News

A Guide To Touring With: Keston Cobblers

• 12th May 2015

Ahead of the release of their new album ‘Wildfire’ which is released 15th June, we caught up with folk-pop quintet Keston Cobblers Club who have just announced the dates of their 2015 UK tour, which kicks off on October 14 in Liverpool.

The 14-date tour will see them take in illustrious venues across the UK including London’s Scala, The Met in Bury, and Bristol’s Thekla, but how are they going to cope with life on the road?

Check out their tips for tour survival here:

Think owl.
No need for head on full rotation, but don’t expect your brain to function if you go on tour with your usual body clock ticking away. Push time / sleep / wake back a few hours in the day or expect to feel a bit odd after a week or two. It’s actually quite satisfying after a while.

Pack like a ninja.
Bethan nailed it from the off. I, on the other hand did not. Bethan rolls, tucks, and decants all her show-clothes into a near little bag while her big personals stay in the van. I learned the hard way; 4 shows of tutu’s awry, boys telling me off and I’ve finally got the knack!

Feed your brain.
Eat well on tour or suffer days of feeling like a stuffed Christmas turkey….a bit of fruit and veg every couple of days will keep you saner than you can imagine.

Explore.
If you are lucky enough to go on tours, then make the most of the new exciting cities you find yourself in. If you have a few spare hours between soundcheck and stage time, go see the major sights of that city and have a mini holiday for an hour or 2!

Sleeping essentials.
Ear plugs for sleeping, eye blind for sleep, relaxing music for sleeping. A solid sleep can make all the difference to how you feel and play and you never know where you’ll end up sleeping that night!

Play Tetris.
The spacial awareness needed to arrange the falling blocks will directly increase your capability at packing the van post show… or it’s just a great excuse to play more tetris.

Forget about the music for a while.
It can be incredibly hard with sound-check and travelling everyday, but try your best to actually get out in between to see the city you’re visiting. It’s great to get a feel of where you are and detach from just gigging all week. Just have a walk around, you don’t have to do anything fancy.

Moment of peace.
Every couple of days; try and get away by yourself for an hour or 2, maybe a walk, or the cinema or just a little cafe. It’s great being on tour with your band, but with hours of driving everyday, shared green rooms, crowded venues and shared bedrooms, for everyone’s sanity it’s good to have few hours each week you can make your own.

Choons.
The best company on long van journeys is new music (in my humble opinion!). I always whack a load of new albums – some I’ve been meaning to listen to for ages, some brand new / recommendations – on my iPod to digest in the many hours of travelling! A particular favourite habit is finding out what new bands are playing at any of the festivals we’re going to and finding out more about them.

Nutrition.
Have to include this as the guys always rip it out of me for eating plants constantly, so plan ahead if you want to be digesting something other than KFC and McDonald’s for snacks for two weeks! I think by this point the others have sadly vetoed my vegan hamper, usually on account of space. Booo.

2015 UK Headline Tour:

14 OCT Liverpool LEAF
15 OCT Glasgow BROADCAST
16 OCT Edinburgh ELECTRIC CIRCUS
17 OCT Bury, Greater Manchester THE MET
18 OCT Leeds, West Yorkshire BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB
22 OCT Nottingham THE BODEGA
23 OCT Exeter, Devon EXETER PHOENIX
24 OCT Bristol THEKLA
25 OCT Cambridge THE PORTLAND ARMS
28 OCT King´s Cross, London SCALA
29 OCT Norwich NORWICH ARTS CENTRE
30 OCT Guildford BOILER ROOM
31 OCT Brighton, East Sussex THE HOPE & RUIN
06 NOV Oxford THE BULLINGDON