The Creative Universe 5: Travelling Musicians

Behind the Music: Our Life on the Road, Again.

As travelling musicians, our lives are anything but ordinary.  Between weekly gigs, long car rides, and endless hours of admin work, being self-employed is definitely an adventure.  In this blog post, I’ll take you behind the music through a typical week in our lives, from answering emails to entertaining across Southern Ontario.

Monday - Wednesday: Admin Work and Rehearsals

The beginning of the week is all about getting organized and preparing for the gigs ahead.  This includes answering emails from clients, both old and new, preparing for social media posts, (like this blog every other Monday!) and updating our budget spreadsheet to ensure that we're staying on top of our finances. We also take this time to rehearse new songs for upcoming events/weddings.  Some weeks, we may have a gig one of these days, or others we’ll take a day off to spend time with family and friends.  

Thursday: Prepping for the Road & First Gig

Thursday morning is when the weekend work begins. We start by packing up our car with all of our equipment:

• Pedal Board
• Guitar
• Stand Bag
• Two Gear Suitcases
• Branded Carpet
• Branded Banner
• Lighting System
• Suitcase for Clothing
• Cooler with Food and Drinks
• Snack Bag
• Two Shoulder Bags

I’ve also made an instagram post that goes into detail about all our travel essentials:

Once everything is packed up, we hit the road.  Tyler drives, of course.  We typically travel to the GTA/Golden Horseshoe area, which can take us anywhere from 4-5 hours.  During the drive, I have extra time to do any admin work needed, post on social media about our travels, and even do my makeup for Thursday’s gig.

Friday - Saturday: You’ll Always Find us Gigging

Friday and Saturday are our busiest days of the week.  Most venues host live music these days, and many events/weddings happen on these days.  This means if you’re looking to book a Friday or Saturday, the earlier the better.  We typically perform for 3 or 4 hour time slots in the evenings.  Which means, we often have some time in the afternoon to explore the local area before our gigs.  We might visit a local park or take a stroll along a boardwalk to get some exercise after sitting in the car for hours on end.  Here's a timeline of our typical Friday and Saturday:

12:00 PM - Wake up

1:00 - 2:00 PM - Get ready for the day

2:00 - 4:00 PM - Take some time to sightsee/exercise/eat lunch

4:00 - 6:00 PM - Travel to the next gig (I often do makeup and vocal warm ups in the car)

6:00 PM - Arrive at the venue to unload our equipment and set up for the gig. 

7:00 PM - Finish setting up and soundcheck. 

8:00 -11 PM - Playing music.  (Typically 1 hr set, followed by 45 min sets with 15 minute breaks in between)

11:00 PM - Finish playing and start packing up our equipment. 

12:00 AM - Load everything into our car and head to the hotel. 

1:00 AM - Arrive at the hotel, unload gear and prepare food for dinner. 

2:00 AM - Let food settle/Unwind by watching a movie or show on Netflix or Disney+. 4:00 AM - Head to bed and set alarms for the next day.

Sunday: Last Gig Before Hitting the Road Again

Sunday is our final day of gigging for the week. We typically perform for afternoon matinee gigs, and the rest of Sunday is usually spent driving back to our current home base: Windsor, Ontario.

Then we rest up before starting the whole routine over again on Monday.  (We plan to move closer to the GTA/Golden Horseshoe to reduce travel time and will keep you posted on that house-hunting adventure as it unfolds…)

As you may have guessed, our current schedule doesn’t leave much time for songwriting & YouTube video creation, but we are always on working those in when/where we can and look forward to sharing new projects with you.

Being a travelling musician isn't all glamour and glitz.  It’s definitely a huge change from our cruise ship life, and it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to have a balanced lifestyle, and we sill have things to improve on, one day at a time!  

Join us on Instagram where I share play-by-play stories of our gigging adventures, and get the first look at all our new projects in my Creative Corner.