[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]