Welcome to Episode nine of the Bandhive Podcast.

All right. Welcome to another episode of the podcast. My name is James Cross, and I'm here with my co host, Aaron Gingras. How's it going today? Good. What's going on?

Pretty much same old settling back into the rhythm after a vacation. We actually took almost a month and a half off from recording because I was gone for three weeks and then I got sick. You've been pretty busy, too. It sounds like, and it's all culminated with lots of driving for Thanksgiving. Exactly, which is another reason we had ah, week off because Thanksgiving Wait. No, Thanksgiving was only four days ago. It feels like it was a week and a half ago. Not like this week. That's what a food coma feels like.

Yes, By the time this episode comes out, we will have passed Christmas and Kwanza and Hanukkah and all the other major holidays that happened in December. Because right now we're recording this on December 1st, and it's going to come out sometime in the middle of January. So on that note, with food on our minds, we've been thinking a lot about good, delicious, somewhat healthy food. We decided we should talk about staying healthy while you're on the road. It seems like that's one of those things that can so easily go off the rails.

Or like so it's so easy to not do that. Well, your mobile, you know, on the highway, I argue, probably Justus. Much as you know, you're in playing somewhere and not everybody has a generator and a fridge and a small range and a microwave and all of that in what you've got to drive you around. And that's one thing I didn't even think about was. We didn't talk about propane stoves or grills because I know a band that would tour with a grill. There's not much you can do if you have, like, a propane tank and, like maybe a generator or something, catch all true, but we're not going to get into that yet, and we probably won't get into that specific arrangement at all because we're going to try to keep this episode short and sweet.

So to start things off, we're going to talk about food sources on the road. So to start things off. Aaron, what is the first food source that we have on our list? Well, I think it's probably the easiest. And honestly, when you're driving on the highway, it's probably the one that you're going to see signs for everywhere you look, of course, fast food, whether it's Micky D's or whether it's Taco Bell or uh, something that you might not think of his, you know, fast food, uh, you know, a sandwich shop, whatever.

I imagine if there's fast food, there's got to be some spaces out there which you can kinda roll your rig into. And Papa John's Yeah, yeah, pizza in general, like the half a step up for the 1. 5 step. So, yeah, I guess one other fast food place worth mentioning Subway. You know, you don't think of it as fast food it is, and I don't think it's the healthiest, but out of all the fast food options. It's probably the healthier option aside from Taco Bell, like rice, beans and veggies.

Because, I mean, there's not much you can mess up there, but we'll get more into detail on Taco Bell on subway later, I think. In the meantime, yeah, it's in general best to stay away from anything super greasy, super salty, like burgers and fries or pizza and garlic bread. Been there, done that on the road and Sorry, Apologize. It was not garlic bread. It was garlic knots, and they were delicious. But in general, for your own sake and for the sake of your bandmates or tour mates, when it comes to garlic, fast food should be avoided as much as possible.

It's convenient, it's frequently cheap, and it is fast, but that doesn't mean it's the best option out there. Hell, I'm not on tour right now, and I don't think there's one within an hour's drive. But I would totally take Taco Bell right now, but I also know I'm not gonna feel the greatest after, So if you're in a tin can driving down the highway for the next couple of weeks or a month, you're not going to feel any better than I would. Yeah, I think ST Albans is the only one left in Vermont.

If I'm there are, maybe Rutland has. Well, I did a gig in Rutland a few weeks ago, and I did exactly what you Well, yeah. So we've confirmed that Vermont has a least to talk about us, which is saying something since we just got our first target within the last couple of years. And the state capital still does not have a McDonald's or a Burger King. I think they got rid of the Dunkin Donuts, Or is that still there? I can't remember, but we promise we're not talking bad about fast food just because we're from Vermont.

No, that's not it. And, you know, I also I have to say we don't have billboards, and it's wonderful. So you will not see signs driving down the interstate in Vermont, advertising McDonalds in 15 miles. And it's actually quite wonderful. The next category that we have is good food, and this is very vague because good food itself is vague. Some of the fast food things we listed, like subway might kind of borderline cross into good food as far as health goes, depending on what you put on it.

