Top 10 "Road Rat" Tips with Pete Cook (Guitar Lesson MA-205)

[Justin] Hey, how you doing?
Justin here.

I'm here today with my buddy
Cookie the Road Rat,

and he's just written a great
book called

"Road Rat Tips."

And so we thought we'd bring you

our top 10 tips for surviving on the
road as a gigging musician.

So, the first one is:

[Pete] Gaffer tape.
It fixes absolutely everything.

Always carry gaffer tape with you,
and you can't go far wrong.

[Justin] See, this is, it is absolutely an
essential thing.

Really good, especially for tip #2 :

Quiet when it's not your turn to play.

And, so it's really important
when you're at sound check

that you be quiet, and let the rest
of the band do their stuff.

Because when the front-of-house
guy is trying to check

each of the individual instruments
in the band,

and he's trying to get the
kick drum or the keyboard,

he does not want to hear

you whiddling whatever guitar song it is
you've been been learning.

Always remember that you
absolutely must

stay quiet when it's not
your turn to speak.

And now it's tip number 3,
[Pete] Owwww!

[Justin] which is...
[Pete laughing]

[Pete] Travel insurance.

It's really important when you go away,
if you're going abroad in particular,

that you have some kind of travel
insurance.

It's going to get you home if
you get into an accident,

or get ill on the road because
if you don't have it you're in trouble.

[Justin] Absolutely essential thing.

#4: Getting your guitar on the plane.

Sometimes can be a bit of a problem.

You want to try
and get it on the plane

rather than put it in the
hold if you can.

One of the tricks that you might want
to try is using a gig bag,

and make sure that your gig bag
has a black strap, and wear a black top.

That way, when you're talking to the chick
when it's at check-in time,

you've got the black strap just
coming over one shoulder,

and hopefully a guitar would be
kind of hidden.

Make sure it's low enough
that it's poking up here.

Just, it's not really kind naughty,

you just don't want to
maybe mention it,

and bring attention to
the fact that you've got a guitar.

I think you mention in your book
actually that it's very rare

that the hostess will take your guitar
off you and put it in your hold.

It's nearly always at the
the check-in point right?

So if you can get through that,
and get to the plane,

through security and all of that,

you're probably going to get
your guitar on.

There's a little trick for that.

[Justin] Uh, #5:

[Pete] #5 yeah, always keep
your instrument

where you can see it.

If you're on a train, and

and you've put it in the luggage rack,

make sure it's in the luggage rack

where you can see it.

If you're going to
sleep on the train,

take it out of the
luggage rack,

put it on the floor,

with the strap wrapped around your ankle.

[Justin] Good trick.

I would have thought sleep on it,

but that's probably not
always the most important

or comfortable way around it.

Ok, #6 is: Making sure that
you have all of the right spares.

So, for guitar players,
it's making sure that

you have your spare strap,

spare lead, spare pick,
spare strings,

probably not a spare amp,

spare guitar if you're only carrying one.

You know, you can run into problems

on stage if you break a
string or whatever.

I know for, Pete's
a horn player,

so it's what? Reeds
and oil and stuff.

[Pete] Reeds, yeah, yup.

[Pete] And make sure they're
on the stage,

not in your case,

which might seem only a few paces away,

but in the middle of a tune, it's a mile.

[Justin] Yeah. Although on guitar,

you're probably going to leave
your spare guitar.

No, the spare guitar
would be on stage actually,

but your spare strings probably'll
be at the side of the stage.

Ok. #7. We've got: credit card.

Now credit card's really,
really, really important.

[Pete] Absolutely, yeah. A credit
card is a life line.

And the two things that I
still worry about

after all these years is,

firstly, missing flights, and secondly,
getting stranded abroad.

If you've got a credit card,
you'll always be able to get home.

You'll always be able
to get out to the gig

if you miss your outward
flight.

[Justin] Absolutely.
I go one step further when I travel,

I carry multiple spare credit cards.

I've got one in my wallet,

one in my main luggage,

and one in my little personal
luggage bag as well,

Because you just, it's always
useful to have

that extra one kicking around.

Because you never know.
It doesn't cost anything to have it.

You know? And you can hide it away.

So, #8: When you check in at a hotel

take a business card of
the hotel which has

the address and phone number on it.

I was just regaling to Pete the story,

when I was in Marrakesh and
I went out with my missus

for a few drinks in the main square,

and we decided we want to go back,

and we didn't know the name of the hotel
or the address, or the phone number,

or anything to do with it, and
it took ages.

Thank God for iPhone and
internet connection

that we managed to actually find
the place again.

Really good tip,

especially if you're going to go
out for some bevis,

and you're in a funny place.
Get that business card,

whack it in your pocket or your
wallet and hang onto it.

[Justin] So, # 9.
[Pete] # 9: passport.

It's a really valuable document,
both to you and to villains.

So, you keep that passport with
you wherever you go.

I actually take mine on stage with
me in my hip pocket.

And when I'm not on stage it goes
in a bum bag or something like that.

The one place I don't leave it
is in the safe in the hotel room,

because I don't think hotel
room safes are actually safe.

I actually gaffer tape mine
to the underside of the bed.

[Justin] Which is a great tip,
and I'd never heard of that.

I never use the safes either,
but I'm always scared of where

to put my valuables. I don't
think the safes are a good idea either.

Ok, #10... is avoid dodgy food.
And when I say dodgy I mean

street stalls are a bad idea.
Definitely seafood like prawns or whatever

if it's open air. If you
think it even slightly looks dodgy

just stay away from it. Because
if you're travelling and you're touring

the gig is the biggest,
the most important thing.

It's the reason that you're there,
and you don't want to end up

running off half way through the
stage because you ate

some dodgy sandwich or whatever. So,
just be hyper aware of what

you're putting in your face. You know.
Any particular foods that you've?...

think are nasty ones?

[Pete] Well, seafood in hot places
in particular.

[Justin] Uh huh.
[Pete] I can remember once,

one of my colleagues had to
run off the stage

in the middle of a song,
and when we're at the hotel eating

three of the guys who'd eaten
this spicy seafood soup

all said how marvelous
it was when they're eating it.

But it only takes one bad clam so...

[Justin] All of these tips and a whole lot
more

you're going to find in Pete Cook's book,

"The Road Rat's Tips."
That's him, that's the road rat.

And it's available from
all leading book stores.

[Pete] It's available on Amazon.

[Justin] It's on Amazon.
So go check it out.

And we'll see you for
more stupidness another time.

[Justin and Pete laughing]