Essential things for bands to bring on tour

[DJ Jazzy Death]

What are some essential things for bands to have while on tour? Obviously backup gear is pretty important but what I'm looking for is stuff that helps keep us from losing our minds while driving long periods of time between venues, survival items, that kind of thing. Share your wisdom!

[WyrdoBass]

Immodium.

[Greyvagabond]

Condoms

[PBass101]

Soap and shampoo. I would not want to sit in a van with a group of smellies for eight hours between gigs.

[DJ Jazzy Death]

Originally Posted by PBass101

Soap and shampoo. I would not want to sit in a van with a group of smellies for eight hours between gigs.

Yeah, our van is going to reek. No doubt about that.

[GearHeadBassMan]

there was JUST a thread about this yesterday.

[Idiotpod]

Originally Posted by Greyvagabond

Condoms

Agree.


Waterguns can be really fun, we always bring little waterguns.

We purchased a ukulele and had fun with it. So we got a second one... and a third one.

Really enjoyable to do some in-the-car song. =)

[geddeeee]

Erm... Talent!!!

[reedo35]

LOL, Talent is always a good staple. Seriously, how long is the tour? Two weeks? Six Months? I have found either a Laptop to play movies on or a dedicated DVD player to be invaluable in passing the time on those 16 hour drives.

[5StringBlues]

Music that is totally different from the kind you play/the kind the bands you will be sharing shows with play.

I love blues,but after a 3 day bluesfest,I'm ready to hear ANYTHING else.

[azureblue]

deodorant- one for each person
extra toiletries and hotel size soap bars
Facecloths
a roll of paper towels
earplugs
flashlights
paper towels
medical kit
extra vitamins / cold-eze zinc tabs / alka seltzer- and everybody start taking the vites before the tour, and keep taking them! You do not want to catch the flu or something and pass it on to the rest of the band.
Unisom
inflatable pillows and foam pads
a deck of cards
a king size umbrella
several note pads and pens, and maybe some music staff paper


And make sure whoever owns the van / bus have AAA or some break down rescue service
A can of fix a flat
a Cigarette lighter multi out, so people can recharge more than one device at a time

[DJ Jazzy Death]

Originally Posted by geddeeee

Erm... Talent!!!

Got it!

[DJ Jazzy Death]

Originally Posted by azureblue

deodorant- one for each person
extra toiletries and hotel size soap bars
Facecloths
a roll of paper towels
earplugs
flashlights
paper towels
medical kit
extra vitamins / cold-eze zinc tabs / alka seltzer- and everybody start taking the vites before the tour, and keep taking them! You do not want to catch the flu or something and pass it on to the rest of the band.
Unisom
inflatable pillows and foam pads
a deck of cards
a king size umbrella
several note pads and pens, and maybe some music staff paper


And make sure whoever owns the van / bus have AAA or some break down rescue service
A can of fix a flat
a Cigarette lighter multi out, so people can recharge more than one device at a time

We do have most of this - I own the van so AAA is all set. One thing that's lame is they don't survice trailers if anything goes wrong. We do have a spare van AND trailer tire though. I'm going to pick up some Mad Libbs now though!

[DJ Jazzy Death]

Originally Posted by reedo35

LOL, Talent is always a good staple. Seriously, how long is the tour? Two weeks? Six Months? I have found either a Laptop to play movies on or a dedicated DVD player to be invaluable in passing the time on those 16 hour drives.

The tour is only two weeks so not too bad. Some long distances between some of the gigs though and there are two bands. It's our Two Vans, One Trailer tour! We have a TV in our van so I'm thinking about bringing my old NES. The other band has a Wii that they set up at their merch table. They charge $1 to play it. Ingenius marketing I must say.

[speedkills]

BABYWIPES

And foot powder/spray and a book to read.

[Fassa Albrecht]

This is a list from when I travelled as part of the worship team:

- baby wipes (handy for spills as well as sticky hands and faces!)
- sellotape (the number of things that fell apart was stupid)
- matches
- spare batteries and rechargable batteries
- cold remedies and cough syrup/lozenges
- first aid kit (the registered first-aider for the trip was our guitarist)
- pencils/felt pens/chalk (there's always a last minute score change)
- string
- raincoats/rainsheets
- plastic bags/ plastic sheeting
- board games
- a multi-tool (scissors, screwdriver, wire cutter and knife attachments)

This is what I can remember
I also remember having in my case:

- button batteries (for my tuner, metronome and watch)
- some wire cutters
- tissues
- plasters
- hand sanitiser

This is all I can remember.

[MNAirHead]

High quality trash bags and ratchet straps... return home address labels (youd be amazed at the junk you can accululate)

[Phalex]

The guitards "fiancee".

[Stumbo]

Be sure to check your spare tire out and make sure it's inflated properly.

A small piece of 3/4" plywood to set your jack stand on in case you have to replace the tire.
Neck pillow for sleeping in a sitting position.
Energy bars.

Tums
Tooth paste
Tooth brushes
Dental floss
Lots of baby wipes (keep your private areas clean) keeps you more comfortable for long drives. Also keeps you from having to carry around some fouled underwear.
Clothes detergent to do laundry
Plastic trash bags for dirty clothes.

Basically anything that keeps you from stinking up the van.

[fishtx]

- If you can, bring a spare amp head
- Tools (soldering iron, solder, pliers, wire strippers/cutters, screwdriver set, tape, etc...)
- Batteries
- First aid bag (asprin/pain reliever, neosporin, Tweezers, fingernail clippers and a file, band-aids, etc...
- extra cables
- Extra DI
- Cell Phone Charger ( I hate when I forget this!!!)

just off the top of my head...