But in general, when I say good food, I would mean something that's locally owned and operated, maybe organic, but something that is not frozen in a giant factory, shipped somewhere and then reheated for 38 seconds on the grill like they do at McDonald's. And that 38 seconds depends on the condition of the grill before somebody says it's not. 38 seconds is 36. It all depends anyway. Good food in general is going to be healthier for you, and it's your responsibility to when you're looking for food. There might be good or bad options at the same place.

So, like you could go to a local restaurant and see, you know, a salad or a sandwich with loaded with grilled veggies. And those were going to be better than the burger and fries, even though it's all local organic hippie stuff like they're still going to be a difference. And it's that food episode. I got to say, I'm vegan. I eat junk food like yesterday I had vegan nachos and they were delicious. There's no way they're the healthiest thing I could have eaten because it was chips with cashew case.

Oh, and beans and salsa and vegan sour cream. Like it was delicious, but a salad load from healthier. So it just goes to show. I'm using this to the point that even vegan food, which is supposed to be all healthy, is not always so. You have to watch out what you're looking for. Do you have anything to add to that good food heading just to touch on the point that you brought up, which is like good food for me is different than good food for use good food for somebody else.

But like if you take it to an extreme like if you eat the same thing every day for ah week, you're gonna figure out if it's good food or not. And it's, you know, it's just if you if you're out on the road and I mean, you know what's junk and what's not, and depending on you know, like that, your style of what you eat or your diet or this or that or the other thing, um, there definitely options that fall within either of those or any of those categories.

And, um, if it sounds like it's a bad idea, it might be a bad idea. Well, and on that note, I think, probably, and this isn't for food in general. But if you wanna really healthy towards snack, you get a banana and peanut butter because you get potassium and protein that'll hold you over until you get somewhere else. So it's always best to have a couple of bananas and a jar of peanut butter that's not like Skippy or Jeff or whatever. Like have good peanut butter, where the ingredients are like peanuts, oil and salt like that's a good example of like a cheap mini meal to like, Yeah, the second you said bananas, like a 46 cents better Joe's or whatever it is, there are a lot of times I'll have that as a dessert.

I'll slice up with banana and tossem smokers. Crunchy peanut butter in there, you jerk. I'm hungry now. Sorry, that's so good that that sounds so good. Yeah, which is, um, was like Amy Scudder's peanut butter out west. Something like that. It's the same exact thing, but it's a different name, so keep an eye out for that. And also make sure that when you were a target that the sale price is not higher than the regular price. Because, yes, I have seen that on that exact peanut butter.

It was like regular price 3. 49. Now on sale 3. 72. I was like, Wait a second. That's not on sale. That's a rip I thought they'd get you would like the yellow High lady sticker. Yes. And this is not a sidetrack, because when you're on tour, you were very likely to be at a target. And even the target employees that I put it out to were very confused as to how that happened. Anyway, I'm gonna hand this one back over to you, Aaron, which is venue food or catering. The best thing ever yes.

Can be can be I've had awful catering in the past. Can be can absolutely be the best thing ever. But for all of you, d I wires out there definitely. I think it would be smart not to think about catering is being totally free for you. Oftentimes it's built into whatever dealer agreement you guys have made with the gig. Um, so if it's super, super awesome. You might actually end up walking away with a little less cash than you were hoping to that night because it'll come out of that.

But that being said, requesting that the gig provide some sort of spread for you might be a great way to, uh, if you don't have a lot of time to kind of source a meal yourself. Whether that's because, you know, you've really got to take a lot of time toe loaded all your gear and and run your checks on, you don't have time to sneak away or you're spending all morning and afternoon just getting there or for whatever other reason. Asking to bend you to help with catering is a really great way to a safe time.

