Welcome to our weekly show recommendation column RSVP HERE: LA Edition– your source for the best shows and interviews with some of our favorite local live bands. For the month of February we will be featuring LA shows!
Mamalarky are fuzzy jazzy indie darlings who relocated from Austin to Los Angeles a few years ago. The nostalgic feelings their psych pop evokes can be attributed to how far back their band roots stem. Singer/guitarist Livvy Bennet met drummer Dylan Hill on the first day of middle school and soon became musical soul mates. Their keyboardist, Michael Hunter, was only a grade older than them, and found his way into the project after reconnecting with Livvy and having her play bass in his band Hip Modus. After relocating to LA, their lineup was rounded out by bassist Noor Kahn. Last month they released a new music video for their song “Fury” and will be making the rounds in their hometown of Austin for this year’s SXSW festival in March. Your next chance to catch them in LA will be at The Bootleg Theater on 2/23 with Girl Friday and Eyeshadow! We chatted with them about what they were listening to in Middle School, how SXSW has changed over the years, and their band B.O.
AF: What were your favorite records in middle school?
I really liked The Unicorns’ Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone, Proof Of Youth by The Go! Team, and Hello Avalanche by The Octopus Project! Big mix of loud jangly guitars and distorted highly compressed synth hooks!
AF: What’s the story behind your latest music video for “Fury?”
The story is it’s the quickest we’ve ever written, recorded, and filmed a video song haha. It felt like an exercise in spontaneity really. It’s pretty funny watching back and remembering how sweltering it was this summer bouncing on the trampoline!
AF: Why did you relocate from Austin to LA? What are your favorite venues and bands to play with in Austin and in LA?
I got a job at a now defunct record label right out of college, and wanted to try a new place after growing up in Austin. The weather was a big pull too, the beach…it’s a very busy place which I appreciate! In Austin, we love playing Cheer Up Charlies, Barracuda, and Mohawk, ideally with bands like Being Dead, Smiile, or Hey Cowboy!
As far as LA goes I feel like we’re still learning the scene here but we love playing The Bootleg! Local bands we really love are Guppy, Healing Gems, Rosie Tucker, and Jerry Paper! There’s a billion bands here, we’re always discovering more.
AF: If your live set was a perfume, what would it be?
No perfume, no deodorant, straight B.O. <3
AF: Are you going to SXSW this year? What’s been your most interesting time at SXSW and how do you think it’s changed over the years?
Yes! We are SXSW veterans and we’re really excited to be going back again this year. SXSW has changed a lot… the whole interactive/film side grew a lot which has been pretty hectic. The city has grown, so there’s lime scooters everywhere which is a blessing and a curse for South by haha. I think in general it’s a cool place for new artists to play a million shows in front of different audiences for a week. I’m really hoping we never grow out of it. Probably some of our most ‘interesting’ SXs were in the first year or two of us being a band, playing a bunch of house shows. That’s where the true fans are born :)
Welcome to our weekly show recommendation column RSVP HERE – your source for the best NYC shows and interviews with some of our favorite local live bands.
If J Mascis and Shania Twain started a band together after Armageddon, it would sound like Drug Couple – an actual couple, Becca and Miles, who met and fell in love in 2016 while working on the record for Becca’s former project. Since then, they have written and recorded their debut EP Little Hits and a forthcoming follow-up, Choose Your Own Apocalypse, while microdosing LCD together. You can check out their dream punk ballads at Baby’s All Right on 1/29 with Edna and Coy Sterling. We chatted with them about their dream roadside attractions, upcoming wedding, and plans to harness the power of mind control in 2020.
AF: What was your first ever show like? What was your most memorable show of 2019?
DC: The first time we played together was actually for M’s solo stuff, opening up for Chairlift in Red Hook; the first time we played as our own project was a house show on the Fourth of July at B’s childhood home in Vermont. Our most memorable show of 2019 was probably when we played at Camp Here Here, a very cool place in the Catskills.
AF: If you could play with any band alive or dead who would it be? What band would you want to play your wedding?
DC: Fucking OASIS! We’re actually getting married this summer, and the plan is to have the afterparty be a big ass show with a bunch of our friends playing throughout the night. Yo La Tengo would be pretty cool though too.
AF: Do you prefer microdosing on shrooms or LSD? How does microdosing contribute to your songwriting/recording process?
DC: DEFINITELY the latter. We were pretty into it while we were writing and recording the last record, but it’s been a minute.
AF: What album would listen to as your soundtrack to the apocalypse?
DC: We wrote our second EP, Choose Your Own Apocalypse (that we’ll be releasing this Spring) as a sort of a soundtrack to the impending apocalypse. It’d probably be pretty stressful though so maybe just some Sam Cooke or Neil Young. We’d say Al Green…but then things get all sexy and you’ve really gotta focus on minute-to-minute survival in that kinda situation.
AF: When you go on tour, what will your first road-side attraction visit be?
DC: M is a fast food connoisseur and B’s never had Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Hardee’s, or Whataburger. So those. Also looking forward to Walmart and hanging out in all those gigantic roadside gas and food centers on 80 in Ohio. This is M’s idea of a good time fwiw.
AF: Beyond that, what are your plans for 2020?
DC: Make beautiful things together that we can be proud of forever. Harness the power of mind-control. Become the surprise late entry candidates in the Presidential election that capture the hearts and minds of a nation and, after winning, save the world from its imminent destruction by being able to actually explain our fucking ideas and plans with a shred of believability, coherence, and authenticity.
Below is our list of the Hardest Working DIY Touring bands of 2019 keeping the DIY dream alive!
Photo by Lisa Foldenauer Thompson
Lung (Cincinnati, OH)
157 Shows
Cincinnati rock duo Lung sound HUGE. With only an electric cello, drums and vocals, they have a sludgy post-rock sound that could fit inside a stadium. Formed in 2016 by Kate Wakefield on cello/vocals and Daisy Caplan on drums, the duo met after Daisy’s former band Babe Rage had Kate collaborate with them during a residency. They have since played over 500 shows in the US and toured Europe. In that short period they’ve made a name for themselves sharing the stage with bands like Screaming Females, Fucked Up, Priests, Downtown Boys, Shellshag and more. Their sophomore record All The Kings Horses was released in fall of 2018 on Sofaburn Records, and they’re currently working on their third album.
AF: What is your craziest tour story from this year?
Kate Wakefield: We played a show in Tallinn, Estonia that was incredible but went super late. After the show we took a 5AM ferry across the Gulf to go play a benefit show in Helsinki for Girls Rock Finland. So many people came out to support, and all the bands were amazing! The folks putting it on also fed us delicious vegan food, and the night ended with us all hanging out in a sauna.
AF: What are the advantages and challenges of DIY touring?
KW: Advantages are that you immediately are immersed in so many great music scenes. We like playing anywhere and everywhere and some of the best shows are in the most unexpected places. Challenges are being as frugal as possible and living without a kitchen. We’ve become pros at sleeping anywhere and cheap grocery store meals.
Snailmate (Tempe, AZ)
More than 100 Shows
Snailmate are a nerdcore duo that have been touring since their formation in 2015. Composed of Kalen Lander (vocals/synth) and partner in crime Ariel Monet (drums/vocals), they book/fund their own tours, screenprint their own shirts, design all their posters, make their own buttons, and do basically every other aspect of managing a tour with a master DIY work ethic. Kalen was formerly in TKLB? (The Kalen Lander band), but after he tired of touring with a DJ in the traditional hip hop sense, was inspired to perform everything in Snailmate live. Snailmate has racked up 15 releases on theirBandcamp and claim to have had a “light” year of touring because they are working on their new album. In total, they did nine shows in two weeks in Japan, sixteen shows in three weeks in Europe, and over 100 shows in the USA. In 2020 they have plans to return to Europe and Japan as well as tour Brazil for the first time.
AF: What is your craziest tour story from this year?
SM: Well, touring is a never ending stream of crazy events. Sometimes we begin to feel like we’ve seen it all, and nothing is surprising. But being in another country turns everything upside down. Not only had we never been to Germany before, but we were scrambling to salvage a tour that had been tossed together by a “booking agent.” When we realized that their promises were not going to be fulfilled, we started piecing the tour together despite not having any contacts in Germany. A friend of a friend of a friend led us to a wonderful little house party in Braunschweig. We had a great time performing for the friendly locals, and everyone was smoking lots of pot. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and eight German police officers came storming in. We were all seated on the floor, with the cops barking orders and asking questions in a language we didn’t understand. All of our bags were searched and we were patted down. It was all very surreal. Everything ended up okay – we don’t smoke – but it was still scary. Once we got past the language barrier, the police ended up being far more polite and chill than we are used to here in America. But it was all an experience we never expected to have, and hopefully don’t have to go through again. Yay tour!
AF: What are the advantages and challenges of DIY touring?
SM: DIY touring definitely has its pros and cons. We make our own schedule and route, and get to go to the places that we love. All of the money comes back to us, which we funnel back into printing more shirts and supplementing our merchandise. Since we already screen print our own merch and design all the artwork, it can leave us feeling stretched thin. We are just two people trying to book shows and promote ourselves, while also writing and drawing, driving and navigating. Sometimes we feel like we could use some help. But we also know people who’ve hired tour bookers and have gotten stuck with totally fucked up routes, dropped shows, and endless days off. We like to keep a rapid pace and play every night, and that’s a lot to ask of a booking agent. We even tried a different approach with our European tour, and ended up getting screwed over by an individual who didn’t care about our band and just wanted our money. Nobody cares about Snailmate as much as we do, so we find we are usually the best qualified people to do Snailmate work. It’s exhausting but so incredibly rewarding.
