Photo credit: CJ Harvey
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
John J. McCauley: We do a lot of touring on buses now, but for regional New England runs we have an old Ford 15 passenger van. We’ve never had to make any major repairs to it; we’ve maintained it pretty well. Although last summer the AC broke in the middle of a heatwave. We had a few sweaty underwear drives!
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Ian O’Neil: Right now, we’re on tour with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit and they provide wonderful catering. Otherwise, it’s pretty difficult to maintain a consistently healthy diet. Trips to Whole Foods and seeking out sushi are always nice options.
McCauley: I don’t eat healthily, but I fast for most of the day so that’s got to count for something, right?
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
McCauley: I have no idea. I don’t want to break one on stage, so I change them every two or three shows on my main Telecaster. The guitars I don’t use as often get less frequent string changes.
Where do you rehearse?
McCauley: We just finished building a new studio that doubles as our rehearsal space. We renovated the carriage house behind my home. It’s very nice and has got tall, vaulted ceilings. The live room is about 750 square feet. We got a mudroom/kitchenette, control room, hallway that doubles as a workbench area and an isolation chamber, and there’s a sizable storage room. It’s still a young creation, so nothing crazy has happened in there… yet. We did find a creepy Santa doll in the wall while renovating. Unfortunately we forgot to put it back in there before they hung the new drywall.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
McCauley: “You Can’t Eat Candy in the Morning” was the title and probably 90% of the lyrical content. I wrote it with my grandmother when I was about three years old. Should have been a hit.
Describe your first gig.
McCauley: Providence, RI, I was fourteen years old, and I was in a band called Kadaver. We played our guitar player’s girlfriend’s fourteenth or fifteenth birthday party. It was in her mom’s basement. We only had about three songs and knew one cover, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. We played our entire tiny repertoire twice, then I took my pants off and mooned everybody. Someone had a camera; there’s a VHS of my teenage butthole out there somewhere.
O’Neil: The drummer of my earliest bands was a neighbor of mine named Joe Edwards. He was a great drummer and very nice kid. I think we played “Lithium” by Nirvana at his drum “recital”. It was a strange affair but likely my first “show”.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
McCauley: My last job was projectionist. I think I was 20 when I quit to go on perma-tour. I worked in movie theaters since I was fifteen. It was my favorite job. Bussing tables, waiting tables and picking pumpkins were some other jobs I had. Wasn’t my thing. I love the movies.
O’Neil: My last day job was about 16 years ago at a place called Vinnie’s Pizzeria on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. That was probably my favorite actual job although working a coat check at an Irish social club when I was quite young was fun. There were a lot of interesting local members to observe.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
McCauley: Honestly, it’s been pretty stagnant. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, I do well enough. I got a house, a car, a kid in school and I pay my taxes. I wouldn’t mind making more money though. Play money is tight! In all seriousness though, it’s truly a blessing to get paid anything to do what I love doing. I got no complaints.
O’Neil: The thing I think that has changed is the level of health and comfort that comes with being on a bus. We have a stable crew we bring with us everywhere and we get to sleep in and make a little life with one another on the bus. Instead of taking cash away, we reinvest into our comfort to be able to keep doing this forever!
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
McCauley: I should have started saving for retirement a long time ago. It definitely would have been helpful to have a better understanding of finances and economics. That stuff should be required learning starting in high school.
O’Neil: I agree with John! I probably wouldn’t have listened to much advice from an older, wiser me back then, anyway, though.