[00:00:00] James: Welcome to episode 198 of the Bandhive Podcast. It is time for another episode of the Bandhive Podcast. My name is James Cross, and I help independent artists tour smart. This week on the show, I'm very pleased to have back the one, the only, Matt Hose of Alive in Barcelona. How's it going today, Matt?

[00:00:18] Matt: Dude, I am Swellbo Baggins today. It's a good day, other than a few sick kids, but you know, it's a sunshiny warm day here in Colorado. don't have any complaints as of right now. maybe later though. We'll see. We'll see how the episode goes.

[00:00:32] James: Ha ha ha ha ha. It's day ruined by the end of the episode.

[00:00:36] Matt: That's right.

[00:00:37] James: No, that's, that's great to hear. It's honestly, we're recording this on August 2nd. I know it comes out on, September 12th. So we're like six weeks ahead right now. But it feels like fall, it's beautiful outside, it's like 64 I think, let me

[00:00:50] Matt: that

[00:00:51] James: it, 62 outside.

[00:00:52] James: This is like the perfect weather I, I love for like mid 60s fall weather, that just, I feel alive.

[00:00:58] Matt: Sweater weather, baby.

[00:00:59] James: crisp [00:01:00] air you put on a hoodie. I like summer too, but not when it's humid. This is like, the perfect weather. So what I'm hearing from you is, good weather, sick kids, sad about that. But, good weather means you can all plop them outside with a book in the yard, and read to them, or, let them enjoy the fresh air.

[00:01:15] Matt: chase my sheep around.

[00:01:16] James: Or that! Just don't get sick on the sheep.

[00:01:21] Matt: That's right, you know, it's good sweater weather over there, and, uh, good for walking around the neighborhood.

[00:01:25] James: Oh yeah. you can't beat a crisp fall day in Vermont, even if that fall day is August 2nd. Like, dude, I went out to dinner with some friends last night and heard this random guy walking out of the restaurant saying, It's so cold outside. It's like, it's 68, man. this is not cold.

[00:01:41] James: It's New Hampshire. It will be negative 20. In like a month or two,

[00:01:45] Matt: And frozen.

[00:01:46] James: that's assuming New Hampshire is very similar to here in Vermont, like, I just imagine. Anyway, that's not what we're here to talk about today, although, one of the things we're gonna talk about is emergency blankets for when it gets cold. Maybe that's because what we're [00:02:00] gonna cover today, you would with an emergency blanket, is emergencies on tour, how to handle unexpected situations. By being prepared for anything. Matt, take it away.

[00:02:12] Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Be prepared for anything. That's the end of today's episode. You guys have a great week. No,

[00:02:18] James: do do do do duh!

[00:02:20] Matt: yeah, here's the

[00:02:21] James: Outro music.

[00:02:21] Matt: Now I'll say, you know, there's lots of emergencies you run into on a day to day basis or on a week to week basis, or on a month to month basis, or on a tour to tour basis, or whatever, timeframe you want to look at.

[00:02:31] James: forgot one there, Matt. Minute to minute,

[00:02:33] Matt: Minute to minute basis. Yeah, well if you

[00:02:35] James: life on the road.

[00:02:36] Matt: Let's just say if you have a true diva in your band every minute can feel like a lifetime. So not wrong So you need to be prepared for anything what does this mean? It means that you have to take a little bit of time to isolate and identify what your day to day routine is You know, you know that in a band you're gonna be driving places So you need to make sure you've got things for your vehicles, If you have like a tire pump, tires sometimes lose air, you may have hit a nail [00:03:00] and you're driving, 350 miles between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the Black Hills, North Dakota, and there's nothing there, it's like, okay, well, what happens if We get a slow leak.

[00:03:11] Matt: Okay, well you need a tire pump. You might want a patch kit. maybe you, you know, want to make sure you have a full extra tire in case you want to just swap the whole tire out and whatnot. I like the idea of… Exactly. Well, and on top of that, if you don't have a tandem axle, it means that you really need two because otherwise you can run the risk of damaging your drivetrain.

