away on the road from their van hitting black ice. He was blessed to have as many friends as he did, but nobody deserves to have their lives ended so abruptly. Although it was a medical complication the same can be said of Casey Calvert from Hawthorne Heights whom I can honestly say will always be a part of me. Everyone who travels should never take their safety for granted.
Friends & Family
I love my friends and family more than they realize. They are all that I have in this world, I would never want to be alone. When it comes down to it though, I am a horrible uncle, brother, son, and godfather at times. I’ve seen my nieces and nephews grow up as if I’m living in some time lapse of a life only catching them for a couple weeks at a time months apart. It’s a wonder that my lovely niece even remembers my name since I was on tour when she was born.
I also get more shit than anyone I know for “not calling or texting back enough.” This is my public apology for being too busy at times on tour, or just wanting a little time to myself after a hectic day. While the phone/e-mail/letters to go both ways, I am of equal blame. Most of us who tour and aren’t single (although currently I am) we tend to use the little free time we have to call or text that person of interest. Some have kids to call as well. We are busier than anyone who has never experienced it can imagine. I’m always busy and I know the rest of our crew is usually ten times busier than I am, kudos to the backline, audio, and lampies of the world.
Love
We are all married to our jobs, admit it. Now try and marry a job that you have to chase around the country. In the midst of this try to hold down a healthy relationship. I could date my next door neighbor and we would still have to work through a long distance relationship. I’ve seen it work and I’ve seen it devastate people. Girls will tend to assume the stero-type of “guys on tour,” which is a shame because there are just as many decent guys on tour - I’ve seen them, I’ve met them, I am one. This topic could be argued for days, however, the point is that it is something we sacrifice on tour. Not being able to run to the rescue if our girlfriend/boyfriend is having a bad day, or vice-versa. We can’t grab coffee on our breaks, we can’t know that no matter how rough the day was, we can see the one person we want to at night - call me a cry baby, but try to fathom 80 days without your girl/boyfriend and ask if you could stay together through phonecalls, videochats, and the postal service. Not so easy.
As my friend and old roommate Dan Brunner used to say (don’t use google, it’s not a name-drop, he was seriously just my roommate - by “just” you know what I mean Dan...) Anyways, to pull a Brunnerism on you - “At The End Of The Day” I wouldn’t trade this job for the world and compared to a lot of my peers, I’m still in my rookie years, but I know this and I embrace it. I try to learn more and more on every tour. I’ve made some mistakes, I probably couldn’t get hired back by everybody I worked for, but not because I was a shitty person, and I’ve never been fired from a gig. There are a few tours that my boss asked me how I actually made nice with certain crew members and asked what I did to make them love me. Through all the ups and downs I feel that I have the best job in the world and I count my lucky stars every night for that.
New Tour Dates Posted Soon, but until I’m done with my detox please check them out at: Joshua Radin's Myspace Page.
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