TOP TEN TOUR TIPS // Life On The Road With Arteries

Nov 02, 2017 / WORDS Alasdair Belling, Contributing Editor / Get In The Van...

Life on the road can be tough for any band that is performing for their career but at a local level, slaving away in a DIY fashion while holding down other work to keep the dream alive can drain the spirit of anyone. Such is the reality for so many Aussie acts that we know and love, and math-core rising starts Arteries are no exception.

MORE: The Amity Affliction: Has Drummer Ryan Burt Left the Band?

While the band are well and truly firing on all levels with their crushing new LP This Will Destroy Us, in addition to scoring a slot at UNIFY and supports alongside Architects and Raised Fist, the band have both feet well and truly in the door of the market, while still moving up the ranks of the local circuit. We caught up with guitarist Braithe to chat about the band’s top ten tour tips, including some stories from the road.

1. Keep It Light

Always light your farts. This is important to keep the comical vibes.

2. Be Responsible

Get some goddamn sleep!

3. Don’t just listen to metal

Pack Mariah Carey’s Xmas album. Metal can be a bit much to listen to all the time in the van. Also, don’t hog Spotify, otherwise your band mates will punch you. We don’t listen to a whole heap of metal on tour because we hear it all the time. It’ll be at least half of the playlist, but usually things get fucking eclectic. We get the 90’s Hip Hop going, a bit of Michael Jackson and all…it all makes for a good drive.

4. Work together with other bands

Bands that are stingy with their backline are shit. Supporting other bands and not being a gronk is the whole point of playing together. It’s hard enough touring and coping the how expensive it all is. It sucks when other bands then try to make it harder for you.

5. Don’t let random people do your merch

Stay away from crazy bitches on tour. Look out for the ones with the crazy eyes. We had a fan who came to a show in Sydney about four months ago, and she got a bit pissed and super excited, and really wanted to take over the merch desk. She’s like sitting behind the merch desk yelling at us like “I’m gonna take care of everything. Go and have a great time.” I mean, merch is money. We ended up having to get our mate on the bar to kick her out. She nearly got into a fight with my girlfriend…it was just messy. Run from those kinds of people. If I ever opened a clothing line it’d be called ‘Crazy Merch Bitch.’

6. Plan Ahead

If you’re flying, make sure you have a dealer on the other end, so you have the drugs straight away when you arrive. Plan.

7. Learn to live with others habits’

We were on tour with Snakes Get Bad Press, and we had this nine-seater van, squeezed in tight next to each other, and I was smoking at the time. A few others were as well, so we would stop all the time for ciggie breaks, but our drummer hated ciggie breaks. He was starting to get a bit stubborn about it, and we were all getting frustrated because the tour wasn’t what we expected, so we got to the point where we wanted to have a break, but Tim didn’t want to stop. I ended up taunting our ex-drummer and pushed me down a shoulder in the side of the road, and I tried to start something with him after. It was pretty funny looking back on it. It makes us all laugh now.

8. Double check you have everything

Don’t forget your earphones. That really fucks with me.

9. An apple a day keeps the anger away

On tour you eat so much shit, because there is only Maccas on the highway. It’s hard to eat healthy but if you can, that’s one of the best things you can do, because otherwise you just feel crap the entire time. I’m a sucker for KFC on the road though. I also stock up on Trail Bars and choccie Oaks at every Servo.

10. Cherish the memories

Playing the Metro with Raised Fist was amazing. You don’t know when it will be good or bad playing, and you can prepare as much as you want, but sometimes all the stars align, and you play the perfect set. That show was a lot of fun, and that entire tour was awesome. That song had technical difficulties because the mic wasn’t coming through front of house after the first song, but we just hung around talking to the crowd and rolling with the punches.