It's just there, you know, have to do anything. And b it's a pretty cool way. Thio, unless they again go run down the street and get you a bunch of McDonald's like it's a cool way to like, you know, taste something that probably, uh, you know, a sourced sourced locally. Whether that means, uh, sourced locally from the Hannah friends down the street or hopefully you know, from the local market. But whatever they have, um and yeah, that's that's something that if you have to kind of put a little less work into preparing yourself, Um, that's an easier way to sort of scale up.

You know what you're eating in terms of quality, too. And it might be a nice break from if you're kind of slumming it on the highways might be a nice sit down meal. A break from 13. Yeah, And so on that note, I think for most full bands, catering is gonna be out of reach if you're a d i y band, because it's something that most d I Y venues aren't gonna have because you're lucky if you're getting paid totally. But the caveat here is, I would say if you're like an indie band or acoustic singer songwriter, anything like that, you're probably going to be playing coffee shops and cafes quite a bit.

And that's somewhere where you could say, like, Hey, you know, like we'd love to get like, a free meal out of this to like, you know, you're giving us 50 bucks, that's great. But, uh, you know, can you toss us both a dinner like, say, you're an acoustic duo or something like that, and that's something that I would say it's pretty common. I mean, I'm not in that world, but I have friends who are in that, you know, acoustic singer, songwriter world. And it seems pretty common that they get a meal out of it or something.

Um, whether they get paid or not. You know, even if it's like a show they're doing for tips, the venue will still at least have the decency to give them some food. It sounds like that's sort of something that comes easy to, uh, the gig, because that's, you know, it's what they dio and they can kind of hopefully get excited about, like it's something that's easy for us. It's really nice to do for you. And I mean, if I was, you know, one of those sorts of places, like totally jump on that because it's easy for me doesn't cost much more than what I'd be doing anyways and like it kind of right that office, part of the tax payment, the artist will be happy about it.

So if you're lucky, the artist would even be saying on stage like, Hey, thank you so much. Just so and so for making this delicious food for us. I had a great sandwich. Everyone you know, go try the food if you haven't already eaten something like that. So I think that's probably another partial reason why a lot of coffee shops for cafes would do that just because it's most likely going to turn into free advertising unless the artist is a jerk and doesn't like, give a little shout out.

So that's venue food and catering. I think the next one would be buyouts, which is also known as cold hard cash, which also probably would come out of your show deal. But it's typically gonna be like Here's 10 or $20 for each member. Sorry, we don't have catering. Go buy something nice, a k A. Whatever you can get for $10 which in some places is not much or it's a good way toe like subsidize Thea missing part of whatever you can afford, toe, actually. Go get, you know, maybe scale yer dinner up that night.

Yeah, and I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, some venues will do like meal tickets and stuff toe give away their own meals, similar to what cafes would do. You know, if it's a bigger venue, like a bar might have food, they might have a limited menu or something. But I wouldn't be surprised if there are venues that do buyouts. In lieu of saying here, you have to eat our food. They're like, Here's a buyout like you could get food here. You can go across the street subway, like whatever you want for me.

When I was touring on Web tour, I never got it. There was another tour when I did get buyouts once in a while and E don't recall any of the venues having food in house, but we also didn't get buyouts every night. So it was just something that was negotiated. I know it was when we were in Canada. We did get a buyout, but that was obviously we didn't have Canadian money, which it is true if you scratch the maple leaf on Canadian money, it smells like maple syrup.

They say it doesn't, but there's literally a little dot on it, like on the middle of the leaf. You're like, Oh, that's something special and you scratching it sounds like syrup. So I don't know why they're trying to say no. Our money doesn't smell like maple syrup. It's like, Yeah, you did that. You made it Scratch and sniff their scheming. Just get you to do it and, yeah, buy some stuff. You'll buy some maple syrup before you leave. So it's like they're best kept open secret or something.

That's funny. So that brings us to the last food source, which this is not an exhaustive list, but we wanted to keep it down to five bullet points. And Aaron, that would be van food. What do you have for us? Yeah, So this one, you're gonna have to be a little bit creative. You kind of make it into whatever. Like I've done gigs where we've been touring in a shady old, sketchy van in the middle of January. And so we didn't really have to worry about refrigeration, and we've totally brought cheese and cold cuts and made their own sandwiches.