[00:03:29] Matt: these are all little tiny things that should be, kind of opening your eyes as to like, hey, maybe I don't know enough about like how my trailer works. I don't know if my trailer has a tandem axle. And so like, if you don't know that. you're running your tires for a long time and they both wear down a whole bunch and then like one of them pops while it's still in the warranty.

[00:03:47] Matt: That's really cool because you'll save money there, but you're still going to have to spend money on another tire. So, having those kind of like emergency fund is a really important thing. You should probably always have know, a few hundred dollars Per person, [00:04:00] the van. So an 1, 000 emergency fund is definitely a good thing to have because vehicle reparations are definitely brutal.

[00:04:07] Matt: If you need to replace a radiator, when we did it years ago on the side of the road, it was the 300 part. and that was just for the radiator, not for the labor. If they were going to do it, it's going to cost us like 1, 400. And that whole emergency fund wouldn't have even covered anything.

[00:04:19] Matt: And that was while we were in Vegas, we needed water and we needed, you know, other things. And so I was like, okay, when you're broken down on the side of the road and you have an emergency fund, you can kind of pick and choose the most important avenue is for you to spend that money. if you, you have a gear head in your, band, one of you guys is really good with cars.

[00:04:35] Matt: it's a good thing to have tools, if none of you is a gearhead, you probably should still have certain tools, but at the same time they're a little less important if you don't know what you're doing or if you don't have a catalog of people at your disposal throughout the country who could help you with something like that.

[00:04:52] Matt: there's a whole litany of things that we can kind of go through but we'll start with a basic emergency kit. So, in an emergency kit, you should have some [00:05:00] money because that's going to be the most saleable good. It's going to be what allows you to have the most options. On top of a little bit of money, what you should have is, the big obvious one, is water and dry goods.

[00:05:12] Matt: So, having a case of water that's stuffed underneath a bunk in the back of your van, that nobody touches. and they can be your show waters, if that's the emergency that you need them for. You get to the venue, the venue can't provide water or whatever.

[00:05:26] Matt: like, okay, cool, I'm glad that we have this case of water. The case of water in the back of your van is absolutely integral to everything that you need. So, I definitely have that. Definitely have some dry goods. dry noodles is a good thing if you have heat, if you have like a propane grill or something like that and you can boil water, then, you know, bringing noodles because they're shelf stable, anything like, pastas, some breads bread is going to be a little bit harder just because if you're eating real bread then it's going to go bad, or it's also prone to being smushed, but, peanut butter is a good one to have.

[00:05:58] Matt: Honey is a good thing to [00:06:00] have. There's lots of just small little shelf stable foods. Some, even just some basic snacks, granola bars, things like that. Something that, where if you're in an emergency, you know, a life or death situation. Your van is broken down in Death Valley and it's 130 degrees. And you haven't eaten and you haven't drinking.

[00:06:16] Matt: Having drank, then those are important things for you to be able to have access to. The last thing you want is to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with no access to normal day to day things with no ability to call people. there's some real sketchy situations out there.

[00:06:32] Matt: So, food and dry goods and water, those are all incredibly important. If you have an auto savvy band member, that's great. If you don't have an auto savvy band member, find a merch guy that is auto savvy, cause that's just going to save you a lot of money. hopefully you're constantly adapting and evolving and getting better.

[00:06:51] Matt: And so having somebody that is an auto savvy individual, both will be valuable to you as a mentor and also just in the utility that they [00:07:00] provide.

[00:07:00] Matt: If you're going to be working on your car, you need things like a jack. You know, if you're going to be under your car on the side of the road, you want things like a safety vest or like some triangles or maybe even some road flares. If you're in the middle of the night and your tire's flat and you can't do anything about it, let me be the first to tell you, we one time popped a tire and we didn't have a jack.

[00:07:17] James: Aw, man.

[00:07:19] Matt: that was awful. waited hours and hours and hours for AAA to get out there. when they eventually got there, it was just like a few minutes, put us back a ton.

