Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
In the US, we tour in a Ford V-10. It almost has half a million miles that we put on it. Everything but the transmission has been repaired. The latest was a new muffler. We tow our 16 foot Bambi Airstream. A classic breakdown story happened overseas last summer. We decided to save cash & rented a clunker. It had problem after problem. Finally broke down in a small German town 50 km from our festival gig. Luckily, we knew the German word, kaput. A little old frau called ADAC (like triple A). We arrived at the festival on a flatbed truck just in time for our set. The crowd went wild.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Shop at organic indie markets. It’s not cheap, but health is wealth.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
Usually a string a night. Sometimes we get lucky at a fest where they hook us up with packs of strings for the year.
Where do you rehearse?
Our Airstream, where we pushed out 3 albums and a baby.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
‘SEA’ -Silver fox he does the tango. I sit and make chimichango. The sun is goin down. Bevin picks the banjo, Flarky kayaks solo, leaves are on the ground…
Describe your first gig.
It was a sea shanty in Maine called The Harpoon. We were playing mellow folk tunes. Everyone was talking over us. We pulled out the cigar box & rocked some tunes. The whole crowd started dancing.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
Being parents.
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?
It’ll always be feast or famine. Always has been, always will.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
That there’s no such thing as the tooth fairy.