And then we all got sick because we were all making each other sandwiches and eating the bread that the other guys gross hands were just touching on dso We graduated Thio um, bringing a generator along and you're investing 25 bucks and a cheapo microwave. And then we were able to get a little bit fans here with some of that stuff. But, I mean, we probably both know bands and James, I know you. You know, if you guys who they tour with a rig with, you know, they what is that?

They stash a battery or they stash a generator in their trailer and they can run a bunch of stuff. And that's like the more you play with that, the more it doesn't really seem like van food. Yeah, they have, ah, power hook up from the the trailer to the van and there's a little generator with, like remote starting in it. So they press the button in the van and generate in the back starts. And so they have, Ah, good inverter and stuff in there, and they have a microwave, and they built up bunk beds, too.

So pretty cool. I did the bunk bad thing, but I never got a Sfar Aziz, the remote starter for a second generator. That's another level, and the fact that it's in the trailer and like a separate compartment with a little exhaust thing on the side and all that like, That's pretty impressive goals. Yeah, but that's you could, you know, if you're playing with that, you can imagine stock up it like a wholesale like Costco. Or, you know, you could just kind of collect. Not that it's the best stuff to eat, but collect stuff that won't go bad for a really long time.

And then definitely good for convenience food when you're on, like, a A schedule and you can't stop or so definitely not necessarily the most healthy option, but definitely a very convenient option. And I'd argue that there is a bunch of room where you could we kind of an angle, uh, some healthy things. In that scenario, I recall that they were talking about craft. Easy, Mac. I think that was one of their G. Oh, yeah, not what we would recommend, but it is fast and it is cheap, and you can stock up on it.

And you can if you're that band, nuke it while you're driving down the road and eating your bunk. So that is a plus. And van food is something to consider personally I would just like if I got a buyout or something like that. I would order a pizza and then have pizza for a couple of days are like nuts, and I've got, like, knots for a few days. Like I mentioned before, be nice cheer band or tour mates. Don't order the garlic knots. E learned that the hard way.

So that's a great segue to our next section, which is things to stay away from a K A food and drinks to stay away from too many energy drinks toe list in general, unless you absolutely need it to stay awake. You should not be drinking an energy drink. You don't need it. It's just I've been there. I have driven overnight and I drank two monster rehabs and I did not feel good the next morning. Actually, I drank 1.5. I stopped because I could feel my heart pounding. I was like Nope, nope, nope, too much caffeine like don't don't push it.

So I got to say for anybody who knows me like which kind of already disappointed myself, and I'm not even into the story, but, um, suburban samurai in the past has had a Red Bull problem. Never have I felt worse about myself than when I walked out of a Walmart with a fridge pack of Red Bull for some reason. Thought that that was Ah, good investment Spoiled. Little are, uh, not so much, but and then, But like man, I can handle like there's so many things that are like, whether it's like the commercial or like like like these things are like advertised, like people doing certain things.

I feel like extreme sports or, you know, musicians or there's something. And I remember this. I don't even know if it's around anymore. But Knauss it came in a can which made me think it belonged in your car. Like like it was something, you know, like like I just yeah, like it was just meant it wasn't food. And I was driving from a gig in Boston through like, we got out of there midnight, which relatively early, but like down to Long Island, um, which was kind of painful, but like you could knock it out.

I don't remember what time of year it was, but because of, like, the traffic and you know, this and that, like, it ended up taking, like, seven or eight hours. So we drove through the night and I drink this stuff and totally did the trick. Totally got Thio, like, you know, where the hotel were crashing at. But, you know, and it's like, Oh, I'm awake. And then there's, like, I feel like I'm wired right now like I got in there and, like, I'm not gonna Well, totally.

Just like I feel like I was being, like, exercised like it, just, like out the nose. Like it was horrible. And it was like it was in there and knew that he didn't mean toe like, find my, you know, like, Okay, I'm going to stay in here until Aaron gets into the hotel room and we know he's safe, Blah, but like that was my leg. Okay, I need to do some thinking. Yeah, like, uh, I need to go to caffeine aholic. Synonymous. That was Yeah. Yeah, and so that's when you went back to regular, uh, Red Bull right s so bad.