[00:07:27] James: AAA membership should also be in your emergency kit.

[00:07:31] Matt: It's, it's a cheap band expense. You know, if everybody pitches in on it too, it's. super inexpensive for an annual membership. And that's a great thing to have when you're stranded on the side of the road. Some of the time, you know, there are highway patrol cars that come by and see if you are in distress, most places in the, country. If you're parked on the side of the road, and a cop sees you, they will pull off, turn their flashers on, and come and make sure that you're alright, and blah blah blah this, and blah blah blah that.

[00:07:57] Matt: Vegas will not. Vegas has a actual [00:08:00] private group of individuals that basically, I think there's like three or four of them, that drive a total of 500 miles, and all they do all day is drive. Drive their stretch of the 500 miles north and then turn around and drive their stretch back and they look for anybody that's basically under duress and they help them.

[00:08:16] Matt: So I didn't realize that that thing existed until one of these private individuals stopped us, gave us waters for all of our band mates, actually drove a bunch of our band mates to cooler areas in Las Vegas. Was willing to provide us with tools so that we could change the radiator that blew up.

[00:08:32] Matt: And basically having that service there was like, was integral. And it also kind of was like a nice wake up call because we were a little bit young when that happened to us. And so like, we weren't really prepared. I think that was the second year we did warp tour. I mean, I was probably like 22 or 23 and Jesse and I came back from selling in the lines and our. van had exploded and we figured, Hey, well, maybe we can try to like drive it over here to get to the auto body shop. Nope. Couldn't make it that far. We made it just far enough to get onto the highway where [00:09:00] it was even hotter.

[00:09:00] Matt: And I mean, and the whole thing was just, it was just catastrophic. So, you know, we really could have benefited immensely from having a few other things with us, even just like an emergency blanket. Because when we were changing that radiator on the side of the road, those tools got so hot that they were like, impossible to even touch.

[00:09:18] Matt: I touched, yeah, gloves, exactly. basically, anything that you can think of that is going to eliminate any type of like, friction in what you need to do. the friction needs to be the emergency. It doesn't need to be not having the tools to solve the emergency. So a flat tire is an emergency.

[00:09:36] Matt: But if you don't have a jack, then congratulations, you have two emergencies now. it's really important, you know, if you need to make a list, you know, if you have somebody in your group that's a good list maker, deputize them and get them to make a list of all these things. Sit down as a band, talk about what types of emergencies you want to make sure that you're avoiding.

[00:09:51] Matt: Obviously, the big one is food and water. then you have vehicle emergencies, so you want to make sure you've just got things to, like, you're changing a tire on the side of the road. Anybody know what [00:10:00] backdraft is? Backdraft is this wonderful thing where when a semi flies by you at 70 miles an hour, the air is pulled with it.

[00:10:08] Matt: if you are standing on the side of the road, backdraft is like an undertow. And it pulls you towards the road. It's absolutely terrifying. And the larger the vehicle that comes whizzing by you, the more you feel that. And so like, even just knowledge of these types of things can be the difference between like, Getting sucked into the road and hit by a car, so this is why it's good to like have a gear head around you.

[00:10:30] Matt: Just somebody that maybe their dad or their mom spent all their childhood kind of teaching them how uh, Automotives work and mechanics work and cultivated a sense of of appreciation for them and maybe it's something that you have to learn via trial and error, but it's very important to focus on Safety, like you're on the side of the road and that's scary So reflective vest or something of like of that nature or a road flare if it's nighttime things are going to be good.

[00:10:55] Matt: Yep. Exactly. think it was Eisenhower who said that, when you make a plan, you know, the plan is often [00:11:00] useless, but the planning is invaluable.

[00:11:01] Matt: and that's very true because it forces you to get your head in the game.

[00:11:05] Matt: It forces you to kind of isolate the problems that you need to tackle and what precautionary steps you need to take in order to avoid these events becoming even more catastrophic. So. We've changed wheel bearings on the side of the road.