Soraia (Philadelphia, PA)
90 Shows
Fronted by ZouZou Mansour, Soraia (which means “bright guiding star” in Arabic), are a four-piece rock band with influences ranging from ’90s alt-rock and the early ’00s garage rock revival to the entire classic rock gamut. Since the band formed in the mid-2000s they have released three albums, one featuring five songs the band co-wrote with Jon Bon Jovi. Their latest record Dead Reckoning was recorded at Steven Van Zandt’s Renegade Nation Studios, featured two songs produced by Van Zandt, and released on his label Wicked Cool Records in October 2017. They didn’t stop there and have released two more 7″s since. They play everywhere from dives to arenas, and credit their love of the non-stop tour life to a thick skin they’ve developed from being a Philly-based band. Soraia haven’t toured as much as usual this year due to a line-up change, but still managed to play close to 100 shows.
AF: What is your craziest tour story from this year?
ZM: We played The Viper Room in Los Angeles this past April, and we had a lot of people there that night, including Clem Burke from Blondie. During our last song, “Beggar,” I always get really wild and climb on things I find on stage, jumping around a ton. I climbed onto the bass rig and did not have a sturdy stand, totally threw my head right into the corner of the bass cab and came down on the stage, just short of knocking myself out. I finished super dizzy and semi-blacking out. But spent a lot of time after talking to people who were thrilled with the fire of the last song, but basically knowing I needed to go to the hospital right after. I still performed with our friend’s band the same night – so it’s not sooooo crazy – but a feat of modern humanity still.
AF: What are the advantages and challenges of DIY touring?
ZM: The advantages are you get to plan your route, and play at places where you already know the sound and areas, and also, delve into new places that you’ve wanted to for a while. The disadvantages is the not knowing if other bands are going to show – we had that happen last tour, and it was a surprise to us. But in new areas where you don’t have that foothold, it’s expected at times.
Radiator King (Boston, MA)
84 Shows
Radiator King is the solo endeavor of punk/blues singer-songwriter Adam Silvestri. His songwriting captures the essence of old blues mixed with modern songwriting pirates like Tom Waits, Dropkick Murphys and Fugazi. Radiator King has perfected this folk/punk/blues sound over three records and countless tours since his project’s official inception in 2011. His most recent EP Roll The Dice was released on SoundEvolution this year, and features many great musicians including drummer Brian Viglione (Dresden Dolls, Violent Femmes, NIN), bassist Mark Stewart and guitarist Adam Brisbin. He is most recently coming off a month long solo European tour, and closing out the decade with shows in upstate New York and Asbury Park, NJ.
AF: What is your craziest tour story from this year?
RK: The craziest story that comes to mind was when I played in Berlin, Germany on a solo tour about a month ago. The place I was staying in was about a 15 minute walk to the venue. After dropping off my bags at the apartment, I made the walk to the club for soundcheck with a backpack and guitar in hand. The route to the venue required that I cut through a park. At the time I was heading to the venue, which was around 6pm, there was still daylight and the park seemed like any other ordinary park. However, after the show on my walk back around 2am, the park took on quite a different atmosphere. There were not many people around besides a few homeless folks who were sprawled out along the pathway. As I walked along I noticed a man coming out from a wooded area had started walking behind me. He began to get closer and started saying in broken English “stop for a minute, I want to talk to you.” At first I ignored him and walked faster. However, he began to walk faster, pleading with me to stop. I told him no, that I was in a rush and kept on walking, as I figured I would soon be out of the park and onto the streets where there would be people around again.
As the man continued to harass me from behind, I noticed that three other men came out of the wooded area up ahead of me, blocking the pathway where I was to walk. I quickly realized that they were in cahoots with the guy trailing me and that I was going to get mugged if I didn’t act fast. Getting my guitar stolen would mean that I could not finish the rest of tour and there was no way in hell I was going to let that happen. As the men closed in, my mind quickly recounted a lesson my father had once told me: “If you are ever in a conflict and are outnumbered, lose control and go crazy. Scream, yell even punch yourself in the face if necessary. Because no one ever wants to fight a crazy person.” So that’s exactly what I did (although it never got to punching myself in the face). I screamed obscenities, threatened violence, and flailed my arms like I was scaring off a grizzly bear. One by one they began to retreat, receding into the woods in which they came. Thanks for the advice Pops – who would of known it would one day save my guitar from getting stolen!
AF: What are the advantages and challenges of DIY touring?
RK: I’d say the biggest advantage in DIY touring is the personal connection you develop with the people involved with the shows. In doing all the booking and managing on my own, I am in effect building a relationship with whomever handles booking at a venue; whether it be the talent buyer, owner, promoter etc. In most cases this is usually a person who is involved with the music scene in their community quite heavily, whether playing in bands themselves, booking shows or just going out and seeing shows in their neighborhood regularly. And usually these folks introduce you to their crew of friends who are also involved with the music scene in the area. It’s usually these people that we end up crashing with after the shows. So really you are building lasting relationships with a community of like-minded people in the places you are going and that’s an amazing thing to be a part of.
Since it’s just myself who handles tour booking duties, the biggest challenge would be ensuring that all the moving parts of tour come together as they should. After the show is booked, it’s my job to make sure that we get to where we are going on time, load in and do sound check, sell merch, play the show, break down and load up equipment, get paid out at the end of the night and find us a place to crash. It’s really involved and is a lot of work but it’s undoubtedly worth it.
Remember Jones (Asbury Park, NJ)
81 Shows
Remember Jones is a soul/pop band that has toured close to six months of this year as a 12-piece band led by Anthony D’Amato. The band has played clubs, ballrooms, and theaters of all sizes over the country and opened for bands like Darlene Love, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Ronnie Spector & The Ronettes and more. They toured in support of their two records released in 2016 and 2017, and also do runs of shows that adapt beloved albums like Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, Jeff Buckley’s Grace (in collaboration with co-writer Gary Lucas), and Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreak with 15-25 piece orchestras. Their next US tour is set for February/March of 2020.
AF: What is your craziest tour story from this year?
RJ: Craziest story of 2019? We were about to go on with an outside show in Duck, NC and there was a hurricane-like storm minutes before we started! It was absolutely wild. Another: after slammin’ shows in Victor and Hailey, Idaho… we had a day off that we couldn’t find proper housing. We really wanted to relax and enjoy the Grand Teton Mountains and beautiful scenery of Idaho or Wyoming. By some chance, after a show, the owner of a house he called “The Cowboy Spaceship” offered to host us for a day/night. After some proper vibe-checking, we decided to go for it. There was great hospitality, but the experience was completely wild. Many bathrooms or bedrooms weren’t functional, many locals were stopping by to hang and see “what the party was,” neighbors loudly fighting, etc. While we were welcomed to anything in the fridge and many libations, we were unsure all throughout the day as things evolved where exactly things would go. But hey, we were able to crash for the night – all of us!
AF: What are the advantages and challenges of DIY touring?
RJ: DIY touring with a band this large has many unique challenges. While we have a great agent and are growing as we see the country, it’s maintaining a great vibe that overall keeps us tight. We have had different band members over the past few years because having people that really get it and really want to be on the road to see the vision come to light is important. Respecting everyone’s time, effort, space, etc. is just as important as the music and promotion (which in itself has its own issues). I also find that trusting a promoter or venue to take care of your show is not realistic. They are just as busy and consumed as you are… you really need to sell your show and spend time doing the DIY stuff you would do in your own home town.
Calliope Musicals (Austin, TX)
67 Shows
Austin’s Calliope Musicals have the most colorful show in any town that has ever existed. With a plethora of stage props, lighting and sequined body-suits, the band brings a stage setup like no other. Frontwoman Carrie Fussell has a presence akin to Freddie Mercury and Prince, and her banter makes you wish she had a show on Nickelodeon in the ’90s. The six-piece psych glam rock outfit spent this year touring in support of their latest record Color/Sweat, and also recorded a Wild Honey Pie Buzz Session featuring a cover of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.”
AF: What is your craziest tour story from this year?
CF: Wayne Coyne came to our show in OKC this year – that was pretty bad ass and exciting. One night in Brooklyn, five of us ended up sleeping in our van after a show. Turns out peoples’ favorite opening line on Tinder is not “hiiii so can me and my four very nice and respectful bandmates crash at your place? <3 we make breakfast :)” – but it was okay because $1 slices and whiskey.
AF: What are the advantages and challenges of DIY touring?
CF: I think the advantages would be all the amazing people you meet. You’re kinda putting yourself at the mercy of the universe and the people around you and you’re counting on people to be honest and generous and helpful, and when it works out it’s very comforting and inspiring. Challenges for me are self care and quiet time, and I think the rest of my bandmates might say the same thing. There are definitely financial challenges, especially having more people on the road; we’ve become quite good at quietly piling into one hotel room.
