With Boy & Bear currently in the midst of preparing for their huge upcoming Australian tour in support of last year’s Suck on Light, the band have provided us with an insight into life on the road, sharing a tour diary from their recent European dates.
Read below to find out what a day in the life of Boy & Bear looks like.
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The beginning of the day for us on the road is coffee. All of us love it and take turns figuring out where the best local option is. In Europe, everyday presents a new challenge. Anything from language spoken, to location of the bus parking to the quality of the coffee. What we’ve learnt over the years is that there really is great coffee everywhere you travel, you just have to find it.
Next for us is getting in to the venue which usually happens around the midday mark. In winter, the goal is to get in and grab a shower and look for something to eat (the Europeans do the best catering) and have easily the best riders (all the food and drinks the band is given). When the boys first see food theres a certain amount of animality that kicks in after a long bus trip and cold morning. We then check out the venue itself visualise delivering a flawless show to adoring fans (just kidding… or am I.)
One of the most frustrating things when touring is being in a beautiful city or town but having no time to explore. So for most of us, as soon as we’ve settled into the venue, we head out to try and see something beautiful/old/unique. It’s very much a lottery. Sometimes you just choose a direction and hope you see something cool. Sometimes it works, sometimes it really doesnt and you end up in a weird scary industrial area. But for the times when you find a beautiful walk or building or bridge or museum we feel truly blessed to be out here doing this (not that there’s anything wrong with creepy dingy industrial areas.)
After trying to see something in the city we are in, its then off to sound check some time in the late afternoon. And immediately following sound check its off to dinner. In many of the European cities we are lucky enough to be fed dinner. If not we try to go out as a band and find something local and friendly and warm.
Note: dinner can’t be too close to stage time or you end up disgracing yourself by burping directly into a microphone during a particularly intimate moment in the set. Not always ideal.
So quite obviously we next play the show. We try to give 110%, full credit to the boys, fire on all cylinders, leave nothing in the tank etc… In actual fact this is the most fun part of the day but only lasts 90 minutes.
After the shower we just try to wind down any way possible. Usually a show and a couple of drinks and maybe a game of cards or two. Then its back on the bus into our tiny little bunks, and trying to get to sleep before the bus rumbles on through the night to the next city.
Boy & Bear kick off their nationwide ‘Suck on Light’ tour Friday, 27th March in Cairns before continuing on throughout the rest of the country. Head here for details. ‘Suck on Light’ is out now.
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