Musicians often go on tour to different states and countries to sing their hearts out to their fans. They often make this happen by taking tour buses on which they travel for hours, and sometimes this can lead to some on the road horror stories.
There are a lot of horror stories involving music tour buses and to help give you an idea of the horrors that can open on the road are three stories as told by a lighting designer Christopher (drummer of Nemes), and Mateo Vosganian, drummer of Wild Adriatic.
1.)This story was told by a lighting designer for several of the biggest metal and hip-hop acts of the ’90s.
Imagine, you’re on a long bus drive with a driver who doesn’t “seem to care about the bus or the crew that rides on said bus“. It’s around four in the morning and it’s calm and quiet on the bus. All of a sudden, the bus curtains fly open and the bus driver’s “sweating and looking like he’s just seen a dead relative.” Turns out “he had started going through the DTs (Delirium Tremens, “the shakes”) while he was in the middle of driving, and there were apparently spiders and snakes coming off of the steering wheel at him.“ So they decided to help him drive.
I say next time, get a new driver.This one had to be the one the struck me the most from ones that I read because that would literally be my nightmare.
2.)This next one comes from Christopher Anthony, drummer of Nemes.
Dave, Josh, and Christopher got a van for the great deal of only $1,000. While they were driving their new van to their show in Bangor, ME, their tire blew going about 80 mph while in a passing lane. Luckily they made it to the breakdown lane. Poor guys had no AAA/any car road side assistance service, so the guitarist (Matt Kelley at the time) and Christoper hitchhike all the way to Midas. They found a place and explained their situation where later their tire was fixed and they hit the road again.
This has happened to me before and it was so scary so I can only imagine their hearts dropped out their butts when this happened. Luckily I had a spare and was able to change it until I could make it to a tire place to get a new tire put on.
3.) Lastly, from Mateo Vosganian, drummer of Wild Adriatic
Photo: Charles Thorpe
They were in Tampa, FL to play at a festival for one of their favorite radio stations (WMNF). They were in a courtyard in downtown Ybor City and ready to perform. While on stage, Mateo noticed the drum riser was extremely bouncy and unstable. As they continued to play the cymbals actually bounced off the drum riser and staff members of the festival came up to figure out how to stabilize the riser without stopping the show. Apparently, while they were are figuring things out the beam snapped and was about ready to fall. They ended up using wood planks and a few car jacks to keep it stable until their performance was over. Mateo thought he was going to die that night and was happy to get off the riser safe and sound.
I would have freaked out and stopped the show. If I seriously thought I was going to die, falling off a bad riser is now how I would want to go.
For more music tour horror stories, click here.
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