Zach Ellis of Dead Tooth + Wives (Brooklyn, NY)
63 Shows
Zach Ellis spent the year touring in two bands, Dead Tooth, which he is the frontman for, and the Queens, NY quartet, Wives. Dead Tooth is the new incarnation of The Adventures of the Silver Spaceman, Zach’s solo moniker that he put out music under from 2011-2016. He renamed the project Dead Tooth when it started to feel more like a band than a solo project, consisting of members Dylan DePice, Andrew Bailey, Jason Smith and River Allen. At the beginning of this year, Zach embarked on a three month cross-country tour with Dead Tooth and his bandmate/partner River Allen’s sparkle-house bedroom-pop project Ghost Piss. Zach also spent most of spring and fall touring Europe as a member of Wives as they supported their latest record So Removed.
AF: What is your craziest tour story from this year?
ZE: In Switzerland this really sweet Swiss guy gave me handful of ‘shrooms on stage to which I ate immediately. They looked small and different than any mushrooms I had never seen before and after I ate them I couldn’t help but wonder if they were poisonous and I was gonna die. I was fine but there was a moment there where I thought “I just ate a random fungus from a complete stranger.” I caught up with him later and he assured me he knew what he was doing and had actually foraged them from the Swiss Alps earlier that day. I thought that was pretty neat.
AF: What are the advantages and challenges of DIY touring?
ZE: Touring DIY is advantageous in that you get to really hang with the people who set you up for shows. You get to choose your own adventure and connect with friends who’ve moved to different cities or towns all over the world. You also get a truer experience of the place you’re in when you stay with someone living there as opposed to just playing a show and going to a hotel outside of town; they show you their favorite cafes and bars. On the flip side of that it can be extremely exhausting self managing, booking, driving, loading in and out, running social media, and selling merch all yourself. All of that is part of the job and sometimes things go haywire. You’re constantly rerouting and adjusting and glued to your phone while trying to remain present for the people who set you up as well as put on the best show every night. It’s a real balancing act and definitely not the vacation it can seem like from an outsider’s perspective. It truly is a job but one I love to do.
Bethlehem Steel, May 2019
Bethlehem Steel (Brooklyn, NY)
59 Shows
Brooklyn’s Bethlehem Steel toured for seven weeks this year after their sophomore self-titled record was released via Exploding in Sound. Originally a three piece formed in 2012 with Becca Ryskalczyk (guitar/vocals), Jon Gernhart (drums), and Zephyr Prusinski (bass) their latest record features guitarist Christina Puerto, who has been touring with them since the band’s debut. In 2019, along with their massive post-record release tour, they played regularly in NYC and the surrounding area all year!
AF: What is your craziest tour story from this year?
BS: Hate to have to say that the craziest story is get getting roofied after a set in Oklahoma.
AF: What are the advantages and challenges of DIY touring?
BS: A big advantage is that you basically meet the best people this way. You’re able to constantly meet new people who share the same values and are doing the same work as you. A challenge to DIY touring would be sometimes having to suck it up and play to no one.
Shadow Year (Brooklyn, NY)
52 Shows
Brooklyn quartet Shadow Year is co-fronted by Tyler Wright (vocals/guitar), and Scout Gillett (vocals/keys/guitar), with Terd Germison on bass and John Mason on drums. Their debut record Hush Hush Panic showcases their ’80s-esque vocal duets and minimal arrangements that float between dream pop and post-punk. After the release of their debut record summer 2019, they spent a few weeks on the road touring from Florida to Chicago. Scout recently started her own booking company Road Dog Booking and in 2020 Shadow Year are set to release an EP titled Godspeed. They are leaving for their first 2020 tour (probably of many) on January 24th.
AF: What is your craziest tour story from this year?
SY: Shadow Year was gifted a mini short bus in June of 2018 and we got to tour the nation three times in our short bus Rene. On our last tour our bus Rene broke down in Chattanooga after our Nashville show. The band had made an agreement that if the bus were to have any more problems that we would have to sell it… We still took it to a mechanic just to see if it was a little problem. The men working said they don’t work on diesel but could give it a try. After waiting for two hours they said the bus was fixed and ready to go. We paid them $150, hopped in in the bus and start driving away. Fifteen minutes later the bus overheated again – bastards fucked us over! We had to make some serious moves to make our gig in Atlanta. We slowly got the bus to the Chattanooga airport and rented a tiny Kia Soul just to get our guitars and bodies to the gig. I started posting the bus on Craigslist. We get to the gig. No one’s had food or enough sleep – we take the free drinks at the bar. We play a show and were planning to stay at our friend Alejandro’s (from Dinner Time) place after the show. Tyler drove the wrong way for an hour and after realizing it we decided to just crash at a Walmart in this small Kia Soul. The next morning we woke up to a ton of responses to our craigslist add, traded the smaller renal car for a passenger van and got back to the Chattanooga airport, cleaned out the bus and took the bus to a shell gas station to sell it to a man named Salamon, who had gold grills that read ” Salamon” across in case you forgot his name. It was very cinematic. It was pouring rain and there were no restrooms nearby and we had to walk far with no umbrellas to an Office Depot to pee and clean up. Salamon gave us $800 cold cash for our little bus Rene. We didn’t miss a show and we had to do some serious game planning. I laugh out loud every time I think of how dramatic it all felt.
AF: What are the advantages and challenges of DIY touring?
SY: I’d say the advantages are you have a better chance of making money touring DIY, and all ages shows rule. Kids like to move their bodies more. I don’t know what happens to people at 21 or why after 21 people try to take themselves more seriously and are concerned about looking cool. Kids usually don’t give a fuck and just love to let loose and that’s really fun energy to play off of. A disadvantage… is it’s a lot of work… but that’s also good because you learn and grow a lot… and that’s something we are all trying to do.
Miss Eaves (Brooklyn, NY)
43 Shows
As a solo artist, Miss Eaves (aka Shanthony Exum) really does do it all herself. The feminist electro-rapper and multi-media artist is self-managed, books every show, directs and edits her own music videos, and drives herself from city to city as she tours mostly alone. In the summer of 2017, “Thunder Thighs,” a track off her debut release, became a viral body positivity hit, leading to an op-ed in The New York Times, and getting on lists alongside Aretha Franklin and Beyonce. She has successfully booked four DIY tours, playing shows and festivals with Tune-Yards, Wheatus, and MC Frontalot, and chronicled her experiences for The Creative Independent. This year she toured in support of her follow-up EP Sad and brought her empowering and hilarious tracks like “Bush for the Push” and “Fuccboi Salute” to new crowds in the US and Europe.
AF: What is your craziest tour story from this year?
ME: Me and my tour mate were playing in Chicago and we found out there was a huge blizzard coming into town that night. We had a gig in Madison the next day, so we decided to drive to Madison that night after our show (around 1am) to avoid potentially being stuck in Chicago. She fell asleep, so I had to drive by myself playing Robyn really loudly, singing the whole time. We made it luckily, and the storm was really bad so we made the right choice!
AF: What are the advantages and challenges of DIY touring?
ME: The advantages are really connecting with my community, and establishing great relationships with promoters, venues, and other bands. It’s also nice to not wait around for someone to “discover me.” I have the power to make my own path, which is quite liberating. One huge challenge is everything seems to change frequently, so I have to stay really flexible and also be really quick to problem solve.
I usually travel totally alone, so things can get really lonely. That being said, that loneliness also makes me more open to meeting new people (which ultimately is a good thing). It can be a bit discouraging when I have a show isn’t well attended; however, having a sold out show feels even more amazing because I know it’s from DIY efforts.
Previous Year Honorable Mentions
North By North: 204 Shows + completed their first UK tour, and finished their third album which will be out February 2020 on their label Double Hex Records.
Thelma & The Sleaze: 130 Shows + released their record Fuck, Mary, Kill.
A Deer A Horse: 87 shows + released their EP Everything Rots That is Rotten.
photo by Tim Nagle
Stuyedeyed: 62 shows + released Moments of Terribleness EP.
Vanessa Silberman : 60 shows + relocated to NYC from LA and released Brighter In Bloom EP.
Welcome to our weekly show recommendation column RSVP HERE – your source for the best NYC shows and interviews with some of our favorite local live bands.
The So So Glos are the quintessential New York City punk rock band. Formed in 2007 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn by brothers Alex and Ryan Levine with drummer Zach Staggers (who they met in pre-school), The So So Glos have shaped the DIY music scene first hand over the past decade. They co-founded and resided in the venues Market Hotel and Shea Stadium, have released three full length records, gone on countless DIY tours and toured in support of Titus Andronicus, Diarrhea Planet,Desaparecidos, and more. In anticipation of The So So Glos playing one of the final shows at Brooklyn Bazaar Friday 11/29, we talked with Alex and Zach about how the DIY scene has developed over the past decade, their favorite records to listen to on the road, and where to get the best slice in and outside of NYC…
AF: How is the state of the DIY scene different now than when you first started So So Glos in 2007? How do you think things will progress going into the next decade?
Alexander Orange Drink: It’s been quite a trip to see the DIY scene transform over the past decade. When we started out, it seemed like there were very few DIY spaces where rock ‘n’ roll was welcome. It was way more of a noise rock, (dare I say pretentious) – artsy scene. Despite so many venues closing and an ever changing NYC, I think some aspects of the underground have become way more inclusive for all types of people and artists. If we were in any way a part of helping that move forward I feel grateful.
AF: You’ve toured extensively over the years, what was your favorite band to tour with? Favorite city/non-NYC DIY show space? What’s your favorite tour story?
