I must tell you Lovelies that I do not like Skype. Great concept and all but come on! I have one of the fastest internet connections for businesses and normally the people on the other end of the line are either on cellular data or dial up, it seems. It is literally annoying AF to be staring at the monitor during a video Skype call, trying to freeze the smile you had on your face when you were finished with the question … kind of like playing the game “Freeze Tag” only, I’m not running around being chased.

When my phone rang I prayed to the gods above that it was Blaze, after all it was 3:30 in the PM, my scheduled time and so when I answered and it was him I was quite happy that I didn’t have to put on any makeup or change clothes. Phoner it was and Bob’s your uncle…

Pleasantries were exchanged and I asked him if the tour coming up was something he was excited about. This man is so grateful for his life and if he said it once he said “I cannot wait, I am so excited to come to North America and Canada”, he said it 73 times. And how badass is that?

Now for many, you know that Blaze Bayley was the singer for Iron Maiden for 5 years back in the 90s. If you don’t know that, then please go and fact check because this 5 years with Iron Maiden gave him 2 records that sold over a million copies each. And even before Iron Maiden, he was in a metal band WOLSFSBANE which were him and 3 friends from his hometown outside of Birmingham. “We had to be in a band together because none of us were good enough to be in anyone else’s band.” Blaze explained. I love that even at this age the band was setting goals and reaching them. I think that’s pretty cool when over half of the youth now still live off their parents at 24 years old..but I’m off subject.

Blaze Bayley is setting off on a North American/Canadian tour that starts August 9th and when I asked if he was ready to travel, he said “I don’t pack until the night before, so I haven’t started packing, no.” I asked him, “What is the one thing you can’t leave the UK without?”

Without even pausing, he said “My phone. If you have a smartphone you do everything on it now, your friends contacts, your business contacts. Watching NetFlix when you’re bored stiff and it great because you can download the movies now.” So the thought popped into my head, ‘Let’s do an educational article about packing!’ He was down for it so without a bunch of mindless murmuring (murmur murmur) about nothing, here it is:

The Blaze Bayley Methodology to Packing for a 30 Day Tour

Days Away: 27
Mode of Transportation: Van
Overnight Accommodations: Hotel
Bags: 1 large, squishy duffle bag *refer below as to why

1. You must take your smart phone. I mean everything is in there. It’s impossible to leave home without your phone. Keeping in touch with my friends, but also and fans on social media, taking pictures and little videos and in times of extreme boredom, I’ll watch Netflix. And you can download to your phone now. Now, more or less anything you need you can buy. Your phone and your passport you can’t. Anything else you can buy at the Walmart or small shop; toiletries, toothbrush or toothpaste, deodorant.

2. The bag I used to use on tour lasted a long time. And it was big enough for what I needed to tour. I see people with hard cases putting them in the bins on a flight and I knew my bag would always fit. It’s squishy and it must be to be shoved in a tight place. People looked at me like ‘oh that’s not going to fit in there’ and it did because it was squishy. I rarely take a suitcase. I normally manage to go on a tour like this in the USA with with just a carryon bag with a few smaller bags in there to separate the things inside the bag.

3. What to bring in the duffle to the states, just a few thing in the bag {for the trip} but when I get there, I can buy most anything. I put one or 2 pairs of socks in my bag and…

   1. I also put black socks on my rider. It’s very difficult to get socks dry, unless you have a dryer, and they start smelling straight way.

   2. Anything I run out of I buy. I don’t take anything with me that I think “Oh I’m not sure I’ll need that”.

   3. I force myself to wear the same pants black pants, black shirts – I have 2 pairs of black pants and 2 work t-shirts and 2 black t-shirts. And if one set is smelly…I have to wash it. People say “how did you make it with so few clothes for that long?” I’m like thinking ‘what??’, “It’s called laundry. You can do it right in the hotel.” Have these people never done their own laundry? (We are laughing about this because it is funny how people think at times.)

   4. And almost always some one will give me a shirt, I don’t think i’ve ever been on a tour that someone hasn’t given me a shirt. Or if the support band is really good, I’ll ask to buy a shirt. But you know that people just give me clothes because of what I do. If you’re in the business and in rock and roll, you’ll always have a shirt on your back because people will give them to me.

4. Pack a small pair of binoculars. You can’t leave your bag at the airport and walk down the corridor to check a flight time. But you can if you bring a small pair of binoculars! Which I do and sit comfortably with my squishy bag and can see what times the flights are leaving without leaving or having to carry my bag or lose a seat at the gate.

5. I get a few other things while at Walmart like an electric kettle, cup of noodles, a plastic bowl with a lid that cooks the noodles or soup and a few spices. In case a promoter does not have food or something happens and I get hungry, I have my kettle for water and my noodles with spices. It’s good and I don’t ever worry about not eating.

6. I bring vitamins with me and get hand sanitizer. We try and steer clear [of bad things] when doing a big tour. There’s no alcohol, and no talking on a hard pressed tour. I try and avoid coffee and anything that can dehydrate me. Rest is the only way for vocal chords to repair themselves so it is a pretty erratic tour schedule, erratic sleep, you sit dormant and you’ve been sitting for 5 and 6 hours at a time driving and once you get to the venue you have to bounce out of the van and it is nonstop and you try to sleep after, but you can’t. And then it repeats it again.

When tour is over I just discard what I don’t want to take back with me. It has become that easy and some in my band don’t pack like this but the end up regretting it . My band now have played on both of my albums with me, been able to go on 2 tours with me so they know what to expect.

BLAZE BAYLEY’s US/Canadian Tour starts August 9th  and the band is making some incredible stops this time so make sure you get your tickets. I’m hoping to be at the show when it comes through Dallas so as that date gets closer, I will let y’all know! Stay tuned! Here are the tour dates listed below.

TOUR DATES:

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT:
blazebayley.net