Boys Night Out - TOUR TIPS

In this Tour Tips segment, Connor Lovat-Fraser, from the alternative/post-hardcore band, Boys Night Out, shares his advice for being on the road. You can check out his tips below:

Sweet baby… this is important. It’s me… I am you, but older. I am writing to you from the future. Right now, you are young and thinking about really setting off into the great abyss in order to pursue fame and fortune. We have been left behind by the people we trusted most; schools, peer groups, religious organizations, our families. Everyone. It just isn’t talked about. Nobody… NOBODY… prepared us for the fact that we might be middle-aged, playing aggressive music and touring for weeks and months on end.

You are gross
Try to eat something with some goshdarn nutritional value, even if it sucks and is difficult to do. I started touring in the late 90s and my diet was always changing. I’m vegan. I’m vegetarian. I eat meat. Wanna know the constant? Most of what I shoveled into my gullet was trash. Tasty poison. If I had taken a second to hit a grocery store to buy vegetables or fruit—instead of convincing myself that the delicious, slippery broccoli from the Chinese fast-food joint was equivalent—I might feel more energized and have less weird skin that was attached but also not fully attached to my body. Less dermal dangling. I also should have exercised more, but I didn’t. Do that, too, stupid.

Your body is rejecting you, friend
Take care of your body! Part of that means exercising, and that can be as simple as taking a short walk or partaking in basically ANY KIND OF MOVEMENT. Don’t just sit around watching TV. You deserve better. Have you heard of a “bangover?” It’s a real thing now that you’re in your late 40s. It’s from too much headbanging. TOO MUCH HEADBANGING! Headbanging and jumping around without consequence was simple in your 20s… less so now. Simple stretching will take care of that. It’s happening to everyone in the band. Matt’s arm cramps up from time to time. Scotty’s picking hand swells up to the size of a perfect mandarin orange. Stretch! Move!

The party don’t stop… but for the love of God, it MUST
Access to drugs, booze, and all manner of mind-altering distractions abound while you’re out there on the road. They may seem awesome and so very enticing, but overindulgence comes at a great cost. You don’t want to learn this the hard way. Take it easy on the stuff, you hear? Make sure to get some sleep, while you’re at it. You don’t NEED to party ALL NIGHT, ALL THE TIME, without rest. There will be very long drives ahead… people will depend on you to pitch in. You will need to perform your music night after night. Drink water, too! Are you really complaining that it doesn’t taste good?! DRINK WATER, just in general… but especially if you decide to spend some time with the local intoxicants.

Love thyself and thy bandmates and thy crew
You might be tempted to think that you’re pretty important after prancing about on stage and having people sing along to your tunes. You might even get the impression that you’re… shudder... cool, and that it gives you a pass when it comes to loading/unloading gear or being a part of the team. Guess what? It doesn’t matter to the people whom you share a van/bus/bandwagon/RV with. Everyone has to do their part. Share the load while you’re out there! Do a little extra if someone else in the camp is feeling under the weather. Being sick on the road SUCKS, and it will burn through everyone around you like wildfire. Do more so that those who need it can rest and recover. But yeah… carry stuff… set stuff up… take stuff down… and try to be understanding if someone is having a rough go. You will live VERY closely with these people. A little compassion can go a long way, and you aren’t the most important person on this ride.

Don’t be afraid to appreciate how amazing this is
At the end of the day, you have been given the very rare opportunity to share what you have made with the world. That is pretty amazing! You will have to work very hard. You will get brutally ill. People will move in and out of your life. You will get angry. You will experience fatigue and burnout. You will make mistakes. You will worry about money. This is all true, and at one point or another it may seem like packing it all in is the best option. Do me a quick favor while you're out there though, please. Take a second to really look at what you’re doing. I don’t care if it’s one person in the crowd bopping a little or every single soul in the venue losing their everloving minds in the best way… always remember that this is what you wanted, and that not everyone gets this chance. Take a beat. Enjoy the hell out of it.

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