[00:11:18] Matt: And I'm going to have to go back and find the picture. James, I'll send you a picture that I have from years and years ago. But we didn't have the tool needed to change this thing. We went to a parts store, we bought a tool, it didn't fit. There was no way for us to get the tool that we needed. Now luckily, we had enough other tools and enough understanding of what we could do to where we basically jerry rigged this thing and created like an interlocking system using wrenches and we stuck those on our hub, essentially so that we, we could pull the disc Pull the router off of our car.

[00:11:53] Matt: it had fused, and so we needed something to pry it off. make the tool, but it was the wrong size. So [00:12:00] we had basically had like a small one, and it couldn't get big enough to fit around, to clamp around. And so, we basically had to figure out something. And anybody that's interested in that imagery or story, send that Instagram.

[00:12:11] Matt: picture to James. But you never know.

[00:12:14] James: Bandhive. rocks slash 198. That's the number 198. Go there and you'll see the photo.

[00:12:20] Matt: just never know what you're going to run into. I I've experienced frozen locks in the dead of winter. We've experienced fused wheel bearings. You know, we've, we've changed radiators in 120 degree weather on the side of the road. We've popped tires. we've left items behind in cities.

[00:12:34] Matt: We've had drivers drive us back the wrong way. Eight hours. To where… We ended up back in the same starting location as we left, when our driver left. there's all sorts of ridiculous emergencies that you're gonna run into. And so like, best way to avoid those is by having your head in the game beforehand, during, and after.

[00:12:52] James: Yup. you know, there's a saying in aviation is that you're flying the plane until you shut off the engine. So you might be in the [00:13:00] parking lot of the venue you're going to. You are still driving. You are not there yet. Something could still go wrong. The odds are low. But, something could still go wrong, so be prepared for that.

[00:13:09] James: And, I gotta say, for my car, I have like a little emergency kit that has a lot of this stuff. It doesn't have everything, but it does have triangles, a safety vest, gloves I don't know if it has an emergency blanket in it. I added some of my own just because it gets so cold here in Vermont. Especially like last winter we had a time when it was like under negative 20 for a week straight.

[00:13:29] James: And I was like, I need an emergency blanket in case I break down on the side of the road. I would freeze to death. A very short amount of time. I bought a tire pump that just plugs into, like, the accessory port, aka the cigarette lighter, if you're old. Like us. So it just plugs into that, and if I'm gonna go on a long road trip, I check my tire pressure and I inflate them to the recommended levels.

[00:13:50] James: that's just something I do. It's a good thing, like, if you're on tour, do that once a week. You're driving a lot, anytime you're on the road, say, Hey, every Sunday we check this, or [00:14:00] every Tuesday, or whatever day you want. check it regularly. Set a reminder to do this. Put it in your calendar, your to do app, whatever.

[00:14:06] James: You can make it recurring if you have a good app. And that is so important. And I'll link to that. Emergency kit that I have in the show notes as well at bandhive. rockslash198. Or, since I got that like five years ago, if that one's not available anymore, I'll find something similar to Link 2 that you can pick up for your band's van or vehicle, or even your personal vehicle, because it's really important to have those.

[00:14:26] James: it makes such a difference,

[00:14:27] Matt: my dad has had blankets in the back of his vehicle my entire life. Even in the summertime, it doesn't matter. He has blankets. And you know, it's like when you live in Colorado, you understand that there is a scenario where the weather comes in and you're not prepared for it. And you might be camping on the side of the road in your vehicle until you're out of gas.

[00:14:46] Matt: could be the difference between life and death. most of the time that's not the case. Most of the time it's just a major frustration, and if you're not prepared, then it's an even worse major frustration. Very rarely do you get to the point where the emergency is a life or death situation, [00:15:00] but it absolutely is possible.

[00:15:01] Matt: Traveling up north during a winter tour? Possible. traveling down south in a summer tour? nature laughs last, so you just, don't mess with nature because that's a game you always lose.