And so yeah, Stay away from unnecessary energy drinks. Personally, I don't like energy drinks. The only one I would ever drink was monster rehab, and that's like a PhD which still has a ton of caffeine. And but it's e like to think, not as bad as the rest, but it's probably just absolutely the same in a different flavor. Yeah, it's like any of that. It's its's so interesting to me, like the whole, like the Who it's marketed and people just don't eat it like I totally ate it up and then, But it's when you're going at it like night after night after night.

There's, you know, those go twos and you know, whether it's like a familiar thing or an easy thing. Like definitely, I would suggest trying to keep in mind. You know, is this going to do anything for me or and maybe keeping you up through the night is doing something for you, but in moderation? Yeah, definitely. I would say the other thing to stay away from And this isn't obviously just for touring. This is in life in general. Super Gracie, salty or dehydrating snacks. I do think it's especially important when you're on the road just because of what it does to your body, and if you're cooped up in a van for eight hours and then in a venue for eight hours and sleeping on somebody's random floor for six hours and then repeating, You don't want to feel bad and coming again from personal experience.

If you eat a lot of greasy, salty or dehydrating snacks, you're just not going to feel your best. Even though things like Montrose or other chips, stuff like that might seem really easy to grab and they aren't easy to grab. That's the whole point of them. That's how they sell them. It's not the best option toe eat every day. And having done that on one tour where I had them almost every day, I would never do that again. Like I would say, Try to limit it to like, once a week or, you know, have one bag that lots of the week and just, like, eat a little bit here and there.

But don't make that like a meal replacement or something like that. So let's move to our tips for eating food on the road. Aaron, go ahead and, uh, why don't you take it away? I guess that kind of sum it all up for some up all of the things that I could admit to doing and regretting, you know, chances are unless you're doing well enough where you don't really have to think about any of this to hard. Anyways, you're not going to be preparing a meal from nothing every night, even if you know, by the good grace of God, you are able toe, you know, con the venue and, uh, you know, slipping you some, uh, cash or or making something for you.

Uh, if that's not happening every night, you or or, you know, during the day, even if it is happening every night, you're gonna have to piece together something. The best thing that I've kind of been able to piece together has been It's kind of like if I can on if you can, like, straight up with fruit every morning, just like, make sure you know, like a fruit or veggie or something, you know, highway driving, eyes taken up a lot of my bands, time going from, you know, a to be, whether it's something that's right, it really nicely or not like you're gonna have at least two or three hours between gigs minimum.

And that's like not gonna happen all the time. I want to put in a cabinet there. Say, if you're doing things right, because I know bands who will drive 30 minutes and playing on the show the next night. Yeah, and also, I guess, geographically too. I imagine. You know, the further east in the further west you go, you'll be able to find, you know, more major cities stuck closer together or not, but totally like you're you're gonna have a lot of time on the highway, no matter how you come at it.

And so you know, the best thing I've been able to do is to try to, and this is gonna sound super trashy, but like, try to stop it. The nice truck stops or, you know, are like a like a grocery store. You know, if I have to get into grocery stores, you know best because, like, they probably have the deli or the, you know, kind of prepared foods. But it's, you know, it's made it a grocery store. So it's, you know, a little nicer. Or, you know, if I had to pick one fast food place, I'd probably go with, like, subway or something.

else where, you know, it's like a little bit harder to like mess up, then something else, but just kind of try your best and sort of, you know, treat yourself well because you deserve it. And if you don't other people hate you because it totally effects. You know the rest of your day, and it affects your mood, too, so that plays a big part of things. Do you have a go to fun? I dio being vegan. I don't feel the negative effects of Taco Bell as much as other people dio, because e mean rice and beans with veggies in a tortilla is basically a salad with bread.