AOD: There’s been so many friends and extended family who we’ve toured with. It’s impossible to pick a favorite! So many hospitable venues and staff that have welcomed us. The Bottle Tree in Birmingham, AL was always a great place to roll through. They’ve got really cool trailers backstage. One time we got assaulted by the Britney Spears entourage, another time we got strip searched at the border and once my medicine was confiscated in Germany.
AF: What are your favorite records to listen to on the road?
AOD: Modern Lovers, She’s So Unusual, 2Pacalypse Now, The Specials (first album), The Idle Wheel, Songs of Leonard Cohen, too many more…
AF: Where’s the best place to get a slice of pizza in NYC? Where’s the best place to get a slice of pizza outside of NYC?
Zach Staggers: This is a much debated topic for any New Yorker and there are many exemplary spots to get a slice. That said, any pizza experience has as much to do with the environmental factors surrounding the slice. For instance, if you stop at New Park for a slice after a idyllic day in Rockaway, then, at that very moment that is the best slice in the world. Or, say if you are in the godforsaken hell zone of the low to mid 30’s on the west side of Manhattan — Pizza Suprema becomes your messiah. Perhaps, it’s just a beautiful day in the neighborhood, where Rosa’s of Ridgewood provides my staple, comfort pizza. But all this said for the record I like to rep the Margherita slice with the infamous sesame seed crust at Ciccio’s on Avenue U. It’s a little known pizzeria and doesn’t get the respect it deserves. Outside of New York? While there are good slices in Philly and some other select cities I will plead the 5th.
Welcome to our new weekly show recommendation column RSVP HERE – your source for the best NYC shows and interviews with some of our favorite local live bands.
This week A Deer A Horse are supporting The Art Gray Noizz Quintet featuring Lydia Lunch for one of Brooklyn Bazaar’s final shows. The Art Gray Noizz Quintet features Stu-art Gray Spasm of Lubricated Goat joined by members of Live Skull, Woman, Cabbages & Kings, Twin Guns and more; playing a set of all “unreleased collaborations and bastardized classics.” A Deer A Horse are perfect openers with their melodic 70s punk meets post rock sludge. They are constantly touring so don’t miss the opportunity to see them while they’re in NYC! We asked ADAH a few questions in anticipation of their show this Wednesday 11/6…
AF: What are your top 5 bands to see live?
ADAH: Daikaiju (they light their instruments on fire while they are being crowdsurfed around the room, they’re fucking insane).
Ono (when they perform you are transformed from an audience to a congregation and Travis is your preacher. You will follow him wherever he goes).
Minibeast (intense, relentless noise rock from providence, memers of Mission of Burma).
Blacker Face (soul, r&b mixed with aggressive noise rock, some of the most inventive shit we’ve seen in a hot sec).
No Men (you’re dancing so hard that you don’t realize you’re worshipping Satan, these heathens rule).
Black Midi (fresh operatic noise weirdness from far far away, best band we saw at SXSW).
Listen… so we know we already did six here, but also s/o Big Business for melting our faces off for a week in August! When they play the song “Horses” Coady leaps out of his seat to slam the cymbals as hard as he can at the end of the song and it’s fucking amazing.
AF: I read somewhere that The Shining is one of your biggest inspirations. What’s your favorite scene from The Shining and has that film influenced your live show?
ADAH: I think you must have misunderstood the article… We could care less about that terrible piece of drivel, we worship instead, The Shinning. It’s a true masterpiece, a horror classic, The Shining pales in comparison to The Shinning. And who could forget those words repeated into the ether “No TV and no beer make Homer something something”? Chilling.
AF: If you could ask Lydia Lunch anything, what would it be?
ADAH: Lydia Lunch is one of the most prolific artists out there. I mean seriously, just scroll through her credits on Wikipedia, the list goes on and on. It’s insane how much she’s accomplished! We’re all creative people, but Lydia is on another level; it’s both inspiring and intimidating. So I would definitely like to know where she feels her drive to create comes from.
RSVP HERE for Art Gray Noizz Quintet feat. Lydia Lunch with A Deer A Horse and Conduit on Wednesday, November 6th @ Brooklyn Bazaar. All Ages / $10-12
Below is our list of the Hardest Working DIY Touring bands of 2018 keeping the DIY dream alive! We asked each band about their favorite moments, what they have learned, and/or are most proud of from this past year.
photo credit: @zb_images
North By North (Chicago, IL)
212 shows
I caught North By North at a Women that Rock showcase at Knitting Factory and couldn’t believe that they have been on the road for the past 10 months and have played 446 shows in total since January 2017. They snuck under my radar for last year’s list, so I’m happy to have them kick off this year’s Hardest Working DIY Touring Bands list!
“The main thing we’ve learned is that waiting around for a big opportunity generally isn’t worth it. It seems that it’s better to take charge of the shows that you’re booking – by seeking out other talented bands both in your hometown and in other markets, and by putting together and curating the best events you possibly can. Basically, no one else is going to make it happen for you – you have to create your own opportunities, otherwise you’ll be stuck waiting around for a long time.
It’s just the two of us, and we each put in over 60 hours/week between booking, writing, rehearsing, performing, and marketing, so it’s definitely a lot of work. But we’re constantly seeing the benefits of this as we continue growing our fanbase and name recognition around the country, and it feels really good knowing that it’s because of the hard work that we’ve put in. That being said, we have made solid friends and connections over the past two years who have helped us out and who continue to help us out, but it generally takes a couple times coming through each city before that can happen. People need to see that you’re putting in the work – assembling good lineups, getting good venues attached, and inserting yourselves into the local scene – before they’re really willing to go out on a limb for you.
Basically, DIY is a lot of work, but we’ve found that it’s more than worth it. See you all in 2019!”
Photo by: Rachel Zyzda
Stuyedeyed (Brooklyn, NY) 107 shows
This year I’ve been lucky enough to share bills with New York’s loudest psych/garage band Stuyedeyed in Nashville, Austin, Saratoga Springs and Brooklyn. At our show in Rockaway Beach they had to leave right after their set to play another show at a brewery down the street (and we moved the whole party there). Even after all that, I still can’t confidently spell their band name, but it looks like they are quickly teaching the rest of America how to pronounce it.
“Favorite show had to have been Chicago at Empty Bottle. Playing on the floor, in the round, was something so special to us. We set up as if we were in a rehearsal with everyone surrounding us, as if they were listening in on a conversation. It made it that much more personal. Because that’s what it’s all about, connectivity. Breaking that wall and having everyone be a part of the show is empowering not only for us or the audience, but for the songs themselves. Break that wall. Destroy the idea of putting the artist on a pedestal with your other idols. With this show, and tour, it felt like complete vulnerability. No one is cooler than the other, no one is more important than the next. We’re right there on the floor with you watching you as much as you are watching us. It took us a few years of shows to figure out that this is our most efficient way to exist in the world we are creating and continuously redefining.”
Photo by: CJ Harvey
Glove (Tampa, FL)
82 shows
Glove have only been a band for one year and already have seven tours under their belt. They played New York so many times that I thought they were a Brooklyn band at first. You can catch their new wave garage jam sound in Brooklyn again at Baby’s All Right on February 3rd!
“Jeez, ridiculous things happen to us constantly but we definitely had every band’s worst nightmare happen to us this year… On our way to LA from San Antonio we broke down in the middle of nowhere Texas off I-10. From a 45 minute tow-truck ride to a mechanic shop in Iran, Texas, where we thought Rod got abducted by one of the mechanics there (they went missing for an hour), to breaking down again and sleeping on the side of the road that night. We did end up getting a brand new radiator from really nice folks at a mechanic shop that had miniature donkeys to hang out with and Bud Light to drink. Made it to LA just in the nick of time for our show. Throughout all the shenanigans we laughed everything off and stayed determined to make it to the show and not let the series of mishaps get us down.”
Thelma and The Sleaze (Nashville, TN)
80 Shows
My first experience seeing TATS was at Hotel Vegas at SXSW 2016 and I fell in love with LG’s stage presence. After the set I got a taco and nervously gave her my band’s sticker while fawning over her authentic, hilarious and sexy rock ‘n’ roll attitude. You can experience it for yourself on her new podcast, Queen of Shit Mountain.
“Thanks to our fans for making this year another success. Kansas City is a hard nut to crack and keep cracked. The best breakfast in America is at Lucky’s Cafe in Cleveland Ohio.”
Mouton (Arkansas) 80-ish shows
Pete Mouton has been touring his jangly alternative tunes around the U.S. all year. He has a wonderful sense of humor despite the year’s rough rides and will be able to turn the ups and downs into more great feeling lo-fi tracks. Hopefully he will make it back to NYC soon!
“My friend Sharp, who I wrote “Real Boy” for, lent me Great Jones Street by Don Delillo and there’s a line that goes, “There’s nothing more boring than a well traveled person.” I’ll give the quick and dirty.
2018 was a long year. I played 80 something shows, most of them with somebody else’s guitar because mine was stolen at a house show in February. That same month in Carbondale, IL, we woke up in house that was on fire. In April, Parquet Courts offered me molly in Oklahoma. Later that night, I stayed in, like, one of the five motel rooms I would stay in all year. In May, we found our dear friends Hayden and Dylan on a farm in Ragtown, Arkansas, but we had a show in Memphis that night, so after deliberating on whether or not to actually cancel our show, we decided to book it to Memphis. We weren’t five minutes down this dirt road when the venue calls saying that the show’s canceled. So we whipped one back for Ragtown and had a day off on a farm in East Arkansas with our buds. Let it be known that I put Dylan Earl on on his back, not once, but twice that night. Like a week later we were in Brooklyn for Northside, which was my first time New York. I can’t afford to look at that shit on a map.
