WEBVTT

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

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

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and he's just written a great
book called

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"Road Rat Tips."

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And so we thought we'd bring you

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

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So, the first one is:

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[Pete] Gaffer tape.
It fixes absolutely everything.

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

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

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Really good, especially for tip #2 :

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Quiet when it's not your turn to play.

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

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

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

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each of the individual instruments 
in the band,

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

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he does not want to hear

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

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Always remember that you
absolutely must

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

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

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

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[Pete] Travel insurance.

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

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that you have some kind of travel 
insurance.

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

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

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[Justin] Absolutely essential thing.

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#4: Getting your guitar on the plane.

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Sometimes can be a bit of a problem.

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You want to try
and get it on the plane

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rather than put it in the
hold if you can.

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

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

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

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

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and hopefully a guitar would be
kind of hidden.

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

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Just, it's not really kind naughty,

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you just don't want to
maybe mention it,

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

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

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

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

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

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through security and all of that,

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you're probably going to get
your guitar on.

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There's a little trick for that.

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[Justin] Uh, #5:

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[Pete] #5 yeah, always keep
your instrument

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where you can see it.

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If you're on a train, and

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and you've put it in the luggage rack,

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make sure it's in the luggage rack

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where you can see it.

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If you're going to
sleep on the train,

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take it out of the 
luggage rack,

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put it on the floor,

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with the strap wrapped around your ankle.

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[Justin] Good trick.

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I would have thought sleep on it,

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but that's probably not
always the most important

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or comfortable way around it.

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

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

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you have your spare strap,

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spare lead, spare pick,
spare strings,

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probably not a spare amp,

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spare guitar if you're only carrying one.

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You know, you can run into problems

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on stage if you break a
string or whatever.

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I know for, Pete's
a horn player,

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

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[Pete] Reeds, yeah, yup.

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

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not in your case,

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which might seem only a few paces away,

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

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[Justin] Yeah. Although on guitar,

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you're probably going to leave 
your spare guitar.

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No, the spare guitar 
would be on stage actually,

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

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

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

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

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And the two things that I
still worry about

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after all these years is,

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

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

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

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if you miss your outward
flight.

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

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I carry multiple spare credit cards.

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I've got one in my wallet,

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one in my main luggage,

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and one in my little personal
luggage bag as well,

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Because you just, it's always
useful to have

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that extra one kicking around.

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

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You know? And you can hide it away.

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

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take a business card of 
the hotel which has

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the address and phone number on it.

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I was just regaling to Pete the story,

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

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for a few drinks in the main square,

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and we decided we want to go back,

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

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

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Thank God for iPhone and 
internet connection

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that we managed to actually find 
the place again.

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Really good tip,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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the gig is the biggest,
the most important thing.

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

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running off half way through the
stage because you ate

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

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

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think are nasty ones?

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

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

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one of my colleagues had to 
run off the stage

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

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

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

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But it only takes one bad clam so...

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

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

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

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And it's available from 
all leading book stores.

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[Pete] It's available on Amazon.

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

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

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[Justin and Pete laughing]