Indie Touring

Indie Touring: "Have your hometown launches lost their pungent melange of terror? Do you find that you show up for them without jittery nerves, several feet away from the precipice of emotional collapse? Do you find that afterwards you’re not drained to the point of not knowing who you are anymore? Then you might want to turn it up to eleven... and get in the van.

Spreading your cultural virus from the scene whence you sprang to elsewhere is holy work. Although I’ve only toured with my books, you can — and should — tour with anything: zine, flea circus, cartoon sculptures, medical equipment museum. What’s more essential than having a mass-produced commodity such as a CD or book is having realistic expectations of what the road has to offer.

In my experience, the fabled groupies and big sales are in short supply. The things that are in good supply are interesting folks, great conversations and neat places. If you expect as much from a tour as you do from a roadtrip, then you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised. If you expect a perpetual ego orgasm, then, well — you’ll get a well-deserved kick in the ass."