[00:15:11] James: Yeah, absolutely. And I also have a blanket. It's like on the backseat of my car. It's mostly there for like if I'm putting something heavy in the backseat, so it doesn't mess up the upholstery. But it's also there like, hey, if it's cold and we're stuck somewhere, or maybe I just go like to a campfire or something with some friends and it ends up being chilly.

[00:15:30] James: I have a blanket in the car that I can grab. because the emergency blankets are great at keeping you alive. They're not comfortable though. it's not the same. So having blankets that's just a handy thing to do.

[00:15:39] Matt: Absolutely.

[00:15:40] James: now that we're talking more about like what could potentially hurt you, the cold, we should talk about medical stuff as well, because you should have a medical emergency kit on the road.

[00:15:50] James: And again, they make. little kits that you can get, but some of this stuff might not be in the basic kits. the first one, it's obvious, Band Aids. Everyone needs Band Aids at [00:16:00] some point. EpiPen. Somebody in the band has an allergy, you need an EpiPen. But you should have one, even if not, because you never know if somebody in the crowd might have an allergic reaction.

[00:16:10] James: And if you can say, hey, we have an EpiPen, You might save somebody's life. Inhalers. Matt, you know, you have asthma.

[00:16:16] Matt: Guilty.

[00:16:16] James: an Same thing might happen. If somebody has an asthma attack in the show, and they left their inhaler at home, you can say, Hey, this one's brand new. It's from our emergency kit.

[00:16:23] James: Here you go.

[00:16:24] Matt: Also an emergency nebulizer, you know, you have severe asthma and you're traveling between climates, you know, you're going to be introduced to all sorts of different pollens, danders, grasses, like you name it. So all sorts of allergens in general in the air.

[00:16:36] Matt: And so if you're somebody that has like pretty severe. Allergy based asthma then even having your nebulizer in the trailer is definitely something worth doing because like there might be a time when you just need you need a nebulize treatment. So, when it comes to medicines.

[00:16:49] Matt: It's all going to be case specific. if you're on antidepressants, like you don't want to go on tour without your antidepressants. You know, if you have eczema, you don't want to leave without your skin creams. If you have asthma, you don't want to leave [00:17:00] without your inhalers. If you have severe allergies, you don't want to leave without your EpiPens.

[00:17:04] Matt: you need to know what your… requirements are when it comes to health. And then on top of that, inside of your van or inside of your trailer, whichever you designate, everybody should have their own personal box. They should have their own cubby, their own cabinet, their own place for their own personal stuff.

[00:17:21] Matt: generally the first thing that happens on a tour is that everybody goes and gets on a bus and they all pick and choose their bunk and they all pick and choose which drawer is theirs. So, You should always know where your emergency stuff is. otherwise, like I was saying earlier, if you don't know where your emergency stuff is when you're in an emergency, well, now you have compounding emergencies.

[00:17:40] James: Yep, absolutely. speaking of skin creams, sunblock. So important. Especially if you're doing a summer tour. All year round, you might have a day off and you decide to go do something, you decide to go to a beach, you decide to go skiing, whatever it is. Sunblock. You're gonna need it if you're outdoors.

[00:17:54] James: Doesn't matter what season it is, doesn't matter if it's cloudy. Sunblock. But, just in case you forget the sunblock, aloe, for [00:18:00] when you get the sunburn. Or just a regular burn, like maybe you uh, touch a hot piece of gear, you're, maybe you're changing the tubes on your guitar amp, and you forget that, Hey, this has been running for three hours, this is gonna be hot, and you burn yourself.

[00:18:12] James: Aloe. Or you're changing your radiator in the Las Vegas desert, and you pick up a hot tool off the ground. Aloe. And on a related note, bandages. If you get burns, you want to bandage that after you clean it. I'm not a medical expert, depending on the severity of the burn, you might not want to bandage it, but if it's just something that is, like, tender, Yeah, protect that.

