lifelong, brothas, lifelong is tops. all aboard the gravy train. drinks on me, and my word on at least that much. lifelong, brothas an sistren

Angus Jung wrote:DrAwkward wrote:Back when we were doing a two-week tour (three weekends! Whoo!) roughly once a year, the week and a half mark was usually when i started losing touch with real life and started really settling in to this is my life now. I live in a van and have no permanent home. We are eternal nomads. Yeah, there's a point (for me it's around two weeks, I wish it could be a week and a half) where the transition kicks in. Up until that point, esp. the days right before you hit that point, touring is very exhausting and difficult. After that point, when the transition happens and you become a full-on road dog, tour becomes less difficult. And re-entry to non-tour life becomes more difficult. I imagine that this transition never happens for some people, which would lead them to hate touring, and for others it happens more quickly.Somebody described that to me as getting your sea legs I liked that!Since i've consistently done it over the years, it takes me about 2 1/2 DAYS now, sometimes quicker. But it took me at least 5 or 6 days when I first started. I'd also say that you get that out to sea feeling then too. Where you start to feel really disconnected from society as a whole, the news cycle and other regular life activities. This used to be the case even more so before the age of the smart phone.

From the perspective of PLAYING your best as a band. Something happens to a lot of bands at around 14-15 days where you SERIOUSLY level up. Even if you were a shit hot band before, something changes and you hit harder and play better. If you were ok, you get really great, etc.Something also happens again around 5 1/2 to 6 weeks, but few get to that point now and it's hard to advocate before in today's world unless your obligations AND your expectations are very low.We already covered the time it takes to be at sea.Personally: I like to keep things adventure based, play cities and areas I like with bands I love. There are reasons for each tour and what places are included. I think if you tour this way it will be sustainable and rewarding.The hardest thing is that it isn't one size fits all. Some bands shouldn't tour AT ALL. Some bands should be on tour all the time. I love it, and would do more of it if I could, and I do a good amount of it. I'm built differently than a lot of folks though. You never really know until you do it, so as mentioned, I think scaling it up and feeling it out with short runs that expand a little bit every time can be a good way to see how everybody fares as humans as well as how you fare as a band.Also: make sure to budget accordingly, assuming tour support isn't in the picture and you aren't a known band getting guarantees try to work it towards breaking even. Make 10 hour drives the CRAZY exception, not the rule. Factor in tolls and such.