I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have spent almost a quarter of my year in and out of a Toyota minivan with some of the funniest and most brilliant musicians I know. It wouldn’t have been possible or half as fun without my incredibly talented band: Daniel Orndorff, Cole Simmons, Matt Jemes, and also Bennett Jones, who recently passed. His relentless humor and knack for making his friends and strangers laugh left a tremendous impact on me; especially in the short time that we spent waking up on each other in deflating air mattresses and making each other laugh to tears in cities and on highways across the country. Tell your friends you love them.”
Lola Tried (Austin, TX)
71 Shows
Singer/Songwriter Lauren Burton started Lola Tried in Austin in 2015 and have toured nationally in support of their EP Popscicle Queen, opening for bands like Speedy Ortiz, A Giant Dog, and Tera Melos.
“Our favorite show on our most recent [tour] definitely had to be Baton Rouge, as we played a beautiful venue called the Spanish Moon with some very good friends of ours, Particle Devotion. The crowd was fantastic and all of the bands on the bill were so great.
Things we’ve learned on tour/as a band this year: I think the most valuable thing that tour teaches you is learning to play to any kind of room. Tour is incredibly humbling, because you go into it with expectations that definitely get swept away when you leave your hometown. You never know what you’re walking into when you get to a venue in a different city, so just constantly reminding yourself that this is a learning experience, and teaching yourself how to work a room and play the best show you’ve ever played – even if it was in front of five people, even if you didn’t sleep the night before, even if someone ate the burrito you’d been saving to eat at the venue. You learn to toss away whatever happened that day, and you learn how to perform as a team in any kind of space. I also really enjoy exploring how other bands, bookers, and promoters function in their respective scenes in different cities as it brings a completely different perspective to the table. Tour is work, tour is smelly, tour is exhausting, but it’s the most fulfilling thing in the world.
Also, another tidbit of advice: Don’t eat hot fried chicken in Nashville an hour before you play.”
photo by Jeanette D Moses
Top Nachos (New Paltz, NY)
70 Shows
Top Nachos are embarking on a west coast tour this upcoming year with our previous hard touring band Lola Tried. They played about 70 shows this year despite both their members playing in four other very active bands: Teenage Halloween, Schmave, Winnebago Vacation, and Dolly Spartans!
“We played a bunch of amazing shows! The highlights have to be our newpalspalooza show (a fest we put on in New Paltz) with Bethlehem Steel and Yazan, Punk Island, our LP release show at Snug’s in New Paltz, and most recently nachofest, which was the final show at our house venue NACHOHOUSE.
The funniest/strangest thing that happened to us this year was witnessing a Bud Light Lime butt chug after our show at the house we played at in Charlotte, NC. Weirdest place we played was a kitchen in Savannah, GA. People were standing on the cabinets, the fridge, any available surface.
This was our most active year as a band for sure! We went on several tours, a wild amount of weekenders, played with some amazing bands like Speedy Ortiz and Rozwell Kid, released music on vinyl for the first time ever (in any project we’ve been in) and released our first full length albums DANK SIDE OF THE MOON. Learned a lot, laughed a lot, smoked a lot.”
photo by CoolDad
The RocknRoll HiFives (New Jersey)
51 Shows
Can you imagine growing up and your family vacations double as rock ‘n’ roll tours? That’s the life of New Jersey’s RocknRoll HiFives, who released a vinyl on Little Dickman Records this year and toured Japan for the first time. They brought CoolDad along with them, who was nicknamed Grandpa while they were in Japan.
“This entire RocknRoll HiFives experience has not followed the normal band dynamics because we are a family (mom, dad, daughter, son) that tours, records and writes while managing all that comes with family life. Our rock ‘n’ roll story is different than most. We had so many stand out performances this year it’s really hard to pick one. Every show in Japan was amazing, playing on the Todd-o-Phonic Todd radio show WFMU was legendary, opening for Rye Coalition at the White Eagle Hall 1st Anniversary show was an honor, a last minute invite to open for a sold-out Snail Mail show was tons of fun and how could we not mention our very first television appearance on the super funny The Special Without Brett Davis show!
If we were forced to pick one show though, it would have to be opening for the legendary band the Tweezers in Tokyo, Japan. The show was incredible, and even more incredible was having them at the front of the stage with fists flying while we rocked and then having them greet us with an after party at the Poor Cow with a standing ovation in our honor. 2018 is going to be a hard one to beat!
We learned that what works best for us as a touring family is to turn our tours into Tourcations. When we are on tour we try to play 3-4 days in a row and then have a few days off to enjoy the road (national parks, traipsing through cities, visiting friends). We found that this keeps us balanced in that we have equal amounts of rock and fun while making the most of being a family on tour. (By the way, we learned that too many days off isn’t good either. Balance here is key to our happiness!)”
Toward Space (Richmond, VA)
50 Shows
David Patton and Seyla Hossaini, the founding members of bluesy power pop band Toward Space, met when they were 11 years old and have been living the rock ‘n’ roll dream ever since. This past September they released their full length Gently With A Chainsaw, met God, and traveled the country with their newfound voodoo magic.
“We met God in Tuscon, AZ. He owns a bar with a built-in sex dungeon, and we watched him eat a raw egg. We stayed in a hippy house in San Francisco where David tripped on shrooms in a tiny basement full of candles and Santa Muerte statues, and in New Orleans we hung out with voodoo practitioners who warned us about the smell of blood in the streets before we went out to the strip club. On tour we learned that I could easily become addicted to gambling, that Ben isn’t going to leave the band no matter how much David and I fight, and that it’s extremely important to keep in mind that you will be constipated for days if you eat a pizza every night.” – Seyla Hossaini
photo by Chloe Krenz
Lunch Duchess (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
32 Shows
Lunch Duchess have been using their time on tour in 2018 to refine their grunge-pop songs for their debut full length, which will be out in the summer of 2019! They also released a single called “Ride or Die” this past summer.
“What I learned on tour in 2018 – if you and your bandmates are fun people who love each other, you can pretty much get through anything together.”
Honorable Mention: The following bands also appeared on 2017’s Hardest Working DIY Touring Bands List, and while we wanted to shout out some fresh faces, we gotta hand it to bands that would’ve made the list this year based on sheer numbers alone.
photo credit: Kirsten Kay Thoen
A Deer A Horse (Brooklyn, NY)
107 shows
“Our favorite tour moment of 2018 was probably playing Berserker V in Michigan. This was our first time ever playing a metal festival, and since we’re a band that slides between genres, we were kind of anxious about playing on the same lineup as the dude from Pantera. It went over better than we could have hoped for, and it felt amazing to be accepted by all these metal fanatics. Plus we got to see mindblowing performances by Negative Approach, Child Bite, and Bloodiest, which was just so much fun.”
Vanessa Silberman (Los Angeles, CA) 79 shows
“My favorite moment (which I feel lucky I have had a few) has probably been when I have played some very small towns / markets around the U.S. and had a couple fans come out who follow me who I hadn’t met before. A lot of them have said that what I have been doing has been inspiring them to do their music or go for their dream. I think that is so unbelievably cool. It means so much to hear that from fans and people – like I’m fulfilling my purpose, getting them to say to themselves ‘hey, she’s doing it, I can do that too’ when they see me out there doing it. I truly want to change peoples lives in a positive way – so that’s cool.”
Vanessa Silberman is nothing less than a super human. She has been on the road since January, totaling about ten tours solo, as a two piece with LA transplant via Madison drummer Dave Boson, and as a three piece (the Vanessa Silverman Band) featuring Reed Mullin of Corrosion of Conformity and musician/producer Mikel Ross. She’s also toured as a two piece with Jimmy Dias of San Francisco band The Love Dimension, featuring their friends and different musicians from around the country.
Silberman only took one week off to record a band in Chicago in February (she’s also an engineer/producer!) and also a few weeks off to write and do pre-production work. Of her 200 shows this year (including TV/radio/press ops), for 75 of them Silberman was on double duty playing drums for The Love Dimension and for a few of those shows she even played a third set backing Boston rocker Carissa Johnson.
Top 3 Cities: That’s hard!! Ok right now Los Angeles, Shreveport & Boston
Favorite gas station and fast food chain: Buckeys, Wawa, Cumberland Farms, Loves, Panera Bread, Chipotle
What’s the craziest thing that happened to you on tour this year?
There are so so many crazy things that happen on tour… My top crazy story and positive outcome was probably when me and Jimmy played in El Paso and had to get to Fort Worth for a show the next night so we had to drive after the show. We were driving, I fell as sleep and at about 5am Jimmy woke me up and noticed something wrong with the van (it wasn’t going past 50 miles an hour). We ended up finding a mechanic a few hours away in the middle of Texas (praying the car would get there as we drove), slept a few hours til they opened and found out the whole engine needed to be replaced but they couldn’t get the engine ordered and received til four days later. There was no place to rent a car in the entire town! We couldn’t believe it. So we had no choice but to drive the van on the highway as slow as we could and pray we could get to the nearest town with a car rental, leave the van to be fixed and come back and get it. Amazingly we did and just barely made our Fort Worth show (we were supposed to open but instead closed the night!) and then played four other shows the next few days in Texas. We drove back East after the car was fixed and just made it to our Houston show. We never missed one show or had to cancel!