[00:18:31] James: Same thing with having medical wraps. Like, let's say you have a larger cut, not big enough to need medical attention, but something you want to keep closed. You wrap it, and you put medical tape on it. Speaking of medical tape, in the dry winter air, my thumb splits open when I play bass. So I end up for like months at a time wrapping it in medical tape to hold it together. Because it's so dry, and as soon as it heals, I take the tape off, and next time I play bass, it splits open again. So maybe you might have a similar issue where you just put medical tape on [00:19:00] your thumb any time you play bass. That's what I started doing so it doesn't split open. That's just what you got to do sometimes.

[00:19:05] James: Gauze, you know, maybe you bite your cheek real bad and it's bleeding or something. You take a piece of gauze and stuff it in your cheek so you're not tasting blood the whole time and it helps that wound heal rather than just spurting out more blood every time you talk or move your mouth.

[00:19:18] James: Similar idea for cotton pads, cotton balls, all that kind of stuff. Something to Soak up the various things that could be bleeding in a van. You don't want that. Hydrogen peroxide to clean your wounds. Very important. Especially if, you get cut on something dirty, rusty, whatever. You want to be sure that wound is properly cleaned.

[00:19:38] James: Neosporin, I should also say Cortisone. Cortisone is another good thing to have. you get like a bee sting or something. Baby wipes. It's always good to be clean, but you also don't know when your next shower is going to be. So have some baby wipes around, because, ooh, being the stinky guy on tour is not fun.

[00:19:53] James: Please don't be that guy. I have known that guy. I was not that guy. I showered every day. But I have known that guy, and [00:20:00] it was… There's like a, a wave of people stepping away when that guy walks past. It's not fun.

[00:20:06] Matt: Ah, it's really easy to get through a crowd.

[00:20:08] James: That is true, depending on how quickly they notice. On a similar note, alcohol wipes to sterilize stuff. that's really important. Ibuprofen for if you got a headache or the flu or whatever it is, a fever. You need some Yeah, swelling as well. Ibuprofen is really good for a lot of stuff.

[00:20:25] James: It's kind of like a wonder drug.

[00:20:27] Matt: It's a jack of all trades. that being said, don't have too much of it shouldn't become a crutch. It shouldn't be something that you use on a regular basis. But at the same time, it's like, hey, my head, a lot of the time, after shows, because play high intensity shows, like some of the time, especially when we're not well practiced, or when we're traveling to different altitudes, I'll get a little bit of a head pounding, you know, and having a little bit of ibuprofen, can be like what stops you from having a brain aneurysm.

[00:20:52] Matt: So, It has a very wide variety of, Oh yeah, I have a sore foot and it's gonna make the swelling go down to my ankle. Awesome. Or, [00:21:00] like, it's gonna keep your brain from bleeding. So, there's a very strong case for having ibuprofen in your medical kit.

[00:21:07] James: Yeah, on that note, I can't remember the last time I took ibuprofen. It's probably been a couple years because I haven't needed it, thankfully. But I remember the first time I got some was actually on Warped Tour, and I went to see Min, the Warped Tour medic, because I was so sick. It was 2015. The Warped Plague, as everyone called it, was going around, and she basically said, Yeah, you're going to be fine.

[00:21:29] James: Here's some ibuprofen. And I took it, and I was just like, Wow, that helped a lot. And was so sick that morning, I was like lying in the grass outside the venue like, I can't move. And then, I got through the day, my friend brought me some vegan cookies, shout out to Mary, thank you for those cookies.

[00:21:45] James: And then I got in an Uber at the end of the night and drove into Chicago to pick up food for everyone on my team. Because we were being rewarded for the work we did that day. And drove back, and it was like I can't remember what the venue was Whatever amphitheater it is, but it's like an hour outside of Chicago.

[00:21:58] James: It's not close. [00:22:00] With traffic, so like maybe half an hour, 45 minutes. It might be in Tilly Park, but that's not what the venue is called. It was Hollywood Casino Amphitheater,

[00:22:06] Matt: Okay.

[00:22:07] James: wherever that is in the Chicago area. Not to be confused with the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in St.

