Our music and travel interview series continues this week with SoCal rockers, Letters Burning. After a successful regional Hot Topic in-store tour this summer, the trio of three years got a taste of the DIY tour life and are ready to get back on the road: through California and beyond!

Letters Burning

I spoke to Letters Burning lead singer/guitarist, Tal Mir and lead guitarist Gabe Kubanda, about being independent not only as a band, but as new travelers. Read below to find out their thoughts on traveling:

Though you have been together for a short amount of time, Letters Burning has a loyal following on the west coast. Where have you been touring recently?
Tal: At the moment we tour closer to home, which is LA and Orange County. We regularly play all ages venue such as Chain Reaction and The Key Club and have started to play college and high school shows as another means of reaching a wider audience. We have toured all over Las Vegas including the Mirage Beatles Revolution Lounge and many different cities in California, Oregon, and Washington.

Letters Burning & Fans on their Hot Topic Tour

Touring is usually a blast for new bands. Is there anything you don’t like about touring?
Tal: It’s hard not being able to be with your family when you miss them. It’s also weird to still have to deal with all your issues back home like bills and work related things. When we play shows close to home we get the luxury of getting a good night’s sleep, showering, and relaxing. On the road there is very little of all those.
Gabe: As an unsigned band, we do it all ourselves, so before, after shows, and in between driving, we’re still doing it all: verifying the next venue and hotel, updating our MySpace and Twitters, editing the video footage, handing out flyers, changing strings, etc.

And what is the best part of traveling as a musician?
Tal: Not sitting in an office from 9-5 and the guarantee that each day you play to at least one person who has never heard of your band and becomes a fan of your music.
Gabe: I love seeing new cities and sights, visiting new places, hanging out with the fans in new areas; it’s definitely rewarding.

How is downtime spent when you are off stage? Any favorite pit stops along the tour?
Tal: The last Hot Topic tour we put in a lot effort to try and document everything, so we spent our down time editing daily tour footage, chatting with our fans and finding new interesting places to visit like Kurt Cobain’s home and Jimi Hendrix’s memorial site.
Gabe: Also that famous donut place in Portland where you can get anything you want, like Captain Crunch cereal as a topping on your donut. Getting lost in a new city is also daunting, but we love the adventure of it all.

VooDoo Doughnut – Portland, OR

What has touring as a band taught you about traveling on your own?
Tal: No matter how high maintenance you think you are, when you are in an unsigned band and on tour, your luxuries are close to none. The ultimate dream is to travel the world for free and get paid to share your music.

Has the recent traveling influenced your songwriting in any way?
Tal: Our song “In Vegas” is a tribute to the many shows we played there but for the most part the best music I write comes from sitting alone at home with an acoustic guitar.
Gabe: Sometimes we’ll be sitting in a hotel room, and pull out our guitars, and it just happens. The city, the show, whether good or bad, has an impact on what you’re writing at the moment, and what mood you’re in as well.

How do you organize and document your travels?

Tal: Its pretty epic when you don’t have extra hands to help you, but the iPhone and its GPS and printouts from Google are a must.
Gabe: We used artistdata.com for our last tour – it was very handy, it synced up to all our sites automatically and also sends out press emails to the local media in whatever city you’re going to. iPhones are priceless when you’re calling a venue, looking up the directions, and eating donuts at the same time.

After all the traveling this year, do you guys consider yourselves Travel Geeks?
Gabe: No, but we can tell you where the grossest restrooms and worst roach-infested hotels to stay away from!

Even travel newbies like Letters Burning enjoy freedom on the road, even if it is quite a rough journey.

Learn more about Letters Burning’s Hot Topic tour adventures by checking out their YouTube page here.

If you’re a touring band who would like to speak up about your travel experiences, get in touch with Alisha. You can be featured next on the Sosauce blog!

Read more posts by Alisha

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 2:33 PM and is filed under Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.