SCALER - CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the electronic/alternative band, Scaler, shares one of their most disastrous tour mishaps. You can check out the story below:

Instead of regaling you with another wild story of chaos and rock ’n’ roll madness, I thought I’d tell you about a more real, bleak, and less glamorous moment of touring. Definitely one of our low points.

So, winter 2023, we were in Ireland for the first time. We’d just played in Galway, then we had a day off before the next gig, which was all the way up in Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands.

The plan was solid. We’d get the ferry from Dublin to Liverpool, then drive a couple of hours across the UK to Hull, hop on the overnight ferry to Rotterdam, and then just cruise up to Groningen. It meant we got a nice, easy drive through the countryside, a proper sleep on the ferry, and an easy drive in the Netherlands on the other side.

Dublin to Liverpool ferry, done, easy, smooth. We had the whole day to get across to Hull, so we took it easy. Stopped for lunch, had a bit of a walk in the Peak District. We rocked up to the ferry terminal in Hull a good two or three hours early.

Now, based on every other ferry we had taken recently, boarding usually starts around 90 minutes before departure. So we figured we had time to kill. Naturally, we went to the pub at the ferry port. Had a couple pints, played a few games of pool. Eventually, we wandered over to the terminal… and it was all just completely shut. Gates locked. Lights off. No staff anywhere.

We finally found someone who told us that boarding had actually closed two hours before departure. The ferry was still right there, all the cars still getting on it, but there was nothing we could do.

We needed to be in Groningen in less than 24hrs, we were fucked.

Only saving grace: Isaac, our drummer, hadn’t had a drink. And somehow had the energy and will power to drive us about six hours down to Dover. We grabbed about two hours of sleep at a Travelodge, then jumped on a different ferry from Dover to Calais, and then another 6 hour drive up to Groningen.

The misery of, in a split second, going from expecting a long comfy sleep and a short drive, to suddenly facing a 6 hour drive, ferry, and another 6 hour drive—was bleak.

We made it just in time for the show, which thankfully went well—but we were totally shattered and a bit embarrassed that we’d completely fucked our journey up because we went pub.

So yeah, lesson learned: always read the fine print on your ferry ticket…

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