If you aren’t in the music industry, you never really know how much work goes into a tour, especially if you’re a DIY band like 18th and Addison. What’s a DIY band you may ask? A DIY band is when you aren’t signed and you take care of everything from booking shows, tour management, merchandise management, and recording your music without a backing of a label. You’re also in charge of your own press releases, promoting shows, social media management, designing artwork for the album and merchandise, printing merchandise and shipping orders, and so on. It’s much more taxing than one could possibly imagine.
18th and Addison is the real deal. When I was on the road with them I realized how passionate they truly are about the scene, their work ethic, and how much love and time they really put into their music and into the band. They put 110% into every show we had, and they’re so amazing to the fans that they meet along the way at shows and through their social media accounts. Besides working in the music industry, they also have their day jobs that they took time off from to be able to go on tour and promote the new EP.
We started the tour off in Mount Joy, PA which was the beginning of the album release Tour for their EP called “Vultures”. They played a total of 4 shows, and while not every show was what they were hoping, they still made the best of this tour run and they kept smiling throughout the week no matter what was thrown their way even with two show cancellations at the end of the run.
When you’re on the road a lot of people don’t realize what it’s really like. Endless hours in the van, couch surfing, hotel hopping, a lot of Yelping for restaurants nearby, working on a tight budget because when you’re on the road sometimes you really never know how much money you’ll be making at a show selling your merch. You could do really well one night, then some nights it’s a total bust. Either way you have to be prepared for the unexpected, and have a thick skin while you’re on the road.
The work doesn’t stop when the shows do though. You’re loading and unloading the equipment in the van, you’re doing merchandise counts, you’re running to guitar center to pick up strings because yours broke during the set, you’re finding rugs because sometimes the stage won’t fit the drum kit set, you’re constantly figuring out how to get more people engaged at shows and on social media and how to get more plays on Spotify. You really never stop working in the Music Industry because you’re constantly finding ways to better yourself and to better your band.
What I loved about being on the road with 18th and Addison was seeing how well they vibed with the band. 18th and Addison is made up of Tom Kunzman and Kait Dibenedetto (if you haven’t heard from us already, they got engaged on stage at Vans Warped Tour last summer!) and on this tour they were accompanied by Lenny Sasso on bass guitar and Brian Dylla on drums. There was never a dull moment on and off the stage with the band, and if you’re in the scene you know how fortunate it is to have awesome band mates!
The run I was on with 18th and Addison was only a week long, but you really get to learn a lot about yourself as well as other people. I’m so fortunate and thankful that Tom and Kait had me out for this run, and it really gave me an insider look on what touring can be like. While it’s not always easy, as long as you’re passionate about what you do then the rest doesn’t matter.
Tom and Kait are the real deal – and I can’t wait to see what else has in store for this band in the upcoming year. If you haven’t done so already, make sure you check out “Vultures” and an 18th and Addison show near you! I promise you that they will not disappoint
