Touring in your 20’s vs 30’s - What I’ve Learned Along the Way
By Kristen Ford
As I try to navigate this new world of both hating social media, and needing the internet desperately because it’s my whole personality, not to mention, the only way to build a fanbase, a blog post for a website run by a badass mofo who produces events in the real world, creates community, shares knowledge, helps the flowers grow out the concrete. Well, it’s just what the doctor ordered.
I am Kristen Ford, Kfo for short. A music business college dropout, Aries sun, Leo moon, and Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter on Righteous Babe Records. I have performed around 2,000 shows across 49 states (someday, Alaska) and 10 countries. When I was still using a fake ID to get into bars to play, and working as an intern at Hefty Records in Chicago, I was challenged by my coworker to play 100 shows a year. It seemed impossible at the time, but between some week-long tours, open mics, and online radio shows where you sat around hitting the bong until it was time to perform, I hit those 100 shows.
Touring in my 20’s in some ways was easy. I had endless energy, could eat like trash, fight hangovers, and win! Plus, and most importantly, I had a huge network of friends. Friends who could come to shows then afterwards, might sweep the crumbs off their floor and blow up an air mattress for me. Once, I slept on the floor in front of a cat box and awoke to such a tremendous odor of cat shit in the middle of the night, I rubbed old spice body wash all over my nose and pulled the sleeping bag over my head. But hey, what do you expect when you get on the mic and say, “we are sleeping in the van tonight. Anyone got a place?”
Yeah, 20’s touring? Awesome.
Now, touring in my 30’s, I am more careful about getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, and not over-scheduling drives, shows, or late-night hangs. Too many nights in a row of less than 6 hours of sleep and my singing voice is GONE. In your 30’s, your friends might have leveled up to guest bedrooms and are willing to host backyard shows with home-cooked green chiles perfectly in season (thanks Fort Collins, CO!) They also might have jobs, kids, and less than 20 friends at their beck and call wanting to stand around that dive bar without chairs until after 10 pm on a weeknight when you finally perform.
COVID was terrible, and we lost a lot of great people and venues. However, the time to close, clean, and funding for independent venues was a good boost. Some older venues without amenities that customers liked, like not having a good sound system, for example, closed for good. Meanwhile, new ones have opened and our beloved ones finally got good beers on tap and soundproofing behind the stage. Yay!
In 2008-2017 (ahem, my 20’s…please, pour one out for my twenties.) It’s a PBR tallboy. Go on and pour one out, honestly it’s trash beer. But it’s also what my dinner on tour a lot of nights was. Well, as I was saying, in that time while Facebook might have been the go-to social media, there was still a bit of a sense of connecting with people in person because promotion was done mostly by hanging flyers in a local coffee shop or gluing them to a post on the street.
I wish I knew myself in my 20’s as well as I do now. I wish I had the professionalism, the experience, and the confidence. I honestly “missed” the whole experience of playing drums in this great garage rock band Tilt-A-Whirl. I was not present for the rehearsals, the gigs, the DIY recordings, the shows. We played the Mayan calendar “end of the world” with the funniest classic rock band, The Supersuckers whose biggest hit was “She Used to be Pretty.” Well, I had this whole experience with the band but I was chasing bigger things, like a record deal that almost landed, even bigger sold-out shows, and when the bassist quit, the band broke up.
Now in my 30’s, I try to stop and smell the flowers. When you’re in Austin, get breakfast tacos! Post about it on TikTok. Maybe no one will see your post. Except maybe Erin [McLendon], who spawned this whole blog from that post I made about said tacos. Who cares though? You still got tacos! I don’t drink before I play these days and on really important tours, like the one I just completed supporting Ani DiFranco, I just enjoy doing the whole run sober because I don’t want my energy depleted. I always warm up my voice before singing, and I try to arrange my lodging ahead of time. No more shout-outs for couches from the mic!
In some ways, promotion is way easier now. A sponsored ad, tag a friend, text a few. In other ways, I mourn for the old days. Before LiveNation and Ticketmaster owned everything. Before fans immediately attached a number to your value, a number of followers, plays, and an algorithm that can be as fake as that Temu discount spin. It’s all bullshit.
To the 20-something’s, 30 something’s and rockers of any age reading this: Go hear some music! Go play some shows! Go enjoy the ride. In a decade, that venue might not be here. That band might not stay together. You might not even drink the free PBR tallboys they keep in the green room.
I’m glad I’m still out there rocking, tweezing grey hairs as I find them. I played The Filmore in San Fransisco recently. A gig that filled me with much anxiety but, I rehearsed, I got there early, warmed up my voice, and had a blast onstage. After the show, I cracked a cold NA beer.
Here’s to getting old my rockers.
kfo
About the Author
Kristen Ford is a rock/alt looping artist originally from Massachusetts. She originally joined the Music on The Move Studios community as a HellCat in 2019 playing guitar. She later performed as a featured artist. Her ability to turn a guitar and her voice in to a full band on stage in front of a live-audience has captivated thousands. She currently resides in Los Angeles where she is signed to Righteous Babe Records.