Finnish rockers Santa Cruz are currently out on tour in support of their new album Bad Blood Rising. We caught up with bassist Middy Cruz to hear the band’s top tips and stories from the road!
Favourite thing about touring:
Seeing new places, places you’ve always wanted to visit, and hanging out with the locals instead of locking yourself up in a hotel room. And of course the gigs.
Least favourite thing about touring:
The endless waiting. Sometimes you just don’t have the chance of going around town and check out the surroundings. For example the venue is somewhere in the middle of nowhere and you are doomed having to kill time at the venue.
Five essentials for the road:
An awesome crew, a good book, a reasonable sized suitcase (too big is just a burden), passport. Everything else is either useless or easy to purchase on the road. I’d advise not packing too much, just head to the launderette a bit more often.
Your favourite way to pass the time:
Getting off my ass and finding out what’s worth seeing that is relatively close to the venue. But when we’re traveling on a bus the best and only way to pass the time is to either sleep or read.
“The Most”
Memorable moment:
One of the most memorable moments was when we got to play on the Motorboat cruise hosted by Motörhead at the Bahamas. Another one was when we got to perform ‘Youth Gone Wild’ with the man Sebastian Bach himself.
Hilarious moment:
This one time we were playing somewhere in Finland. The show was about to start, so we had our mighty intro rolling, I think it was one of Ennio’s songs or something. Anyhow, we walked on stage all fired up and after the first chord the whole power on the stage went out. It was a Spinal Tap moment for sure.
Embarrassing moment:
We went on stage and started playing without knowing that the PA system had just crashed 2.5 seconds earlier. We got to the halfway of the song when our technician informed us that we could quit the headbanging cause no one can hear you.
Outrageous moment:
There has been couple of cases where the club owner refuses to fulfill your rider even though it’s part of the deal. I get it, sometimes it’s just not possible for the owner to meet all the demands, but when even a few bottles of water is too much to ask when you have just filled up one’s club I think that is an outrage. Cheers to the owner of 45 special in Oulu haha..
Drunken moment:
Well just to be clear we are professionals and being drunk is a very rare state of being for us on the road… (bullshit). We’re saving these stories for our book, but let’s just say that it wasn’t the best idea when our management decided we should fly back for the Finnish Grammys all by ourselves in the middle of a UK tour. Bearing in mind that we were nominated, and had to travel from Manchester-Helsinki-Nottingham
Rewarding moment:
When the audience sings along to every word, you can see that it really means something to them.
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See Santa Cruz at one of the remaining tour dates:
December
Tue 12th – MANCHESTER – Academy 3
Wed 13th – LONDON – Underworld
Thu 14th – CHESTER – The Live Rooms
Fri 15th – SWANSEA – Sin City
Sat 16th – BOURNEMOUTH – Anvil
Sun 17th – NORWICH – Waterfront
Santa Cruz’s brand new album Bad Blood Rising is out now on M-Theory Audio, available to purchase in physical and digital formats.
