Greetings friends,followers and KRiB-heads!
Once again we are on the road and its time to relieve some of that stress of hotel lockdown by writing about it.
Most of the time I dont even have the time to blog anything in detail. Just the occaissional Facebook post. This timeout we actually have a full day of down time (and currently The Walking Dead marathon is on a break) so i shall attempt to communicate to all on what I do to maintain sanity on the road. Assuming that ONE is sane to begin with. So it really is subjective.
From afar, or at least from the rows of fans in audience at the shows, the whole rock n roll world appears to be all lights and glamour and frolicking fun on stage. It is. For about 90 minutes or however long we are scheduled. Nobody really gets to witness what had to happen prior to that opening crash of controlled chaos and guitar chords that is the Kelly Richey Band.
Quite often I awaken myself out of a forced sleep in the very wee hours of what is defined by morning only by the initials "AM". Hopefully the day before I have packed and need only to sleepily double check :
Basses ....................................... check
Amp .......................................... check
Box of cables ............................ check
Pedals ....................................... check
Fan ............................................ check.... its summer.. fan...check; FAN?!? .....check
Road clothes ..............................check
Bag of toiletries/hair products...check
Stage clothes ..............................check
Cell phone ................................ check
Wallet and/or passport .............check
Get in van and drive ................ check.
Ahh.....the drive. It is what we get paid to do: drive and load gear. In between all that we get to have fun on stage.
Loading gear and set up time is generally about 15 - 20 mins. So yes, youve guessed it, driving is the main, biggest, longest, most physically demanding, most dangerous part of all of what we "mid-level touring bands" do. On an average we drive 6-8 hours one way to most shows. Its intimidating at first but you quickly change your perspective and judge by if youre driving 12 HOURS or more to the show. Are we crossing the street, city, county, state or the continent?
Its great to be intiating yet another new drummer, Danne Sheets Jr, to the band and to the road this year. Its interesting and fun to watch someone see first hand what it takes for the KRB to be on the road and get from show to show. And Danne's intiation was almost trial by fire because his first show on the road was out to Montana and then Canada. So, really, that was more of a trial by sleep deprivation. If what you want to do is drive an average of 8 hours, sleep sitting up in a moving vehicle, eat lots of "roller food", move a ton of gear and then repeat ... this is the life for you. Oh, you'll get to play your instrument before anywhere between 20 to 20,000 people. But THATS the easy part.
You may have noticed i havent written anything about what needs to be done to prepare ones self to actually play songs. HAH! You better have that down BEFORE you get out here on the road because the road is merciless and cruel. You need to watch your back and watch your bandmates back at all times.
Many times it is your band vs the world. And when you are driving yourselves from show to show, each one of us has the lives of the others in their hands that should be firmly planted on the steering wheel and concentrating on the road. Everyone knows the facts and figures of accidents on the highway. Average person drives 10000 miles a year with those figures. The Kelly Richey Band drives an average of 40000 miles a year so our odds, and all other bands, are four times greater that we would have a vehicular accident. Almost 8 years on the road with Kelly and I/we have not had such bad luck. How? We maintain sobriety and rest when we can. "Party?" Our "party" is 90 minutes on stage. I also pick up every heads up penny I find and keep it in the Sprinter.
Id like to tell you all (and my doctor....if i had one) that I maintain sanity on the road by getting plenty of rest, eating well, exercising and stretching. Its a little of all. I get a little rest.
I eat well on occaission. And i excercise and stretch a little. Do i do any of that religously? Yes, i do it ALL.... a little bit.... RELIGIOUSLY. I try not to form any kind of real routine out on the road because theres always something that breaks that routine and i wouldnt want to stress too much on something i didnt get to do. I use the procrastinators mantra: There's always tomorrow. And yes, my body is feeling that. Procrastination isnt the best when it comes to keeping your body healthy because before you know it youre half a century old and all those lacksidaisical procrastinating ways catches up to your body and suddenly things are stiff that you dont want to be and things you want stiff are not. Gone are the days when you can do sit ups and crunches for a weekend and be back in shape. Who am i kidding? Gone are the days of doing ANY sit ups or crunches.
Is it a great life? It has its moments.
Is it a great job? Depends on your definition. Contrary to what i have been writing, "the work" is easy to me and i thoroughly enjoy it. Its not making any of us a millionaire. For me, how some live pay check to pay check, I live gig to gig...tour to tour.
Im doing what i love and Im getting paid to do it. Its what we all want, right?
And the drive? I wouldnt want to tour any other way. I have seen so much of North America that I normally wouldn't have. And if we flew everywhere we'd only see airports and hotels.
And that would be sad because we have some CRAZY stuff driving all over this continent.
One thing that comes to mind are things on trailers marked " Wide Load " that I cant identify.Herds of Antelope or Elk. All 5 Great Lakes. Well, the Great Lakes arent crazy but it IS crazy that a Filipino kid from Oxnard, California is getting to experience it all because Im in this band.
Its not for everyone. But if everyone was doing it, Id probably be doing something else.
Why would i put myself in a position where i have to fight off truckers AND other musicians for roller food?
To all of you sane and insane KRiB-heads out there, thanks for coming to the shows and all the support. Thanks for helping me in maintaining sanity on the road.
Jimmy V,
Danne Sheets Jr,
Kelly RicheyJimmy V,
Kelly Richey
Photos by Keith Virgo of Kool Koncepts
#BookOfJiMMY
Viewing: Tour Dates - View all posts
The Kelly Richey Band Marathon Tour 2012!!!
Maintaining Sanity on the Road
The Kelly Richey Band Hits the Road for Festivals in PA, MI and Canada
This Week The Kelly Richey Band Rocks Cincinnati, OH!!!
The Kelly Richey Band Heads West to WY, IA, & SD!!!
Upcoming Shows with The Kelly Richey Band
The Kelly Richey Band -- Southbound....
The Kelly Richey Band @ Legends Night Club in Cincinnati
Experience The Kelly Richey Band LIVE:
Experience The Kelly Richey Band LIVE @ Blues On Whyte -- Jimmy V & Danne Sheets