4/22/2010

Hey everybody…Dan here with an update from the road.  The Blood, Sweat & Rock’n Roll nationwide tour is in full swing with Disciple, Decyfer Down and Satellites & Sirens.  Tonight we are in Westerville, Ohio about to roll north to Clyde, Michigan just past Detroit.  Myself and the Decyfer Down guys have been rockin our way around the USA since the beginning of March with a short break over Easter and have enjoyed getting to know everyone that has come out to see the shows.  DD fans are the best and it has been an honor to meet ya’ll.

This tour will wrap in just less than a week and we are looking forward to a little bit of downtime back home with family before settling into the upcoming Summer schedule with individual concerts, a 6 week headliner tour and a bunch of festivals all over the country.

I thought I’d take a moment to give all the DD fans an insider perspective on what a day in the life looks like on the road.  Being their driver I get to be a fly on the wall to all the inner workings of daily life on tour.  For me at least, the day usually begins when the band members are in wind down mode after a show.  Being that the bulk of the traveling while on tour occurs late at night and into the wee hours of the morning, I usually wake up around ten or eleven pm and get to the bus around midnight while the last of the gear and stage equipment is being loaded back into the bus and trailer after the concert.  The band members and crew are usually getting showered, eating some chow and rehashing how the concert went and any interesting experiences from the day.  Usually everybody is still amped from the energy of the show and will be awake for a few more hours before heading back to the bus’ bunkroom for some shuteye.  At this point I get to work performing my pre-op inspection of the bus and get it fired up and ready for the next leg of our travels to whatever city is next on the schedule.  This includes reviewing the destination and venue details, navigation and route planning, programming the GPS and basically ensuring a smooth transition from one city to the next with fuel and inspection stops along the way.

Once all that is done we hit the road for what could be a long 10-12 hour journey or as short as a few hours.  Most times we have a 10 am arrival deadline at the venue for the next show and it is imperative that I plan accordingly to ensure we arrive on time.  Most of the activity on the bus while we are traveling consists of normal daily life stuff like eating, working and relaxing.  At any given time you might encounter them on their phones talking to their wives and kids back home, conducting business with management or booking, simply chilling out watching some TV or in the back lounge playing some Call of Duty on the Playstation….or if its Josh, Madden Football.

Lately much of the bands travel time on the bus has been occupied with recording demos for the upcoming third album.  With Brandon working the Pro-tools software on his Mac and Chris playing most of the guitar parts, TJ laying vocals and percussion (with a preprogrammed piano keyboard!) the songs come together in the front lounge with surprising quality and effect, something that could never have been accomplished in the van and trailer days before they had the bus.

After a few hours of activity, most will shuffle off to bed as we roll on down the highway.  As I sit at the wheel of the bus I can hear it get steadily quieter and quieter behind me as they all, one by one, turn in for the night with Brandon usually the last to drift off to his bunk.  At this point I am alone with the open road and the stereo blasting out some tunes or an interesting audiobook to keep the brain engaged throughout the long drive.  Somewhere along the way I will make a few stops enroute to make sure everything is good to go in back in the engine compartment, with the trailer and all twelve wheels and tires.

Most times we arrive at the venue with time to spare before the crew or venue reps arrive and I take this time to figure out where to park the bus, perform any post-op inspections and catch up on paperwork like trip logs, fuel expenses and any other miscellaneous tasks like preventative maintenance to make sure the bus continues to run in top shape.  Many times I will take this time to perform maintenance and change the oil in the generator, which sits below the bus in a converted luggage bay.  The generator is the lifeline and single source of all power to the entire passenger compartment of the bus, so it is incredibly important to ensure it is maintained with the utmost care.

Around midmorning the venue is usually opened up and myself and the other drivers take a break and grab a quick breakfast and coordinate with the venue staff regarding load-in, which is the process of hauling all the gear and stage equipment into the venue and setting up everything for the show.  By mid day the place is a flurry of motion and activity as crewmembers are setting up and sound checking.  At this point the band members are usually emerging groggy-eyed and sleepy-faced from the bunkroom and may shuffle off to a radio interview or if we’re lucky, an opportunity to hit a gym and get some exercise.  If no interviews are scheduled first thing that day then you can usually find them sitting down to a late breakfast, catching up on some morning devotions or calling home to wish their wives and kids a good morning.  We will also do a group devotion together most mornings before officially starting the day and leaving the us for the first time.

At this point I am usually wrapping up any maintenance items on the bus that needed attention and heading off to the hotel for the “night” to get some sleep before we do it all over again later on that night after the show.  From here on out I retire to dreamland for some shuteye as the guys set about making sure the show goes off without a hitch and by the time the audience begins to fill up the parking lot at the venue, the guys are prepping in the dressing rooms or aboard the bus and getting ready to melt some faces and rock the house.  The show begins backstage with a last minute prayer before they take the stage and then if you’ve ever been to a DD show, you know the rest from there.  Following the concert the band hangs out at the merchandise table and chat with fans before heading back to assist with the teardown and load-out.

By this time I am usually returning to the bus to start the whole cycle over again.  Off to another city we go as the process begins again leapfrogging across the country one city at a time.  Come out and see us when we come through your neck of the woods and don’t be shy about stopping in to say hello to myself or the band.  Looking forward to seeing you at the next show.

Till next time…keeping it between the lines, rubber side down…
Dan