What is your most favorite and least favorite thing about DIY touring?
I love connecting with people, fans and other artists on a very intimate level when it’s smaller DIY shows. The connection is so direct. It’s also absolutely one of the most fulfilling things I have ever felt because I pretty much do everything myself (booking, driving, marketing, social media, performing, etc.) on my solo tours. When you do it alone, at least for me, I find a belief in my music, in what I do. I’m willing to drive any amount of miles and put in any amount of work to share that. I feel empowered and I hope other artists read this and know if they’re willing to put in the work they can tour too!
The least favorite thing is at times it’s a bit difficult to balance other things in your life – personal time, personal care and relationships – because the work load is unreal, especially if you are constantly touring. It’s such a particular lifestyle and most people aren’t willing to put in the work and you really notice it when you play with other artists around the country when you tour so much. But I’m so grateful and feel lucky every day that I can do this.
Vanessa Silberman Tour Tips
For bands who are just starting out, start with weekend runs around where you live. I recommend planning a tour three months in advance; if you’re gonna do your own press, announce shows four or five weeks in advance. For more info and touring tips, indieonthemove.com is a great touring database, and you can also check out my artist development label Adiamondheartproduction.com.
The Accidentals (MI)
187 shows
30 weeks
The Accidentals have averaged about 240 shows a year for the past 3 years, but even after chilling out a little bit they still are the second highest DIY touring band on this list! They’ve hit every state in the U.S. except Hawaii and Alaska, finding and developing their audiences where their music resonates the most. It takes a while to find where a new band’s biggest support will be and The Accidentals are touring smart by hitting the places who demand them the most!
Top 3 Cities: That’s a tough question. We have more than three. If we had to choose though, it’d be Denver, Grand Rapids, and Chicago. We kind of have homes away from home in those cities and people very organically support live music and turn out for our shows. They also have really great restaurants (the food is important to us). The venues in those cities feed us well! Phoenix, Albany, Ann Arbor, Seattle, Boston, Austin, Columbus, Fort Wayne would be in the top ten.
Favorite gas station and fast food chain: Every time we see a Sheetz, everyone in the van collectively cheers. They have decent sandwiches and coffee in the dead of night. As far as fast food is concerned, we try to avoid it. We let ourselves have ONE Taco Bell stop for the entire tour. One really great thing about our fans is that they know we are really trying to stay well on a 70 day tour so they’ll send us Panera gift cards and Whole Foods cards in the mail…so we’ve seen a lot of Panera and Whole Foods – thankful for that.
What’s the craziest thing that happened to you on tour this year?
We have put 230,000 miles on Black Betty in the last three years. On the last tour she broke down 4 times and we lost our brand new trailer. The craziest breakdown was at the peak of Vail pass, an hour and half from Denver, at midnight. We stopped to cool down before heading down the mountain pass and the van computer shut down the vehicle completely due to overheating. We lost all the power (including the lights). There were semi-trucks flying by us 70mph and they couldn’t see us, because we were in a black van in the middle of the night with no lights. Luckily, we got ahold of a 24 foot bed tow truck, and the driver stuffed all 7 of us (band and crew) into the cab, with the van and trailer and all our gear on the bed and flew down the mountain at 85mph scaring the crap out of our tour manager in the bucket seat. We made it to Denver at 2:30am and then proceeded to drop the van at a GMC dealership to get fixed, only to be swarmed by police who thought we were stealing our own van! We finally made it to our host home an hour or so later. Thankfully, our “host mom” made us pizza and gave our manager tequila (at that point, she really needed it).
What is your most favorite and least favorite thing about DIY touring?
Touring is living in extremes all the time. The best part is definitely traveling the country, seeing amazing landscapes and meeting amazing people. It really allows us the opportunity to experience things we’d never get to do if we didn’t play music full time. Our least favorite things about touring are gas station bathrooms and missing time with people back home. We exist on the opposite schedule of everyone we love, and it can be really hard to maintain your relationships along with keeping yourself emotionally, physically and mentally healthy on and off the road. In the end, it’s really important to prioritize, balance, and manage your time wisely.
Here’s a comprehensive bullet list of things you’ll need to bring on tour and prepare ahead of time.
EZ Pass – so your van can fly through those tolls with no time to waste.
GPS – because we’re directionally challenged.
Hotel Chain Memberships – so you can get hotels for a discount or rack up points.
AAA Roadside – 8 breakdowns on the last tour. We’re on a first-name basis with them now.
Neck pillow
Podcasts – We recommend Song Exploder, RadioLab, 99% Invisible, and Meet the Composer.
Books – Start reading a book on the road and make sure you still have some chapters left of it when you get home. It builds consistency from one part of your life to the other.
Waze App – This app will show you what kind of construction work and traffic jams are along the route.
Expedia App – Adding up these points will get you flight/hotel discounts.
AirBNB – Homes away from home!
Trip Advisor – They always list the coolest restaurants.
Google Maps – Just in case your GPS stops being nice or you’re in Canada.
Water bottles – It’s good to have one that you can use over and over, but just in case you lose it, keep a 24 pack of extra waters in the van.
Protein bars
Some sort of multi-tool – Mine is one I got for $10 at a Cracker Barrel in Pennsylvania. It has a hammer on it!
Some general advice: Book your hotels before midnight. Advance your shows a week out. Check the venues’ websites to make sure your times are right, and to find out who was booked alongside you. Carve out some sight-seeing. Be honest with each other. Ask for what you need.
(Interview by Sav Buist)
The Coax (MN/NY)
116 Shows
18 Weeks
I met The Coax and their incredible purple velvet tour van this year at SXSW. They came to all the Little Dickman Records showcases, stayed on the ranch in Austin with us, and soon after they released a split 7″ with High Waisted on LDR and did another massive six week tour. These guys are the sweetest down-to-Earth dudes who will play slap the bag around a camp fire any day.
Top 3 Cities:We have been fortunate enough to have more cities that we enjoy playing than cities that we don’t. I think New York, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis are the big three for us, but we have met some of the most amazing people in unassuming towns like Lawrence, KS, Fayetteville, AR, Sioux Falls, SD, Saratoga Springs, NY, Springfield, MO, Denton, TX.
Favorite gas station and fast food chain:Wawa takes the cake on this one. The buffalo chicken mac and cheese has fueled us through quite a few night drives.
What’s the craziest thing that happened to you on tour this year?
I feel like all of the (negative) crazy stuff happened to us in our first year of touring. We were a little more reckless then. Not so experienced on the road. I think it’s crazy how many awesome bands we got to see and become friends with this year. The number of towns we got to explore that we’ve never been to. The amount of burritos we ate. We saw the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Lake Superior… twice! We went to five different Six Flags. We played right AFTER King Gizzard at Mohawk in ATX. Now, that’s fucking crazy.
What is your most favorite and least favorite thing about DIY touring?
The best thing about DIY touring is definitely the intimacy. It’s all about the hang. I feel like that is something that is missed on the bigger stage. The relationships you make with fans, promoters, and other bands doing it yourself are incredibly valuable and satisfying.
The worst thing about DIY touring is definitely being broke. That shit sucks.
The Coax Touring Tips
Work hard. Don’t give up. Make it happen. If it’s truly what you love to do then you will find a way. Sleep in the van. Get dirty. Make sacrifices. Make friends. Make rad music. Drink Hamms.
It’s no secret Fruit & Flowers are my buds. We went on tour together last February with my band Ex-Girlfriends, driving from Brooklyn to California in less than four days, touring up the West Coast and then driving straight from our final show in Seattle, WA to Austin, TX (I got off the bus is LA), only making one stop for the night at their drummer’s sister’s house in San Francisco. They’re the only band on this list that is also on Oh My Rockness’ Hardest Working Bands in NYC of 2017 list, which seems like an impossible feat.
Top 3 Cities: Ana Becker: Other than New York? I’d say Athens, GA, Toronto, and either Nashville or Chicago.
Jose Berrio: Austin is also really fun.
Caroline Yoder: Athens Certainly. Nashville has its moments. Chicago. Canada, at large.
Favorite gas station and fast food chain: AB: Favorite gas station chain is Love’s – one time I left my wallet in one, and they found it and mailed it back to me, everything still inside!
CY: Not a big fast food person. Does Waffle House count? Definitely Waffle House. We can usually make Subway or Taco Bell work in desperate measures. Gas stations in old towns are the best. Any gas station with coffee and a decent bathroom must not go unappreciated.
Lyzi Wakefield: Allsups has the best burritos.
JB: My favorite gas stations are always the smaller ones, usually surrounded by trees or old houses in the middle of nowhere. I particularly remember one in a tiny solitary town called Blakesburg, in Iowa. Great characters.
What’s the craziest thing that happened to you on tour this year?
AB: I’m sure I’m forgetting many crazy moments, but the one that sticks out the most in my memory is when I made a cop shake my hand in the middle of the night in Oklahoma. I won’t get into the surrounding circumstances, but that was a REALLY close call.
LW: Night swimming in Athens. Driving from San Fran to Austin without rest.
JB: Somebody stole my backpack with a lot of stuff in it (including my passport) at a SXSW show. The next day a random woman messaged me on Facebook claiming she had found my passport. We set a meeting at a gas station on a highway near to where I was and I got it back.