So that's, you know it's healthy. Rice and beans is a protein, and then you have some fiber with the veggies. I love to dio guac, lettuce, tomato and onion, which is, you know, they have that PICO de Gallo salsa, so that's pretty good. And that's about it. Sometimes I'll add potatoes just for a little greasy goodness, but typically I'll just do a con trap. No meat, no cheese, no Sarah cream at PICO de Gallo and then all the good veggies and add rice because I don't think it comes with Rice.

I haven't been a Taco Bell on so long, so yeah, that's one of my favorites. And then, you know, Erin, what you're just saying I think is really good. But also some grocery stores, like especially co ops or places like whole foods sprouts, will have a salad bar. Sometimes they even have hot salad bars where you can get something a Z part of that. So that's one of my go twos is Just find what you confined and get some fresh food moving on to physical well being, because food really ties into that quite a bit and your diet.

And so that's why we spent so much time talking about food and diet. But it also affects your mental state. Like I was saying a few minutes ago, if you eat bad food, you might be in a bad mood Or, if you eat something that gives you, you know, a stomachache or diarrhea, which is possibly like the worst thing you can have when you're in a van because you have to pull over every 20 minutes, that's going to put you in a bad mood and make you snarky and irritable, and that's gonna affect your bandmates or tor mates as well.

So to go hand in hand with all this food stuff. I think it's important that we talk about physical exercise while you're on the road, and that's probably not going to be physical exercise and a way that you would traditionally think of it, although it could be. But just to get things started. Aaron, what would the first way to get some movement while you're on the road be so this was probably the one that is maybe the least and most obvious at the same time. And it's the loading and the load out.

If you're carrying your own stuff, there you go like that's as you're pointing out earlier. That's, you know, 20 to 30 minutes of probably mostly non stop movement bending, twisting, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, climbing, you know, in and out of your van or the trailer. Um, you know, maybe trying to be quick about it if it's like super shitty outside, Um, like I've I've played places where I've been able to, like, pull the trailer right up to like a street level like Doc. So like pavement all the way down right onto the stage, which it was the weirdest thing because that's not usually how it goes for me.

But usually how it goes is like I remember this one place in Providence, where you've gotto like bring all your stuff up like a set of stairs. It's no more than five or 6 ft wide, like three stories, and it's like totally killer that the old firehouse I don't know. I think it's alchemy is what I'm thinking of, and it's I don't know how new it is, but so that's that's, like painful, you know, like an awesome room once you get in there like the size is perfect and everything, but, like painful Odin is not a surprise anybody and, uh, you know, eso It's different nights.

You're gonna you know it's going to take 20 minutes and other nights. It's maybe going to take 40 minutes if parking is not part of your deal like there's a whole another thing, like, you know, even the stuff with wheels on it, like you got a push it lift it up and and sidewalk cracks are the worst for that because you will be rolling along and then it just, like, stops and you slam into it And like Buster got on the corner of the case and like, yeah, you're going to get a good workout and you're going to get a little beat up, like even at the best of circumstances.

But, I mean, you've also what you've got, like, other tools at your disposal. Like you could probably use your van. And yeah, this is not something I've done personally because I am lazy. But I do know bands that are very fitness minded, and as I should be, too, they will do something like whenever they pull up to a truck stop. Basically, whenever they park the van, they will jump out, do some laps, like three laps around the van. And then, you know, five push ups or something like that.

And obviously that's Onley gonna work in good weather. Or at least not cold weather. Because if you do push ups in the snow, you're gonna have frozen hands and like your knees, they're gonna be wet and like, it's hard. Yeah, eso. But if you're in a place like Southern California and Arizona, where it's like, nice 98% of the time. This is very doable, and you can always still do the laps and then just, you know, did the pushups when you get inside at the venue or something. But, you know, if you're driving for six hours, you're probably gonna stop at least once, if not twice.

So that means you're gonna have, you know, like two minutes of running and 10 push ups, which is not a lot, but it does add up, and something is always better than nothing. So that's one recommendation I would make. You've also got, like, I imagine that would just kind of make you feel better. Like instead of sitting in the van for six hours, you get up, move around and like, make a thing of it like, because that's definitely that's not gonna happen unless you make a thing of it.

