Blind Man Death Stare's favourite things about touring
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Blind Man Death Stare's favourite things about touring

Whether Blind Man Death Stare need a break from recording their second album with Jay Whalley, or he from them, matters little as the real winners are the fans who will get to see them on tour – which they just seem to love doing. Having just completed a hugely successful tour with Straightline (Germany) the band are at it again for a national tour in June/July, even hitting the west coast for the first time with The Decline. They’ve also booked some European dates where they’ll take in Punk Rock Holiday and Rebellion Fest, but we reckon it would be considerably cheaper to see them on their local run.
To celebrate, the legends have given us their five favourite things about touring.
Great Highway Food
After being on the road so many times, we’ve honed our skills into finding not so shitty highway food. You just have to pick your servos which actually just involves a lot of trial and error. Trying to avoid fast food is often hard, but not impossible.
Sleeping Quarters
From couches to floors to five-star apartments to recording studios, we have seen and slept at/on/in them all. My all time best was in Penang, Malaysia where we had a five-star apartment in an executive suite, top floor with a rooftop pool. My all time worst was in Jakarta, Indonesia when we had cardboard boxes as mattresses on a tiled floor, 50 degrees Celsius (at least) and buzzing with dengue riddled mosquito. Not so fun.
Getting Tied Up
Sometimes on the road things get a little hectic and we need to get punished. Sometimes we punish each other for the pain, sometimes the pleasure. I bring my bag of tricks on the road and just recently picked up a horsewhip which has been a great addition. Once I got handcuffed to the inside of the van screaming down the highway, blindfolded and gagged. It was quite a time.
The Toilets
There are some superb toilets up and down the coast of this great country of ours… and then there’s some really bad ones, like the piss smelling, poop wreaking thunder box toilet just outside of Gundagai. I needed to go number two once so bad but couldn’t even enter so I ended up going on the side of the road in a secluded rocky outcrop, positioned behind a bush, hovering over a bull ants nest.
Long Drives
Spending weeks in a van that ends up resembling some sort of landfill, with your mates listening to tunes for hours on end is great. You pass out when you can, sitting up or wedged in somewhere, there’s never a shortage of jokes and beautiful scenery so you just watch the world drive by. We love being on the road; it’s kinda weird when you’re not on tour. Despite the long drives and poor hygiene, we have had some of the best times of our lives and recommend it to everyone.
When & Where: The Barwon Club, Geelong – June 22.