40 thoughts and learnings from leaving my job as a software engineer to go on a national tour with a rock band

Some background: From September thru mid November 2021 I toured the country playing bass guitar with the punk/emo band Covey. We played 41 shows across the entire country. I kept this list as an exercise in mindfulness during the trip.

Covey performing at The Basement East in Nashville. Photo by Gina Di Maio

1. Since the pandemic took shows away, I had to relearn how to practice my instrument, rehearse with a band and put on a good performance.

2. The usual first question I got from people when I told them I was leaving my job was: “how old are you?”

3. Leaving your job to work on a creative project feels like breaking the rules.

4. Driving around playing rock shows to hundreds of people is the complete opposite of working a day job from home during quarantine.

5. I learned how to be productive on small projects where and when I could. For example: daily journaling, development on my personal website, lyric writing for my own music project, etc.

6. I miss my family and friends in New York.

7. I miss my routines.

8. I miss my mechanical keyboard.

9. Never underestimate the kindness of strangers. This is a big shoutout to everyone who let us crash at their house, cooked us a homemade meal or supported the band when we were on the road.

10. I love hearing stories from fans about how they discovered the band and what compelled them to come out to see the show.

11. Never refuse free food.

12. Two hours of sleep is better than no sleep at all.

13. It’s interesting to see the differences in how different states and cities are responding to the pandemic.

14. Similarly, taking note of the vibe of the crowd each night in an attempt to gauge how they might respond to the music.

15. How to be away from home for the longest time of my life.

16. Tour is a lot of standing around, waiting and doing nothing.

17. How to find moments of solitude when traveling with a group.

18. The role of technology in touring: We use several apps that help us with logistics, scheduling and merch sales.

19. Working the merch table after the set is a lot of fun. Each night we try to set it up to optimize sales and have safe and meaningful interactions with fans.

20. Live music isn’t dead.

Siggy, lead guitar player in Covey, and the Covey van. Somewhere in Pennsylvania.

21. The music industry is still very much a white boys club.

22. A creative life is possible and worth it.

23. It’s hard to keep up with this list.

24. I enjoy the periodic days off but I don’t like not playing shows.

25. The influence of the design of venues on the general mood and energy of the show.

26. I’ve never seen more free alcohol in my life.

27. We saw a nice sampling of regional gas stations and truck stops nationwide: Wawa, Sheetz, Bucc-ee’s, Love’s, Sinclair, etc.

28. How to soundcheck and communicate clearly with sound techs.

29. I want to go out to more shows, museums, movies and events when I’m back in New York.

30. It’s nice to see posters at the venues of artists who I’m familiar with playing just a few days before or after we are at that same venue. So many artists who I respect are on tour this fall. It makes me feel like I’m on the right path.

31. All shows should be all ages.

32. True friendship is real and it takes time to nurture.

33. Tour is a time warp. Waking up and falling asleep in a different city every day makes each 24 hour period feel like a lifetime.

34. With all the countless hours of individual practice and band rehearsal that we did, mistakes on stage will still happen. Imperfections are part of a live performance.

35. There will be some low energy nights on stage.

36. You’re gonna take wrong turns while following Google Maps and end up driving around in a circle for 20 minutes.

37. How to wait.

38. LA is great. I have so many good friends in LA. I want to spend more time in LA.

39. I overpacked.

40. The final days of the tour had `last night of high school before graduation` vibes — everyone was talking about their plans for the future with simultaneous excitement and sadness.

The fourteen members of the touring party after the final show in Salt Lake City.

This post was originally published on my medium account.