What's Your Gig-mobile Like?

[hankster]

My real favourite gig-mobile was an old Bedford van that had been converted into an ambulance and then sold.  It had all these cool shelves and stuff where you could stash all the small stuff, and they were all welded in, so you could tie stuff down.  Unfortunately, it had its problems.  The windshield wipers never worked, so we literally had to operate them by stringing a clothesline around them and through the partially open windows, and pull them back and forth.  And then, on our second trip out on the road, the transmission died and it cost more to tow it back in to town than it had cost to buy it in the first place, and pretty much all of the money we had made on the gig.  But it was charming, and it taught us a lesson, about things that are charming.

I am sure we all have old road-mobile stories.  Maybe that deserves a thread all on its own!

R.

[hankster]

Okay, but now I have actually looked at the picture of the Ranchero, and it is now my favourite gig mobile.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Sounds like fun, Richard.  First band I ever did sound for (an Elvis imitator in SE OH when E was still alive) hauled the gear in the lead player's VW van; as he'd brought me in, I rode with him.  It had a manual clutch - not a manual ttransmission, a manual clutch; he'd step on th epedal, shift, then reach down & pull the pedal back up.  We'd lift the side door off, load/unload, then handg it back on - until the night it wouldn't go back on, & rode home in the drummer's trunk.
This is winter, in Appalacia, and we'd been - well, gigging - all night (my pay for that band was all I could drink, and things may have accidentally been passed back & forth in the van....).  So we're going around these mountain curves in that condition, he's bending over with every shift, the winter is pouring the missing door, and every time we turn left, I have to reach back & hold the drums from flying out.  Good times!

Peter (who 1) misses those days and 2) is amazed he's alive)

[David Houck]

We were headed back late one night to the band's home town of Burlington, NC from a three day stand at the Palomino Club in Charlotte.  The drummer, who was the band leader, was driving the equipment truck (I guess it was an old bread truck or something) and I was riding with him.  I'm pretty sure it was raining; probably cold.  The truck broke down somewhere on I-85.  I don't recall how I got home, but I must have hitchhiked.

When I heard from the drummer the next day or so, that incident had been the last straw for his wife, and that was the end of the band, and my two years at trying to make a living playing music.  After that, I got a job as a truck driver.

[edwardofhuncote]

One night coming down a switch-backed old mountain road from Hot Springs to Clifton Forge, I lost the brakes on a '77 Dodge Tradesman 3/4-ton van, and had to ride the transmission and hand brake home. Four musicians in varying states of sobriety, and all our stuff rode it out. That was four or maybe five gig-mobiles ago. (and almost 30 years)

[cozmik_cowboy]

We were headed back late one night to the band's home town of Burlington, NC from a three day stand at the Palomino Club in Charlotte.  The drummer, who was the band leader, was driving the equipment truck (I guess it was an old bread truck or something) and I was riding with him.  I'm pretty sure it was raining; probably cold.  The truck broke down somewhere on I-85.  I don't recall how I got home, but I must have hitchhiked.

When I heard from the drummer the next day or so, that incident had been the last straw for his wife, and that was the end of the band, and my two years at trying to make a living playing music.  After that, I got a job as a truck driver.

3 years & 4 bands after the VW, I was riding in a breadtruck; the bass player, who owned the PA, was driving down I-94 in Chicago about 03:00 heading home from the gig & we see 2 wheels go bouncing past us together. 
Then they seperate, one going for the right shoulder, one for the left.
Then the back right corner of the truck, which they had been holding up, hit the road.......

Peter

[edwin]

We were headed back late one night to the band's home town of Burlington, NC from a three day stand at the Palomino Club in Charlotte.  The drummer, who was the band leader, was driving the equipment truck (I guess it was an old bread truck or something) and I was riding with him.  I'm pretty sure it was raining; probably cold.  The truck broke down somewhere on I-85.  I don't recall how I got home, but I must have hitchhiked.

When I heard from the drummer the next day or so, that incident had been the last straw for his wife, and that was the end of the band, and my two years at trying to make a living playing music.  After that, I got a job as a truck driver.

3 years & 4 bands after the VW, I was riding in a breadtruck; the bass player, who owned the PA, was driving down I-94 in Chicago about 03:00 heading home from the gig & we see 2 wheels go bouncing past us together. 
Then they seperate, one going for the right shoulder, one for the left.
Then the back right corner of the truck, which they had been holding up, hit the road.......

Peter

We had a very similar experience in my band Shockra in 1992. On our first tour to Colorado, our right two rear wheels on our box truck came flying off at 60mph. We were in Ohio on a bridge over a ravine. We skidded to a stop on the shattered brake drum. The cops sent a tow truck and the company at first sent a regular one, you know, for cars. Then the owner of the tow company brought out an old 1950s Mack truck tow truck with the bulldog on the front. It was February and it started drizzling freezing rain. He hooked up the truck, hit the lever and the rear end went up about 3 feet and the cable snapped. It took him another 45 minutes in the freezing rain to get that fixed and finally he took off barreling down the highway with our truck. We followed him in a van driven by his helper. We ended up at a junkyard in Painesville OH and he told us to get lost for 5 hours. Not too many places to go on a cold rainy Saturday. We got kicked out of three diners. Finally we came back and he had completely rebuilt the right rear of the truck. New axle, etc. We gave him most of our cash, a check we told him not to cash for 3 weeks, a couple hundred bucks on a credit card and a couple of band t-shirts and we were on our way. Made it to the gig in Steamboat Springs on time. We had many harrowing adventures in that thing, from losing our brakes on McClure Pass to not being able to start it (it was a diesel) after the gig at the Wetlands in NYC because of the cold until the opening band the next night started their set.

Anyway, I had a 1995 Subaru Legacy that was great for mountain gigs here in Colorado. Last year I replaced it (240,000 miles. The final straw was no AC and I didn't want to cook my 2 year old.). The criteria for a new vehicle was AWD and the ability to haul my bass gear, with all my recording gear, and keep the child seat in the car. 2007 Honda Pilot with 60k miles fit the bill perfectly. It's nice to have a car made in this century. Not crazy about the mpg, but what can you do. My next car will be a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle.

[serialnumber12]

Mercedes Ml350 4matic

[serialnumber12]

my other gig mobile.

[serialnumber12]

...

[edwardofhuncote]

Old #12 rides in style - Nice! 

[serialnumber12]

she gets the best!!!

[cozmik_cowboy]

3 years & 4 bands after the VW, I was riding in a breadtruck;

[/quote]

Upon further reflection, no - it was 5 years & 6 bands later.........

Peter (who became an historian & not a mathematician for a reason)

[peoplechipper]

When I started with my last band, they had this big van which was converted to propane and due to being the new guy and lack of seating I hung out in back with the gear and two large and rattling gas bombs; apparently they were properly installed and legally inspected but it sure didn't sound like it inside...being in back was actually kinda good, as the steering was shot; on the few times (I quickly learned not to look) I did watch Marcus driving I would see normal action of the wheel; then he would hit a bump and the steering would go all loose like 90 degrees turns of the wheel just to go straight the have it go back to normal after the next bump...better not to see that...thankfully he got something safer after...Tony

[keith_h]

In my high school years one of the guys had an old Divco milk truck that we used to carry gear. It even carried the markings of the defunct dairy he had bought it from.