Being a musician is not for the faint of heart. Independent musicians face hardships throughout their career. Sometimes these hardships can be quite scary. One of the most interesting things about being a musician is the unplanned encounters you have while performing and being on the road. The experience, the laughs, and the close calls throughout the career of an independent musician can probably make for fabulous content of a best seller once a musician retires. But living through it in the here and now might cause your blood pressure to raise from time to time. For example, one day you might be performing to a thousand college students in a student union, while the next day you may be walking down a dark alley in Brooklyn, NY late at night with all your equipment in tow. Ah, the lifestyle of a musician! Here are a few of my own close encounters…
The alley in New York, mentioned previously, is a true story. We were performing at a little music bar in Brooklyn, called Goodbye Blue Monday. It was a little hole-in-the-wall joint with records strewn all over the walls and a rocking sound system. On our way there, lots of people were out and about. You could touch the city’s hustle and bustle atmosphere almost as though it was something tangible. The bar itself didn’t have a ton of people in it. There were a few regulars, us and the owner. That’s it. We did our one and a half hour set with ease.
When it was over and we stepped foot outside, things were a totally different story. Everyone seemed to have disappeared. The street was a ghost town and it was dark. I mean, really dark. We must have walked 5 or 6 blocks to get to the train and it was pretty scary. Not knowing what could have been lurking around the corner in a strange place while carrying all of your equipment in the dead of night was not a great feeling. We took a huge deep breath when we finally made it to the train and back to the safety of our hotel room for the night. It was that night I learned how to get your city walk on.
Another time we were due to play at the Dandelion Communitea Cafe in Orlando, Fl when, not surprisingly, during my sound check, a guitar string popped. Usually this isn’t a problem. But on that particular day, I didn’t happen to have a back-up pack of strings. I also didn’t have a second guitar I could use. So there I was all set to play a show, with no guitar to play. I wasn’t in my hometown, so I didn’t have any musician friends I could call on and there wasn’t a Guitar Center around. I had this really bad sinking feeling in my stomach. I was angry at myself for not having a back-up and I was embarrassed that I had come all that way, and couldn’t even do the show all because of one bad string. But I managed to work up enough gumption to ask the staff for help. Luckily, there was a staff member there who lived down the street and happened to have a guitar at home. The manager gave her permission to take a break so she could walk home and get her guitar for me. Those two saved the day! I don’t know how I didn’t have extra strings because usually I’m pretty good about that. You can’t plan for every disaster, but at least you can be prepared with an extra pack of strings. That day I vowed to never be caught gigging without an extra pack of strings.
As a gigging musician, I’ve come to appreciate being on the road. The feeling of freedom and purpose you get from being out on the open road and going to different venues in various cities is undeniable. Except when you’ve set out for an out of town show and one hour into driving there, you find out your show has been cancelled. That’s what happened when we were living in Nashville. We booked a show in Chattanooga at a coffee shop. This would have been our first time performing there, so we were pretty excited. On our way out there, Hubby, in a moment of psychic ingenuity, decided to give the place a call and ‘check in.’ Someone answered and it turned out, the place had closed for business and there was going to be no show that night or any other night in the near future.
Unfortunately, the show never happened and we ended up driving back home for what was the longest road hour I’d ever experienced. I was angry, sad, upset and looking for someone to blame. We lost out on the money we had planned on making there. We wasted a ton of gas and an entire evening. That experience taught me first hand about the benefits of advancing a show. Even though we had booked the show just two months prior, it would have saved us a lot of heartache if we had just sent an email saying “Hey, we’re coming…are you still open?” There’s a lot more to advancing a show and Ari over at Ari’s Take sums it up pretty good in his post – How to Properly Advance Your Show (And Why You Have To). Although, I think I did a decent job explaining why you should just now.
That experience taught me, first hand, about the art of ‘advancing a show’.
Anitra Jay – Unknowingly on my way to a cancelled show
Most recently, we had a road scare where we were literally stranded on the road. We live in Houston, TX – part of an area I call Hurricane Alley. Houston sits right along the coast of the southeastern half of the United States and that area is a destination for hurricanes every year between June and November. Well, just recently we had a tropical storm come up out of nowhere and it poured buckets of water on the city. There was as much as 43 inches of water in some parts of the city. We just so happened to be on our way to San Antonio that morning trying to get to a show we had scheduled that evening. However we couldn’t seem to get out of the city due to flooding. In fact, we were stalled on the freeway for 4 hours. There had to be hundreds of cars on that small stretch of highway just waiting.
Apparently the interstate had flooded and there was no getting through. So much time had gone by that a bunch of us had turned off our cars and started walking around. In the meantime it was still raining. Not knowing how long you were going to have to wait nor whether or not the flood waters would rise was a horrifying experience. We were stuck and couldn’t move. Parked cars were in front and behind us. There was nowhere to go and all we could do was sit and wait. The things that go through your mind when you’re in a situation like that are unspeakable. After about four hours or so passed by, some people decided to walk up the on ramp and clear a path for cars stranded on the freeway to get off. One by one, cars started making the trek up the on ramp going in the opposite direction in order to get off the interstate. We followed suit and eventually made our way onto the street.
Our journey was far from over though. We still had shows booked in San Antonio all weekend, so we had to keep trying to get out there. We stopped and ate, got gas, and tried to get back on the road. We had to find back roads to get out of the city because the highway was still flooded. On our way out we saw parked cars that apparently had been flooded and abandoned. We also ran into a few streets that were washed over and we had to turn back and find another way. We eventually made it out but we ended up cancelling our show that night in San Antonio. We didn’t get checked into our AirBnb that night until 9:30pm. I wouldn’t wish that experience on my worst enemy.
Although there are some scary moments, being a musician is one of the most fulfilling jobs I’ve done. I’ve had a lot of close calls but mostly, I’ve come to appreciate those unexpected experiences. They serve a purpose to teach and humble you, to build character, and to mold you into who you’re supposed to be. So, cheers to all my musician friends out there in the world. May your scary experiences be memorable and just as teachable. Happy Halloween! Do you have any scary stories from the road you’d like to share? Add yours in the comments section.
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Being unprepared is the scariest thing for me at any gig! Over the years I’ve learned to bring extra strings, cables, batteries, mics, straps, even a spare shirt to any and all gigs just to be safe. At the arts market where I run sound I even bring extra capos, power cords, tuners, and guitar straps just in case any of our performers forget theirs—you’d be surprised how many folks show up without the basics! One guy brought four effect pedals to use but had no cables to plug them all in, another time a bass player forgot his amp. You can’t bring a spare of everything, but you have to learn how to improvise, or hope for the best.
Hey Roy! Yes, being prepared will save you a lot of heartache. I love all the extra accessories you bring and even down to the extra shirt. That’s genius.
I bring the extra shirt because I’m kind of a slob. But that’s a whole other story!