Wayne's World 2 Jurassic Park scene
[Photo by: Movieclips/YouTube]

10 things you won’t believe bands used to do on tour

Here in the year 2018, we’re all very online, and so are our favorite bands. But way back in the pre- and early internet olden times, touring groups did a lot more menial work on the road just to get by. Below, check out 10 of the tasks a traveling act once had to master.

Use an actual paper map

Wayne's World 2 Jurassic Park scene
[GIF via Giphy

How did touring bands go from city to city without GPS or Google Maps? Back in the day, navigating the roads for rock ’n’ roll meant braving some gnarly navigational hurdles. There weren’t any computerized voices to guide musicians to their destinations—they printed out MapQuest directions or picked up a folded, atlas-style enormity from the gas station.

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Make calls on a payphone

Dumb & Dumber Samsonite payphone scene
[GIF via Giphy

It’s almost difficult to think of a time before mobile and smartphones. If a touring band needed to make a call, they literally had to stop the van and find a landline. Gotta make sure the next gig’s not canceled? Missing a significant other and wanna chat? Better pull over, find a payphone and kill some valuable traveling time by the side of the road.

Agree on tour van music

The Cab One Of Those Nights music video
[GIF via Giphy

Before the untold instant song choices offered by satellite radio, music streaming, iPods or even CD burners, bands either agreed on their in-van music selections or someone went to great lengths to craft a customized mixtape for the journey. (Keep in mind, a mixtape back then meant an actual cassette that had each song manually recorded from elsewhere.)

Get the word out the old-fashioned way

Metalocalypse handing out flyers
[GIF via Giphy

So. Much. Paper. Prior to the internet’s convenient avenues for self-promotion, bands kicking from town to town had to go grassroots with getting people to the show. That meant handing out fliers and relying on IRL word-of-mouth assistance. Elbow grease that online show announcements don’t require.

Stop at the library to check email

Pretty In Pink computer scene
[GIF via Giphy

Once online communication finally hit the mainstream, things started getting slightly easier for touring bands. Sure, emailing around to inquire about support slots and promoter contacts is great. But there was still that awkward era when you had to sit at a desktop computer to email someone, and on tour, the local library was usually the place for that.

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Keep a snail mail list

SpongeBob SquarePants mailbox
[GIF via Giphy

Staying in touch with listeners is optimal for a touring band. And in the age before social media and widespread email use, bands usually kept a paper sign-up sheet at the merch table where you could write your name, address and maybe phone number. This was the best way, pre-internet, to let fans know about mail order items and upcoming shows.

Snatch song ideas without technology

Spinal Tap fine line between stupid and clever
[GIF via Imgur

Voice memos are the singer’s saving grace. But how were song ideas saved on the road without a smartphone? An easy feat for the songwriter who can read and notate music—just write it up! But, let’s face it, most band dudes can’t read charts. Thus, the norm on tour became keeping some sort of rudimentary handheld recorder, calling your own answering machine and singing to it, or simply remembering your own tune.

Stay entertained and informed on the fly

Paul Banks & Steelz pasture guitar cow video
[GIF via Giphy

No Netflix, no iPads. Band members couldn’t stuff their face into a screen when bored. News intake required reading a newspaper, listening to the radio or finding a TV at just the right time. Sightseeing and simply staying entertained required a leap of faith not backed by a Google search. Without some townie guidance, you might not find the cool local spot!

Get around town without an Uber

Blink-182 First Date music video
[GIF via Giphy

Touring can sometimes mean needing a ride in a random city in the middle of the day. Ridesharing makes this easy, of course. But what if it was 30 years ago in a taxi-less town, the band took the van for service and the guitarist is doing laundry or running an errand? That’s when making friends with promoters, DJs and car-owning fans came in handy.

Take photos with an actual camera

Get Out camera flash scene
[GIF via Tumblr

Band photos featured roughly the same amount of menacing metal scowls in the pre-smartphone dark age, but they were usually taken by a photographer with a camera and not snapped by a friend on a smartphone. Of course, this still happens with most pro artists’ press shots. But out on the road without a cellphone, taking candid shots required toting photo gear or grabbing a disposable camera and developing the film.

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