Yeah, I made a point of that. There would be I have been on tours for anywhere from four people in a van to like, 10 or 11 in a van, and there would be people that are like, No, I'm just gonna stay in the van or they'd be asleep on one of the bench seats if they were one of the lucky people. Got a bench to themselves and not get out at the truck stop, and I would always get out. I'd be like, you know, if I didn't have to go to the bathroom or something.

I'm like, Oh, well, let me get out and pump the gas or, like, stretch my legs or something just to get out of the van because there actually is. If you're sitting too long, I forget what the condition is called. But it happens a lot when people are flying because you're not moving your legs and you get a blood clot in your leg, which in itself is not super dangerous. It's just painful, and they can take care of it. But what is dangerous is if that clot loosens and then gets to your heart have a heart attack.

So that's been eating fast food. You're more susceptible. Thio Heart attack. That is true, and so that's one of the things like typically, people don't get it when they're driving, but it is something that could happen, so it's best to just get up and stretch your legs every couple hours. Um, you know, take whatever opportunity you can get to just get some movement in your body and it's gonna be better for you. And even if you're napping or something, you're probably gonna be sleeping better if you get fresh air for two minutes rather than staying in the stinky, humid like awful van air.

But speaking of stinking atmospheres, e get like a gym membership. I know. I don't think this one is much of a secret, but like a 24 hour like a, you know, Planet fitness or something like it. You know, I know there are a few of those that are scattered quite far and yeah, if you get a pass, I'll let you go in there and work out and take a shower or, like bring a plus one or, you know whatever the deal is, and that would be worth it.

And that's probably now that I'm thinking about it, like if you've got a day or two or you've got a bunch of time on your hands like that's probably a good way to spend that too, you know, at least a few hours kind of move around, make up for all the not moving that you're gonna be doing when you're sitting in a van or sitting waiting to play after you load in or something. And and what is it that you said earlier? Like the shower? The hygiene is the reward.

Yeah, I was saying and I don't think this should be taken seriously. This would probably cause more problems than good, but a lot of bands do say, let's get Jim passes and we'll go shower there. So I was kind of teasing about Hey, you know, if you don't exercise, you don't get the shower. Yeah, and it would be. But then I'm afraid some people would just be like, Okay, well, I won't shower, and then the van stinks. And you don't want that either. But that is something if you're all looking for motivation, you know, you don't wanna be the stinky person on tour like nobody wants to be that guy or that girl.

So just set yourself a goal. Say, I'm gonna exercise for 20 minutes. 30 minutes, like obviously, you don't have all the time in the world when you're on the road, you got to get where you're going. But just before you take a shower 20 minutes, you know, get on a treadmill, do a bike. I know Planet Fitness has that, like a speed room or the like, a 30 minute room, and it exercises a bunch of different things in those 30 minutes. So do something like that. Just get a general work out or just do some cardio.

Get on a bike 20 minutes, 30 minutes and get your blood going. And then when you get in the shower one. You really need it because you'll be extra smelling. Probably. And too, it'll feel that much better because your body will be warm and ready for that first cold printed blast of water that does it for this week's episode of the podcast. Aaron and I really hope that you can take what you learned today and apply it to your tours so you don't get burned out. You don't get too terribly homesick.

Of course, being homesick is something that comes with the turf. But we want you to be healthy and happy while you are on the road, because for bands, realistically, being on the road is a big portion of your life. So that being said, if you have any questions about what we talked about, head on over to our Facebook group, just go to a band. I've dot rocks slash group, and you will be directed to our Facebook community, where there are hundreds of other artists and musicians who would be happy to share their tips and tricks for touring with you.

Aaron will answer questions. I'll answer questions that other co host, Matt, will be there as well. Plus, like I said, hundreds of other D I Y artists who can share their experiences and knowledge with you. So thank you again for listening. Please go over to the group and check that out. As always, we will be back next Tuesday, anytime after 6 a.m. Eastern, have a great week and keep rocking.