As someone who is committed to touring and travelling in the name of his art, Marty Ryan, the man behind indie emo project Anna’s Anchor certainly has the experience to draw from for the ‘On The Road’ interview. Check out his new single ‘You Are A Lighthouse’ here and the Q & A below…
What are 7 songs that make your ‘on tour’ playlist?
For the most part when it comes to touring, I’m doing the driving so I don’t listen to a tonne of music but there’s some songs for some reason that I think really suit night drives and they get me super relaxed, some of those would be:
1. Tycho – “Awake”
2. Interpol – “Untitled”
3. Now Now – “SGL” (Feckin’ Hell that will be the best song released this year!)
I actually listen to more podcasts than music as I find it keeps my mind a lot more active and helps to keep me awake/focused so I’m going to continue the playlist with some podcasts.
4. Sword & Scale. This one is especially for night drives. This shit will scare you awake and you won’t be able to sleep by the time you get the drive done. Real murder stories with sound bites from 911 calls and witness interviews, really scary shit.
5. Washed Up Emo. The classic, my favourite podcast. Tom Mullen has both the best guests on the show and probably has the most encyclopedic knowledge of the genre, anything I know about the History of this music came from listening to this.
6. 100 Words or Less. Another popular one, hosted by Ray Harkins of Taken. Interviews with influential people in the DIY culture.
7. Song Exploder. This is one I always recommend to people and they become obsessed with it also. Each podcast takes a song and interviews the writer where they break it down into how it was written, recorded and produced. They play clips from demos and stem tracks so you get to hear exactly how the song came from nothing to a released banger.
What would be your top 5 touring tips?
1. Be nice to everybody, this applies to life also but especially on tour. Aside from it being an important part of being a good person, you and your band are not being measured just when you play but from the moment you pull up in front of the venue. There is as much potential to make fans and life long friends from the respect you give to everyone before and after your set as there is while you’re rocking out. Introduce yourself to the other bands, shake their hands, learn their names, meet the bar staff, thank the door person, give the promoter a freebie from the merch to express your gratitude for being there. Even if there was no one there and it was terribly organised, that person made time and effort for you regardless. If people are dicks to you, be nice to them too as it will piss them off a lot more than if you got annoyed at them, unless they’re trying to screw you out of money, then you take the mixing desk, lock it in your van and tell them you’re taking it unless they pay the fuck up. All the above learned from my best friend, Brightr (Please check out his music).
2. Leave loads of spare time and get there early. Your band mates will give out to you and complain that you’re a kill joy but that’s fine. We want to make this our career right? I don’t see the point in going to the huge lengths it takes to play a show if you’re gonna skip soundcheck/load in, risk having it sound like shit and stress everybody out. Show up early, set up early, soundcheck, get it sounding nice, kill it!
3. Be willing to adapt to any situation without complaint. Let’s be honest, touring (especially on the DIY level) is 90% awful crap you wouldn’t want to put anyone else through but the reality is the 30 minute set and the friendships you’re forging is more than worth having to sleep in a bus station or some crack den. The crack heads put you up for the night when no one else would, be grateful for that and it’s only sleep, we can get enough of that when we return to our boring real lives.
4. Bring as much spare gear as possible. Cables, strings, guitars if you have them. If it can break, it will and then it’ll break again so having spares of everything is essential to make sure you don’t end up bailing on your set early because your guitar is screwed.
5. Be grateful to be playing regardless of the crowd size. I do feel for every touring band as it’s the law of averages that you’re going to play some shows to no one which is hard but the reality is, not every show is like that. You improve as a musician with each show regardless and even if one person showed up, I always have to remind myself that they could have gone somewhere else, but they didn’t, they’ve decided to give me their evening and pay in, that’s something to be very thankful for. Normal people that go on holidays to some town don’t have strangers give them 2-3 hours of their time and also pay them, so I have to remind myself that it’s an achievement regardless and they deserve to be entertained in return.
Which 3 bands would you love to have on a bill with you?
If we’re talking like, actual bands that it would be potentially possible for me to play with, rather than some big dream arena rock band, I would have to say:
1. Martha
2. Chewing on Tinfoil
3. Into It. Over It. (bit bigger than what my disclaimer alluded to but fuck it, favourite band, need to play with them!)
And lastly, can you tell us about the favourite gig you’ve played and what made it so great?
Probably the launch show of (debut album) Nautical Miles. It wasn’t a super big show but certainly the most special. We gutted this café that I was told has like a capacity of 40, loaded in a full back line, big PA and squeezed 92 people in there and every one of them really wanted to be there. I can’t a show where you could just feel the warmth and welcoming in it as much as that night. On top of that, sold out home town show for the release of the first album. That’s really fucking special, can’t ever be taken away. Getting emotional just thinking of it!
Anna’s Anchor: facebook | twitter | bandcamp