Also, on our West Coast Tour the drummer of the other band we were touring with quit in the middle of the trip, so I had to fill in for the remaining shows. It was fun.
What is your most favorite and least favorite thing about DIY touring?
AB: I have so many favorite things. I love the feeling of freedom, and when it’s all going well, feeling like the band is a team and that together we can do anything. Something about seeing a road stretched out ahead is very inspiring in that way. I love playing music in a new city every night, the people you meet, and the special bonds you form that way. My least favorite thing is the significant strain on my mental health. It also makes me sad to be apart from my partner.
LW: Favorite: we do it by our own standards and terms. Seeing old friends across the country. Least favorite: it’s almost impossible to make $$.
JB: I like the uncertainty of not always knowing where you are going to sleep. That usually leads to meeting super nice people and seeing really cool places. Least favorite thing is, as Lyzi said, how hard it is to make money.
AB: Eat some vegetables occasionally and attempt to exercise. Keep journals. Read books in the van instead of messing around on facebook. Don’t freak out. Check the spreadsheet!!!
JB: If you have an analogue camera, make sure to check if it has batteries before you start taking photos. Last tour I shot four rolls that came out blank after developing. Also, as Ana said, keep journals. Make copies of important documents and put them in safe places (in case somebody steals your backpack).
CY: Go to a good grocery store and stock up on necessary food and beer. Keep extra pillows, batteries, tools and blankets handy. Change the oil on time. Have a decent stereo and listen to good podcasts and explore fresh music, new and old.
LW: Maintain a good attitude. Read. Take your space if you need it. Do your own thing now and again.
High Waisted
Over 100 Shows
10 Weeks
I was lucky enough to catch High Waisted and The Coax play their the final show of a six-week run together in Saratoga Springs, NY at a small jazz bar called One Caroline. The last day of tour can sometimes be the worst – everyone is exhausted, possibly sick of each other and eager to get home. Even if this were the case, it didn’t affect their fun, high-energy show one bit. They play 100% no matter what. This really comes as no surprise as they’ve been named the ‘Best Party Band’ by GQ and host an annual rock ‘n’ roll booze cruise in NYC that is highly recommended!
Top 3 Cities: We love Austin, D.C. and Chicago. But our favorite state is Ohio!
Favorite Gas Station & Fast Food Chain: I have an unhealthy love for Taco Bell and they have options for all dietary needs. Wawas are the best gas stations!
What’s the craziest thing that happened to you on tour this year?
We were never late and managed to stay healthy and happy. But there were other memorable moments. We retired our first tour van after 350,000 miles, we watched the sunset sitting on top of a giant dune in white sands, we saw a man get arrested for assault in Texas, we spent two days in a double-wide trailer in Kentucky when our van broke down (thanks to the kindness of strangers), we went skinny dipping in the Pacific Ocean for my birthday, we survived getting hit by another car going 70 mph at dawn in Alabama and we drove through Death Valley in the summer with no AC.
What is your most favorite and least favorite thing about DIY touring?
My favorite thing is the faith we place in strangers all over the country. Tour is one big trust fall. Perhaps I’m jaded but the kindness and support we’re met with will never cease to amaze me. My least favorite thing about DIY touring is the lack of accountability. If a venue owner or promoter is a total sleazebag there’s not really a network in place to protect you or other bands from facing the same bad fortune.
High Waisted Tour Tips
Bring a cooler and grocery shop. Always have baby wipes and paper towels in the van. Use sites like Priceline to score cheap hotels after shows – bonus if you can book ones with pools and hot tubs. Always bring valuable gear in overnight or have someone sleep in the van. Don’t travel with drugs. Don’t drink and drive.
Pre-download movies and albums to your phone for dead zones. Make yourself read and write every day. Be kind to your bandmates even if you’re cranky – the group morale is always more important than your own. Put the group first and they’ll take care of you. Play every show at 100%, even if there’s only eight people watching – they still deserve your best performance. Treat tour like vacation; find fun things to sightsee in every town so your days are more than just time spent in bars. Take photos and keep a journal. Lastly, stay grateful and appreciative of your opportunity.
(Interview by Jessica Dye)
A Deer A Horse (NYC)
99 Shows Booked and 95 Played
(4 cancellations due to Hurricanes Irma and Harvey)
16 Weeks
I met A Deer A Horse in 2016 in Nashville during the peak of my mid-tour drunken meltdown triggered by leaving my tote bag with my wallet and everything else important to me inside of it at a gas station somewhere between Georgia and Tennessee (which was later sent to my mom’s house by a good samaritan). A Deer A Horse’s music is dark, sludgy and serious but by hanging out with them that night and the following day they helped to cheer me up and pull me out of that unhappy situation. Thanks guys!
Top 3 Cities: We have 4 because we’re too keen….
Austin, TX: it’s a great scene filled with close friends. The audiences are always massively supportive, and they really seem dedicated and attentive.
Chicago, IL: one of the best scenes in US with crazy spaces to play. You can definitely feel a unique scene when you’re there, which isn’t always the case in big cities.
Norfolk, VA: a hidden gem for us. The audiences are always amazing and supportive, and we’ve made a lot of good friends there since we played our first gig in town.
St. Louis, MO: STL feels like a city on fire. It’s a city that really comes together in hard times. The city is going through a lot of internal struggles, but when you’re there you feel like part of the scene, which feels like one big family.
Favorite gas station and fast food chain: For gas stations, Tim Horton’s in Canada is a rad hoser delicacy. For food, we normally buy groceries at Trader Joe’s or local markets/co-ops to save money and eat healthy. But we did drunkenly indulge, once or twice, in Taco Bell – except Dylan who was probably eating trail mix.
What’s the craziest thing that happened to you on tour this year?
It was like the Forrest Gump/current events tour of 2017. We were on the West Coast for the wildfires, in Salem, Oregon for the solar eclipse, Texas for Hurricane Harvey, Florida for Hurricane Irma, and St. Louis for widespread protests against rampant police brutality/corruption.
We also camped at Saddlehorn Canyon at Colorado National Monument. It is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places we have ever been. We also got to swim in the most beautiful conditions at Pensacola Beach one day before Irma hit Florida. It was surreal – you would never have known a hurricane was looming just hours off the coast.
What is your most favorite and least favorite thing about DIY touring?
Our favorite is the research you get to do into all of the scenes around the country. You learn about so many bands/venues/cities you would never have known about otherwise and you make amazing friends.
Not including the excessive driving, our least favorite part is the sheer amount of work you have to do. You really have to do everything yourself and stay on top of people just to ensure every gig goes smoothly. It’s exhausting. It would be a dream to have a booking agent, but not having one will not stop us from setting up and going on the road.
A Deer A Horse Tour Tips
Do whatever you have to do stay healthy mentally and physically. Get a big cooler and buy groceries and avoid eating road/fast food. Get gym memberships (ours are with Planet Fitness) so you can work out (get those gains, bruh) and (ProTipAlert) utilize their *24 hour* shower services. Drink the booze in moderation or not at all most nights. And maybe most importantly, understand as a band that it’s important to have alone time on the road – take as much of it as you can, ideally outdoors, and you’ll love yourself and your bandmates more after doing it.
If you are at a place with your band where you want to start touring, start small. Do weekends and short 5-7 day regional tours in order to build a fanbase close to home. Slowly branch out to 2-3 week tours, a little further away each time. Do a lot of those so you get to know your own and your bandmates’ personal needs. If you have any personal issues, DO NOT let them fester. Talk about them immediately before you develop resentments!
Also, we have learned the hard way many times that the only way to get shit done is to do it yourself – this is where DIY really holds meaning. No one is going to book the tour for you. We no longer rely on anyone we don’t know very very well to set shows up for us. Since having this realization, booking has gone way more smoothly and we have had very few shows fall through.
The Big Drops
61 Shows
5 Weeks
Following the release of their debut album Time, Color, The Big Drops toured the U.S. and Canada, playing their fair share of hippie festivals, Sofar Sounds gigs, and duo sets. When I went to Canada to tour manage them, I was was quickly re-named tour ‘Mama-ger,’their drummer caught a bad cold and turned into ‘Baby Grandpa’ (poor Baby Grandma!) and an exceptionally friendly man driving an Ottawa mail truck hit the right side mirror off of my van. But I swear I had a great time…
Top 3 Cities: Savannah GA, Montreal Canada, Harrisonburg VA
Favorite gas station and fast food chain: Definitely Couche-Tard in Montreal. It’s a pretty off the chain, and has the best name of any gas station I’ve ever seen.
What’s the craziest thing that happened to you on tour this year?
During MacRock Festival in Harrisonburg, we walked into a super smokey smoke machine basement bar to some sort of sexually charged jungle music, and saw the frontman wearing a hockey mask and revving a chainsaw. The show was immediately shut down as soon as we got there.
What is your most favorite and least favorite thing about DIY touring?
Being on tour is kind of like being on vacation. If you start working on your tour dates 3+ months in advance, you can typically just pick the cities you want to go to, and find a way to make a show happen there. Getting to experience new places via music is pretty awesome. If possible, try to set aside some time to enjoy the places you go!
Our least favorite thing about DIY touring is the amount of time and energy it takes to schedule, plan, and book all the dates yourself. You think, wouldn’t it be great if being in a band was all about being a musician?? But it is really rewarding to put together a good show, meet other cool bands and people who support your music.