[00:22:13] James: Louis, because they have the same name. It's quite confusing. that was also, like, that same week was the first time I ever had a monster, and I realized I can talk at, like, 500 words per minute. that was an interesting week. It was also when I was feeling extremely sick. Potassium and magnesium supplements, you know, help you sleep, help you recover from jumping around on stage after the show, all your joints are aching, if you're, you know, 30 plus like the two of us.

[00:22:35] James: That is definitely something that's helpful. And then tweezers. On tour, you're typically not going to get a lot of wood splinters, but you might get metal shavings from strings or gear or who knows what. So having tweezers to pull stuff out of your fingers or your feet if you go on a beach or something and get something stuck in your foot.

[00:22:53] James: Tweezers. Incredibly important.

[00:22:55] Matt: Way more efficient than teeth.

[00:22:57] James: yeah, don't use your teeth. That's, they're not [00:23:00] sharp enough. They might be sharp, but they're not sharp enough for that. Yeah, and if you can get the tweezers that have like the little stabby thing on the back side to like dig through your skin, that doesn't sound pleasant, but trust me, it is very helpful when you need it.

[00:23:11] Matt: take it from somebody who digs at his skin regularly because of his eczema, so

[00:23:15] James: it's no

[00:23:15] Matt: Ha ha ha ha ha ha So that's a, that's a solid medical list. You know, if there's any other individual things that you guys can think of feel free to comment on them and feel free to include them in your own medical kits and whatnot.

[00:23:28] Matt: There might be specific things that are a little bit more case specific for you. So uh, make sure you isolate those.

[00:23:34] James: I think they're feeling better.

[00:23:35] Matt: At least Rook has his energy. So, Now, there's a few other personal items that I would highly recommend, just for the sake of random, unexpected emergencies. So, we live in the 21st century, the digital age, the age of phone technology. The age of batteries, and occasionally your batteries die. we were playing trees down in Dallas one time, and [00:24:00] this young girl came up to me at the end of the show absolutely terrified.

[00:24:06] Matt: She was, looked like she was on the verge of tears, kind of like starting to hyperventilate, and she's like, I know this is a weird question, but is there any, way that I could like, plug my phone in, in your van, and charge it? it's at 1%, and my ride is on their way, and I'm afraid that they won't be able to find me because I'm not from here.

[00:24:26] Matt: And so, I went back to my van, and I pulled out an external battery. And I walked over to her and I said, here you go, plug your phone into that, just walk around with it. When your ride gets here, bring me back the battery. and I honestly didn't expect her to bring me back the battery because I was like, yeah, whatever, you know, the singer of a band gave, the external battery to a fan, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:24:47] Matt: And I was like, all right, she can just have this. Cause like, very clearly she's like terrified. And as I'd rather her have peace of mind than to like, be stranded on a, you know, in deep Ellum in Dallas, Texas.

[00:24:58] James: Not the neighborhood to be stranded in.

[00:24:59] Matt: [00:25:00] Yeah. know, I've been sure enough, you know, she did bring me back to the external battery and was like, thank you so, so much.

[00:25:05] Matt: And I was like, you know, I've been there in that position. And when I go out on tour, I usually have three or four external batteries. And all of my band members know that I have external batteries for when their phone starts to die. So that way they can charge something. And it's like, I mean, you can literally get one for 10 bucks at Walmart.

[00:25:22] Matt: And that can be the difference between like, Whether or not you have juice make an emergency phone call, to find the person that's supposed to contact you, to order an Uber, like, all of the things we use our phones for on a regular basis, I shouldn't need to tell any of you where the value add of having an external battery is.

[00:25:39] Matt: So, even just having an external battery in regular everyday life is, a viable, good thing to have. So, having one of those in an emergency kit or a couple in your bunk those are good things to have. James, you have, you have a personal favorite one too that helps you when you travel.

[00:25:56] James: Yes, noise cancelling headphones. I got [00:26:00] AirPods Pro. Wow, that is so bright compared to my face. It's like the moon on a dark night. I got these back in December and mostly I just use them around the house. I actually, I use them to mow the lawn. I used to just put on like earmuff headphones and mow the lawn and it would be so loud.

