WAMCon's Touring Panel Turned Catastrophes Into Valuable Lessons

“There’s only so long you can shower with baby wipes” as Heath Bradby stated when speaking of hygiene on the road. The statement also served as a fair barometer for the conversation that took place in the closing panel for WAMcon 2016. Highway To The Dangerzone – Tales From The Road did its best to replicate the 3am post gig smoky green room conversations in the best of ways for those watching on.

The least serious panel of the weekend was still nothing short of entertaining for the fifty minutes, moderated by Dom Allesio and consisting of members from virtually every aspect of touring life, it took no time at all to delve into the best touring stories.

“What kind of dickhead forgets the tape” expressed John Zucco of The Right Profile as shared his experiences of booking Sheryl Crowe a promotional tour which included an impromptu live performance on Hey Hey It’s Saturday with a keyboardist who had just flipped ecstasy.

WA music press luminary Bob Gordon shared his experiences of receiving the incoming flight text messages from musicians searching for ‘chicken’ and witnessing The Editors perform a deflated bouncing castle rescue of a drunken Scot at Southbound.

Bradby explained his joy in seeing Karnivool touring India only to find an unknowing Colgate sponsorship for the show, impromptu stage fireworks inclusions and a near death experience attempting to sling shirts at the back of the gig.

While each of their tales were utterly hilarious to hear, the overwhelming theme for all members was perseverance and enjoyment, summed up fairly perfectly by seasoned road tech and current Rosemount soundie Kelvin Flanders as he mused on being stranded shoeless at a truck stop in Portugal with Tex Perkins by a bus driver who didn’t bother to check if anybody was actually on the bus.

For all bands there are moments of failure and seemingly catastrophe when touring, each of those moments for this panel at least, have been turned into fantastic stories survived and learned from. There aren’t a great number of bands that reach the ability to take on a large-scale tour, so if you find yourself in that position, just enjoy the shit out of the ride.