The Big Drops Touring Tips
Tour is difficult for different people in different ways, so try to be extra considerate of your bandmates when on the road. Bring headphones, a book, something to keep you occupied while driving 5+ hours a day.
Getting sick on tour is no fun. Stay healthy! Don’t eat or drink too much garbage-y food. We usually bring a cooler packed with hummus, granola, nuts, apples, bananas, PB&J materials. Everyone in The Big Drops is pretty keen on eating raw garlic to keep us healthy and safe from estranged vampires.
Pack lightly, but bring extra socks. A small towel is useful for washing/ drying your face if you can’t take a shower. We also bring some essential oils like lavender or sage, so we emit a nice, pleasant odor.
(Interview by Greg & Vramshabouh)
Nihiloceros (NYC)
57 shows
4 weeks touring
Singer/guitarist Mike Borchardt of Nihiloceros is not only in one of the most hardworking touring bands, but is also the hardest working show-goer I’ve ever met. I see him at almost every show I attend, he takes 30+ photos of every band and then promptly uploads them to social media and tags everyone, helps promote shows when he can’t make them, and is super helpful in connecting touring musicians to other musicians/promoters/venues around the country when necessary. Thank you Mike, you’re awesome! This year his band transitioned from being Samantha (she’s dead) to Nihiloceros, released an EP, and in between being at every show possible in Brooklyn, also spent four weeks on the road.
Favorite Cities: Chicago IL, Philadelphia PA, Lawrence KS (and obviously Austin TX during SXSW)
Favorite gas station and fast food chain: Food in Canada it’s Tim Horton’s, in the U.S. it’s probably Taco Bell, though we seem to hit more Dunkin Donuts than anything else. For gas, it’s whatever is around right before we run outta gas. We do love those big truck stop gas stations that have fast food and big gift shops with silly souvenirs – great time to get out of the car and stretch your legs. I always make a point to stop at the Iowa80 outside of Des Moines and Mars Cheese Castle driving between Chicago and Milwaukee.
What’s the craziest thing that happened to you on tour this year?
The craziest overall thing had to be our SAdpop tour in October where the 3 of us spent 2 weeks driving across the East Coast and Canada jammed into a Mini Cooper with all our stuff. That many miles stuck in a clown car will make everything crazy.
What is your most favorite and least favorite thing about DIY touring?
The hardest thing about any DIY tour is the actual booking of it yourself. We use all our vacation and sick days from work for touring, so we really gotta maximize our time. It takes a lot of time working with venues and bands, getting dates confirmed in a geographical route that makes sense to drive, while also trying to book it so you don’t end up with too many wasted days off.
The best part though is meeting new bands and making new fans, exploring new cities, being inspired by new people outside of NYC… and hopefully inspiring something in them as well.
Nihiloceros Touring Tips
If you can share a leg of your tour with another band that is more well known in the area, that can really help a lot with some of the logistics like routing, confirming venues and places to stay. That didn’t end up working out for us on this year’s tours, but we are sharing a stretch of shows in the U.S. and Canada with another band next year which we are pretty excited about.
Oftentimes tours take you across varying temperatures, so bring proper layers for the season, and that extra hoodie or jacket will be better suited on your body or in your lap than taking up wasted space in your bag. Get really good at packing your gear efficiently before you hit the road, and then it’ll be a breeze every night fitting everything in the car. Apart from that, drink way more water than you think you need to, bring plenty of Advil PM which will help you sleep when you do get a chance to crash, and will double assist for the aches that come with playing every night, lugging gear, sleeping on couches/floors, and being crammed in the car for long stretches of time.
(Interview by MikeBorchardt)
Giantology (Chicago)
50 Shows
12 Weeks
I mentioned Giantology in one of my first Check The Spreadsheet columns, because I was so impressed with how their bassist, Gina Davalle, basically just picked up the bass guitar and then decided to go on tour for three months without having any previous touring experience. I also love their space suits and weirdo glasses.
Top 3 Cities: Austin, Portland, and Atlanta
Favorite gas station and fast food chain: LOVES is my favorite gas station/truck stop. McDonald’s would definitely be our fast food chain of choice. McDonald’s was like our home in every city. We drank their coffee every morning and indulged in their free wifi.
What’s the craziest thing that happened to you on tour this year?
Honestly, I think the craziest thing is what did not happen. During 3 months on the road we never had any serious car troubles, or major set backs. I have heard so many touring horror stories, and being that this was my first tour I didn’t know what to expect. I was fully prepared for things to go awry and to get stranded somewhere in need of a mechanic. We were very lucky in that sense!
What is your most favorite and least favorite thing about DIY touring?
My favorite thing about DIY touring is meeting new people in every city, wether it be people at the shows or bands we played with, DIY touring would hardly be possible with out these people doing their part to keep their city’s music scene alive. We met a lot of great people, whom we now consider friends. I think the best thing about touring is getting to visit different cities, and getting to play shows every night.
My least favorite thing about DIY touring is the tole it took on me physically at times from eating too much fast food to sleeping in a van or on a floor every night, not getting quality sleep, it can leave you feeling pretty run down, and exhausted. Definitely, worth it though.
Giantology Tour Tips
Take care of yourself, sleep is so important. Get those hours in when you can!
Don’t drink too much before a show. It’s easy to drink a bit too fast when nervous. (i have learned this the hard way) It is a really shitty feeling to mess up during a show bc you got a little too drunk, but it’ll teach you your limits. Know your limits and stick to them.
Making friends and exchanging contact info with the bands you enjoy playing with is a great tool for booking future shows when looking to play in their city and vise versa. There are no booking agents or guarantees, DIY booking is all about reciprocity.
Do your research before buying a tour van! Take care of said tour van, for with out it, none of this is possible. Sign up for AAA, keep up with oil changes, etc. Always remember where you parked it, don’t stray too far away from it, or leave it unattended for very long.
Leave enough driving time in between shows to account for the unexpected, or spontaneous adventures.
Always play to your best ability even if you’re playing for only a couple of people.
Look out for your bandmates.
(Interview by Gina Davalle)
Ramonda Hammer (LA)
54 Shows
9 Weeks
Ramonda Hammer were the band that made me believe it was possible to book a tour from coast to coast yourself. I met them while playing in LA in 2016 with Sharkmuffin – we had flown out and rented a car to do our west coast tours a couple years in a row. It seems dumb, but when Ramonda Hammer came to play with us in Brooklyn and I realized had driven the whole way, I was inspired to do the same the next time we planned shows on the west coast!
Top 3 Cities: Los Angeles, Nashville, and Brooklyn
Favorite gas station and fast food chain: Favorite gas station is Kum & Go because we are all children and it’s always funny. Favorite fast food chain will be a band argument probably.
What is the craziest thing that happened on tour?
The GARMP saga!! We were getting ready for our September tour and there was gonna be a show with our homies in Nashville who run the amazing DIY record label Cold Lunch Recordings. They organized a rad house show for us, and at the show there was gonna be a stick and poke tattoo artist so we were stoked to partake in that. In the Facebook event page, the artist had asked people to comment what they were gonna get tattooed, and this one guy Jonathan (who we didn’t know at all) said he’d get any five letter word tattooed on his body. So our bassist Andy made up the word GARMP and was determined to have this random guy get GARMP tattooed on him. It turned into a crazy comment thread of people voting and Andy even made a campaign sign that read “GARMP FOR JONATHAN’S TATTOO 2017”. People were very confused. We thought it was hilarious. Flash forward to Nashville: we’re all anxiously waiting to meet Jonathan. We have no idea who he is. Randomly we see some tattooed bearded dude walking around the party with an actual baby in his arms and we think this is odd. Turns out that was Jonathan, who by the way we’ve just been calling GARMP the whole time because duh. Anyways we meet him, he gets his GARMP tattoo on his “gARMp-pit” (which is extra funny), and then I find out he’s from my hometown in Orange County and knows some of my friends. Super weird. Also, why did he have his baby at a basement kegger? Not sure. But at least he and Andy became best friends on the internet for a second and almost did karate in the garage together.
What is your favorite & least favorite thing about DIY touring?
My most favorite thing about DIY touring is all the love and support we encounter on our travels. It really surprises me and warms my heart every single time. People are so generous with giving us places to stay and making us food and making us feel welcomed. It’s so so so cool. My least favorite thing is being too cold or too hot and also when shows get cancelled.
Ramonda Hammer Touring Tips
Well, I would say plan for EVERYTHING that could go wrong to GO WRONG. That way when shit happens (and it always does), you’ll be prepared. We always bring jumper cables and a gas can and blankets to cover our gear with in the van, and we try to have a cushion of funds to pay for any unplanned hotel stays or van breakdowns. Also, don’t let your drummer and bass player conspire to trick you into watching the re-make of The Mummy with Tom Cruise.
(Interview by Devin Davis)
Note: This list was based on my own experiences with musicians I’ve met by living in Brooklyn and performing and touring for 21 weeks of 2017 with Sharkmuffin, Ex-Girlfriends & Kino Kimino. It is not definitive and I would love to hear from and about more bands that book their own tours and/or tour extensively in the U.S. & beyond. Feel free to contact me with your suggestions & stories at sugarmamabk@gmail.com.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Ticket Giveaways
Each week Audiofemme gives away a set of tickets to our featured shows in NYC! Scroll down to enter for the following shindigs.