[00:26:17] James: I put these in, I can't even hear the mower really, like I hear it a little bit. And this is a riding mower because we have a big yard. So it's not quiet. it's so nice. Or when I'm on the, like, electrical mower, the battery mower we have for, like, the little, the hilly areas where the rider can't go, I don't even hear it.

[00:26:32] James: Like, I have to be like, is this thing on? pretty incredible. But, the first time I was traveling with them, and this is on the bus to the airport. And I put them in, and it was just silence, and it was so nice, it was amazing. And it's a very similar thing on the plane, I put them in, and I could still hear a little bit, because the plane was louder than the bus, but it was really, really nice.

[00:26:55] James: so much better than like using the earbuds that the airline gives you [00:27:00] for watching the in-flight stuff. And I also, I actually use my in-ears for that 'cause it has to be plugged in. But then like with United, you can watch movies on your phone and there's actually more movies that'll stream to your phone than on the Inea stuff.

[00:27:12] James: So I used my earbuds for that and it was so nice. It was silent. a little bit of a rumble, and that was it.

[00:27:19] Matt: silence is golden,

[00:27:20] James: Yeah, and it's also a Simon Garfunkel song.

[00:27:22] Matt: that's right, the sound of silence, yeah,

[00:27:25] James: my old friend. Yeah, I also uh, honestly, in my room, I have blackout curtains, and I still sleep with an eye mask, and it has helped me sleep so much better. If you're on tour, especially if it's not a bus tour, because buses have pretty good blackout curtains, but you never know, you might be in a hotel one night, and need an eye mask.

[00:27:44] James: Or you might be in a van tour and need an eye mask. Really important. One other thing is having a personal fan can make such a big difference if you don't have AC.

[00:27:56] Matt: yeah.

[00:27:56] James: and day. If you're sleeping in a van and it's not running all night, [00:28:00] which it shouldn't be, you're gonna want a battery powered fan Oof.

[00:28:06] Matt: Yep, that's exactly true. Take it from somebody who's allergic to his own sweat. there's nothing more uncomfortable than being hot while you sleep. That's like where nightmares are born. And uh, where sleep goes to die. So, a nice little fan. Or, or just something to keep you cool.

[00:28:21] Matt: You know, maybe for you it's a, temperature cooling pillow. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, like. A lot of tour buses have like gel pillows, which do a better job of like staying cooler, you know, light linen blankets if you're doing a summer tour. Heavier wool or cashmere blankets for winter time.

[00:28:39] Matt: temperature is a big thing in the walls of a van or a bus are pretty thin. And when you're sleeping in them, especially if you're not like in a big giant cuddle puddle. you need your own heat So some of the time if you're just traveling around in like a regular Dodge Caravan or whatever, the backseat lays all the way down and you're fitting four people on that three seater and you're all like right next to each other, you're warm, you're gonna be fine.

[00:28:59] Matt: If you [00:29:00] have a transit bus and you've built bunks into that and everybody has their own individual bunk, well then you are. Responsible for your own heating and your own cooling. And so, small little fan. Even those ones, like, with little misters are great. Especially in a hot summer. You know, it's like, little battery powered fan.

[00:29:16] Matt: You can just clip that to the underside of the bunk on top of you. Turn that thing on to get you some fresh air. Maybe have a little spritz of water to up. But, It's a simple little thing where it's like, Man, this is keeping me like five degrees cooler than everybody else in my van. And they're all like at each other's throats now because they're hot, sweaty, disgusting, and can't escape.

[00:29:35] Matt: And I am living like a king with my little fan mister. So, you can basically choose to live like a slave, or live like a king. And it all starts with your ability to isolate what your individual needs are, what your emergency kit inside of your van looks like, and how many precautionary steps you are willing to take in order to avoid imminent catastrophe, which happens to everybody, no matter what.[00:30:00]