Photo credit Kremer Johnson
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
Well after many years of driving 3 legged vans and small buses around the country with many a break down story, these days we’re living the good life in 2023 high roofed Ford Transit van that our bass player Stephen outfitted specifically for the band. We purchased it new in 2023 and it was huge upgrade for us.
Stephen is a very talented handyman in addition to being an awesome bass player. He built out the back of the van with two bunks/couches, storage areas, small fridge, ran a secondary power system and added outlets throughout the van and installed captain’s chairs. Vehicle also has 4-wheel drive for weather conditions, and we usually haul a trailer with the gear. It’s a pretty great way to get around.
However I have plenty of break down stories in past vehicles. One in particular comes to mind in our old converted airport shuttle bus with 250,000 miles on it. We were on a tour and on our way to play Four Corners Folk Festival in Pagosa Springs Colorado a few years back and we broke down at 4am about a 4-hour drive still to the festival grounds. We had an early set at like 1pm. We were in the middle of nowhere and nothing was open.
Stephen discovered it was a pully in the engine that had bent. He spent 2-3 hours hammering the pulley back into place with a metal pole. He eventually reinstalled it and the engine got going. We made it to the festival with about an hour and ½ to spare before our set. But basically brute force and a metal pole saved the day.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Good question. Often times venues will hook up food for the musicians. Either a buy out or have their own kitchen.
But we are frequent stopers and shoppers at grocery stores where we’ll get stuff like bagged salads, veggies and hummus and other kinda healthy stuff like that, and that’s when the fridge in the van comes in handy.
Important to try and eat healthy on the road as much as you can.
Some members of the band are particularly fond of Fred Meyer grocery stores in the PacNW and Alaska cause, in addition to food, they have everything in there. Band members be getting lost in there.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
Ummm… me, not too many. 3-4 strings a year maybe? It’s like $8 for a pack of new strings. Not something that breaks the bank.
But definitely have to take guitars and banjos in for random repairs, adjustments and set ups throughout the year. That’s more pricey.
Where do you rehearse?
We don’t rehearse… haha. That’s pretty much true. The band members know the songs well enough that we can just throw and go these days. Maybe individuals spend some time on their own shedding, but we rarely rehearse as a band.
We do get together to work on new material from time to time and when we do it’s usually one of our living rooms acoustic style.
On the rare occasion we do a full rehearsal usually for pre-production for recording we rent out an hourly space in LA. KR Studios in Atwater is a good one we’ve been using.
But in the old days when we did have our own rehearsal space. The crazy thing that happened there is our old band member Rose stole and pawned all our gear. That’s how we got the band name. True story…
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
In high school the first song I remember writing was called “Another Year” and it was not so good.
The pre-chorus was something like:
Just today was so hard to face
And I’m feeling oh so out of place
And still the time keeps moving one…
Pretty angsty teen stuff…
Describe your first gig.
A long time ago, but I think the first official gig as Rose’s Pawn Shop was at place that’s not around anymore called Zen Sushi in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was fun and whiskey infused. In our 20’s and just cutting our teeth and trying to figure it all out in front of supportive friends.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
Special Education English and Math Teacher for an arts high school in Los Angeles. Which has also been my favorite non-musical job. Super rewarding and the kids are joy to work with most days.
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?
If it was a graph showing income trajectory it would be the flattest graph you’ve ever seen. But it’s a living. We make it work.
But I expect to surpass that rocket making trash billionaire within the next 5-10 years on Spotify streams alone..
Kinda weird to ask people about their income tbh…
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
Don’t be too precious about writing the perfect song and waiting to put things out or wait to go and perform. Just keep creating and trying stuff and putting it out there.
And I wish I would have had the bravery even earlier to dive in the deep end instead of just dipping my toe in the music world. I’m grateful I had people to push me to get in a van and go across the country and play music and have adventures. Without that push I may have never done it.