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Tyler Hilton's Tour Blog!
Written by . Published: May 19 2010
Being on the road is my absolute favorite thing
in the world. The shows, the travel, the community... it doesn't
get any better. For those of you who have never done anything like
this before, here is a handy look at the life I
love!
A Beginners Guide to My Road Routine:
Morning: Your morning, and
therefore your day, starts about an hour before your alarm clock
goes off. This is when you start to half-sleep, half-worry about
whether the front desk is going to remember your wake up call and
whether your back-up alarm on your phone was properly set to "am"
instead of "pm" time. However, no matter how prepared you
think you are for that alarm to sound, the phone rings its awful,
horror movie ring and you're begging for more sleep. You realize,
though, that you've set your alarm for the last possible second, so
there is no snooze button. Just shoes, pants, brush the teeth, zip
the suitcase, and zombie walk to the lobby where other zombies from
your crew and band meet for morning "lobby call." The exception to
this rule is always the tour manager, who is inexplicably chirpy
and chatty. Van pulls away and naps or zombie stares out the window
occur until stomachs grumble and feeding becomes all you can think
about. Van needs gas? Great! Breakfast! Peanuts, power bars, naked
juices, whatever you can grab while the van gases. Its a very
special occasion when we have time to sit down to eat! Back in the
van and drive into the afternoon.
Afternoon: pull into a venue
and load all the gear into the club. Usually another band is sound
checking, so this is your down time to stretch your legs, find
things to feed on, and make phone calls that are better made
without 6 people in proximity. Sound check has arrived, and we make
sure all our instruments are working and sound good in the
audience. It's after this that we either find a hotel and clean
ourselves or freshen up in the club bathroom. It's important to
become an expert at the latter, just in case. Evening has
come...
Night: As the audience filters
in, you are backstage checking emails and taking advantage of the
free internet the club has until about an hour before you're on.
That's when the hair gets checked, shirt gets smelled, pants get
patted... everything look show ready? Maybe grab a guitar and strum
strum strum. Sing a bit. Get everything loosened up, and now you
feel yourself get really pumped. You can hear the audience
settling. 30 minutes before you're on, the band all gets together
to talk out the set for the night, joke, sing, and get ready to
perform! Then show time comes, and all that really means is you
hear your name called, black-out, and before you know it, you're
blissfully running off the stage sweating, screaming, "Yea! What
just happened! Woo!" You towel off, drink some water, pack up, and
head out to meet fans, sign CD's, and take pictures. By the time
you're done, the place has cleared out and its time to drive to the
hotel, check in, feed somewhere, shower, and pray that something
funny is on either TBS or Adult Swim. You fall asleep replaying
your show in your head and smiling. You are living your dream!
Oh... you can't sleep cause you're too excited? Sigh... Finally it
happens and before long its....
Morning?
This is the routine I know and love and wouldn't
change for the world! Thanks everyone for making it possible for me
to keep doing what I'm doing!
(Image via Warner Bros.
Records)
-Tyler Hilton is a singer/actor who has appeared on "One Tree Hill" and in Walk the Line. He has recently been on tour with Spill
Canvas, and his third studio album is scheduled to drop
this summer.