{"id":563,"date":"2013-06-07T14:38:56","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T21:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/?p=563"},"modified":"2013-10-19T18:09:05","modified_gmt":"2013-10-20T01:09:05","slug":"gigging-musicians-what-vehicle-is-right-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/gigging-musicians-what-vehicle-is-right-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Gigging Musicians: What Vehicle is Right For You?"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, you and the band have reached the point where you’re ready to go out on tour. It’s difficult not to daydream about stepping on to your own private jet full of adoring groupies as you are whisked off to your next venue. Sounds good, but perhaps you should start at the beginning.\u00a0 Let’s just concentrate on how to get to the next Howard Johnson’s gig and see where it goes from there.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Image via\u00a0Flickr<\/a>\u00a0by Tuppus<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

What’s in the Budget?<\/h2>\n

It’s an unfortunate reality of life, but unless you’re the federal government, you have to live within your budget. With that in mind, scale your expectations down to your financial realities.<\/p>\n

If you have no capital (that means no money) then you’re stuck driving your mother’s car. On the other hand, if you have a spare $10,000 you can spend, or borrow, you can get a decent used Econoline van.<\/p>\n

This will give you considerable room for band and instruments. It is possible to get something decent at that amount. And, if it doesn’t provide enough room, you might be able to afford a reasonable-sized trailer. As for the groupies, they cost much more. On the other hand, maybe one of them has a van you can use.<\/p>\n

Backup Plan<\/h2>\n

Relying solely on the reliability of one vehicle might be a bit risky. A used van may be in good shape, but anything used may still have the occasional issue to deal with. It’s best to have something in reserve should\u00a0a timing belt snap and you have 20 minutes before you’re on stage. A good place to start would be finding any Miami used cars for sale<\/a>\u00a0if you happen to be in the area.<\/p>\n

With two vehicles at your disposal, (it’s not necessary to own them), perhaps a couple of cars, a van and trailer, or some combination of all these \u2013 two mothers with two cars?? You’ll have the backup protection plan, and if you have to, you can run the instruments to the venue, come back and grab your band mates and any aforementioned groupies who need a lift.<\/p>\n

Safety First<\/h2>\n

If you are going to spend a lot of time on the road \u2013 rushing to Hamburg like the Beatles, perhaps \u2013 you have to take road safety seriously. Watch out for bad drivers, poor transmissions, suicidal deer (bunnies, cats and squirrels), and drowsy groupies driving the van. You’ll have great stories to tell when it is all over, but anything that can happen, probably will while on tour.<\/p>\n

Wear your safety belt. Whatever you do, don’t text that blond from the last gig while you’re cruising toward Jersey. Don’t even tempt fate with songs like “Blaze of Glory” blasting from your stereo. Not only does it bode ill, it’s simply distracting.<\/p>\n

I shouldn’t have to mention it, but don’t drink while driving either. I don’t mean to sound like your mother (especially if she’s the one driving), but, you’re better safe than sorry. And don’t forget to lock the doors \u2013 instruments are easily pawned by those willing to swipe them.<\/p>\n

Don’t give up the daydream. Private jets will come, but until then you first have to go through all those experiences that lead to great stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, you and the band have reached the point where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[37,1],"tags":[19,8,6,17,7,16,18],"class_list":["post-563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-songwriter-lifestyle","category-uncategorized","tag-band-tips","tag-bands","tag-gigs","tag-tour-van","tag-touring","tag-vans","tag-vehicles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31aST-95","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1085,"href":"https:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions\/1085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songregistration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}